I mean, I know why not, but it’s total bullshit. What is fall without apple cider, I ask you? All the good shit is unpasteurized.
We are officially making the holiday pilgrimage to Wisconsin December 18-31 and I am PUMPED. Who knows to what lengths my belly will have grown by then!
In organizing our travel plans, I was reminded of a crude fact of living in a place without nearby family or close friends: you have to pay people to do shit for you, shit that your family or close friends would have done as a matter of course if you still lived among them. I don’t mean mooching! I mean the little life chores that people do for each other – in a symbiotic way – when they care about one another. Dropoffs/pickups at the airport, or when your car is in the shop. Pet-sitting. Babysitting. Bringing food when someone’s sick. Random errands. I’ve done all those things and had all of them done for me over the years. I suppose that’s called having a support system, and though we’ve made a few friends here, we do not have a support system. And that’s why, no matter how beautiful Seattle is, no matter how much money might possibly be made here, no matter how much I love Biscuit Bitch, we can’t stay here indefinitely. I need our people, and I will especially need them once Baby Nagappala makes their debut. (And also, I’m too afraid of the Cascadia Subduction Zone.) (I am warning you, the article linked is really fucking scary, you probably shouldn’t read it, I think about it every goddamn day.)
Anyway. I’ve always said the move is temporary. In other news…
What I’m reading: The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, which I believe is his first foray into fiction. I’ve read everything else he’s written and found it excellent; so far the novel does not disappoint.
What I’m watching: Several months ago I watched the first two episodes of Succession and then kind of forgot about it. Now V has taken it up with me and we’re about halfway through the first season. Rich people are terrible, you guys. And as it turns out, terribly compelling.
Of course given the season, we are also watching a ton of football. My fantasy team, the Iron Jawed Angels, is currently 4-2 and playing against V’s team this week. (I am always terrible at naming things, but I happen to think I.J.A. is a pretty badass team name.)
What I’m listening to: Look, I usually think Dax Shepherd is pretty annoying, but I am enjoying his Armchair Expert podcast. He gets into every guest’s whole life story and you learn a lot of crazy things about them. I skip around and only listen to the people I’m actually interested in, of course: Charlie Day, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bill Hader, Kumail Nanjiani, Kaitlin Olson (yeah, there really should be more women). Dax has a female co-host who…almost never talks? I don’t know what that’s about. But the most recent episode is with Monica Lewinsky and that’s obviously gonna be amazing.
Baby Nagappala update: We’re on week 17. According to the Bump app, during this week the baby is the size of a pomegranate, and its feet are the size of gummy bears (!).
We are in heavy name-brainstorming mode, and I obviously will not share the contenders here, but it is true what they say: you never realize how many people you hate until you have to name a child. I’m picking out registry items too, but am so overwhelmed by the research that needs doing on car seats, cribs, high chairs, etc that I have mostly just selected cute outfits and accessories so far.
I’m dealing with a lot of lower back pain; it’s usually brought on by overdoing it on my walks, so then I am housebound for a couple days trying to recover, unable to do the one thing everyone agrees I MUST be doing (walking). It has become a bit of a cycle.
What else is going on: Isis has her yearly vet appointment this weekend, which is not a big deal, but she’s been a little odd lately. She’s thrown up a couple times, and left a gift from her bowels in the guest room while we were in Portland last weekend. And of course she’s still gnawing off all of her fur she can reach, every chance she gets. Her tummy is literally bald, it’s so sad. I’m sure she’s fine but she’s no kitten anymore so I get worried sometimes.
Been pitching some things. No recent success to share. Maybe I should write about pregnancy? Because that’s a really under-discussed topic. #sarcasmfont
Sconnie Molly 