Category: Life

  • Try Again Tomorrow (Unedited)

    I took the dog to the groomer, and that threw off my entire day.

    I mean it was scheduled. In my calendar, so I knew it was coming. The end result, other that the dog having a very nice “puppy cut,” is that I got nothing dome that I wanted to get done.

    Normally I blog in the morning, but I didn’t get around to it until 6pm today. I didn’t do any journaling, and the sketchbook is just a hope at this point – maybe even a wish.

    But the groomer. Walking the dog twenty blocks to drop her off is what really did it. I know lots of people take their dogs on the subway now, and it doesn’t bother me. But I can’t do it. Only because if another dog got in the car, my dog would go apeshit. That and she’s take a dump on the train. (She once took a huge dump while I was in line at an ATM. That was a good day…) So I have to walk her, and I really don’t mind. I do like our neighborhood.

    Also, this is the closest groomer to our apartment, just in case anyone is wondering…

    Which I know no one is…

    That extra forty blocks really took it outta me. Zapped my energy, and the only thing I kept turning over in my mind was that Lauren Boebert was kicked out of a touring performance of the musical of Beetlejuice in Denver because she was being rowdy and using a vape.

    Ahh…

    Try again tomorrow…

  • ODDS and ENDS: Hearing, Tottenham’s Start, and If I Drop 10 Pounds…

    (But that is another story…)

    I can admit that I have a hypochondriac streak. If I feel even slightly off, I assume I’m getting sick. And if I’m sick, then I’m clearly going to die. Recently, a new “symptom” has developed, which may not portend my impending demise; I’m having trouble hearing people. I first noticed this with my kid, though I was skeptical as she does make an art form out of mumbling. But now, when my wife speaks to me from across the apartment, it sounds muffled. Normally, I would blame them, but as I get older, I fear Occam’s Razor is swinging more towards me than not. Yet another body part I need to have checked.

    So… Tottenham Hotspur haven’t lost a match yet. Sure, the toughest game they had was against a weakened United, and their first real test will be against Arsenal on September 24th, BUT until then… I’m going to enjoy the fact that they are undefeated!

    … I can button up this one awesome sports coat I have with leather patches on the elbows.

  • Everyone’s Back at It

    Today was the first day of school in New York City. Well, for the public schools anyway. But it was also, officially, no fooling this time, the end of Summer for everybody; as somehow, magically it seems, everyone returned to the City over night, and they all decided that they needed to use public transit this morning. There was such a dramatic change in the number of people on the subway this morning, that even my daughter was like, Where did all these people come from?

    The Cycle begins again, I said.

    I got a blank stare from the kid.

    Everyone is back from vacation and has to go to work and school. Then I added, The City’s full again.

    It’s true, the City has all its people back, and from what I observed this morning, most people didn’t have a good time on vacation, because their attitudes were rather piss poor. I mean, this Cycle seems to really have brought out the bad and gruff attitudes in New Yorkers.

    This is my sixteenth Post-Labor Day return, and I am still impressed by it. See, it’s an event that annually happens in NYC, but no one talks about it. People talk about the City emptying out for the Summer, but no one mentions the inevitable return. (If we talk of the yen, should we not talk of the yang?) I find it odd that, as a city, NYC seems to love to point out its annual traditions and cycles, marking the changing of seasons and time, yet The Return (I’m coining it) is a verboten topic of discussion.

    Maybe it’s a tad depressing to talk about the end of Summer.

    Or it might be more basic than that…

    No one wants to go back to work.

  • It’s Labor Day!

    Remember! The reason we have a Labor Day in the United States is because of the Labor Movement.

    The Writers Guild of America, and SAG-AFTRA are on strike this Labor Day.

    The UAW could be on strike on September 14th.

    Teacher’s Unions in Portland, Oregon and New Jersey could be on strike this fall for better pay and benfits.

    Organizing and Striking are an American tradition.

  • ODDS and ENDS: The End of Summer, Disc Golf, and My Phone Says I’m Healthy

    (You’ll find it funny later…)

    Labor Day is Monday, and as such, Autumn begins on Tuesday. Happy Fall, Ya’ll! I am going to try very hard to not talk about the weather like the old man I am slowly evolving into. (Even though we are about to enter nine days of high heat in the City!) We made it to the start of September, and as soon as Labor day is concluded, the marathon to New Year begins; such is the cycle. Our lives have always been like this, but when we added a kid to the mix, and especially when she started school, it has taken on a stronger relevance in our lives. Labor Day means the start of school, and it takes time for us to get back to that flow of life. Soon, the kid will start talking about Halloween costumes, and apple picking will be scheduled. We’ll fit in a final hike before it starts to get too cold, so we can enjoy the leaves changing color. Then the planning of Thanksgiving starts, and the hope of Christmas is never too far away. Autumn never comes fast enough and it never last long enough.

    I like disc golf. I’m not good at it, and I don’t do it often enough, but it’s an activity that I look forward to doing. I have mention before how I have started watching disc golf tournaments on YouTube, and I even got the UDisc app for my phone, so I am making an effort to be more involved. The newest thought I have been percolating on is attending a local tournament, something that I could drive to, and back in one day. I am curious to see how these things are run. You know, what is it like?

    My phone noticed that I have been more active of late. And like all good friends, it has started encouraging me to keep it going. I have been walking more in the City., that’s true. When I had a job where I went to an office, I walked between 9,000 to 10,0000 steps a day during the week. When Covid hit, I dropped down to an average of 4,000 steps a day. (I can’t prove it, but this might be part of the reason I put on twenty pounds. Just a thought.) With the kid back in school, and walking to drop her off and pick her up, my new weekday average is over 10,000 steps. This is a good thing, and adding that I have returned to the gym, I’m moving in a healthier direction. But my phone has interpreted this development in activity as an invitation to start giving more advice about how I should eat, sleep, and other things to make me “healthier.” The phone is coming on a little too strong. I just want to be friends with “healthier,” not looking for a commitment. Maybe if I drop twenty pounds, we can talk. Until then, I’m just having fun.