Vacation went as planned
I forgot to bring my wireless keyboard to Texas, so I didn't update from there, and I didn't bother bringing it to New Orleans because I knew I wouldn't have time, I was only there for 24 hours. But the short version is I was hit by the one honest driver in Louisiana, she admitted liability, her insurance (State Farm) accepted that, and although getting it was a 2-hour ordeal they did pay for my rental and will do so until I have my car back. I didn't have to go through my insurance for anything, so hopefully it will not impact my monthly payment.
So I got to Galveston a bit later than I had anticipated, around 6:30, but I made good time and other than swinging through a McDonald's drive-through I made no stops. I went to the Walmart first and got some cold brew, bagels, cream cheese, and strawberries for breakfast. I had a quiet first evening, I just settled in and read for a few hours.
I only had 2 full days in Galveston, so I didn't really make specific plans. The first time I went it was for an entire week, so I already saw all the things that you feel like you should see when you visit a place. It was still hot as balls, daytime high of about 90°, so after breakfast and lazing around for a couple of hours, I walked to The Strand and wandered in an out of antique stores and other shops (I always visit the independent and/or used bookstore of any town I visit), had lunch somewhere, then went back to the house for about an hour to rest. Then I went to the beach around 5:30 and left around sunset, sitting in the shade of a lifeguard tower and occasionally wandering down to the shoreline (I do not swim in the ocean but I like to wade in the surf). It felt like a bathtub, no wonder hurricane season ain't slowing down, but by the time I arrived in Texas we knew Helene was headed to Florida, so I filed that under "Not my problem".
At sunset I came home, showered, and ordered dinner with Uber Eats. After dinner I'd stream something, then read for a while, then go to bed. A big part of my vacations is just being alone and knowing I'm not suddenly going to hear anything that might need my attention, so although they probably sound boring as shit to outside observers they are crucial to my mental well-being. I did use the common areas of the house a lot, eating breakfast in the kitchen and dinner in the dining room and spending a fair amount of time in the living room and on the porch, but I hardly ever saw anyone else. I could hear them upstairs--I think mine was the only unit on the first floor--and I did briefly interact with someone I assume is a long-term renter because he had an Indian accent and was wearing scrubs, so he must have been on staff at UTMB.
Other than him, the only time I saw someone to speak to was my 2nd night. I had taken 4 mushroom gummies on the beach, and housed an entire order of calamari I had delivered from Bubba Gump Shrimp, and was stumbling around the kitchen for a glass of water in my Overlook Hotel carpet caftan when I heard someone ask "Are you Miranda?" and nearly jumped a foot. Miranda is the house's host (and probably owner as well, although you can never be certain with Airbnb); she was very responsive via text but again, I never once saw her. I explained that I was another guest, probably looking and sounding as high as I felt; she pursed her lips and said "I love your, umm, outfit", which I found hysterically funny, although I did manage to thank her. I decided not to care if a stranger I would never see again knew I was on something (something that's legal even in Texas, I might add).
I went home on Thursday afternoon, did a load of laundry, got kolaches for breakfast in the morning, then drove to New Orleans. I spent a couple of hours talking with my aunt; without disrespecting their privacy I will say she and my uncle are both going through some health challenges, but she also wanted to talk about Phil because she never feels like she's getting totally honest answers from Mom. I took an Uber to Pelikan Hub, which was actually in Metairie at a pizza parlor. I stayed for a couple of hours, long enough to eat and mingle with other pen nerds, and get some freebies. We got a bottle of the Pelikan ink of the year, as usual; this year it's Golden Lapis, a beautiful deep blue with gold shimmer. In addition we also got an A4 pad of paper, and I won the door prize of a mug with the Pelikan Hub 2024 logo. Someone who is into cigars also brought a bunch of empty boxes for anyone to take and I snagged a very nice cedar box with a latch that's big enough to hold a couple dozen pens.
Saturday morning we Door Dashed breakfast and watched The Weather Channel. Man, Helene was a bad one. Footage from Asheville, North Carolina was starting to come out. Glad we dodged that bullet. WE ALREADY HAD OUR HURRICANE FOR THIS YEAR SO WE'RE ALL SET THANKS Lori and I went to the Immersive Monet exhibit; I didn't like it as much as the Van Gogh one, and that's probably just a case of feeling more of a connection to his art, but it was still fun. There's going to be a new exhibit in November and they couldn't say who it would be but I'm pretty sure it's going to be Gustav Klimt. We also went to Papier Plume real quick because Lori is interested in roller balls; she didn't wind up buying anything but I got another wax seal, a Mardi Gras mask.
I went home Saturday afternoon, first swinging by Island of Salvation Botanica on my way out of town for a couple of the dressed Steady Work candles that I like. I also couldn't resist buying this candle for my hurricane altar:
I can either use wax beads and a wick once the original candle is used up, or just a tealight. I definitely will not burn it for very long, or turn my back on it, because some of that decoration looks a kinda flammable. In fact there's a second wick that I didn't even light, because it is reeeeeally close to the starfish.
Sunday I went to the grocery store and decided to take it easy on myself by making BLTs with Texas toast for supper. I got a carton of roasted red pepper soup to serve with it, and I made Mormon fry sauce to drizzle on some veggie straws. I also bought a cherry crumble from the Rouses bakery.
This morning I had a dentist appointment, blegh. I got a clean bill of health with the oral cancer screening, and I found out I still have a couple of my wisdom teeth! I thought they had all been removed before I got braces, but apparently they left the upper 2 and pulled 2 premolars, while they did the opposite on the bottom, pulling those wisdom teeth but leaving the premolars. My teeth are in better shape than I expected; I have 5 cavities total but they are tiny little pinprick cavities and will be easy to fill. My best bet for replacing the extracted tooth (which is healing just fine) is a bridge, which will also take care of one of the cavities because it's next to the extracted tooth. But first I have to get a very thorough cleaning that's going to take about 2 hours. Sounds delightful. That's about $1,000 and my insurance will only cover half of it, because it's not like a preventive cleaning. So I'm going to have to move some things around before I can schedule it. After that I'm going to be pretty much tapped out as far as insurance coverage for the year, because they will only shell out $1,000 per calendar year, so we'll start with the cavities after the new year.
So I got to Galveston a bit later than I had anticipated, around 6:30, but I made good time and other than swinging through a McDonald's drive-through I made no stops. I went to the Walmart first and got some cold brew, bagels, cream cheese, and strawberries for breakfast. I had a quiet first evening, I just settled in and read for a few hours.
I only had 2 full days in Galveston, so I didn't really make specific plans. The first time I went it was for an entire week, so I already saw all the things that you feel like you should see when you visit a place. It was still hot as balls, daytime high of about 90°, so after breakfast and lazing around for a couple of hours, I walked to The Strand and wandered in an out of antique stores and other shops (I always visit the independent and/or used bookstore of any town I visit), had lunch somewhere, then went back to the house for about an hour to rest. Then I went to the beach around 5:30 and left around sunset, sitting in the shade of a lifeguard tower and occasionally wandering down to the shoreline (I do not swim in the ocean but I like to wade in the surf). It felt like a bathtub, no wonder hurricane season ain't slowing down, but by the time I arrived in Texas we knew Helene was headed to Florida, so I filed that under "Not my problem".
At sunset I came home, showered, and ordered dinner with Uber Eats. After dinner I'd stream something, then read for a while, then go to bed. A big part of my vacations is just being alone and knowing I'm not suddenly going to hear anything that might need my attention, so although they probably sound boring as shit to outside observers they are crucial to my mental well-being. I did use the common areas of the house a lot, eating breakfast in the kitchen and dinner in the dining room and spending a fair amount of time in the living room and on the porch, but I hardly ever saw anyone else. I could hear them upstairs--I think mine was the only unit on the first floor--and I did briefly interact with someone I assume is a long-term renter because he had an Indian accent and was wearing scrubs, so he must have been on staff at UTMB.
Other than him, the only time I saw someone to speak to was my 2nd night. I had taken 4 mushroom gummies on the beach, and housed an entire order of calamari I had delivered from Bubba Gump Shrimp, and was stumbling around the kitchen for a glass of water in my Overlook Hotel carpet caftan when I heard someone ask "Are you Miranda?" and nearly jumped a foot. Miranda is the house's host (and probably owner as well, although you can never be certain with Airbnb); she was very responsive via text but again, I never once saw her. I explained that I was another guest, probably looking and sounding as high as I felt; she pursed her lips and said "I love your, umm, outfit", which I found hysterically funny, although I did manage to thank her. I decided not to care if a stranger I would never see again knew I was on something (something that's legal even in Texas, I might add).
I went home on Thursday afternoon, did a load of laundry, got kolaches for breakfast in the morning, then drove to New Orleans. I spent a couple of hours talking with my aunt; without disrespecting their privacy I will say she and my uncle are both going through some health challenges, but she also wanted to talk about Phil because she never feels like she's getting totally honest answers from Mom. I took an Uber to Pelikan Hub, which was actually in Metairie at a pizza parlor. I stayed for a couple of hours, long enough to eat and mingle with other pen nerds, and get some freebies. We got a bottle of the Pelikan ink of the year, as usual; this year it's Golden Lapis, a beautiful deep blue with gold shimmer. In addition we also got an A4 pad of paper, and I won the door prize of a mug with the Pelikan Hub 2024 logo. Someone who is into cigars also brought a bunch of empty boxes for anyone to take and I snagged a very nice cedar box with a latch that's big enough to hold a couple dozen pens.
Saturday morning we Door Dashed breakfast and watched The Weather Channel. Man, Helene was a bad one. Footage from Asheville, North Carolina was starting to come out. Glad we dodged that bullet. WE ALREADY HAD OUR HURRICANE FOR THIS YEAR SO WE'RE ALL SET THANKS Lori and I went to the Immersive Monet exhibit; I didn't like it as much as the Van Gogh one, and that's probably just a case of feeling more of a connection to his art, but it was still fun. There's going to be a new exhibit in November and they couldn't say who it would be but I'm pretty sure it's going to be Gustav Klimt. We also went to Papier Plume real quick because Lori is interested in roller balls; she didn't wind up buying anything but I got another wax seal, a Mardi Gras mask.
I went home Saturday afternoon, first swinging by Island of Salvation Botanica on my way out of town for a couple of the dressed Steady Work candles that I like. I also couldn't resist buying this candle for my hurricane altar:
I can either use wax beads and a wick once the original candle is used up, or just a tealight. I definitely will not burn it for very long, or turn my back on it, because some of that decoration looks a kinda flammable. In fact there's a second wick that I didn't even light, because it is reeeeeally close to the starfish.
Sunday I went to the grocery store and decided to take it easy on myself by making BLTs with Texas toast for supper. I got a carton of roasted red pepper soup to serve with it, and I made Mormon fry sauce to drizzle on some veggie straws. I also bought a cherry crumble from the Rouses bakery.
This morning I had a dentist appointment, blegh. I got a clean bill of health with the oral cancer screening, and I found out I still have a couple of my wisdom teeth! I thought they had all been removed before I got braces, but apparently they left the upper 2 and pulled 2 premolars, while they did the opposite on the bottom, pulling those wisdom teeth but leaving the premolars. My teeth are in better shape than I expected; I have 5 cavities total but they are tiny little pinprick cavities and will be easy to fill. My best bet for replacing the extracted tooth (which is healing just fine) is a bridge, which will also take care of one of the cavities because it's next to the extracted tooth. But first I have to get a very thorough cleaning that's going to take about 2 hours. Sounds delightful. That's about $1,000 and my insurance will only cover half of it, because it's not like a preventive cleaning. So I'm going to have to move some things around before I can schedule it. After that I'm going to be pretty much tapped out as far as insurance coverage for the year, because they will only shell out $1,000 per calendar year, so we'll start with the cavities after the new year.