I don’t know, knowing is not my thing
No one wants to hear more privileged whining from a full-time teleworker married to another such person, with no sick or at-risk family members* and no toilet paper supply problems. (I had subscribed to toilet paper through Amazon Prime, overestimated how much we use on a monthly basis, and slackishly let that continue for a few months before making the adjustment.)
*I do have a mother who feels incomplete if she doesn’t visit a grocery store or bakery on the daily, and a dad who still goes golfing (although alone, so not as bad), but it could be worse.
I also have a house I like to spend time in. But I don’t want to do everything in my house! I don’t want to work in my house, exercise in my house, relax in my house, get drunk in my house, listen to music in my house. Every day is the same. How was your day? Well you know how it was, I was right here and so were you. I did not see any interesting graffiti or garbage, no coworkers said weird things to me, I did not secretly covet/criticize anyone’s outfit or purses on the train. I am not doing interesting craft or DIY projects because (a) I don’t fucking do that in the first place and (b) I still have to work.
I am perhaps making slightly more elaborate dinners than normal. Instead of caffeine overdose + sad desk snacks, I am eating actual breakfast and lunch, and each of those meals somehow…includes dessert? Instead of my boot camp class, I lift stupid dumbbells and do stupid Pilates videos (kill me now) or take stupid walks around the neighborhood.
Karma will get me if I do not mention any bright spots, especially after openly wishing death on the President in that last entry, so here is one. I am glad I do not have to plan or structure a day for a child. The teen does his own thing, which actually does include some schoolwork.
Yesterday it also included vacuuming the car and washing the car floor mats (and then reinstalling them). I sat outside for a bit to keep him company, and to wait for his inevitable car-floor-mat accolade. A while ago LT sprung for the WeatherTech (“Laser Measured for a Perfect Fit”) floor mats (not cheap! Mr WeatherTech is a very rich man!) He did not consult with me (correctly, because I don’t care), and to be honest I did not even notice anything was different in the car.
Until, that is, the first time I drove somewhere with the kid, in the post-WeatherTech era. “Wow! Are these new? They’re really nice!” Sure. I guess. He likes the fact that they cover the whole floor-mat area, is impressed with the durability and that they don’t slide around and…sorry, I fell asleep for a second there. If we watched a Blackhawks game (sports used to be a thing; go read your history books) and the boards sported a WeatherTech ad, it was another opportunity for him and LT to praise the WeatherTech Floor Mats Decision of 2019. They must be doing it just to tease me at this point, right? Or to drive me to self-harm? Anyway, I sat on the porch during the uninstalling, hosing off, and reinstalling yesterday and eventually my teen did mention that our floor mats are a “quality product” and that’s when I went back inside. SUCH MATS VERY TECH MUCH WEATHER. (I love him very much.)
TEN BANDS/ARTISTS THAT CRITICS LOVE AND I DON’T
- Meat Puppets
- Air
- Husker Du
- Bon Iver
- Bruce Springsteen
- Pere Ubu
- The Replacements
- Tom Waits
- Father John Misty
- The Thermals
MOST RECENT TEN BOOKS FROM MY “BOOKS I READ” SPREADSHEET, PLUS MY EXTREMELY SHORT COMMENT ABOUT EACH ONE
| Original Gangstas | Ben Westhoff | kindle | crips up hoes down |
| Hell World | Luke O’Neill | actually purchased | uneven but when he’s good he’s very good |
| French Exit | Patrick deWitt | Kindle | extremely funny in parts but also suicide? I had whiplash |
| Audience of One: Donald Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America | James Poniewozik | library | turns out I don’t want to read about trump ever, not even if they mention Baudrillard; DNF |
| Little Weirds | Jenny Slate | kindle | 2 twee 4 me |
| Dominicana | Angie Cruz | kindle | pretty good |
| Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly | Jim DeRogatis | kindle | yikes yikes YIKES |
| Some of Us Are Very Hungry Now | Andre Perry | library | better than expected, and the “Dear Emma” letters at the end were especially lovely |
| After the Flood | Kassandra Montag | library | decent, watery |
| Save Me the Plums | Ruth Reichel | kindle | food and magazine gossip, what’s not to like |
—mimi smartypants strikes curious poses.