Fall Festivities and Unschooling... Kindergarten? I guess.

Mal has been on his iPad all morning. He's in Minecraft making a copy of our home. He just finished the house part and is working on the back yard. He put up a chicken coop and even spawned some chickens in it. While he's been busy with that, I wrote some funny and untrue things on his MagnaDoodle, which he either read successfully or which I helped him sound out. He doesn't like breaking words down to sound them out. He wants to guess. He guessed "pancakes" as "princess" because he doesn't like to slow down. So we're working on that. It's a process.

Yesterday was pretty warm and humid but today is cooling off. The 70 degrees to which I woke up was the day's high. I have the windows open but won't for long. Once the temperature in the house drops to 70, I'll close up for a while.

We actually ate at a restaurant yesterday; outside, of course. We went to Lucy's and Mal played on the playground with some kids while we enjoyed our first meal out, on-site, since Memorial Day weekend. Oh, I guess we did eat at the food truck court in Marble Falls earlier this month. Anyway, it was nice. We were way off in a corner alone, too, so it felt pretty safe.

For us. A guy who was eating with a few families had some kind of medical episode. I don't know what it was, but he was having trouble staying upright. Several people finally called 911 before his friend managed to get him into a truck and on his way to the hospital. It looked how I feel when I can't get blood to my head and have to sit or lie down for a while, but then it started to look almost like a seizure. Scary stuff. Hope he's okay.

Friday night, our city hosted a drive-in viewing of Casper the Friendly Ghost. I'd never seen it; I guess I was too old to be the target audience when it came out in 1995. It was cute. However, I missed a bit of it. One of the kind of neat things was that the movie would be played on the radio, and we'd taken our little CD player/radio (after I'd procured 6 C batteries for the occasion) so we wouldn't have to run down our car's batteries. Both of the vehicles on either side of us just left their engines running. FOR THE WHOLE MOVIE. Heh. Sorry about that, Earth. Good gravy.

Anyhow, the blow-up screen also had a sound system that was entirely adequate. It was so adequate that Mal eventually had us close the hatchback to filter the sound. I took that as my cue to come up to the house to get his headphones. I walked as fast as I could and then biked back down the hill (conclusion: the bike we bought D last year is garbage and probably unsafe for taller people or those with big feet, due to the position of the pedals), and after that, we all enjoyed the movie and the experience thoroughly.

Oh, there were snacks. Always a crowd-pleaser.

I'm sure I have more to write, but I'm hungry so it's lunchtime. Today is totchos: tater tots, vegetarian chili, quest, tomatoes, sour cream, and green onions. Can't wait!

Roots in the Time of the Pandemic

It's official: James put in paperwork to work from home for the foreseeable future. Of course, the question then is (as VRBO's ad campaign so poignantly puts it) when you can work/school from anywhere, why not make it somewhere you want to be?

First, we LOVE our home. We love the yard and the location. We dig the neighborhood, and the trade-offs for increased construction/density is a more diverse demographic of neighbors. When we first moved in, it was largely older white folks and now there are families of all stripes and a bit of melanin. So that's good. 

What we do not love is the heat. Pretty much four months of unmitigated heat, often paired with humidity... not Florida humidity, and not even Houston humidity, but still pretty damp grossness. And we know D is going to move away ASAP, but with the pandemic, who knows when that will be? Still, it'd be nice to be somewhat close by to... wherever that is.

We looked at Temple, where my parents live, because housing is so much more affordable there. We also looked at Wilmington, Delaware, because it's cooler than here and not likely to have a natural disaster, which is a plus. We'd just rent if we went there.

The thought of getting our house ready to sell and move is overwhelming, though, and we've put so much into it that we wouldn't get it all back out. 

But as I was thinking about it this weekend, I realized something: I've agreed to be on 3 committees that require my presence here, and I really hate to bail on that. So I guess we're hanging out for a while.

Relaxing Close

It's 7 AM and I'm sitting out on our (muggy) patio, as I have every morning since we got here. It's so nice; a lot like having a verandah on a cruise, but less noisy. I mean, the ocean and the wind can get pretty loud when you're speeding through at 12 knots. Here, instead, it's pretty still this early. Still enough that I can hear "Born in the USA" playing on the speakers in the pool/water park area.

Yesterday, Mal finally did get to swim and go around the lazy river a few more times.

He did not see his friend again, and was extremely sad about that the first half of the day. He played with other kids later, but told me, "I don't love them as much as I loved her."

We met the Shetland ponies, walked down by the river (James hadn't seen it yet), hung out in the room, realized that the general store serves pizza at night so Mal was able to eat something besides the snacks we brought and chicken nuggets, and ended the day on the lawn watching "Scoob."

Here at the resort, they keep alpacas, longhorns, Shetland horses, and goats (which we should get to see today); on-site, we've seen raccoons, frogs, and an armadillo (not me, darn it; but James did); and then across the river, we saw the happiest-looking cattle I've ever seen. They have a shaded, forested hillside, and can wade down into the water to cool off and drink. California might advertise happy cows, but I think these babies have them beat.

Today we were going to go to McKinney Falls State Park, but since this is Texas, it's heating back up. It's been warm enough, with highs in the mid- to high-80s. Today it's supposed to be in the mid-90s. And the falls have NO shade. And they're likely not really "falls" at the moment, either. Plus, we have some amazing Shiner Bock queso left over from James's dinner last night that we want to get into our fridge posthaste. It should take us just about an hour to drive across Austin to get there. And, surprisingly, our largest ice pack hasn't thawed all the way, even though the refrigerator stopped working and got up to 60 degrees for a few hours before they switched it out!

Typically, I plan pretty packed vacations. But this time, 1) COVID and 2) I've learned that doesn't work for these guys with whom I'm traveling. So I've taken advantage of the downtime and the amenities to do laundry twice. The only clothes I'll need to wash when we get home are our swimsuits and what we wore yesterday.

Have a great weekend, friends and family!

Summer Camp Relationship

Yesterday, we spent the whole day just enjoying the resort. James did get out for a bit to acquire more caffeine-free diet soda because Mal ran out.

I woke up pretty early, took a shower, ate some breakfast on our patio...

...then I borrowed a bicycle to look around the resort. I saw a lot of deer, and a beautiful view of the Colorado River.

When I got back, James and Mal were awake. Mal had met a family the night before at the campfire where we were making s'mores and the kids were running around the lawn. They'd made plans to meet up at the Meet-the-Alpaca event in the morning. We went over, and were late enough that they were literally just hanging out waiting for us. It was glad I'd talked Mal into skipping the playground and heading straight over there. 

After the kids said "hi," we walked together back to the playground, and the kids played together for about an hour.

Mal tried twice to swim, but because it's overcast and got pretty cool the night before, the water was too chilly for him. We walked over to the river while James was out at the store. Then we mostly just hung out and played the rest of the day.

Every night, there are campfires and the resort "gives" you a s'mores kit (there's a $38 per night resort fee per room that covers that and the bikes and some other amenities) between 7 and 9, and the fires are on most of the night. 

Last night was a lot warmer than the previous evening, which had been bordering on chilly, and I could only handle roasting one marshmallow. Mal wanted to see if his friend was at the further campfire, so we walked over and the family wasn't there. We came back to the campfire area closer to our room, because James was in the room finishing up something he was doing and I wanted him to be able to easily find us. Mal told me, "I need to see my girlfriend. She's so beautiful."

I sat safely away from the warmth of the fire while Mal played Mario bad guys for me to defeat.

After a while, Mal wanted to walk back over to the other campfire to check for his friend again. We did, and when it was obvious that they weren't there, he just sat down on the lawn and started crying. He said, "She's my new best friend! I can't believe they're not here." We hugged and comforted him, and he asked, "Do you think she loves me, too?" 

We ended up laying down on the grass and watching stars and clouds. Eventually, we had to insist that it was time to go back to the room, but he was truly heart-broken.

There is a Meet-the-Horse thing in a few minutes, but Mal was awake so late last night that I don't think he'll be up for it. I might head over and see if the family happens to be there and give them our physical address in case the kids want to write each other or something. I've never seen Mal as sad about not getting to see a friend as he was last night. He has such a sweet little heart.

Now if we could just get that dang tooth out...

Wimberley and Beyond

Yesterday was full and fun. Once we got up, we went straight to a playground. Mal had been disappointed because the park where we considered eating in Blanco (and moved to the courthouse because of the mosquitoes) was just a walk-and-contemplate park) didn't have one. Morrow Park is buried behind the old entrance to Jacob's Well, and we had to drive over some gravel roads to get there, but Mal ended up meeting a few kids and having a great time. 

Since we were in the area, we went to Jacob's Well, also. Not familiar with the new setup, we made the mistake of parking in Lot A. Pro-tip: Lot C is a lot closer to the well, see? The walk wasn't long, but it was across a mostly-unshaded prairie, which I thought was lovely but Mal thought was hot and purposefully knee-hurty. We made it to the well, but he was unimpressed. He thought it would be a wishing well. Unfortunately, it was only a 140-foot cavern under pristine water. Bummer.

 

I think it's a lot prettier and more impactful from the lower level, but, again, the layout was different than when I went when I was expecting Malcolm, and we weren't pressing our luck to do anything other than get there and leave.

I'd had left-over pizza for breakfast so wasn't hungry yet, but we went by Shamrock Tacos (which is inside a Shamrock gas station) for James, and then went to Cypress Creek Nature Preserve so he could eat them. They had a little playground! And it was right across from Monster Treats, which serves Amy's Ice Cream. So we did.

On the way back for an afternoon regrouping (it really was getting toasty out), we went to Pioneer Town. Kitschy little western movie set. 

Much-needed rest over, we ventured back out as the sun was getting ready to set. First, we visited EmilyAnne Theater. It's closed, obviously, but has a series of gardens, including an interactive music area that Mal loved.

Then we went basically across the highway to Old Baldy. It's a hill you reach by ascending 213 steps. There are encouraging painted rocks along the way, and I'd tried to prepare Malcolm for the adventure. He did great! He even had energy to spare once we got to the top!

We hung out enjoying the panoramic Hill Country views for a while before descending. Then we went back to the cabin to finish up the pizza.

This morning, we packed up and made our way northeast. We got breakfast at Sugar Shack Bakery (James had the Sunrise Hash and I had a terrific chicken salad sandwich), and ate it near the playground at Blue Hole Regional Park. Mal made some more friends and played for an hour or so. Then we drove over to look at Blue Hole. It's so still and pretty when no one's swimming in it.

Later, I'd pulled over to get a picture of a giant slice of pie in Kyle, when Mal noticed "a REAL wishing well!" So apparently, this is what he thinks a wishing well looks like.

Yeah. A fountain. I won't tell him if you won't.

Then, man, was this the highlight of our trip? We saw... THE WORLDS LARGEST SHOVEL.

It's made from items that were in a landfill. And, really, what can you possibly see that might top the World's Largest Shovel?

How about a fairly large pecan-loving squirrel wearing a COVID safety mask? Ser kurt.

And, at long last, we arrived at our final destination: Hyatt Lost Pines Resort. It's a very nice hotel, and has lots to do. Since we got here at 3, we've relaxed in the room, gone swimming, ridden on the lazy river, Mal made a friend on the "beach" at that pool entry, we locked ourselves out of our room by exiting through the patio and not remembering that I had the safety lock engaged on the actual room door, had an AMAZING dinner, and roasted s'mores while listening to a guy playing campfire songs on his guitar. Mal made more friends at the fire pit, and we're supposed to meet them at the alpaca feeding tomorrow.

 

 

Now, I'm super tired and my computer is about to die! Night!

"You're in Trump Country"

We drove around a lot yesterday. About 150 miles, give or take. But we didn't get very far, as you can see from this map:

During that drive, we learned two things: 1) Ranchers overwhelmingly seem to support Donald Trump for reelection. I've never seen so many signs, flags, giant banners, etc. Admittedly, I don't often drive through miles of ranches, either. For every sprawling hill country pasture with a Biden/Harris sign adorning the fence, we saw 50 or more for Trump. Also, a popular sign in Johnson City said, "Vote Republican to preserve your freedom!" I'd love to interview the Biden supporters, see if they know their neighbors and whether it's difficult to be the lone blue in a sea of red. Also, I'd love to ask the "freedom" people what and whose freedoms they mean.

However, the more important thing we learned was: 2) THEY ARE BUTTERFLIES, not moths. Oh, man, the slaughter was worse driving around yesterday. I took a picture of our grill, which I won't share here because it's really brutal in a kind of beautiful way. One of the first items on our agenda today is to find a car wash; we also drove over some fresh tar so the undercarriage is likely a mess, as well. (According to Mal, our first order of business is finding a playground.)

Let me tell you about our adventures yesterday, in words only because the internet where we are is super slow. Like downstream is about .37 mbps. So there's no chance of uploading pictures until we get somewhere less... country. In fact, where we're staying is on a property literally called "A Country Place," which has a selection of differently-sized cabins. We're in The Woodshed, which is adorable and more spacious than it looked online. You can see it here.

We left the Exotic Zoo Resort after a last swing on the playground, and having emptied our last bits of food for the animals. They'd just been fed their official meal, which looks like sawdust, but were happy to leave the troughs to come get treats from us. One llama exhaled a mouthful of his feed into James's window, then promptly threatened to spit after consuming a few bites of the pellets we gave him. Also, a camel tried to eat my windshield wiper. Which we really need to work because, as I mentioned, suicidal butterflies.

Mal wanted Home Town Donuts, so we stopped by there (James had a breakfast taco and kolache), then drove over to LBJ park complex. There is a state park on the south bank of the river, then a national park to the north. The state park has a living farm, operating as though it were 1917. There are a couple of cabins, one dating back to the 1850s, and then the farm is a homestead where the family started off with a modest little cabin, and then the husband built the wife a Victorian home that resembled her mother's house. They have sheep, cows, chickens, pigs, and a garden. They were cooking goulash for lunch and it smelled heavenly. In addition to the homes, there is a dormitory that the husband built for his 10 kids, and which has since been turned into a smoke house; a barn; a nice big chicken coop; a well house; and a smithy. 

Except that the homestead neighbored the Johnson ranch, that part of the park didn't have too much to do with Lyndon Johnson. However, they did have a museum with relevant displays. We didn't go inside, because Covid and masks and all of that. 

We drove over to the Johnson property, and it was massive but modest. After he became President, Johnson had an airstrip installed so he could travel to the "Texas White House" to work from there, and to host guests and dignitaries. It's still a working ranch, and we got to see quite a few cattle. It's really a lovely site, and it felt like we had it to ourselves. There is a half-sized replica of Air Force One at the airstrip. Mal was terrified that it would start up and fly into us. He enjoyed the bench swing in the trees between the house and the river, though.

Oh, hey! I got one picture to upload! Yay!

Next, we drove through Fredericksburg... I don't know if we missed the best part of town, but I've heard raves and didn't really see anything too impressive if you're not into wineries. Holy cow, there are more than 50. Also, a couple of places where they make mead, cider, and rum.

But you know what town was super cute? Ingram. After Fredericksburg, we drove through Kerrville to Ingram to see Stonehenge II. If you look at the map above, you can see how "off the path" we went to see it. It was worth the side trip, though! There are quite a few neat pieces of outdoor art in the complex, and one of the Easter Island heads is responsibly wearing a mask about the size of a queen sheet.

Ingram seems to have a bustling arts community and specialty shopping. I think it would be fun to hang out there for a couple of days.

Heading back east, we stopped at a quirky roadside attraction called "Cartoon Saloon." It was only a few miles from there to Old Tunnel State Park. It was a railroad tunnel that stopped operating in 1942. Now, thousands of bats live there and fly out at night a la Congress Street Bridge in Austin. We knew we wouldn't be there late enough to see the bats emerge, but it's free to enter the park so we stopped by, anyway.

Walking down to the tunnel, we were able to see HUNDREDS of bats already flying around like crazy at the far end of the tunnel. Also, it smelled really bad. But the view from the upper viewing area was absolutely gorgeous! It was our best view of the Hill Country so far. And we weren't even in the car, where we were having to view it though a bug-splattered windshield!

Once again, Mal was such a trooper. He complained a little bit about walking during the day, but he did it. And he was in generally good spirits. I did ply him with soda and Hershey's, but that just means I'm an adept parenting strategist, right?

We got dinner from Blanco River Pizza, and ate it at the picnic tables on the county courthouse lawn. Mal ran around the whole time, talking about and playing Minecraft. Then we came to our little Woodshed. On the way, we crossed over a one-lane "bridge" that was maybe five or six inches over a creek. It was very cool and I'm glad it hasn't rained lately!

Today, we're planning to explore Wimberley, but also taking it easy. Have a great Tuesday, folks!

Hill Country Getaway

About three years ago, my extended family started planning a trip to Hawaii, to spend a week a the beautiful beachfront bungalows where my parents took us way back in 2004. This time last year, however, we found out that the bungalows were for sale. The manager couldn't say for sure what would happen under a new owner, but the sales page for it made it clear that the historic buildings could be town down to make way for building "your personal paradise." Rather than wait until the last minute and have to scramble, we went ahead and canceled the trip.

A few months later, I planned a trip to California. We were going to do things that none of us have ever done before, like go to Disneyland, Legoland, and Huntington Beach. We were going to eat at Bob's Big Boy and Roy's Donuts. And since California is much cheaper to get to than Hawaii, we had even splurged to travel first class. Then COVID. We were very fortunate, and after barely any convincing at all, all of our money was returned to us, save a 10% service charge from the third-party reseller for Disney tickets; I didn't begrudge that at all.

SO, scaling back even more, we decided to return to the State Fair of Texas. We haven't been in two years and Mal's at the age where I think he'd really enjoy Little Hands on the Farm. But, of course, the fair got canceled. They have a drive-through food thing, but it's a minimum of three hours and I definitely do not want to sit in my car, staying in one place, for that long. Also, the Perot Museum is still closed. And we'd have to wear masks inside everywhere. The Dallas Zoo even has everyone over the age of ten wearing masks all of the time, even outside. Thus we filed Dallas away for another time.

I tentatively scheduled a little circle, staying within an hour of where we live, and expecting that we'd just need to stay outside the whole trip. I didn't get too excited about it because... see above. But we got to go! It's been a nice couple of days so far. Except for the suicidal moths. 

Yesterday at about 11, we drove over to Marble Falls for lunch at Local Eats Craft Food truck. It was so good! Especially the parmesan sweet potato fries.

We'd talked about going to Sweet Berry's farm just to look at the fall pumpkin scenes, but Mal decided he would rather go to the local park. I was kind of glad. There's very little shade at the farm, and though the day was mild enough for Central Texas fall (high in the mid-80s), the full sun could definitely bake.

We had a really nice time at Johnson Park, then passed a classic/souped-up car festival on our way out of town. We stopped to admire those for a bit.

Then we drove on into Johnson City. There must have been a moth harvest recently. We killed so many of them with our windshield. It's disgusting. They look like leaves blowing in the wind until they explode in your line of view. Good grief.

Our next stop was the Exotic Zoo Resort. We've driven past before but never stopped. There were tons of very friendly animals! They said we could hand-feed anything except the zebras, which bite, and the "birds," which are evil ostriches and rheas. They didn't have to warn me about the birds. I've been pecked by jerk ostriches right in the camera lens.

At one point, James was hand-feeding a full-sized camel on his side, when a second camel stuck its head all the way into my window and across, in an attempt to get the food. When James looked over and laughed at the unexpected animal in his face, the camel on his side tried to take the entire bag. We learned to moderate our window levels to control for thievery. 

As we were finishing up the drive, my car beeped to warn me "transmission is hot; hit brakes." That was concerning, but quick enough, we pulled off of the trail and into... our parking lot. Because we had booked two nights at the on-site cabins!

Mal wasted no time making himself completely at home, and we have the best neighbors!

Of course, one of the first orders of business was swimming. The pool has to be around 70 degrees. It is SO frigid. Also, it's 4 feet deep and the ladder only has the top rung. I was there was no one around to laugh at me when I hoisted myself out over the side of the pool. Mal used the ladder to get out, and I actually did once, but realized it was a lot less dicey just to beach.

James and I got dinner from Bryan's on 290, all appetizers and sides because that place is EXPENSIVE. But it was so good. Mal had a ham and cheese on flatbread from Subway, his favorite.

After the sun set, Mal found a couple of girls running around who were staying in the cabin next door and who were kind enough to give him a glow stick. Then they all three had a dance party on our patio, then ran around playing zombies for an hour or so after. I got a really cute picture. With my cell phone. Which can't take night shots. Just trust me. 

Today, we hung out around the cabin for a while after we woke up (early, all of us).

We ordered breakfast from Hill Country Cupboard, and ate it at Johnson City Park. Mal ran around the whole time we were there, talking like crazy and just super full of energy. I asked him if he'd save some of that energy for Pedernales Falls State Park. He said he was already getting tired.

However, when we got to the park, he did the short .2-mile walk to the overlook just fine. In fact, he was super excited about the stone stairway that led down to the river. I reminded him that if we went down, he'd also have to come back up. AND then walk back to the car. But he was excited! So we walked to the river's edge and had a great time throwing rocks and looking for things that are in Minecraft that are also in the real world. He flagged a little on the pathway back to the car, but he hiked just under a mile! I had kind of wanted to do the half-mile trail to the Twin Falls Overlook, but didn't want to press our luck. We'll save it for next time. James and I did get out separately and go into the bird blind while Mal sat in the car drawing on the full-sized MagnaDoodle we got him for the trip.

We came back to the cabin and Mal and I jumped into the pool for a super-charged cool-down. I'd thought I wouldn't go all the way in today, but after getting so warm at the park, it actually felt... well, I went in over my shoulders today, and Mal said the first time I did it that I screamed too loud and it hurt his ears. But by the third or fourth time, I was basically numb. It was super relaxing then to sit in the sun and dry out after that. 

Tonight, we ordered dinner from West Henly Boil Shack. James got all of the Cajun stuff: étouffée and rice; shrimp boil with sausage, potatoes, and corn... I like boils, but James did say that the shrimp was spicy. I figured it might be, so I just got a patty melt and salad. It was all so delicious. Then I made my way down to the pond for sunset. My pictures... well, the pictures after the food somehow have a big old greasy finger-print in the corner. I mostly cropped it out, but they're not framed up right anymore. Still, I supposed having less-than-artistically-framed pictures is better than having patty-melt-prints all down one side, right?

See? I couldn't edit that smudge out without getting rid of Mal, and it's an adorable picture!

We played a few rounds of cards before shutting down (mentally) for the night. Tomorrow morning, it's on to our next adventure!

Ulu knives and optometry school

I don't have a great history with sharp objects.

I remember being on a long road trip, visiting some wood carver, and getting a lecture about how the only proper way to sharpen a pencil is with a knife. We purchased one of those knives. I remember it as something basically like a modern box knife with a nasty hooked blade that you could unscrew and protect inside the handle.

I remember doing a lot of whittling with that knife. I feel like I produced a couple of passible vaguely bird-shaped things. That's probably wishful thinking on my part.

I don't remember when my parents got my first wood-carving kit

We were doing a lot of arts and crafts stuff in the early 1980s. I remember spending a lot of time around one store in particular.

I think this was when Mom started doing pottery figurines.

Someone involved with that store carved beautiful bas-relief sculptures of buildings out of wood rounds.

I fell in love with that and wanted to learn how to do it myself. Mom arranged for me to get some lessons.

We had a swimming pool back then. I remember that it was a major investment, and my dad monitored the chemistry constantly when he was in town.

One night, I'd been more interested in whatever carving project I was doing than in going outside to swim.

I hung out in the amorphous room between our garage and kitchen that  got transformed from dining room into office.

I was deeply engrossed in gouging out the background behind some random building when the knife slipped. I'm sure I'd heard the safety rule about "always cut away from your parts," but when has a kid ever paid attention to that sort of thing without an object lesson?

I got the object lesson that day, but I didn't learn it.

I gashed open my own belly. It barely cut into the fat layer, and the adults got the bleeding stopped pretty quickly. I don't even see the scar any more, but I still feel pretty panicked at the memory.

At some point, I vaguely remember getting in trouble for something. I was supposed to do the dishes by hand for a while as punishment, even though we had a dishwasher.

I managed to drop something, then reach to grab it as it shattered. I gashed my hand open and got a reprieve.

Later, around junior high, I carried a pocket knife to my girlfriend's birthday party.

Her best friend decided it would be funny to wrap her present in a couple of layers of Scotch tape.

I decided to be all manly and cut through all the nonsense.

Instead, I sliced really deeply into the tip of my left index finger.

I wound up in the ER and got 8 stitches. 

Back then, my guitar was basically my life. I couldn't play for 2 or 3 months, and it was mentally and emotionally agonizing.

My fingertip died, fell, off, and regrew. These days, the nerves mostly report what's going on correctly. But there are still times when I'll grip something and get a jolt of...it isn't pain. It's just a sensation of wrongness.

We went back to that restaurant a few years ago (it was probably 20, so call it 15 years later), and we could all still see my blood stains in the carpet.

By the time I turned into a roommate with Khrys and Melissa, we just all accepted a basic fact: I could not be trusted around sharp objects.

A few years ago, he spent some time in Alaska to finish up his practical optometry training.

It sounds very much as if it's just a different country. I'm in awe of the experiences he had up there, living in a world where the sun never sets.

One of the cool things about living in a "different country" like that (who could have known that Alaska is part of the US?) is bringing back cool tourist swag for your friends and family.

He brought back Ulu knives for pretty much everyone except me.

I couldn't be trusted near a sharp object, so I got a bear hugging a shot glass.

I had not consciously thought about this in years. Well, scars aren't something you forget. But my memories of the energy that Khrys put into protecting me from my own clumsiness had faded a bit.

I've spent a lot of time and money lately arranging to get a bunch of sharp edges for working with wood. And doing things like learning how to make them sharper and actually using them safely.

I'm spending a lot of time (and, let's be honest, money) on ebay, looking for vintage tools that you just cannot buy new these days.

I was drooling over an amazing hunting knife blade made from hand-forged Damascus steel, fantasizing about ways to make this even more awesome by adding a handle, when I saw a link to an ulu knife for sale.

This really slammed the irony of where I am now versus where I was then.

A huge part of what I'm doing in my spare time is focused on ways to make edges sharper. The sharper the knife is, the less likely it is to slip.

I'm spending at least that much effort into making sure no one has body parts in places that might get sliced when that knife slips anyway.

I'm still not doing that great a job at keeping myself safe.

My wrists are still healing up from when my plane skips over nasty, gnarly wood.

But I think I'm getting better.

And, really, isn't that the point?

Self-Care in the Age of Social Media (and other assorted chaos)

Over the past few years, I've divested from most social media. I quit Facebook two and a half years ago; after I got past the habit of thinking in status updates, I didn't miss it at all. I bumped up my Instagram usage at that time, but after a year, quit that, too. It had gone from pretty happy inspiration to more pointed politicking and bickering. I was on Twitter for a spell, following fat activists and other public figures I'd grown to admire but then, of course, it ends up being distilled into mostly hot takes and trolls so I stopped that. Finally, I was starting to get more involved in the Austin subreddit. It's a pretty calm place, and even arguments are largely respectful and calm. However, "the algorithm" decided that I like news, and so the feed was largely heart-breaking headlines from around the world. Last night, there were two in a row that made me say, "Nope. This is out, too." So I deleted it.

In the months since the pandemic began, I've actually had the time and mental wherewithal to read only a few books. But they've helped me focus in on what's important to me and what it is to which I want to be exposed.

Two nights ago was the first "Presidential" "debate." I didn't watch it, because Joe Biden and Donald Trump have been in the public arena for almost as long as I've been alive. They're known quantities. There are no surprises to be revealed. Why even bother? 

Apparently, I made the right decision, as 69% of watchers who were polled reported feeling "annoyed" by the process.

I'm choosing to head off annoyance at the pass.

I'm doing this by reading books that have a strong point of view but are not written in a purposefully inflammatory way. I just finished "The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor," and am about 2/3 of the way through "Stamped from the Beginning." I highly recommend both. "The Liturgy of Politics" is definitely from a Christian perspective, and is convicting but a pretty easy read. "Stamped from the Beginning" is taking me longer because there is so much historical information that every once in a while, my brain needs to rest so I can digest some more. But it's impressively dispassionate; the author writes with a much cooler tone than I feel when I read about the injustices that we have wrought on our fellow countrymen throughout the US's past.

I'm selecting news sources that have a humorous bent because at least then I know they're going to editorialize and help me release some of the pressure from pretty heavy stories. Most "news" outlets editorialize wildly, but it's angry, and they're trying to engender anger (from every side) because it helps ratings. Not interested.

I'm listening to podcasts that report news from a different perspective than mine. I enjoy things like Code Switch and Latino USA because I have always had my news delivered to me, a white middle-class person, from a very uniform source. Black Twitter and The Root are extremely eye-opening, and I appreciate the education. 

I have not watched "The Social Dilemma" but they were discussing it on "The Holy Post" the other day (another podcast I enjoy, even though I'm a little more liberal than most of them, and a lot more liberal than some of them) and Phil Vischer mentioned how the documentary pointed out that when someone sees a news item that leans the same way they lean, it further reinforces their point of view. So "the algorithm" decides that you must really like stuff that is super conservative, and it feeds you that, whether it's from your friends' feeds or from the news feed itself. Then advertisers seek out people with that POV and feed them even more outlandish things, and it basically creates this echo chamber that "radicalizes" pretty much everyone. If you're left, you're going to be pushed WAY left; if you're right, you're going to be SUPER right-wing. I do not want to let outside sources determine what news I hear or how I feel about any of it. I'm trying to make deliberate choices both for my own mental health and for the sake of my being a better, more well-rounded "neighbor."

I won't want to talk about politics right now. I know that it's hard for me to articulate how I feel without getting emotionally invested and likely angry. I need to work on myself more before I can have a calm conversation about why I believe what I believe and how I can't understand why you can believe or disbelieve certain things. Basically, I need to deprogram myself.

I tried this experiment on Reddit: I was only kind. If I said something and someone responded with a "Are you saying this?! Then you're an idiot!" (that's editing; people attack a lot more creatively) I would respond with a sincere apology. I didn't let myself get riled up. It was actually very freeing. I need to learn to do this in person. With people I like and even love. It's harder, though, I think. Like if I believe that every human deserves equal rights and that it might take more work to get us to that point, and a stranger disagrees... okay, whatever dude. Just get out of my way. But if it's someone I'm trying to respect and have a relationship with, it's a lot harder not to descend into, "What kind of a monster are you?! What does it hurt YOU if this person gets to do this thing, or that person gets an extra one of those???!"

So please excuse me if I just walk away when items of a divisive nature come up. I won't disengage forever, but I have to for now. I have to figure out how to be the person I want to be even when faced with things I cannot believe exist. 

Also...

I'm a naturally optimistic and happy person. I like that about me. I have ended multiple friendships with people who were sad sacks and vehement constant victims because although their perpetual anger and hurt was tiring, when they expected me to get on board with their "The world is against me and everything sucks," I could not support them in that way. I don't believe that. I don't want to believe that. I want to be able to hone in on injustices without imagining them where they are not. Sometimes, when your tire goes flat on your way to a job interview, it just sucks. It's not god or the universe punishing you because everything is a bitch and it always will be. 

And it's hard to be happy when everyone seems to want you to be super incensed about everything "the other side" is doing. The enemy is real; turning everyone and everything into "the enemy" makes it impossible to fight the real battles. 

Anyway, all of that to say that I'm tired of being tired in my brain, so I'm disengaging from things that both stress me out and do not profit me to think about or discuss. Also, here is a picture of some ducks from the lake.