Weekly Update, March 15, 2021 - Panorama Special!
Greetz internet friend,
Thanks for checking in on this weekly update! Last week I was feeling burned out and if not for the fact that I wrote this on Sunday night, I probably would pass again on the update this week. However, since Saturday marked the one year anniversary of when my family and I started quarantining, I wanted to reflect on how my life has changed in the last year.
Please note that this is going to be a long post to make up for last week. This first section is a look back at the last year in quarantine and my life has changed since we started self-isolating on 3/13/2020.
I think it probably goes without saying, but buying our house last year was the biggest change that has happened to us during the pepperoni. It is one of those things that I never thought I would ever be able to do, and then we managed to find a way to do it during a Patricia. To quote our family’s favorite saying from Futurama, “time makes fools of us all”!
Unfortunately, this house is not perfect. Perhaps what I like the least are the neighbors. Most particularly, the people who own the house next to us have been using it as a short term rental. There was a family that was renting it when we first moved in, but as soon as they moved out the people who own the house have been using it for short term rentals. From raging parties over New Years weekend (of course the people partying were not wearing masks or socially distancing, so essentially a super-spreader event right next door) to Saturday shindigs, for the last few months the partying has been regular and extremely annoying.
Let me be even more specific about my complains. Generally, I don’t know how they are working out the arrangement, but people start showing up either Saturday night (sometimes Friday) and throwing a raging party. I get to spend the evening in my office with my noise canceling headphones on, and even though it’s not allowed, the jerk who owns the house next to us keeps renting it out. Yesterday when I was taking out the garbage the people who owned the house sent their parents to take the garbage cans to the curb and I gave them a hot little earful about the short term rental property, but I have had it with this neighborhood.
We decided this weekend that we have to sell the house. Whoever owns it is going to keep doing this, and I don’t want to live in this neighborhood anymore. We will find somewhere else to live in the Coachella Valley, but it isn’t going to be at this house for much longer!
I also want to share that this pandemic has been horrible for my mental health. I struggled before this global health crisis and since it’s hit hard, I’ve really struggled with a number of issues. I found a therapist and I am going to reach out to him this week about getting on his list to start seeing him. Hopefully that will help. I told my son that parents should go to therapy so their children don’t have to. Since my parents didn’t do the work, it is up for me to do it.
It’s also been important to me to try to be a better husband and dad. Last month my mother in law moved out and left us in a bad position. We had already been asking (really begging) for her to help, and she refused to help until she moved out and left us in a house that is bigger than we need because we thought she was going to live with us forever.
It was hard on our son to have her leave, and since she did I’ve been spending more time with him and that has been great. I realized that it had been a long time since the two of us left the house together to do things, and a few weeks ago we went out together to just go to Lowe’s. Since we got our dog (Bruiser) and he has all his shots, we have been able to walk him as well. Bruiser is very energetic and needs two walkies a day. My wife gives him the walk in the morning and my son and I give him the afternoon/early evening walk. Yesterday something happened that will change the trajectory of all of our walkies going forward – my adult Heelys arrived.
If you are not familiar, Heelys were popular in the early 2000s after I graduated from high school and missed the craze. Heelys are tennis shoes with a roller skate in the back of each shoe. By positioning your foot just right you can slide across any floor. Today on our walk I tried to do it and I still haven’t gotten the hang of it, but I didn’t fall! I think I’m also going to go out this week and buy a skateboard. I’ve always wanted to learn how to skateboard and since I am learning how to use Heelys, I can’t think of a reason to not learn how to skate too!
We spent part of our rude dudes day yesterday cleaning up the garage. We’ve been filling it with boxes and not flattening them for the last six months or so, until the boy and I spent roughly an hour and a half to flatten them all down whilst listen to music. First we listened to Jimi Hendrix and then we found some Creedence Clearwater Revival. Believe me when I tell you, dear reader, that we listened to CCR for another hour and a half and didn’t have to skip a song! Every single one was a banger. Truly I had underestimated just how great (and Dude) CCR is, and I won’t sleep on them again.
I also had a falling out with my father this year. Unfortunately I learned that he cares more about money than anything else, including family, and when I most needed help, he told me to man up. I always suspected that money meant more to my old man than anything else, but he confirmed it recently. His father was only in his life for eighteen years, and he got to be in my life for twice that long. However, since he doesn’t care to help and is only an abuser, he is no longer part of my life. Fortunately, I only cost him money so it will be a net win for him.
2021 is the year of standing up to bullies! No one gets to push you around, and if people aren’t going to help you, they are not entitled to your time or your emotions. My father never acted as a grandfather to his grandson, and like his father, he will never get a chance to be one. Just because my son doesn’t share any of my DNA, to my old man, it’s like he isn’t my son. It’s for the best though, because my sons life will be much better for not having my old man in it. I am teaching him that there are more important things than money, and my father doesn’t believe that. So I hope he and his money are very happy!
In addition to putting in more effort to be a better father myself, I’m also working hard to be a better husband. Yesterday my son and I each picked out a rose with a teddy bear to give to my wife. We have our four year anniversary coming up in a few weeks and I really want to figure out how to show my wife how much she means to me and how much I love her!
Looking back at the year in review, there really isn’t much to add except to say that I love living in the Coachella Valley. Of all the places I’ve ever lived in my life, this feels the most like home. It’s great building a life here with my wife and son, and while I don’t like this neighborhood, I do believe we will find something that will work for us.
During the pandemic I also started making art and music again, and expanded to producing beats, mixing and engineering my own music, and so far I’ve released five songs this year, and I have another five to seven more that are finished and in various stages of release. My single “Dogwater” dropped last week and tomorrow you can check out, “Millennial Punk!” on the pre-release here
Oh yeah, I also crossed an item off my bucket list by completing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and I wrote a 60,000 word novel in 30 days. From November 2 – December 2 (I started a day late so technically I didn’t win). This year I am going to write the second book of the novel, which I imagine will become a trilogy. It was based on the short story I wrote called Cascadia that you can find here. I cannot tell you what a confidence boost it is to write a novel in a month. Since I finished that, there has been no task that seems impossible. I highly recommend it, despite being difficult. If you write 1667 words per day, you can complete the task. You have until November to write an outline if you wanna give it a shot.
Overall, life has changed dramatically in the last year, and overwhelmingly for the better!
Now that I’ve shared my yearly COVID-19 update, I want to include the regular features of the weekly update post.
Personal
Last week I got a pair of Heelys and I’m planning on buying a skateboard too (like I mentioned above). I’ve also wanted to skateboard and my 2020 New Years Resolution was to try new things. I managed to do that last year, but I wanted to keep the resolution going this year as well because it really worked out well last time.
Over the weekend we went up to the Joshua Tree area to look at property and brought Bruiser. This might have been a mistake, and letting him sit on my lap for most of the car ride absolutely was a error, to be certain! He has really sharp claws and he got to growling at a certain point because he was overwhelmed. It was a long ride in the car for a dog, and I am always tense when I am out in public and frequently also very angry.
I’ve learned during the pandemic that many people don’t care about others. When we are still a year in and I see people not wearing masks at all, or not wearing them right in stores, I just about can’t take it. I roll my eyes and I just want to look them in the eyes and signal to pull the mask up over your nose. If it doesn’t go over your nose, it isn’t doing any good!
Also, why is it always the most ugly people who won’t wear masks or don’t wear them right? I have resorted to bullying people who aren’t wearing them or are not wearing them right because if they have shown they don’t care about others, it’s hard to not say rude things to them, so I’ve just been letting the rudeness fly.
Professional
Not much to share, just feeling super burned out.
Black Lives Matter
This is another area where I do not have much to say outside repeating and making it clear that Black Lives Matter. I would encourage anyone reading this to go out today and find some BIPOC individuals to follow and engage with their content on social media. I bet you will learn something!
People to follow (on Twitter)
Bernice King - The daughter of Dr. King
Martin Luther King III - The son of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
@cetolyne - great friend, awesome programmer, super helpful!
@blenster - cool maker, very positive, well worth a follow!
Marley - first place champ! Marley is one of the best on Twitter!
Null Coder - another awesome person to keep an eye on!
@EvilMog - creator of the DC MUD and an interesting person to follow.
TrakoZG – an internet friend who tweets excellent things
Sofia Rune – brilliant scholar who shares things that are both insightful and valuable
MildThrone – up and comer with a small following for now, but I think this account is on the rise!
Johnny B. Ill – Brilliant musician with wisdom to share for those smart enough to listen
Tiffany Collins - This is my wife, who is making cool art and is well worth a follow!
One last thing – for the music and art lovers
If you want to find what I am doing on other platforms, this is my TikTok here is my YouTube channel and here is the music project Twitter. Finally, if you want to listen to the full songs that I’ve recorded, you can check out my Spotify or search most music platforms for, “Dude and the missing rugs.”
My wife is making incredible art, and this is her website here is her TikTok she is also on Instagram and Twitter and you can buy her art on Etsy – she has some very affordable prints as well as even more affordable and cool stickers! Finally, if you like her art you can support her on Patreon as well!
That’s it for this week, internet friend! Thanks for reading this far! I hope you have a very nice day and a most excellent week.
Cheers!
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