Harry just left for his father’s house. He will be there for five days before coming back here on Wednesday.
He’s here on Wednesday and Thursday, and then he moves into his dorm on Friday.
There are only two days left.
Sad face because he’s going away. Excited face because I can’t wait for him to take on college and frankly make it his bitch.
I had a moment just now where I thought I missed the premier of The Walking Dead’s 11th season, but that doesn’t actually happen until next week. Whew, eh?
I closed all three rings in my activity app tonight. That means I closed all three rings every day for a week. The app calls that a perfect week. I’d be much more excited about it if my legs weren’t in so much pain.
This has been a really good weekend for the three of us. The only thing missing was my step daughter. She’s coming down next weekend and we are going to get to spend some quality time with her. This weekend though was all about Harry and it was wonderful. I’m so excited for the next chapter in his life to start in two weeks but I’m also crushed that he has to leave us. I want to make the most of the time we have left.
For now though, let’s get some sleep. Tomorrow’s a work day.
Sweet dreams, internet.
Well here we are. Today is the last Sunday we have with Harry before he leaves for college. Next Sunday is with dad, and the Sunday after that he’ll already be two days into his college career.
So we’re being weird today and driving up to the New Hampshire lakes region for some mini-golf and some wandering and exploring. It’s kinda our thing. The wandering and exploring, not so much the mini-golf, but that’s our excuse-destination.
Pics will be shared, I am sure.
Off we go!
We have had the most glorious flake day today. Jen and Harry and I are just hanging out together. There is comedy on the TV there is a cat lounging on the couch, dinner was Japanese food, there was a trip to Best Buy for college supplies and it’s pretty much the best day I could possibly have.
I slept in my own bed last night. Actually, I slept in A bed last night. My wife was with me. My step son was down the hall in his room, my cat was crawling all over us and purring like a purr machine.
We watched The Suicide Squad last night. It was awesome but too gory for Jen and she had to bail. Sorry sweetie. We then watched the episode of Parks and Rec where Letters to Cleo played the Unity Concert and Kay Hanley winked at whatshisname and Jen and Harry thought it was funny because me and Larry and Mike would have KILLED for a sliver of attention like that back in the 90’s. I bet Mike still has that water bottle that he took from the stage after a show at… The Paradise? Was it a solo show at The Lizard Lounge? I forget. I just remember that show at Merrimack College when she eviscerated the schmuck who was trying to slam dance (pick your spots, moron) and she stopped the show to tear him a new one and the three of us all simultaneously concluded that she is in fact the greatest front person in all of rock and roll past, present, and future.
Today I cleaned up the trash off the yard after the rodents knocked over the barrels again. Harry was nice enough to do it yesterday and all his hard work was ruined by a family of plague and rabbis infested squirrel pricks. Then I vacuumed up Lake Asshole in the cellar which has been forming for much longer than I ever let it form before, and it’s still smaller than it was regularly getting… so that’s good? I guess?
And while doing all of these chores I was just so friggin’ happy that I was doing them at my house for my family and not doing them at my parents house.
It is so good to be home.
My step son is literally the best person on Earth. Holy crap is he amazing!
Just as I was about to start my lunch break he called me. He asked if I was busy and I said no. He asked if I could come out to my car. What? Sure! I went outside and there he was. He brought lunch for both of us. Five Guys, to be exact. Can you believe that? Can you believe how amazing that was?
I love my step son so much I just don’t have the words. That was one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me. Ever. I am so happy. I honestly think I might cry.
I have nothing to write about at this particular lunch break.
With two whole days at my parents, I don’t know what’s going to happen. I started watching The Orville again last week and last night I finished the first season. If things go bad I could make a dent in season two. I started watching The White Lotus on HBO when it premiered but I haven’t watched the latest episode. Why? Because the show kinda sucks. Is it a comedy? Because it’s not funny. Is it a drama? Because most of the characters are beyond annoying. It’s just not good. I know it’s only something like six episodes, so I am half way through, I think, but it’s just not good. Oh well.
Music! I can do music! I have two songs to mix. There are six songs that need lyrics, I can handle all of that. Maybe I can start some new songs as well. I wanted to be further along than this before my 48 hour sentence started, but what can you do?
Mostly what I will do while I am stuck over there is miss Jen and Harry. I should be home with them, but I won’t be. That sucks more than I am capable to put into words.
I have 99 minutes left in my shortened work day. I just wanted to mention that because I could.
Looking forward to watching What If? with Harry and Jen tonight.
This is totally selfish. We’re just focusing on me here, not on anyone else, m’kay?
I am about to have a really rough time. I am leaving work early today, at 3:30. The plan is to spend the extra two hours off hanging with Harry. After that I head to my parents house for nana/papa sitting shift… for 48 hours. Two whole days there without a break. Without going home and seeing my family. It’s going to be a nightmare.
It is the price I had to pay in order to get most of the last week of August off so that I don’t have to miss a Bellana visit and so that I can help Harry move into his dorm. A double shift is going to suck, but it is absolutely going to be worth it.
We are hopefully going to watch the first episode of Marvel’s What If? tonight. Then when I get back Friday night we’re watching The Suicide Squad. It’s our last weekend with Harry before he leaves for school so we’re going to super hero the shit out of it.
Starting around 6:30 tonight I am going to have a miserable 48 hours, but after that it’s going to be great. Run that gauntlet, red head. Run it.
Happy August 1st, everyone! August doesn’t have a national holiday so this year I am going to try and make it feel better by acting like every day is an extra big deal. No I’m not. I’m just so happy that July and its constant rain is over. Granted, August might get constant rain too, likely will thanks to climate change, but for this one, sweet, shining morning, August is dry and I am happy about it.
I wore a mask at my mother’s house yesterday. Not all the time, just when I knew she was near me. We are both vaccinated, but she ain’t catching jack shit from me. The MA department of public health is recommending vaccinated people wear masks when they are indoors with other people around because we can’t tell who the morons who aren’t vaccinated are and if they aren’t going to do anything to protect their own health, then we the vaccinated have to do it for them. Because they are stupid. Because they are morons.
Thanks to the never ending pandemic of the unvaccinated we are still using instacart for groceries and they screwed up big time today. We had to go back for a second round. All in all I am happy for the service, they are right a crazy high percentage of the time, but every once in a while… We asked for hamburger patties and got pumpernickel bread. Riiiiight.
What else is going on on this fine Sunday morning in August that hasn’t seen any rain yet? I broke the music mold a smidgen today. We slept kinda late. Not super late, I was up at about 8:15, but for me that’s pretty late. I wanted to do some car music but the aforementioned instacart delivery was on its way, and I had some things I wanted to do before I left so I didn’t get into the car until almost 10:00. I do my car music in a movie theater parking lot, and due to the idiotic decision to re-open the state despite the never ending pandemic mentioned in the previous paragraph, the movie theater was going to be open at 10:00. I rolled the dice. I park in the back parking lot so hopefully anyone going in early to catch the delta variant and a movie would probably park in the front. My risk paid off.
I did park in a different area of the lot though. I recorded four songs. There were two technical problems but neither stopped me. First, I use Trello to track my progress. The songs I needed to work on are on a list called Complete Lyrics/Melody on a board called 2021 50/90. My normal workflow is to bring up the Trello app on my iPhone and use that to let me know which songs to work on. The last couple of times I’ve done this though, the iOS app wouldn’t refresh. It’s showing me the board from about two weeks ago. Nothing is up to date. I had to turn my iPhone hot spot on and bring it up on the Mac. That is annoying as all hell.
The second technical problem wasn’t a problem but I would have had I kept going. The temperature outside was in the mid-70’s but the sun was out and shining bright and damn if it didn’t get roasting hot in that car. I’d open the windows but then people would be able to hear me “singing” and ain’t no way that’s happening. About halfway through my little “session” the Mac’s fan kicked on and it never shut off. I don’t know how much longer I would have been able to go before it started to overheat but “fortunately” my voice ran out of gas after about an hour and I had to stop.
I did manage to finish four songs. That’s one more than I had planned. I had three songs with the guitars finished and I wanted to pick those off. I also had six songs with lyrics and melodies already written that don’t have guitars yet. A couple of those have MIDI guitar tracks acting as place holders. I did one of those.
So the plans for the rest of today include, but are not limited to, cutting some grass, recording some guitar parts, having a cookout for dinner (weather permitting, of course, though July is over so the weather will be glorious), and hanging out with my step son who only has a few weeks left before he moves to college.
Of course, as I type out that to do list I am sitting at my computer reading twitter, making fun of creationists, and thinking that it would be really nice to just sit and watch movies with Harry and Jen all day. That might be the better to do list.
Welcome to August, may it stay sunny and dry. Good luck, folks!
I’m up and ready to punch into work. I filled the cat’s food and water bowls. I changed the battery in the door lock. I took out the trash, twice. I woke Harry up to tell him his blood sugar was low (his glucose monitor alarm wasn’t loud enough to wake him). I vacuumed up the latest water in the cellar. I emptied and restarted the dehumidifier. I started a load of laundry. I showered.
Now that it’s time to start work I think I need a nap. Still have to make the bed before my 10:00 meeting.
Happy Thursday, folks.
Inside the Red Head's Head 