random thoughts – Day 1,672 – (Tuesday) – sick day

Normally, my stomach is tolerant. Rugged, even. Definitely not delicate. Except for today.

For whatever mysterious reason(s), today my stomach decided to be annoyingly, extra dainty. It was flipping and flopping and churning all morning and I just wanted to go lie down. I ended up taking sick time to retire to the couch, safely away from any danger of expelling my stomach's contents on the company-owned computer equipment. Of course, because my stomach is usually iron-clad, there are no antacids or stomach medications in the house.

Binge watching Season 7 of Love Is Blind was a great diversion from the unpleasant gymnastics competition taking place in my digestive system. Participants on the allegedly unscripted show try to find a love connection through conversational dates (sight unseen) in an attempt to find a love connection. Dates take place with each person segregated in a “pod” and talking “through the wall.” They finally meet in person for the first time after they become engaged, and the show moves into a vacation setting, then back home as the couples continue to learn about each other, meet the families, and move towards a wedding date six weeks away.

The tree out back.

Observation on the show: All the 20- and 30-something year old participants are attractive, basically a nine or a ten, with one or two outlier eights. A couple of the participants seemed stiff, like they had been coached to behave a certain way that possibly went against their true nature for the sake of “good TV.” That reminded me of UnReal, a drama series available on Netflix that is set behind the scenes of a reality show.

I stepped outside the cocoon of the house for a minute to check the mail and visit the back yard. Out back, I looked at the big tree which is finally changing colors. The outermost leaves had begun to turn red, but now they are more gold and orange with still some green. I took a minute to  reset the fence post caps that the squirrels keep knocking off the posts. 

There was also a close-up look at the neighbor’s pop-up shade tent, still in my yard and looking like a bug on its back since I returned from Mexico. The neighbor’s cars move in and out of the driveway daily, but I rarely see the occupants of the house to talk with them. 

Not my canopy dead in my yard.

Maybe they haven’t looked in their back yard for the past couple weeks to notice the relocation of their canopy. Maybe they are waiting for me to deliver either the canopy to their yard or an engraved invitation to come and collect it from my yard. No idea, but the only thing I’m sure of is being tired of seeing it every day when I open the curtain in the window over the sink. If it wasn’t so awkward, and/or if I had some upper body strength, I would heave it over the fence myself.

Then it was back to the couch, still feeling kind of icky.