Starfish of Bliss
May. 22nd, 2026 07:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ismoI set out this morning to drive over to Dragonfly's for our regular meditation and lunch. I was surprised to find yet another set of orange cones, barricades, and detour signs at the end of the street that usually takes me to her house. I obediently followed the detour signs until they just petered out in front of yet another blocked road! I turned left, since that was my only choice, and kept going until I finally saw a sign I recognized. Oh boy! If I take this, I may get back to Dragonfly's neighborhood someday! And I did--only ten minutes late, but I felt as if I'd been all around the town.
More strange events ensued. We were chatting and catching up when she reminded me that her birthday is coming up soon, and said that she'd like to celebrate by going to a pho place that I'd never gone to. I love Vietnamese food, so I was fine with that. And then her new, fancy alarm system went off and terrified the cat! The mechanical voice announced FIRE DETECTED FIRE DETECTED, and then another voice that was human although it sounded mellifluously artificial, informed her that her alarm system had been triggered, and asked if she was all right. We rushed around the house looking at everything, and there was no hint of fire or smell of smoke. In the end, we decided it was just some kind of a glitch, and went back to our meditation. After we concluded, Dragonfly informed me that her intuition had told her not to leave the house! So she suggest I could call in an order and then go and pick it up. I tried to order online, but it wouldn't accept my debit card. So I called up and placed a phone order. When I arrived, their machine wouldn't take my card either. Luckily I had a pocket full of cash, so I took two containers of pho back to Dragonfly's, and we ate lunch. Then I had to call the bank and cancel my card, which had apparently received an unauthorized charge, and go to the bank and get a new one forthwith, since otherwise I wouldn't be able to get one until Tuesday. I'm afraid my lofty meditations were whisked away by losing my patience while punching buttons for annoying manu items on my bank app. However, the young ladies at the bank who made me a new card were super nice, as they always are. One of them had portraits of two of her cats tattooed on her forearm--a tabby and a nicely colored longhaired ginger. It was the first time and probably the last that I'll see a long-haired ginger cat tattoo.
More strange events ensued. We were chatting and catching up when she reminded me that her birthday is coming up soon, and said that she'd like to celebrate by going to a pho place that I'd never gone to. I love Vietnamese food, so I was fine with that. And then her new, fancy alarm system went off and terrified the cat! The mechanical voice announced FIRE DETECTED FIRE DETECTED, and then another voice that was human although it sounded mellifluously artificial, informed her that her alarm system had been triggered, and asked if she was all right. We rushed around the house looking at everything, and there was no hint of fire or smell of smoke. In the end, we decided it was just some kind of a glitch, and went back to our meditation. After we concluded, Dragonfly informed me that her intuition had told her not to leave the house! So she suggest I could call in an order and then go and pick it up. I tried to order online, but it wouldn't accept my debit card. So I called up and placed a phone order. When I arrived, their machine wouldn't take my card either. Luckily I had a pocket full of cash, so I took two containers of pho back to Dragonfly's, and we ate lunch. Then I had to call the bank and cancel my card, which had apparently received an unauthorized charge, and go to the bank and get a new one forthwith, since otherwise I wouldn't be able to get one until Tuesday. I'm afraid my lofty meditations were whisked away by losing my patience while punching buttons for annoying manu items on my bank app. However, the young ladies at the bank who made me a new card were super nice, as they always are. One of them had portraits of two of her cats tattooed on her forearm--a tabby and a nicely colored longhaired ginger. It was the first time and probably the last that I'll see a long-haired ginger cat tattoo.
