Chapter 1: The Challenge of Visibility

The purple socks I have on could be seen as a potential giveaway…

While pondering if straight men wear purple socks and whether it’s significant, I noticed our guest’s lingering gaze on them. Honestly, I don’t care much; I simply enjoy the look and feel of my socks, which match nicely with my grey t-shirt. Color coordination is something I often contemplate.

What was I discussing before? Oh right—yesterday was quite uneventful. My wife grew a bit weary of our visitor, prompting us all to retreat to our own spaces for much of the day. We ended the evening with drinks and a deep conversation about aging and coping with mortality—just delightful.

My wife has been dealing with a migraine and struggled to sleep through the night. Today, she plans to head back to the beach while I stay home with the dog, which seems to be the plan still. Luckily, she appears to be feeling a bit better.

I’m in dire need of some pampering time in the bathroom to shave and remove my body hair. I feel rather stubbly and unkempt again. I also want to paint my toenails, so hopefully, I’ll have enough time to do that.

Today marks the final full day of our guest’s stay, as she departs tomorrow at 5 PM. My wife and I are eagerly anticipating a return to our usual routine—though I didn’t even realize we had one! I thought we were still in the process of establishing it, but it seems we’ve found our groove after all.

This experience has revealed that we aren’t particularly fond of hosting. My wife jokingly remarked that if any more of her friends wish to visit, she’ll suggest they book a hotel. It’s quite amusing. We were both uncertain of what to expect, but she believes her old corporate friends share a similar disposition to our current guest.

On Wednesday, I’m scheduled to have a video chat with my friend Mickey. It’s been a couple of weeks since we last spoke, so I’m looking forward to catching up.

My latest podcasting endeavor has produced just two episodes so far, and they performed decently. Additionally, my recent project of creating covers of movie score synth pieces is thriving! I’m nearing 30,000 views in just over a month—pretty impressive! If I can maintain this momentum for the rest of the year, I might just achieve a monetized YouTube channel. That would definitely make me feel better about splurging on nail polish and skirts.

So here we are, facing today and tomorrow before we bid farewell to our MAGA guest. I hope my wife enjoys her time at the beach today. I believe pizza was suggested for dinner later—how wonderful that would be! It’s been nine months since I’ve had pizza. I wish I could say the same about beans.