taking down the holidays
Last night I had one quarter of one of those "CBD" pot brownies I got when I did my Christmas shopping at Uncle Ike's the week before Christmas. Ever since getting inadvertently baked to the hilt on Christmas Day, I've decided that a) no more smoking or vaping for me; b) whatever edible says is "one serving," I'll just take a quarter of that amount. And these "single-serving" Goodship Double Fudge Brownies total 0.7 ounces and contain both 10 mg of CBD -- which the lady at Uncle Ike's had told me should counteract my typical responses to marijuana of anxiousness and/or falling asleep -- and 10 mg of THC. Maybe an hour after I got home from work, I cut out a quarter of one of those brownies, which meant I thus consumed 2.5 mg of THC and 2.5 mg of CBD.
That just might be the perfect amount for me. I mean, honestly, I do still far prefer the buzz of alcohol. But, I'm still searching for a marijuana experience that is not decidedly unpleasant as a result of my own conscientious choice of consumption, and I think last night I finally managed it. I spent a great deal of the evening taking down Christmas decorations, and going back and forth between the storage unit on the lower of two parking garages and back. I knew to wait an hour or two before I felt anything, and honestly wondered if I would feel anything at all having just taken a quarter of that small brownie -- and, I did. The effects were very minor, just as I desired, and lasted just a little while, just as I wanted. There was one moment where I actually said out loud to myself, "Whoa" -- and that was it.
I may have another quarter of the brownie tonight. I mean, why not? I don't have any plans. A coworker of Shobhit's is having to give up shifts due to a family emergency and he's picking up hours, so in addition to working all evening last night as originally planned, he's now also working tonight until 9:30 and tomorrow night until 9:45. Movie options for things I haven't already seen are pretty sparse; I may go see The Greatest Showman tomorrow evening, since Laney isn't free to join me for The Post until Sunday. Tonight, though, it's just another evening at home alone.
And that's what it was last night, although I was able to keep myself pretty busy. As soon as I reached the condo building, I first went down to the storage unit to grab the box I keep all the Christmas decorations in, and the Christmas Tree box, and took them upstairs.
I had a side project too -- or actually, kind of two of them: I have four boxes of saved letters and cards down there, and have just been packing all saved mail and cards in a pile in one of my desk cubby holes for, well, the past decade. Before having roommates, I stored these boxes in the guest room closet, figuring I would just add newly received letters and (mostly, these days) cards regularly. But, with the arrival of roommates, I had to make space, and took them downstairs to the storage unit. I figured ten years on it was well past time to pack up the huge pile I had in my desk. And getting those four boxes upstairs was a bit of an ordeal: one at a time I took them in incremental distances, first from the storage unit to the locked door of the storage area it's located in; to the other side of that door; to the elevator bank; up to the fourth floor; then to my condo door.
But first, the Christmas decorations takedown. Okay, actually I had dinner first. Shobhit had an opo/lentil and rice dish ready, and I ate some of that while watching an episode of Lady Dynamite. But then I put on some Tori Amos and set about wrapping up the tree ornaments, and then taking down the Christmas lights -- which, of course, I still had turned on until then. Shobhit should be happy now; he complained so much (in a way he never once did before, which I still find bizarre and I hope it doesn't become a constant thing every fucking year) about their supposed "brightness." But, one by one, I wrapped each strand of Christmas lights around my hand, until I reached the plug and then unplugged it. Eight strands, one across the wall of the living room above the TV wall; five around the bay windows; two around the Christmas Tree.
There's always an ever-so-slight feeling of melancholy when I have to take the Christmas decorations down. I love the holiday season so much, and I hate to see it end. But, I suppose, having them up all year would weaken the novelty of having them up only between Thanksgiving and the New Year. This feeds into what I maintain to be one of the secrets to my general happiness and contentment -- having stuff planned, both in the short term and the long term, so that I always have something to look forward to. The holiday season has been taken down, but now I look ahead to . . . what's next? Valentine's Day? Well, we'll just go out to dinner; big deal. Easter, I suppose. That's on April Fool's Day this year, which I find amusing. My Birth Week is at the end of that month, when I do my first themed Birth Week, packing it with visits to botanical gardens around the local region.
Most significantly, and this gets into the long-range planning, is the week in Yellowstone National Park for our anniversary in June. Shobhit and I had both hoped Ivan would at least stay until then so he could cat sit, but that's clearly not happening. Oh well. I suppose the stars could align so that our trip coincided with Ivan's return from his few months in Europe and he could still cat sit in combination with picking up the stuff he'll have in storage before moving on to Vancouver, but that's clearly doubtful. We do have neighbors I know can be relied on.
Anyway, the second side project (besides filing away my decade of cards and letters and postcards) was related to Ivan: I moved stuff around in the storage unit to make room for him to store some of this things for a few months while he's in Europe. I did this after getting all the mail put into the boxes (I have them all arranged alphabetically by first name of sender) -- or so I thought: I found a second smaller stack in my desk after I thought I was all done last night. Damn it! In any case, taking the boxes back down, I took a different tack and carried them two at a time, which was more efficient if a bit more of a physical strain. This after I took the packed up Christmas decorations and boxed Christmas Tree down.
As for making space, I didn't create a huge amount, but probably just enough -- I took a few boxes clearly no longer needed to recycling, and threw out a few things, such as an old TiVo box I forgot I even had down there. I felt a little bad because I don't think you're supposed to throw electronics in the garbage anymore, but whatever. I found a few other things I didn't even remember I had and probably haven't even thought about in five years or more, which meant I clearly no longer needed them. Otherwise, large boxes kept down there were stuck inside each other where I could manage it, which also created some space.
Getting the boxes of mail and the Christmas decorations all efficiently packed in there, about half the small table being stored down there was cleared, and I sent Ivan a photo to show that I had created some space for him. How thoughtful!! he replied, which was a bit more enthusiastic than I expected.
So, the storage space is now all ready for him when he packs up to leave next month, with stuff we need fairly regularly still readily accessible -- suitcases, the cooler. And, the living room is now back to its normal state as it exists between the start of January and the end of November. Next year is set to be the first full holiday season without any roommates around since 2013. I was tempted to say 2009 which was the last holiday season before Shobhit moved to New York, but 2013 was when the Dipshit roommate moved out at the end of November and, as opposed to when Ivan first moved out or even when Tommy moved out, I was massively relieved when that guy left and didn't mind at all being alone for the next five months, I was so glad to be rid of that guy. (Ivan then moved in at the end of April in 2014.)
There were no roommates around for the holiday season in 2011 either, because Gil, the roommate I had then, spent the month of December that year working at the Cheesecake Factory in Portland. So even though I had roommates between May 2010 and now, I only had a roommate around in December in 2010, 2012, and 2014 through 2017. Ivan was here for three of them, Tommy for the second of the four of those years.
Again: roommates for eight years. Okay, slightly more than seven and a half years, actually. And there was a one-month break between Fabricio and Gautam; five months between Gautam and Ivan; four months between Ivan and Tommy. Cumulatively I spent 10 months just living alone in that time, which leaves something closer to a little more than six and a half years, cumulatively, with roommates. It still spanned between May 2010 and February 2018. That's pretty close to 80% of a decade, which, much as I adore Ivan, is more than enough. Shobhit and I need to get back in the swing of things with a life shared just between the two of us, I think.
[posted 12:16 pm]