That's so 2020 in Book Seven: Reconstruction 2020

Yeah. It uh… it certainly is one crazy ass fucking year.
The “2020” meme with Ant Man can now add “Inland Hurricane tears from Nebraska through Iowa to Chicago and St. Louis.” Yeesh!! I mean, honestly, thank goodness where I live didn’t suffer the extreme damage many other places did but… DUDE! We’re still going through COVID. Courts are shakily and poorly just coming back from COVID shutdowns; massive damage, power outages, and internet outages are NOT HELPING! Which really sucks because my Rape Cases are getting set for Jury Trials… those jury trials CANNOT and WILL NOT happen but that also means I’ve got to cut these guys sweetheart deals which pisses me off.

Let me start from a point of narrative:
On Monday, the skies around the office were getting… scary. Like… pitch black at 10 a.m. scary. Then the wind picked up. And I mean PICKED UP, lifting things off the ground picked up. Guess what my first thought was? Fuck, Nala is outside!! So I called Nancy and told her “drop whatever you’re doing and let Nala in. I don’t care if you stay or not; but she needs to come in!” LUCKILY Nancy didn’t offer any resistance. And the dog, despite having access to the three season room… hadn’t gone in seeking shelter… so it is especially good that Nancy got her. Which made me start thinking “Y’know… not so bad.” When the sky cleared a little; I raced home. Knowing it was much lighter in the North so my area wouldn’t suddenly find itself in the thick of it putting me at risk. I got home and Nancy and Nala were in the basement. And then Nancy gave me two pieces of information that made me think, “No. My earlier anger towards her is perfectly justified.” Item 1: She still had not done any of the paperwork for the Separation. Irksome; but not “push me over the edge” irksome as this news is/was really rather expected. Item 2: She tells me, “Yeah. I should really get my own bank account set up. I’m sitting on three paychecks.” WHAT?!

WHAT?!

So… the job you’re doing… for money… you haven’t been depositing those paychecks? So I am to understand that… you have been receiving money… and NOT putting it into the bank account that we share… while you are still using that bank account to pay for things like rent, food, car, dates?! Are you… do you.... I mean.... THAT is beyond the pale! That just wiped out ANY “good character” points she may have had! Really just… upsetting!! So… yeah. Called my in-town lawyer and took additional steps to secure a Divorce Lawyer. In Town is supposed to call me back today and after I speak with him; I’ll call the Divorce Lawyer to set up a meeting.

Tuesday, still WITH power but WITHOUT internet I got up, somewhat unhappily drove to work… where I discovered the power was still entirely down for the whole city. So… turned around, drove home. Nala, who was asleep and has NO sense of time, was thrilled that 5:00 came so quickly! lol. And was then VERY confused when I didn’t change clothes and take her for a walk (as I would coming home at 5). Instead, I laid on the bed and considered trying to go back to sleep. Didn’t happen. I then mentally listed all the things I’d normally do; and crossed off the ones that involved the internet. Streaming Anime, Star Wars the Old Republic, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Netflix, YouTube, Spotify. So I had (1) Play non-online required PS4 games; (2) Read; (3) cook. And I made a plan. I would play PS4 for an hour or two; read my book for an hour or two; and then cook up the meat in the fridge. I got through about an hour of PS4 when Victoria called.

She was trying to figure out what to do for her son. Her daughter was at Playgroup but her son was… struggling without internet… as was she. So I figured - hell, why not? Bring the two of you over and at least Nala and I can hang out with all of you outside or something. Victoria (it seems) is always a little taken aback by the scale of my house. She has every right. By rights, our home situation should be switched. Her home is a bedroom for her and Remus, and a bedroom that is shared by her children. My home is a bedroom for me, two completely empty bedrooms, and a bedroom in the basement. Like… I have the space to not only give her kids their own room, but I could house her & Remus without giving up my bedroom on top of that. Not that I would and not that our situation is in anyway headed that direction. But she was just thinking how the house could be used socially… which YES. That is the purpose for which I obtained it! Of course… divorce… pandemic… hurricane… I haven’t really had much opportunity to use it that way! Her son, who possess one of my favorite names in the English language, really wanted to spend all day at my place. And I was okay with it. So when Victoria went to pick up her daughter, she and Daughter and Remus came over to my place. I had a whole nuclear family unit hanging out at my house. I couldn’t even get my own family to do that this year. It was kind of nice. If exhausting.

Which brings me to today. Power is back on. Internet is back on. At least for me and my workplace. Others aren’t so lucky. But the workplace is back up and running so we’re expected to be there. But I didn’t. Maybe my body is getting weird signals or maybe spending time with children wore me out or maybe I shouldn’t have mixed Kahlua with 99Banana last night. Whatever it was, I did NOT want to get out of bed this morning and firmly decided… not gonna. I got my ass up yesterday to discover the entire town without power and everyone in my office lives in that town… and nobody decided to text me to say “No power, stay home”. So… fine, y’all. I’m sleeping in today and working from home!

So that’s been the last three days. Oh… I left something out that matters. Typically, I have a beard these days. But it was growing long so on Monday, I tried to trim it. But that made it look… boxy, strange… like it was sticking out and trying to run away from my face. So I tried to trim that part. And gave myself a bit of a Hulk Hogan look. Which… time of Face Masks, fine, but just isn’t me. SO I trimmed that to just a mustache. To give you a hint at how that looks? Victoria called it “The Ultimate Dad ‘stache. Like a derpy Ron Swanson.”

My plans for the rest of today? I need to soak. I was going to do so on Monday and didn’t which also likely is why today is a “fuck it, I’m sleeping” day. Other than that? Walk the dog. Cook some food. Deal with separation and divorce lawyers. Write some more. Other than everything 2020 is throwing at the world and at me… my daily life is quite… mundane.