Month: April 2024

  • Today’s Sketchbook Entry

    Inspired by Hopper. Crayon and marker on paper.

  • Personal Review: “First Love” by Gwendoline Riley

    For the life of me, I don’t remember who or what recommended First Love to me. It was on a list of books that I should read, and when I found a copy of it at the Strand, I picked it up without a second thought, nor having any idea what I was about to get myself into. To be honest, I appreciate the joy and excitement that comes from reading a book that I know nothing about, by an author I also know nothing about, because it does afford me the ability to truly experience a work without any preconceived notions. In this situation, I didn’t even read the description on the back of the book.

    First Love isn’t about the “happy” side of love. It’s not about the joy, fulfillment, or really any of the positive side of love. Oh, now and then, that side of love does show up, but on the whole, that’s not what this novel wants to explore. For the protagonist Neve, she shares with us all of people that she first experienced a form of “love” with; her mother, her father, a boyfriend, and her husband. Each relationship is troubled, difficult, in some cases even toxic, and they all overlap on each other, influencing each relationship from actions that happened in the past, and fears of what might happen in the future. For this reason, it is not a traditional novel, and time and events shift – nothing is linear here, but it adds greatly to the theme of these loves bumping and conflicting with each other.

    I found myself thinking about the works of Rachel Cusk and Maggie Nelson as I read this book. Riley’s novel tackles a serious subject, but the narrative never becomes weighed down, as it feels like a conversation. As such, this book was akin to the Outline Trilogy, and the examination in Bluets. It felt very internal, that we were being let in to very personal thoughts and exanimations. I will say that though First Love is a new form novel, like Outline, Riley did have a more traditional climax here, which gave the novel a satisfying conclusion.

    When I read a book like First Love, I am rather envious of writers like Gwendoline Riley, who create drama and self-examining characters, while never making their stories so personal that it becomes dull of whiney. It’s a bit of a magic trick, that is fun to experience. Thank you, to what, or whomever put this book on my reading list.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Dentist, I Want My A/C, and Ice Cream Treat

    (It’s miles away…)

    The kid went to the dentist yesterday. Luckily, she enjoys going, so we never had to deal with any anxiety with people poking her teeth. And we’ve been seeing this dentist for three years now, so we know each other and they have a solid file on the kid. In fact, at some point, the kid told them that she wanted to be a dentist, which they added to her file, and was brought up immediately as soon as she sat in the chair. I’m not sure if that is still a goal of hers, but everyone there thought it was awesome that there was a kid that wanted to be one of them. Or maybe they’re all really nice to all the kids…

    I bought an air conditioner from a big box retailer who I’m not naming as of yet. It is a super nice and fancy window unit that we had to budget for, but we were due for an upgrade. Anyway, it was promised to be delivered today, but when I check their website, my delivery status has not advanced beyond “order received.” It is a bit troubling as we still have to get through the “shipped” and “out for delivery” stage with only 11 1/2 hours until estimated received time expires. This is going to be in the back of my mind all day today… (UPDATE: I received an email and a text message from the retailer saying that the delivery date has changed. The text said the a/c is coming on Monday, while the email says today…)

    Serving Suggestion: Vanilla ice cream in a bowl, topped with Reese’s Magic Shell, then topped on that with crushed up Reese’s Cereal. Enjoy!

  • Working Out Together

    Who does this? I’m not judging; just wondering if I know any friends, couples actually, who go and workout together? I see this couple activity depicted in tv and movies, and there sure does seem to be a great number of people on social media presenting videos of them and their significant other lifting weights, running, or drinking protein shakes together. They seem to be enjoying each other’s company. Now and then, at the gym or in the park, I will see a couple running together, so I know it happens.

    The reason I ask is that the wife and I might start working out together. OR to be more accurate, both of us will be in the gym at the same time. See, I run and the wife does yoga. Recently, after a back issue, her doctor suggested that she might want to start lifting some weights. She does have a membership to the gym I go to, a perk of her job, so she thought that we should go together on the same day… you know, to help motivate each other.

    I’m not opposed to this idea. I just never saw us as a workout couple on our life BINGO card. When this happens at the gym, she’ll go to her weight machine, and I’ll head to the treadmill. After thirty minutes, we’ll leave together. Maybe we’ll talk about “gains” but I doubt it.

    And I would say that this is the unexpected path that middle-aged life is taking us on. I still hate working out, but I at least know that working out 30 minutes a day, five days a week, can have a huge positive impact on your health. So, I’m not stupid. It’s just not my favorite thing to do. Call it an “eating your vegetable” problem – I know it’s good for me.

    I never really thought about what being middle aged would be like, because I never really thought that I’d be middle aged. Not that I would die young or anything like that; I just never thought about being bald, with a little tummy pudge, worrying about retirement and the cost of college for the kid. Thinking about my life with the wife, I just assumed we’d get older, but look the same, and drink and smoke, eat food we want to eat, never change, and and stay up late every night.

    Didn’t turn out that way. I’m not unhappy about the way things worked out; most of it is pretty great. But now I have things in my life that I want to spend as much time with as possible, and though it’s like fighting the tide, if I can snatch some extra time, I will.

    So, we’re going to the gym together.

  • Is It Summer? (Unedited)

    I know that we are just getting to the end of April, and there is still one more month of Spring to go… But in my home, Summer is well under way.

    Actually, Summer ’24 has been planned for when Summer ’23 was coming to an end. When we picked the kid up from camp, she was ready to go back to camp. Not surprised, she had a great time, but on the drive back to New York, she was pushing us to confirm that she was going back next year.

    And at the same time, we were told that a family wedding was coming, and it would be a Summer wedding.

    Then today, I ordered a new air conditioner for the apartment. Our old one was that, old, and though it was still pumping out cold air, it was always meant as a stop-gap a/c. A unit we got stuck with during the Pandemic, and never got around to replacing. Except, I replaced it today.

    So, I guess what I am getting at is that I had this feeling come over me today that the year is over. I know that feels like a bit of a leap, but hear me out.

    The end of the school year is in sight, and the kid’s school wants to start talking about the Fall, and how we can get ready for that. I have started the process of planning all of our travel and arrangements for the wedding. And I have been getting all the paperwork and health forms in line for the kid to attend camp.

    Which leaves me feeling like the Summer of ’24 is already over.

    Not sure how I feel about that.

    I’m not a huge fan of Summer, having grown up in Texas and I have dealt with my fair share of heat… and I’m over it. I like the idea of Summer; vacations, shorts, swimming, hanging out, BBQ’s, you get the idea. But outside of that, it’s just a hot time of year, and sadly, will only get hotter for the rest of my life.

    Actually, I’m not sure where I’m going with this… It has turned into a bit of a ramble…

    Sorry…

    So, umm… I think we’re going back to Maine for vacation.