Dear Friends,
This weekend was a busy one. I found myself going through a bunch of stuff and, gasp, purging things. It’s weird, but I feel like the nostalgic switch in my body got switched from “Full blast” to something much less intense.
I am a bit of a hoarder when it comes to things that I associate with the past. Over the past decade, I’ve let a lot of things go, but I still found all kinds of things in my closet that I truly don’t need. One of the things I threw away was a ton of lyrics I had printed out for the studio over the years. I have all of them saved on my computer, so why do I need paper copies? I don’t.
It did feel weird throwing them away, though. It felt like I was jettisoning my babies for about a second, then it just felt good. I tore up so many old things that I didn’t need and tossed them that I almost got out of control. I stopped myself before I threw away things the kids had made for me over the years.
One thing that I tossed was a ticket stub from Knott’s Berry Farm from 2001. Why does one need such a stub? Sure, it was a memorable trip because of the monkey I complained about not winning (I am sure I told that story at some point), but not memorable enough to keep a ticket stub from it. Will I never think of that trip again? Maybe not..I don’t know, but either way, I am now down one less ticket stub.
I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of the Fleetwood Mac ticket stub I found. I put that with a bunch of other ticket stubs I’ve been carting around for the past 30 years or so. It felt like the thing to do since Christine McVie recently died, but now that I type it out, why do I need it? Will the kids want it when I am gone? Doubtful.
I have to remind myself that someday, I will be leaving all these boxes of nostalgia to them. Maybe, deep down, I want them to have to go through my stuff and wonder why I kept it. Some of it will be documented here, obviously, and that gives me an idea for future blog entries, but some of it will be a mystery.
In the long run, though, I made a bunch of room to collect more stuff. I can also move stuff around from one hiding spot to another. Yay! Not really. Not yay. I need to keep paring down. Small goal for the rest of this year, I think. Paring down.
On Saturday and Sunday, I also built some shelves for our shed in the backyard. It was not my most beautiful wood working project, but it will also help alleviate some clutter in the shed. Clearing the way for more clutter. We had a bunch of wood that needed to be used from a project a few years ago, so now it is shelves.
I suppose it is a positive that I did not utter as many swear words as I usually do when doing a project like that. It could have been the amount of dust I was inhaling going through the shed, but I think I stayed calm for other reasons. I was most frustrated by the project on Saturday, to be honest, as the daylight slipped away, and I realized I didn’t have the right tools or hardware. It was nothing a quick Sunday morning trip to Home Depot couldn’t fix.
Shit, I just remembered that I didn’t want to give Home Depot any more money. I don’t like their politics. I’m guessing Lowe’s isn’t any better. I do believe in voting with the wallet, though. It might be a small thing, but it is something.
After the shed was somewhat put back together, I headed in to watch the Suns play while I wrote a New Times piece. It was a decent game, even without Booker, but they still lost. Deandre Ayton looked great, and they might have pulled it out had he not fouled out of the game. He did a great job on Zion Williamson, though, and was aggressive offensively, too.
*****
The Cardinals didn’t lose, either. I’m sure they will lose tonight, though. New England seems to have their number. I will be watching with Doug if Rhondi allows us to pull ourselves away from the birthday party for her mom. Good food, though, on the horizon tonight.
*****
As of this writing, I’m waiting for the White Lotus season finale to come on. I’ve really enjoyed the show this season and if you haven’t checked it out, I recommend it. There is an Italian actress, Sabrina Impacciatore, who is just wonderful in it. She is the perfect combination of stress, hope, and longing. The rest of the cast has been awesome, too, and full of nice surprises.
If I can just stay awake long enough to enjoy it.
*****
This week should be interesting with the kids. They are fully slipping into “short-timers syndrome.” We have nine days, including today, ‘til winter break and the craziness started last week. The theme this week is review, which has kind of been the running theme since I took over, so at least I am prepared.
We did a lot of testing last week, as I mentioned, and the results were not great. The good thing, though, is that I know where the deficiencies are now and can address them over the next couple of months. Baby steps.
*****
Back to the discoveries from the purge for one last thing…
As I was going through drawers of stuff that I have, apparently, been stuffing for over a decade, I found a bunch of checks from different magazines. It was fun to look at some of them and remember the articles I wrote. I had forgotten that I had written for so many different places. Maybe it is time to put myself out there again.
See you tomorrow.

Found this flyer.. Selling TV's To The Blind was a one off show with Shane and I doing Hillbilly songs by ourselves.
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