If I hadn’t been burning so hard for the last few months I’d be in that boat. As it is, having a damn minute to just breathe is glorious.
Of course, my wife sent me a bunch of pictures of all the kids having an awesome time today and we chatted for half an hour after dinner at which point I totally held it together like a red-blooded American man who don’t need nobody or no thing.
I work till 11 pm at night and stopped to look at a car after work. I’m heading back to my car when I see this little dude. I think he had been there when I left work 28 miles away and stayed there at speeds of 70 mph. I thought he was dead but could see him flinch when I got real close. I decided to take him back to his home tomorrow when I go back to work. I got a box and some plastic flowers from my dad’s gravesite we got for memorial day out of my trunk. He jumped and ran when I tried to get him in. He couldn’t fly so I didn’t think he would last long there. He ran everytime I tried to get him in the box. I chased him out from under six cars. I had him trapped under an SUV when I hear a radio. I turn around and see a sheriff’s deputy looking at me. He asks me what im doing. Luckily, the little bastard runs out from under the SUV and I tell the deputy I’m trying to save that bird and tell him what happened. I then show him the picture of the bird in case he thought I was lying about why I had a box and plastic flowers in my hand in a car lot at 11:45 at night. He tells me they’re on a manhunt for a bad dude in a black shirt and he saw me in the lot. I had passed a traffic stop and a helicopter had flown over earlier but I didn’t know what was going on. He tells me I better get out of there. I leave as told and have to leave the little guy there. It was only thinking about it later that I realized the sheriff had his hand on his holster the entire time and I didn’t realize the danger of the situation.
Only in america, can saving a little birdy put you in real danger of losing your life in a hail of bullets. You are lucky you aint a POC man, or you’d most certainly have been target practice for the cop!
Dear God. It sounds like we’re luck you’re still here with us today.
My son is overseas with his mom. We usually do goodnight calls every night. If he’s at her house he calls me before bed. At my house, he calls her. But since he’s in Sweden I just told him not to worry about it. Concentrate on the experience and text me when you feel like it. Tonight we texted this exchange. He is ‘K’ and I am ‘Me’ in the exchange.
-K: Oh and dad I made a joke today that only you would’ve laughed at.
-K: Nobody got it.
-K: Naomi was listing off movies to watch that she had dvds for.
-K: For the last one she said “Narnia 2”
-K: And I blurted out “Electric Bugaloo”
-Me: I KNEW THAT WAS COMING!
-Me: Well done.
K: Thanks Dad.
Parent of the year. Once again.
-xtien
So sweet. You are a great dad.
Doesn’t everyone do that? That and “Tokyo Drift” for threequels.
Well…generally not fourteen year olds.
-xtien
So since our condo’s escrow is closing at the end of this month, we’ve been racing the clock to find a new house. After two separate places have fallen through, we think we found a great one today. Anyways, the place we looked at before that had two weird little maybe 4x5 rooms carved out of the garage, with reflective sheet lining on every surface. A weird dehumidifier and some funky lighting equipment too. Being naive in the ways of the world, it took me a second to realize this place had two fully functioning grow rooms (somehow left out of the real estate listing and pics). The rest of the house was a complete mess, with two master bedrooms (??) and a ton of projects to make it truly livable. Great kitchen though!
Listing with no mention of the profitable business enterprise within!
https://www.redfin.com/CA/Torrance/20828-New-Hampshire-Ave-90502/home/7647464
A few weeks ago my girlfriend bought a bottle of wine to bring with us on my annual sojourn to our friend Megan’s big cabin party on the mountains (you may have seen the pics of my catering adventures for said party in the What Have You Cooked thread over the years!).
When we brought groceries in that night, we left the wine and a few other non-perishables down in my trunk in prep for the trip later that week.
Well, as luck would have it my gf’s crippling social anxiety and depression kicked in and I went alone this year (as I do most years, but she always makes the effort). So the wine just sat there…
…and was promptly forgotten about amidst a handful of appliances I’ve been too lazy to bring up (including my shitty and way too huge electric skillet and my slow cooker).
Until today, when I got in my car in the late afternoon after a 100+ F day and smelled what I was sure must be red wine. Drove around, wondering what on earth could make my car smell like that. It always gets a little extra stuffy inside during the summer, sure, but wine scent felt new.
Cue remembering the wine. Popping the trunk in mild panic. Finding the blasted off cork rolling around…
Somehow the wine managed to not short out the potent amp my dad installed under the flip-up baseboard of the trunk, thankfully, but it DID evaporate into allll the felt around it real good. Ugh.
I tried to find you a new vanity license plate, but unfortunately ‘VIN0PIMP’ is already on the banned list.
https://media.charlotteobserver.com/public/Banned_nc_plates.pdf
Man, what a list. I guess I don’t want to know what’s wrong with “VIERGE.” “LLSSDD” is actually kind of clever, though.
And hey, looks like “ANUSTRT” is kosher, for the Arrested Development fans.
I got nominated for a couple of ENNie awards today (tabletop RPG industry awards). So that’s a thing that happened that I can’t quite process.
Holy shit! Do you mind my asking what they were? I actually think I know the answer, but am afraid I might have mixed up a couple of RPG writing forumers and don’t want egg on my face :-)
Sure. Shawn Tomkin is my writing identity. Categories were best free game and best electronic book. My goofy game is up against some hugely popular products, so this is me practicing saying “It’s an honor to be nominated” (and it is, honestly).
Yes, that’s right! Ironsworn. I keep meaning to make time to dig into it, and keep getting sucked into various RPGing commitments, instead. Guess I should try to peruse a little before GenCon, at least. I will strive not to make any morally nebulous nudges toward the two ENNie judges I know here in NC ;-)
Voting goes to the fickle public next, so I’ll leave it to you to make the rounds.
That’s cool as hell, man, congrats!
We just had an earthquake hit here. We don’t often get them. That reminded me of the one that hit Coalinga many years ago. I wonder where that was centered?
Oh, I am in Fresno, California.
I am in Los Angeles, and felt it just now too.
-xtien
