Tag: Writing

  • 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’…

  • 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.

  • The Age of Dinner Parties

    The Age of Dinner Parties

    The other day, the kid was asking me and the wife lots of questions of what our life was like before she was born. It’s a fair and very good question, or more accurately, questions that she was asking us. The wife and I were together for nine years before the kid was born, so we had a good amount of time of being a couple before we became a family.

    As I reminisced about our past life, it dawned on me that we had a very unique period of about two years, where we host other couples at our place for dinner parties. And on the flip of that, we were invited over to several couples dinner parties. It was a very specific time of us and all of our friends, as we were entering our thirties, beginning to be established in careers, all in committed relationships, but we weren’t married yet and didn’t have kids. I mean, as soon as people started getting married, kids weren’t far behind, and then some started moving out of the City.

    I still have a Spotify playlist for one of our dinner parties from long ago.

    It was a fun time. Usually we hosted on a Saturday night. The wife, at the time the girlfriend, would come up with the menu and I would shop for it over the week. We’d do some prep on Friday night, and most of that would be the making of the desert. The wife was the chef and I the assistant. My strength was in cutting veggies, and making drinks. The wife did the heavy lifting for the rest of the food. We made a really good team in the kitchen, and by the time the other couple arrived, I only had the entertain for maybe 30 minutes and then we were eating.

    The other side that I miss was the conversation. Most of the time, it always started off the same way. When the guests would arrive, we’d talk about what trains they took to get to our place, and transit in general. Next we’d sit for the meal, and the conversation would move to food; either on cooking or places we’d eaten at recently. By the time desert came around, people had a drink or two, then things got really fun. People would tell stories, or experiences they had, or a friendly debate would occur. It was the moment when we started really getting to know people, who they were, and how they worked.

    I remember that after one particular fun and engaging dinner party, me and the wife high-fived after the guests left because we were so excited and proud of ourselves for hosting such a good evening.

    But things changed, and having an adult evening over at someone’s place, only adults, is a pretty rare thing now. I’m not complaining, because it was a moment of our lives that existed for a very specific time, and place.

    Just hadn’t thought about it in a while.

  • That Nap Ruined My Day

    We all make mistakes.

    In fact, here’s the one I made today.

    The kid had a half day at school, so she was home by 1pm. Before I went and got her, I did all the tasks and errands that I needed to do; balanced the checkbook, did the dishes, plugged in and ran the AC’s, got the kid from school, and made lunch. I even wrote in my journal, and did a good bit of reading – caught up on some flash pieces I have been meaning to read and finished a book of short stories.

    The kid had some homework, and we both sat down on the couch to do it. I don’t do the homework, I’m more along for moral support, and encouragement. Anyway, as I was sitting there, being that I’m not needed a whole lot, I decided that I should start reading another book. I got about 2 pages into it, and I fell asleep. Now, it wasn’t a deep sleep, but it was 45 minutes. I only woke up because the kid nudged me to ask if I was sleeping.

    But for the life of me, I haven’t been able to get myself back in gear. It’s like I’m walking through sand now. I’m so sluggish and foggy brained. I had plans for the second half of the afternoon, but I can’t seem to focus. Honestly, it’s taken me an hour to get myself to just sit down and do this.

    Hell, I promised the kid we’d go running in the park, and I still have to make dinner. I thought I was going to review a story but that doesn’t seem like it’s in the cards.

    I swear, if I nap for fifteen minutes, I am solid and refreshed. But anything over that amount of time, it’s like a crap shoot – God only knows how I’m going to react.

    I think I can blame this one on getting older.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Stupid Victorious Tottenham, Paint Swatches, and Fuzzy Brain

    ODDS and ENDS: Stupid Victorious Tottenham, Paint Swatches, and Fuzzy Brain

    (Don’t know where I’m going cuz I don’t know where I been…)

    Well, stupid Tottenham Hotspur went and won the Europa League. I am very happy about this development. Happy that this team won a trophy. Happy that Son hoisted that trophy in the air. Happy that Tottenham has qualified for the Champions League next season by winning the Europa League. What I am annoyed about is that I, and the collective Spurs fan base, had to got through this whole shit season in the Premier League. 17th place?!?! It’s the worst that you can do without being relegated. And yet, somehow, Spurs won a trophy and gets to play in the Champions League. So, I really shouldn’t complain because it is true that the team accomplished its two goals; win a trophy and qualify for the Champions League. But, I’m still going to complain. #COYS

    You know what I’m doing this Memorial Day Weekend?!? Me and the wife are going to Home Depot to look at paint swatches and try to figure out what color to paint the living room. And this color needs to define who we are for the next ten years. See, the last time we painted the living room was right before the kid was born. At that time, we thought a blue-ish gray was the color that played to our strengths. This time around, not so sure. I believe that we are going to paint all of our trim white, while most of our furniture will also be white, or a natural wood color. Maybe a blue? A green? Odds are that I will go with what color the wife picks out. She’s much better at this stuff than me.

    And to end with, I want to say that this morning… I have had the fuzziest brain fog. Not so fuzzy that I couldn’t function, but more like walking through sand. Everything felt slow, or better yet, I felt slow. I got an okay amount of sleep, so I don’t think this is because I’m tired. I would hate to think that this is what getting older will feel like. OR, maybe all of this is due to gray skies? Maybe it’s mood. The lighting has affected me. The gray muted tones are making me want to go back to bed, or at least curl up on the couch. Or maybe it’s Friday, and I don’t feel like doing a damn thing.

    Oh, and seriously, WTF is up with the AI suggested image this week…