Fun and Games Dept

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.

The United States government wasn’t really designed for a two party system. The founders didn’t even write about parties in the Constitution. They didn’t want two factions going at it for political purposes.

But here we are.

During family night watched the Jon Stewart movie “Irresistible”.

The movie is well done, packed wall to wall with familiar faces, and is a satirical look at what the two-party system has come to in the Trump era. The plot was not as predictable as I predicted it to be. At the end of the movie we all declared that we enjoyed the movie very much.

Recommended.

So this evening we decided to go for a walk about the neighborhood and maybe have something to eat, if the situation fit our personal standards for personal safety. We are both approaching the current state of the pandemic as if no one else is looking out for us, so sitting inside a restaurant is completely off our radar right now, but we would consider eating in an open air area if there was plenty of precautions in place.

Many of the pubs and eateries in the neighborhood are still closed or delivery only, be we stopped at The Rambler, as they have outdoor seating and there was a wide selection of empty tables, and all their seating was spaced well apart.

The precautions in place were very good. If you weren’t wearing a mask you weren’t allowed in, and they had two large bouncers confirming this. As we sat down at one of the well spaced tables outside, we were told “you are not allowed in the restaurant without a mask. This includes going to the washroom”. All of the workers were wearing masks, full-time and properly. (No chin or skip-the-nose approaches). Food was served on paper plates, beverages in plastic cups, and they provided individually wrapped single use utensils and napkins. No shared ketchup or mustard bottles, everything was single serve.

This is how you do it, America.

It has been since early March since I enjoyed a draft beer so it was nice to have that change of pace. The food was good and plentiful. Earl and I put our masks on every time anyone brought something or checked on us. We left a nice tip for their hard work and I wrote a short note thanking them for trying to adhere to sensible pandemic precautions.

I was still a little uncomfortable with the situation but I was as comfortable as I could be because it appeared they were doing everything right.

I did go to the washroom at one point, there were people in the bar and they were well spaced apart. Everyone was wearing a mask.

Overall, the experience was great and the best it could be. It was an interesting adventure. I wish the hot spot states could take note and start taking the same precautions. This could be the new normal for a while.

So we have tomorrow off from work to celebrate American Independence Day. Since the fourth falls on a Saturday we get the third off. It all makes sense.

Except, I don’t feel like it’s the Fourth of July. With this pandemic thing going on I’m still waiting for Easter and Memorial Day to roll around. I’ve lost all track of time. I find myself thinking it’s the weekend when it’s Tuesday. The long years of the Trump administration that happen every week, coupled with this weird pandemic routine shtick we’re all doing right now has me so very confused.

Now, I suppose I could go right out and start running around like everything is normal and start celebrating my patriotism like a true ‘Merican, but the thing is, I don’t want to die. Not yet. If I were to die, I would die a very happy man, but there’s still much more I’d like to accomplish. I’d like to see a happy world again before I die. I don’t believe we live in a happy world right now. Actually, it’s quite presumptuous for me to speak for the entire world, since I live in a very small corner of a smallish state named Illinois, but with all the information blasts I get on a minute by minute basis I feel like the world as a whole isn’t very happy right now.

I would love to see statistics around any increases in drug or alcohol use since 2017 in the United States. I think it would be a fascinating statistic.

So we don’t really have plans for the holiday weekend other than a sunset flight tomorrow night, but I didn’t need a day off to do that. We’ll probably go for a ride out on the prairie in the car, go through a drive thru or two, and look at the clear blue sky. Maybe we’ll watch fireworks from afar. I miss the days of handing out glow sticks to all the kids gathered to watch the fireworks from the village green.

I have no sense of time. I think I just took a nap. I’ll finish my beer. Happy, erm, Thursday.