I’m in the middle of a 5-day vacation and things are going okay. Hahahaha, just kidding, things are going WONDERFULLY because I don’t have to get up and go to fucking work until Tuesday!

It’s not that I hate my job; I have hated my job before, but now I work for a completely different company in a completely different industry in a completely different state. The job I had before caused me chronic headaches, heartburn, and muscle and joint pain, and I will probably resent the responsible parties for the rest of my life. The job I have now is just…irritating sometimes. I mean, sometimes it really does suck, but considering what I put up with for eight previous years, pretty much everything that happens at my current job is an inconvenience, at worst. There are plenty of things I would change about it, but in no way was this vacation essential to my physical health and mental well-being.

With that said, it’s still really nice to wake up and realize that I don’t have to go there. It’s really nice to realize that I can stay out late and wake up late and not have to deal with the consequences later. It’s nice to have had a day where neither Graham nor I were only seeing one another in passing, either with one person on the way to work or with the other person just coming home from work. Shit, we even did a ton of stuff on Thursday, we dropped a crapload of money and then came home and he put together two pieces of furniture, and then he left to do laundry and I stayed at home to do chores and we met at a bar later but we still had a day together and didn’t start a fight in IKEA and I think that speaks volumes of our relationship (although if you have never seen anyone having a relationship meltdown in IKEA, you are seriously missing out on one of life’s great pleasures).

If I sound mildly euphoric, you should know that the sun is shining right now – seriously, it’s such an odd occurrence at this time of year that after I woke up, I spent 30 full seconds standing in the kitchen going “it’s so light in here” – and I ate some terrific food last night, capped the evening off with two glasses of Prosecco, and was gifted an Uber ride home and then made a Top Gun reference that landed, so altogether, I was living right.

(Pro tip: I know everyone thinks that wine by the glass is a scam, but if it’s late and you don’t feel like housing more beer and that cocktail list rarely dips below $10 a drink, I highly recommend Prosecco or cava or some sparkling beverage that’s not champagne, because it’s usually very affordable and it provides a pleasing buzz, and also you will probably feel very fancy while drinking it. Also always keep a bottle of champagne in the house. Obviously. You’re not an animal.)

All this was after I survived a probable kidnapping attempt after being stranded at the bus stop for more than 30 minutes (because while the bus is relatively clean and safe and usually arrives on time in Seattle, sometimes one passes through what is apparently a space-time rift and disappears completely, and no one ever talks about it when one of them finally arrives):

I was on fire last night, although I also appreciated a feminist take on the matter: