Unexpected Plans

If you had asked me yesterday what today was going to hold for our system, we might have answered “sleep”.

We might have answered “Language lessons”

We might have even answered “Tears of the Kingdom” or “Stardew Valley”, if our mind was on videogames.

We definitely would NOT have answered “we’re going to go get a massage with one of our Sister-Units”

But we got a text last night from her saying that she’d booked a double massage session for her and one of her kiddos, but her kiddo didn’t want a massage (the kid had some good, relatable reasoning of not wanting a total stranger to touch them in general, as well as with their dysphoria)

But Sister-Unit had already booked the session, and still wanted one for herself, so she offered the other to us

We were unsure of how to respond at first, so we told her we would have to check our calendar when we got home from work

Once home, we did a couple of tarot spreads, hoping to gain insight on whether going with this was going to cause mayhem for our mental state or not, whether due to dysphoria, past traumas surfacing, or for any other reason.

We repeatedly got the answer that this was NOT going to cause total mayhem, and might even have a positive effect.

Part of this positive effect, I suspect, is something we’re already experiencing. We have plans, and we get out of the house.

Partner system works today, so we were otherwise going to be home alone all day…and even though that is often the only thing we have energy for, going out and about for reasons other than our job IS generally good for our mental health

The only issues we truly have with it is that…there’s really nowhere to go in town for any extended period without spending money (which we do not have to spare)

Sure, there’s coffee shops, where you can spend only a little money, and stay for awhile. But after a certain point, our system starts getting anxious that we hang around “too long”.

Our system has a bunch of punch cards from one of the local shops that are filled, though (when you fill a punch card, you get a free drink. Our Mom-Unit goes there all the time with Dad-Unit and our little bro, and then she unloads the filled cards onto me, and a couple others in our family)

So, without spending much (we make sure to be able to tip, still), we occasionally feel like we can spend some time in their store. If we have money to actually buy food, we’ll definitely feel more comfy…but we can usually convince ourselves that we can stay 30-60 minutes, especially if we’re working on something (currently testing how blogging on our phone with headphones on, listening to Spotify, goes…)

I’m honestly wondering if our system could budget some of our “fun budget” each month to go to the coffee shop and write/draw/blog/etc for a few hours every week…I know we used to do that, and we used to get a LOT done in those stretches.

I also genuinely think it would improve our mental health. To be able to be outside of the house, not at our job, and working on the things we WANT to be our job (so like…working on our rpgmaker game, in the various aspects that need to be done)

I know our system does better if we have a set place where we work on things. So going to a coffee shop with our computer would accomplish that.

The only thing we really couldn’t work on with our game here would be some of the audio things. (Can’t exactly record musical instruments or our voice…) And we might have to be more careful with some of the art. Though, we could also pick our seating better, to hide the less family-friendly art.

But yeah.

We’re currently at this coffee shop, enjoying a rose london fog. Trying to relax and collect our thoughts before the strange new experience of getting a massage that’s coming soon. (Also bracing for more intense downtown parking. The coffee shop has its own parking spaces, and a public lot right next door…but this place we’re going for the massage is a lot more complicated for parking. Especially as the town starts waking up and everyone wants to be downtown midday on a Saturday.

And my thoughts are probably biased.

I’m the one who used to take us to the coffee shop every week to write fanfic, our books, and just generally be more creative in a way that we really aren’t at home.

So maybe I just want the weekly coffee shop visits for myself…I honestly can’t tell. I feel like it would be good for more than just me, but I’m the only one who currently has this on my mind.

I should probably wrap this up and use the bathroom before going and dealing with the whole parking thing.

Fuck. I forgot about the bathrooms at this place being flashback-central…that’s going to be fun. But maybe if we start coming here more again, they’ll be better again…Hopefully?

-Katie (she/they)