2024-09-20 (Friday) — Sour Milk

(written on the 23rd)

Bought some underwear, tried it on, realized it was the wrong size so I swapped it out for the next size up.

Headed over to visit Richard since I’d been here over a week and I hadn’t seen him. Fortunately, I had managed to pull myself out of my depressive state, so I was actually up for the visit.

I got there just as Richard was taking his youngest to school–on the Harley.

What a way to get to school, eh? 🙃

I worked for justanswer for a little while, And when Richard came back, he had a bunch of questions about how it all worked, so I showed him What it looked like to be one of the experts, what the screen looks like, and how everything works.

I’ve been better at answering questions. I still haven’t reached my daily goals, but I’ve been a lot better, so that’s something.

Richard and I spent most of the morning just talking–talking about the progress he’s been making in his garage organizing all of his tools, and he showed me some of his new tools, talking about the progress he’s made on his Subaru. Another blown exhaust valve, so he pulled the engine out, and has the head pulled off with parts all over the place waiting for parts to come (some of the parts they sent him were the wrong parts).

We talked about life and all sorts of different things that are going on, just catching up a bit. I chat with him fairly regularly, so I have a general idea of what’s going on, but it’s good to be there in person and enjoy the company.

We went out to lunch because it was Friday and he always has lunch with Jared, so I had another opportunity to see Jared as well. We went to the Costa vida that’s just on the other side of the highway from where my brother lives.

It was crazy seeing Richard’s youngest. He’s almost as tall as I am, I think. Doesn’t feel like it’s been that long since I’ve seen his kids, but holy cow!

And his oldest! Good freaking crap! Apparently it’s been so long that I don’t recognize any of his kids. I wouldn’t have Even noticed who they were, I don’t think, had I run into them in the grocery store.

Crazy how fast they grow.

After lunch, Richard and I chatted again for a good long time, and he also had some work to do, so he worked, and I worked while he worked, answering many questions and I think reaching my goal for the day.

Kids started coming home, here and there, and then going back out to work and what not. I saw Soph last September, and she’s almost 18, so she hasn’t really changed much.

Let’s see, kids started coming home from school. Chatted a bit with Soph. She got asked out on a date by someone she’s had a crush on for a long time, so she was excited and nervous.

At some point, I think it was One of the boys who wanted a bowl of cereal, so he went down to the downstairs fridge and grabbed a gallon of milk, but when he opened it up, it was the consistency of somewhat runny sour cream.

Tasted like sour cream, too. 🙃

One of the boys said that if I would taste it, he would too, so I went ahead and tasted it 🙃

But he tried to back out. 😆 It took him a good little while and a lot of peer pressure and guilt tripping to get him to keep his part of the agreement. 🙃

He finally did, though. 😆

I started having a mild stomach ache within a few minutes of eating it, perhaps a psychosomatic reaction. Then a bit later I learned that e coli and salmonella are two common bacteria that could have been what was growing in the milk.

😅

Oops.

Guess we’ll see if we get sick. It’s like a 4 to 48-hour incubation period, or something like that, I think. 🤞

Let’s see… some of this is out of chronological order, but whatever. Soph’s date came to pick her up, and we all ended up chatting for a bit, and he played Soph’s drum set a bit (she bought it just recently).

Goofed around with the kids a bit, played the drums a bit and tried to teach Jack how to play a little bit.

Fun stuff. 🙂

Chatted with McKinley and Richard and Danny (their Moroccan foreign exchange student from the Netherlands).

Seems like a really great kid. He’s a senior this year.

Soph came home, and her date… wasn’t great. One of those times where the crush dies when you realize your crush isn’t who you dreamed they were.

Sad sad.

Said goodbye, and headed back to Utah County, parking for the night at the Maverik in Pleasant Grove

Really hoping neither salmonella nor e coli are in my near future. 😅

Good day.

Lift the world.

~ stephen