Jade had her surgery, inherited money that went towards paying for it, all her stuff made it to England, all is well with her. She wants to do a birthday Zoom on the 24th.

This morning I binge-watched "Maggie," that Hulu sitcom about a psychic who keeps having confusing visions as to whether or not she ends up with her new neighbor Ben, or if Ben marries his perennial on-again-off-again girlfriend since high school, who is a perfectly nice lady who doesn't need to be dragged about like that. (I confess I don't get why they keep breaking up, the show neglects to say.) To spoil the ending, let's just say there is NO decision on that particular topic by the end of it. I enjoyed the show otherwise--it's a nice group of friends to hang out with a la shows that are "hangout friend" shows, and Maggie doesn't get very much crap as to whether or not she's psychic, which is refreshing. Ben is a charming dude, but why the wishy-washy, who knows. Literally by the end the visions are all "Jackie is the bride! Maggie is the bride! Who the hell knows?!" Do I root for this or not? I dunno, man.

I got my new colored masks in the mail, and my clear backpack/bags for the state fair. Both are ridiculously small (required 12x12, FFS). I guess I can go tomorrow if I want? Hm, I'll consider it. Maybe I should go before it gets nuclear hot or something. Then again I just looked at the temperatures: 99 tomorrow, vaguely forecasted for high 80's next Saturday. Maybe I'll wait and just spend tomorrow crafting like I originally planned.

Saw Come From Away today. It was AMAZING. I'll get back to that. First I'm going to talk about Dawn.

I picked up Dawn. I should probably say now (since I didn't then) that she left me a message while at the storytelling festival (which she doesn't remember much of, apparently, they only went for the day) saying she had "big news" but wouldn't tell me until we were in person. That's...not an anvil one wants hanging over their head for like a week. I thought she was moving--she's not--but her husband got bladder cancer and they won't even start doing tests on it or whatever for another two months. He's 81. She said she retired early-ish to get some time with him before the medical stuff kicked in, as he's 18 years older than her. (Yeah...this is where age difference gets to me.) "I got a year and a half."

She already tends to get fed up with doctors and knows she's gonna be going through that hell again, so she's debating getting medication in addition to already starting to see a therapist via Zoom. Unfortunately, "talk with your" (medical) "doctor" pretty much convinced her not to, and I said "yeah, that's how I've felt for years too, it's like they can't reassure you about any of it and it's all blind pig in a poke." (Plus what Andi said about being on the wrong drugs last week.) Her doctor did say a few things that didn't suck--mostly that the drugs these days are better re: side effects and most people respond to the first drug right off and if they don't then it's the second--but otherwise, she wasn't sold and the doctor was legit shocked, shocked! that she wasn't sold. But frankly, going through this shit with Ron may be bad enough that "pig in a poke" may actually be worth it. I didn't really know what to say there. All of that is bad, you know? :( Well, she can rant or get distraction from me however she wants, I say. That's what I got.

On a more uplifting note, we REALLY enjoyed Come From Away, it was exactly the dream I've had of seeing it for years on end. I bought the program book (to show everyone), Kevin T's* book he wrote about the experience, and a bag. * note: one of the characters in the show, the cheerful Kevin (as opposed to his grumpy boyfriend, also named Kevin. "It was cute...for awhile.")

It was super, super amazing. I've listened to the soundtrack a billion times and the actors were almost exactly like the original cast in some respects? Bob was adorable going from suspicious to happy, the Kevins worked, Nick and Diane were adorbs, Beverly's a badass, I always enjoy Hannah and Beulah. I did note Claude the mayor more in this one, The one thing I think kinda doesn't work in this is the brief moments where Annette has fantasies about hot guys. That's...random and I keep wondering how the hell that came up to get into the show? The thing I haven't seen as much were the lines-only bits. Dawn was telling me before the show how they picked Gander because uh, they had less population to get blown up if that happened, and sure 'nuff, that's covered in the show. I cracked up at the accordion joke. I enjoy the parts where the Kevins are worried about people figuring out they're gay and people figure it out and don't care whatsoever. Nick is a nervous, awkward delight while Diane is cheerful, somewhat oblivious, but happy to smooch. I enjoyed watching the fish kisses.

It's 100-ish minutes and most of the actors are onstage the whole time--damn, that's a lot, no wonder there's intermission. Everyone flows super easily between playing different characters while only changing voices and occasionally changing to a hat or something. What genius the creators of the show had to have to make this work. One of the best shows EVER. Dawn cried through most of it, I got a bit teary but didn't blow snot in the mask, thank goodness.

After that, we attempted to go to Beach Hut. I told Dawn in the car about how if Scott goes I thought I'd take him to Habit Burger (a place he has vetted as safe for the allergic) and she liked the idea, so I had her ask Mom if we could switch and she said something like Roger wouldn't want to.* Now I'm all, what's the matter with it for him? That could be awkward. I left her a text afterwards about this but so far, no response.
But even more awkward: the Beach Hut was like a 20 minute/freeway/driving into the burbs trip, and then it turns out they closed early for summer/short-staffedness. OOPS. Roger spotted a restaurant across the complex and said "let's go there," so we ended up at a place called Funny Farm** with rubber chickens as the mascot and truly delightful bathroom signs. They had outdoor dining and unusual but good Monte Cristo/Mexican wrap(?) sandwiches that were easy to eat and all the ladies got 'em.

* Seriously wondering where to take him if that's not doable for Roger. Skip the family dinner? Get Chinese at some random place?
** A place I found delightful in wackadoo personality and extremely funny bathroom signs saying things like "A++ would poop here again," but seems obsessed with cheese and seriously, just could not have Scott go anywhere near it.

Mom's medical appointment that she was worried about apparently went fine and I'm guessing she wasn't diagnosed as diabetic for gaining weight and peeing in the middle of the night, btw. (Roger held up three fingers to this.)

Mostly Roger talked a lot--I asked him about the show and he said it was the best play he'd ever seen, very well done, very good music, etc. but he said he didn't "enjoy" it because of the whole 9/11 thing triggering him about what he was doing at that time workwise (once again, his job is nuclear physicist, or "I worked at the lab."). He and Dawn hit it off talking about maps. She seemed fine with hanging out with them, thank goodness, and said as much afterwards. "He does tend to monopolize the conversation." Yup, that's true. Maybe it wouldn't be a nightmare to have Scott be around them? Who knows.

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