It is Friday at last. It’s also raining. Son of a…
On May 4th I wrote this big gastric bypass surgery update where I said that I am having far fewer side effects then I did a year ago. The bad experiences are less and less common with each new day.
Then last night I had a piece of toast with my dinner. I took a bite, no problem. I took another bite, no problem. I took another bite… uh oh. I knew instantly that I had taken one bite too many. It took about an hour for all the fun to end. The moral of the story being, don’t be over confident. That thing that passes for your stomach these days can still kick you in the nards, Robert. Figuratively speaking, of course.
Here’s a cat to remind you of your place in the universe.
I was thinking about doing something with this post where I post an image with the old Studio 54 logo. Having lived through the disco era and today being my 54th birthday, I figured that would be funny. Then I realized it would not be funny at all, it would be dumb. So I changed my mind and just went with this.
Today is my birthday. I am 54 years old. I am NOT happy about it. When I was 53 years old I could sort of convince myself that 53 is still your early 50’s. At 54 I can’t do that anymore. I am firmly entrenched in my mid 50’s and again, I am NOT happy about it.
The weather is nice right now. That’s good. Of course the forecast is calling for rain later so that’s fitting. Blah. I filled the bird feeders because I wanted those little monsters to have a nice celebration on my birthday. I took a couple of pictures. This one is with the aperture wide open, f1.8. Blurry background, babie!
This next one is the opposite. This one has the aperture closed down as far as it goes. f22, which means the shutter speed is super slow which is why it’s a little soft on the focus. Image stabilization helps, but it’s not perfect. Note that the background is not blurry at all.
Now when you compare the two photos you know how your lens aperture controls your depth of field. See? You didn’t realize I was going to give you all a photography lesson for my birthday, but there you go. Happy birthday, hohoho.
I overslept a little this morning. Not enough to cause any problems but enough to throw off my head a little. Just a little. I found myself rushing while getting dressed and that’s when it happened…….
I stubbed my toe on the end of the bed. Holy crap! I really jammed that little sucker good. Two hours later it still hurts. Did I break a toe or two? Dumb ass. Happy Friday, you self harming moron.
What’s going on this weekend? Probably no band practice. Our drummer is going to be out of the country. Lucky stiff. If I were him I probably wouldn’t come back. Yes I would… I’m all talk sometimes, you all know that. Crap. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, plans for the weekend. I have to get one of the cars looked at. We have an idiot light on that won’t turn off. There might be a window of clear skies at sunrise tomorrow. Here’s hoping I can get up early and go out and shoot some film before the usual weekend rain and gloom rolls in. There’s a new Marvel movie (I won’t see it until it hits Disney+ but it’s out there so who knows). There will be a new Doctor Who, The Last of Us, and Walking Dead (the Dead City edition’s 2nd season opener). What else, what else… probably lots of pictures of cats. The soles of my sneakers are starting to fall apart so I need to get myself a new pair. We’re about a month away from a Disney World trip and I need to get any footwear thoroughly broken in before then.
Anything else this weekend? Probably. I don’t know. Here’s a cat for you to enjoy while I try to think of what else might be going on…
Up and at ’em. Back at it. Repetition and all that. Deja-Vu. As Iron Maiden once said, “feel like I’ve been here before.” Probably because I was here before. Yesterday, in fact. Today is another day in the office. Celebrate with a cat pic:
Roar.
I’m tired. I went to bed earlier than usual last night but it doesn’t seem to have been enough. Maybe it’s just mental fatigue induced by driving for an hour to get to work. Who knows. Maybe it’s just mental fatigue induced by the collapse of american society. What used to be our country sucks a little more with each passing day and maybe it’s just wearing me out. Could be.
We’ve reached the point in the week where I start looking longingly toward the weekend. I can’t do a band practice on Sunday so I threw out the idea of doing Saturday instead. It’s still up in the air. I want to do some sunrise/ocean photos too but the weather forecast calls for shitty with a chance of shitty on Saturday. Sunday looks okay. Will it be okay at sunrise? Too soon to speculate.
Shit. I feel like I need a new hobby. I don’t want a new hobby, I just feel like I need one. Man, simple things get confusing when you reach old age (see yesterday’s post for more. Yes, I know I have not reached old age yet) and your country flushes itself down the crapper. All I really want to do is curl up in a ball on the couch and wait for it all to finish crushing me. You know how it is, right?
Sunday is out for band practice because I have to go to a wake. My cousin’s husband passed suddenly last week. I think that might be part of the reason for the funk I’m in right now. I also have a medical procedure on the books for Tuesday and I think I have to start prepping for it a couple of days in advance. I won’t say what it is. It’s not a procedure really, it’s just a test. Let’s say it’s one of those tests that people in their 50’s need to have and it involves completely clearing out your digestive system. Nudge nudge, wink wink. Are you digging where I’m coming from? Are you picking up what I am putting down? Ouch town, population me, bro. Maybe that’s another source of funk-feeling. Not funk in a good sense. Not funk in a George Clinton sense. Funk in a… blahhhhh sense. You get it.
Okay. Time to get cracking on the work day. Two meetings on the books. Both require some prep work. Get to it, Red Head!
I just want to have some lunch. I usually break at 1:00pm but I was added to a meeting at that time. I punted lunch to 2:00pm but when the 1:00 ended I was added to a 2:00. I tried to reschedule my 3:00pm but I needed to keep it in place.
Dude… I just want to go to lunch. Why can’t I go to lunch? It is 5:00pm now and still no lunch. At least I will be able to have dinner soon.
Insert joke about a zombie giving up his weekend for our sins.
The plan is to visit Jen’s mother and step father today. It will be a lovely day, I am sure. They have a new cat. The resemblance to our cat Robin is striking. I expect I’ll use the wrong name at least once or twice.
Until then here is a photographic study. First, we have two cats who were pretending to be asleep as I snuck up on them with my camera.
Awake Lily:
Awake Robin (also, today’s photo a day picture winner):
Then a couple of hours later I returned to the scene of the crime and found both of them actually sleeping.
Asleep Lily:
Asleep Robin:
Cuteness overload. Happy Easter from my cats to yours.
It’s weird but I actually have two packages that have been shipped out by me over the last couple of days. One is a passport renewal form that went out via Fed Ex last night and the other is seven rolls of 35mm film* that I sent out via USPS on Saturday. Which will arrive at its destination first? The race is on! In this post-pandemic era of online shopping it’s common to be following packages that are on their way to you, but less common to have to follow packages that are on their way from you. Maybe not. I don’t know. I have to write about something.
Apparently you can spend six months in Scotland without a visa. Who knew? Ireland only lets you stay for three months. England and Wales are also six months, so is that a UK thing in general? What about Australia? I’ve recently watched two television shows that took place in Australia so I feel like I practically live there already. Duck Duck Go (fuck you, Google) says you need to obtain an Australian visa before you arrive. Well that’s no fun. Kevin Garvey, Jr and Nora Durst must have already had a visa when they left Miracle, TX on The Leftovers. Kevin Garvey, Sr… well who knows what that whack job was doing. He sure as hell didn’t.
The Bruins season ended last night on another painful loss. Some teams still have a game left to play, but my team is done. Mercifully. The best they can finish is tied with Philly for last place in the Eastern Conference. The worst they can do is finish in last all by their lonesome. Unfortunately for the draft lottery, there are 4-5 teams out west that will finish with worse records. Not that we have a General Manager who knows how to draft for shit though. In other Boston sports news, the Red Sox actually won a game last night after getting humiliated on Monday night. Fun.
I’m in the office today and tomorrow so the pickin’s for photo a day will be slim. Not that it matters. They are all just pictures of cats anyway. This one for today made use of the iPhone’s low light feature. It works well.
*35mm film refers to the size of the negative… I think. 120 film does not refer to the size of the negative. I read somewhere that it refers to an old Kodak catalog product code. Mentioning 35mm and 120 film in the same sentence makes my ass itch. It’s like doing your physics homework and mixing up your units of measure. It’s like referring to velocity (measured in meters/seconds) and acceleration (measured in meters/seconds squared) as if they were the same thing. I believe the product code for 35mm is actually 135 (not too confusing there, Kodak) but I don’t know what the negative size for 120 film is. I can’t bring myself to call 35mm 135 so I guess I will continue to mix units and have an itchy ass. I could say medium format instead of 120 but that just feels like taking it all a step too far. I don’t know.
It is gloomy and gross outside today, but I opened up all of the curtains and blinds to let what passes for light into the house. I don’t know why, I just did it.
The cats are in heaven. Robin often sits on bay window, whether the blinds are open or not, and today she’s been spending a lot of time there. She’s been very loudly chirping at anything that moves outside on the road. So much so that I’ve had to go out and check on her a couple of times.
Inside the Red Head's Head 