Fun and Games Dept

While driving through Northwest Illinois, I took a couple of snaps of “Americana”.

These days I spend a lot of time on the balcony. The weather is decent (albeit a bit humid and hot, even at 9:30 PM at night) but the view is nice and there’s few bugs here in the city.

I never thought I would get sick of watching television but sometimes I feel the need to just sit on the balcony and do very little. As I remind my team at work from time to time, we may all be used to working from home but we’re still working under unusual circumstances. There’s a subtle increase in stress levels; COVID-19, politics, riots, all of the angst in the country. It all adds up.

I sit on the balcony and I watch the flights into O’Hare follow a shorter than usually approach because of the lower amount of air traffic these days. Watching airplanes always makes me smile.

I’m taking some time off later this week because I haven’t used vacation time since February and I have a lot of time left. It’ll be our first “staycation” in maybe forever. I’ll probably spend time on the balcony when I’m not flying airplanes or chasing thunderstorms.

We all need to chill.

This is still one of my favorite songs of all time. From 1987, here is Pet Shop Boys with Dusty Springfield and “What Have I Done To Deserve This?”.

In October it’ll be a year since we were at Walt Disney World in Florida. It’s not uncommon for us to go this long without visiting the House of the Mouse, but with this whole pandemic thing I’ve been thinking a lot about vacations and the like.

One of my most enjoyable experiences at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World is “Soarin’”. I love this attraction; the sensation of flying is awesome, the newest film is very well done, and I really enjoy the music and the scents they blow in your face on cue with the film.

Earl is playing “Catan” on his iPad right now and the music reminds me a little bit about Soarin’ at Disney. I’m ready for this pandemic to be over so we can get on with some fun and frivolity again.

But we’ll do it on our terms, when it’s safe, and we can enjoy it without worrying about getting sick.

Truman and I are sitting on the balcony on a warm summer evening in Chicago. Truman has adapted to his harness. He waits until I put it on and then he walks around like he’s carrying the weight of the world. When he’s ready to go in he jumps up on the patio furniture near the door, goes through once I open up the door for him, and wait for me to take off his harness. Then he goes racing around the condo like a maniac.

Right now he is situated next to me, relaxing, purring, and chasing bugs from his vantage point on the patio couch. Or is it a patio Davenport? Occasionally he spots a seagull passing high overhead, probably one that has strayed a little ways from near by Lake Michigan. Then he gets back to looking for bugs.

There is a sort of contentment in sitting and relaxing with a well behaved feline purring at your side. I think he knows just as well as I do that tomorrow is Friday.

We’re both looking forward to the weekend.

So a couple of days or weeks ago (it’s hard to remember during this pandemic) I told Earl we were done watching “The Mothers-In-Law” on Amazon Prime. While the show can be mildly entertaining if someone in the audience is drunk, we got into the latter half of season one and it just felt like really bad “I Love Lucy” retreads.

But then I got the outrageous theme song in my head and I ended up watching a couple of episodes, finishing up the first season.

And then last night I dreamed about conversing with Kaye Ballard about how I make my homemade pasta sauce. Wild, right?

Kaye was chewing up the scenery of my dream as we talked about basil and oregano and whole tomatoes and I was chewing up the scenery right along with her as I told her never, NEVER, N E V E R put sugar in spaghetti sauce, I put a couple of shredded carrots in there to take out some of the natural bitterness.

The dream was as outrageous and insane as Kaye Ballard’s delivery of Kaye Buell’s lines one the late 1960s show.

And now I’m in the mood to make some homemade spaghetti sauce this weekend.

Last night the four of us got together, had pizza and salad from Lou Malnati’s, and played the Star Trek edition of Catan. The board game was a birthday gift. We’ve been playing Catan for a while now, and having another edition, with just a slight variation in the way the game is played, is fun. It’s nice to step away from the ills of the world and lose yourself in a board game.

We don’t have much physical interaction with the outside world aside from our family gatherings once or twice a week. The four of us decided that we’ll know when the time is right to start enjoying what the world has to offer; we’re not letting “phases” or “stages” decide for us. I mean, Walt Disney World is open, with COVID-19 precautions of course, but we’re not about to head down to Florida to get in line for Space Mountain. We all love our Disney experiences but it seems way too early for us to be joining the masses down there.

I see so many people asking, “when do we get back to normal?”. My question is, “do we really want to get back to pre-COVID-19 ‘normal’?”. Yes, there are many elements of the before I’d like to visit again, but there’s something to be said about spending family night at the dining room table playing a board game. I’ve been enjoying our meals at home. We’ve always eaten at home with a one or two nights out a week, but eating at home on a full-time basis has been lovely. I always check with Earl to make sure he’s not feeling pressured to perform in the kitchen and he assures me he’s enjoying our currently culinary vibe.

Next week we’ll probably play the expansion pack “Federation Space” that goes along with the Star Trek edition of Catan. I’m looking forward to the experience.

Today marks the day I completed 52 rides around the star called Sol. I’m the most comfortable I’ve been at an age beginning with a “5”. I can say it out loud and I’m happy where I am at this point in my life. I have no regrets. I look forward to future.

Onward and upward.

Earl and I finished watching “Tales From The Loop” on Amazon Prime this weekend. It took us a while to finish the eight episode series. We started it at the beginning of lockdown. While the concept was very intriguing, and I especially enjoyed the intersection of science fiction with retro-futuristic technology, the pacing of some of the episodes was a little difficult for me to grasp.

I shan’t spoil anything here, but basically, “Tales From The Loop” is about a town that is built above a scientific research facility called “The Loop”. We are reminded of photos of the the Large Hadron Collider in Europe. References to activity with in “The Loop” are vague; basically, they make the impossible possible. The episodes show us what happens to individuals as a result of being near “The Loop”.

The music in each episode is gorgeous. It’s probably the best scenic type music I’ve heard in years. The cinematography and visuals are amazing. The stories are compelling, just paced oddly at times.

Overall we enjoyed the experience, but it’s best left enjoyed at your own pace.

As we try to navigate sidewalks and such where people aren’t wearing a mask, the only thing keeping me from not exploding is figuring eventually all these non-mask people in public places will die off. The trick is to avoid them and keep our distance to remain healthy. C’mon Darwin, do your thing.