Friday, December 31, 2021

positivity journal 2021:12

apparently i watched a lot of tv this month. i guess that makes sense.



dec 1: mixed amarena syrup with vernor’s and i’m a genius
dec 3: mixed orange juice with vernor’s and am starting to think i have an idea for a new cookbook 
dec 4: i can apparently resist anything except a challenge to progressively eat fried rice around town
dec 5: saw a teenage girl wearing an iron maiden tour jersey and i love irony so much

dec 6: at dinner, couple made too big a deal about the size of the tip they were leaving waitress, but seemed genuine in appreciation of her, then asked what days she worked so they’d always come in on her days. … it didn’t seem creepy till i typed it
dec 8: drank some vernor’s without anything else mixed in. researching the base line 
dec 9: at eye doctor, woman fitting me for new glasses had opinions on what i should be wearing. it’s her fourth year working on my face. i trust her
dec 10: a very maggie christmas concert

dec 11: “are you the fried rice guy?”
dec 12: started watching an hbo documentary series where helen mirren plays catherine the great so i could compare it to the hulu dramatic series “the great” in which elle fanning plays catherine the great and wow are they different 
dec 13: i kept seeing a link to a story headlined why are we still obsessed with princess diana, and each time, i said, to no one but the computer screen, we are not
dec 14: my watch didn’t charge right over night so i spent the day not caring if i got my steps 
dec 15: walked past fire station that was fully engaged in their holiday party and really wanted to know what they were cooking 

dec 16: pogi loco moco for lunch
dec 17: explained to ken preuss that sometimes i send him tv recommendations while i’m drinking. it went well
dec 18: i used to do a lot on weekends but have gotten into habit of basically doing nothing on weekends and i kinda like it
dec 19: read a story about guy who did the podcast that became the shrink next door and liked the story way more than the tv show

dec 21: i saw my breath for the first time since probably february. it’s good to have a tangible reminder 
dec 22: it’s nice that the cream cheese disaster of 21 never really hit here
dec 23: bagels, obviously
dec 24: had to work on the official business holiday, but was done in about 2 hours
dec 25: omg stuffed fried mushrooms merry christmas

dec 26: walked to washington monument in daylight 
dec 27: chips and queso
dec 28: stopped watching an animated spoof movie of american history because it made lincoln and washington contemporaries. it was nice to learn i have standards
dec 29: crazy pie i made for christmas is still good and almost gone
dec 30: richard marx in concert on my tv


dec 31: i’ll keep believing this till it’s true: its been a long december and theres reason to believe, maybe this year will be better than the last/i cant remember all the times i tried to tell my myself to hold on to these moments as they pass

anyway, that
s it for year 3 of this list. not sure what to think of that, but there it is

Friday, December 3, 2021

positivity journal 2021:11

 oh, cool, 2021 is almost over. anyway, here's this:


nov 1: billy joel released an old recording of one of my favorite songs and it might be my favorite version 
nov 2: as soon as i finished reading richard marx’ memoir, nikki sixx’ arrived
nov 3: i always try to eat the brown candy corn first so it doesnt spoil the others
nov 5: pad thai is so underrated 
 
 
  
nov 6: most of my goals met by noon
nov 7: “on certain sundays in november, when the weather bothers me …”
nov 8: sauerkraut on a veggie burger 
nov 9: had to test a recipe that featured leftover turkey, so had to roast some turkey to be left over
nov 10: there was leftover turkey leftover after test, so it became the star of my salad for dinner 

nov 11: while i was waiting in the parking lot at the vet, a woman pushing a shopping cart down the street stopped to tell me she hoped my kitty would be ok
nov 12: “it’s hard to hold a candle in the cold november rain”
nov 13: i love it when neighborhood dogs start running to me from half a block away 
nov 14: waitress: who dresses you? i greatly preferred this to the normal “arent you cold?
nov 15: when i sign on to work, a note pops up that says digital experience enabled and while i appreciate the enthusiasm it feels like its trying too hard

 
nov 16: “you were written in the stars that we are swimming in”
nov 17: kathy wenner. that's all. just kathy wenner
nov 18: i saw the word severalteen" used unironically on the interwebs and i was immediately enraged but also loved it and might adopt it
nov 19: technically, my thanksgiving work marathon basically ended just as i was about to start cooking
nov 20: butchering birds

nov 21: i finished the huge bottle of soy sauce i bought over the summer, which tells me i’m cooking a lot, and a lot of the right stuff

nov 22: 
was looking at our old house on redfin, and it has doubled in value since we sold it, possibly because redfin listing has a photo with najah in it (top)
nov 23: before i got out of bed, got a text asking for a lunch recommendation in savannah and i later learned it worked out pretty well
nov 24: got into a fight on the internet. it was with the son of billy joel’s former manager. i definitely won
nov 25: ate thanksgiving while food was still hot, which is not the way i’ve become accustomed to doing it

nov 26: stuffing leftovers
nov 27: not a huge beatles fan nor of the song get back, but maybe im amazed at watching actual video of the moment it was conceived
nov 28: i do love pumpkin pie
nov 29: i was not kidding about stuffing leftovers
nov 30: boosted

Saturday, November 6, 2021

positivity journal 2021:10


 

late due to general busyness and tiredness. shrug


oct 1: i knew i would like the counting crows show, but i hadn’t been prepared for frank turner
oct 2: “i wrote the story about cauliflower” is not how i ever expected to introduce myself to a musical artist i admire, but here we are
oct 4: “fear does not prevent death. it prevents life.– naguib mahfouz

oct 6: got stuck in tunnel and car ahead of me was cranking rem with the windows down. so i turned down my radio and listened to theirs
oct 7: mochi twinkies at lunch, dr pepper clone cocktail for dinner 
oct 8: omg coffee
oct 9: facilitated someone else’s knife shopping 
oct 10: i bought tech without bothering jeremy bowers

oct 11: was excited to break out hoodie to wear on walk to work, but it was too soon 
oct 12: i have never wanted to go out to lunch more than when joe yonan was telling me how much he wanted to go out to lunch 
oct 13: i wore long pants to work, but i had a good reason
oct 14: when editing, whenever i read ellicott city i say it to the tune of paradise city. and then i add the riffs at the end. i can't help it, and i wouldnt if i could
oct 15: i appreciate how happy the guy at the salad place is when i walk in 

oct 16: bought plums because they looked good 
oct 17: soundtrack at bbq joint was 3 pink floyd songs, 2 zeppelin, a doors and a beatles and i think i know a lot about the owner 
oct 18: now the hoodie feels right 
oct 19: phil leppert and i had lunch and gave the restaurant a recipe

oct 21: it was take your coffee to work day. at least for me
oct 22: realized “seaside” is an anagram of “disease” and feel confident that can’t be a coincidence 
oct 23: decided to take today off from adding to this list

oct 24: chicken and dumplings
oct 25: i remembered how to print things at work. it isn't as easy as it sounds

oct 26: extra curricular copy editing 
oct 27: managed to not embarrass myself in a conversation about taylor swift with tara mccarty. i think
oct 28: montenegro on the patio on a cool night
oct 29: actually met daniela galarza irl
oct 30: sat on couch next to window. heard people on sidewalk talking. smelled what they were smoking. wait … my headache is gone!

oct 31: breakfast with alara and lawrence and somehow we never stopped talking about deshaun watson, whoever that is

Saturday, October 2, 2021

positivity journal 2021:9



mostly i drove halfway across the country for a concert, but i crossed 4 states off the list of ones i had never been to, and they were big ones in the middle so my map is a lot more full now.

sept 1: “laziness, properly applied, is medicine
sept 2: it did not reach 80 degrees today and i am in my element
sept 3: command z
sept 4: boss calls on a saturday with good news
sept 5: spotify shuffled me “ballad of billy the kid and “captain jack back-to-back, so clearly i have pleased the deities
 


sept 6: averna, ginger ale, lime
sept 7: the episode of “modern love where a friend of the character played by kit harrington (aka jon snow) asks him if his girlfriend watches “game of thrones.
sept 8: woke up to learn that i have a ticket to see foo fighters tomorrow
sept 9: used foo fighters ticket
sept 10: billy joel 29, cincinnati: the pete rose reference in “zanzibar” hits different when you hear it live in the reds’ stadium 

sept 11: burnt ends
sept 12: thought i drove 1,700 miles to see brandi carlile at red rocks, but maybe it was actually for the remarkably long hug from lara cerri and i just didn’t know that till it happened 
sept 13: in meta driving: i passed a lincoln in lincoln and listened to “omaha” in omaha
sept 14: random playlist answered some questions 
sept 15: chose fasting over bad fast food 

sept 16: overhang of office entry next to wawa provided decent cover during crazy rainstorm 
sept 17: drove to maryland to pick up gas station fried chicken. would do it again 
sept 18: helped make 2,000 sandwiches 
sept 19: made a triple boulevardier, which is not rodney dangerfield’s dive in the french version of “back to school (retour à l'école),” but just a tall glass of booze
sept 20: got a charge from the opening beat of journey’s “separate ways” that i didn’t see coming
 

sept 21: i remembered ... to watch the earth wind and fire video, because duh
sept 22: was featured in daniela galarza’s newsletter again, and woke up to nice emails as a result 
sept 23: it barely hit 70 today, which, coupled with sept 2, is a pretty great month
sept 24: chicken wings and cheese fries
sept 25: was able to completely disassociate from cable company with minimal histrionics, which was nice

sept 26: i actually forgot to eat almost all day and it was fine
sept 27: by my count, i started this list 1,000 days ago
sept 28: the degree of exasperation on the face of zoe kazan in every second of “clickbait is something i aspire to
sept 29: i put absinthe in my kalimotxo. i don’t remember if it was good. which is a sign


📸: amazon, ted mclaren, netflix

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

positivity journal 2021:8

the month started with me thinking that the plans i had to return to live concerts for the month were going to get torpedoed by our perpetual state of pseudo-political pandemania. they did not, but i did spent a lot of the month wondering if they should've been. thusly:


aug 1: hate to start the month with this, but not gonna lie, it wasn’t a great day
aug 3: stopped to pet excited fluffy puppy as i left for work, then saw her again when i came home, and she remained both excited and fluffy, and either recognized me from earlier or just loves everyone equally, a lot. same human too, i think, who was fine
aug 4: billy joel 28, fenway park: i knew all the words to “a room of our own even though i never would've guessed that i knew all the words to “a room of our own
aug 5: self-care involved buying a different plane ticket instead of fighting with 2 airlines, and getting to have a killer celery-sesame salad at myers + chang before leaving boston as a result


 
aug 6: i don’t mind being patient, but i do appreciate it when it’s acknowledged 
aug 7: when i woke up this morning it never occurred to me that i would hear jesse lewis sing falsetto on the gilligans island version of stairway to heaven before the day ended
aug 8: i saw kara elder at the farmers market and she asked how i was. i said “ok and asked how she was. she said “also ok, and kara may be the only person i know that can reliably outsubtext me
aug 9: i needed some data and couldn't find it, then i remembered i'm friends with @dataeditor, so i asked him how i could find it, and he already had it
aug 10: “if its truth that youre looking to find, it is nowhere outside of your mind

aug 11: i always forget how much i love driving through the misty hills of virginia until the next time i’m driving through the misty hills of virginia 
aug 13: matt bolus and i almost skipped kings of leon show because it was raining so hard when we had to leave, but we went anyway and the weather was gorgeous for the whole show. also, “use somebody is amazing live
aug 14: ran errands in nashville, which really just means i bought booze at different places
aug 15: as a break during long drive home, had a business meeting over pasta with gochujang bolognese at casa de boden

aug 16: i brought 4 ears of corn back as a souvenir from the nashville farmers market and i am here to announce that it is the corn ive been waiting for
aug 17: my watch said i burned 300 calories walking to cheesecake factory, where i bought a piece of cheesecake that the menu said was 1,000 calories. i like the math
aug 20: there are very special hours in which my watch credits me for standing when i did no such thing

aug 22: my other nashville souvenir was a case of my favorite coffee booze, and i had it in my coffee this morning and remembered why it's my favorite
aug 23: had a sunkist orange soda for first time in forever and it tastes like baby aspirin and why has it been so long since i had one of these?
aug 24: cuban sandwich day (observed)
aug 25: my favorite office salad place that i heard had closed forever reopened

aug 26: it rained and the humidity disappeared 
aug 27: was told i caught 4 errors in a document that had already gone through 4 editors. i thought about it for a minute then decided not to challenge that statistic because that's probably about my average
aug 28: matt adlers birthday was coming up, so i let him cook for me
aug 29: i like randomly dropping lyrics that speak to me in the moment on a given day here. but today i heard “some nights” by fun, and pretty much that whole song
aug 30: fried green tomato pimento parm

aug 31: “you’ve already won me over, in spite of me”: alanis is fifth show of month and i feel like i’ve hit the ground running 

📸: michael schlow, tammy gordon

Sunday, August 1, 2021

positivity journal 2021:7

i was thinking that next month's was going to be amazing. but right now i'm wondering if there will be one next month. so drink this one in


jul 1: have reached point in life where i sometimes just buy my preferred oat milk even if some brand of almond milk is on sale
jul 2: fried brussels sprouts are the very best expression of brussels sprouts
jul 4: we found an excellent spot to not see the fireworks. would go back
jul 5: 4k words

jul 6: instantly reacclimated to office culture
jul 7: i wore my favorite purple shirt for the first time in ... well, it has a collar and buttons, soo ... like almost a year and a half.
jul 8: “misery loves company, but she will never foot the bill”
jul 9: with return to office, popeyes is once again just a slight detour on my way home
jul 10: corn on the cob for dinner. this may show up again sometime

 

jul 11: walked 6 miles then went directly to roof of my building and soaked my feet in the pool
jul 12: got to work and courtney almost immediately said “where should we go for lunch” and that hasn’t happened in awhile 
jul 13: meditation app said “turn your awareness to your legs. let whatever is present be present.” what it didn’t know was that najah was splayed across my lap and i was very aware of it
jul 14: was watching some show of recent vintage and they dropped a survivor song in the soundtrack like it was just a thing to do in 2021 and i was left slack jawed (was not eye of the tiger)

jul 16: saw susan stanford for first time in technically forever and it was her birthday 
jul 17: slept till almost noon. which i recommend. tho not sure when i actually got to sleep, but whatever.
jul 18: lara: "did you see hanson retired?" me (long pause): "like, the mmm bop guys?" lara: "no, chris." me: "oh! that makes more sense. ... wait, isn't he our age?"
jul 19: met a new cat to catsit
jul 20: 2 chapters to go

r/TVDetails - S3E5 The Kominsky Method (Netflix): 65-year-old Paul Reiser’s character is watching the movie “Diner”, featuring a character played by 26-year-old Paul Reiser.

jul 21: there’s a 24/7 dateline channel on peacock, so i never have to look for something to watch again 
jul 22: watching paul reiser’s character on kominsky method watch paul reiser’s character on diner was ne plus meta
jul 23: had arancini at lunch and at dinner 
jul 24: because i am cat-sitting a cat that lives in a building that has a lobster roll place on the ground floor ... well, you know where this is going
jul 25: extra sungold tomatoes


jul 26: tomato sandwich on bread i made and corn on the cob for dinner
jul 27: walked home from work in the rain
jul 28: the return of indoor dining at bowerseseses
jul 30: why are chicken wings so good?

jul 31: woke up to text from my favorite egg farmer that she was already sold out but set aside 2 dozen for me