Working On A Quirky Graph

This morning I’ve been simultaneously crocheting a new blanket, reading a book on my phone, playing a game on my phone and fruitlessly searching for music to soothe the misfiring neurons in my brain. How is your relaxing weekend working for you?

I’ve been lowkey anxious after the election about the economy, whether my job will continue to need me, how I’m going to pay bills and still be able to shore up this 145 year old house so it doesn’t fall down around my ears. Not only is there a mortgage, but the extra money I’ve had to put toward repairing the years of damage that had been somewhat cleverly hidden and missed in the inspection. And I’ve been making headway. New roof, new tuck pointing on the biggest walls, new windows for the rooms I would be spending the most time in that would cut down on heat and cold.

There are other things that will need to be done next year. The other two walls still need to be tuck pointed. One of the largest windows in the house will need to be replaced, but before I make that happen, I need to bring in a structural engineer and have them shore up the stairwell which sits to the side of the main part of the house. There is a gap between the beams that seems to hold up the house and the one that runs the width of the house. A call to a structural engineer is the next obvious choice, but either way it needs to be done. Sistering the beams just didn’t fix the problem. And, of course there are other projects that are more nice to haves, like a garage port, some privacy fencing and a new deck that doesn’t open to the side, but instead out to the yard. Those things, though, aren’t necessary to the house, or my survival in it.

Of course, in an entertaining end to the year, I just got a letter from the city that casually mentions there is a good chance there is lead in my pipes. Just drops that nugget of knowledge as though it was something I should have already anticipated being the house (and the neighborhood) with all it’s existing infrastructure is well over a century old and probably hasn’t been touched in that long except for minor repairs. The letter also seems to begrudgingly mention the city will help with the financial aspects should I choose to have the pipes fixed/replaced. So I’ve got that going for me.

However it does seem to add to the drumbeat of anxiety. I’ve had to drop back on some of the social media I consume. Ok I was only looking at Reddit, but even that has become too depressing for me, so I’ve pulled back and started thinking about ways to not only search for a positive forum to help guide me away from the random spots of anxious quicksand, but a way to expand my reach for positivity as well. Share the ridiculousness I come across that I often find funny and see if I can brighten someone else’s day as well. So I joined Bluesky Social. I’m not sure I would want the responsibility that some of these content creators have with thousands or millions of followers, but I find I’m entertained by the notion of joining something that is sort of up and coming, and yet not. There are so many communities that are building themselves there it is fascinating to watch and there are just as many that are looking for… honestly I’m not sure. I can’t say that I’ve ever been someone that will throw myself into a social opportunity and make an ass out of myself to get attention, but holy cow what some people are putting out there is sort of interesting to watch. Not quite a train wreck, but definitely a near miss.

The economic concerns have got me reevaluating my skill set at work, and trying to figure out how to add to it. My job is a tiny bit specialized, but not completely special so anything can happen at any time. I’ve been working to add different certificates to my repertoire, but that doesn’t guarantee I will have transferrable skills. My specific job title is this weird catch all that different companies often use different definitions on what is required to do it, and I have the most basic version of those skills. I have not kept up with the certification skills as much as I should have, and will need to start revisiting websites to see if I can brush up on skills that are beyond rusty with disuse. I will need to do something to keep myself busy this winter, and I may as well start teaching myself a new skill. As it is, while I was playing a mindless game earlier I was tempted to look up game theory to understand better what was happening with the game play and how to do better. I was able to talk myself down though, I don’t have the spare change to start a course on Game Theory just so I can game a 3 match a bit better.

Winter weather is finally making itself known, challenging the roses that have not gotten the same memo the other flowers have. In fact, they are the only things flourishing in that area of the house, so I may end up planting several more to see if they will take over and give the house a more wild look. We will see how they come out at the end of the week, but I may end up cutting them back finally to allow them the chance to rest before starting anew in the spring to see how high they can grow and if they can resist the strangle hold of the random vines that are rampant in that garden bed.

While I bide my time between two different bouts of snow, I’m going to look at ways to be more efficient with heating the house, while enjoying the new lined sweatpants I plan on living in until the temperature rises above 70 degrees F or 21 degrees C consistently. Meanwhile, I am waiting as patiently as possible for my new lined workout pants and thermal shirt I bought so I won’t freeze for the Hot Chocolate run in a week. The only thing I need to worry about now is the fact that the 10K starts 45 minutes after the 5K, so I will want to be as close to done as possible to their start. I’m not sure I can shave 7 minutes off my time though. Meanwhile I’ll be loading up on protein before the race. Who knew that those would be things I would be saying as an adult?