Have you ever been so tired that when you finally crawl into bed to get some sleep, you can’t get your body to actually settle down and let you sleep? I have basically gone to bed each night since Sunday completely exhausted to the point that I don’t even feel I’m in my body anymore or that I just can’t control it like I should be able to. I’ve gone to bed, and whereas I usually fall asleep within a few minutes, I’ve been tossing and turning trying to get my body to settle down and get comfortable. Each night it has, but I’m still feeling exhausted in the morning. I haven’t really felt that way since I started using my CPAP. Usually, I get up with Isabella sometime between 4 am and 5 am, but either she has sensed that I’m tired or she tried to wake me to no avail. I have woken each morning this week with my alarm that I set for 5:15 am. I’m usually up well before it goes off. Hopefully, I can get some much needed rest this weekend. I’m taking off Friday afternoon for my second monkeypox vaccine dose, so hopefully that will give me a head start on resting my weary bones.
On Saturday night, two friends and I went to a lantern tour in Stowe, Vermont. Stowe is a beautiful little town, though because of the ski industry, it’s one of the most expensive and popular places in Vermont. However, each September and October for over twenty years, there has been a lantern tour where groups walk through town holding lanterns to hear the guide tell about the history of Stowe and a few ghosts stories.
We’d planned to go to dinner before the tour, we tried to get reservations, but this time of year with the fall foliage at its peak, everywhere was booked or had long waitlists. We went to this one Thai restaurant that I hoped we could get into. The food and service is usually really good, but I’ve never seen more than two or three people in there. Not so on Saturday night. There were a few tables open, but when we told him we wanted a table for three, he said, “I only have one cook.” Then he said the most incredible thing I’ve ever heard a restaurant host say. He said, “Just go,” and shooed us out the door. I know he was flustered, and his English is not the best, but any time I’ve been there before, he’s been very nice.
After that, we went into Waterbury to see if there was place to eat there. We’d have loved to eat at Prohibition Pig, but they won’t take reservations and the waitlist was around two hours. Everywhere else had a wait of at least thirty minutes. The lantern tour was at 8 pm, and it was already nearly 6:30. Stowe is about twenty minutes from Waterbury. Finally we gave up and went to the one place we were able to get into: Subway. I had not wanted a sandwich from Subway, but we were hungry and did not want to wait until after the tour to eat.
After we ate, we headed to Stowe for the lantern tour. I had read a lot of good things about this tour, and I like a good ghost story. So, I was excited. I had emailed Tuesday for reservations for Friday night, but was told they were booked. The website said that tours were limited to twenty-five people. When we got to the Stowe Visitor’s Center, we found out that there would be two simultaneous tours. One was led by the man who usually does the tours, and the other was by a woman who I assumed was his wife, who obviously didn’t do the tours on a regular basis. We ended up in the woman’s group along with a screaming child. Apparently, the child was screaming and crying because he wanted to be the person in his group to carry the lantern, but his brother was carrying it. Finally someone gave the kid their lantern, and he finally got quiet.
The tour was all right, but nothing special. The woman didn’t speak loud enough and walked way too fast. What I could hear of the stories she told, they sounded interesting. The best part of the tour though was this guy who was from the Midwest who was in the group with his girlfriend. Well, it wasn’t so much him, although he was handsome enough, but a bit too skinny. However, he had one of the most amazing asses I’ve ever seen, especially on a tall skinny guy. It was much more interesting walking behind him. The tour lasted about an hour, and it was a nice night for a walking tour. It was cool but not too cold. The only hiccup we had along the route was a skunk joined our tour for a bit, but we got away from him without him spraying anyone.
After the tour, we went home. One of my two friends and I plan to take the Burlington Ghost Walk, which I’ve heard is very good. I’m looking forward to hearing about the tales of spooky Burlington. That will be sometime this week or next.
I’m sorry. I simply forgot to write a post last night before I went to bed, so this will be short. I had a nice weekend. Saturday, I took a walk and captured some of the beautiful fall foliage in Vermont. Yesterday, I cleaned my apartment and napped. It was a nice casual weekend. Here’s one of the pictures I took on my walk:
Seven years ago today, I arrived in Vermont. On October 7, 2015, I started my new life in Vermont. I was far enough from family, that I could live my life for me, not for someone else. There have been ups and downs for sure, but for the most part I am happy. I came across this post the other day by the journalist Chuck Palahniuk that said, “If death meant just leaving the stage long enough to change costume and come back as a new character… Would you slow down? Or speed up?” I felt like when I moved away from Alabama I was able to change out of my costume and be the person I was meant to be. As I was leaving Alabama for Vermont, a friend of min sent me the following song. He told me to play it once I crossed the state line out of Alabama. This song always makes me smile.
Good To Be Alive (Hallelujah) Song by Andy Grammer
I’ve been grinding so long, been trying this shit for years And I got nothing to show, just climbing this rope right here And if there’s a man upstairs, He kept bringing me rain But I’ve been sending up prayers and something’s changed
I think I finally found my hallelujah I’ve been waiting for this moment all my life Now all my dreams are coming true, yeah I’ve been waiting for this moment
Feels good to be alive right about now Good, good, good, good to be alive right about now Good, good, good, good to be alive right about now Hallelujah, let that bass line move ya, say hey And it’s good to be alive right about now
I was dead in the water, nobody wanted me I was old news, I went cold as cold could be But I kept throwing on coal tryna make that fire burn Sometimes you gotta get scars to get what you deserve I kept moving on and now I’m moving up Damn, I’m feeling blessed with all this love
I think I finally found my hallelujah I’ve been waiting for this moment all my life Now all my dreams are coming true, yeah I’ve been waiting for this moment
Feels good to be alive right about now Good, good, good, good to be alive right about now Good, good, good, good to be alive right about now Hallelujah, let that bass line move ya, say hey And it’s good to be alive right about now
I almost can-, cannot handle it I could get u-, could get used to this I almost can-, cannot handle it I could get u-, could get used to this
I think I finally found my (Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah) (Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah)
Feels good to be alive right about now Good, good, good, good to be alive right about now Good, good, good, good to be alive right about now Hallelujah, let that bass line move ya, say hey And it’s good to be alive right about now Good, good, good, good to be alive right about now Good, good, good, good to be alive right about now Good, good, good, good to be alive right about now Good, good, good, good to be alive right about now
Songwriters: Ian Kirkpatrick / Ross Golan / Andy Grammer / Ryan Joshua Metzger
Tonight, I’m going with a friend and coworker of mine to see the new movie Bros. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a gay romantic comedy that was released yesterday. I don’t go to the movies a lot, so this is a rare treat. We’re also going to do something that neither of us has done in at least a decade (and keep your eye rolls to yourself); we’re planning to have dinner at Olive Garden. Some people make fun of Olive Garden, but I like their salad and their Zuppa Toscano. I haven’t decided on an entree yet.
Anyway, I’m not just looking forward to Olive Garden, I’m also really looking forward to see Bros, mainly because Luke Macfarlane (the one in sunglasses above) is in it. I have such a crush on him and always have, even before he came out. The rest of this post is just a Luke Macfarlane appreciation post.
I don’t think you’re fully human if you don’t have some regrets in life. Sometimes, it’s just things you wished you knew or understood when you were younger. I try not to dwell on my regrets in life, but sometimes I look back and think, “I wish I’d done this instead.” One of those things is that I wished I knew how happy I’d be working in a museum, though it’s my experiences of trial and error in life that led me to my present job. It doesn’t mean that I don’t still wish I had chosen the museum field earlier instead of working all those years on a PhD or that I wish I’d gotten a dual masters in history and library science when I had the chance. The other thing I wish I could change is that I wish I’d gone further away to college and had been able to come to terms with my sexuality sooner. Teaching so many classes these last few weeks and interacting with so many college students, I can’t help but think of how much fun I could have had if I’d just accepted I was gay back in college. I probably would have been an absolute slut in college if I had, but it could have been fun. However, hindsight is 20/20. There’s nothing that can be done to change what happened in the past, and I think that’s one of the main lessons to be learned in life. No matter what we’ve done or didn’t do in our past, we can’t change it. We just have to accept it. We can only learn from it and strive for better in the future.
My brain is tired. I really couldn’t think of anything to write tonight, so I’m just going to take a break and not try to come up with anything. I’ll try to think of something to write about tomorrow. Maybe there will be a development with the hot professor whose class I’m teaching today. I doubt there will be, but a guy can dream.
Today starts my four day weekend. I have only one thing planned for today: to drive down to New Hampshire. I have some shopping I need to do, and the great thing about shopping in New Hampshire is there is not sales tax. I know there are a few things I need at Target, and I want to look at L.L. Bean for a new winter coat. They usually have a huge selection of coats on sale, and I’m going to need a new coat as I have lost some weight and my old coats are way too big for me now. I will probably also go to HomeGoods because I’m a sucker for that store. I just enjoy looking around. I also need to go to PetSmart to get Isabella some more food. Then I’ll probably have lunch before heading home where I plan to just relax this afternoon.
Tomorrow is the beginning of college football. None of the teams I watch are playing particularly interesting teams. In fact, I doubt there will be an exciting game in the bunch. Alabama is playing Utah State; Auburn is playing Mercer; and Southern Miss is playing Liberty. Also, they are all playing at the same time, which is a bummer. I like to have on the games throughout the day, but that won’t happen tomorrow.
So far, I have no plans for Sunday or Monday. If I’m feeling good, I may go for an early Sunday morning hike. I wasn’t able to last weekend because I was so sick. I just want to enjoy my time off. There won’t be much time off for the next three weeks. The next two weeks are going to be extremely busy at work. I’ll be teaching a lot of classes in the museum, and at the end of those two weeks will be homecoming, which is the busiest time of year for the museum. I will also be working the next three Saturdays (10th, 17th, and 24th). I rarely work that many Saturdays in a row, but I have a symposium to attend on the 10th, so I won’t be at the museum. I will be at the museum on the 17th and 24th. I’m going to need this four day weekend to rest up for the marathon of work ahead.
Last night, I did something that I always hated doing. I decided I’d write today’s post this morning. I used to do this with papers in college all the time. I’d get so tired, and I’d tell myself that “I’ll just sleep for an hour and wake up and finish my paper.” One hour became two hours, and two hours became three. I can be a master procrastinator. Last night was a bit different. Isabella always wakes me up early, so I decided to write my post when she woke me up at her usual time of 4:30 am. Of course, this morning, she let me sleep until my alarm went off at 5:15 am. I’m not complaining that she let me sleep, it’s just a little ironic.
Anyway, I don’t really have anything else to say for today.
Yesterday was a very emotional day for me, and not much else makes an emotional day worse than a phone call from my mother. None of it is something I want to discuss, but I also don’t feel like talking about anything else. Don’t worry, it wasn’t anything really bad, but I was feeling pretty drained last night. I got home, ate dinner, talked to a friend on the phone, my mother called, and then, took a Xanax for my anxiety before laying on the couch to watch Star Trek, which is always good for my mental health. I just needed to get recentered and relax.
Joe
The Closet Professor 