Blog

  • Putting the Kid to Work

    I’m putting the kid to work today. We are going to paint baseboards. See, I was able to paint everything in the kid’s room; purple walls with white doorways and the windows. The only thing I wasn’t able to get to were the baseboards. Hence why I’m putting the kid to work. Also, I would like her to take a little ownership of her space, as well. You know, make her feel that the room belongs to her. But I also know that it’s just fun to play with paint.

    And the Summer is winding down. There is only three weeks left to the kid’s Summer vacation, and I am sure this won’t be the last time I will say this, but the Summer has gone by really fast. This week, we’ll do our back to school shopping, and next week we have our meet and greet with the kid’s new teacher. Then Labor Day, and the school starts.

    And the cycle starts all over again.

    Which means it virtually Christmas, right?

    What I am trying to remind myself is that I have limited, one on one time with the kid. She’s getting older, becoming her own person, and won’t want to be around me forever. As she grows, our relationship will change, has already changed actually, and that’s something I need to get used to.

    I can see why some parents never want their kids to get older, or change. (Just stay small and innocent, you know.) I like the fact that she’s getting feisty and opinioned. This sword cuts both way as wanting her to be her own person means that she will have to pull away from me. This isn’t a new story in the world, but it is one that I am experiencing for the first time.

    But for today, we’ll paint baseboards together. And I have a feeling that she will make me listen to The Descendants soundtrack, again.

    (Oh Yeah! If you read this, clearly you have, and if it struck you as entertaining, then if you could be a pal and leave a like, or a comment, or share it to the furthest reaches of the UNIVERSE!)

  • Premier League Week 2: Tottenham Draw, and Brentford’s Statement Win

    I was all hyped up for the Tottenham v Chelsea match, and it didn’t disappoint. I can be fully honest while also being biased for Spurs, but Chelsea was the better team that day. Raheem Sterling is just a dangerous man on the pitch, and it looked like Tottenham’s defense didn’t have an answer to stop him, or the rest of Chelsea for that matter. Clearly, these two teams don’t like each other, and everyone was getting chippy out there. But I will say this, Chelsea shut Son down, and made him a non-factor in the match, but there wasn’t a whole lot they could do to stop Kane. Chelsea gave Tottenham too many opportunities at the end, and if you do that, Kane will find a way to get the ball. In that sense, Chelsea got what the deserved. Yup, Conte wanted to make a statement, and the first statement was don’t piss him off when shaking hands, and the second was the team never gave up; Spurs were out matched, out played, and out classed, but they never gave up. That’s a huge difference from the team that took the field last season. Last year, Tottenham would just folded in the last ten minutes of a match. This team fought, and pushed, and hung in there. A win would have been great, but the draw meant this Tottenham team won’t accept a loss.

    I think I have mention that I don’t know a whole lot about the Premier League. That also includes looking up the schedule for the other 19 teams. I wasn’t paying attention, and didn’t realize that Man United, who picked up Christian Eriksen off of Brentford, was coming to Brentford to play this past Saturday. On paper, Manchester United still looks like a powerhouse; they have Ronaldo, Maguire and Eriksen to say the least, so heading into Brentford, this should have been an easy win for Man United. Brentford is only starting their second season the the PL, after having won promotion, and normally a team like that is still adjusting to the new level. What ended up happening was a statement win from the Bees, that I am sure made Eriksen wonder if he made the right decision in leaving the team for United. Yes, the first goal Brentford got was a bit of a fluke, as the ball went through the United goalie’s hands, but the three that followed were executed by a team that was focused and ready to play, and acted like they expected to win this match from the beginning. Manchester United looked like the inferior club, like they hand just been promoted. Yes, that 4 – 0 win by Brentford was impressive, and I won’t lie, made me feel like I knew something that no one else did. Keep an eye on Brentford.

    (Pardon me, but if you found my personal insight into the world of English football enjoyable, please, try keeping calm, and liking, commenting, or sharing this post. Carpenters and Walruses would approve.)

  • What A House in the Country Really Means

    This weekend, I thought that we, as a family, we going to go hiking. Turns out that we went and played disc golf. I was a little surprised, as I feel like disc golf is my little hobby, so when the wife and kid want to go and do it with me, I am always taken aback. But I wasn’t going to say no either. The kid did put in one request with the disc golf; we had to get pancakes for lunch after golfing. I could live with that.

    The place we decided to go to was Gunks Disc Golf, which is in Mystic Park, Gardiner, NY. It was a bit out on the country, as it was an hour and a half drive from the City. Most of the drive was on I-87, but soon we were off the interstate, and on two lane highways, and state routes. Trees are everywhere, with houses set back off the road, and I wonder what do these people do for a living out there?

    And the wife and I play the game of wondering if we could get a place out in the country?

    It’s a fun game as we are driving in the car, but as the conversation turns from wishful thinking to is this even possible for us, then reality starts to creep in. We are a one income family, who is in debt. And we can’t do anything until that debt is taken care of. That’s our reality.

    A reality that was in the back of my head the rest of the day. Mystic Park in Gardiner, NY was a very pleasant and nice place. The course was fun, and it ran along Wakill River, which added to the sense that you were deep in nature. And I thought about how nice it would be to have a place near here, that we could spend the Summer, and weekends and holidays. To do that, I have to get a job. There is no way around it, if I want that, I have to bring money in.

    I want to have a home, but to get that, something has to change, and change within me. I’m comfortable where I am, but I also feel like I don’t have the drive and ambition that I used to have. If I wanted something, I used to go and get it. I mean, I wanted to be in NYC and work in theatre, and I went and got it. Now, I question if I could follow through.

    So, when I think about that house in the country, it’s not just a price tag, and expense that we’d have to pay for. It’s also means a change in my attitude and resolve. To achieve it, I have to change. And I can’t say for sure that I want to change.

    (Hey You! If you enjoyed this slightly confessional blog, then be a pal and leave a like, a comment, or share it with your friends. It might actually make my day!)

  • ODDS and ENDS: Tough Questions, Hiking, and The 300th Follower!

    (If you’re here, you’re family!)

    I was very aware that when we had a kid, that at some point she would start asking some tough questions. There are all the cliché questions about babies and sex, and I was ready for things like that, as well as, why do bad things happen if God is good and all powerful? But I wasn’t prepared for when the kid asked me how a search warrant works? The kid walked in while I was watching the news, heard the phrase, “issued a search warrant” and asked the question. Now, I know what a search warrant is, but I can’t 100% say I know how they work. Like, I know a judge grants one, law enforcement executes it, and there is the Fourth Amendment protections, But… (shrug) Now, I just need to figure out how the Electoral College works so I can be ready for that question.

    The weekend is coming, and I have it in my head that we will all go hiking. Hopefully, there won’t be a surprise Summer cold to knock us all off our feet, as I would really like to get out of the City early in the morning, and spend the first half of the day walking along a stream in the woods. This Summer, I feel like we really haven’t hiked as much as we did last year. I know that we still have about two and a half months left before it gets too cold for us, so there is time. But as I sit here, I am thinking about how much I enjoy hiking in the Fall. Cool weather, leaves changing, good excuse to put on my flannel shirts.

    And, I got my 300th Follower! And, I’m pretty sure it’s not a bot. There is always a chance that it could be a bot, but I feel I shouldn’t discriminate against Russian bots. Are they any different from me? I’m trying to get people to come to my page to help my writing career, and they are trying to get people to their page for crypto scams. Who am I to judge?

    (Say! If you happen to not be a bot and found this blog to be high on your enjoyable scale, then please take a moment to like, comment or give it a share. You’d do a body good!)

  • Stopping the Publishing Monopolies, and Bookstores

    First of all, you should read “American Literature Loses Out to Consolidation,” by Richard Howorth which was published in The New York Times today.

    That having been said, my favorite bookstore to go to is the Stand down on 12th Street. I’ve started taking the kid there, and I feel like I’m completing one of those “All My Life’s a Circle” moments where I was taken to bookstores as a kid, and I now do that for my kid. One of the biggest reasons I love going to the Stand is that it smells like a bookstore; it smells like stacks and stacks of books. And now, slowly, no matter where I travel to, I have started seeing little bookshops again. In little downtowns, or strip malls, bookstores – new and used – are becoming present again.

    I worked, for a very short time, for an independent publisher right out of college, and I tip my hat to people to run small publishing houses; you only do it because you love it, not because you want to become rich. At those houses, everything seems like it’s on the verge of failing, people outside of the business treat you like your crazy, and there is no good business model other than being bought out by one of the “big houses” one day. But, I must add, some of the smartest people I have ever met work in small publishing.

    And these small publishers are where almost all authors get started. They are the farm leagues of the publishing world, and they are vital to the ecosystem, especially when it comes to giving new voices, subjects, and people an opportunity. The more the big house become centralized, the more likely they take up the shelf space at all level of bookstores, forcing out the little guys, and thus killing off anything new from being discovered.

    Keep this in mind when you bookshop. Look to see who is publishing that book you are looking at. Every dollar truly helps the little guy.

    (Say! If you happen to find that this blog are some knees of bees, be a pal and give it a like, a comment or a share! You’d be doing this Daddy-o a true solid!)