Hi again. In a recent post I mentioned having internet problems. It turns out that was only the beginning. While I've had spots of usable internet here and there, the internet has been largely unusable at my house for about a week. I complained previously about my mom buying new modems. I was right that those weren't the issue. But the real cause is much much worse.

We had a technician come over today - the second in a week - and he was very competent and detailed in explaining our situation. It turns out the coax cables in this house are extremely old - a model called RG54 I think - which predate the nineties. They're thinner, less shielded, and more vulnerable to various kinds of damage. He explained to us that this is one of the main underlying causes of our problems, as it leads to uncontained voltage traveling up the coax cable and hitting the modem. This causes the modem to lag and freeze, even on local connections between devices on the same network, or fail device logins entirely.

The internet is only usable for about 20 minutes after restarting the modem. After that, it's completely kaput. We're going to need to have someone come over to replace our RG54 with a "RG6 home run". From what I understand, this means a newer, better coax cable replacing our "utility" cable for the house. Anyway, this means I'll have to wait even longer to use the internet again. If you're seeing this post, it must've been a while.

There's something else I'm waiting on, too. My wrist surgery.

You see, I was originally supposed to have a followup appointment on the 21st of this month. That's tomorrow. After realizing it's just a followup and not my actual surgery, I had the foresight to move it to earlier - the 14th - and got that carried out. But here's where the mismanagement begins.

I was told that day that the person who could schedule me for surgery was out that day, so I needed to wait for a phone call. I never got one. The next day, I phoned them, and they said there's nothing I can do but wait for the call. So I kept waiting. And day after day, no call.

It's now Monday the 20th and there's been no phone call. Apparently today is MLK day and tomorrow the hospital is shut down completely due to weather (it's very cold!), so maybe after that I can schedule my wrist surgery?

If there's one thing that irks me more than anything else, it's my fate being left in the hands of others who fail to act on it.

I'd like to add something positive here though.

I got very fortunate a few weeks ago. Someone I'm very close to had a very meaningful conversation with me and I helped her unmask (autism stuff) and connected with her true self. We shared the most vulnerability I've felt in a long time. It was truly special. And, um, it kind of evolved into a romance type situation.

I'm not saying who the lucky gal is, just yet... In fact, it feels a little weird to put this in my blog. But, we tried it out, for a bit? Before the internet went down, anyway. She's fantastic. We love each other dearly. I know this is just the "spark" all relationships start with and it's supposed to fade over time, but, as the days and now weeks have continued, we've stayed in touch, and we both miss each other dearly as the days turn to weeks and we can't call (she's going through a lot too).

Either way, it gives me something to look forward to. Once the internet's back up, I'm going to try to get in touch with her again. Maybe call her on discord like I'd been before. She makes me feel really comfortable, and while we're working out a few rough edges, I feel very confident about this one.

In case you read my other posts and were wondering, yes, she managed to make me stop being aromantic and try again. It was obviously a cope on my end the whole time. I'm just glad to meet someone who seems to acknowledge and return all the care I give to her. It's surprisingly rare...