Still Alive. New Job Tiring.

Worse than the old job, but for about 30% more money and far better benefits I’ll adjust, but after staring into multiple computer screens all day, my eyes and brain are just too tired to post much.

I will not speak of politics because my brain is already strained. I’ll just say that Republicans are worse than even I thought, and I’ve always had a really low opinion. The midterm elections are down to democracy vs. fascism.

Anyway, in the interest of my blood pressure:

I had a lovely Mother’s Day! My daughter scheduled a visit to Animal Kingdom, our mutual favorite park for relaxation. We and The Dancer had a lovely day, though it was hot AF by the time we called it a bit after 4 p.m. (The Florida Weather Gods of course gave us the finger after Sunday, because today was an absolutely drop dead perfect spring day, high of 84, low humidity, and I was in a conference room for a meeting for six hours.)

Sunday was over 90 degrees by the time we agreed we had to go home and do adulting and “kid prepping for school” things. But it was a lovely day.

It was a busy day, because it was Mother’s Day and also a weekend day, so I popped for the Genie+ for the first time. We really wanted to do the safari and the wait time was well over an hour, and because it was Mother’s Day and this was the high point of our day, I popped for the extra cost. I don’t think it’s necessary at every visit. It’s the first time we’ve used it, and I do have to say it’s smooth and fast. We walked onto the safari in minutes. Even the old fast pass system had a longer wait.

It also let my daughter get basically a walk-on to Everest, which was also about an hour long wait. I wouldn’t say you have to do this to get on anything, but if you want to leverage your time, yeah, you might as well.

We all had the option to ride Everest via Genie+, but I’ve kind of sworn off that coaster. Not because it’s scary or dangerous, it’s a lot of fun, but because for me it’s just sort of unlucky. I always seem to get off with something banged up, usually self inflicted. Last time I rode it I left the lap bar one click too loose and my ass slid all over the seat, so I braced a foot to steady myself. By the time I got off my bad left knee was angry, and I limped the rest of the day. Sometimes I bang an elbow. It’s not the ride’s fault, it’s just me.

To my surprise my granddaughter was also not feeling it. She’s been on it many times but was just eh, she’d rather not. (We had eaten lunch not too long before, and she was full.) We waited in the spot where the trains come down for the big swoop, but still missed seeing her mom ride. I’m not sure why this was a big thing because we’ve all been on it together many times.

We saw many animals, we ate a delicious lunch at the very tasty and IMO very underrated Harambe Market. It’s open air seating, but the food is reliably delicious and there’s plenty of shade. Animal Kingdom has some high class quick serve options. I don’t know why anybody settles for pizza in a park with so many better options, but they have pizza and burgers and stuff for picky eaters who must have theme park food.

We ordered bowls with grilled chicken (me and the grandkid) or ribs (my daughter), cilantro rice, salad, and both a gingery dressing for the salad and a fresh pico de gallo sort of topping. Delicious and also reasonably healthy and quite filling. Sitting outdoors in the shade with African music nearby and the general sound of the passing crowd, and the train to the Conservation Station pulling in to the Harambe station, it was just relaxing and lovely.

We went to the Conservation Station, we hadn’t done it in years! (Seriously, you can go to Disney all the time and still not do some stuff for years. There’s just that much.)

There’s a petting zoo with goats and pigs that when it’s not so hot, wander around hoping somebody will grab a brush from a bucket and give them some lovin’. They were mostly napping because we were getting into the afternoon heat, and you of course can’t pursue them if they’re napping.

There’s an indoor exhibit area with lizards and insects and a whole veterinary space where, if you time it right, you could get to see a tiger get his teeth cleaned or something. On Sunday afternoon nobody was getting any work done, but we’d missed some sort of exam on an exotic pigeon that had happened at 10 a.m. They also do a drawing lesson, but we hadn’t signed up for that. Another time.

So, it was a lovely Mother’s Day. I owe my son a longer chat, because he texted me while we were in the park, then the work week started. Oy, this job is a learning curve, not because I don’t understand what’s supposed to happen, but because the systems are, um, different? It’s not bad, it’s just…seriously? THIS makes sense to anybody? I’ll adjust.