1. I was doing a bit of
cleaning. More like collecting junk to throw away. I came upon a
night light I probably hadn’t used in 10 years. I can’t remember why I got it unless I was afraid monsters would get me when I went to the bathroom at night. It had been sitting with a pile of
stuff bound for the trash for days. I had second thoughts and figured
there must be somewhere I could plug it in in case it was needed. So
I plugged it in. I flipped the switch and the bulb immediately blew
out. I don’t know what I was expecting after 10 years, but the night light is now officially in the trash.
2. From the ‘good problems’
department. I got a Christmas bonus this week from my job. My boss
wrote out a check. Naturally, I wanted to go and cash it. If you don’t
have an account at the bank the check is from you just present your
driver’s license and sign the back and you’re good to go. The
‘good problem’ came from the fact that the check was for a pretty
nice chunk of change. The woman who was helping me actually had me
wait while she left and got on the phone. It turned out she was
calling my boss to make sure he had written the check and that I
wasn’t some thief trying to fleece him with a forgery. That’s the
first time that’s ever happened.
3. A fun little game I like to
play includes having my chat window open on Facebook. What I do is
look at my friends online, typically 12 names fit without having to
scroll down. I then imagine what a get-together including all of them
would look like. I wonder what types of friend groups I’d have, whether family would get along, or having to introduce strangers to
each other. Hey, it could be worse. I could do that same sort of game
but have little dolls representing everyone and reenact scenes.
 |
| Getting ready to play Facebook Chat. |
4. I waited until Christmas
morning to wrap the gifts I had. There was one large gift and the
rest were all smaller in size. I decided to wrap the smaller ones
first since it would be quicker. Big mistake. While wrapping the big
gift, one for my mother, I ran out of wrapping paper. I needed a
solution rather than bringing the gift over half-wrapped. My
brilliant idea was to use a few promotional posters I was given with
one of my books. I put them blank side up and finished the wrapping
job with them. Foolish, yes, but also resourceful.
5. Hilarity ensued on
Christmas. It began with my sister Ashley’s dog Buddha barking
nonstop at our aunt who he rarely sees. This went on for probably two
hours. The true hilarity came when it was dinner time. Buddha who had
been barking at her nonstop decided to be good and go beg for food
from our aunt once he ran out of options with the rest of us. As you
can see his hunger tops any stranger danger he might have. Hopefully, no white vans offer him candy on the streets.
6. As many of you know I have
been sober for going on 4 ½ years. That fact became a superpower on
Christmas Eve. As everyone at the party was getting various degrees
of inebriated I was standing back and taking notes on some of the fun
and foolish things being said and done. Obviously, they’re all my
friends so there (likely) won’t be any blackmailing. Plus I’m
staring down 50 in a few years I can’t go acting like a rowdy teen
anymore, no matter how young I might appear.
7. I hadn’t been into
Vitamin Shoppe in quite a while. In the days before COVID, I was in
there a lot for supplements, etc for my own fitness. In the time since
COVID, it’s been more of finding things in the supermarket or
ordering online. That meant that when I went in and the young girl
working asked if she could help me I had to actually ask for help
rather than knowing what I was looking for. This could have been
dangerous if she wanted to try to upsell me on the most expensive
products. Luckily I got out of there with only a few things.
8. I have become a big fan of
the Outdoor Boys YouTube channel. It’s a father in Alaska who does
lots of cool survival camping sometimes with his three sons. They
have nearly 12 million subscribers so a lot of others like them too.
Perhaps the greatest thing I have learned from the Outdoor Boys is
how good putting butter on oatmeal is. That has changed my world. If
you haven’t tried it I highly recommend it. If you don’t like
oatmeal just try it with loads of butter and cinnamon and sugar,
maybe chocolate, or peanut butter. It’ll be just like candy, very
healthy.
9. I’ve been on a kick of
watching Larry Bird highlights. It makes me feel lucky that I grew up
where I did and when I did as I got to watch him in his prime. An
unintended side effect is my realization of how much I love the old
1980s sports uniforms, not just basketball. Maybe it’s just the old
logos but I love the Mavericks and Cavaliers in basketball. The
Padres, Expos, Astros, and Pirates in baseball. The Oilers,
Buccaneers, and even the old Patriots uniforms in football. They all
remind me of my childhood.
10. I’m a big fan of the
hydromassage beds at Planet Fitness. It makes my Black Card
membership worth it. Anyway, I was next in line for one of the 2
beds. They said a 5-minute wait. I sat down and waited and noticed a
man leaving the hydro room. So I went in. For some reason, he had left
before the 10-minute massage time was done. Rather than let that go
to waste I jumped on and got 3 extra minutes. Then when that was
finished the other bed, the one I was signed up for, was ready. So I
got 10 minutes there. Before my time was done I saw the other bed was
ready to go again. I figured this was for another member but when my
10 minutes was up nobody had come in or was in sight. I debated
getting another round of hydro but figured that I’d jump on that
bed and someone would show up and yell. So I just left.
