I think the idea behind HOAs is “American” enough - that of decentralized local oversight rather than Intrusive Big Government. The problem is that when you create a class of petty local officials they tend to act…well, petty. People often react badly to being given even minor power. School boards are another prime example.
I sort of half woke up at 5:00 am this morning. Rolled over and stretched, which caused my left calf muscle to cramp so hard that I yelled out loud. Damn thing is still sore. No idea why it happened.
If I am the least bit dehydrated I know I’ll be awoken by a muscle cramp.
And if I’m not slightly dehydrated, I’ll be woken up because I have to pee.
I cannot remember the last time I didn’t have to get up at 3 am to pee.
And I thought I was the only one. 
That exact phenomenon happens to me every now and then. Always during a post-waking stretch, and always the left calf. The pain is horrific and time seems to stand still even though it lasts only 10 to 12 seconds and then fades. It hurts too much to yell…it takes my breath away,
I’m sad about a stupid thing.
I don’t have a lot of in person friends. I’m not good at making friends. I am actually objectively terrible at it. So, I have two friends. My son is turning 1 on the 22nd and I, stupidly, hadn’t planned a party yet. I texted my two friends and ask them what their availability was the weekend before and the weekend after. They are both busy. I’m not mad at them or anything. I’m just sad that I have no alternative for celebrating my son’s birthday with other people. It’ll just be us, I guess.
If it’s any consolation, he won’t really notice or care anyway.
Our UPS driver is a liar and a forger. We’re expecting an important document, and our client used UPS Next Day Air to get it to us. UPS picked it up on June 7, and here it is June 10 and we haven’t gotten it.
Tracking shows it was delivered at 10:47 a.m. today, and signed for by one of our office service guys who has a distinctive name. Office services says UPS has not been here today. The receptionist says UPS has not been here today. The security guard on the ground floor of our building, who has to check visitors in and out, says UPS has not been here today.
UPS, through chat, says it has been delivered. UPS, through a voicemail message to me (they called during the lunch hour), says they want to help me with this “package that they delivered but that we can’t find”, and that the truck driver will come by this afternoon to discuss it with me.
So they lied about being here and delivering the package, and they forged one of our employee’s names. And my boss is getting hot under the collar because the package can’t be found.
My daughter’s first birthday landed during a very busy time. We ended up having a party a month late. Heck, she was one, she didn’t know the difference!
I know he won’t care. I’m just sad that I don’t have that many friends.
But we can still have cake even if it is just us.
Cake is always a good thing, and you can schedule for when your friends are available without upsetting the little guy.
The important part with friends is quality, not quantity. I know, kinda trite, but still true.
I get it, so many examples out there on SM of people Showing off the big birthday parties for little ones. And you want to share the joy and cake and all the moments. I honestly don’t remember what we did for my kids early birthdays,we were new to the area with family and old friends out of state. It was lonely but also stress free without the responsibility of party planning. etc etc.
My first pregnancy the spouses bosses wife insisted on throwing us a baby shower. I resisted it, I thought I have no one to invite we just moved here! No one is going to travel by plane to make it for a baby shower. It was so awkward, I finally said okay that’s very kind of you. Keep the peace with the bosses wife and all. Then she started bugging me about rsvps and menu ideas and party favors wtf I did not want it in the first place. It was stressful, awkward and I kinda resented her meddling in our business but she was it’s your first baaaabbbbby. Yeah and wish I kept it to myself! The guests were us them, one ot two other coworkers, my sister and a few tattooed biker friends from a distant city in the state. She wasn’t expecting 240 Gordy and his old lady to show up. Lol great people!
I needed to get that off my chest after 26 years!!
Especially if it is just you! And balloons and party hats. Take lots of pictures so in years to come they will now how loved and celebrated they are.
Try to have those friends over on a slightly more distant weekend, before their calendars are booked. Keep trying!
Is it too much too expect a timely homeowners renewal notice sent to your lending institution from Liberty Mutual? To not get cut off mid sentence with an abrupt tone as you try provide the mailing address, yes I’m giving you the address now, I can’t help that there’s contract gobbledygook above the P.O. Box. And and and also email me a copy please Chad? Thankyou. Liberty liberty liberate me
Since we have moved to MSP, we thought it would be a good idea to have a local bank. First we went to US Bank; what a bunch of hopeless, hapless morons. So then we settled on MidwestOne, which is pretty local and there is a branch nearby. The woman who “helped” managed to spell my wife’s name incorrectly, so it didn’t match up with the SSN, and was rejected. Now she has to bring in a document that has her SSN and name on it. Did I mention that we just moved here and everything is in boxes? And the wife, who had her original SS card for the past 60 years, couldn’t find it. So she’s had to apply for a new one, which will take. . .who knows how long.
Then the woman makes a phone call to someone who tells her that my ChexSystems account is frozen. WTF is ChexSystems, I ask, and how can it be frozen if I never logged into an account with them? My credit bureau accounts are all frozen, because I’m not an idiot, but I’ve never heard of this outfit. So I had to go online and ask for a new PIN to replace the non-existent PIN, and they had to mail the fucking thing. I finally get it, unfreeze the account, the bank is happy but says “Well, what about your wife’s ChexSystems account?” What about it? Well, she has to unfreeze hers, as well. It didn’t occur to you to tell us that two weeks ago?
Today we went to the damn bank to transfer some money to the wife’s niece. Well, it’s $30 for a wire transfer, sir. What about an account-to-account transfer? Oh, no, we can’t do that because that account isn’t with our bank. And a wire takes how long? It’s the weekend so probably three days, but have you tried Zelle? WTF is Zelle? It’s a third part app for transferring money. Wait, you can’t do it bank-to-bank because reasons, but you expect me to trust a 3rd party app whose security measures may be less than desired? What century is this? Is the wire transfer going to go by Pony Express?
Fucking banks.
I took a nap this afternoon. When I got up, the white of my right eye had become totally bright red. No pain, just redness. I don’t know what happened as I slept, but this never happened before.
My husband went to Walgreens and picked up some “Redness Relief” eye drops. I’m supposed to take them every 6 hours. If it’s no better tomorrow, I’m going to Urgent Care.
If it’s not one thing, it’s another. [sigh]
Zelle seems to be what many financial institutions use now. I use Bank of America and they use Zell also. It’s apparently the standard for transfers. It’s easy and I really like it, and have had no problem with it for the years I’ve been using it.
I’ll just be glad when it’s July. I’ve had that damned song stuck in my head for a week.
Theeeeere’s a bathroom on the right.
"And one good friend in life’s /
more than most men ever got."
Bill Camplin, Friend/Rock
That’s gone through my mind a lot. Since covid and retirement, I think I’m down to 2-5, depending on the week…