It was nice to see a piece of familiarity at the mall today. Though not as big as the original stores, Macy’s seems to be doing a decent job bringing Toys ‘R Us back.
Revisiting Tradition.
It’s been a few years since we’ve been in this neck of the woods, but when we would visit on a regular basis during the holiday season, we had a tradition of heading over to Cherry Hill Mall in Cherry Hill, N.J. They have an enjoyable eatery in the middle of the mall called “The Bistro”. We went there today while doing some Christmas browsing. The mall wasn’t very busy, but we had a nice lunch together.
I love how my husband is wearing a scarf with his t-shirt. He’s a little bit desert southwest and a little bit northeast on this trip.
Extra. Extra.
I’ve mentioned before that I enjoy watching extras employed in a movie or television series. Some of them overact, some of them underact, and some are just a delight to look at.
I spotted this extra in a scene in “The Devil Wears Prada” years ago (I’ve always been a fan of the Miranda Priestly character). I actually think I spotted him in a deleted scene that I saw on YouTube or something. I don’t know anything about him and his name isn’t listed in the credits in IMDB, but he is a delight to look at.
UA709.
We are en route from Tucson to O’Hare for our trip back east. We are in row 23 on this A320. The airplane is about 60% full and it’s not as awful as I thought it would be.
Twitter, again.
I honestly don’t remember the last time I was on Twitter. I think it was two weeks ago; I’m not sure. The other day I was going through my password manager and noticed I had some extraneous Twitter accounts that I had forgotten about, so I went ahead and deleted those account. My two primary accounts (one for aviation, one for everything else) were locked down and the tweets were pretty much deleted a few weeks ago when the Elonification of Twitter took place. I’m not sure if I like Elonification or Muskification. They both sound gross.
I continue to be on Mastodon but it’s not the same as Twitter. Some of that’s on purpose; it’s designed to be different. My interactions on Mastodon are pleasant but not as plentiful. If anything, the destruction of Twitter has forced me to step away from social media a little bit and that’s a good thing. My mood doesn’t need the algorithm. Slave to the clicks and all that.
At this point I don’t really care if Twitter fails or succeeds. The last couple of weeks have shown me that I don’t really need it in my life. It started downhill back during Trump’s birther idiocy. It’ll probably just become a bigger cesspool of idiocy under the new ownership.
Who knows, maybe folks will fire up their old school blogs (like this one!) again.
A Song Long Ago.
I first discovered the music of Anders Enger Jensen back when we lived in Chicago. I used to listen to his album “Retro Grooves, Vol. 3” with surprising regularity while walking the North Center and Lakeview neighborhoods surrounding our condo. His music is rooted in 80s and 90s synth pop and strikes very familiar chords in my love for music. His music continues to bring me joy.
One of his tracks on “Retro Grooves, Vol. 3” is called “A Song Long Ago”. The lyrics are melancholy but the production is beautiful. I can easily identify with the lyrics. The track reminds me of a lost ABBA track from the early 1980s. I enjoy the vibe.
From “Retro Grooves, Vol. 3”, here’s Anders Enger Jensen with “A Song Long Ago”. The track and album are also available through Apple Music and Spotify, as well as Band Camp.
Decorating.
This photo was taken yesterday during our decorating festivities. We are putting up four Christmas trees this year; the fifth tree may be put up closer to Christmas. We have contractors coming in during the month of December to replace carpeting and fix the drywall that’s missing due to all the leaks during Monsoon Season 2021. We’ve decided we’re done fighting with the home insurance company (something something about being “in good hands”, yeah right) and we’re going ahead and getting the water damage fixed.
Decorating the house has improved my mood a little bit; it’s hard for me to find the holiday spirit here in the desert southwest. I’m always in the mood to go hiking and sunbathing and such; ho ho ho just seems out of place here.
But the inside of our home is becoming quite festive.
Travel.
I love being able to say the phrase “back East”. I use it to describe where we were born and have lived the majority of our lives. When we first moved to Chicago I heard Bea Arthur use the term describing her first appearance as Maude on “All In The Family”. “I went to cousin Edith’s home, back East, where they were all sick as hell and had no one to take care of them…”. Of course, Archie and Edith Bunker lived in Queens and Maude lived in Tuckahoe, so I don’t know why Bea mentioned the character going “back East” but she did and the term stuck with me once we moved to the midwest and then when we moved to the desert southwest.
“Where are you originally from?”
I start with “back East” and then narrow it down to the region then the city then a smaller city then the small village when describing “back East”, depending on how invested I am in the conversation.
I bring all this up because on Wednesday my husband and I are headed “back East” to visit family on all side of the family tree. We haven’t been to his hometown since well before COVID and it’s been over a year since we’ve visited any of my family in snowy Upstate New York.
I’m thinking about my wardrobe here in the desert southwest and I’m realizing I don’t have that much in the way of cold weather clothing anymore, but I suppose I’ll make do with what I have.
Gotta dress for the snow when you head “back East”.
Caturday.
Truman and the dogs have continued their bonding to the point that Truman feels comfortable hanging out in the kitchen again. He enjoys watching the world from the window sills.
The 90s
There are some songs from the 90s that still make my heart very happy. I remember spinning this song a lot back in the day when I was working in a couple of clubs and it always filled the dance floor. It was fairly popular on the radio charts as well.
From 1991 (and 1992 in the U.S.), here’s Rozalla with “Everybody’s Free”.
