I'm pretty sure I've posted this before, but just in case:


This is one of those songs I cam always listen to. I'm not a huge fan of most of his stuff, but this particular song hits me in the sweet spot.

Happy Tuesday! We survived Monday! Good lord, yesterday seemed to drag unmercifully. It felt like the afternoon alone was at least 8 hours. I was jumping back and forth from phone to working on other shit and the back to the phone. It made for a long day. Then, of course, I also got word at about 1:45 that Boodle's ashes were ready for pick up.

I cried again. God, I miss that baby so much. After the very long day ended, Jess and I went up to get her. And then I cried some more at her tiny footprint, and the very small box. She was a little cat, but the box is so tiny, barely bigger than my fist. How can all that personality fit in such a small box?

I wish I had realized that she was sick sooner. The outcome would probably have been the same, but if I had known that it was the last year, I would have given her nonstop churus, and held her more. (Though to be fair, she wasn't a huge fan, and would have made me bleed my own blood.

I think I've cried more for her than I did for both my parents, which is kind of fucked up. Then again, aside from her tendency to wake me up at 3 am for food by clawing the blankets around my face, frequently hitting my face and leaving scratches, she never did anything to hurt me. My mother's legacy is one of neglect and outright emotional abuse, and the last two years with my father were brutal. But still, I feel a little bad that I couldn't grieve as hard as I am for this little cat.

We had sushi for dinner, because I was a bit of a wreck. We tried a new place and it was excellent. The fish was delicious and fresh and they gave us an extra roll on the house. It was called a Salad Roll, and it had everything that I like in it. It was avocado, kani, tempura shrimp with a seaweed salad topping. I'm normally not a huge fan of seaweed salad, but this was really good. I think that and the other roll we'd never tried, a Caterpillar roll were my favorites. Not that the usual suspects were bad, those just were really good.

We watched another couple of videos on Pike Place market, and I've think I've narrowed down the places I must got to. So far I've got 6 of them. First up is Mee Sum for their pork and their Beef Curry Hom Bow, which are liked baked fluffy buns with the meat inside. Next is Beecher's famous mac and cheese. Piroshky Piroshky looks like it has some interesting and tasty buns, including a salmon pate that I know my sister will be all over. Pike Place Chowder sells seared scallop chowder and I must have. I fucking love scallops. We'll probably also get a cup of "the best clam chowder in the world," at Pike. Place Chowder. After all that, we'll need a ginger beer from Rachel's Ginger Beer. And then last, just for Jess, we're going to hit the crumpet shop for a cup of tea and some crumpets. We're going to probably get there right around lunch rush, so we'll see how many of then we can get before we have to leave. I figure if we use 2 hours of our 4 hour tour there, I'm good with it. There was a park the limo recommended, but if we don't make it there, it's okay. I think it was mostly a photo op to get pictures with the skyline anyway.

I need to watch a couple of more videos on Granville Market in Vancouver, so I'll be ready. Right now the front runner for lunch is Celine's Fish. I'm a sucker for a good fish and chips, but that could change. And there's a few other places I want to get snacks from. Like the famous maple salmon. I'll give that a try. And maybe a donut from Lee's and a pot pie from the pie man. Go big or go home, right. I need to do that early enough that by 5pm we're ready for Korean BBQ at Dae Bok Bon Ga. Then we shall go to see Mortal Kombat.

Now that we're under a month, I believe that I can order tickets for the hop on hop off bus in Vancouver to make things easier. Otherwise, we're going to spend a ton on Ubers with the four of us. Okay, trolley tickets have been purchased. They weren't super cheap, but that's okay. It'll last us for the day.

I'm a little worried about how well I'll sleep this vacation. Normally at night, I take my Ambien plus 10mg of THC via the relaxing peppermint tablets. Obviously I can't take weed on the airplane or on the cruise ship, so this could be fun. I'll be taking my anti anxiety meds, so hopefully between the two I'll manage. I'm definitely going to be more active than usual, so hopefully that translates to better sleep.

I got a few more of my things for vacation, so I'll be doing some more packing one day this week. I'll probably wait til Friday as I think that's when the last bunch of stuff comes in, and we might aftually be caught up on laundry by the. I had an enormous pile of clothes on the floof by my side of the bed and I sorted through them on Saturday. It appears that the areas we're going are going in Alaska are going to be a high around 50 degrees F, so we're going to need some cold weather gear. I got another jacket, which is a North Face fleece that I think will be very helpful, and also a fleece lined rain coat. Hopefully, they'll be sufficient. I might need both on the whale watching trip, but I'm okay with that. I also got gloves and a hat just in case. At least the whale watching boat does have a heated cabin if we get too cold.

I think that's all I'm taking. I might stuff a lightweight fleece in my carry on for Seattle and Vancouver, just in case we need something light, but they're hovering around 60 degrees, so I think we'll be okay.

I need to pack a few more pairs of leggings, underwear, my shoes, binoculars and emergency antibiotic stash and some short sleeve t-shirts for on the boat. I may also take one of my tank tops with a shelf bra and some shorts for knocking around in the suite.

We're down to 23 days. I need to find someone to pick up our mail and packages, so I'm looking online and not finding a lot. I just posted to Reddit, so hopefully someone will bite. It's literally bringing in the mail and watering my two sad little plants, and maybe making sure that the apartment is still standing.

Aside from that, it's just getting Yoda acclimated to boarding and then we'll be golden. I can't believe it's really happening. In another 9 days, we'll be able to print our boarding passes for the boat, and it'll be time to choose our breakfast for the flight. Maybe it'll sink in then. Or maybe it'll be as we cross the Rocky Mountai dns, or touch down in Seattle. Maybe it'll be real when we go up in the Space Needle?

Or maybe it'll be like Disney where the whole trip felt like a fever dream. We shall see.

We get back late on Sunday and will go fetch our puppy on Monday morning and have the day to love all over him and tell him how awesome he is.

Today should be a quieter day. The calls won't be stacked as badly and hopefully I'll get some work done. I know I have a 1 on 1 this morning, just a check in, I think. Then after work, I go to get my hair cut. On Wednesday, I shall dye my hair. I'm trying to decide between cooking the lobster tails on my break or right after I get off work. I'll have about 40 min between when I finish and when I need to leave, so that is entirely doable. Though I hate to cook everyone else's early. They're really best when they first come out. Maybe I'll just wait to cook them til I get home, and have dinner be a touch late. That sounds like a better option. It rarely takes more than 20 minutes to do my hair, so I'd be home at 6, and could just cook them then. I'll have Jess turn on the oven at 5:50pm.

Okay, time to do some studying. Everyone have an amazing Tuesday!