This was another frustrating week

Last weekend was a blast. Thursday I flew up to the Mensa National Gathering in Baltimore.That’s the parking area outside the airport. It’s big and hard to figure out where the shuttles are, where you’d get a Lyft, etc., so I settled for an airport taxi. TYG was not with me but even with Wisp to care for she thought I should go rather than lose the room fee (too late to cancel) and the cost of both tickets.I had a great time catching up with friends, visiting the Museum of Visionary Art (photos to follow) and looking around the surrounding area. The hospitality suite, however, sucked: adequate meals but the snacks between meals (always a feature at Mensa gatherings) were limited to bread most of the time. And not particularly good bread. The “hot” water urn never provided water above Very Warm so I visited the local Starbucks a lot. At least the art on the wall was nice.And I must admit, after a couple of weeks with Wisp or the dogs around 24/7, having a room to myself felt great. I spent a lot of Thursday just lying around alone, unclenching.

The frustration started on the way home. Adverse weather pushed my arrival in Durham from 2 PM back to a little after 5 PM. I was in a rush so I just grabbed an airport taxi rather than contact a Lyft. BIG mistake: the guy entered the wrong address and took me way out of my way, adding another twenty minutes to my return home. And charged me $60 for the privilege. Lyft next time.

Wisp is still not sleeping at night, even with heavy doses of Gabapentin. That means I’m not sleeping which didn’t help my work any. Plus contractors, cat vet appointments … so another week with no writing done. I did pitch a local newspaper on a couple of stories — they’d asked me too — but I didn’t hear back.

On the plus side, I’d booked a flight home to Florida next week because my father looked to be in poor health. Turns out no, he’s doing okay so we’re back to a visit later in the year for his birthday. That’s a good thing because after this weekend at Congregate in Winston-Salem NC I’m done with traveling. And neither TYG nor I wanted her stuck with all three pets to manage for a week. But my cancellation insurance doesn’t cover “father’s not sick” so I’m out $400. However it looks like I’ll be able to get a lot of it back with a credit toward future flights so there’s that.

Next week I will do better. I have to because I don’t want to spend the rest of the summer getting nothing done. Not being between two different weekend trips will help, and I’ll also concentrate on keeping a regular schedule. Well, regular in the sense that if Wisp wakes me up at 12:30 I’ll put in a couple of hours instead of just fiddling around online, then adjust my daytime schedule accordingly.To leave on an up note, I sold one copy of Undead Sexist Cliches on Amazon and handsold a copy of 19-Infinity at the Gathering. Woot!

#SFWApro.