1. This week marked the Season Finale on Monday Runday. Starting next week, it will get dark too early for me to meet my friend Mike at a local track to do some running, or, in my case, mostly walking. It rained on my way to the track which had me anticipating a rainbow. Instead, it was just loads of clouds but no rain. Plus, the temperature hovered around 50, so a far cry from summer a few months ago. The earliest I could get back out there would be late February. Of course, in the dead of winter, just because the sun sets at 5:30 again doesn’t mean it’s not also 30 degrees and snowing.
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| Goodbye Monday Runday until March |
2. During this final Monday Runday of the year, we were joined by a few different people. No one we knew, just other people who showed up at the track. As I was explaining to Mike about the news of my story being turned into a feature-length film next year (see last week’s blog), a random guy who was also on the track passed by. He stopped as he exited the track and wished me luck on the film project. That was nice of him. It did make us wonder if he would have said anything if we were talking about any other topics. Like starting a murderous clown-for-hire business. “Good luck with the killer clown thing, I’ll be sure to keep my doors locked!” Or it could have been a much sweeter subject, but I just couldn’t think of one.
3. I have mentioned before in this blog that each spring and fall for the past several years, I have helped my buddy Steve install and remove a dock at a couple’s lakefront property. The husband helps us as well, so 3 of us take care of this 3-part aluminum dock. Putting it in is easier than removing it. It’s dry, and we’re looking forward to warmer weather. Plus, since I am on one end while the other 2 are on the other end, I have an easier time walking down the 2-levels and roughly 30 steps. In the fall, it’s usually cooler. This year it was 50 degrees and sprinkling. Also, retrieving the dock is harder since it’s mucky and water-logged. I had to carry my ends solo backward up the steps. On the 3rd trip carrying the last piece of the dock, I paid the price. One of the bars of the dock had a crack in it. From there, the water sprayed out like a sprinkler. It went down my legs into my shoes, and best of all was spurting into my face and mouth. Despite all of that, it was easier than expected. Plus, Steve and I each get paid handsomely for a short amount of time working. This is why even if we are beat up and sore, we’ll keep going to help with the dock, at least until something on one of us breaks.
4. As you know from last week’s blog, I have an old story of mine, The Cabin, that is going to be made into a feature-length film next summer. Even though that is a long way off I still need to start doing some work toward it. The first thing I had to do was revise the original book, which I wrote in 2008. The book is about 43,000 words, about 70 pages. I ran it through Grammarly and was stunned by the results. It was perfect. Kidding, it was way worse. There were somewhere around 1,000 grammatical errors in the book. Now, mind you, this book has been up for purchase in the Amazon Kindle store since early 2009. It must have looked like a 4th grader wrote it, well, except for the blood and gore in it. My ultimate plan is to give the book a full revision and then re-release it in ebook and paperback form when the movie is released. Obviously, there is a lot of time in between now and then, but it never hurts to have a plan in mind.
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| The revised cover of the original book. |
5. With this being my birthday week, I have been seeing a lot of memories popping up on social media about planning get-togethers for friends and family. Since I gave up alcohol 5 years ago, I really haven’t gone out to any sort of bar because, you know, there’s no reason to go and sit there and watch other people get drunk. Part of me misses planning events for my birthday, mainly because it was a way to see a bunch of people on the same night. I had thought about trying to plan a dinner or something, but going to a restaurant is so expensive now that I would feel bad asking people to come and celebrate me, and also drop probably $30-40 at least on a meal. It’s too late this year, but maybe next year I’ll try to figure out a way to meet up with people that doesn’t involve alcohol or spending loads of money.
6. It’s amazing to me how oblivious some people can be. I was driving down the road to my job and slowed down to pull into our parking lot. Thankfully, I both slowed down and paid attention because the guy with his back to the road, standing in the middle of the entrance on his phone, sure as hell didn’t. I pulled in and spotted this guy with his head down on his phone, walking very very slowly across the parking lot. My car is fairly quiet, but there’s no way he didn’t hear me. I crept into the lot thinking he’d see me and move. Wrong. He kept walking and was in such a location that I could not get by him without hitting another car. Finally, I had had enough and gave my horn a quick tap. He jumped like I had tased him. He moved a few feet to one side, and I was able to park. I wanted to tell him I had to get his attention, which is why I beeped, but by the time I got out of my car, he was too far away for me to care. Still on his phone with his head down in the parking lot.
7. For longtime readers, you’ll remember several months ago I mentioned that at my work, there was a gigantic wasp nest hanging above the entrance to the parking lot. It was high enough off the ground that the wasps didn’t bother you if you walked underneath it. My goal had been to get as close a photo as possible using my selfie stick. It never ended up happening. In a sort of anti-climactic season finale, I came into work this week and the nest was just gone. Now I wasn’t expecting the owners of our building to send us a message so we could go and watch the nest be taken down. That being said, I do wonder what exactly happened. It hasn’t gotten cold enough for the wasps to die or abandon the nest, so did a team have to come all in hazmat gear and cut the nest down? It was about as big as a large overstuffed backpack, so there had to be at least hundreds of wasps in there. Oh well, maybe next year they will return with an even bigger nest that’ll look like a small car hanging from a tree. I can dream.
8. After so many years online, I’d like to think I have a pretty good read on what is legit and what is a scam when it comes to email. This week, my skills got put to the test. I got an email from a thing called Book Maven HQ. It went into detail about why they loved my Cape Cod Nights book, including a few specifics. They gave me an offer to help promote the book. That immediately raised my antenna as I get the same sort of messages from rando scammers when I share my podcast. It was only when they sent a second email a few minutes later with the same structure, but this time about my Searching for the Lady of the Dunes book, that I knew it was a scam. It’s like this bot or whatever scanned the book cover and grabbed words from the description and then put them in the email, thinking I’d believe they were real because they quoted something from the book cover. These idiots sealed the deal when they sent a third email, but this time about a very old ebook. How did it seal it? It had the same structure as the other emails, but where the title was located in the other emails, there was a blank space. This blank space was because the bot or AI couldn’t read the title on the cover. After all, the font is kind of wonky. Sorry, Book Maven or whatever you really are, I’ll keep my money and you can f off.
9. It was a fairly uneventful but still really fun Halloween. There were no wild parties, no staying out super late, no booze, but I don’t miss any of that. I was way happier having Chinese food for dinner and then watching the original Halloween from 1978. It’s a tradition I’ve been doing for years. Oh, and my fortune cookie said ‘your greatest dreams are meant to be pursued.’ That was maybe a good omen for the year to come.
10. Sadly, the day before my birthday also happens to be the last night before we turn the clocks back. Not only was I out enjoying the last night of my 47th year, but I also had the desperation of knowing that the following night the sunset would be at 4:30. Luckily, the weather was perfect for November 1st, 55 and sunny with the wind dying down. I sneaked into a little cottage compound for photos of the sunset from the top of the stairs at a private beach. Even as I am sprinting toward 50 I still find the time to go places I shouldn’t go. Hey, it’s the off-season, and plus I didn’t touch anybody’s property and was in and out quick. The photo was worth it. Goodbye, 5pm sunsets, see you in late February.
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| Final 5pm sunset until late February |
11. Nothing says ‘old man’ like being awake at 6:30 on your birthday. Granted, it was stupid Daylight Saving that caused it, but still. It wasn’t all bad, though. I was fully alert enough to get some work done before 7am. My buddy Steve messaged me, but he misspelled ‘cereal.’ His phone made the mistake of autocorrecting it to ‘clerical.’ I ran with this and made this fancy box of Honey Nut Cheerios that is sure to be a hit someday. The best part? He was actually eating Honey Nut Cheerios. No, I'm not psychic, maybe a bit psychotic, but that's beside the point.
12. I was craving a 5-Hour Energy. Not the little shots but the big 16-ounce drinks. On Cape Cod, I know of two places that have had them. I’m sure there’s more, but I’m not going to go hunting for them. Anyway, the one guaranteed to have this drink, several of my friends affectionately refer to as the ‘cheap store.’ It definitely has the look of a place that, if the health department wanted to, they could close it down at any time. I knew exactly what I was looking for, though so it was less time with the handsome group of regulars in there playing the lottery and spending all of their money on scratch tickets. I found what I wanted, but the irony is that I must be the only one who ever buys those big 5-Hours. I know this because on the shelf where they were located, the cans were dusty. Don’t worry, I looked to make sure they hadn’t expired. Thanks, Cheap Store, I’ll probably be back to buy most of the rest of those drinks before they expire.
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13. It was a bit surreal having breakfast on my birthday. My friends Steve and Amanda invited me to a place, Grumpy’s, in Dennis. Why I say it was surreal is that way back in the day, I used to work at a restaurant right down the street called The Marshside. We used to be a more rustic-looking spot serving all three meals. The interior of the old Marsh looked a lot like how Grumpy’s looks. So much so that when the Marshside was rebuilt into a more sterile location, a lot of our regulars moved on to Grumpy’s. Sitting in there, seeing the specials written in chalk on the wall, and just the overall vibe of the restaurant brought back pleasant memories. Plus, it was a nice gift and a fun time getting to dine out and chat. It made me miss the old Marsh, well, mostly the people I used to see and work with.
14. My birthday ended up being a great one. Good food, seeing good friends, getting loads of love from family and friends all day. I even got to somehow fit in a sunset shoot even though I briefly forgot it was at 4:30. Eating, buying some new clothes, and running shoes, and the sunset were all amazing, but nothing tops family and friends. Everything I do. All of the hustling, trying to ‘make it’ and chase my dreams, it’s all done to make my family and friends proud that they know me and/or are related to me. I will do all I can to make my 48th year, the 48th chapter of my life, the best it can be. Thank you all.
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| Birthday sunset. |
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