OCT 25

2024

Friday: despite barely getting sleep last night, I had to get up early and drive to the Navy Yard to pick up my new C-PAP machine, which I got set up in the bedroom. After that, I walked to the halal cart to pick up chicken over salads for our lunch, and once Julie left for her dental appointment, I took the car to pick up groceries and refill the gas. This was my first big shopping trip with my updated list, so my croutons were replaced with almonds, my peanuts were replaced with pistachios, and my grapes were replaced with Greek yogurt. I also got the ingredients for a new dinner for tomorrow night, more sugar-free Lifesavers, and some sugar-free gum, just to be thorough. At the gas station, I when I noticed that Julie's dashboard has two different fuel pump icons with arrows on opposite sides, but Julie says that both arrows point to the right, so I should draw the same conclusion from each one. Back home, I unloaded all the groceries, and it was soon time to leave for our dinner party.

Julie drove us south of town to Larry and Denise's place, where Larry had an enormous Halloween display built around the side of their house. He'd constructed a tableau of skeletons riding on a roller coaster, being shot from a cannon, and enjoying similar carnival attractions. (At night, the display lit up with lights, and smoke rose from the cannon's opening.) They treated us to another wonderful appetizer plate and some excellent grilled cheesesteaks. We met their sons, talked about work, and reviewed our upcoming travel plans.

I drove us back home. Once I'd treated the cats, I went right to bed to try my new C-PAP machine. However, Julie woke me up around two hours later, as the cats had found a cockroach in the closet. I suspected that the cats would solve this problem for us, and they did.

2023

Wednesday, 7:50 PM: as it happens, I'm writing this update from Wells Fargo Center for the Depeche Mode show. The opener ("Diiv") just took the stage; we're in section 202, right up against the back wall over the section entrance.

Julie spent the day doing last-minute cleanup of the apartment and preliminary packing before we leave for the meet-up tomorrow. I was going to liveblog the updates while we're gone to a secret page on the website and just roll them all out at once upon our return, but Firefox on my phone doesn't like editing the raw HTML very much, so I'll stick with my tried-and-true method of using the Samsung Notes app.

For my part, work today was pretty slow, and I finished the pizza from Stogie Joe's for lunch, while we had the buffalo chicken and rice with cheese for dinner before Justin and Meagan came by for the show. Once we get home, I need to sort and fold some laundry, pack my clothes, fill my backpack with laptop and chargers, charge my 3DS, grab my cards, and maybe spot-clean the office.

8:03: Diiv's video included footage of graffiti including somebody's signature from 1999, which made me want to include the ability to recall particular years of history in my unfinished Interactive Fiction project.

8:06: Julie saw me make that last note, and she complained that it made her realize that all of the affection she'd been feeling towards me was merely a consequence of the shrooms she'd taken. We have fun.

(She burst out laughing when I showed her that update.)

11:54: Between performances, we went to the concourse to get drinks. Julie and the others got cans of beer as long as my forearm for something like $15 each; I picked up a regular-sized bottle of Coke for a mere $7.77. Julie also requested a box of popcorn, and not long after we sat down, Depeche Mode took the stage. We'd been debating how familiar I'd be with their body of work, but I neglected to mention that they used to show up regularly on my Pandora playlist back in ~2012. By my count, they played 22 songs tonight, of which I recognized 8 with certainty, and another 3 or so that I might have heard before but couldn't be positive about.

We should try to remember that the arena restrooms always close prior to the end of any event so that our subway ride home feels less urgent. I also tapped out my transit card balance, but since they've added one-tap debit payments, it could have been a lot worse.

(I posted the following on facebook. Telling Julie about the bands on the "Brutal Legend" soundtrack: "Black Sabbath is on there. Oh, and Ozzy Ozborn's band, for that matter.")