holiday leftovers and such

the first sixer after my holiday break is typically a wrap-up of my holidays to catch everybody up on a couple little things…

…and this one if far from atypical.

going back a bit further

in addition to beloved celebrities we lost in 2014 (robin williams is the main one that comes to mind, but we’ll touch on that in a bit) we also bit adieu to something we’ve silently had (and some of us have enjoyed) over the last few years – the sequential day. it all started in january of 2k3, when the whore was still new, and i probably did a bit on it (as back then i didn’t have this hard and fast “every other day” thing going on when bits happened…we’d do three or four days in a row and then break for a couple) but 2k3 marked the first one with “1-2-3”, i.e. january 2nd, 2003. as there’s no thirteenth month we can’t to “13-14-15” this year. in fact, we can’t do it again for our entire lifetime. but as the wonder wifey has a “11-11-11” tattoo to signify a date oddity in our lifetime, i decided to get my own and in the wee hours (we started just after midnight) i got this:

(it should be noted the tattoo looks much crisper in person than this pic would lead you to believe, but as it’s on the inside of my bicep right near the arm pit it’s a really tough area to take a pic of on yourself)

so i have a remembrance of our last sequential day. of course, instead of midnight i could have started it around quarter after three in the afternoon, to score that coveted “12-13-14-15-16-17” a friend’s wive brought up (december 13, 2014, at three sixteen and seventeen seconds, or in military time “15:16:17”) but i’m not as o.c.d. as her…

mmxv – the year of the wrench

i have declared 2015 to be the year my house REALLY starts to improve. we have lots on tap, and since we still have home depot gift cards left over from the wedding (thanks to all who attended, extra thanks to those who gave, and today’s digital age this constitutes the “thank you” card i never got around to writing) and we have lost track of how many projects we have, but there’s a bunch. the projects have scope, focus, and even a skeletal budget that’s reachable…the one thing they don’t have? a fucking deadline! i plan on changing that on a few of them this week…

holly daze – not just the girl i used to score pot for in college

for fans of the old whore, i figured a throwback title might bring a smile to your face. this was my first xmas with a kid in the house, and it did make xmas a bit more fun and a LOT more stressful, just ’cause you know how much it meant to YOU as a kid so you feel you have to deliver the modern equivalent of that experience. but a good time was had by all, we made it to the new year, and rang it in with a good friend (shane), good booze, and good food. a great night, and it had been FAR too long since i got to hang with this fucker…

(and the ufw put a pic of her kid with that little lego-ish sonic in there because it drove us all nuts with it’s shit directions and tiny parts, but as a family we were able to do it!)

xmas almost flickless?

i remember for years there were movies that started AROUND the holidays, but never ON xmas day. then it started to kick in, and seemed to coincide with me and JAB getting away from our families to hit a flick…but this year there really wasn’t any. i mean, yeah, there WAS supposed to be the interview, which in the eleventh hour was pulled off by small indie theaters and an online release (i still haven’t seen it, although i want to) but after all the hype and supposed north korea hacking (which i still think it’s that sony insider they fingered after the fact) i decided it could wait till it hit netflix or, at best, amazon direct. the only movie we did was night at the museum iii, which is, according to imdb, robin williams last flick. i’m not old or hip enough to say i loved his stand-up in the 1970’s back when it happened (i do own robin williams, live at the met from the ’80s, on vinyl, bought back then if that helps) but i enjoyed him from the moment he had his surprise cameo on happy days (i did see that one live) and had a mork action figure back in the day. he was a tireless comedian who, like most, had some issues and decided to end it early. sad on may levels, and highlights part of why i’ve never tried stand-up…most of the people i really like end up super troubled and off themselves early. i don’t want that to be me…and i don’t know if that’s what drove them to it, you know? but his last line in the move (spoiler alert) made me tear up – “smile – the sun’s almost rising”…or something to that effect. an incredible man, and an incredible artist, who will be dearly missed…

(words i live by every day)

i might be new, but i’m proud

one of the things that started before the holidays, but really kicked in during (due in part to fxx holiday-themed marathons) was i got the ufw’s kid thoroughly hooked on the simpsons. i mean, it’s a nightly tradition now…it’s part of the routine. i know i’m new to this (step)parenting thing, but is it wrong i’m really proud of him (and me) for this?

and we close on some repetition

this has been TOO recurring a theme of my new years bits (every one, i believe) but it’s something i’ve struggled with my whole life – my weight. i gotta curb the trend…and part of it is just poor will power on my behalf, and part of it is the ufw’s wonderful cooking. i have an app on my phone that tracks my weight, and the “X” marks when she moved in:

see the trend? i weighed in at (gulp) 239 on new year’s day. i weighed 214 on new year’s day 2012. that’s twenty-five pounds that NEEDS to be gone by my juneteenth bbq! i figure shane’s lost fifty in the last few months, i can at least drop half that in six, right? i just need to teach myself that fat-boy food will still be in the restaurants after i lose the weight, but it needs to be an occasional treat and not the norm. let the count down begin!

(it should be noted i don’t blame my wifey for my weight gain – that’s all on me…literally!)