- So here’s what happened: I went on vacation and because I’m leaning so hard into this funemployment life I didn’t open my laptop once.
- Every year Zach and I go to his parents’ (now my in-laws! hah!) lake in Minnesota for the 4th of July. Normally we fly there, but last year we drove (because of the panderoni) and this year we also drove because you can’t fly with a big dog anymore. It’s kind of a bummer, and I hope airlines revisit this decision and find a middle ground that works both for the rest of the plane and people with nice but big dogs that don’t fit under seats (like …buying your dog their own seat. I’d be fine with that).
- Anyway, this all to say: we drove for 3 days again from SF to Minnesota (and then 3 days back). This year was a bit easier because I (finally) got my US driver’s license so Zach didn’t have to drive 9 hour days by himself. Also we didn’t camp or stop for sightseeing because we’ve exhausted everything of note in the middle of America.
- Related: Montana is enormous. I feel we drove an entire day through Montana and there was still some Montana left.
- Having now driven SEVERAL hours on the highway: truck drivers are wild. Some started signalling and pulling in my passing lane as I was trying to pass them; some do dick moves like drive parallel with another truck so nobody can pass them; almost none of them respect the 55 speed limit in construction zones. Rules? Who is she.
- Something I should’ve predicted is that I emotionally implode with anxiety while driving thinking that the people behind me are judging me. Do they think I’m weak because I’m only driving the posted limit in this construction zone? Don’t they know fines double?? Should I be speeding? I know I’m driving a Tesla but I’m an old woman at heart who would love it if we could all just follow the rules, ok?
- Both the dog and I had a great time at the lake. She spent all day in the lake swimming and playing with my 5 year old nephew; she also tried to play with the A, 3 year old, but their motor skills didn’t match well. A would try to throw a buoy for her, but she couldn’t throw it well, so Hopper thought this was actually an invitation to play tug and would accidentally hip check A, who would then trip, drop the buoy, get excited, pick up the buoy again and repeat this until bored. Hopper was exhausted every night and slept like a rock. I also slept like a rock because kids babysat my dog and unlike previous years I had zero work stress on my soul.
- I read nonstop while sat in the sun with industrial amounts of sun screen on. I did my yearly penance of watching nightly baseball because it was on, saw the Habs make it and then lose the Stanley cup (it’s fine, I’m not heartbroken), watched (on purpose) the Euros and Wimbledon, ate a lot of cheese curds.
- Books: Parable of the Sower (loved it, strangely apropos for 2020s fire and drought California), The invisible life of Addie Larue (TikTok made me read it, great beach read), Klara and the Sun (allegedly a sci-fi but not in like a Dune or aliens kind of way), Little Weirds (did not finish it; didn’t enjoy the writing style AND my book was badly bound making it a frustrating discovery). I’m now reading Homegoing which is shaping up to be great.
- A weird thing that happened on the drive back is that I had a medium-bad allergy to (I think) peanut butter. I broke out in hives and now I need to either get that shit checked out or do another test at home with an epi-pen nearby because in general only bad things follow hives. Ugh.
- Did y’all have a summer break? Was it good? Maybe tell me about it on Twitter?