Some quick life updates!

1. I used to be really into jump roping like, almost 20 years ago and then my beloved jump rope broke because I used it to so much, thus sending me into a Goldilocks spiral where NO OTHER JUMP ROPE WAS GOOD ENOUGH. I can’t even remember the exact kind of jump rope I had, at this point. Anyway, recently I was inundated with jump rope adds on IG and took the plunge on one of the beaded ones. I hated it without even trying it. It felt so cheap and chintzy! So, I returned it and then got one from Switzerland. I think it’s OK. I have been playing around with it a bit this week, trying to ease my way into a routine with this freaking CRUNCHED back of mine. My dietician in our last call was like, “There is a girl who does jump rope dance tutorials on YouTube! I’ll send it to you!” She has not sent it yet and I will not be reminding her either, because I can barely dance with just my two feet, let alone adding the obstacle of a whipping rope.
   1. Anyway, I think my jump rope needs a name so we’re going with Ropert. Ropert is purple, in case you wanted to know.
2. Our neighbors moved out last week. I wasn’t attached to them by any means but they were very quiet and kept to themselves, WHICH I APPRECIATED. Some might even say, ADORED. Anyway, while one of them was in the process of putting stuff into her car, some man stopped and began asking her all of these questions about the space and even asked if he could move in (???). She was like, “Uh…you need to talk to the landlord about that, I’m not sure….” The other evening, I was in the middle of the exercising, had JUST stood back up from plank, when I saw the same man standing on my porch!!!!!! I went out to talk to him and he was still asking about the next door unit. I was like, “Bro, you gotta call the dude that owns it, I have no idea” and then Henry was running around trying to find something on which to write down the landlord’s number for the dude while I was small-talking with him. He was asking about the background (LOL, what backyard, you mean the wildlife preserve?) and said he needed somewhere for his kids to play. I asked how many kids he has and he said, “Four or five.” ??? Anyway, I have seen him walking him past two days in a row after this too and I hope it’s just genuinely on his way to and fro and he’s not casing the place for  signs of a new tenant. I mean, he seemed like a nice guy, very nice to chat with, and super serious about moving in next door so who knows how this will play out.
3. Today, I was on my lunch break walk and saw this young guy getting tacos at Las Palmas, in a Dance Gavin Dance shirt from their spring/summer US tour. Without slowing down, I pointed at his shirt and called out, “I was at that show!” He looked caught off guard at first and then smiled and said something confirmatory, so I said, “So good!” and he was like, “Yeah, it was!” and then for the rest of my walk, I replayed my dumb words in my head over and over until it sounded like I was trying to swim away from them underwater. “I was at that show!” “so good!” “at that show!” “good!” “so good!” “that show!” “at!” “good show!” “glurg glurg glurg.”
   1. I mean, it was a good show but it was also the least-best DGD show I’ve gone to and I disliked the broads next to me so I don’t know why I shouted “SO GOOD!” with my whole chest.
4. We’re going to see Greet Death at Spirit! I’m so stoked. We just saw them at Riot Fest but I was already dying to see them again, in a small venue.
5. A year ago, we were in Romania and the place we stayed in Cluj-Napoca had a gigantic massage chair with all the bells and whistles that I think about longingly every single day like it’s a long lost lover that I’m waiting to come home.

It’s been a long time since we went hogwild with a Friday Five over here.

1. My Health Insurance Pays for My Friends

I had my monthly check-in call with my dietician on Tuesday and as only the avid readers of this barely-hanging-on blog would know, it was discovered in June that she is also a super-fan of Dance Gavin Dance. So now we always chat about music over macros. I mean, we eventually get to that stuff but it takes a while for her to revert back to dietician mode with a, “OK seriously, let’s look at your food log now.” Ugh but that’s the BORING STUFF.

Anyway, I was telling her about how absolutely chaotic our September was (in the best most fun ways!) and how my regular eating plan and exercising was thrown off course. When I was telling her about how one band I really like was playing in Pittsburgh when we would be in Chicago, so I made Henry take me to Columbus to see them in the middle of the week, I stopped and said, “Well, wait…do you like The Home Team?”

She smiled and said, “I DO like The Home Team!”

“OK! Well, that’s who it was,” I laughed, and she said she can totally understand why I would need to drive three hours both ways in one day to see them.

This went on and on, from her asking if I like Sleep Token to me recommending The Black Queen, and she goes, “Erin, you should really write a music blog or have a podcast or something! You know so much!” and I just started laughing so hard.

“Well, actually I do write about music in a blog that like, 5 people read and that’s on a good day!”

Also, imagine my Ugh voice doing a podcast, gross. No one wants that.

But yeah, I was actually really looking forward to that check-in so I could talk about all the recent concerts because I have been dying to!

Now I feel like maybe I should seek some other monthly health service and see if I can make another paid friend that way, to add to my dietician and therapist.

2. CORNELL MOTHERFUCKERS

Let’s burn ’em all, amirite?

I have been furiously texting with Chooch over this. I want to believe that Henry and I raised him right but that doesn’t mean I just assume so I have been sending him hard reminders and also making him FUCKING SWEAR that if he is EVER PRIVY to something like this, that he better narc IMMEDIATELY. I also want to believe that he is a good judge of character and wouldn’t ever find himself in a friend group full of disgusting alpha predators to begin with.

But again—YOU CANNOT ASSUME.

I will put this here right now–if Chooch EVER was involved rape or SA, you can fucking believe I’d be done with him, he’d be on his own. And then I would likely spend the rest of my life wondering where I went wrong as a mother.

Also, the fact that Henry has also been part of this conversation and has been sending me reels about it all week is such a fucking green flag.

3. ONE CONCERT POSTPONED, ONE ADDED

I’m so bummed but the upcoming US leg of the Taemin tour has been postponed due to Visa issues. :( Tickets weren’t refunded though and will be honored for the new date when it’s announced but I’m so worried that it will be a date I won’t be able to make it to and I am lowkey panicking over that. I was really looking forward to seeing Taemin :(

This happened to last fall’s Wonho North American tour as well but that was flat out canceled and never rescheduled. I still think about that and feel so sad.

On the flipside! I finally bought tickets to see Balance and Composure later this month and I’m so excited because that means that I will have seen BOTH of my favorite fall bands in fall this year! (The other is The Black Queen, duh!) For the last 10 years, both bands have been on my “driving to the haunted house” playlist on Spotify and I usually always put them on in the background while I’ll working – my sweater weather comfort bands.

Since seeing The Black Queen twice this year, Henry seems to have a real appreciation for them now so I’m hoping the same will happen after he sees B&C again after several years because he is notoriously “not a fan,” and it pisses me off because I just don’t understand what is not to like about B&C??

4. THE PETRICHOR INTERLUDE

I started this little vocabulary journal over the summer so that any time I hear a cool word or read one in a book, I jot it down. I think it was in August, I came across the word petrichor and was like, “OMG there is a word for that!” because I had never heard it before, somehow. Feel free to send me mail to 911 Under a Rock Rd.

Anyway, I jotted it down.

Then a few books later, it was used again.

Then, we were at The Glitter Box on Sunday and one of the 10 Minute Plays included it in a song.

Then, I was putting together a sample box of D.S.&Durga fragrances and one of them listed it as a note.

Now I feel like I need to adopt a pet* and name it Petrichor. And then I can call it Pet.

*(or a baby, LOL, let’s gooooo)

5. HENRY’S BIG SPILL

My favorite part is when he concedes to defeat, turns around and drives away. I must have watched this 100x the day he sent it to me. Instant mood boost!

That’s all for now! I have a fun night of paper journaling ahead of me, LOL. #dorkalert Our neighbors just moved out two days ago (I’m actually pretty sad — they were decent neighbors if you can overlook the fact that they consistently let their dog shit on our side of the yard) so I want to go in the attic lounge and blast records while we have the whole duplex to ourselves. I am so nervous about who we’re going to get next over there. Please not another Boots.

Henry thinks we’ve paid our dues as far as shitty neighbors go but I don’t think it works like that, bro.

Some things on my mind:

• I just found out that one of the guys on the Coaster Crew Norden trip passed away last December from pancreatic cancer. I only knew him for 2 weeks but he was a really nice man and this, paired with my outrageous emotion problem, is why I burst into tears when I found out. Robert’s in the second row on this little kiddie coaster that we took over in Finland. <3 I feel sick.

• In the last week, I have read back-to-back books that:
  • used the word “muck” (one used it A LOT, I wish I had counted)
  • had a character named Henry
  • referenced the TV show Succession
  • had a character that couldn’t swim
• My block was poppin’ off with neighborly activity all morning and it was driving me absolutely insane. I think I am fully at the “paranoid half-agoraphobe” portion of my life in that I am convinced all of my neighbors are talking shit on us (nevermind the fact that I am in a perpetual state of shit-talk in here myself) while I’m also living in a state of panic that one of them is going to ring my doorbell at any moment. In fact, this did happen after work on Friday and I was so annoyed:
  • Recall that I told you a while ago that the plumber our slumlord sends over who scares me because he’d bring his wife and teenage son to help and then spend the whole time screaming at them, now lives in the house that ROB THE HANDYMAN used to live in because this apparently where the slumlord stashes his bizarre worker bees whose wives have tossed them out on their asses. Anywhogivesafuck, his name is – well, lets not use real names here, Crag -and he came in search of wine glasses because HE WAS HAVING A LADY OVER THAT NIGHT. Oh I did not need to know that. I did let him borrow two glasses though but then I was immediately annoyed because this means he will be back at some point to return them. I made eye contact with him several times over the weekend, but he was busy doing Crag things so he never came over. But then this morning, he was in HNC’s yard for a really long talking. This was right after THE SLUMLORD was out there talking to HNC’s Squirrel-Hating Wife for a good hour, it felt like, and I was definitely sure she made sure to throw me under the bus at least once during that conversation because she is a pathetic hag loser. I don’t even look her way anymore, no more fake niceties. Line in the sand has been drawn and she can stay on her white trash side. So, between that and then Crag holding court out there forever, I got so anxiety-riddled that I made a DO NOT DISTURB, IN MEETINGS sign to tape on the front door just in case someone remembered my existence and decided to come over and ask me something stupid (“Do you want some of these bruised apples or extra cat litter?” is something that has brought HNC to my front door in the past). To be fair, I did have one meeting. While I was taping up the sign, I got to better hear HNC and Crag and here, Crag was over there getting RELATIONSHIP ADVICE and venting about presumably his ex/estranged wife? HNC said something that I couldn’t hear to which Crag replied with a bellowing I DON’T GIVE A FUCK!!!!! that likely sent birds flying away in droves. And then, “How was that?” so I guess HNC told him to do that!? Then I heard HNC say, “Come back anytime” as Crag cheerfully waved and walked back to his house.
    • OMG WHAT IF HENRY GOES TO HNC FOR MARRIAGE ADVICE.
  • I was so annoyed by this and the fact that Slumlord had a giant dumpster delivered to the front yard of his Domestic Abuser Son’s house (rumor has it he’s moving out) so there was all kinds of construction-like commotion that came along with that and I found myself saying out loud that I should just go back to the office because this block stresses me out. NO ONE WORKS ON  THIS STREET IT SEEMS LIKE. My direct next door neighbors do, but everyone else ALWAYS SEEMS TO BE HOME and I don’t think they have “WFH” jobs because no one here seems like an office person, if you know what I mean.
    • Speaking of Domestic Abuser, that girl was back with him last week!!! I was so disgusted. I’m glad I trusted my gut and didn’t get involved after all.
• CRAG LEFT MY WINEGLASSES IN THE MAILBOX AND ONE OF THEM IS CRACKED. Henry said “I WILL SAY SOMETHING TO HIM.” Ugh. I don’t even care. I hate everyone.
• Oh! Yesterday my friend Amber texted me from Kennywood because she told her kids she wanted to get a square ice cream and they were like “what is that, what does it look like” so she googled it and this happened:

OK, well we’re leaving soon for another Glitterbox experience (!!!) but let’s end with a song. This is one of my favorite synthwave songs ever and it makes me feel so sad but also calm in a way? I hope I get to see The Bad Dreamers live at some point (I think it’s just one guy). Wow, I am really emotional today, I hope this clown show helps me lol.

I have a dentist appointment today so that sucks but otherwise, I’m feeling pretty good for a Monday and here’s some reasons why!

1. BLOG, WAKE UP, NEW SHINEE DROPPED!!!

NOTHING makes me feel stoked for summer like new SHINee!! Aside from all the BIGBANG activities, this has been such a bad year for Kpop, at least in my opinion. You know it’s bad when it’s JUNE and I haven’t gone to a single Kpop concert this year! I keep saying I need to start stanning new groups but my heart isn’t in it. I want SHINee, NCT, Seventeen. And of course, I’m saving my coins for BIGBANG. But shit, I woke up at 6:30AM and immediately reached for my phone to watch the new SHINee video and it gave me life. I started to feel like that dormant part of me was starting to break free a little bit! I think 2025 spoiled me as far as Kpop accessibility – I saw SO MANY great Kpop shows last year that it was almost sickening (especially when you consider that TWO OF THOSE WERE G-DRAGON!!!). So, this feels like a gift. I have been straying from Kpop this year because it’s hurt my heart so much (Enhypen and NCT, looking at you guys) + the return of BTS has been so obnoxious and those fans just take the fun out of the genre.

My mom keeps sending me BTS shit to troll me, knowing I go above and beyond to avoid their content, and it’s really actually hurting my feelings.

Wait, this blog post is good vibes only so moving on….

2. RIOT FEST TICKETS HAVE BEEN SECURED!

Henry’s arm was super easy to twist on this one. I bought our 3-day passes Friday morning and then he suggested that Chooch go too. I first thought he meant, like, take Henry’s pass. But he meant no, like all 3 of us should go! Chooch has never been to Riot Fest and it’s the weekend before his next co-op starts BUT he would have to miss the first day so he’s being very adult-like right now and told us, “We will see.” OK, Mr. Robbins. You let us know.

But it would be so much fun if Chooch came with us! He’s never been to Riot Fest and when he looked at the lineup, his interest was piqued.

3. NEW FURNITURE REFURB UNDERWAY

Our old beverage buffet was relocated to the attic lounge to make room for the clown buffet. The old one really drives me nuts because it doesn’t fit the vibe anymore so I came up with a new color scheme and motif and it’s going to be used to hold the record player. Henry was working on scraping off the old paint all weekend and I’m so excited to get started on the beautification process! There will be toy dinosaurs involved! I really love working with Henry on these projects and by that I mean I really love coming up with the ideas and telling him what to do and then going for leisurely walks with an audio book while he’s suffocating on paint thinner.

This is what it used to look like and also, UGH I hate looking at old pictures of this shanty house.

4. HAD A GOOD WEEKEND

I am still floating on fluffy clouds after our quick trip to Cleveland, amazing concert, and genuinely pleasant Saturday and Sunday at home with no plans. We finished season 1 of “From,” which we finally started after Todd had been hounding me about it for years it seems. Really into it! I journaled like a little fucking nerd, and we went on a nice walk around Jefferson Memorial. I still have this annoying sensation of “YOU’RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME” tickling the back of my brain, but I am just trying to ignore it and live day to day and enjoy the fact that we are getting out and doing things and making the most of things.

(Just came back from dentist and got a “LOOKS GOOD!” which is everything to me in my older age where I am obsessed with my gums.)

5. CAME BACK TO ADD A #5!!!

This is how great communication is in my family. People  keep asking me if Chooch is going to come home soon and I always say no because he has been making it seem like he will have no break. But we were just texting and he mentioned that next week is finals week and his friend is leaving to go home and I was like “Wait excuse me, you have a break? Why aren’t you coming home?” and he said, “Because you guys never said you’d buy me a train ticket.”

??????????????????????

So, all of this is supposed to happen psychically?? Well, he’s coming home now, next Saturday for a week! PARTY TIME!!!

1. New Squirrel in the ‘Hood!

This cutie has been visiting occasionally; he has a really cool mix of white, gray, and brown fur. I’ve never seen one like him before! He is a huge bully to the other squirrels though and while we’re on the subject, my crazy witch neighbor was just outside screaming like a lunatic because a squirrel was in her yard and then she proceeded to talk shit on me with the neighbor on the other side of her, who she also talks shit on because “all he does is smoke weed” and she can smell it in their house but she always sucks his ass so hard because he also happens to be the landlord’s son.  I literally have never met a woman so hateful, and it’s actually amazing that she hasn’t had a viral Karen moment yet.

She makes me feel like I’m some kind of reclusive crouched in a dark corner of my house like a freak wearing a cloak of chittering rodents, when there is a literal market out there for squirrel feed, squirrel hammocks, squirrel picnic tables, a guy in California with millions of followers on Insta (INCLUDING CELEBRITIES) who takes care of his neighborhood squirrels. Meanwhile, SHE THROWS BREAD AND VEGETABLES OUT IN THE BACKYARD WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS FEEDING.

She has me so fucking pissed right now that I am shaking and my fingertips feel cold from the stress. I don’t know how HNC stays married to her. Also, can we talk about how she sits on her sidewalk and cuts her crusty-ass toenails?

THE MOST HILARIOUS PART TO ME IS THAT SHE FLIES A FUCKING FLAG IN HER YARD THAT SAYS BE KIND – LOLOLOLOLOL.

2. Boulevard Rainbow

It was raining all morning last Saturday. When it finally slowed to a drizzle, I walked to the library and saw the best kind of rainbow on my way back. :) A nice little reminder that it’s not all doom, gloom and flagrant hate in this world. Even when it seems that way.

Relatedly, I gotta hand it to the old ‘hood for upping their diversity game over the last few years. They have several Black and Latino-owned businesses that have joined good old Las Palmas, the long-standing Pita Land and Tong Garden, plus a new ramen place and Yemeni cafe opening over the last 2 mths. I guess this is why my squirrel-hating neighbor was recently screaming about how SHE NEVER GOES TO THE BOULEVARD ANYMORE, IT’S REALLY GONE DOWNHILL.

Yeah, downhill for racists.

3. PERSERVERENCE

I laughed so hard when I came across this old ass blog post from 2007! That was right around the time I started this blog, after moving away from LiveJournal, so literally for the whole lifespan of this stupid space, I had been dreaming of going to Romania. LOL @ 2007 Erin who seriously thought that maybe “by next summer” my dream would come true. More like “by the next 18 summers…”

I am still a little high on the memories of this trip. It felt like a fever dream (and OK I did have a fever at one point, probably) and I just can’t get over it. It’s also funny to me that the picture I used in that 2007 post is from Sighisoara and I promise you that I had no idea of this at the time, I 100% just googled Romania and grabbed any random picture, I’m sure. But looking at it last week I was like, “WAIT, I posted a picture of Sighisoara??” In case you didn’t read the 2973102937 posts I made about that trip (and who would, really), Sighisoara was my favorite place we visited!

4. BITCH BABY KISSES

Henry and I watched Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen on Netflix and while I really enjoyed it overall, at some point my weird aural fixations crept in, causing me to become acutely aware of how FUCKING ANNOYING THE MAIN COUPLE – Rachel and Nicky – WAS IN NEARLY EVERY SCENE THEY WERE IN TOGETHER. Rachel was so dominant and the way she coddled him drove me up a wall; even the way she kissed him was so bizarrely maternal?! LIKE HE WAS A BABY?? At one point, there was a scene where she kissed him once and then left, causing me to scream, “WAIT, SHE FORGOT TO KISS THE BRIDGE OF HIS NOSE AND THE TIP OF HIS NOSE AND HIS EYE LID AND HIS BROW BONE AND HIS FOREHEAD AND HIS EARLOBE AND BEHIND HIS EAR AND HIS TEMPLE AND THE CROWN OF HIS HEAD.”

Legit drove me up a wall and eventually I started muting it.

It also didn’t end the way I predicted and that made me mad but overall, I thought it was good. Except now I can never watch Adam DiMarco in another show because he was almost the same wishy-washy spineless character in White Lotus too (although it worked a lot better in that show).

The poster design for this is A+ and the music was also chef’s kiss.

5. I DON’T HAVE A FIFTH THING

Genuinely, this week has trashed my mind. But I have some concerts and other fun things coming up (starting tonight!) so hopefully that will put me in a better headspace, which I just realized that I actually was already in until Cuntmaster 5000 next door started running her white trash inbred trap today. Oh well.

I haven’t whipped out a Friday Five like a flaccid penis in a hot minute, so let’s look at some things that I have been expressing mild-to-manic interest in these days, I guess?

1. The LAGUNA BEACH reunion special

Bro. If you know me, you know that tears were springing forth at just the PREVIEW of this show. At just the ANNOUNCEMENT of it. I watched both seasons in real time back in the day (and The Hills!) and have since rewatched both seasons in its entirety and most of The Hills. I did try to watch The Hills reboot a few years ago, which inexplicably featured Micha Barton, but it just didn’t hit the same without Lauren Conrad.

I was Team LC all the way and even now, her LC brand jeans at Kohls are the ONLY jeans I will wear. If she ever stops making them (LOL picturing her in a Laguna sweatshop hand stitching denim) I’ll be cooked. Leggings forever at that point, probably.

And back then, I absolutely hated Kristin Cavallari but over the years, I have really grown to love and appreciate her realness. Watching her and LC squashing the beef (which was perpetuated by MTV, obviously) has been so healing on so many levels?! Henry watched the whole thing with me (yes, he watched all the OG episodes too lol) and was not surprised at all by how hard I was sobbing. It was one of the realest “reality reunion” specials I have ever seen – no fighting, no drama. These people are legitimately friends with each other and the respect they have for each other is so obvious and in some strange way, because everything is on fire, this gave me the tiniest bit of hope for humanity.

2. GOING CRAZY!!!

In the midst of all the “Mark Lee leaving NCT” chaos 2 weeks ago, T.O.P., formerly of BIGBANG :(, released his FIRST NEW MUSIC in over 10 years! It’s probably not a big deal to anyone reading this but bro went THROUGH it. But then he was season 2 of Squid Game, much to the dismay of netizens who wanted him to have no place in the entertainment industry after his (god forbid) marijauna “scandal” in 2017, but it helped put him back out there AND gain Western fans.

Anyway, his album slaps even if it does feel bittersweet with myriad references to BIGBANG being his past. G-Dragon really tried to get him to come back to them but he won’t do it and I respect that but I’m not going to pretend like I’m happy about it!

This video came out last week, and co-stars Nana from After School, and it has been playing on repeat in my head ever since. I sporadically yell 완전미쳤어! to Penelope and the squirrels throughout the day. They respond with an annoyed 아이씨.

I love the video itself too – Nana is perfect in it, and it gives 1960s psychedelic/gonzo film vibes. Blue Sunshine comes to mind specifically. And obviously the Tarantino nods. I also saw an old picture of Bowie wearing a similar back and white suit so this video is just poppin’ off with references. It’s so cinematic!

3. PinkPantheress Appreciation 

OK look I can be pretty out of touch with new music that’s not from, you know, Korea, but I have known about PinkPantheress for the last 5 or so years but only in the context of her being a Kpop stan. At first I was like WHO IS THIS PERSON, WHY IS SHE SIMPING FOR HAECHAN and Chooch was all “Ugh all around the town” because he knew who she was and didn’t like her. Chooch doesn’t like most things, though, so this meant nothing.

However, instead of being annoyed now whenever she pops up in interviews gushing about NCT or whatever, it started to feel kind of cool that she was doing this, and also genuine? Like, she was really trying to put people on to her favorite Kpop groups and that was kind of charming.

Then this morning, I saw a clip on Instagram of her doing some podcast or something, where she was talking about her love for MCR, and how whenever she tried to get people to like MCR, she makes them listen to Early Sunsets over Monroeville, which is from their first album that no one talks about hardly ever but that I loved back when it actually first came out in the early 00s. Anyway, not only did she shout out that song, but the way she spoke about it so passionately, I was like, “OK, this person is a legit music lover” and it really made me see her in a different light. I still have not listened to any of her music but maybe this is my sign to do so!?

I think also I’m just mellowing out so much in my older age that I don’t care anymore about rejecting “sell-out” music or avoiding mainstream “normal” music. I like what I like, and it’s all over the place! But for instance, I used to always sneer at people who liked Justin Bieber back during his “Baby” era. I like, couldn’t comprehend that this child had become a huge pop star because of YouTube. It seemed so inauthentic at the time. And while I am FAR from a Belieber even still, I have liked a lot of his songs over the years and, what that guy has been put through…it brings out a different level of respect, I guess. I was actually really annoyed at some of my friends who were saying things like “How is Bieber headlining Coachella over the Strokes?” and it’s like, how out of touch are you. It’s Justin fucking Bieber. Even I know that’s a bigger deal than the Strokes, whom I forgot even existed. (I said it.) This is either growth or regression, I can’t figure it out. Most people my age are more jaded than ever and I’m over here in the “can’t beat ’em, join ’em” sandbox.

(I still absolutely, openly, and vocally cannot stand Taylor Swift though. Now THAT is an over-hyped bullshit artist, IMHO.)

4. Sighisoara <3

I had one of my Diana photos from Romania printed and framed and I am so smitten with it. It’s from Sighisoara – I miss that cutesie town!

5. GDAE at the DODGERS GAME

G-Dragon and Daesung were at the Dodgers game the other day! It was all over my Instagram and then as soon as I logged on to work the next morning, Nate sent me a picture of it – he is a huge Dodgers fan so our worlds had collided!

I’m just so happy that they’re getting to do fun things while they’re here!

I was thinking, “Wow, GD is dressed so casually for once!” And then I saw this, LOL:

Ugh, I’m so obsessed with him.

Well, that’s all I’ve got. Aside from going to the mall to pick up sunglasses at the Vans store and buy kawaii journals because I’m back in my journaling era, I didn’t do much this week other than work and exercise. But tomorrow we’re going to Columbus for a concert!

I don’t want to be the skunk at the garden party here, so I am going to do my best to scrounge up some positive things to blog about today while news alerts bombard my phone with casualty numbers in the war that Barron Trump is “too tall” to fight in.

• We’re at the point where all the stuff is being re-hung in the bathroom after Henry dragged out a simple wall-painting project into a month-long affair. I ordered a new plate thingie for the outlet today, and last night I added paint to the old Last Supper portrait I bought years ago at a flea market*, which actually kick-started the whole religious theme in the bathroom if I remember correctly. At one of my parties, my friend Amanda (Glenn’s wife) came downstairs after using the bathroom and said that as a person who was raised Catholic, my bathroom made her feel a certain type of way lol. I was listening to the Pens game while painting this and it was stressful and also I was sitting on the floor in a hunchback position and when I went to stand up, I was immediately reminded of my age.
  • *the pictures are missing from this post and I’m too tired/sick of this piece of shit blog to care but here’s what it looked like originally and what it looks like now (ignore the dusty frame – I’m going to paint that too before it gets rehung):

• I am so tempted to go see Nirvanna: The Band The Show The Movie again  –  I am still so obsessed! I watched the web series and am (not so) patiently waiting for the TV episodes to be brought back somewhere, and I have watch Blackberry, Matt Johnson’s biopic about the creation of the Blackberry, which I used to have before I switched to iPhone and boy howdy did I feel guilty sitting there watching it with an iPhone in my lap. Basically, I only want to watch things that Matt Johnson is either in or affiliated with. He is my new favorite person, second only to G-Dragon (my forever #1). I was watching one of the episodes of the web series last week with Henry when I legit started laughing so hard that I peed a little and had to go change but first I paused it and said through tearful wheezes, “HENRY I HAVE A CONFESSION I ONLY LAUGH THIS HARD WHEN I AM READING OLD BLOG POSTS THAT I HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT YOU.” Henry frowned. Not sure if it was because of that egomaniacal admission or the fact that I openly announced that I peed my pants, or a little of both. But all of this is to say that it’s the only sliver of joy that’s been cutting through the doom and gloom of American news these days so THANK YOU Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol.
• I can’t remember if I mentioned this already but I co-signed the lease for Chooch’s new apartment. He’ll be moving in next September with two of his current roommates / friends. It’s his first non-campus residence so I’m super happy for him but depressed for me.  I also was given approx. 1 day’s notice to scramble together a $$$$ security deposit together see also: bye bye tax refund.
• Still going strong with Duolingo but I’m annoyed because this streak should be even greater and I will never ever forget losing TWO STREAKS in 2018 and 2019 when – IRONICALLY – traveling to Korea because of the DUMB TIME CHANGE. Both of those times, I had over a year streak. So if you want to get technically, and I do, my streak is probably closer to 3,000 days!!! U G H.

• Henry and I went to Duffy’s on Saturday to peruse the beers and saw Chris’s (Kara’s husband) collab with East End Brewing out in the wild so that was fun! Plus, I got two Mister Softee collabs with…I forget the brewery now. I tried one already – an IPA – and it was OK but you better believe I kept the label! Speaking of, I’ve been just slapping beer can labels that speak to me in an artistic sense into the back of a random notebook but now I’m wondering – SHOULD I GET A BLANK JOURNAL TO USE JUST FOR THIS? I mean, why not add ANOTHER journal to the mix, right?

• One of my favorite non-Kpop bands announced a rare tour and I am so stoked that, after loving The Black Queen and their amazing album Fever Daydream, I am finally going to see them live in May! Chooch said he doesn’t know a single one of their songs and I truly don’t know how that could be because he was living at home for most of my obsession with them and they provide THE SOUNDTRACK to “driving to haunted houses” every fall, so wtf, dear son?? I made Margie listen to one of their songs at work AND SHE LIKED IT. I take any win I can get these days as a washed-up trend setter, lol. Anyway, Henry is prepared for me to sob through this whole show.

• Todd asked me the other day what Henry’s last name is and then started calling me Erin Robbins. I was like, “WHOA, NO. I DID NOT TAKE HIS NAME!”  I told Todd that if I were to go through the rigmarole of legally changing my last name (and risk losing my right to vote?! no thanks), I’d change it to Appledale because years ago, and I mean years ago, we were on our way to Lakemont Park I believe and passed a sign for “Appledale Farms” and I have used that as my last name on social media ever since (even had a photography shop on Etsy called Appledale!). Todd said that at one time, that might have been a surprising insight into my life but knowing me as long as he has at this point, he’s like, “that makes sense.”
  • This made me recall a time when I won free tickets to a concert at Mr. Smalls on Instagram and when I went to the will call window, they were like, “Yeah, nice try but we don’t have an Erin Kelly on the list” and I was panicking but then when I pulled up the DM to prove that I was a winner, it occurred to me that they had me down as Erin Appledale and yes, yes they did. Crisis averted!
• Still waiting for BIGBANG to announce their comeback tour….I have NO KPOP CONCERTS lined up for 2026 and this feels so strange and unusual. I’m glad I have other concerts to look forward to but…Kpop concerts bring me so much joy and my heart feels so empty without it.

My life hasn’t felt boring at all lately until I sit down to write in this dumb thing and then I’m just like, OK all I want to do is go on and on about Nirvanna the Band the Show like I’m getting paid to endorse them, like Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol are the official sponsors of this piece of shit blog, like my blog posts have their movie trailers embedded in the middle. Another thing for people to complain about!

Well, on that note, I’m out. Henry is rehanging more stuff in the bathroom and I need to go and supervise. Penelope, grab my hardhat.

Some things I’m thinking about today:

CARDAMOM BUNS

• Pittsburgh having no good places to get good cardamom cinnamon rolls (spoiled by Scandinavia).

THE BLACK QUEEN

• The Black Queen is touring for the 10th anniversary of Fever Daydream and I got tickets for the Cleveland date in May!

NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE

• Thanks to Chooch, I am fully obsessed with Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol now. I can’t remember that last time I was THIS STOKED on a movie, maybe not since THE PUFFY CHAIR and if you knew me in my mumblecore era, you know that I wanted to wrap myself up in that movie and take it to bed with me. Nirvanna: The Band, The Show, The Movie is doing this same thing to me. I get easily swept up in music but it takes A LOT for me to practically want to join a street team for a fucking movie. This one just really got into that sweet spot of my brain and has been suckling away on my head juices ever since. It’s so niche. It’s such an odd vibe. It is NOT going to hit for everyone. But the jokes landed for me. Even without knowing anything about these guys and their web series from back in the day – I freaking CARED and was so invested.

GO TEAM CANADA

• Olympic hockey has me so stressed out. I am dreading the mens gold medal game tomorrow. I truly dislike the USA team (the Tkachucks can get Tkafucked) and want Team Canada to win so badly because as a Pittsburgher, I’m morally obligated to root for Sidney Crosby and also I just love their team more in general. I thought I would have a hard time rooting for American athletes this time around but so many of them were speaking up and out and I loved that, it was inspirational and made me feel like maybe the rest of the world will hate us less hearing from these athletes that they love their country but not the administration. That helped me retain some semblance of patriotism for the sake of the Olympics.

KID ROCK, INEXPLICABLY

• In the wake of all the Superbowl half time hullaballoo, Chooch was sending me reels making fun of the ToiletPaperUSA redneckpalooza which inspired me to tell him one of the many FUN FACTS about me which he definitely does not consider “fun” nor anything worthy of the definition “fact.” I’m pretty sure his response was just “wow” so I will share it with my ghost friends here on OHE. But all of this KID ROCK bullshit (literally, when has Kid Rock ever been in the news this much, it’s so fucking weird) sparked a shameful memory in me and I felt like I needed to confide in Chooch who clearly did not think this was anything that major….

  It was 1998. I was 18/19 and clearly struggling to find my identity as we all are at that age, sheesh! I was hanging out with guys who honestly fit the bill of date rapists but my red flag reader was not yet fully charged so all I thought was that they were cool and they listened to bands like KORN and LIMP BIZKIT so I did too by association. I actually genuinely liked Korn for a few years, I’m not too cool for school and can be honest about this.

  That autumn, I had gone to this tattoo shop out in Butler, PA (also known as the place where DONALD TRUMP SQUIRTED KETCHUP ON HIS EAR) and befriended (albeit briefly) the tattoo artist / owner and the piercer. They had invited me to the upcoming KORN FAMILY VALUES tour at the Civic Arena but for some reason, I was busy and couldn’t go (I didn’t have a job then so god only knows what my plans were).

  Anyway, when I told Chooch this, I was like, ‘I WAS SO CLOSE TO SEEING KID ROCK BUT LUCKILY I DODGED THAT BULLET, IT DIDN’T EVEN FAKE-GRAZE MY EAR’ but then out of curiosity, I looked up the tour info to see who else was there – AND KID ROCK WAS NOT IN THE LINEUP! I was telling Henry this and he goes, “Yeah, but he was at that one festival we went to in Wisconsin a long time ago” and, panic-stricken, I cried, “WE DIDN’T ACTUALLY SEE HIM THOUGH DID WE??” Henry laughed and said no. W H E W.

That was my Kid Rock story.

Well, that’s all for me today. Back to micromanaging Henry’s bathroom painting project. One of the paint colors is Pink Pout and every time I have complained or whined about something today, Henry has muttered, “You picked the right paint color” LOL. I pouted so hard in the cemetery today that I did my signature teenage brat fast-walking/stamping back to the car while Henry continued his casual gait yards behind me. (I’m also pms’ing so please leave your HENRY IS A SAINT comments to yourself. – Management.)

I just realized after my last book recap that I didn’t share my top books of 2025! I think I usually do 10 but I honestly don’t know if there were 10 clear picks for this past year.

As I probably mentioned before, I generally do not purchase books because I have TOO MUCH STUFF. But one day I hope to have enough space for a big ol’ bookshelf. That being said, one of the criteria for me giving a book 5 stars is: if I had a bookshelf, would I purchase this book? These are all big ass YESES. Other criteria:

• did the writing style itself blow me away while simultaneously making me jealous that I didn’t write it?
• did it have unforgettable characters?
• would I recommend this to anyone?
• did I completely crumble emotionally?

In no particular order, these all met that criteria:

1. Things Don’t Break on Their Own by Sarah Easter Collins

Big thanks to my friend Lindsey for recommending this one to me, it was fantastic. I love thrillers but very rarely do I find any 5 stars in that genre, but give it a literary fiction bent and now we’re talking. I thought this was beautifully written, with a dual timeline that kept me guessing.

2. The Wedding People by Alison Espach

I felt like I was INSIDE of this book the entire time I was reading it, found myself sneaking chapters when I was working, literally HEARING these characters speaking in my head. I never wanted it to end. It was authentically funny but also made me sob.

3. I See You’ve Called in Dead by John Kenney

I remember having no idea really what this book was about but the audiobook was available and I needed something to listen to on my walks. This book was so FUNNY and engaging right off the bat that I probably could have walked all day into the night until it was finished. Quirky, original, but also very heartbreaking and real. I laughed out loud while crying at the same time. That is talented writing.

4. My Friends by Fredrik Backman

I mean, it’s Fredrik Backman. If you don’t already know then you better teach yourself.

5. Heart the Lover by Lily King

So…Lily King. Her writing makes me feel so fanatical that I start getting really crazy thoughts, like, “I SHOULD GET THIS BOOK COVER TATTOOED ON MY RIBS” – these are the unhinged I NEED TO DO THE MOST type of ideas I generally reserve for bands of which I AM THE #1 FAN, NOTICE ME. I finished this book, was sobbing, and felt so frantic like I needed to send smoke signals or shoot flares into the sky to announce my having finished an incredible book AND I JUST GAVE IT 5 STARS, PITTSBUGH PEOPLE WONDERING WHY THERE ARE GAS STATION PARKING LOT-PURCHASED FIRECRACKERS EXPLODING ON PIONEER AVE.  I mean, I was practically PANTING AND RIPPING THE NECKLINE OF MY SHIRT, my need to wail about this book akin to a full moon for a lycanthrope. It is so – FUCK. It is just so good.

Anyway, those are my top 5 books from 2025. Let me know which ones had you howling at the moon last year!

I think I mentioned this already but we made Chooch sign up for a student HBO account so I could watch Heated Rivalry (lol it’s so good and I would like to add that those two actors have way more palpable chemistry than Emily* has had with ANY guy they pair her up with in Paris OR Rome!!) but then Henry and I started watching The Pitt because Chooch told us to and I am always doing what he says because I so desperately want him to think I’m cool and to have things in common with him.

*(Soft swerve, but I’m officially over with Emily in Paris. It’s the same shit, different city!)

I will admit – I HATED THE FIRST EPISODE. And not just because I’m queasy and have to spend most of the time looking away when it’s a medical show, but I thought the writing was corny AF. I think I was just hypercritical from the start though because this is a Pittsburgh based show and I was ready to sit on my throne and judge. But then after the first 2 episodes, I started warming up to some of the characters and became sucked in. It just wasn’t instant. Sometimes, you gotta let these things sink in organically you know?

Anyway, in honor of Friday, here are 5 things that I had to say now that we’re caught up and into season 2:

1. JESSE

Hi, hello. This is the best character on the whole damn show. I told Chooch and he said, “WHO” because if we’re being real, Jesse is kind of an NPC but if you really watch him in the background, he is generally the only one who is giving a believable medical performance. When I googled him to find a picture to send to Chooch after his rude “WHO” response, I learned that the guy who plays Jesse is actually a real nurse, so this makes so much more sense!

2. Posh McDonalds

There is this one storyline with a patient who is trying to hide the fact that she’s unhoused and she says something about McDonald’s who cares why, and the doctor (WHO IS ON TO HER, BTW) tricks her by saying, “Wow, the McDonald’s must be really nice where you live in Shadyside, huh?” because she has Shadyside as her address and that’s like, one of THOSE areas. I whipped my head around to gape at Henry and yelled, “AS IF SHADYSIDE EVEN HAS A MCDONALD’S!” I mean, correct me if I’m wrong any local readers, but I don’t think they do!? And even if they did, it would probably still suck. Maybe I’m just being bitch eating crackers over here, but that annoyed me. (Mostly because the doctor who says this is one of my least favorite characters on the show – SHE IS SO ANNOYING GO BACK TO ACTING WITH CHUCKY.)

3. EDGEFest

The first episode of the second season of The Pitt opens to a song by a local Pgh band called THE CLARKS. As far as local bands go, it could be worse. But they’re actually not too bad and have been around for—at least the 90s? In 1997, I was working at Olan Mills as a telemarketer and the morning shift manager always had our classic rock station playing so to this day, if I hear The Clarks’ “Penny on the Floor,” I immediately hear Linda singing it with robust bravado.

But The Clarks story I want to tell here today – it isn’t that great because I told a work friend on Teams the other day and she was like OK – is about the time in the early 00s when Henry and I went to Buffalo, NY for a music festival called Edgefest. (Their alt radio station was/is The Edge. Come on, guys, try to keep up.) I had gone several times and I want to say the big draw for me this particular year was The Tea Party. I had never seen them before and they alone were worth the drive. The Clarks were also in the lineup for that year’s Edgefest, so good for them! Always nice to see a local band getting some out-of-town love.

I bought an Edgefest t-shirt and had gotten some of other bands there to sign it (sadly, I’m not even sure I still have this shirt…), so I had it in my arms when Henry and I were walking up a hill only to run smack into Scott, The Clarks frontman. I wouldn’t really call myself a fan by any means but I felt compelled to show him some hometown love so as he about to pass by, I stopped him and said we were from Pittsburgh. I remember him being very nice and offering to sign my shirt because he misunderstood me and thought that we had come to Edgefest JUST for The Clarks. I didn’t have the heart to correct him though – he such a nice guy!

Before I close the loop on #3, I want to go back to that Season 2 opener because in addition to being soundtracked by The Clarks, the scene also has Noah Wyle riding a motorcycle to work behind a pick-up truck with American flags billowing in the breeze. UGH. “Great now everyone thinks Pittsburgh is MAGA,” I cried to Henry. We do have the distinction of being about an hour away from the site of the fabricated assassination attempt, though.

Anyway, this was the song that played in The Pitt:

4. Excuse me, what accent now?

The head nurse lady, Dana, is another one of my favorite characters and I think the actor that plays her is so great in this role. But….well. She has this accent, right? It was really bothering me all during season 1, and I would say out loud, “WHAT ACCENT IS THAT??” I eventually settled on fishing town in Maine. But then last night, I was like, “No, this is ridiculous, I need to know” because she doesn’t talk like that in real life. So I Googled “Dana The Pitt accent” thinking maybe her character’s backstory has her moving to Pittsburgh for college from Boston, I don’t fucking know, you know how they usually have backstories online somewhere. But instead, a Reddit thread came up and you guys.

Hold on, I have to compose myself.

You guys. According to the comments….

….it’s supposed to be….

…a Pgh accent. Like, a Yinzer dialect.

Um. As someone who was born and raised here, that is NOT that. Like, not even close. Henry sent me a video from her on the Today Show where she was talking about her struggle to learn it (I don’t doubt that it’s a struggle because as I mentioned, I was born and raised here but JUST FAR OUT ENOUGH IN THE ‘BURBS that I managed to avoid picking up one for myself and I cannot for the life of me imitate it) and whoever the fuck was interviewing her said, “Well, you nailed it.”

No, I’m sorry, no offense to this actor and her skills but she didn’t nail anything because whatever accent she came up with does not send chills down my spine like a true Yinzer accent does.

5. ADDITIONAL SUNDRY

• Guy who has a table tennis tournament in South Park doesn’t say South Park like how someone here would say South Park.
• A guy chokes on broccoli at PAMELA’S DINER which is one of my favorite places to have breakfast with Jeannie and Wendy. Really, they had to drag Pamela’s like that??
• DR. LANGDON
• I feel like they reference New Castle more than is necessary.
• Annoying Primanti’s shout out.
• I’m pretty sure they refer to the T as “the train” at one point too and we do not do that here. Trolley? Sure. Train or subway? Never.

OK, you’re dismissed. If anyone needs a Pgh expert to advise on Pgh projects, you know where to find me. (Unless it involves questions about the Steelers, the Pirates, the Steel Industry, the rivers, directions…)

Haven’t done one of these in a minute. Here we go.

1. FUCK ICE

2. FUCK ICE

3. FUCK ICE

4. F   U   C   K        I   C   E

5. FUCK ICE

After a miserable day of travel, we are home! And I have been wide awake since 2AM ofc. Just some quick thoughts off the cuff because I missed blogging so much but I didn’t bring my laptop with me and I absolutely hate trying to blog from my phone:

• I miss Romania but am so so so so so happy and content to be sitting here at 5:55AM with my precious Penelope purring on my lap <3
• Happy to have A CUP OF COFFEE – “long blacks” are not for me!
• My favorite Depeche Mode song – It’s No Good – came on in the rental car (I miss that car) at 3:30AM on the way to the Bucharest airport yesterday and now I will forever associate it with Romania. I have only ever heard that song out in the wild once before and that was a million years ago at lunch with Kara, Chris, and Christina at The Library.
• Henry dumped half of his chicken tikka masala all over him on the flight from London to DC and I was so embarrassed. He just sat there with a clump of it in his fist while he continued to shovel more in his mouth and then he stunk like a food truck for the rest of the day.
• “We” drove 1,111 miles through Romania!
• I can’t choose a favorite part but I truly fell in love with the Maramures region and Sighisoara.
• Rural Romania has a HUGE amount of stray dogs, alarming even. I wanted to take them all home. (Even the vicious ones that tried to attack our car from the road.)
• I came back weighing a few ounces less than I did when we left thanks to whatever food poisoning / stomach virus I contracted last Thursday – it’s always something with me! I am still not right.
• Turns out that Henry and I actually can travel without Chooch as a buffer and get along mostly OK! (I mean, there were moments, and let’s just say that when we were seated in different rows from each other on our last flight home last night, I counted that as a blessing, lol.
• The only thing I found actually super overrated on the MOST DO list from all the “travel vloggers” was this bookstore. I was so stoked to see it but it was just…I dunno. A bookstore. BUT!!! A non-radio song by The Cure came on while we were there and I was like, “OK, this the vibe.” But if not for that, I wouldn’t have stayed there for more than a few minutes.
• I would go back to Romania in a heartbeat – especially to explore some of the other regions we didn’t have time for. I’d like to see Timisoara and Constanta / the beaches. The Black Sea. And definitely do the Maramures drive again. It was absolutely breathtaking. BUT!!! Korea is still bae. Korea is still where I would live if I wasn’t a person lacking the ability to get rid of her  “things.” (You’re a pack rat, Erin. Call it by its name.) (OK thanks but I prefer MAXIMALIST.)
• I have never traveled somewhere before where both there and back flights were so incredibly botched. I know it could have been way worse and we could have been faced with full on cancellations, but it was a headache both ways and I am actually so glad Chooch wasn’t there because he and I would have easily feasted off each other’s frustrations and irritability, and it would have been so much worse.
• Romanian pop music is chef’s kiss. We went to bed every night with one of the music video channels on and there were times when a song would arouse me from a deep sleep because it was that good. My Shazam got a ton of use!
• 1,111 miles and probably 1,111 new photos on my camera roll now.
• We stayed in some of the most memorable guest houses ever and I’m so glad we went that route over hotels.
• I sent so many texts to Chooch that started with, “OMG you would be so embarrassed if you were right now – [insert one of the many embarrassing things Henry did here].”
• Gelato is huge in Romania. My favorite flavor that I tried was rice pudding with prunes from Vice Cream in Bucharest- DON’T HATE. It was delicious.
• Once again, every airport personnel / TSA agent we encountered both there and back were lovely EXCEPT  THE ONES IN PITTSBURGH. Literally some of the nastiest, looking-for-an-argument people I have ever encountered have been employed at the Pgh International Airport. They get our trips off on the wrong foot every single time. This time I got ridiculed by some asshole who, as I was waiting for my turn to go through the body scanner, opened a door and yelled at me to “slide over.” There was a person in a wheelchair to my right so I assumed she was asking me to move out of the way so that the person in the wheelchair could go through the door she opened, so I took a step back and she yelled, “NOW WHERE DID SHE GO????” because she evidently wanted me to move over and go through a different scanner instead of the full body one because the line was getting too long. MAYBE USE YOUR FUCKING WORDS THEN, BITCH because to me “slide over” meant “get out of the way of the oncoming wheelchair.” I feel sorry that these people are affected by the shut-down but the truth is, a lot of them are always this fucking rude. (In Pgh, anyway.) I still said HAVE A NICE DAY!! to every single one of them, though. And not even ironically.
• For as annoying as those “perpetually connected” bottle caps are in Europe, I was super annoyed this morning when I untwisted my bottle of American water and I had to chase down the cap after it frisbee’d out of my fingers and went rolling across the floor.
  • (My favorite water brand in Romania was BORSEC, by the way. I just let Henry know that he can buy me a 6-pack of the 50.7 oz bottles for $29.99 on Amazon.)
    • (But, fuck Amazon.)
• The agent we got at the MPC line in Dulles was so nice in a very laidback way. He asked questions about why we were in Romania (yes, I know, it’s his job but he made it feel like he was genuinely interested) and even asked, “Did you go to Castle Bran?” HELL YEAH WE DID. Henry let me answer the questions thank god and as we walked away, I said, “And that’s how you do it.” HE IS THE WORST AT ANSWERING THESE BANAL QUESTIONS!
• I don’t know what’s in the tap water in Romania and while it renders it unsuitable to drink, it was incredible for my hair. Every day was a good hair day, it was amazing. 11/10, would happily wash my hair in Romania again any day.

Get stoked for what will likely be several mths of dragged out vacation recaps, you know how I do.

Bullet point post? Sure, OK.

• I tried to be strong and ignore the fact that Wonho is doing a North America tour but even Henry was like, “I mean…” Granted, I still had to sweet talk him a bit because we are hemorrhaging money – but concerts are my life force. Even more so now than ever. I got very reasonably priced tickets during the fan presale on Monday and I guess now we’re going back to Toronto next month. But it’s Wonho! And he is worth it.
• In my dream last night – I know, I know, dream recaps are so lame – I had decided to go back to college. Like, at the age I am now, but I was literally living on campus in similar student housing that Chooch has this year but much older and dated. I had several roommates and I think it was coed. ANYWAY, prior to this, Henry had taken me out to get groceries and then we met our friend Brittany (sans Todd) at some place for lunch. There were other people there I didn’t know, but I had leftovers so I was stoked to have food for later. Because, college student. But then later that night after Henry left me for home, I realized that I left everything – the groceries and leftovers – somewhere AND HAD NOTHING. Oh, the way my panic was so palpable that the first hour of my morning was fucked today after I woke up. It was so bad. And on top of that, I was running away from a skunk that was unlike any skunk I have seen but when I got back to the apartment building, I heard the fire alarm going off and I was trying to stop one of my roommates from going in but it turns out she was mad at me because she allegedly heard me “talking about her” when she was in the room and I didn’t know it, so I had anxiety over that and was trying to back-pedal, and then she said, “Besides, the fire already happened.” Then it turned it out I was there for some undercover assignment, but I wanted to go home and I felt so lonely and trapped. I told Henry this and he said, “Yeah, I can see the food part totally happening IRL though, you depend on me.” Wow.
  • Cool story, Erin.
• Saturday night, Henry and I had finally* finished the final episode of Squid Game and I was so traumatized, then I opened Insta to a post of an empty cat bed and immediately knew that this cat I follow – Ella – had died. I started sobbing before I even read the caption. All of this happened in the minute it took Henry to go to the bathroom so he returned to find me crying on the couch. He looked so confused, so I wailed, “A CAT I FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM DIED.” This is why I hate social media pet accounts! I mean, Chooch ran one for Drew and it’s just … there now.
  • *I could only watch one episode every few weeks because I’d have to mentally steel myself each time. That was one of the hardest shows I have ever endured.
  • Speaking of Drew, I cried big and hard over her this morning. Grief comes back to bite us when we least expect it. And for some reason, ever since she died, Foreigner’s “Waiting for a Girl Like You” and Cutting Crew’s “I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight” are impossible for me to listen to without feeling every ounce of my body ache with sadness. I don’t know why I relate these to her now but they used to be two of my favorite songs and the radio shockingly plays both VERY often. The Foreigner song came on around 5AM one day last week and rocked me out of a deep sleep. I just lay there in bed trying not to cry and feeling like I was trapped in the worst nightmare.
    • I still keep her food bowl next to Penelope’s. </3
• Speaking of Penelope! She is a very good girl, the best girl, and I am dreading leaving her for 10 days.

• My backyard friends have also been doing well. I think Girl Buddy 2.0 had babies but I don’t know where her nest is now! We haven’t had babies around here since spring so I’m hoping to see some little ones here soon. Additionally, I also have a bun-bun who follows me around now.
• Well, I thought I wasn’t going to have anything else to say tonight but then I went upstairs to start packing and saw that MOTHERFUCKING HENRY had taken the jeans that I FOLDED IN A REALLY COOL WAY THAT I LEARNED BY WATCHING A YOUTUBE SHORT YESTERDAY AND SAID TO HIM, “I FOLDED MY OWN JEANS IN A REALLY COOL WAY THAT I LEARNED BY WATCHING A YOUTUBE SHORT” only to see that HE TOOK THOSE JEANS, UNFOLDED THEM AND ROLLED THEM. WTF?? Yes, I lost my shit because:
  • It was hard for me to do!
  • I can’t just “do it again” because I ALREADY FORGOT HOW
  • the whole point is that ONCE AGAIN IT PROVES THAT HE DOES NOT FUCKING LISTEN TO ME. I stood in front of him so proud and told him that I had folded them!
  • I DON’T FUCKING CARE IF YOU THINK THIS IS PETTY. THIS IS A BATTLE THAT I CHOOSE TO FIGHT I AM NOT WALKING AWAY FROM IT.
  • He tried to get MAD AT ME for BEING MAD AT HIM and no hahaha uh uh motherfucker that’s not how this is going to work here.
    • I DON’T EVEN WANT TO GO NOW.

UPDATE: Henry apologized and watched the video on how to fold jeans and refolded them for me lol.

Another week down, yay.

Here are some things, if I can muster up 5 it will be a huge accomplishment as I have not left the house since Sunday haha. (I mean, I have gone outside for walks but that is it; even therapy was telehealth this week.)

1. THE PLAYLIST

My friend Lyda said that some of the songs I have sent over the last several mths have been coming up on her Spotify while she’s at the gym and she was inspired to get into Kpop (!!!) so she asked me to MAKE HER A PLAYLIST. Yo. Do you even know how excited this made me? The girl who used to make mixtapes and mix CDs practically as a side gig?? I giddily sat down the other night and started a Kpop 101 playlist for her, with all the old, the new, the in-between, the legends, the one-offs, etc. I was so in the zone, and even Henry was like, “let me see what you have so far” and then immediately said, “I’d remove Ko Ko Bop” because for some reason he has always hated that song – all the more reason to keep it.

Anyway, I sent it to her later that night and then yesterday at work, she messaged me, “THAT PLAYLIST IS ALMOST 8 HOURS LONG!” And I was like, “Oh god, here we go. I scared another one away.”

But then she added: “I love it.”

I mean, OK. I got carried away a little, but do you know how much that meant to me? For 10 years I have been living a lonely solo stan life (ok I have Henry as a co-stan, it’s not that dire), so I was so stoked to share this. Of course she lives in freaking Washington (as in, THE STATE on the OTHER SIDE OF THE COUNTRY) so I still have only Henry to go to Kpop concerts with me, sorry Henry.

(Whatever, he loves it!)

2. SPEAKING OF FRIENDS

In therapy, we have been talking about my struggle with opening up to new people / putting up walls / and how that really impedes upon fostering deeper & more meaningful friendships out of acquaintances.  While on that subject, she asked, “You mentioned that an old friend from your past reached out recently. How is that going?”

Which made me realize I never talked about that here, oh dearest diary, doth thou forgive me, but I have been casually texting with my old friend Brian here and there since June and it’s been OK but I just don’t know. I will see how it feels when/if we eventually meet up in person (I haven’t seen him since…2015?? 2014??). Even Henry has been gently pushing this. I really want it to be like old times but realistically I am sure that’s not going to be the case because that is a lot time that has passed! I’m not the same person and I am sure he isn’t either. But thinking about all of the fun times we had as basically kids, it really hurts my heart. I want that back!

As it stands, he texted me some lamps he was interested in and asked for my opinion, and my therapist said that was a good sign that he was trying to involve me.

See also: SHOULD I START POSTING ON LIVEJOURNAL AGAIN AND LOOK FOR FRIENDS THERE??? I haven’t had any drama lately, might be time to stir the pot!

3. ESCALATORS

I have always had this huge fear of escalators – I mean, I will use them but I’m not happy about it and I get super clenched every time. This fear originates from when I was probably 4 years old and in Atlantic City with my family. We were going up on an escalator (probably in a casino) and my SHOELACE GOT CAUGHT YOU GUYS. I was fucking screaming but MY PAPPAP rescued me -he was always my hero, so many times during the 16 short years he was in my life. Anyway, I have never ever forgotten that moment.

And then there was the time we were at one of the two-level Kohl’s when Chooch was really little, maybe a toddler, and he fell on the escalator and thank god Henry was there (also a hero) because my legs went all Jell-O and my PTSD came back in full force. Thankfully Chooch was OK. (I forget the extent of the situation because obviously all I remember is how it affected ME, thank you very much.)

I get nervous watching people take strollers on escalators. Running on escalators. Doing pranks on escalators. Those things just scream DANGER!!! to me.

But suddenly…I now love escalators!

4. G-DRAGON MARMALADE

These Paris fancams have been giving me life this week ESPECIALLY his “Too Bad” dance break which had a mash-up of Lady Marmalade! I love this nod to Moulin Rouge! In the US, he used Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” for his dance break, I assume as a shout out to his friend Pharrell. But this one is SUCH A VIBE. And his blue hair!!! And new Chanel suit! Jesus, I miss this man so much.

5. KASH PATEL IS SUCH AN UNEDUCATED DICKHEAD

And he talks like a middle school bully just popped him in the nose after stealing his lunch money and slamming his fingers in his locker.

This administration is full of caricature of comic book villains I fucking swear to god and if I didn’t worry about blood pressure I would be blogging about this shit every day but instead I just scream about it to Henry.

****

And with that, I’m going to watch some Haunted Hotel eps on Netflix and drink a thimble of beer.

In a weird state, what else is new, so here are some…uplifting?…things that are currently…uplifting?…me.

1. DORA MAAR!!

Every so often, this song will pop into my head and I run to YouTube to see if it’s still there. I can’t remember how I had originally heard of this song – probably MySpace or Purevolume – but Henry’s oldest son, Robbie, and I were obsessed with it back in the day. I honestly want to say this even pre-dates Chooch. I don’t have the mp3 anymore so when one of the band members uploaded this to YouTube 10 years ago, I was absolutely stoked. In fact, you can see my comment from 9 years ago just dangling there.

You know I love Kpop nearly exclusively these days but this stuff will always have room in my heart!

2. UPCOMING CONCERTS!

September was oddly devoid of shows (I mean, 2 back-to-back G-Dragon concerts + Enhypen in August was pretty good to tide me over though!), but we have some good stuff coming up!

• COLD in October with Wonka & Jess!
• JOHNNIE GUILBERT in November in Columbus!
• PVRIS – this one is a solo show for me in December, like the old days.
• KEY!!!!!!!! in Chicago also in December! I’m really stoked about this one. SHINee is right up there with BIGBANG in my heart and I have never seen them, and now will never get the change to see them as OT5. But I can now say that I have seen Taemin (twice if you count SuperM), Onew, and now Key so that only leaves Minho if we’re playing the “collect all the SHINee” game.

3. plantball update

On Saturday, Ikea plantballs impregnated me with gas, bloating, the feeling of invisible Viking swords piercing through me. It was awful. But happily, I returned to normal the next day (I announced to Henry that I “gave birth” to the plantballs and he was like, “Wha—-? Oh.”) Anyway, I am only bringing this up because Sunday morning I was in the bedroom and there was a fucking commercial for IKEA on the radio and they were like, “AND DON’T FORGET THE MEATBALLS” or something and I almost puked. Then later that day, I had YouTube on but wasn’t paying attention until someone said, “I’ve only ever had Swedish meatballs from IKEA” and I snapped to attention. WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN.

4. A Post Script to the Beer Can Odyssey

Click that hyperlink if you don’t know what I’m talking about because at this point, I am so over this Penn Brouhaha.

Back in I guess July, I got a new follower on Instagram and a comment on a picture I had posted from Kennywood earlier that summer. The commenter was a local guy named Brian and he was commenting to say that he stumbled upon my blog post recounting how difficult it was to obtain all 8 Kennywood beer cans from Penn Brewery and came to commiserate because he too was having no luck finding the two “secret” cans. He said after seeing how frustrating it was for me, he decided to just give up.

But! Because I am a nice person (some may have words about this), I offered to give him a can each from the two six packs I had to buy in order to complete the set. Luckily for this guy, Henry and I weren’t wild about the beers so we only drank one of each six pack to get the empty cans and put the rest in the fridge. Turns out this guy is a local historian who has written some books on Kennywood and other ‘Burgh things, and he also works at the Heinz History Center (which was voted #1 history center in the country, in case you need more confirmation that Pittsburgh is alright). He was actually  trying to get the full set of the Kennywood cans for the history center, and I was so happy to help him! Henry actually dropped them off though because it was during the week and easier for him to do it. He said the guy was really cool, and he gave us some of his books, a huge Kennywood banner for Aero360, and some passes to the history center! I was not expecting anything in return, was happy enough to just prevent someone else from going through the hairpulling search and having to engage with Penn Brewery  – who, I should note, found my blog post and sent me a DM on Instagram apologizing for the hassle and offering me a gift card, which I appreciated but I did not respond because:

1. I am moderately embarrassed that they caught me Karen’ing on the Internet (I always forget people sometimes read this trash!) and
2. I am not the type of person who complains about stuff just to get something free in return. I truly did not enjoy the beer I had there and would feel like an asshole going back for freebies. That makes me feel gross just thinking about it. So I guess don’t let my Negative Nancy review deter you from drinking their beer. And whoever is in charge of their social media is a lot friendlier than the staff they have at the bar, so there’s that too.

Oh! This is also funny because at the same time they responded to me on IG, Janna texted me and said that they had finally responded to her Instagram DM that she sent a month prior – I got her text and their DM at the same time and groaned because if they read my post, then they knew I TOLD JANNA TO MESSAGE THEM. Ugh, this was one of the dumbest situations I have found myself in lately, that has literally no impact at all on my life or your life or their life but it was still embarrassing to be in the middle of it.

5. Acetaminophen

EVEN I CAN PRONOUNCE THAT ONE. (It’s Ibuprofen that I struggle with lol.) What a fucking week and it’s only Tuesday.

OK, that’s all. Dismissed.