I am unwell

This I suppose should be understood.

If we’ve ever met in person, you may know I am partially disabled, and cannot ambulate very well. I feel like I can gauge my overall health by how much I rely on the rollator, to stand, for something to sit on so I don’t fall over, and if I roll over my toes.

Today was a very heavy rollator usage day. I thought perhaps I was on a high, but the more I think of it, it was a peak and now I’m in or heading into a valley. I have been thinking of wave forms a lot lately, and even trying to use them to explain things like light and colours to the kid. I’ve also been thinking of the oscillation of a two party political system.

Oh boy, need a soap box?

No, but I feel like there is definitely a tide of events, and ebb and flow of humanity. I hope to receive some validation to these hypothesis in November.

Stop with the big words, what are you thinking??

Clearly there is a lot of flipping in political power in the US, it goes red and then back to blue. The past two presidents (before the last disasterous one) each enjoyed 8 years. The last 8 year president was a democrat and a visible minority. I feel like the political pendulum was forcefully reset and swung violently into the red republican party. And although I love Bernie Sanders, I feel like he would’ve been a violent pull to the blue, and really pick up unrest. I hope that the Joe Biden option gets a lot of traction because I see him as the centre of the three primary people that were presented to the country.

Oh, Biden lover eh…

No, and I guess my political leanings are probably more inline with Biden, but I feel like Bernie would be my candidate if I was part of that broken country. What I would like to see is a divide on both sides. Mutual division to get a far left, centre left, centre right, and far right political parties. I can’t see one side benefiting from these so it would have to be both.

I don’t know, isn’t there some constitution that would get in the way?

I don’t honestly know enough about the actual meat and potatoes of that particular document. And I honest think the country to the South should bandaid rip it and just reset the parties. Kill the parties, see where the chips land when there’s no voting along party lines and representatives vote the way their constituents feel.

I think there’s about two weeks before the shit hits the fan anyway.

Why not reboot with a clean slate?

Still hates sleep

But at least he’s 5 now!

Ahh, mom is not home, so an extra 15 won’t hurt, especially if he wants to bust out the “I wanted 4 15s and not 1 hr” bs. I said because it’s his birthday and mommy isn’t home it would be ok!

What is this, a dad adventure blog now?

Ok, I’ll try to get off this topic. Maybe I’m in a rut? The kid is asleep, yay, happy times, it’s not 9pm yet so that’s a win.

Moving on…

I can’t really think of what to say next. I work, it’s hard to move, I like my new vape, times are generally good beyond that.

Dare I get political?

Or maybe something grinds my gears?

Well lots of things do. I just read about Wisconsin and how a trump promise of jobs never materialized, and how I think if Wisconsin goes red in the next election I will start to question The US in general.

Or maybe the local political morons are to be taken to task? Glad I was on the right side of the municipal election we just had. There was a candidate I feared would be bad for the area and we avoided it.

Hope the neighbours to the south pay attention to that and not the racist babies thinking their entitled to all the lobster on unceded land. Like we’re seeing some cross burning level of racism for something that isn’t theirs to begin with!

Eh, I can’t be a keyboard cowboy. I am an uninformed person who knows a little history, and common human decency.

Not seeing a whole hell of a lot of that!

And I don’t even eat lobster!

Do better, be better, wish for better. Don’t be bitter!

Someone won’t go to sleep…

And it’s not my insomnia! Well at least not yet.

I just relieved my partner who has spent over an hour laying next to our child. He still wants cuddles but not from me. But historically speaking I would be the ideal candidate for this task. I tend to be no nonsense, and if he’s tired, I try to gently discourage his stall tactics.

You smother him until he passes out?

No! But a little physicality is sometimes required. The standard tuck in, removal of distractions, and coaxing the wiggles into his preferred sleeping position.

Oh so you have him all figured out, eh?

No. Darn kid gets smarter every day! What I can’t understand is why he needs someone to watch him sleep, eat, play, or any other activity. I’m certain there are many things we could be doing besides watching his every action.

You can’t possibly watch everything!

No, but he sure wants us to! Thankfully he has started to ask for privacy to use the toilet but that’s a one way street. Still wants me to be at the table when he eats, sit and watch TV, and lay with him while he sleeps.

What’s wrong with all that?

Nothing initially. But I know better. He wants me at the table to get him things. He wants me at the TV to stop the show if he needs to potty. He only needs me to sleep if mom’s not home (or I relieve her, like tonight).

That all sounds simple enough.

It’s not a lot, and I can usually do it without complaints, but these normal requests usually bookends the unruly tantrums of the day.

Fight for your right, to party!

Nope, party was cancelled. He did get presents and a cake however, so that’s something. He also went toy shopping today, but that very nearly didn’t happen. I made a simple request to clean the living-room before more toys were brought in.

Seems fair.

It was met with unorthodox resistance! “I need help.” Ok, pick that up. “I don’t want to pick that up.” Ok, pass it to me, I’ll put it away. “Go, I want to clean the room myself.” No, it’s a messy common room and I want to clean it as well. <tantrum and throwing objects>

Well that can’t be too abnormal, right?

I assume it’s not, but I did have to take away privileges. This little white boy loves his privileges almost as much as some children in the lobster fishing industry!

Bazinga.

And as I reach this point in the blog post, his breathing is steady, the music has stopped, and I think I will try to escape now.

Wish me luck!

The party that wasn’t.

There was even surprise cake!

This weekend, we were supposed to host an outside party for our child’s 5th birthday. The weather was not nice. Inside quickly became less of an option with a kid cough and a sick partner.

The party is off!

The kid went to bed very sad last night. He had even helped decorate the basement in the event of weather. His poor little heart was crushed when sick mommy said it’s best to cancel due to optics and recovery.

Bummer…

Today rolled fairly well. We waited on everyone being awake and present for gifts. While patiently waiting, the kid tells me his heart is going boom boom with excitement and the waiting was too hard!

Truly he’s cute.

After his modest haul of parent and grandparents gifts, we began to play with his new toys while TV played in the background. We played with the new paw patrol toys and the new disabled pup “Rex” was the highlight of his morning. Tuck and Ella with their auto car splitting into motorcycles was less on a draw compared to a 2 wheel pup and his height extending truck and mystery Dino.

It was a triceratops.

He even gave his IKEA dollhouse a fair amount of play. My partner went back to bed to recover and we were left to play. 2pm rolled around and we were getting hungry. I know I have trouble getting semi complex food needs accomplished, so I offered him delivery.

Oh boy! SkipTheDishes!

#notASponsor. Yes, and I was surprised he wanted a cheeseburger. Yum, but from where? The place with toys! Oh, so a happy meal. Yay…

Toys are fun!

When the meal arrived, he dug through the box and pulled out the same bird Pokémon he got last time…

Oh here come the waterworks…

As he pulled the toy he exclaimed with joy that he already had this one, and they could be twins!

Wow, he grown now?

Almost. But yeah, McDonald’s for lunch, toys and toys, hanging out with Dad, TV shows… no surprise I got many hugs and proclamations that I’m “the best dad-o”.

The kid has my heart.

He also FaceTime called one set of grandparents, and got to show off the toys to another set of grandparents who were dropping off a cake.

Take out and cake, sweet!

Oh the cake… I got a text about a cake drop off. I nearly got the full wrath of an uninformed partner that was scrambling to get a cake ready for a party.

I had assumed I had asked for one, as I had the previous 4 years… I grew up with cakes from my stepmother and I am glad he gets to experience it as well.

But did you?

I did not! This cake was legitimately a surprise for both of us! The kid spoke to his grandparents, and requested a cake of True. True and the Rainbow Kingdom.

When did he ask for that!?

I’ve been thinking, and the only time he would’ve spoken to them would’ve been when they babysat him when we went out for a kid free supper for our birthdays!

That sneaky little punk!

So now we had no party, present, and a surprise cake! And this cake? Completely edible by all members of this family!

How awesome is that! Yum cake. Kid had a great day inside, away from the rain, singing and counting in French… I had a good day as well, but I’m not the story!

The kid turns 5, let’s hope the 4 year old jerk is gone! (Just kidding, he’s mostly awesome)

The day is over.

I honestly thought yesterday was Friday, and Monday was a day off!

But the day is over, and what a day it was.

I delivered my info session on cannabis today! Apparently there were a lot of interested parties as I have never seen a turnout like today’s! I feel like I need to overstate the mediocre in some flamboyantly stupid way.

The largest crowds ever seen, bigger than any crowd Obama ever gathered?

Yeah, no, not that crazy. it was 2 dozen. I did “public” speaking in front of 24 people. I remember I used to do anything under the sun to avoid this, and I basically volunteered to do this without pressure. To say life has changed in old(er) age would be an understatement. I would like to thank my partner for the love and support in putting myself out there as an info source to potential cannabis users in the MS community.

Well aren’t you Mr. Wikipedia.

A little bit, I suppose. Now it didn’t all fall on my shoulders. I had a helpful co-presenter that did a little demo of vape products. He busted out a Crafty and a Volcano. I’d be lying if I said my eyes didn’t roll at the pricey items he showed off. I’m also a little jealous because those would be lovely things to have in my collection as well!

I miss you Grasshopper, wherever you are!

So now I can sit back, and bask in the glory if only for one day. And no, it really hasn’t gone to my head. I’ve just got a bit of a high from the achievement, possibly like a runner’s high after a marathon?

Oh, arm chair athlete over here, watch out!

Yeah, my inner voice must be my biggest critic! I’m glad it’s my inner voice, because I know he’s a sarcastic little bitch who wants me to stay grounded and be my best. Good little voice, have a cookie!

Yum, chocolate chip oatmeal!

Ok, good, my inner voice hasn’t gone full old man. If I let my fingers type an old man cookie, then I know I’d have to start worrying about it!

Anyway, just happy with all the positive comments in the chat, and I was super happy I felt comfortable answering any questions that arose. Maybe I’ll do it again someday… If asked!

Please stand by…

The system is rebooting,

What system?

I guess me? Feeling wanderlust, generally moving more (today is an exception, tired, but getting there!) While I feel invigorated slightly, I have yet to branch out into anything new.

Hey, you’re like doing a weed ted talk or something!

Yeah, that’s tomorrow, and I’m procrastinating! I will be reviewing what I wrote up last week, sorta forgot what some of it was. I’m sure I left it half finished, but I appreciate the work past me did in a flash of motivation last week! It makes my life easier. Also, I hardly feel like I need to rehearse since I know my stuff!

That’s a nice feeling.

So for now, I am just doing some “fun” transcoding of video and playing with software I actually paid for! This is a foreign concept to me, but I feel like I had been using it for a good long while, and it finally went to a paid version. I gave myself a week without it, and I missed it dearly!

What was it?

tinyMediaManager. I nice little piece of software that can scan media files, movie or tv, and download relevant info, and artwork, and organizes it! I mainly use it to track down those pesky big files that I need to transcode because with one bad eye, I don’t need to watch things in 1080p anymore.

But dude, 4k!

Yeah, don’t have a 4K TV, still rolling with a 42″ Plasma Panasonic TV I bought in 2006! I did my best research on quality back then, and the thing has not disappointed! Sure the thing is heavy, and throws off a bit of heat, but I don’t see a need to upgrade right now. When it breaks, I have plans to get a nice , light TV, wall-mounted above the fireplace!

Ah someday.

That’ll be a fun time plan with the Ikea room planner! I used it when I was picking my new desk. You know, that desk I bought because my MS decided I had to fall through the last one! What fun.

Say speaking of MS, I was rattling around the idea of an MS based tattoo. My current thoughts and plans is a head tattoo with exposed brains, and tree house of horrors gremlins ripping the grey matter wires!

I love the idea!

Now, where do I find a good tattoo artist to do this during the pandemic times… To the google box!

Have I caught wanderlust?

Can it be caught? Have I ever had it?

95% of my past travels and outings during covid times were usually medical appointments. Now twice in on week, and we’re only halfway through? Him, maybe I’ll go somewhere external to my norm this weekend!

But where did I go today?

I got to have a lovely meal with my wife at our neighbours 40th birthday! I got to meet “new to me” people, and generally socialize in person. Got to witness a covidiot who wasn’t wearing a mask and was refusing to get his temperature taken to enter the restaurant. A mix of sadness and pity mixes in with the entertainment of it all.

The rules were right there outside the door!

Yes, there were rules, and they used the double door entrance as a makeshift airlock to prevent people from leaving or entering while they measured temperatures. The restaurant also ran on reservations with phone calls while you wait in the car.

But you didn’t do that!

Yeah, I’m disabled, didn’t know the rules, read the rules, and followed them as best I can. I just sat off to the side of the reservation line and waited for our turn to queue inside the doors. I must say I had forgotten how defect polite we Canadians are. I had people opening doors for me and everything!

Well they tried.

The restaurant kept their doors locked to prevent people from wandering in which was nice, but the outside people trying to open the outward swinging locked door was funny. I laugh, because if this ever becomes a chore, I could get the mask fatigue and expose the weak “stick hand” immune system!

That joke’s only going to land for your partner!

So what, we chuckle, that is happiness as far as I’m concerned.

Anyway, it was a restaurant, and I had food. Got myself an aloha burger and fries. 1/2 pound beef burger with a grilled pineapple ring is quite often a win in my books. Delicious. I think it was only my second visit to the Mic Mac Bar & Grill, but I’m not really compelled to check my old Foursquare check-in history to see if I’ve been there more times that I might’ve forgotten.

Saying that, you’re thinking of checking, admit it.

Maybe yes, maybe no, but isn’t that the reason I used the app? Not just to be pseudo mayor of places I really couldn’t be an ambassador for because I visited once. To get a hit of nostalgia when it tells me I was at a Hollywood babble 8 years ago with a friend. Good times.

But who cares, dinner was great, met new people, celebrated a milestone birthday with friends. Good times!

I left the house

It’s true, I left again! We were invited out to the valley for a Thanksgiving supper. I normally miss out on these valley trips because the drive has been known to be uncomfortable.

But I did it!

The drive up went well, it was daytime, the kid was awake, and the drive was mostly uneventful. But once we arrived, I was quickly reminded of how steep the driveway was! Now I don’t often pull this move, but I engaged the brakes on my wheels, and gave it a true walker go! I toddled along and made it in to the house!

Great success!

Then actual adult conversation happened! We set the kid loose to play and that’s just what he did! I think I barely had to interact with him. It was odd, and nice to see him playing with others and being partly away from us. I would say that it felt like he would make up excuses to come check in on us.

Gotta keep tabs!

Anyway, supper there was lovely! My partner got to eat a meal with next to no substitutions! Most food was kinda cooked with the dietary restrictions in mind, except the protein! We had chicken breasts because turkey is not our friend.

Go home!

After a lovely evening I had an uncomfortable ride home. I vaped a bit before the trip, and made it through. For the entirety of the drive home, my neck, upper back, and shoulders were tense and it felt like they were getting muddled signals. I guess I would describe it as how I imagine tv static would feel? If you grew up with a tube TV, you could feel the tingly static of dust on the screen, sorta like that, but my body and not a tv.

Seems like a stretch comparison.

I really have no better comparison, and if you can think of one, please share!

I got home, the rest on my legs from the ride allowed me the ability to tackle the stairs into home. I did those with handrails and picked up the rollator to get the length of the deck and into the bedroom. I had also done the night in the Voxx socks and left the neuro insoles at home. They wouldn’t do much together, I feel like the socks would cancel out the insoles anyway!

Right, so I survived a car day trip! I’m proud of myself. You should be proud of me too!

I got a to go piece of pumpkin pie, yum!

Arts and crafts

It was a long weekend this weekend and we have a child to entertain. The current obsession is Teen Titans Go! and someone wanted to make puppets. A quick supply run and a google image search was done. My partner started fabricating her magic.

5 paper bag puppets.

I really don’t have much to say beyond my amazement at the crafting joy my partner provided our child this weekend. This makes my heart full and I have to share these amazing creations.

I’m in a car and not feeling the greatest, but it is Thanksgiving and I am eternally thankful for my amazing family.

The year of appliances

2020 has been a lot of things. I never would’ve thought I would purchase 3 appliances for a home I already had furnished.

The pandemic times really brought to a head the failure of our dishwasher. It was dying ever so slowly. It still mostly cleaned dishes, but it had a nasty habit of flinging open mid cycle and spilling water all over the kitchen floor.

Good times.

Next, the meals being eaten at home nearly exclusively brought forward the inadequacy of our frozen food solution. Having a top freezer on a fridge was not enough for 3 mouths with lots of freezer needs! In fact, my partner was putting off ordering a box of bread products from a gluten free foods company because we had no space to spare!

Huge stand up freezer acquired!

Next, we avoided another failing appliance in our heat pump. It was only a year old, but it was not cooling the house during the hot, hot heat of October? October is suspiciously warm. I was almost lied about sweater weather. Of course the temperature promptly dropped to 4 Celsius the day after the heat pump was repaired!

Ok, but then what’s left??

The clothes dryer. Going fast are the days of line drying, as again, it is getting colder outside! Attempted to say F it and buy a washer dryer combo, but that order would’ve been delivered in Feb 2021! No thank you! But I guess that’s the way it goes when you are limited by the available shots. Thanks COVID.

So when will this dryer be delivered?

I don’t know! I ordered it on my partner’s account, so I assume she got the confirmation info. Soon?