Today’s daily dumb haiku is brought to you by gastric bypass surgery in partnership with the dessert my wife and step son are eating as I type this.
Remember ice cream?
That shit was sugary bliss.
I kinda miss it.
Author: robertjames1971
I'm wicked tall.
Sunday Stuff
Hey, it’s Sunday. What’s going on today?
My plans for today included going out in the morning and taking some pictures, playing guitar and working on the 50/90 challenge, going grocery shopping, and finishing two seasons of Doctor Who.
How am I doing?
Welp, I didn’t take the camera out today. I could have. I was up early and the weather was great. I just couldn’t get myself moving to do it. I just stayed home. Sorry.
In my defense though, while staying home I played a TON of guitar. I worked on seven songs, as I posted earlier, and recorded a mountain of really shitty guitar tracks. I have been ignoring 50/90 over the last three weeks, and probably screwed myself out of completing the challenge again, but we’re still trucking along. I have also mixed two songs today. Maybe starting tomorrow I’ll get back to the daily update posts to try and guilt myself into making more progress. Who knows.
As for the TV stuff, I finished season five of the old Doctor Who this morning while faux jogging (pronounced yogging), and then after I came home from grocery shopping I finished season nine of the new Doctor Who series. Both TV goals for today, complete! Now I have one more season to go on the second doctor in the old show, and one more season to go on the twelfth doctor on the new show. I am ready for regenerations on both shows, even though I am enjoying both doctors. It’s weird. As soon as I get a new doctor, I want another new doctor. I guess I am just an asshole.
I’m writing this at around 3:30pm. What am I going to achieve with the rest of the day? Probably nothing. Harry is still here. He’s going to his father’s house tonight, for a while at least. Jen and I will have dinner together. Other than that, there’s a new That Pedal Show that I haven’t seen yet. Maybe I’ll watch that now.
Guitars!
I put rhythm guitar tracks onto SEVEN songs this morning. I have actually run out of songs again. There are 29 in the pipeline and they all have rhythm tracks!
Now I have to get dressed and go food shopping and then figure out what to play on next! It’s a music day, folks. Play it till your fingers bleed as if it were the summer of ’69!
My Home Town
I live in a small city which is really closer to a suburb. We’re about 30 minutes north of Boston, 30-40 minutes east to the Atlantic ocean, less than half a mile from the Massachusetts/New Hampshire state line, about an hour south of the White Mountains and the New Hampshire lakes region. We have multiple major urban areas, sprawling suburbs, and rural communities complete with farmland, all within an hour or two’s drive.
Really… what’s not to love? This is the perfect place.
We have picturesque Spring times, gorgeous Summers (usually, the last few have been more or less ruined by constant rain, but when the sun comes out it’s gorgeous at least), and easily the most beautiful Autumns on the continent. Winters suck, but if you are the kind of crazy person who loves winter then I guess it’s pretty wonderful.
We have historic franchises in all four major professional sports. Personally I am a Bruins (NHL) and Red Sox (MLB) fanatic. We also have minor league sports within a reasonable distance, and there are major universities all over the place. Literally. In Boston there is a huge university in pretty much every neighborhood. It’s insane when they all have their students move in at the same time. The end of August through Labor Day weekend can be a bit of a travel nightmare in Boston. Still, that means there are major college sports teams everywhere. NCAA hockey in New England is more or less the best in the country (though the Minnesota/South Dakota region would probably argue with that statement). So if you love sports at a high level, this is the place to be.
There is as much history here as you can get in the US. I imagine folks in Europe, Asia, and Africa laugh hysterically at folks in the New World when they talk about history, but for what you can get here in the Americas, Boston and the surrounding area is the place to be. We have connections dating back to the 1600’s here, where most of the US only clearly dates back to the 1800’s (yes I know I am focusing on white folks, but that’s mostly because pre-white folks invading the land there wasn’t much in the way of permanence as far as civilizations go). My sister once taught elementary school in southern California. They teach state history there as well as US history. She told her co-workers that in Massachusetts we don’t teach state history. When they asked her why she told them that US history is Massachusetts history. There is no US without us.
There are other things to love about our neck of the woods here in greater Boston, affectionately known as The Hub of the Universe. My family is here. My step kids have moved a few hours away but they are still close enough to get to them when we need to see them. On a few occasions I’ve thought about thinking about moving away from here. Southern California would be my first choice if I left. Manhattan, apart from the effing Yankees and Rangers (and Mets and Islanders too), would be another choice. Annapolis, MD won us over on our one visit there. That would probably be my third choice. There are a bunch of places in Europe I could see myself moving to as well, and let’s not discount Australia (even though having christmas in summer time is somehow offensive). When you come down to it though… I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. I love it here.
Except for the friggin’ winters.
Chapel Balcony
Daily (stupid) Haiku for You #3
All these things to do,
Why can’t there be more hours
to get it all done?
How’s that for profound poetry, eh? Epic indeed.
Morning Photo Nerd
I made two photo stops today. I tried for three, but all of the parking lots near the riverwalk behind the Tsongas Arena in Lowell were blocked off and I just gave up.
I stopped along the train tracks near the old duck pond in Andover. I took a couple of digital and a couple of black and white film pics.
Now that I have taken train track photos I feel like a real 21st century photography nerd. It’ll be more impressive when I get the film shots back, assuming they come out okay.
I was annoyed by my failure in Lowell so I took one of the Aiken Street bridge in auto mode while I was driving across. Take that, Lowell.
Next stop was Riverside Park in Methuen. I was getting some Merrimack River shots today and there was nothing you could do about it, universe.
There is a new little fishing dock at this park. It helped me get all artsy and nerdy. Blurry background, don’t you know.
By this point both film cameras had run out of film. I now have three rolls ready for development. I will wait a few weeks before I send them out. I haven’t decided if I am bringing film to Disney World, but if I do I will bundle them all together. We’ll see what happens.
So… downtown Lowell tomorrow morning? Maybe.
Love
This one is super simple. The positive emotion I feel most often is love. Love for Jen, loved by Jen. It’s the same with my two step kids, of course. I just don’t get to see them every day the way I do my beloved bride.
I was alone for a very long time. All the way into my mid-30’s. I was convinced that I was never going to find anyone and I was never going to feel love the way other people did. Then I met Jen and everything changed for the better. Even after all these years together I still can’t quite get over how lucky I am to have met such a wonderful person who could let me into her family and share her life with me.
So there you go. No vague questions and no avoidance style answers. Just plain straight shooting today.
I love you, Jen.
Morning Plans?
The weather is supposed to be okay in the morning. Should I take the cameras out for a walk? I want to, but I also want to sleep late. If I do go out early I don’t want to go far. Maybe the park along the river in Methuen. Maybe the train tracks near Dascomb Road in Andover. Maybe the riverwalk behind the Tsongas Arena in Lowell. Some place close, but not the usual two or three stops in town. I don’t know. I guess it depends on what time I fall asleep tonight.
Harry and Jen are going out to run some errands in the late morning. Jen’s mom might be coming for a visit. I want to make some music. The fifty songs in 90 days thing has kinda gone down the crapper. I haven’t touched it in 18 days. More or less. I could still pull it off, but do I still have the motivation to try? I don’t know.
The weather looks decent on Sunday too. Maybe some sunrise at the ocean? We’re into the second half of August now. We’re running out of good weather days. I should do something while I still can. We’ll see.
First though, before I fall asleep, how about some Doctor Who. 2nd Doctor, season five, episodes 23-28, The Web of Fear. Sounds like a plan. Bring on the Yeti.
Sunshine Lily
Lily is enjoying the rare ray of sunshine, now that the rain has stopped.
Inside the Red Head's Head 