Jul 202023
 

I had the day off last Thursday so Chooch and I met Kara downtown at Sally Ann’s for breakfast. First of all, you know Chooch must really like you if he is willing to get up before 7am on a rando summer day and then take the T downtown because his MOTHER doesn’t want to bother with parking. And by “you,” I don’t mean “me.” I mean very specifically: “Kara.”

This was only the second time I have taken the T since the pandemic and it was not great. I was hoping it wouldn’t be crowded since we caught the one that came right before 7:30, but I was WRONG. Chooch and I got seats at least, just not together.

Anyway, we arrived pretty much the same as Kara, who we saw emerging from a nearby parking garage.

“Wow,” Chooch muttered. “SHE drove here. You made it sound like it was virtually impossible.”

I DON’T LIKE DRIVING/PARKING DOWNTOWN, OK?? SUE ME.

We were the first breakfast customers so we had endless seating options, and let me tell you, this place is an IG influencer’s dream when it comes to vibes or whatever the fuck. I thought the booths in the back looked cute and secluded, almost like you were walking along a dock, I don’t know what I’m trying to say. But then we quickly realized that each booth was set up with a TV and a vintage gaming console, so we moved FOUR TIMES in order to get one that had OG Nintendo and two controllers.

Then Kara immediately schooled Chooch on how to play the golf game correctly. (If you ask Chooch, he was playing it perfectly because he created the game and knows everything, so.)

Our waitress, some tiny 20-something who came springing out of thin air and scared the shit out of us with her extremely animated exuberance, arrived to scream rainbows and disco balls into our faces while somehow simultaneously asking for our drink orders. It was…a lot. She was…too much. Like her preferred mode of transportation was pogo-sticking from cloud to cloud in Camelot with the Care Bears.

I could tell Kara was not a fan. And that was even before she playfully slapped Kara’s shoulder and called her BABE.

My favorite part was when our waitress (I can’t remember her name, but she seemed like a Madison or Piper or Brandeeee) said that she hadn’t had any caffeine yet that morning?!!? Even Chooch pulled himself away from his video games long enough to question, “What is this broad’s deal? Are you noticing this too?”

Some kind of fancy millennial toast thing that was actually very delicious but I will always be confused about “designer” toast and how much it costs. Kara got avocado toast and it was on some THICC BOI bread. Chooch got the veganified Sally Ann’s breakfast plate thing and said it was good but apparently there is no vegan butter option so they gave him dry ass toast with jam, and I just found out that day that Chooch HATES JAM/JELLY on toast.

Actually, I think I might have known that and just forgot. But now I’m having crippling flashbacks of a heated discussion about this several years ago, where I was left feeling super disgusted by his choices.

I wanted to stay downtown for a bit (even though it’s a garbage dump down there now) after we parted ways with Kara but Chooch was like, “I HAVE SHIT TO DO” so we had to immediately catch a T back home. :(

(His “shit to do” was “computer games” with his dumb friends. We *did* go to South Park courts later that afternoon to play tennis though and it was one of the best tennis’ing we’ve done so far!)

Oh!! I almost forgot, but Kara got me NCT and SHINee pins from a Kpop store in LA!

And I finished a book that day too. I can’t remember which one it was but I know I liked it?? Was it Happy Place, maybe?? Ugh my mind is like a fucking prune these days. Boo.

Jul 192023
 

Chooch will vehemently disagree with me on this because why would we ever share an opinion, but I have found that the courts at Settlers Cabin are my favorite and have officially declared them my “home court.” Never mind the fact that there are courts within one mile of my house in either direction. The 20-minute drive is worth it to me because there are four courts, plus a double-sided wall for solo-hitting, and it’s secluded in a wooded area of the park. Plus, the bathrooms are CLEAN AND SPACIOUS and even include a little locker room-ish area with seats. And, because I am just getting back into the game, I have been pretty self-conscious and don’t want to be playing on a court next to a playground or a busy road next to a traffic light. I AM NOT READY TO BE SEEN, OK?

Several times, we have encountered the same people there so that was cool, like we’re regulars now, you know? I always wanted to be a “regular” somewhere.

Last week, I want to say it was Wednesday evening, we arrived at the same time as a couple, presumably in their mid-30s. We were still in the parking lot getting our stuff out of the car when I already knew that the FEMALE portion of the couple was going to be a problem. It hadn’t even been 30 seconds and she was already getting on my nerves, bigly. And then we saw that they had PICKLEBALL equipment, so that ramped up the annoyance level.

They walked behind us to the courts and I fucking swear to god, this woman’s loud-ass voice, I couldn’t even. Right out of the gate, it was a work drama bitch-fest, mostly just on her end, with the guy murmuring “Yeah” and “Wow” here and there.  It was like she was setting up camp inside my skull, opening up the crinkliest package of graham crackers for her bitch-s’mores, lighting up the fire inside of me to do the roasting.

Immediately, they chose the court behind us and I said loudly to Chooch, “Move down to the next court, I can’t deal with this.” Initially, Chooch said I was being dramatic, but they (she) began to wear on him pretty soon after this. Especially when it became apparent that these two WERE HAVING AN OFFICE AFFAIR!! OMG, I kept seeing them meet at the net to embrace and make out.  It was all so much, that paired with her “I need everyone to be aware of me and the important things I’m mouth-farting into the already CORRUPT air” boombox voice had me so agitated. I DON’T CARE ABOUT STACEY’S PTO or whatever else she was bitching about! Who cares why Stacey is taking time off?! Maybe Stacey is getting skin tags removed!!! IT IS HER PTO TO USE, JUST PLAY YOUR FUCKING PICKLEBALL AND STFU, MELISSA, JESUS CHRIST.

*(I know her name is Melissa because she verbally flagellated herself by name when she hit her stupid NOT-TENNIS BALL into the net. “Oh, come on, Melissa!” *giggles and skips to the net for kissy time*)

“Ugh, she’s so fucking annoying!” I yelled.

“She can hear you! She is only RIGHT OVER THERE!” Henry hissed, and you know what, Henry? Like Stacey and her PTO, I gave no fucks. Let the bitch hear me. My son and I were busy training for the DELULU WIMBELDON HOSTED EXCLUSIVELY INSIDE OUR MINDS, so COULD THE CROWD QUIET DOWN PLEASE.

(Great, now I have “Quiet Down” in my head.)

Meanwhile, some middle-aged doucher rolled up with his broad-trophy. And by “rolled up” I mean that the parking lot was not close enough for this asshole, so he drove past the lot and INTO THE FUCKING GRASS in front of the courts. Here, let me show you an illustration:

Makes sense though, seeing as though it looked like he was traveling to an international PICKLEBALL TOURNY, what with the amount of baggage he brought with him. Yes, of course he and his picklebabe were there for there for some sweet ass wiffle ball thwopping action. Specifically, he was there to INSTRUCT her by double-paddling balls against the wall. (I don’t know why I made the wall red in my DIAGRAM when my BeReal up there clearly shows that it’s green?)

These two were dressed in crisp, freshly-pressed yuppie athletic wear. She was wearing a prissy little visor and khaki shorts and he was dressed like he was going to take the yacht out for a spin after. Even though he was RIGHT THERE on the other side of the fence from me, I kept imagining that it was actually Ben Stiller reprising his role in a Dodgeball reboot, but make it Pickleball. And she, bless her heart, went through the whole rigamarole of stretching, squatting, side-bending, just for him to mansplain the “sport” to her and then tell her “NO, DO IT LIKE THIS. OK, MOVE DOWN THERE NOW” after she was cramping his wallspace.

She eventually gave up and sat at the picnic table, doom-scrolling on her phone.

Then, and this normally would have PISSED ME OFF, they lugged out a huge Bluetooth stereo. It almost looked like a karaoke machine, like this was no little portable speaker. It was a whole-ass UNIT. So, they fire this bad boy up and suddenly, Chooch and I are hitting balls to the soundtrack of KISS FM.

Now, the reason this didn’t anger me was because it served as a distraction against MELISSA’S incessant jawing. If they had put on a country station, or like, some jam band, then perhaps there’d have been an issue. Then they changed it to Khalid, and turns out, I like Khalid. (I had to ask Chooch at one point, “Who sings this” and he said, “Khalid?! EVERY SONG HAS BEEN KHALID.” Sorry for being a stupid old lady who only knows Korean hits, son.)

Henry still maintains that he thought this was incredibly rude and uncouth of them and he’s probably right because they were playing it pretty loudly and you know, how presumptuous to assume that everyone there wanted to listen to your music.

Chooch said at one point, they were slow-dancing. Sad I missed it.

Meanwhile, MELISSA and whoever were packing it up and I was so relieved. “They must have MOTEL RESERVATIONS,” I said loudly, and Henry was like, “OK, stop.” Chooch laughed though and that is all that matters.

Then their court was quickly replaced by a grizzled coach and his teenaged protege (j/k, she was not very good) named JULIE. The coach was giving big Richard Dawson vibes, IYKYK. Like, to the point where after Captain and Tenille packed up their DJ equipment and peeled their car out of the grass, I was nervous to leave the girl alone with him. Luckily, we saw that her mom was sitting in a parked car, waiting for her, so that made me feel better.

“He looks like he just the bar and came straight here,” Henry chuckled as we walked past their court on our way out. Leave it to Henry to chuckle at what could have been A GROOMING IN PROGRESS.

They were there again last night, and I told Chooch he should ask the dude if he could join the lesson.

“Nah, I’m good,” Chooch said. And then there were two college-aged-ish guys on the court behind us and one of them kept roaring FUCCCCCCKKKKKKKK!!!!! every time he missed a shot, which was a lot. They actually had arrived at the same time we did but Chooch goes, “No, they’re leaving. You can tell because that one guy is so sweaty.” Nope, just arriving! The sweaty guy was also the FUCCCCCCKKKKKKKK!!!!! guy.

Bonus court content: Two weekends ago, a grandma brought her two young grandsons to hit against the wall while she sat at the picnic table with her dog. At one point, the youngest one had to go to the bathroom so she let him go off alone. After a few minutes, she started to get alarmed and asked the older one, “Does Ollie always take this long?”

“Is he pooping?” the kid asked.

The grandma said, “I’m not sure, I think so?”

“Oh, well if he’s POOPING, then yes.” I don’t know why, but this just cracked me up so bad. Ollie and the Slow Bowel Movements.

Jesus Christ, I’m having a lot of fun immersing myself back into the tennis world.

Jul 172023
 

I’m ready for my NCT Dream sprout tattoo. I’m ready to legally change my last name to Czennie. I’m ready to sell Henry’s plasma for a one-way ticket to Seoul.

I’m ready to do the most right now, this new album has me so fucking manic and fanatic. I listened to it on my morning walk and was crying and laughing in public, which you know, looks normal here in Brookline. No eyes were batted.

And now we have the full version of Poison, which was teased a few weeks ago with a 1:30 long track video. Oh my god, the way I wish they would have just given us a full video.

Is this my favorite NCT Dream song???? I think it is!!!!

These vocals are disgusting. Kill me.

They even have a song for Kpop dad, Henry, called Pretzel (🤍).

Between NCT Dream new-new, Brookline Blvd words of encouragement, and the wrench I found on the side of the road, I have all the tools I need to get me through about dumb week.

Jul 152023
 

Buddy’s got one hand on him’s walnoot

And the other one is givin a peace sign

Sorry. I cracked myself up for a good while earlier when Buddy came to visit and these revamped lyrics trumpeted out of my mouth. Henry was like “ok.”

I wanted to tell my Internet friends (read: YOU) about the three dumb things that happened at the tennis courts the other night but it was around 90 degrees today and I wasn’t inspired to do anything other but sit here and read with sweat in my eyes. We did take a boba break in the afternoon so that was nice.

Also, here was Chooch’s sailing OOTD. I wasn’t awake yet when he left this morning so I didn’t know that he took my Versace sunglasses that I bought in Italy in the 90s??!

In other news, it seems that I am not actually on the beer bus after all. I have struck out with every beer I sipped tonight and then said, “you know what? I’m just going to have kombucha. I need something refreshing and beer ain’t it, son.”

So far, the only beer that I liked so much I can’t stop thinking about it was Hitchhiker’s Jelly Donut. Henry went to the nearby bottleshop earlier and they don’t have it anymore. I guess I should just stick with wine and cider.

Or, you know, water.

Jul 102023
 

The inevitable happened in that I became obsessed with something and overdid it. This time, it’s that I played too much tennis and hurt my wrist. :( I’ll be ok but according to Henry, I need to “rest” and I interpreted that as “put some ice on it and get back out there tomorrow.”

So in the meantime, as I’m “resting,” please do enjoy this EXO song which I think is my official 2023 summer jam? Suho’s ending really does it for me. And also, this video is so fun and even Henry commented on its BIGBANG vibes.

Jun 302023
 

Hello from the road to Georgia! It’s around 7pm and we’re in West Virginia somewhere I think. I’m not liveblogging but I had meant to do a Friday Five today and then I was too busy/distracted so instead I want to tell you something exciting, Blog-friend! Well, exciting to me.

So after Chooch had sailing on Saturday, Henry and I decided to go to Dick’s to get him a tennis bag because he had been toting his racket around in a drawstring (he brought it to sailing because he was going to be playing afterward – Bucky St. Johns back there, lol).

While we were there, I was wistfully running my fingertips over the strings of several Prince rackets. “Maybe we should get him a second racket. You know, it’s good to have a spare,” I said.

Henry saw right through this and was like, “if you want to get yourself a racket, get one” to which I would gasp, “oh no I couldn’t I just really couldn’t” like a 1940s starlet.

But of course I ended up walking out with my first racket since probably 1996. And as soon as Chooch came home later that, I started hounding him. “When are we gonna play? Do you want to go somewhere and hit?? WHEN WILL WE BE PLAYING TENNIS?!”

You guys, we ended up going that evening to Settlers Cabin and it was awesome because no one was there so I didn’t feel so self-conscious. I mean, as expected, I was awful but Henry gave me a great backhanded (TENNIS PUN) compliment by agreeing but saying that “you can tell that you used to play though.”

Wow.

And then we played on Sunday too! The most fun part is that we make Henry be our ball boy and you know we berate him to death. You know it.

And then we played again on Monday and Tuesday even though the weather was stormy. Monday night we were hitting against the tennis wall and I will tell you what, I started to feel like some of it was coming back to me! I wasn’t overthinking the grips anymore and I was just whaling the balls back against the wall to the point where I got a blister on my thumb and a bruise on my shoulder from where the racket was hitting (old habits coming back hard!).

Haven’t had a chance to play since Tuesday but whoa baby am I happy that I picked up a racket again! I will probably never be “good” at this juncture of my life but it’s great exercise and fun that Chooch is into it too, and plus Henry is like our little bitchy fan boy so that’s fun too.

Look at how tennis-y he looks!!

Jun 222023
 

Chooch has shown a sudden interest in learning how to play tennis which pleases me greatly because I played for several years throughout middle school and high school and to this day it was the only thing I’ve ever truly been good at. He asked me if I still had my old rackets and I was like “LOL hell no, I trashed all those in fits of rage. I used to have full blown tantrums on the courts.”

“OK so nothing has changed,” he said.

😂

Then I tried to tell him that Andre Agassi was my #1 bias and he cut me off to say with annoyance, “Yeah I know. One time he was in a crossword I was doing. All I said was ‘Andre in tennis’ and you screamed OMG AGASSI I LOVE HIM.”

Anyway, I guess one of his friends wants to try out for the team next year and hyped up Chooch in the process. I am on board with this but trying not to be TOO enthusiastic because then he will definitely abandon it and take up, I dunno, country line-dancing instead out of spite.

Chooch the Overnight Prep left sailing class tonight and went straight to a tennis court, where he & a friend played doubles with “two old moms.”

Henry, who had seen these broads later when he went to pick up Chooch, said, “Um, they were more like college-aged?”

TWO OLD MOMS, UGH.

Anyway, I’m changing his name to Chip. Or Preston. Bucky, maybe? Janna is getting a sweater for him to tie across his shoulders.

Anyway. Sailing and tennis. Brookline prep. ⛵️🎾

Jun 172023
 

No one asked but here’s the merch I bought at the Cure concert last week! I have the day off on Monday and am going to do my best to hammer out the details of that night. Still processing, I think. Emotions are annoying.

It’s me, your friendly but mildly stand-offish Cure gallery docent. LET ME SHOW YOU ALL AROUND. (Just kidding, I’m busy this weekend. 📞 for appt.)

I also bought two posters – one for the entire tour and one that was specific to the Cleveland date. I love that The Cure commissioned artists to make collector posters for each date of their tour. I’m not gonna like, I don’t love the one that we got for Cleveland, but it’s the show I went to, so I will accept it. The Houston poster was the best one, IMO.

Henry framed them before I had a chance to take a decent picture. Way to go, Henry. But anyway, here they are, jazzing up the last blank of the house!

And here’s a better look at the Cleveland poster.

I love concert posters so much!

Can you believe that these two posters and t-shirt cost nearly the same amount as one t-shirt from the last two kpop concerts I went to? LOL ugh, kpop is killing my bank account.

Tomorrow is Father’s Day and I am trying to get Henry to take us to Cedar Point so maybe I will do a CP liveblog?! Also, I had the equivalent of one beer tonight at dinner with my sister Amy and her husband Dick, and now I honestly feel like I might pass out and also I don’t want to be thinking of the rollercoasters I might be riding tomorrow, ugh.

This week has been so disorienting.

Jun 142023
 

Jesus Christ, that’s a wrap on junior year! I had been driving Chooch and his pal Zakk to school every day since Chooch busted his knee in February and then once he healed, I was somehow LOCKED IN to this stupid mom-Uber role. I am really looking forward to shutting off my 6AM alarm for the summer, boy-o!

Anyway, check out this kid, man! It’s so crazy to look at the comparisons from first day to last.

He thought he was going to get away with NO PHOTO because there were actual sheets of rain falling from the sky this morning, but come on, sir. Pics or it didn’t happen etc etc blah blah blah.

This was a whirlwind year. He did his Mexican homestay thang, maintained his 4.0, worked at Dunkin’, busted his knee, joined a secret sailing club, hated/loved reading 1984 in English, became obsessed with debating, chose The Cure for a “greatest band of all time” video argument he had to make (after first choosing Imagjne Dragons for literally no reason), acted like he hated his English class yet somehow this was the ONLY class he obsessively talked about all year, and continued to grow taller than us.

I’m proud of this big lug! Sure he can be frustrating AF with his monotone retorts of “mm cool” and “but did I ask,” but he is a good kid and I’m excited for him to probably not wake up early enough at all this summer in order to have Summer Breakfast Club like the old days. WE WILL SEE.

Anyway, time to start panicking about senior year!

Jun 132023
 

First, I want you all to watch EXO’s comeback video. I already made Janna watch it. Her bias is Baekhyun, in case you’re wondering.

Next, I want you all to schedule a skin screening if you haven’t had one. I have been living with this small mole-ish thing on my thigh and then I noticed one on my arm and I can’t really say I have been IGNORING it since I cry and whine about it every day while screaming about cancer and Henry is like “then go get it looked at” and I’m like “WHY WOULD I DO THAT??”

I guess I’m just trying to be a BRAVE GIRL in spite of my utter aversion to doctors of all persuasions. So first step – schedule a skin screening.

First of all, Henry was originally going to go with me because he’s my emotional support beard, but then he thought the appt was 330 when it was actually 3 and I needed to be there at 245. Needless to say, when I called him at 2:10 to see where tf he was and he said “just leaving work now” I was like “cool guess I’m going alone bye.” I got there with one minute to spare for my “fifteen minutes early” request but some fucker was already checking in and he also was apparently a new patient but shoooooo it was taking a ridiculously long time and then he didn’t know his wife’s phone number for emergency contact purposes and had to look it up?!

While this was happening I took a seat to wait for my turn but I sat too close to the edge and almost fell out of it.

An older woman next to me chuckled. “I did the same thing!”

Ooh human contact, the thing I crave the most in moments of extreme anxiety! “AS IF IM NOT NERVOUS ENOUGH!” I laughed but actually I was trying not to cry.

“Oh you’ll be fine!” she said, but then she got called back so I was back to being alone in my dire thoughts. You guys have no idea the amount of time I spent researching this visit. My search history at work probably looks like I have an ugly skin fetish.

Then it was my turn to register. I started to give the broad my info and as she was typing, I took that opportunity to fill the silence with my rapid blurts of “IM VERY SCARED.” She seamlessly assumed the role of Mother Hen and soothed me with kind words. Then she asked me the name of my family doctor and I sheepishly said that I didn’t have one. She side-eyed me and defensively said that I’m scared of doctors. “This was a really big deal just scheduling this appointment. Baby steps!” And then I promised that finding a pcp would be step 2. I actually had an appt scheduled with one last summer and she had to cancel at the last minute because she needed to take an indefinite leave of absence so I took that as a sign that she was only going to diagnose me horrible things that I’m better off not knowing about, so.

Anyway, then I gave her my emergency contact’s number which I know OFF BY HEART because everyone should know at least persons number by memory!!!

(I don’t know Chooch’s though, isn’t that awful lol.)

Before I could even get very involved in doom scrolling through my fatal thoughts, I was called back by the nurse practitioner lady who was AMAZING. As soon as she shut the door behind her, words just tumbled out of my mouth. Things like “so scared” “ugh” “can I just leave?” and she calmly said, “hey look. You gotta think positive or bad things will happen!” And I was like “ok sure but is there a way to put me under for this?”

She did my intake questions and then gave me a paper gown to put on once she left, which I spent the next five minutes trying to open and the ripped part of it, but did eventually get it to encase my whole torso at least. Then I sat there, sweating and shivering and shaking. I am such a mess sometimes.

(Lol sometimes.)

When the doctor came in several minutes later, I was fully shook. She introduced herself and I practically screamed LOOK AT THIS and so she checked out the spots that I was concerned with and lightly laughed. “Nothing to worry about! Those are just dermatofibroma!”

Pfft ok silly me!

Then she did the full body scan and said I have good skin! I like having good things! I am very relieved. I was prepared to have a biopsy done today. I even googled it and felt that I could handle it because I’m not as afraid of needles when they’re not drawing blood.

I’m so glad that it’s over and I had good results but I was sincerely worried about some of these things and it was s good reminder that I need to be more diligent about more than just my teeth and eyeballs but wowwwweeee the way I get so worked up, I’m liable to just end up giving myself high blood pressure while trying to be preventative about everything else.

Also, I liked the thingie she was using to inspect my dermatoblahblahs. Also, she was just super great in general and I will now be recommending her to everyone in Pgh looking for a dermatologist. But first I have to look up her name because I forgot it.

You know how when people email on their phones and their signature says “sent from my phone, excuse the typos”? Yeah apply that here because I’m blogging from my phone and forgets what l said up there about eyeball diligence because my eyesight still sucks no matter how many times I answer the “better” “worse” “1” “2” questions at the fucking eye doctor.

Anyway!! Be brave like me and go get a skin screening. That is my new thing to push on people. If there was a Kpop song about skin screens, then my pushy skin propaganda could really be on brand.

Jun 052023
 

Dear Blog Diary Thing:

I know I have filled you unlimited words about roller coasters but do you remember when I told you back in 2018 that the coaster that turned me into an enthusiast (see also: thoosie) was T-Express in South Korea’s Everland?

Well, I probably did so you can just take my word for it.

Anyway, I was watching a YouTube video of Taeyong from NCT at Everland, passing out for roses for Rose Day and also promoting his new solo release because duh. I knew that SM Entertainment recently had a collab going with their artists and Everland where some of the rides are themed after various members and there’s SM/Everland merch – it’s a whole giant pop-up based on SM’s imaginary world called Kwangya basically and I really need to know how long this is going to last because I want to visit again while it’s there (the anguish).

OK so in this video, Taeyong reluctantly agrees to ride T-Express and he starts walking over to it.

And then he stops abruptly and is like WHAT?

You guys!!!

Worlds colliding!!

Well, honestly when you think about it, one world had already begat the next world because the whole reason I was even riding T-Express in 2018 is because I knew about it from various Korean variety shows which I watched because I was/am obsessed with Korea and then that obsession put me on a plane and fly my crazy ass to Korea, and then I left being obsessed with Korea AND NOW ROLLERCOASTERS.

(Prior to this, I was a dark ride girly and we were even members of a dark ride and funhouse group, so I was always going to amusement parks and fairs – that didn’t change!)

I just remember coming home from Korea that year and having this strong need to watch YouTube videos of T-Express, like I NEEDED to hear “the experts” reviewing it, and then from there I started looking up other coasters that were referenced in those videos, especially if it was a ranking list, and REAL QUICK after that I “discovered” the coaster manufacturer Rocky Mountain Construction* and suddenly we were planning coaster road trips.

*(fun fact: RMC actually helped Intamin with the construction of T-Express so this was technically baby’s first RMC!)

I know the name of the coaster didn’t officially change (I doubt it, anyway, besides you can tell from the two pictures that the sign they put up is below the actual T-Express sign) but I want to know if it’s been temporarily changed while the Kwangya collab is happening, or if the new signage was just put up that day in honor of Taeyong’s visit. Honestly, I wish that was the new official name because it’s better than T-Express! (I’m not biased you’re biased.)

A fun fact about T-Express NCT-Express is that it’s one of only four of its kind in the world (an Intamin pre-fabricated woodie). I’ve ridden the one in the US (El Toro) and this summer, we will (knock on wood) have the chance to ride our third one – Balder in Sweden.

Life is so crazy – every time someone asks me how I became a coaster enthusiast, I’m like, “Because I went to Korea” – I just love that origin story so much!

Just like I love being obsessed with many things!

Jun 012023
 

Last week, I heard a slight commotion outside as I was working. Looked out to see some asshole lounging at the end of HNC&Wife’s sidewalk. I thought maybe he had suffered an injury at first (those stupid city scooters are also flying by and I’m perpetually braced for an accident) but he seemed pretty calm. I assume that is his friend with him – he was pacing back and forth, looking down the street as if waiting for a ride. Who can be sure.

HNC’s wife was leaving her house during this time and called me immediately from her car to tell me to beware. She said she asked the kid on the ground if he needed help and he sniped, “I’m just CHILLIN’.”

“He has a real smart mouth,” HNC’s wife advised me, and honestly one of my biggest fears in the possibility of engagement with a shitty teen/young adult. I don’t trust them. So that was my cue to 100% stay on high alert.

They left after about 30 minutes of this. Kid in orange was walking fine, nary a limp, so I have no idea what all that was about. BUT I DIDN’T LIKE IT.

I preordered this NCT127 sweatshirt in December from the SM Shop and it finally arrived last week, just in time for the impending 80-90 degree days we have in store (aka right now).  Anyway, I got a Doyoung poca with it and if I’m not mistaken, I think this is my first Doyoung poca (photocard)!

Anyway, this sweatshirt was worth the weight. It’s so cozy and rich-feeling, lol.

Thank you, thank you.  Gifts are happily accepted.

Reading a new favorite (The Hundred-Year House) on the back porch with Penelope while Chooch and his friends took over the living room last Saturday instead of staying contained to the designated HANG OUT SPOT in the attic.

It’s fine.

At least we have an extra room.

Even if it’s barely being used.

This is usually where you can find both Drew and Penelope every day for three seasons of the year.

THAT IS WHY IT’S CALLED A THREE SEASON ROOM, DUH.

(I literally never heard that term until several years ago when someone referred to the back porch as such and I was like, “Wait…wha—? Ohhhhh.”

A vegan cinnamon roll franchise opened up in East Liberty and I made Henry go get some. He and I split a lemon one and a coconut cream pie one – both were delectable. Chooch got some kind of fancy berry one all for himself.

I want to go back ASAP.

I forget what it’s called already?? Cinnaholic, I think.

***

I just finished my nightly cardio and I am BEAT. It was something like 90 degrees today and I felt like I was going to pass out during my lunch break walk. Now I just want to spend the rest of the night sitting on the couch and staring dumbly at the TV.

TOMORROW IS FRIDAY. LET’S GOOOOOO.

May 252023
 

Today, May 25th 2023, is the 15th anniversary of SHINee’s debut. This group means so much to me. They were one of the first kpop idol groups that I fully stanned when I fell down the 토끼 hole and to this day, they remain so iconic. Actual legends. Get outta here with your “but my faves paved the way” bullshit and pay your respects to the daddies, is all I’m saying.

I have been happy- and sad-crying off and on all day, watching tribute videos and SHINee’s own chaotic live that they did earlier today, and revisiting some of my old standards by way of SHINee-bombing my work friends with music videos on Jabber, lol. Even Glenn was only half-sarcastic in his response!

The evolution of SHINee has been incredible to watch. They are so unique as a group and also individually with their solo work. How many groups can say that all of their members have successful solo careers outside of the group?

Anyway, please watch some SHINee vids with me! In this world, we could all use any little excuse to celebrate, amirite? SHINee have suffered and endured so much, and came out, well, shining – they deserve to be celebrated. Here are some of my faves that I was sharing today at work:

Aside from BIGBANG (which is never going to happen, I lost hope years ago), SHINee is the ONE group that I would take out a loan, sell my plasma, list all of Henry’s shit on eBay in order to see.

My forever favorite <3

I couldn’t listen to SHINee for quite some time after Jonghyun passed. One night, this song came on Spotify and woke me up – I cried so much, so so so much. Jonghyun’s death hit me in a way that no other celebrity’s death ever has. My heart still hurts at the thought of him, but I am glad that I am able to listen to his voice again because it is too beautiful to give up.

Sharing the music show version of this because the ending fairy is so cute.

I asked Henry what his favorite SHINee song is and he said Ring Ding Dong with barely any hesitation!

(This song is CLASSIC SHINEE.)

Happy 15 years with SHINee!