Good Morning. Hello. How are you? #1334
Weekend of visitors and chores, a morning of errands, a life of weird domestic pedestrian obsessions. Send me your GMHHAY questions.
Good morning! Monday, shit yeah, note of sarcasm. Just back from dropping Jane off at school, she did great this morning. Parked next to aggro van at the grocery store and was sad to see the dude come out, he was the body builder type, roided out, bright turquoise shorts that barely covered his junk, thick brown beard that Emma would have just loved, grumble grumble. There was a non-zero chance he was a schlubby conspiracy-theory type (80’s/90’s conspiracy theories, not the more toxic modern ilk) and, thus, potential friend material. My hopes are dashed. Dude bought Slim Jims. Had that slightly paranoid, fully aloof look in his eye non-functional men have where they can’t, you know, acknowledge other people. WHATEVER MAN I DON’T NEED ANOTHER FRIEND.
7:30 AM, the GreatCuts had a Dodge Challenger Hellcat and a Rivian R1S in front of it, so either they are paying really well at GreatCuts, or there is a real Venn diagram circle going on between dudes in posh automobiles and GreatCuts. Maybe I ought to start going there. It annoys me we have to capitalize Venn.
Was going to get a car wash and was so excited that the drive-through car wash had no line. But it turned out it had no line because it had been completely dismantled. Hopefully it is getting upgraded, not dismantled. Because, look. I love chores, but some chores I do not love. I do not love washing cars. Interior detailing? Love it? The exterior? With soap and shit? Pass.
Dropped off an old crib at the free giveaway spot at the collection center. Man that place has vultures. Three, four people just loitering to grab the good free stuff. Someone picked my crib up right away. Awesome. But I do wonder, like, are there a ton of people dropping free shit off at 8 AM on a Monday? I suppose maybe, huh? Like did a bunch of house work over the weekend (ahem) and drop something off on the way to work. Smart people, those capitalistic recyclers.
Listening to a band called Sword II I do not know what is the deal with them they are a little guitary, a little glitchy math rock, a little like Broadcast, a little like… I dunno, they have a lot going on. Album is called Spirt World Tour. I have 53 hours, 52 minutes left in the “To Investigate” playlist. Having been away from my computer all weekend, I have not made a lot of progress since we last talked.
Oh hey I gotta write an entry for Why is This Interesting about my GMHHAY habit, so if you have any questions about what it’s like to write this thing every day, send ‘em my way. I will try and work the answers in.
Excellent weekend. Our friends Nick and Meghan and Henry came to visit from Wilmington. Chill weekend, they helped out with CHORES which was great. Nick helped me with making two more grape trellises that look suspiciously like crosses (that should all be hyphenated huh). I got them assembled, painted and mounted, but I did not get the wire up and the actual grape vines trellised yet, but that will happen soon I swear.
And Jane and I finally made the firepit over at Chore House. It was super fun! She pretended she was making a fairy circle, which had a good Wiccan flair to it. I don’t know where that came from I am going to go ahead and assume her mother.
I did not get a good picture of it yet, I am so bad at that. I did try and take a video of us building it, a la my old gardening videos on Youtube (RIP), but I messed that up of course. Out of practice. But you can see the edge of it in this lovely Chore House night shot that Meghan shot. Also note the rock border between the driveway and the mulch, Jane and I used all the spare rocks to do that: something I have been wanting to get done for a long time so I don’t drive into the yard when turning around not that I would ever do such a thing, you know. I mean other people.
So, grape trellises and fire pit. I mean, I think that is a pretty good chore haul for a normal-length weekend with friends over, with whom I would like to socialize. We had, you know, long lingering lunches and dinners like normal people and Nick and Henry came to Bojangles and Dunkin with Jane and I on Saturday morning and on Sunday morning all six of us went to Jane’s playground which was great fun. And there was a bedtime dance party. And Henry got a fidget spinner to balance on his nose and it was very impressive. And Nick and Meghan met some of our UNC professor friends who are in the sciences and get actual funding.
Oh and Sunday morning Jane and I went to the other McDonald’s, the one by the hardware store, so we could buy the 4x4s for the grape trellis. And there was a Lamborghini Aventador parked at McDonald’s which, I dunno, maybe that guy needs to go to GreatCuts.
Also on Saturday I was super dirty so I went to take a shower before dinner, and I did it a little early so I took the extra time to hang up my laundry and it made me remember something I desperately need to tell you, the GMHHAY readership. I want you to know very much that every pedestrian domestic weird little obsession I have ever documented here in GMHHAY? I am still on that shit. I had this thought as I was clipping the ends off of my overly-long-hooked hangars, remember me going on and on about my hanger… erm… particularities… a year or two ago? Still on it! (Except gardening YouTube I guess). Still cutting the end off of hangars! And, for some weird-ass reason, I am saving the little clipped ends in an old Oxy clean tub. Why why why:
I am still using the toilet seat foot switch. That thing is great it has measurably improved my life and I use it every day, many times a day! I am a middle-aded man who drinks like 120 oz of fluid every day I pee so much. It was a great invention and I strongly recommending implemeting it. That being said, I have not gotten around to adding one to other toilets. But now that I am writing these words down, I am going to buy one more for the master bath. Let’s go to Etsy. Done. Just bought two more. I am excited. Seller only has eight left: get one today you won’t regret it. Unless you’re a sit-down-to-pee kind of guy, in which case you are a better man than me. I just.. I cannot. It… man I do not know shit I better go back to therapy. “Look, no doctor I do not want to talk about my father issues we need to talk about standing vs sitting and peeing.”
Speaking of which, I am having a real hard time changing to “primary” bedroom from “master.” I dunno, man. I guess I need to do it, but I am not feeling this one, and I need to just get over myself. But also… like a million things are named “master” and “master” absolutely had plenty of uses that were not related to, derived from or in homage to slavery? It is a weird one. I always say — and will reiterate here so people do not lecture me — that if society starts changing word usages, just roll with it and stop complaining, you are one person in a sea of votes and the vote count has happened and you lost and I guess we’re saying “primary” now but.. yeah. Having a hard time with that one.
When we were at the hardware store I bought Jane another one of these kids project kits they have. She could have chosen from a castle or a race car or an airplane, she chose a bank. Budding little capitalist. But while I was making the grape trellis, she sat at her little pink workbench that I made her, wearing pink hearing protection because I was using the very loud thickness planer, and she hammered away at this kit and she built it and she was so proud. She is a lot better hammering a nail after two of these kits now, and they are the greatest things ever and I need to buy her more kids, more more more kits. They keep her off of her iPad. Once the bank was done, she expressed much interest in cleaning coins with Meghan but the lure of the iPad was too great and I am not sure if they successfully cleaned any pennies. This morning when she came down for breakfast — fully dressed, teeth brushed, bed made I am so proud of her — she saw her little bank and the pile of coins I left next to it and it was nearly impossible to get her to pull away to eat. She is so proud of her creation it is all so pure and simple and beautiful really kinda brings a tear to my eye.
I know I am going to jinx it by saying this, but I guess it will be Emma’s problem cuz I’m going to New York tomorrow but.. this parenting thing has been mostly pleasant lately. We are in a good phase, I like it a lot. Except for the bedtime extra hour of Emma laying next to her in bed, that is a hassle. I should not discount that even though it’s not my problem har har but it is because it is seriously cutting into our spousal communication time. But it is a phase, it has to be a phase, right?
Probably another month, max.
Okay, fate tempter. Enough from you.
Here’s a synthpop playlist for you. All new(ish) stuff. New Blancmange, new Cold cave, new OMD. Don’t love the OMD track it is too negative lyrically but the music is solid. New Pet Shop Boys did you see their videos from playing Radio2 in the Park last weekend? They did “Vocal,” man, imagine writing a track as good as “Vocal” that late in your career. Awesome. Very into the new Laurie Anderson I have told you that, and I enjoyed this new Front 242 single it was solid.
So much good new music!
All right have a lovely week. Will I write tomorrow morning, from RDU, as I await my flight? Maybe? Hopefully? That is the plan but, you know, no promises. It is hard to do one of these on my phone. We shall see, we shall see.