UPDATE: A Swift Return to Sanity?

A couple weeks back I received a phone call from my manager about returning to work. Being the second call of this variety, I realized that, after allowing my parents to watch my kids on occasion and after making a couple thrift store outings for my own sanity, that it was finally time to head back to work.

On my first day I walked to work, which was once an excursion that I quite enjoyed for the sake of people able to listen to music and ponder over my current short story and to take my classic look over the city. (It’s the featured photo of this blog and one of the best parts about walking to work.)

I now have two shifts tucked under my belt.

My feet ache.

My shins scream in splints.

The muscles in my upper back made themselves known to me.

I haven’t done ANYTHING in 15 months and now I am dying.

Roller Skating

Despite going back to work, I do plan on making the most of my summer. My sister and my daughter and I took up roller skating. It was a real bitch to find skates because every shop is nearly sold out. Seems a lot of people wanna try skating during COVID. I even bought a pair that was too big that you now can buy off me if you so choose.

The skating definitely worked my inner thighs a bit, but thankfully inner thigh pain is a pain that I’m now used to, because squats were about the only exercise I ever actually did during quarantine. Hopefully I can manage to find enough time to get out and practice more, because skating is a nice low-impact activity that is both socially engaging and very enjoyable and freeing.

Now, whenever I see a big open span of smooth pavement, all I want to do is skate down it. The obsession has begun, and I love that the roller skating community seems to mainly consist of diverse, positive and encouraging women.

Patreon

Patreon recently added the complication of taxes into their payment system, which I think is the correct thing to do. But damn if that last notice of payment wasn’t depressing.

The amount of time I’m putting into my Patreon stories can pretty much buy me a bottle of wine a month. Not that planned on supporting my family on Patreon, but sometimes seeing the profit can be demoralizing. That all said, I do enjoy the pressure of writing these stories. I enjoy being forced to have to produce content, and while my last effort took a bit of time, I am currently working on a new true crime-inspired short story that proves itself more of an enjoyable write.

Poshmark

I also used some of my spare time to start selling some of my clothes on Poshmark. I’d been vowing to do this for nearly a year now. My closet brimmed with clothes that begged to be worn again. Some were too big. Some I bought on a massive shopping spree. All of them begged to see the light of day instead of shoved into the furthest depths of my closet.

If you’re interested and you live in Canada (no cross-border shipping, yo!), you can shop my Poshmark closet now. If you’re not on Poshmark, you can join with my referral link and get $15 to purchase somebody else’s clothes. I’ve been using Poshmark to buy clothing ever since I made a vow to quit fast fashion and it’s been a great place for me to get some of my favourite non-ethically made clothes guilt-free.

My “NeW nOrMaL”

I hate the above term now. Remember when “new normal” was this great new phrase that felt so perfect? Venturing out of the house and taking the bus this week proved different. I’m in British Columbia, where the curve drops a little. We’re in the third phase of our pandemic. We can travel. Restaurants and stores opened with precautions.

Masks are encouraged.

I didn’t wear one at first but quickly followed suit. They’re annoying but I can handle it. I miss wearing lipstick but it’s also nice to not worry about retouching it all day long.

Nobody wants to go back to work, but hey, I get to talk to adults again! I get paid paid to take my 20,000 steps a day again! Only 50 people can be in the store at any given period of time so I can’t get overwhelmed with retail stress!

Summer will be good.

My daughter, however, goes to school in the fall. Full-day kindergarten. I plan on going part-time. So we shall see how that goes.