Category: Life

  • ODDS and ENDS: Spain v England, The Gym, and I Hate Summer

    (You Couldn’t Be Bad…)

    Holy Crap! I do know something about International Football Teams! Or At least I did at the start of the World Cup! And then I changed my mind… But now I am back to my original idea! England will win the World Cup! Unless it’s Spain, which was a team I never had much faith in because everything I read was that Spain was a bit of a shit show that couldn’t get their act together. The point here is that I don’t know anything, and I make predictions, and I am wrong often, but the end result is way more exciting than I expected. It is fair to label me a very enthusiastic fan of football, though not highly educated on the nuances of the sport. Not that it matters as I am having fun with all of it. I really didn’t think England would make it past Australia. As for Spain, I thought there was no way in hell they would get past the Dutch, let alone Sweden… I’ve said this before, if sports was predictable, then there would be no reason to watch it. Looking forward to the final on Sunday morning.

    I went back to the gym this morning. It’s been three months of absence. Even my gym app was asking me if I was planning on going back anytime soon. I’m tying the gym into all the schedule changes we have been making as a family with the kid starting at a new school, at a much earlier time. The goal is to get back to going four times a week. If I lost some weight, that would be cool, but right now I am just looking to get healthy, improve my attitude, and get more focused. Starting this journey today, I did thirty minutes of walking on the treadmill. On the tv in front of me, they gym was playing an episode of The Andy Griffith Show. Not what I was expecting.

    And I want to end on this point; I’m tired of Summer, and I hate the season. Sure, back in March I was all about making vacation plans, sitting on a beach, getting my shorts on, and being outdoors. Now that it’s mid-August in The City, it’s just hot and humid. It’s gross out. I want it to end. I’m an old man bitching, but I don’t care, because I’m dreaming of sweaters, flannel shirts, leaves changing color, the windows being open, and coats – wonderful warming coats. It’s time for a season change.

  • First and Second Day of School

    This academic year, we switched schools that our daughter attends. It wasn’t an easy decision, and there were many family discussions, and up and downs, but we landed on a school we are all happy with. This did cause us to have a short Summer, as her old school got out on the last week of June, and her new school started this middle of August. Again, we had discussed this as a family, and the kid said she was okay with all of it.

    And when the first day rolled around, she was up and ready to go – full of excitement and itching to start the adventure. The new school required a uniform, which she felt was like Harry Potter and Hogwarts. Though she did mention that it was a little sad not to go to school with her old friends, she said she was ready to make new friends. This school was out of the neighborhood, so we had to ride the subway, which was a new adventure. Everything was new and exciting, and we were all ready for it. And it wasn’t surprising that by the time I picked her up from school, the excitement and adrenaline had worn off, and she was tired, and in the end, though she likes school, it was still school.

    Today, was we got up this morning, there was no joy or excitement in getting up to go to school. The newness had worn off in 24 hours, and we returned to the world of her asking, “Why is school so early?” Sprinkle on top of that and nice bit of grumpiness. She did get up and go, and as we got closer to the school, her attitude got better, but she was still closer to grumpy than nice.

    Again, I am not surprised at this reaction. Going someplace new is hard. It’s hard to walk into a room full of people, who all know each other, and fit in. Being new brings up stresses and anxieties in her, and I am powerless to assuage them. I can support and be there and listen, but dropping her off is the first time I really felt powerless in helping her. I’m confident in her to overcome this, and make this school work, to make friends, and thrive in this new environment.

    She’s got this.

  • I Made Salsa

    And here is the recipe…

  • ODDS and ENDS: The New Summer, NYC Summer Smell, and Hungry All the Time

    (Clever One-Liner!)

    It’s hot. And not only that, its steamy, too. Not the good, Faulkner Southern Gothic steamy, but the awful humidity life sucks steamy. I’m not a big fan of Summer, and I am even a smaller fan of heat, but when it comes to Summer heat – I hate it. I grew up in Texas, and about my junior year in high school, I had enough. I was going to live up north. I’d rather freeze in Winter than melt in Summer. I had no idea how hot and steamy NYC gets in Summer. Honestly, someone should be out there telling tourists and perspective residents how bad July and August can be in The City. Sure, if you have a half a brain, you’d notice that NYC sits on a bay and well… you know… humidity follows. The thing is that now, just about the whole country, if not the world, lives in this awful extreme heat and humidity now. And it’s not going away, or getting fixed for a very, very long time. Its rather depressing that this is the world that my kid, and yours, is about to inherit – weather that is unbearable to live in. I still hold out hope that we can fix this, but if we can’t… People are going to start moving north and Canada could start having immigration issues from all of these illegal Americans.

    Say, did you know that New York City’s Official Summer Smell used to be wet garbage on a sidewalk. Well, not anymore! NYC’s new Official Summer Smell is Pot Smoke! You can’t go ten feet in this town without being hit by the smell of weed this Summer. Hey, I’m for legalization, but holy crap! It’s like the entire City is getting high. Right Now!

    I don’t know what’s going on with me, but for the past three days, I have been hungry all the time. When I say that, I don’t mean that I feel the urge to have a snack. I mean that I feel like I have been working all day and that I am starving for lunch or dinner. And no matter how much I eat; I never feel satisfied. Back in college, me and my roommate used to call this phenomena “Ravenous Days.” I don’t know what causes it, and eating doesn’t seem to solve it.

  • Inability to Relax

    I should be relaxing. Taking it easy. Kicking back. Not thinking about anything.

    See, this kid is gone to sleep away camp, which means half of my work load is gone. The wife still has to work, and there are things that I want to do, like projects around the house and stuff. But my wife keeps telling me that I should take, you know, relax, and allow myself to enjoy not having as many responsibilities this week.

    Except, I am having trouble doing that.

    First of all, I am having a little anxiety with the kid going to camp. And it’s separation anxiety on my part. It will be gone in a day or two, as the kid leaving is rather recent. (This is a blog for another day.) Suffice to say, I’m excited that she went to camp as I know this will help build her independence giving her an experience that is all her own, and in the end, that’s what I want for her.

    No, what I am talking about is that if I sit around and do nothing; watch tv all day, sleep in, play video games – I end up feeling like crap. Reading is okay, that feels like a worthwhile activity, but sometimes also feels like work. No, I can’t sit and do nothing. I have to accomplish something. Even an easy win like taking out the garbage. I have to goal, and check off that box.

    I didn’t used to be this way. I used to waste days left and right, without a care in the world. Waking up at noon, going to bed at dawn. The coming and going of days like an endless cycle that I seemed to float above.

    Now I am in the grind. If the day goes by and I don’t have something to hang my name on, then I become the most useless man in the history of the known universe.

    Yet another thing to work at.