Blog

  • Waking Up Early

    This school year, because the kid switched to a different school, we had to start our days earlier. Her old school started at 8:20, and we were a five-minute walk from it, while her new school started at 7:20, and it was a 30-minute subway ride with a walk to top it off. It would be easy to say that our whole life shifted back an hour and fifteen minutes. Not an enormous amount of time, but being that we are a family that is made up of a bunch of anti-morning people, it was a heavy lift.

    Ten months later, the wife and the kid still hate getting up early. I do, too… But I get up a half hour before them, which affords me the opportunity to exorcise my anti-morning-ness out of my system, so I am chipper enough to get the day started, and also annoy then crap out of them.

    But, as the school year draws to a close, and Summer vacation starts, I foresee that our child will not want to get up before 8am. And if my wife had her way, and she does work from home, a 7am wakeup call would be her preference.

    As for me… I’m toying with the idea of keeping the 5:30 alarm. Now, hear me out…

    I don’t love getting up at 5:30am, but I have to admit that I can do it, and it doesn’t ruin the rest of my day. I could, and I stress “could,” get up early and head to the gym? My best friend does that; out early, gets the day started with a win, feels good, and has a positive attitude toward the day… or at least that’s what he tells me. That would be nice to have. I could also get up early and work. I would have about an hour and a half to myself to get my writing done.

    I could list a couple of reasons why I don’t want to do this, and maybe even make a couple of jokes. Yet, I think, and I know, that my life is transitioning to a different phase. I’m a middle-aged dad and husband. I’m not in my twenties or thirties, and I am getting older. That doesn’t mean that I should slow down, or start to act like my parents did at this age. But I have to acknowledge that things change, and approaches to living change, and that’s okay.

    It’s just a different way to live.

  • A Little James Gang Funk

    For the record, the James Gang only released “Funk #48” and “Funk #49,” so there’s like, 47 other “Funks” out there they haven’t shared.

  • Today’s Sketchbook Drawing 6/11/24

    Landscape – pencil, marker, crayon on paper

  • What Did You Say?

    On Sunday, late afternoon, I was out walking my dog. Normal Sunday in the City, it was a little warm so I was in shorts, and I had on my Tottenham Hotspur t-shirt that my wife and kid got me for Father’s Day last year.

    As I got to the corner to cross the street, a guy was coming across towards me. He stuck out a finger, pointing directly at me, which made me think, “Oh god, here comes a crazy person.” Then he yelled at me;

    “C’mon You Spurs!”

    He smiled at me, and just kept walking.

    It took me a second to realize that he wasn’t crazy. He was a Spurs fan, calling out to another Spurs fan.

    But you see, as I already told you, I had thought in my mind that this dude was crazy, so my brain didn’t register exactly what he was saying to me. It was like I heard just a jumble of sounds that I was trying to ignore. And then it hit me, “That guy didn’t say something crazy!” But I wasn’t sure what he said, so I had to play it back over in my mind – “C’mon You Spurs!” That’s when my head kicked into gear and was like, “He’s a Tottenham fan! He’s Saying that because of your shirt, you big dummy!” And what I said back to the guy was:

    “Hey! Yeah! That’s right!” Sometimes I amaze myself at my ability to express myself so clearly and concisely.

  • ODDS and ENDS: I Want to Go to the Gym, The Greatest Upset in Cricket World Cup History, and Mowing the Lawn

    (If there is a remedy, I will run from it)

    Today, honestly, was the first day in my life wherein when I woke up, and I had a desire to go to the gym. Not sure what is happening to me. I hate going to the gym, or at least I did. Yet, running on the treadmill for 30 minutes sounds enjoyable. Crap! I think I might be changing for the better.

    Did you know that the Men’s Cricket World Cup is underway? Did you know that the US is the host country? did you know that the USA has a team? Would you believe that the USA is not ranked very high in the world, and is not considered a serious competitive team? Would you believe that low ranked Team USA beat the 6th ranked powerhouse team from Pakistan yesterday? Yeah, neither did I! This is actually a very big deal in the Cricketing world, and I feel that out of National Pride we should be celebrating this! As such, here is your 2024 USA Men’s National Cricket Team:

    I never really minded the chore of mowing the yard. My Dad would make me do it, and I think at first it was like a punishment. But I had a walkman and lots of tapes, so it became a time for me to zone out and fall into my music. If I remember correctly, I could mow the front and back yard in thirty minutes, but it was Texas, so in the summer I either had to mow in the morning, or at the very edge of dusk. I don’t know if I will ever own a house, but if I do, I am looking forward to taking care of a yard.