Blaugust, Week 1

Thus far, I have kept to my “Blaugust Goal” of posting at least once a week. In fact, publishing this post will bring my Blaugust-related posts alone up to the total number of posts from the previous 2 years.

I have plenty of things I want to write about or do this August, but, by golly, doesn’t life just have a way.

The beginning of this week was relatively normal. I had picked up an extra shift at work, so I had resigned myself to thinking of this week as a wash. Though my job isn’t exactly demanding, it does take up time during a day, and thus is a block of time I cannot do other things during. It is a responsibility. This scheduling anomoly indicated an unusual week.

Monday and Tuesday each saw posts, one about a Scion campaign I’m working on, and the second answering the Blaugust Week 1 prompts. I also have a few drafts started, for topics I’m looking forward to exploring later in the month.

Wednesday was a bit busy. I see a personal trainer Wednesday mornings, after which I was a bit rushed to clean myself up and get to work. After that, I franticly finished a Pathfinder character for the weekly Pathfinder game I’ve been in for, like, 14 years now. I’m proud to say I have continued the tradition of a magus not living past its first session.

Thursday, I wake up, enjoy a slow morning, wander into my office, and hear a slight scraping coming from my wall, near a window. Looking out the window, I see quite a lot of yellow jackets. Putting 1 and 1 together, I’m delighted to announce I have a yellow jacket nest in my wall. And that, to borrow perhaps an older term at this point, tilted me. I bought some spray, and have been trying to manage it, and I’ve been doing damage! There are, literally, dead yellow jackets laying on my roof near this window. Oh, but how unsettling it is to hear something eating your house! And the nightmarish thought of them bursting into my room, like the blown-open garage door in an action movie! Swarms of tiny little nuisances! Surprisingly, I played a great game of golf Thursday evening. Unsurprisingly, I slept horribly.

Friday, I continue the War of the Wasp. Work is busy but uneventful. Friday evening, some more golf, but this time with a friend who is just starting off. This was his first foray onto a proper course, so we played a scramble (we each hit a ball, and then play from the best positioning; also called best-ball). We did very well (which, yeah! Hopefully!)! After, we grabbed dinner, and I returned to my home. The chomping in the wall continues, but I spent time in the room and relaxed a bit. I slept much better last night.

That brings us to today. My dad is bringing over some dust he has had good results with to try and clear out those wasps for good. I’ve got work, which should be tame. And I’m trying to figure out when things will “return to normal.” Which is a funny thing, the notion of normal.

The past couple days have not been terribly unusual for me. Work, golf, coffee, catching up on vids and feeds. Those wasps, though, planted a seed of consistent worry. Throughout all the usual was a tint of concern. Like a filter suddenly applied to all my pictures; it made everything just a bit off. It’s interesting to note the emotional rollercoaster as I’m riding it, which was a large part of Thursday: Discover the problem, grow very concerned. Buy some spray to mitigate, feel less concerned, start to feel capable. Spray-and-pray, see problem persists, start to feel hopeless, failure is certain, my house is borked, and it’s all my fault. Find other resources, reach out for help, renew feelings of success and accomplishment. Now, there’s the usual mix of feelings around a task which needs doing: focus, a bit of over-analyzing, the flirting thoughts of absolute failure and success, an eagerness to get it done. What irks me most, though, are those feelings of defeat so soon after starting to fix the problem. The notion that the problem wasn’t fixed immediately, combined with this dread that the wasps would destroy everything immediately, brought a significant sense of urgency to a problem which could not be solved immediately. Which only fosters more anxiety. It’s a bad train of thought, and one I will seek to avoid taking in the future. Easier said than done, but at least being mindful will help to break the cycle a bit.

In any case, I’m not being a good home-owner. Luckily, my dad’s the type of guy who has to always be busy. I’m hoping he can help me shore up some of my neglect, patching holes or cracks around the outside of my house. This isn’t the first time pests have been a problem, and it certainly won’t be the last, but having an understanding of how and where these problems arise will help me approach and resolve them better in the future.

Anyway, as far as Blaugust is concerned: I had hoped to dive into TMUX Thursday afternoon. That post will be delayed, but I’m still focused on it next. I’ve got 3-4 other topics I want to cover during Blaugust, which includes some actual project work too. As I move through the proper resolution for these wasps, I hope to keep putting at least a bit of time towards writing and exploring my site!