Float On (or Not)

I'm glad to have a three-day weekend (thanks Juneteenth) because this week was stressful for me. My day job took a lot out of me this week. A lot of ups and downs. I decided to try and alleviate some of the stress from the week by going to a float center. I've been wanting to try floating for a while and finally did it today. Things didn't go well! I could not relax enough to enjoy it. First, because I'm claustrophobic, I had to leave the doors open on the float pod. Fine. Then, the lights went out (or were on a motion detector) and that freaked me out, so I requested that the lights be left on. Then I couldn't find a comfortable position. Then I was too hot. Finally, after about 20 minutes or so, I gave up. I knew there was no way I was going to stay it that hot pod for an hour. Maybe some folks find that relaxing, but I'm not one of them. Well, I tried. I'll stick to getting massages if I want a relaxing spa visit. 

In other news, I'm sticking with the German classes I've been taking. It's a difficult language to learn, but I have lowered expectations for myself. I'm not trying to be fluent. I just want to be able to read some things and understand what I'm reading and speak enough to get by if I do get the chance to travel to Germany next year. The book we have to use for our class is awful. It's totally in German and has no pronunciation. I've had to supplement that with other sources like German for Dummies (that's quite helpful). 

Guten Nacht!

Happy Pride Month

Delayed greetings, but Happy Pride Month! Reading and watching the news (as I do), there are a lot of reasons to be concerned over the, shall we say, temperature around the country involving gay rights, transgender folks, etc. Just when you think things are moving forward, idiots try to force the country to move two steps back. Why can't people mind their own business and let people live their lives? I don't know. 

I was in Louisville, Kentucky last year during pride month during a road trip to Alabama and the visitor's center gave me this jaunty beer koozie shown below. Thanks, Louisville! The story I've been working on (seeminly forever) takes place in Louisville and it features two characters from my last story, Ray's Friend, that also takes place in Louisville. I found Louisville totally fascinating while I was there. I really need to get back there and check out more the of city. 

Huntsville Rocks!

I'm back from a trip to visit family in Alabama and my sister and I spent last weekend in Huntsville. What a great place! Neither of us had ever been there, but we had a great time visting the Space Center (see photo below) and the art museum. We also enjoyed tasty $8 margaritas and live music at The Camp and equally great tacos (and more margaritas) at Taco Mama. Huntsville is the kind of city in Alabama that I'd actually consider living in. It didn't seem to be filled with hard-core MAGA folks. I'm sure those folks are there, but I feel like you've got a fighting chance of largely avoiding them while you're there.