Category: Life

  • ODDS and ENDS – England v Germany, REI Again, and SCHOOLS OUT!

    “Odds and Ends” is my continuing series of random thoughts and follow ups…

    So, England made it out of the Group Stage at EURO 2020/21, and is in the Knockout Round. It’s not a clean path. First, they have to play Germany, who isn’t playing like Germany of old, but at the same time, Germany is never easy. If England gets past that, my guess is that they will have to play Sweden, which I think they should win. After that, all bets are off. In the semi-finals, England will play either the Dutch or the Czech Republic. Sadly, I don’t see Wales or Denmark beating the Dutch or the Czechs. Am I getting ahead of myself? Oh, yes! But, as of this moment, EURO 2020/21 is the only sport that seems interesting to me. (And I am fully aware that Cubs threw a combined no-hitter against the Dodgers last night.)

    Last week, I talked about going to REI to exchange my boots for a half size larger, and I was curious if their 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed return policy was real. It’s real. They exchanged my boots, no questions asked. And in my excitement, I bought a day pack. Now, the kid-o is saying that her boots are too small as well. So, Saturday, we are headed back to REI for another exchange. And I might pick up a small first-aid kit for the day pack. (Yes, I keep buying hiking stuff.)

    And today was the last day of school! I never want to do a remote school year again! I know I am not alone on that, but man, never again. SO starts the adventure of a real Summer Vacation, of Day Camps, road trips, museum runs, and sleeping in. All Hail Summer!

  • Missing Friends and Theatre

    The other day, a very good friend of mine, let’s call him “Shawn”, who lives back in Dallas, posted some pictures of a performance he took part in of “A Midsummers Night’s Dream” for the Shakespeare Everywhere company. He posted a video as well of the cast backstage. Then another friend put up some pictures of a group of our college friends, some I have known for close to twenty years, all going to the show. I was really excited and happy for “Shawn” to be in front of an audience again. He’s a theatre whore, and that is meant as a complement, as his joy and excitement of preforming is boundless and contagious.

    I won’t lie, I do miss my college friends, and it would be nice to see all of them in person again. (Which is possible now!) It would appear that we are all approaching forty still in one piece, and having learned a thing or two. I didn’t so much have a pang of missing out, in so much as I had a pang of missing talking to them. I miss the diversity of our group, and their individual experiences that they brought. But I miss how we all made each other laugh.

    The other thing that happened was that I got a little bug in the back of my head that kept saying to me, “You miss audiences, too.” The last time I performed for an audience was in September 2018, in Eau Clair, Wisconsin – almost three years. Normally, I would say that I miss the camaraderie of a being in a cast, and working together, But… But, I started thinking about being in front of people, making them laugh, or making them pin-drop silent hanging on the next word that comes out of my mouth. I miss fighting to get an audience on your side, or when they get ahead of you and you have to catch up to them… To be a player in a troupe of actors…

    Stupid theatre whore making me want to be a theatre whore…

  • Visiting Crowley Vintage & Antiques

    This past weekend, Saturday to be exact, I made the pilgrimage to Crowley Vintage & Antiques in DUMBO, Brooklyn. I had to go to the REI Flagship store to exchange my hiking boots as they were half a size too small, pick up a daypack too, and since I was so far downtown, if I just went a few more stops on the F train, I could be in DUMBO. Crowley Vintage & Antiques is open to the public on the weekends now, so I thought what the hell, I’ll go check it out.

    Back in March, I wrote a blog about my interest in Ivy Style clothing, and that I followed @crowley_vintage on IG. At the time when I wrote the blog, I made a joke about the place being way out of my price range, but I still kept following Sean Crowley’s posts as I wanted to stop by his store one day. I think what I am fascinated by is the act of looking formal. We all have gone over a year being extremely casual, and even when I was working, which was in the arts – a notoriously idiosyncratic casually dressed industry – I preferred to dress for work in a tie and sportscoat.

    When I made it to DUMBO, I found the building easily; Getting to the shop took me a minute. Clearly, I took a wrong turn, and was forced to take an elevator to the third floor, but soon enough I found the shop which was located across from a staircase I somehow missed finding on the first floor.

    Crowley Vintage & Antiques was exactly how it is presented on IG. Not a very big shop, but organized very well so nothing feels overwhelming or random. I went looking for the Summer Madras shirts and sportscoats, which was an immaculate collection. Everything was a quality piece and in very good shape. I especially liked the collection of framed pictures, which I was very tempted to ask about. I didn’t, as I thought of this as a fact-finding mission. Though Sean greeted me as I came in, I didn’t converse with him, as I wanted to experience the shop for myself. I was in the shop for about thirty minutes, and I did enjoy myself. I have a feeling I will return when I need to add a better piece to my wardrobe, or if I have an event to attend, and want to have something special.

    As I walked out of the shop, I took the staircase down, which put me to the left of the exit/entrance of the building. (See, I took a wrong turn, that’s all.) As I was about to head out of the building, a guy walked in, looked left and right and then asked me, “Do you happen to know where Crowley Vintage is?”

    “Hang a left and up the stairs.” I said.

  • ODDS and ENDS – England v Scotland, REI, and Father’s Day

    I have no one to talk to about this, which makes me think I am the only American watching EURO 2021. I know that’s not true as the matches are on ESPN, but still… No one to talk to about it. Today, England is playing against Scotland which has all kinds of implications for this group. If England wins, they pretty much are guaranteed to move on to the knockout round. While Scotland, at the bottom of the group, has to win to stay alive. Then there is all of that history between the two nations, and I am sure that some idiot out there has all of his BRAVEHEART memes rip roaring to go.

    On Saturday, I will head to REI to see if their 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed Policy is for real when it comes to hiking boots worn once. I am fully aware that I was upsold on some boots over Memorial Day, but they are just a half size too small. I can feel my toes rubbing against the top of the boots. I know it’s not an end of the world problem, but I think if I were to hike longer than an hour, then I would have a real issue. Anyway, to find this out, I had to ware them, so, let’s see what they do. Balls in your court REI!

    Speaking of which, at least REI that is, I’m also going to pick up a day-backpack while I’m at the store tomorrow. Yup I’m buying more gear as a Father’s Day gift to myself. As with my wife’s birthday, in which I played no part in planning, so that she could have exactly what she wanted, I have also been granted this gift. So, I’m getting a daypack, and on Sunday, the whole family is going out for a hike in the woods. If you would have asked me a year ago what I wanted to do on Father’s Day, I would have told you sleep, and sleep late. Now, I want to get up early and sweat in the woods. It’s been a strange year.

  • Cleaning Lesson

    We did a big clean this weekend. We cleaned the apartment; every room except the study. My task was to clean the bathroom and the kitchen. My wife took on the role of cleaning our daughter’s room.

    We always debate cleaning the kid’s room. Such as, should we do it and get it in a proper order, or should we take the time to show the kid how to clean her room, then have her do it. Now, she is six, so there is a limit of organizational skill that she has, so we can only expect so much. What we have continued to choose to do is give her room a big clean every month, and then the rest of the time, ask the kid to clean it knowing that she is just shoving things under her bed.

    Now, we have a small apartment, and I think most of you know that, so there is only so much room for so much stuff. If something comes into the apartment, then something has to move out. This is especially true for the kid. We know that starting with October, she will start acquiring things; Halloween things, Thanksgiving things, Christmas things, and then birthday things. And all of these things need to have a place in her room. It’s purge and replace.

    The lesson here is that we need to live with less things. That is what we need to teach the kid, right? Or is the lesson that everything should have a place to live? Or is the lesson we need a bigger place to live?

    Either way, apartment is clean. Well, except for the study.