Deja Vu

Did I mention that I'd started mystery shopping again? 

Well, I did. Restart, I mean. I genuinely don't remember whether I wrote about it or not.

As before, it's not enough to pay bills or anything, but it's a free meal here and $30 for a half-hour tour of a school there. It adds up.

Thursday, I had a fast food shop, then Mal went to open gym, and then we went to a child photo session (I'm splitting the pay with Mal: I get the free photo and he gets the money). 

As we were driving a bit to get to the photo studio listening to "The Order of the Phoenix" audiobook, I had a deep sense of "This feels familiar!"

Because that's exactly how D and I spent many hours of many days 15 years ago: driving to shops and listening to the Harry Potter audio series.

D on one of our many mystery shops at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Things have changed so much -- Rowling has made "enjoying" her series bittersweet by her rabid and unnecessary TERFdom, I'm older and find my mind isn't having as easy a time noticing and then remembering all of the things I need to know and remember to be good at this, and Mal isn't quite the pro that D was at his age -- but they're still so comfortable and pleasant -- hanging out with my kid a little more than usual, enjoying something together that he'd said before was "more D's thing" but I was sure he'd love if he gave it a chance, and earning a little bit to help offset our lack of income.

Altogether, it's a fun enough development.

I've had one shop that got declined because I misunderstood what I was supposed to take a picture of. Not bad, as I'm otherwise batting 900.

Hopefully I can find more things like the educational panel I did a few weeks ago where I was able to join a Zoom call and just give my opinions.