Good morning! Hello, there. How are you? I am good, presumably. Presumably I am on the road to New York City, getting closer to Richmond or so as you read this. But who knows. I cannot predict the future. I’m going to use the handy Substack “schedule this post” functionality which I just learned about. I wonder if it will work. I am actually writing this less than 120 minutes after when I last wrote to you. It is 10:19 AM on Tuesday. But boy oh boy, so much has happened in these two hours.
I went and watered the grapes that are not on drip, and sprayed all the grapes with neem oil as part of my Japanese Beetle (sic) prevention. No beetles were found!
I sold a physical copy of Microsoft Office for the Mac 2007 and packed it up and shipped it. I am mildly amazed someone bought that. I guess there’s just no need for those old giant warez sites of the 80’s and 90’s now that you can buy a legal copy of old software for, like, $3. Does anyone pirate Photoshop anymore or have they successfully nipped that in the bud? I am so out of touch.
I wrote my 750 words of the day which were mostly about Jane and how I am a terrible parent. It included the following quote passage:
I WANT MOMMY TO GO OVER THERE
Jane... we need to ask, we —
I WANT MOMMY TO GO OVER THERE
Jane, we nee to be ki —
I WANT MOMMY TO GO OVER THERE
I WANT MOMMY TO GO OVER THEREJane please don't yell —
I WANT MOMMY TO GO OVER THERE
I WANT MOMMY TO GO OVER THERE
I WANT MOMMY TO GO OVER THERE
I also wrote about how I am scared of catching BA5 in New York and promised to be very careful.
At 9 AM I went and got Jane out of bed and she was lovely and Roy the cat flopped for us so we could pet him for a while which is always nice. Today she chose two twin plush kitties to spend the day with her: Calico and Siamese. They are Siamese but when she was a little baby I called one of them Calico to make her identify it more with our actual living calico cat Keely. Emma and Janet, however, taught her more accurately that they are Siamese. Jane split the difference, so now these twins are Calico and Siamese. Those are their names.
We looked out the window and there was a rare car driving by, which is always exciting, as well as an older couple walking their dog, also exciting. It is exciting when there are people outside the window when we look out the window in the morning.
We did our little routine where she sits in my lap like a baby and then puts Brown Bear in her lap and the kitty (or kitties, in today’s case) on Brown Bear’s lap and I say “what’s happening?” And she says “Kitties are sitting on Brown Bear’s lap. Brown Bear is sitting in Jane’s lap. Jane is sitting in Daddy’s lap and they’re all hugging” and then we hug. Today was chef’s kiss because she also said “I am happy. I love you daddy.”
She also peed quickly and chose out her clothes and put them on quickly and while all that was happening the groceries arrived two hours early which could be a giant spanner in the works of the morning routine but it actually worked out perfectly, we did all of breakfast perfectly, we then went and got the groceries, Jane carried two bags, and took each item out of the bags, identified it and handed it to me to put away.
We then did “Where’d the Cheese Go” game where we all sing “Where’d the Cheese Go” by Ween one by one in a circle: Jane, Calico, Siamese, Brown Bear, me. Jane and I both do Brown Bear and Kitty voices and my god Jane’s Brown Bear voice is the cutest thing.
We then did the game where she throws the rag in the sink, then we came downstairs and I took out the compost mid-week because it was getting full and Emma will be alone and I am trying to minimize annoyances.
I then listened — still am, actually — to my new copy of Scar by Lush. New to me. It is an old pressing. It sounds great. Great record. Early Lush, man. Solid.
Somewhere this morning I also listened to the first Black Flag record and then the last one from 2013. That band got a lot better at playing their instruments over the intervening 32 years.
I read an article about how the UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill is dirty, dirty, and is at risk of losing its contract with Medicare so hopefully I do not get sick, do not get BA5 in NYC and do not have to go to the nearest hospital any time soon.
Well it is now 3:15 and I have had lunch and a sales call and done a job interview (I was the interviewer) and listened to some more Black Flag and the new Metric again and ate a stir fry and watched a bunch of the January 6th commission hearing which is once again depressing and terrifying. I saw a poll that said that the Commission’s hearings were making a difference with Republicans, and then another poll saying that they weren’t making any difference at all, so who knows.
Also my friend Dan did a bunch of new surveys and look at this BS support for Trump amongst Millennials and Gen Z n shit:
I mean, sure, we knew Gen X was irredeemable and boomers doubly so, but come on man. You guys are supposed to be, like, better. The kids are not all right it was all a myth.
It’s interesting. I thought writing this thing in the middle of the day would be easier, like my brain is working more, I have “more time.” But I don’t have more time, I have a job, and it involves doing things in that time, and yeah my brain wakes up but it also… shuts down as the horrors of the world come into focus for the day. Like, you know, BMW charging $18 a month for the heated seats in your car to work. What the hell is that? Please please please let this abyssal horror backfire spectacularly. This is not a thing that should happen. It really is for the best I write each morning before looking at the news. Like, I have a few prompts from the night before, but a nice long sleep tends to act as a great editor-in-chief, and many of the notes I write don’t seem worth it to bitch about in the cold light of morning.
Anyway. Gonna not spend a lot of time on the internet for the next three days. Just what the doctor ordered. I fully expect when I get home the whole world will have magically fixed itself in my absence.
Here is a mix I just made not 2 hours after the last mix I made for you. It has Sting cuz I talked about Sting yesterday, and Belle and Sebastian because they played this song recently on their Tiny Desk Concert and it filled me with so much happiness and nostalgia it was ridiculous. And the single best Brian Jonestown Massacre song ever and the Auteurs because it’s a great song and Lush cuz I just listened to them and Kelly Clarkson and the Breeders just because. Oh Breeders cuz they were on The Bear last night. And some new stuff.
Ta!