1. December arrived and boy
did the weather follow suit. I went out to shoot the sunset on
December 1st
and was definitely under-dressed. The fall has been at least somewhat
warmer than usual. I took that for granted and went out
dressed like it was 55 degrees and not 35 degrees. The temperature, a howling wind, and the sun setting at 4:10pm made me
immediately long for spring. Oh well, at least starting December 14th
the sunset times will start getting later. Before you know it the sun
will be setting after 5pm again, well February 4th.
2. I have begun digitizing my
old Las Vegas journal to share on my blog and on Patreon. Granted
these will be somewhat redacted and I’ll tell you why. In this
journal there is a lot of great insight into me, full-on in my
quarter-life crisis, going through a cross-country move. The problem
is not sharing some deep thoughts, it is the sheer amount of girls I
was interested in that I name-dropped. I was a bit surprised. I think
I was really looking for whoever was going to come along and fill
that void. That being said, I don’t think naming names is going to
do any good. Not that they’d all be reading my blog, but I highly
doubt any of them would read my thoughts from nearly 25 years ago and
suddenly say ‘I never knew!’ and we live happily ever after.
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| First part now up on this blog. |
3. Something a bit interesting
to me. I noticed now that it’s December that when I turn my heat on
I like it at around 64-65 degrees. I run hot so I don’t need it
sweltering to be comfortable. The interesting part? In the middle of
summer, I like my air conditioner to be set at 68-69 degrees. So my
heat is set to a lower temperature than my A/C is. I don’t know, I
thought those numbers would be flip-flopped. Actually, it would make
more sense for the temperature to be equal all year round no matter the heat or A/C.
4. I feel at times like my
life is an echo chamber of my own thoughts. What I mean is that as I
continue on a journey of trying to become totally self-employed I
sometimes find myself trapped by my own mind’s limitations. I want
to use my writing and creativity skills to do something meaningful
and fulfilling but it’s hard to see outside of my own little box
I’ve been in for years. It can feel like the Seinfeld episode where
George gets an audiobook and the narrator sounds just like him.
Sometimes you need advice from a voice that’s not your own.
5. For the first time in quite
a while I visited a spot called Scargo Tower in the neighboring town
of Dennis. It’s a beautiful stone tower with one of the best views
on Cape Cod. I shot a video of me going up the stairs to the top at
sunset which was great. I was shocked when I drove up to it that
there were no other people there. My excitement was short-lived as
while I was shooting the video a van full of people showed up. Then
after they left a young couple showed up. I decided to leave the
tower to them because I was young once. I just found it funny that as
soon as I thought about how great it was that nobody was there all of
these people showed up. I should have just kept my mind blank.
6. A random patient at my work
made me think of one of my favorite memories of my Nana. Long,
loooong ago she would get Christmas cards from her trash man. It was
nice, and also a way to remind customers to tip the people who take
their stinky trash away for them. Anyway, the trash man signed his card
and I believe his name was Doug Carp or something close. I can’t
remember for sure but someone in the family remarked that his
signature made it look like his name was ‘Dog Crap.’ That alone
was too hilarious, but the best part was my Nana’s reaction. She
laughed in only the way she could until tears were literally streaming
down her face. Those were some of my favorite memories of life,
someone making my Nana laugh until she cried. I miss those days.
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| Maybe just print your name next time? |
7. On one of the mornings
when I have to get up before 5 to get ready for work I nearly had a
unique experience. When going to brush my teeth in my drowsy state
the first thing I reached for to put on my toothbrush wasn’t the
toothpaste. No, I grabbed my deodorant. I even popped the cap off of
it so I was close to having a different sort of fresh mouth. However, nothing will top the time as a 5-6-year-old kid when my sister and I
brushed our teeth with Preparation-H, the hemorrhoid cream. Yes, that
happened. Hey, give us a break, the old tubes of Preparation-H look
just like toothpaste to little kids.
8. One part laughing, one part
shaking my head in sad amazement. There is a road in my town that was
a part of drainage repairs over the last several months. It’s right
in front of where I go to the gym. After all of the repairs were done
the time came to repaint the double yellow lines that go down the
middle of the road. I said ‘middle.’ In a stunning act of
stupidity whoever was painting the lines had them running two-thirds
over to one side. This means that you can fit a car and a half on one
side of the road while on the other side, any vehicle that isn’t a
Smart car is hanging over into the other lane. I have no clue how
these people couldn’t figure out how to paint lines down the middle
of the road but don’t worry I’m sure they are getting paid a lot
to be that dumb.
9. I am a huge fan of retro
commercials. The ones I grew up with from the 70s through the 90s are
great. I even like ones slightly older. However, I find more recent
commercials to be annoying or just plain stupid. One that I
constantly hear on my Spotify app is both. Garden of Life probiotics
might be the worst one yet. Talking about loving to poop is one
thing, and this product helping you to poop is fine. I think it’s
the way the woman in the ad gushes about just having pooped to some
other woman like she’s 3 years old that just annoys me. It sounds
like what a toddler would say to a parent with the child then hoping
to get a toy or at least a cookie for pooping on the potty. So dumb.
10. I have found that feeling
lost and feeling dehydrated are very similar. By the time you realize
that you are either it is way too late and it will take a lot more
work to get back to normal than it should. It’s just that you solve
one easily by drinking lots of water. The other? I am still trying to
figure out how to solve that one.
