Tag: Family

New Years Eve

It’s New Years Eve again. Wasn’t it just New Years Eve a few weeks ago? 2023 is ending? How the hell did that happen?

We don’t have any solid plans for today apart from picking up some take-out Chinese food. Maybe some board games? Maybe another round of Yahtzee?

I watched Rebel Moon on Netflix. I was conflicted. I wanted to watch it but I also did not want to watch it. See the conflict? My spoiler free review is to recommend that you wait until part two comes out in April. This movie feels like two hours worth of a four hour heist movie, where generally the first half of a heist movie is assembling the team. That means the movie that is out now is really just the assembling of the team. That’s why it doesn’t have a coherent story. It’s more like a bunch of mini-movies introducing all of the characters. Hopefully part two will make sense on it’s own. So if you wait for part two to come out and then watch them both together, maybe it will be a decent movie as a whole. For now though… eh.

I have to play guitar today. I have two songs in progress for this month’s Record Every Month challenge. They both need lead guitar parts. I need to record them today and then mix the two songs and then I will have my first R.E.M. win since September. It’s a must.

Speaking of guitar, I went down a rabbit hole last week that I find myself visiting once every couple of years. If you read this page you might have noticed that I have been obsessed with the band Rush since 1981. Back then there were two bands that I was obsessed with. The other was Led Zeppelin. As I got older though, the whole unending adolescence vibe that Zeppelin had sort of got tiring for me and I moved away from them. Also, Jimmy Page is one of my guitar heroes, and he is definitely one of the reasons I NEEDED to learn to play guitar when I was a kid. When I look at my own playing objectively though (if that’s even possible) I don’t hear a lot of his style in my playing. I think as I moved away from the debauchery that Zeppelin represented, I sort of moved away from Page too.

Every once in a while though, I feel the need to really dig into the catalog and try to remind myself that there is a lot of value there. That comes up once every couple of years, and it came up for me on Thursday. I put together a playlist with all of their studio records and over the course of the work day I plowed through all of it. Did the old musical feelings I used to get when I listened to Led Zeppelin as a teenager come back? Yes. Not exactly the same, as I am no longer that kid that I used to be, but it was close enough that I felt good about the whole experience. Now I can move on to other things again until the next time I feel cosmically compelled to examine the Zeppelin again. Probably some time in 2025, I think.

Okay then, it’s almost 11:00am. I have not had anything to eat for about three hours. It’s time to have a snack to keep my stomach happy. Gastric Bypass for the win!

Happy New Years Eve, everyone. HoHoHo.

All Alone

Bellana left. She’s spending the next couple of days with a friend, then at her dad’s, then with another friend. We were joking that there is only so much of her to go around and everyone wants a piece. 

Harry’s in the city visiting a friend and Jen just ran out to the store.

I’m home alone. Just me and the cats. Speaking of which…

119/365
119/365

Xmas is Complete

We are home again. Another xmas gathering is in the books. We went to my in-laws and had dinner and swapped gifts. It was lovely and it brings the holiday to a close.

Tomorrow? Back to work. Not only that, but it’s an in the office day.

Crud.

The count down to New Years is on. We thought about New York (but not Times Square) but now we’re thinking of maybe taking a day next weekend and visiting Newport, RI. Newport is famous for gilded age, rich people houses but for me it’s more famous as the birthplace of Throwing Muses. 

Will we do either of these things? Who knows. There are three more days until the next long weekend. As Traffic said on their amazing second album, who knows what tomorrow may bring?

New Watch Day

Santa Claus brought me a new Apple Watch for xmas yesterday. HoHoHolyShit, that’s cool! It’s a series 9. I’m not even sure what’s new with it. I have some research to do. It has an oxygen sensor, I think? Cool!

It took some doing to pair it with my iPhone. It failed twice before it worked, but now we’re up to speed. I haven’t had the battery up to 100% yet, but it’s getting there. I just did a 45 minute workout, the first with the new device. 45 minutes of jogging in place (pronounced yogging, with a soft “j”).

I got a bunch of really cool xmas gifts. Two members of my family heard me constantly bitching about how cold I feel now that I am down 200 pounds and got me heated blankets. You can bet your ass I am going to use the hell out of those. I also got a couple of cool Rush things. A magazine and a puzzle. There was a print of a photo of me and my mother dancing at the wedding. My mother is smiling from ear to ear. It’s perfect and I may have started crying a little when I saw it. I think my family members, my wife and my two step kids, might like me a little. I think they might keep me around.

Still to come is xmas celebration at Jen’s mother and step father’s house. That is still a few hours away, but I am looking forward to it. Any time we can get the kids over Nana and Papa’s house is a good time. It doesn’t happen often anymore, but it’s always great when it does.

HoHoHope your day after xmas is going well.

Merry Christmas

Santa Claus came, but we won’t be opening presents here until later tonight. The kids are at their dad’s this morning. They will come here about noon and we will all head to my sister’s for dinner and niece/nephew time. My father will be there too. I’m really looking forward to it.

After we get home we will do our family gifts. I’m also seriously looking forward to that, HoHoHo. Tomorrow we will go to Jen’s mom’s and do another dinner/gifts celebration. Yet another event I’m looking forward to.

It’s going to be a busy couple of days, but it’s going to include a ton of holiday/family stuff so it’s going to be great.

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate. Everyone else? I hope you have an extra great couple of days.

HoHoHo

I Would Rather Be At Home

I am working in the office. I think I mentioned that once or twice (or 50) times today. I would much rather be working from home. I miss Jen. I miss my new desk (I am working in a conference room with two staff members. It’s fine, but my desk is mine… and new… and mine). I miss my cats, even though they generally sleep their way through the work day.

The office isn’t so bad, but home is better. 

110/365
110/365
I took these two pictures before I left the house this morning.

Post Covid Vax Come Down

My wife and I both got our latest Covid-19 vaccination shots yesterday evening, and we are both feeling the effects today. The last time we did this I felt legitimately sick the next day. Today I am just tired and sore and flakey-brained. I’ve managed to check a couple of things off of my to do list, but I feel like I have punted a lot of things off until tomorrow.

I finished the laundry and made the bed and bought a gift for my work’s yankee swap on Tuesday. I ran an errand for Jen and I helped her with a home office project she’s working on. I wrapped some xmas gifts, but only about 25% of the pile. Hopefully I can pick off some more tonight. I had told Jen that I was thinking about hanging xmas lights outside but that I wasn’t promising anything. I just didn’t have it in me today. The weather is supposed to be bad tomorrow, but it could be okay early in the morning. We’ll see if I feel better then.

My stomach has been a jerk today. Lots of “hey, I’m empty so I am going to hurt you a lot” stomach aches. I wonder if that can be related to the vaccine shot. Probably not, but who knows? I’ll be fine tomorrow, I am sure.

On unrelated nerd notes, I have not watched the third and final Dr Who 60th anniversary episode yet. I got a text from my step son, Harry, asking me if I have seen it yet. I told him no but asked him if it was good. He said very, without any spoilers. I’ll get to it before I sleep tonight. I did manage to watch the 4th and final episode of Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too with Krist Novoselic from Nirvana. What a fascinating guy. I also finished season three of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The 3rd season finale is one of my favorite episodes ever. The 4th season premier is another one of my favorite episodes. I’m in a good Star Trek binge watching place right now.

Okay, time for dinner. Time to try to talk my stomach into calming the hell down. No problem!

Cardinal

My wife bought a new ornament for our christmas tree. It’s a cardinal. She said that cardinals can represent people who have passed away trying to communicate with us. Having a cardinal on our christmas tree is a way to have my mother be with us this christmas. I nearly teared up when she gave it to me.

I love my wife so much. She is amazing. She is my rock. I wouldn’t have been able to make it through the past few years without her.

98/365