A last minute dinner with a friend

 

I found the above Garfield comic on the internet today, and felt it captured the spirit of today's dinner with a friend.  But first....

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Last night, I found that the scanner on my "all-in-one" scanner/printer stopped working when I tried to scan documents needed to be given a $100 cruise credit by the cruise line's shareholder relations department. Today, I started tearing apart boxes of stuff I stashed behind my loveseat to find the single purpose scanner I used to use.  After making a total mess in my living room, I found the scanner and tried to install it on my computer.  Unfortunately, there were no Windows 10 drivers for the scanner, and I ended up tossing the scanner in the trash.  

Once I was done with scanning futility, I decided to get showered and dressed to have dinner with my friend from the meetup group, MAR.  This woman is young enough to be my daughter, and works in a services field.  (I don't want to say too much more about what she does for a living here.)  We discussed many a thing, including my upcoming cruises.  And she surprised me by asking if she could come along with me on one of my less expensive trips.  (This woman has never traveled.)  There is no way I'd do this while seeing RQS, and I wouldn't ruin my relationship with RQS to do so.  (I wonder if my cruising with FCP negatively affected my relationship with XGFJ.  If so, I don't want to make that mistake again.)  I told MAR that if we were to do so, she'd find out much more about me than I think she'd like. (I've never mentioned that I am transgender to her, and I think that she believes that I am a cisgender female. Why ruin that image?)

So why did I mention Garfield and lasagna?  Like the cartoon cat, I love lasagna, and polished off a large portion at dinner.  Yum!  We may have lost a good pizza shop in town, where one could get a quick slice.  But we have a good Italian joint in its place, where I have never had a bad sit down dinner.

I could have stayed in and do nothing, but...

 

A necklace.  Not one that would be worn by a pretty woman, unless she was King Kong's large size companion.  Given that it is holiday season and FH is still in the picture, I figured that she deserved a holiday gift.  So I bought her handmade necklace and earrings thru Amazon.  Unfortunately, I couldn't give her a gift without getting her daughter a gift as well.  So I had to get dressed and go shopping today.

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It's been a while since I have been outside my apartment as Marian.  So I took the opportunity to go out in female presentation for the last chance I'd have this week.  As I was leaving the apartment, I saw a box on my landing.  After checking who it was addressed to, I dropped it in front of my neighbor's door.  She opened up her door while I was in front of my mailbox, and her cat escaped.  So I ended up chatting with her for a sec before leaving.  

I could have driven to the Westchester Mall in White Plains.  But I'd rather not pay to park in their lot, even though it would cost me more to cross the bridge and shop in West Nyack.  And I think this was the right choice, as I was able to find a parking spot very close to the entrance and I was able to get FH's daughter her gift within 10 minutes of my arrival.  So I took the opportunity to walk around a relatively empty mall before driving home for the night.

Around 9 pm, I finally decided to make my crock pot lasagna.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, some might say), I was not going to be able to have it for dinner.  As a result, I ended up taking the lasagna out of the crock pot around 1:30 am, putting the lasagna into storage containers for future eating, and then into the refrigerator to be eaten over the next few days. (I had a little nibble, and it was something that will get better when reheated.)  Knowing me, I will likely have cooked too much.  But I'll know this for sure in a few days.