I'm kind of tired of people on the Internets suggesting that others are not entitled to declaring that they've had a difficult go of things. So with that in mind, I'm going to complain about this week.
First off, school started this week, and to say it didn't go particularly well doesn't quite capture it. As I said before, I don't blame the teachers or the district, it is what it is. But I think Simon had a meltdown four of the five days, and generally over things that were relatively inconsequential to his education, but of the utmost importance to his differently wired brain. Diana took the brunt of it, and I don't envy her. She even ended up being tech support for figuring out how to effectively use Teams for the whole class. Then today, while she took Oliver to the vet, Simon accidentally closed teams during the "fun" trivia about otters segment, when he was trying to dismiss the notifications appearing over the chat window, and missing this caused the most epic meltdown I've seen in months. While I was still trying to work. I've never felt as ineffective as a parent as I have this week.
And oh yeah, Oliver, our eldest cat, has been shedding pounds, barfing and having diarrhea. At first we thought maybe he was just being a picky eater, as he liked the food we were giving Emma before she died. But he's skinny in an unhealthy way, and he used to be a total fat ass. The kittens have been amazing these first two weeks, but Oliver was supposed to be the big brother and father figure. If he goes downhill, that will be devastating.
There are little things, too. The printer finally stopped working in a permanent fashion, right in time for school to start. It's not even the fact that I had to shell out $300 for a new one, it's the fact that I don't want to put 40 pounds of electronic waste in a landfill. Smaller things like forgetting to get another bar of soap for the shower, or partially burning some food, also troubled me.
Death feels like it's everywhere. It's the ongoing Covid death or something more specific like the lighting designer who did Hamilton. Or it's someone you knew in real life. One of my former co-workers from the Insurance.com days, Sam Belden, died this week. It's not that Sam and I were best friends or anything, as we last worked together 12 years ago. But we've certainly conversed virtually over that time for years, and would occasionally talk about 80's progressive rock or late 90's alternative. He was part of the team that was among the best group of technologists I ever worked with. Crazy smart guy. He was only 50. I'm sad for the ICOM family.
Work, and I'm thankful to even have a job in these times, has been the most stable thing. But even the regular challenges felt harder this week.
Thank God for the kittens. We're two weeks in with these new editions, and they've brought joy when it's hard not be sad. I've noticed though that they've already grown in two weeks, and I kinda want them to stay small longer.
I imagine next week will be better, but things really piled up this week.
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