Hellllllllllllllllllllooooooooooooo, Newman
Fall has fallen.
I think I kind of feel like fall about how the gang on Seinfeld felt about Newman. I love it and I hate it, sometimes alternating, sometimes at the same time.
Mother Nature definitely prepped us for the seasonal switch, dark skies, gusty winds, cool temps, and changing leaves in the days leading up to the Fall Equinox, which both hurt and helped, sometimes alternating, sometimes at the same time.
For the record, this past Sunday, I loved it. Exclusively. We ended up with a perfect day for Kerri’s family’s annual golf tourney, which she runs (and very well, I might add!) Since then, it’s been a bit of a mixed bag.
I sit here generally in the throes of sadhappy, happysad, sad, happy, and every combination in between, fully aware that joy, its variations, and its opposites come in all forms, shapes, and sizes. And so it is in the eye of that tropical storm of emotions, that I bring you this month-ish’s Thursday’s Thoughts:
Life is about more than the turning of the seasons and the changing of the weather. It’s so important to remember that during the times when we’re feeling as gray as the day—because let’s face it, love, laughter, and the music of ABBA makes anything better, and that was never more apparent than last night. Orchestrated by my oldest niece, we (Kerri, my mom, my sis, my three nieces, and the gf of one of my nephews) had a very fun night in the city—dinner and Mamma Mia, the musical at the Opera House. It was such a great night—always awesome to get together and the show is so fun. This year marks its 25th anniversary and I first saw it in London well before it made its way stateside. Despite being old as dirt, I loved it just as much last night as I did then. And there definitely is something extra-special about sharing the experience across the generations. (Also the late night explains the late morning for me this morning. Apologies in advance for any typos or things that don’t make sense. I’m scrambling and I haven’t had any coffee yet. 🤦🏼♀️)
Seriously. Does it get any more fun than this??? Anyhow, since I just typed the word “gray”, I need to ask: why is it fashionable and chic—hip, even—to wear an all-black ensemble, but if you wear all gray it’s derisively called a groutfit? (And if you’re wondering I wore (mostly) black last night.)
Speaking of what I’m wearing, notably how my clothes smell…every now and then when I am out for a walk or on the pickleball court, I pass someone who smells like they just stepped out of a clothes dryer and are swaddled in a sheet of Bounce. And then there’s me, feeling like I always smell like month-old sweat when I exercise.
Speaking of smelly things, I was pretty shocked to discover that the coconut and cocoa butter “flavor” of Dove Body Wash came out of the bottle and was brown. Not dark brown, but more like a heavily tinted moisturizer…and also reminiscent of the color of powdered chocolate milk back in the day when mom and dad didn’t want to tell you that money was tight…so they still bought the Quik powder but then they had to skimp on it. They had to stretch their dollars so the heaping tablespoons became (very) scant teaspoons…and even though we were kids, somehow we knew if the Quik was sugar-rush inducing dark brown, and maybe even with a little bonus powder clumped on the bottom, we might stand a chance of getting to Mr. Kelly’s in Quincy Point for the prime rib special sometime soon. And the lighter the milk, the more you best better be on your absolute best behavior. Ah…the good old days. But anyway, brown body wash???
And speaking of pickleball, the official sport of the mid-life crisis, the trials and tribulations of drop in Advanced Beginner and Up Pickleball continue…and they continue to stress me out. The guy in the Free Karen Reed tshirt didn’t need to ask me and Pat if we had ever played pickleball before after he and his partner beat us handily (but didn’t pickle us). I’m low Advanced Beginner and Pat is *not* advanced beginner but we’ve obviously played before…but she’s a lefty and rarely comes up to the net so she is a tough partner for me. Even so, his question was rude. Aldo, later in the evening when I was playing with him again and the other team got a few points to start to catch up to us, he switched paddles. In the middle of the game. At a drop-in night. For f-ck’s sake buddy. Calm down. Thanks to the friend who sent me this after I mentioned my drop-in anxiety last time—nails it:
Speaking of the mid-life crisis, can we come up with a name for the sub-stage where one is in a near-constant state of proactive regret management? Too young for/not interested in a bucket list, old enough to know where I’ve gone wrong…constantly trying to make it right, never quite getting there…
Speaking of labels, the labels “Democrat” and “Republican” should be used to general describe people who share the same political ideologies…they are not labels that should define or describe morals, values, behaviors, and other characteristics. Some things aren’t (or shouldn’t be) political. Yet we’re politicizing so many things and in the process we are weaponizing them. This overabundance of literal and figurative weapons is creating the next war—and it’s with ourselves. We need to clean up our own house, stat.
Speaking of politics, if you had asked me, I’d have guessed that Kamala Harris was 5’ 8”, minimum. Nope. She’s 5’ 4”. She’s a modern day Fletch. 6’ 5”, 6’ 9” with the afro. 🤣
Sticking with politics, does anyone really believe that hand counting ballots in GA is the most accurate way to complete such an important task? Seriously, does anyone believe that the most error-prone system actually is the best one?
One more on the election. FYI to “The Republicans” who think that showing ID to vote is a hardcore Red ideology and something that “we” are against to promote voter fraud…you’re wrong. You won’t admit it. But you’re wrong.
While I am at it, one more one more. Raise your hand if you think Iran is literally gunning for The Cheeto. Now raise your hand if it scares the sh-t out of you when you hear him say this and talk about blowing things over there to smithereens.
Ok, one more. And this is it, I promise. Next week’s VP debate might be “entertaining”, but let’s face it—does anyone know what the VP actually does, and can anyone point to any substantive accomplishment by any VP, ever? This year it’s a BFD. Go figure.
Speaking of entertainment, I’ve written about the song “Vienna” here before but I am really glad for its seeming resurgence—I hear both the original and the cover much more than I remember hearing it before. It almost feels like a new song. So good. Every time I hear it, it makes me happy.
On the subject of entertainment, namely the people who entertain us and their offspring, there’s been a lot of talk about nepotism lately, particularly in the arts…and I’ve even written about it here before. But this week the thing that’s got me in a stir is nepotism’s not-so-distant cousin, which doesn’t have a name—so I’ll call it otherism. Or adjacentism. But it’s this: when a celebrity who is known for one thing suddenly gets to be “good” at unrelated other things, on the basis of celebrity vs. merit. Bear with me. You don’t think it’s easier for Jimmy Fallon or Joanna Gaines to get a children’s book written and published than it is for, say, you? Or for Mama Donna (Kelce) to to get a tole in a Hallmark Christmas movie.
Same subject, but I didn’t have Hoda Kotb leaving the Today show on my Morning TV Bingo card. Bombshell. If Craig fills her seat…ugh…he tries too hard, and sometimes is mean. He’s kind of a Baby Al. Don’t even get me started on that…I’ve written about my feelings on him too many times to link to. 🤦🏼♀️
Speaking of celebrities, we gotta get to the bottom of P Diddy and Jeffrey Epstein’s clientele. What the actual f-ck? (Now that Kate Middleton has been seen in public, I have bandwidth to obsess about something else that has nothing to do with me.)
Sticking with celebrities that have nothing to do with me…I don’t really care and don’t have a dog in the fight, but for some reason Dave Grohl’s infidelity really disappoints me.
Last one on celebrities, (and also speaking of Vienna, though the place not the song), this cover of “Love Story” by Chris Martin and Maggie Rogers in support of TSwizzle and Swifties everywhere after her shows in Vienna were cancelled due to a derailed terrorist plot is fantastic. Enjoy. (And the two fans they have on stage are 🔥.) This makes me smile. Every time. (So, to state the obvious, I have seen it a few more times than just once. 🤣)
Speaking of terrorist activity, let’s talk mass (school) shootings. Pretty sure that if I had a kid and if the FBI came to me about said kid threatening a school shooting, I would not buy them a gun for Xmas and make sure they knew how to use it.
Sticking with the subject of school shootings, when these things happen, kids are on their phones, immediately…yet there’s a move afoot to ban phones in the classroom. I understand both sides of it, but how did we get here? How is it that we live in a world where we allowed phones to overtake classrooms and then we let guns overtake the phones and the people using them in the classrooms?
Speaking of phones…it ways amazes me that when I am stuffed up and have on a Breathe-Right strip I can’t use Face ID to unlock my phone. Bed head, droopy eyelids, sunglasses…no problem. But put on a nose strip and suddenly my phone has tighter security than Joe Biden’s nuclear football.
Moving right along…Amazon’s forced return to work has made some headlines. And I have thoughts. When the work week was five full days in office, that was how it was…we didn’t know better. But now we know better…so what do we do? We have an opportunity to apply lessons learned create a better experience for companies and employees. Why is that such a challenge? I think because as a society, finding middle ground is somehow viewed as failure. Compromise is not a sign of weakness. Here are my ideas on return to work, FWIW: One week a month, everyone in the office. Same 2-3 days a week, everyone in the office. The employee should not have the upper hand, but nor should the employer…they should have equal hands. Valid arguments on the employee side: no commute, more flexibility, etc. Valid arguments on the employer side: “hands on” is different, often better, in person builds multidimensional relationships critical for success. But being in the office five days a week does not fuel spontaneous collaboration. That was always a myth, started when the open office environment got popular. But I still can’t get a job, so what do I know?
When I change the channel with the remote and get an onscreen message that says “Next time change the channel faster by saying ABC” I get so annoyed. I think pressing “8 0 5 enter” is easer than hitting the microphone and saying “abc” (maybe it’s my speech impediment). And honestly—have we become that lazy of a society that we need to make it easier for ourselves when we are sitting on the couch???
I recently heard that Tupperware is filing for bankruptcy. What’s the world coming to? I get why the Tupperware party has gone by the wayside, but we still need good food storage solutions. (Who remembers when the slat and pepper shakers were the rage???)
I think that if the person who invented it called it supplemental intelligence not artificial intelligence, the general reaction to it would be a little less fearful. Used correctly, it allows people to spend more time adding value. Yes, there’s one in every crowd, but still. I mean, I used Copilot to figure out how to split a merged document into individual word documents and save them with unique names. And I was an English major. Used for good, it’s a legit enabler.
OK, I still haven’t had coffee and 26 thoughts seems extreme but here we are. No time to edit, but I will shut my brain off after this one. I saw this on Facebook recently, and it intrigued me…so before I go, I am going to throw it out there.
(I’ll know you a little better and maybe I’ll like you a little bit less. 😂😂😂 I kid. I kid. 🤣🤣🤣) So let’s try it. Reply to this email/post a comment/text me/whatever else your one song and I will listen to it. If I get enough songs to make a playlist, I will do that and share it back out when it’s done. Play along. It will be fun. Maybe. (Thanks to the friend who posted it, and thanks to their friend who tipped them off. And thanks in advance for your submissions. If we never speak about this again, it’s due to an anemically embarrassingly low response rate.)
Anyhow, I have taken up more than enough of both of our time. So let’s bring it to an end. Happy Friday Eve. Thanks for spending some time with me today. I am eternally grateful for your presence and your support.
Love you too.
American Pie by Don McLean
Tracy Chapman Give Me One Reason