Five For Friday (and Figs)

 1. My sister's birthday is February 1st. For the past two years I've managed to get her birthday present to her on the exact day or before, which caused her to ask who I was and what I'd done with her sister. I like February 1st because it's her birthday and because it means January is gone. I have had a rough time mentally and sometimes physically in January for as long as I can remember - it was with my last doctor a few years after I'd moved to Ottawa that I figured out what a cycle it was (pre-blogging life, less chance to re-examine my life by season). Of course the January depression does creep into February, but it's still a sign that less difficult days are coming.

2. I almost cancelled my weekly date with my friend Jody (HI JODY) (fun fact, my sister is also named Jody!) because I did squats on Tuesday and then was on my feet all day at work Wednesday and then forgot to take my Gabapentin before bed and was awake most of the night with restless legs and nerve pain and felt absolutely wretched. But I did not cancel our weekly date - The Gilded Age and Edo Japan takeout - and we almost didn't make it through two episodes because we kept pausing the show to talk and laugh really hard, and it was medicinal.

Double Jodies! Sister is the tall one.

3. Monday I had slept badly and was a bit late leaving for work, and Matt was also disorganized and not ready on time (I drop him and the dog at my parents' house, he leaves the dog and either walks to work or borrows their vehicle) and then we got out to the first corner and the long slow train of snowbank-removing vehicles was there and I knew I was irredeemably fucked for getting to work on time. I just started laughing because really, it didn't matter. I don't have classes until a half hour after I get in, and I can easily stay a few minutes at the end of the day, I just don't like being late. Then my first class of grade ones came in and they could not have been more lovely. On the way out most kid in line thanked me individually (after their chorused group thank-you) and then the last little boy said "have a nice day!" Like, do you mind kid, I am TRYING to maintain a bad mood here.

4. Nicole's book finally got here, and I read it in one day and was almost late for bar night, and it was awesome. I don't read a ton of romance, but if I do I want it to be quirky and have humour and seem at least a little bit realistic, and this had all of that (the moms from the mom-and-baby yoga class! The lentil lasagna! Natural deodorant! I LOVE EGGPLANT). A lot of good relatable stuff about parenting also. I am so happy and only a tiny bit jealous.

5. Angus was contacted by someone from the Cleveland Guardians (formerly Indians) at the beginning of December who just said he'd been given Angus's name as someone who would 'be awesome to get to know', and he asked if they could set up a phone call. This led to many phone calls, some over the break while he was at home. Apparently in baseball this is a thing that happens, and you don't really know if you're in a job interview or what the job might be, and you just go with it. After so many phone calls that I was wondering if somebody was looking for a good husband for their daughter, they flew him out to Goodyear Arizona (just outside Phoenix) and there were more interviews and some practice stuff and he got gear.

Then nothing for a week and a half, and then a notification that they were going to make an offer for something. I talked to Suzanne (HI SUZANNE) and she was like omg, there are the Akron Rubber Ducks not far from me! But we thought the position was in Arizona. But we didn't know! But I really wanted a reason to go to Ohio! Then he thought there was one position in Akron and one in Arizona, and I was like oh right, like he's going to pick Ohio. THEN it turns out that the position is in Ohio AND Arizona. He is going to be an assistant pitching coach for the Akron Rubber Ducks, so he'll be living in Akron and traveling with the team from, I don't know, April til fall sometime? And then he'll be in Arizona working at the spring training facility for fall and winter. I feel like those are the proper times to be in Akron and Arizona, respectively

The Akron Rubber Ducks! Who knew all those times he sang Rubber Ducky You're the One in the bathtub would be so prophetic! Also, the Rubber Ducks are the double-A team for the Cleveland Guardians. When he was at the Little League World Series the announcers on TSN called him double-A! 

He texted yesterday and said he spent the warm, sunny day watching big leaguers play catch and putting mud on baseballs and he was loving life. He works for the MLB! And they called him!