Category: Life

  • ODDS and ENDS: Club World Cup, Mowing Grass, and JAWS

    (When you’re on a holiday…)

    Having trouble getting into it. That pretty much sums up my attitude with the Club World Cup. Sure, you could say that some of the matches have been rather uneven, and you could also argue that the turn out for these matches hasn’t been the best. (Scores of empty seats.) But I’m trying to hang with it. I have watched as much as I can, and even made the kid sit with me. But, I just can’t get over the fact that there isn’t any excitement or passion for this thing. I want to say that this is due to the Group Stage, and that when we get to the Knock Out Round, things will pick up. I sure do hope so. With that having been said, I will put my money on Bayern Munich. Just a feeling and nothing more, but it’s what I am going with.

    When I was in junior high and high school, I was responsible for mowing the yard, both front and back. It’s how I earned some of my allowance, and I had it down to where I could knock it out in a half hour, so it didn’t eat into my weekends. So, it was never a chore I dreaded, as it was very manageable. This morning as I was sitting in the car, doing the Alt Side Parking, The City Park service was out mowing the grass in the local park and sidewalks, and just at the right moment, the smell of cut grass wafted and waifed into my car. Smells can trigger strong memories like nothing else, and that was what came over me. It was if I could feel the rumble and rattle of the lawnmowers handlebar as I pushed it across our lawn. The speed at which I could accomplish the pattern I followed, creating the nice orderly lines in the grass. It made me miss the chore a little, and even made want to own a home just so I could mow that yard.

    JAWS is 50 this year. What a great movie. I don’t need to tell you that. About a million other people can tell you why much better than I could. I will just say this; it’s my favorite Summer movie – not only is it a Summer Blockbuster, but it actually takes place in Summer. And the mother, Mrs Kintner played by Lee Fierro, who loses her kid; she’s the linchpin of the whole movie. Her two scenes brought a level of realism and emotional weight to the movie, and if she didn’t nail it, then the story never would have worked. Just sayin’…

  • Earworm Wednesday: It’s from that Movie, Right?

    “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” was suggested by my daughter, who associates this song with the end of Real Genius. It took me a couple of minutes to realize that this song does play at the end of that movie, you know, when all the kids are jumping in the popcorn that exploded out of that professor’s house. For some reason I thought this song played at the end of a John Huges movie, like The Breakfast Club. (I was thinking of “Don’t You (Forget About Me.” which I might use next week.)

    Anyway, the kid hates how easy this song gets stuck in her head. My memory of it is listening to it on the radio when my Mom was driving me around in her Chevette in the late 80’s. We might have been on our way to the J.C. Penny’s at Six Flags Mall to buy me a pair senseable slacks.

  • The Bored Days of Summer (Unedited)

    We got three days into Summer Vacation, and the kid announced that she was bored.

    “There’s nothing to do”

    “No one to talk to”

    “Nothing to watch”

    “Nothing to read”

    “Nothing to listen to”

    I think you get the idea.

    Not surprised to hear her say this. All kids get bored when they have too much time on their hands. When the get too much freedom, it becomes repressive. As I am the stay at home dad, I get the brunt of the kid’s complaints, and she looks to me to solve this problem of hers.

    My first reaction was to tell her that it’s not my job to eliminate her boredom.

    But as soon as I said that, it dawned on me that it really is my job to end her boredom. Look, if I don’t get involved then she will want to zombie out on the iPad, and that is the worst thing that could happen.

    I’m not saying that she won’t get on the iPad this Summer, but I want to limit that as much as possible.

    Now, I don’t want to create mindless things for her to do, such as dumping a bunch of chores on her. There is no joy or magical memories that come from that. No, what I want to do is encourage healthy habits while also spending time together. (She will help me paint the livingroom this Summer, so she does have one huge chore, but we’ve been talking about that for months now.) I want her to stay active, so we are going to go running, and work on her soccer skills. I also want to keep her reading up, so we need to set time aside for that. She’s brought up that she wants to go to a museum, so that will take care of the art side of things. And I want to encourage her to think about the food she wants to learn how to make, and then we can work on recipe testing.

    IN the end, what I know to be true is that you only get to have so many Summers as a kid. When the days are hot but not too hot, and the Summer feels like it stretches on forever. In two or three years, I really won’t see her over the Summer, as she’ll be involved in something, or will be hanging out with her friends. Until then, I want to make sure she has some memories of enjoying time with her dad. Doing stupid stuff while trying to avoid being bored.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Car Tires, Father’s Day, and No Kings

    (I don’t give a damn ‘bout my reputation…)

    What are you doing this weekend? Me? I’m getting new back tires got my car. I was hoping to schedule a root canal, but the dentist was busy so I decided to do the second most annoyingly painful thing I could. Sure, I like having a car, but I’m not big on maintaining a car. You know, it’s like shoe shopping for the car, and I need to do it before the Summer when we start driving a whole lot. Ung… just not in the mood for it. (There’s no real story here, I’m just complaining.) But I gotta do it, I gotta do it, gotta do it, do it, it!

    What am I doing on Father’s Day? Buying tires! I wonder if they run a special for new tires on Father’s Day? If not, they should. No, I’ll get a nice lox bagel that the wife will order for delivery, and then I will need to drive to the tire place while the wife and kid hang out at home.

    This seems about right.

    But before all of that fun, there is that issue of NO KINGS. If you haven’t heard, there are nation wide, peaceful protest marches planned for Saturday June 14th in reaction to the growing authoritarian threat from Trump and his administration. In case you forgot, this is a nation of no kings, and it’s time to start reminding everyone, including ourselves, that We The People are in charge; that this is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. I encourage you to join the protest, to peacefully march, and share your voice. If you can’t make it out, then watch the live cast, share videos and messages on social media. This is not a day to be silent. There are many ways to participate, and we all need to pitch in and hold to the ideals that our nation was founded on.

  • Earworm Thursday: I Hear this Song When I’m Running Late

    I watched the original Adventures in Babysitting the other night, and this song plays a prominent role in the ending of the movie. But on a much larger level, this is song has the sound of what I feel when I’m running late, but still in control of the situation.