Personal
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Everything old is new Again
Max’s school was out of session and he was hanging out in my office when I started repairs on my iPod Mini. He seemed genuinely interested in the little device and asked if he could have one. I laughed it off at first, but after a bit of thinking I realized it wasn’t a terrible idea.
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iPod of Theseus
I recently had the urge to bring out my iPod Mini and take it with me to the coffee shop. This was going to be a very hipster move on my part. The iPod Mini turned on without issue. The last time I had booted it, I reminisced at the music that was stored on the drive. It was a digital music time capsule. This time though, there was no music. I thought this was odd, but perhaps I had erased the device before I stored it last time. Unfortunately, I was met with a sad iPod icon after trying to sync music to the device. The drive was failing, or rather had already failed.
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Dolly Levi, You are a Damned Exasperating Woman
A few months ago, we were trying to settle on a movie to watch on a Saturday night. After perusing Disney+ for a few minutes, we settled on Hello, Dolly!. Ashley had seen the movie, but I had not. I was aware of the cultural significance of the musical and its reference in Wall•e, which has been a family favorite for years.
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Birdhouse
Twitter seems to be in trouble. I have to ask myself, “Why do you care?” I haven’t been an active user on the platform in over six years. When I made the deliberate choice to check out of Twitter, I made my account private, uninstalled the application from my phone, and abstained from posting to the site. I have considered deactivating my account over the years, but have resisted the urge. What if I want to resume using it? This is doubtful, especially in its current state.
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Stuff
We are currently having improvements made on our home. The drywall has needed repairs since we moved in. We neglected to have the work done before moving in due to the time commitment of finding someone to perform the work while managing a move at the same time. This is much needed maintenance and I will be happy once it is complete. However, the journey to that completion has been a slog.
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Separation Failures
Over the last eight months or so, I’ve had difficulty separating work from my personal life. I have been unable to disconnect, which has left me with a low level hum of anxiety as a constant companion. To be clear, I am not working all the time; rather, I just carry work with me without release, no empty space to occupy my thoughts when I’m off the clock. I have been unable to sit in the moment in my downtime, unable to just enjoy or relax.
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One Year
We recently celebrated Adelaide’s first birthday. It is simultaneously difficult to believe that she has already been with us for a full year and that there was ever a time that she was not with us. There have been some tough moments. However, this year has been quite fulfilling. We are now in that phase where she is developing her own personality and her own mannerisms. I love watching her progress. I adore her.
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Resolutions
I typically do not set resolutions for myself. I believe that most resolutions are destined to fail. However, Ashley promptly asked me what my resolutions were for the new year. After a year in which I mostly focused on “hanging on”, I decided it was probably a good idea to set resolutions for myself for 2021. Without further adieu, here are my resolutions for 2021, why I chose them, and how I plan on achieving them.
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Fading Childhood
Ashley was helping Max cast while fishing this weekend. As she went to cast, Max leaned forward. Instinctively, she released the fishing pole to catch him. The pole was flung into the water. I watched with dismay as his Lightning McQueen fishing pole slowly faded into the murky water. I briefly considered diving in after it, but noticed the line was still in the boat. I yelled for Ashley to hand me the line. As I started to pull in the line, I immediately realized I was simply pulling the line out of the reel; the catch mechanism had not been triggered and I was unspooling the line. I started to get anxious. Max started to cry. As Ashley consoled him, I carefully pulled the line up. I hoped the line was tied-off correctly and would not simply come completely unwound, leaving the pole to continue its descent. Finally, I could see the pole at the top of the water. I kept pulling, but could not get it to come up high enough out of the water to grab it from the boat. Panic was setting in. I knew the end of the line was coming. Thankfully, enough of the pole breached the surface and I was able to rescue the fishing pole from meeting a cold, wet resting place.
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The Winter Classic
I’ve been meaning to write this post since January. However, with Adelaide’s birth, followed by the pandemic, the abhorrent murder of George Floyd, and the inspiring Black Lives Matter protests, I have felt overwhelmed. My experiences and life seemed inconsequential. I have had the feeling that my blog does not contribute to the current world. Truthfully, it most likely does not.
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