Tag: Kids

Trip to France

We got a FaceTime call from Bellana today. She and her roommate went to Paris over the weekend. It sounds like it was one of those out of this world experiences that you can only have when you’re 20 years old and taking a semester abroad. You know what I’m talking about. She said there will be a vlog post at some point. I can’t wait to see it.

This morning I was talking about how bringing the barrels out to the street marks the high point of my social calendar. Oh to be 20 and crazy again. Again? I was 20 once, but I don’t think I was crazy. I’m proof that youth is wasted on the young as well as at least 50 other old people cliches.

Birthdays

Today is Harry’s birthday. He’s 19. Happy birthday, Harry! We’re not going to see him until March. He’ll be coming home for spring break. Jen and I both took that whole week off. We won’t do anything amazing or anything, we’ll just be able to hang out with Harry. It’s going to be cool. I am really looking forward to it.

Happy birthday, Harry!

Today is also my nephew Brian’s birthday. I don’t know when we’re going to get to see him again. Covid, right? I am so sick of it, but at least I got to text with him a little today. He has a flip phone. I assume he’s home from school because of the weather but it was nice to hear from him.

Happy birthday, Brian!

We did a little pre-birthday birthday dinner for Harry before he left. Maybe we’ll do another one after he gets back because why not? It’s a birthday, right? Celebrate all you want!

Hook Amps

The YouTubes and I have been goofing around looking at reviews of grotesquely expensive boutique guitar amplifiers. There is a lot of dazzling stuff out there. One sticks out to me for purely family reasons.

I had never heard of Hook amplifiers before this evening. Now that I have, I want one. Drool and all that. The R20, on the demoes I’ve heard tonight, sounds ridiculous. Just plain sick.

Oh yeah, the family reason for wanting one? The company is Dutch! I can ask Bellana to bring one home for me. The combo is only about 2,300 Euros. Consider it done, yeah?

Sunday Morning Stuff

The plow guy did a great job. He only did our driveway, not the section of the yard that doubles as the kids driveway, but that’s okay. Those cars aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. He did a path from the driveway to the stairs on the side of the house which gains him the title of Hero++. That’s one rank higher than hero. He didn’t do the fire hydrant, but we didn’t ask him to. I went out and did it about an hour ago. Done and done.

I have some laundry to do today. I checked the dryer vent on the back of the house. It’s clear. We are all set to wash the sheets and stuff. Aren’t you happy to hear that little snippet of good news? I’m just a fountain of knowledge today.

The episode of The Mandalorian that introduces Ashoka Tano is so freakin’ good. The episode that reintroduces Boba Fett is almost as good. When he smashes the stormtrooper’s helmet with the gaffey stick? It’s like poetry, man.

Did I mention that the RPM Challenge starts the day after tomorrow? As if I haven’t been boring the crap out of everyone with music posts. Get ready for more, kids!

And that’s where we are at 12:09pm on a random Sunday.

But wait, there’s more! Just before I hit publish Bellana called. We had a FaceTime and it was lovely. Apparently our Dutch friends like to put mayonnaise on French Fries. I don’t know… I don’t know if I can get behind that trend. We’ll see.

Is the Plant Growing?

I think this might be a sign of old age, but I am completely fucking fascinated with the little plant clipping. It sat in a glass of water for a couple of weeks without growing at all, then in two days it sprouted killer roots. We potted it and put it in the window. I open the blinds every day (it only gets indirect sunlight) and I watered it a couple of times (not too much) and it’s definitely not dead yet.

But has it grown at all? I think so, but it might be wishful thinking. I’m going to start documenting it. Get ready for shit loads of pictures of Bellana’s little clipping.

I’m hoping it will be 10 feet tall by the time she gets home.

Discord Doesn’t Like Me

I don’t like Discord. I know that makes me sound old, but it’s just an AOL chat room so it’s not that I am old, it’s that I’ve been there and done that and don’t want to do it again.

The RPM Challenge forums no longer exist as they have been replaced by a Discord server. Okay. I’ll play along.

There I was, typing in a post to the random chat board, and either the app on my machine crashed or the server went down. Like… right in the middle of typing!

Okay, we have established that I don’t like Discord. Now it seems that Discord doesn’t like me either. Well screw you, Chuck!

On an unrelated note, Bellana and her roommate posted another video. They went to Belgium. Just a spur of the moment trip to Brussels. How cool is that? How cool is the EU?

Maybe I’ll share the video one of these days.

On another unrelated note, why is the last post I made last night displaying in a box? Is this post going to display in a box? Did I accidentally click a put-your-post-in-a-box button? I don’t know. Let’s publish this puppy and see what happens!

ADDENDUM: I didn’t click a put-your-post-in-a-box button, but I did post the previous update while I was about 95% asleep and I did accidentally click a stick-this-to-the-top-of-your-page checkbox. It should be fixed now.

Netherlands Check In

My step daughter’s roommate posted a new video, letting us check in with their Dutch adventure. They haven’t started classes yet, but they have completed their Covid quarantine, so they get to wander the city.

Jealous much? Oh yeah.

The video right now has them checking out a bookstore that for some reason looks really familiar to me. It’s nice to see that all of the signs are in English.

They are doing well and are enjoying the experience so far. Still not sure if I want to post their videos here or not. Also not sure if I would be able to as they have some pretty tight permissions set.

That’s all I have for today’s lunch time post. It might not seem like much, but I got to watch the video so it’s pretty much the best lunchtime post ever. Also, I sent Bellana a picture of the newly potted plant that is a cutting from a plant that belonged to her step mother’s mother and she was very happy. I’m happy too.

Lunch Break

I failed to get out of bed early enough to go out for some car music today. It’s been a while. I need to keep on this. I want the re-recordings done before RPM starts on February 1st. Get on it, fat boy!

My hair is so long that it keeps covering my glasses. When I am wearing my sit-at-the-computer glasses and I have to look somewhere else, I try to look over the top of my glasses. I can’t do that today because there is 20 pounds of hair sitting there. I keep thinking my glasses are dirty because there’s smutz on them. The smutz, as you can probably guess, is actually my hair. If I don’t get my hair cut tomorrow I am going to lose my shit. At the same time, I really don’t want to get my hair cut tomorrow because I really don’t want Covid. Damn it!

Yesterday was Dr Martin Luther King, Jr day in the USA. Was it also a holiday in the UK? Why is the That Pedal Show live show happening today instead of yesterday?

I just did something I haven’t done in ages. Instead of chasing my lunch with some junk food, I had some fruit. I am sharing that information not because it’s interesting to you, my loyal and much loved readers, but because if I happen to look back at this a few days or weeks or years from now I want to know that on at least one day I did at least one thing right. I am encouraging/guilting my hypothetical future self.

My step son is taking a jazz piano course. Just a one credit thing. He had his first lesson today. He’s very excited. He said he popped a 9th on top of a Dominat 7 chord. Yes. Next stop, Chick Effin’ Corea babie!

Right, back to work.

Tough Day

We took Harry back to school. We are empty nesters again. We’re happy and sad and yadda yadda. I miss him. I miss Bellana.

I don’t have a problem with them being at school. I am loving the trip, seeing where they are going and how they are getting there and all of that.

I am just tired of all the other shit. I am so tired of Covid. Just feeling overwhelmed and absolutely sick of it all. I want our lives back. I want to get back to a world where stopping for gas isn’t something that makes me feel afraid for my health and the health of my family.

I don’t know. I just want this crap to be over, you know?