My fragile VIP heart is so full today! My ultimate favorites BIGBANG finally had their time to shine last night at Coachella. They were supposed to headline in 2020 and well, we all know what happened in 2020! Then they lost two members and between all of the scandals and backlash, G-Dragon’s hiatus, etc., it seemed like the possibility of a BIGBANG comeback was never going to happen. But it’s their 20th anniversary this year and they made their official comeback at COACHELLA.

IN AMERICA.

The last act to perform on the Outdoor Theater at 10:30PM on a Sunday, not headliners anymore, and still pulled THIS CROWD:

YouTube livestreamed it and I thought for sure my old lady ass was going to have to miss it, but I decided to go to bed early and then Henry woke me up at 1:25AM, saying, “Hey….five minutes.”

My eyelids shot open and I sat up like I was on a string. Grabbed my glasses and went downstairs to wait on the couch for it to start and when I say my heart was RACING.

I of course REALLY got into Kpop toward the end of 2016, and this was essentially the end of BIGBANG’s golden reign. They all began enlisting in the military shortly after. Then T.O.P. had his “scandal” which almost killed him. Then Seungri revealed his true colors with an ACTUAL scandal.

I long ago gave up hope of ever seeing them live. Whether as a 4 person group or 3 at this point, it was seeming less and less likely.

But this! It simultaneously made me feel unwell while also being healed?! I watched the whole hour and fifteen minutes with my hand on my heart, trying not to pass out. Henry watched the whole thing too – we both sat there quietly, no commentary. Then I just started sobbing, lol.

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This morning, it was the first thing I thought of when I woke up.  I immediately started scrolling through IG and Threads and was so happy to see how much praise they have been getting. The Kings of KPOP are back. They did that.

“Haru Haru” made me nostalgic for a time in Korea I didn’t actually live through. It BROKE me. Especially without T.O.P. Respect his wishes but jfc I really hope that one day he changes his mind and comes back.

Taeyang and G-Dragon performing “Good Boy”? Stop.

Daesung BRINGING KOREAN TROT TO FUCKING COACHELLA? He did that shit.

I have been so stoked all day (OK, while also slipping into sporadic sob sessions too!) and for the first time in years, I feel that old joy I used to get listening to their songs. Being a VIP is not for the weak, you guys. It’s been a rough 10 years. In fact, several years when Henry and I were in line to see Kang Daniel in Toronto, the girl in front of me asked me who my ult group is. I said “BIGBANG” on the broken wings of a sigh.

“I’m sorry,” she answered somberly.

It’s like that.

But today, I woke up feeling like this is the start of a new era! I poured my coffee in my BIGBANG coffee cup and put on a BIGBANG playlist while sitting down to work. I smiled like a goof while doing my boring work.

BIGBANG FOREVER.

Last week, a post from this band called Basic Printer came up in my feed, talking about the tour they were on. They tagged another band, who I actually do follow so it made sense that it popped up for me. I noticed that the last stop of the tour was Pittsburgh, and it was ON EASTER.

We had NOTHING to do on Easter, aside from being pathetic empty nesters. And I did have a moderate interest in seeing the band that was tagged (Spirit of the Bear). But I got distracted as usual and moved on to other things. But then I got a sponsored ad in my Insta stories from Basic Printer and it really caught me at the right time, and so off to YouTube I went to see if this band had any videos.

I watched one, liked what I saw/heard, looked up the tickets for the show. $10!! I told Henry, “We’re going to this” and before he could even ask who/what/when/where, the tickets were bought.

($20 even – no stupid fees or taxes!!! It was like the OLDEN DAYS when you’d see a flyer or an ad in the City Paper and get cheap tickets at the door. But in this case, it was Instagram and Basic Printer’s website. Close enough!)

This was our first time at Poetry Lounge, but I have been following them for about a year now on Insta and I’m actually surprised that between them and Spirit of the Bear, I had seen nary a crumb dropped about this show.

First impressions:

• cozy & chill dive bar atmosphere FOR SURE; loved it.
• super friendly and helpful bartenders who did not make us feel like we stuck out like a sore thumb among the regulars

I was happy with this place so far!

There are booths along  the side of the place, but you can’t see the stage from there. That’s the only downside and short of gutting the space and rebuilding, I don’t see how that can be changed. There is only a small space in front of the stage, then the wall juts out a bit and the space becomes a narrow corridor between the bar and the booths, and everyone just has to cram up in there.

I desperately wanted Henry to take one for the team and get the Weird Al but he held firm in his refusal. “Do you want me to be sick?” he cried, but I will tell you this: if they had veggie dogs as a substitute, my fat ass would have beasted a Weird Al right there on that Easter evening, bathed under the blue lights of Poetry Lounge. I have Twinkies very rarely – like maybe one every 10 years – but I do genuinely like them, fuck those haters of ultra-processed greasy sweetened cream-filled sponges.

Come on, this is the same bitch who puts bleu cheese slaw and Froot Loops on her veggie dogs every time we visit Happy Dog in Cleveland (two whole times, but still).

And then it was time for Basic Printer! Henry of course stayed in the booth but I shouldered (POLITELY!!!) my way through the gathering crowd to get closer to the front. It was annoying because the “front row” was pretty far back from the stage, but during one of the songs, the keyboardist ran out and encouraged everyone to  move up so that was my chance – when the people in front of me barely moved I said “EXCUSE ME” super sweetly and blew past them so I could get closer. I like being all up in these things, I can’t help it! Even when I say to Henry, “You know, I’m older now, so I’m going to go to this show, sit at the bar and just relax.” Or: “I’ve seen this band enough times, I can be content with standing way back.” Or: “I don’t really know any of the bands that much, so I’ll just observe comfortably from the shadows.”

THIS. NEVER. HAPPENS.

Example: The Honey Revenge show!

PVRIS!

OMG you guys, from the beginning notes of the first song, I knew I had made a great decision! This band slaps! I love the quirky, retro keyboards and watching this young crowd of….what scene would this even be? Neo-hipsters? I’m not sure! But they dance in a specific way and I was loving it, like being at a Peanuts dance party. I’m used to the “too cool for school” head nods or just maniacal jumping, but this was something different and I was there for it.

My therapist was intrigued (you guys, I have no one else to talk to, LOL) and asked me to describe the crowd. I thought about it and said, “Well, for example, I was wearing a bright red kawaii sweater and was pretty much the only color in a scene of beige, camel, and olive.” No assholes at all though, everyone was very polite as they had no choice but to cut through the bottle-necked crowd to reach the bathroom. Cozy establishment but you better be OK with cosplaying a sardine in a full tin in order to enjoy a show there!

(Thankfully, I am OK with crowds in this context.)

But wow, Basic Printer! What a serendipitous sitch – so glad I was a “victim” of a targeted ad, LOL! After their set, I went to the merch table, bought a tour shirt, a vinyl, and got a signed Pokemon card from Jessie!

I sent a picture to Chooch who was likely furious because I never cared about Pokemon before and now here I am like, “Mommy’s first Pokemon card!”

I rejoined Henry at the booth after Basic Printer but then had to run again for Spirit of the Bear. Another solid, dance-y set!

There was one guy there who I pointed out earlier to Henry because finally we found someone who MIGHT have been in the same age bracket as him (this is a fun game we play at shows although I will say that I was also over the median age for this one as well). Anyway, turned out it was the singer’s DAD! He played the SAXOPHONE on the last song of the set and it was so precious!

Spirit of the Bear is from Youngstown, Ohio which is only about an hour away so this was kind of like a hometown show for them, and the last show of the tour as well so it felt really special! They kept reminding us that we were witnessing a moment, part of a memory in the making, and, well – you know how fucking sentimental I am so I was on the verge of tears even knowing next to nothing about these bands that night. But, the connection had been made!

I sat with Henry for a little while longer afterward while people were clearing out and just really took in the place. I genuinely liked it there and want to go back soon even if it’s not for a band! They had an interesting cocktail list and maybe I want something fancy in a shark glass.

Before we left, Henry and I (well, maybe scratch the “Henry” part) chatted again with Jessie from Basic Printer and I just felt so alive after that! What a fantastic way to spend Easter as empty nesters. I am so glad that we are finding things to fill the void while waiting for the next big Kpop concert to happen (BIGBANG!?) and that Henry is willing to accompany me because maybe he won’t agree but we have been having the best time lately!

Happy (?) Easter! I’m trying to be upbeat today, because Easter has been my second-favorite holiday for years. We’d always be doing something fun for spring break (twice we were in Korea!), eating EASTERgayo sandwiches, or just having a chaotic Easter bunny photoshoot. Now that Chooch is in college, his spring break doesn’t fall on Easter, which sucks. Last year, there was enough time between his break and Easter that it made sense for Henry and me to make the day-trip to Philly to spend the day with him, but we JUST returned him to Philly last Sunday, and it seemed like too much to make that drive twice in one week.

Also? We found out yesterday that he’s spending Easter with his one roommate’s family in New Jersey, anyway!!

:(

I mean, I’m happy for him, but depressed for us.

So, today it will just be me, Henry, and Penelope. I will probably take 7 walks around the neighborhood. Watch some XO, Kitty. Listen to NCT Dream and cry. Read a book. Henry will do what I tell him to do. Penelope will lounge around and sleep a lot. And then tonight, Henry and I will go to the Poetry Lounge to see some bands.

It feels weird to be home, and even weirder that it’s cold and gray outside. We’ll get through it. (Hopefully lol.)

Thursday was our 2 year wedding anniversary! And it just so happened that the next Lolev beer pairing event was that day—yay, anniversary plans were basically made for us! This pairing was with Umber – a local woman-owned artisanal chocolate shop. Amani told us about this at the last Lolev event we attended so I had my eyes peeled for the event sign-up to go live!

I really love Lolev so much. Not only is the beer the best I’ve had in this city, but the ambiance is on point and the people there are so friendly and inclusive. The same bartender has been there every time we’ve gone – he’s the one who put me on to the Pgh Beer stamp book thingie – and his laugh so boisterously contagious. Plus, Amani is so upbeat and talkative, it brings even this near-recluse out of her shell.

When we were at the Self-Reliant Seitan pairing last month, Amani and I got into a conversation about Lolev’s match lager which they said wasn’t going to make a reappearance this year, so Amani had started a petition to show the brewers that there was a vested interest in this naturally-green beer perfect for that famously green March holiday. It was actually last March when I had it at our inaugural visit to Lolev. Anyway, Amani’s plan worked because a few weeks ago, Lolev announced on Insta that Iroh was making its much anticipated return! I was worried that it wouldn’t still be available if we waited for the Umber event, so Henry and I actually went to the Zelienople location the day it debuted.

And it was good that we did, because Amani said they actually didn’t have any left, except for one keg that she asked to be saved for the brunch event that she had planned to celebrate its return. I think she said it’s this weekend, actually, but she sneaked out two tiny samplers for us on the downlow – SHE IS THE BEST!! Henry doesn’t like matcha so he took a sip and then when she left the room he slid his glass over to me. Yessssss.

THE DEETS!

Would you look at these gorgeous chocolate drops of art?? Almost too pretty to eat. ALMOST. You better trust that I was choking on my saliva as soon as Veronica, the cocoa virtuoso behind the Umber brand, set down the box in front of me. I wanted to take Henry’s box too.

Veronica recommended taking a sip of the beer first, then a bite of the chocolate, separately. Then finishing the chocolate with another sip of beer at the same time. This was a good suggestion because it forced to slow down when my basic instinct was to essentially swallow each piece whole.

UGH EACH CHOCOLATE WAS SO GOOD. If I was forced to choose a favorite though, it would be the matcha. It was the perfect balance of matcha and white chocolate.

Oh! And we learned stuff that night too because when Veronica came over to sit and chat with us, she told us that white chocolate is actually only 2% less cocoa than milk chocolate?!? I truly do love white chocolate (I’m one of “those people”) and was never one to bitch if I got a white chocolate Jesus in my Easter basket as a kid, and sometimes I actually crave white chocolate over regular, but I always thought it wasn’t actually chocolate??!

I really love orange + chocolate.

This may have been my favorite pairing. It was my favorite beer of the night and the Mexican hot chocolate was subtly spicy and tasted JUST LIKE MEXICAN HOT CHOCOLATE in solid form.

I mean, would you look at the detail on these though??

Zeus was my favorite beer from the last pairing we went to and I was so stoked to try this Zeus-infused chocolate at the end. I could really taste it, too! Incredible. Amani said they are talking about doing the reverse now, where Umber chocolate is infused in a Lolev beer. Even if it’s a stout or porter, I will be down to try that. I feel like where Penn Brewery failed spectacularly with their Sarris Chocolate collab, Lolev will get it right.

I am such a simp for Lolev.

That’s how Henry always looks at me, btw.

What a fine way to spend an anniversary! And the best part is that Chooch is still home for spring break so one of his friends dropped him off at Lolev after they were done playing football at CMU, so he could be our DD! To thank him, we took up Umber’s offer of 10% off if we re-filled our boxes with chocolate at the end of the night (twist our arm) – Henry and I got one to share, and we gave the other to Chooch.

I can’t believe two years ago, we were in Korea. Bambi was alive. Chooch hadn’t yet committed to a college. It feels so long ago and like just yesterday, all at once.

VALENTINE’S EVE

OMG you will never believe this. Last month, I saw an ad for Romero & Juliet, a Yinzer zombie spin on Romeo & Juliet SET IN 1985 at the Cabaret, so I sent the ticket link to Henry said, “I want to see this” AND HE GOT US TICKETS WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING WHAT IT WAS. He literally asked me the day before, “What is this thing that we’re going to again?” Love that.

I had thought this whole time that this was going to be on Saturday, but it was actually Friday night! So that was annoying, trying to get logged off of work in time to get ready, etc. Of course, right at the end of the time, I got a call from a managing partner who was at the airport about to board a plane and needed me to walk him through engagement letter changes – luckily, he was super nice but it was still moderately stressful because I needed to GO! Then, I didn’t like what I was originally going to wear anymore, and that turned into a clothes-flinging fit of rage in the bedroom.

So then I was like I AM NOT GOING but then stomped downstairs in a back-up outfit and said FINE I WILL GO and then we got downtown and parked and I noticed Henry looking like, you know, Henry, even though this was supposed to be a nice evening out so I took out my own insecurities on him and yelled, “WHY COULDN’T YOU HAVE AT LEAST WORN A SWEATER” and he was like, “I AM wearing a sweater” and I cried. “THAT IS A HENLEY!!!”

Anyway, tl;dr but in the end I was like, “Jesus Christ, can you at least take off your hat??” so he did and then we went inside and it was fine because you know these types of things – some people dress nicely and some wear literal stocking caps like one old man sitting at the drink rail.

Once we got to our table and I had a glass of wine in my paws, I was OK. I think this is mostly just my day job stress making me vomit vitriol at everyone around me and that’s not great. But then I started noticing that everyone seated around us were either there together, like one giant family, or just randomly knew each. Until it started to get really ridiculous as more and more people arrived, exclaiming, “OH HI MARY! HEY CLIFF!” And there were children too, all milling about, greeting people. At first it was annoying because I was still moderately on edge and everything was annoying – like when the parking garage elevator door shut on me because of course it did when there other people getting on the elevator and some lady was like OMG ARE YOU OK instead of just ignoring it like I hoped everyone would, and this also right when I was on the verge on starting a fight with Henry re: the aforementioned fashion fail.

As more and more people filed in to the uproarious salutations from those around us, I started to consider the fact that we were getting punked. Were we accidentally crashing a family reunion at the good ol’ rootin’ tootin’ Cabaret? It got even more stupid when our seat mates in the banquette arrived –  two men who ALSO KNEW THOSE PEOPLE. So now, we were boxed into our banquette by a horde of – not zombies – but strangers who were genuinely amped to see the guys sharing our little booth.

When I finally had the chance to interrupt, I leaned over Henry’s lumbering non-sweatered form and asked the guys in our booth, “Do you guys all work together or something?”

They both chuckled amicably and confirmed, so I laughed too and said, “I was going to say, I feel like an outlier!”

One of the guys goes, “Don’t worry, we’re the outcasts there so you’re sitting at the right table!”

I never found out where they worked, but the guys sitting with us are from Murrysville, which is about 30-40 minutes outside of Pittsburgh. One of them (plus one of the ladies who seemed to be the organizer of the event for their company) has a farm with cows.  They told me it was their first time coming to the city in 12 years. “We never do anything like this!”

Bruh, we live like 5 minutes outside of downtown and also never do anything like this – together, anyway!

“I didn’t even know what to wear,” one of them said, and Henry looked so smug. Fuck off, Henry-in-the-Henley.

I was so intrigued. I should have switched seats with Henry so I could have continued the conversation easily. Somehow Henry picked up that they were brothers. There was a couple in the next banquette down who were all over each other before the thing even started that I am positive there was finger-banging action, and they actually never returned after intermission so my guess is that they either busted fucking in the bathroom or they left to get a room. I mean, everyone knows how Romeo and Juliet ends, regardless of zombies, lol.

Anyway, I just wanted to include all of that because I wound up thinking that whole group was super cute and it made me wish our department did stuff like that. They were nearly as entertaining to observe as the actual show! Especially their co-worker who wore a giant suit because he didn’t what else to wear, and the guys at our booth were making fun of him to his face which made me know for certain that I would easily fit in at this place.

Henry got this East End IPA and I genuinely liked it but was trying to stick to just a glass of wine (I kept stealing sips though ugh).

We weren’t fighting anymore, btw lol. I started laughing in the parking garage stairwell on the way back down to the cabaret after making him take his hat off and he was like, “You are seriously so lucky.” Lucky that what, I’m so freaking adorable and consistently get away with being a shitty little cunt??

Because that’s true.

I kept taking pictures of Henry to send to Chooch, who was thrilled to receive them, I’ll bet.

Henry’s head is so dumb.

Anyway! The show! It was adorable, clever, funny, Yinzer-y, high key political (there was a scene with zombie hunting gestapo-types with machine guns and I whispered, “UGH, ICE!!!!” – felt very relevant, if you know what I mean). My favorite character was the zombie Punx who Juliet was supposed to be beholden to. I knew from the opening number, before he even had a speaking part (I loooved the zombie speak btw) that he was going to be my favorite. I even pointed him out to Henry and drunkenly whisper-slurred, “He’s my favorite; that’s my new Vladimir right there.”

And then he had a solo number and I fucking died. It was hilarious. Incredible. #Obsessed.

Also, Dana from The Pitt should shadow the guy who played Romero’s dad because his Pittsburgh accent was legit.

Ew:

• Henry’s face
• the fact that I recently updated my stupid phone and now my camera is all jacked up
• some city street attendant guy was in the lobby and insisted on taking a picture for us and made us pose this way which was a choice. Appreciated his volunteering though!

So, it ended up being a really nice night and I feel shitty about nearly sabotaging it. I did apologize to Henry, DON’T WORRY, HENRY STANS. Step off!

ACTUAL VALENTINE’S DAY

Penelope cuddles, first and foremost!

Then Henry gifted me with a box of Misaky, the Japanese gem candy! I’ve been wanting to try these.

They were interesting and mostly good but I would never purchase them again, lol.

It was in the 50s that day!!! So we went to Pink Box for some Asian buns and then ate them while strolling through the cemetery, where I spent a large portion of the time getting spammed with texts from Chooch, who went to see Wuthering Heights the night before and HAD THOUGHTS lol. I can’t remember if I mentioned this, but I bought him the AMC A-list membership and he has been getting way more than my money’s worth. He was really glad that he didn’t have to pay to see this one, but admitted that the soundtrack was amazing and was excited to tell me that I would probably cry. He said it ended with a black screen and he could hear people around him sniffling and crying and thought, “Yeah, that would be her.” Lol.

He mentioned that he was going to see Project Hail Mary when it comes out and asked me if I had read it since all I do is read. I actually have NOT – it’s been on my TBR for years but I haven’t actually gotten it from the library yet. He suddenly decided that he needed to read it THAT DAY but was mad because none of the local libraries had copies available. I told him to just go to the nearest book store and we’d put money in his account to buy it, because:

• Valentine’s Day
• OMG HE WANTS TO READ A BOOK

Henry was like, “*FROWN*” because that’s all we do is give him money but I was not backing down on this one. So, he walked to the book store, bought it, finished it today and ACTUALLY REVIEWED IT ON GOODREADS. He said it’s automatically one of his favorite books and he is going to see the movie in IMAX, lol. He cares about things like Dolby and IMAX where I’m just like, “Eh, see if we can just watch it at home…”

But speaking of!

Later that night, Henry and I went to the Hollywood to see Best In Show, as part of the Catherine O’Hara retrospective they’re hosting.

It was in the small basement theater, and it was our first time down there since the theater reopened. In its old state, the basement was a large empty space with bathrooms. Now it’s a whole VIBE.

This is the hallway to the theater room and the bar which has not officially opened yet.

And the small, intimate screening room.

It was nearly sold out and that’s great for the theater but bad for my EARS – the close-range popcorn mastication, the louder-than-they-needed-to-be conversations being spat at the back of my head, the women behind me who kept kicking my seat like we were on a fucking airplane, the lady who laughed SO THEATRICALLY at every other line, sometimes even when the scene was changing and nothing was happening yet, she’d still be LAUGHING, every last note of her raucous guffaws lingering in the air before floating under my skin. I mean it was to the point where I was wondering if she was a plant.

Henry usually doesn’t get bothered by People Being People In Public like I do, but even he was like, “JFC” about The Laugh and the Seat Kickers.

“Oh, they were kicking your seat too? I was like HOW LONG ARE THEIR LEGS??” Henry exclaimed on the walk home.

LOL.

Otherwise, great night though. Great movie.

VALENTINE SUNDAY

Sunday was pretty gloomy – the sky was Pittsburgh Gray and damp. But! It was still a great day because I had brunch with Sandy and Nate at Margeaux! I hadn’t seen Sandy since over the summer because I had to bail on the last brunch last fall due to me having a panic attack that morning, what else is new.

I want to state for the record that the people behind the counter made me feel so welcome and also kind of popular when I arrived because I was being TOTALLY ERIN by whirling up to the counter in a wind tunnel of nervous energy, and asking, “I HAVE TWO OTHER PEOPLE COMING IS IT OK TO SIT AT THAT TABLE?” The barista was like, “OMG yes, please!” and I felt like she giving psychic head pats with her soothing tone. Immediately calmer!

(But seriously, none of us had ever been there before and some places are assholes when it comes to taking a table before your full party arrives, looking at you PAMELA’S.)

I did order a latte though so the optics were better. I wanted to maple cinnamon latte but she was like, “Oh we actually don’t have that one now – we have *jhsdkjjdalsfj;lf*” Literally, a commotion bomb went off at the exact moment she said what the special was and I had ordering anxiety so I just said, “That’s fine, with oatmilk please.”

“I’ll bring it out to you – I know where you’re sitting!” she said super jovially like I WAS A REGULAR and I was super big-headed over this. I told Nate this when he arrived and he goes, “Well, to be fair, it’s not really that big in here.”

UGH!

Then another barista brought the latte over to me and said, “Pecan spice latte” as she set it down.

“Oh good, now I know what I ordered!” I said to Nate.

Once Sandy arrived, we all went back up to order our food. I will say this: not a place to go when you’re really hungry / meeting friends for brunch and plan to stay awhile because the portions are SMALL. The plates are TINY. We were done eating within minutes. Nate got a breakfast sandwich and it was child-sized.

My avocado toast was great but I was still hungry after it. Sandy was also still hungry. “I was going to order something in addition to the toast but she told me one item would be enough!” Sandy said incredulously. Sorry, we’re GenX and we want real meals!

So, Nate went back up and ordered two plates of the liege waffles for us to share and that was actually the move because not only were they delectable, but after eating one, my hunger was fully sated and I was quickly entering “stuffed” territory.

But we all agreed that it was a nice place, just now we know to order two things in order to build a full meal, lol.

Oh and don’t worry, in case you thought I was off my Dana’s Accent shit, Sandy and I commiserated in our mutual annoyance.

“Yeah and then we just found out in the lash episode that she’s from Bloomfield, so not even a transplant!” Sandy cried, before launching in her disbelief that not only has one character been stressing over the deposition she has to give that day (THE FOURTH OF JULY?!), never would there be a 4th of July parade in MILLVALE involving motorcycle stunts.

C’mon, The Pitt. Do better. N’at. (Ugh I would never actually say that, btw.)

That was pretty much the main thing that happened on Sunday. The rest of the day was for relaxing, book-reading, and then Henry and I watched “If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You” which was…interesting. I actually don’t know if I liked it or not, but Rose Byrne gave me big anxiety with her performance so that’s something.

Buhbye!

One thing about me that hasn’t changed since probably 2003 or 2004 is that I will NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE ON NYE. You can’t make me. I like to stay in, be cozy, not get social anxiety, and most importantly – avoid drunk drivers.

Plus, we got some heavy snow this year on NYE so even more reasons to stay in! Chooch was happy because we played some dumb game he got for Christmas called Hitster which he quickly realized he hated because I was REALLY GOOD AT IT. Basically, you can a QR code on a card and when the song plays, you have to correctly place it in the timeline you’ve created from other cards you’ve won. It gets progressively harder the more cards you accumulate.

You can also win a “token” if you correctly guess the name of the song and artist. Chooch made fun of me bigly because one of his songs was “Let it Be” and he goes, “Oh the hit Let It Be by Corsby Stills and Nash” as a throwback to when Corey and Kevin were here Thanksgiving weekend. I don’t think I wrote about this but it has been HAUNTING ME ever since so here goes.

Deep breath.

Exhale.

OK, we were playing that Songs of 80s and 90s Humming Game that I love so much. One of mine was “any song by Madness.” Um, OK I only know the ONE Madness song and I thought, “OK I have this in THE BAG.” So I started humming it and NO ONE was getting it. Everyone eventually gave up and when I said, “Our House by Madness” no one knew the song and I was aghast. But here is where it goes south.

“Yeah, it’s their cover of the Beatles’ song,” I said with full confidence. Chooch and Kevin were both immediately questioning this and I was like, “Yeah, the Beatles.”

We moved on with the game.

But two days later, I shot up in bed and cried out, “The Beatles didn’t sing Our House! That was CROSBY STILLS AND NASH!” I texted both Henry and Chooch about this, in a state of PANIC because if you know me, I am like half-savant when it comes to music things.

“Wow, good job,” Chooch replied, and then Henry admitted that he was thinking to himself that night, “What is she talking about??”

But then a few days went by and I was still emotionally self-flagellating over this when the actual Madness song popped into my head and I said out loud to no one, “THAT WASN’T EVEN A COVER, THAT WAS THEIR OWN FUCKING SONG, WHAT WAS I EVEN THINKING?!?!!?!?”

Am I losing it? Is this early on-set dementia? Was it just because I was drinking a strong Belgian beer and off my game??

Anyway, Chooch will never let me live me this down, hence his little Crosby, Stills and Nash quip.

I originally put on Seoul’s countdown and Chooch goes, “This was like 12 hours can we please just watch the US one, thanks.” W O W. Penelope was walking by and stopped abruptly to stare at the TV, which cracked me up.

Then she continued watching from the table.

Anyway, anti-climactic as always. Happy fucking New Year, etc.

But then for some reason, I brought up the Miz again I GUESS HE HAS BEEN HEAVY ON MY MIND SINCE LOSING HIS MATCH AT  THE DUMB WWE HOLIDAY THING ON SATURDAY and it inspired me to put on The Challenge compilation videos and Henry and I sat there until after 1AM reminiscing, saying things like, “What was his name? Abram I think?” and being totally mesmerized by CT (the best to ever do it, IMO). There was one clip of CT with Adam from The Real World Paris and I was like, “His dad was someone….but I can’t remember now.” Lionel Richie kept coming to me but I knew it wasn’t him. Eventually, I gave up and Googled and his dad is one of the founding members of The Commodores, so practically Lionel Richie! But it also made me laugh because one of the songs Henry got earlier that night during Hitster was “Easy” by the Commodores but he said Lionel Richie so we didn’t give him a token.

How’s that for too much detail into our boring NYE??

Meanwhile, I was avoiding my phone all night because the Stranger Things finale was released but Chooch and I had tickets to see it in the theater on New Year’s Day at noon. I wouldn’t even open Instagram to post a Happy New Year picture.

But finally it was Thursday and I was so sick to my stomach over the anticipation of saying goodbye to Stranger Things! I get so easily attached to everything and anything, it’s fucking stupid. I hadn’t originally intended on seeing it in the theater. Kevin and Corey were telling us it was going to be released this way back in November and at the time, they had thought it meant it was the ONLY way to watch it so I was really annoyed by that because I don’t generally enjoy going to the theater to see movies, let alone a series finale?? (Says the broad who is about to go to the movies again tonight to see Marty Supreme, but I digress! This is only because Chooch also wants to see it and I’m trying to actively be more supportive of the Hollywood Theater down the street.)

Of course, it turns out that it was also going to be released on Netflix so yay, but then Chooch started hounding me to reserve tickets to see it in the theater since he’d still be in town for it. I grudgingly did so. There were only two theaters showing it, and the closest one is in a part of town I try to avoid with all my might (the Waterfront, I have always hated the feel of this area) so I asked Chooch if he cared if we’d have to drive 45 minutes out of the city to see it in Greensburg, LOL. He said he didn’t care! He just wanted to see it and besides, the theater in Greensburg had more availability.

Can I just pause here and say that the fact that he chose to do this with me and not one of his friends actually made my heart feel like it was going to pop out of my chest? We have watched this show together since it came out in 2016 and this just felt so special, driving to Greensburg (me yelling, “SLOW DOWN!” to him every 10 seconds as if he doesn’t get his speed demon tendencies from me) and making him listen to my annoying music, ugh. It was probably the BEST New Year’s Day I’ve ever had, if we’re being honest.

There was some AMC promotion where every ticket came with a $20 food credit — the same cost as the ticket, so suddenly I wasn’t AS annoyed that it cost us $40 for these tickets!? I am so out of the loop with theater prices that I had to consult with my friend Nate at work who confirmed that $20 is the going rate for “special releases” I guess. Because of this, I figured we could just get there a little bit earlier and get food for lunch they allege to have Impossible nuggets, flatbread pizza, etc. But the young kid at the counter said, “no, we’re out” to both of these items and then before we had a chance to choose anything else, he added, “We’re out of basically everything.”

Dafuq.

Here’s $40 in concession credits, good luck.

There was a mall across the parking lot from the theater and we had a good 45 minutes, so I suggested just going there. I was fine because I had eaten breakfast, but Chooch hadn’t eaten anything yet and I didn’t want him to have popcorn for lunch (assuming they weren’t out of that too). So we went to the food court and luckily there was a Panera there so Chooch got his beloved caprese sandwich. Neither of us had ever been to the Westmoreland Mall before so that was a fun side quest.

Back at the theater, the concession stand now had a legit line as opposed to earlier when it was just Chooch and me, looking like we had only gone to AMC to eat lunch. I felt bad for all the people in line around us discussing what they were going to get when I knew it was basically candy, popcorn, or suck their fat one. (IYKYK.)

However, when it was our turn, I decided to press my luck and tentatively ask for a soft pretzel.

There was an awkward silence.

“Well…” the guy started. “We’re out of the pretzel bites, but we do have one Bavarian pretzel left…” He was saying this is a tone like he was trying to talk me out of ordering it, but that’s the pretzel I was actually asking about.

I was like, great my guy, OK cool, I’ll take the last Bavarian.

But he goes, in a weirdly serious tone, “It’s a pound and a half.”

LOOK I HAVE $40 DOLLARS IN FOOD CREDIT HERE AND WOULD LIKE MY FUCKING PRETZEL STOP FAT-SHAMING IT AND ME! Bro was about to pull out the bullhorn next to announce to everyone that this Fatty from the City had just purchased the last 1.5 pound soft pretzel.

Anyway, I got to use the stupid food vouchers – one Bavarian pretzel, one bottle of water, and one soft drink was $30. Jesus.

However, once that pretzel was birthed from the over and delivered to us, I opened the lid and yelped. That was one motherwhompin’ pretzel for sure and actually worth the $16. Plus it came with two things of cheese. It was so big (literally looked like a vine from the Mind Flayer) that Chooch and I only ate about 1/8 of it before Stranger Things started and took the rest home for Henry the Pretzel Monster.

I should have held it up to my head for scale – it was definitely bigger than my head.

Well, anyway – no spoilers here obviously but props to Chooch for twisting my arm because being in a sold out theater for this finale was everything. I don’t think I have ever experienced anything like that even back when I was regularly going to the movies (I used to be a huge movie buff as a teen and into my early 20s!) and I’m so glad that the Duffer Bros made this an option because the live audience made it feel so much more epic! I still plan to rewatch it at home on Netflix (Henry and I have been re-watching the whole series and are almost done with Season 4, anyway) but this was truly the coolest way to watch it. THANK YOU, CHOOCH.

He was 10 when it first came out, and being able to watch something with him that touched so heavily upon my own childhood as an 80s kid was wild and memorable!

(OMG don’t mind me but I’m just over here crying again, lol.)

The rest of the day was super chill. Just hung out at home, finally got to start scrolling through all the Stranger Things reaction and theories posts on Threads and Reddit, and just had a nice relaxing New Years evening.

That was a really nice start to 2026, although it also means it’s almost time to take Chooch back to Philly and I am really getting sadder and sadder thinking about this because having him home for this Christmas break made everything feel normal again and now I’m going to go back to being lonely during the days while I’m sitting here working.

Sigh.

Happy New Year!

Sappiness doesn’t usually good on me and we all know I’m that vain bitch, but I gotta be real here and tell you that this past Christmas was anticlimactic, quiet, and — absolutely perfect. All I wanted was for it to be just us three, no expectations, no obligations. And it was just that.

Against all odds, Chooch has grown up to be someone who doesn’t care about the amount of Christmas gifts under the treeTrudy. He was content with all the things we got him, like a jersey from some guy from the Seahawks, a Gulf of Mexico shirt (FDT), other assorted clothes items, Dr. Squatch, a really cool diffuser that Henry and I have become obsessed with and are planning on buying our own, lol.

We did also get him and his friend Zakk tickets to a Steelers game the week before, I gave him my credit card on Black Friday so he could buy himself clothes and an Eddie Bauer (he loves Eddie Bauer??) jacket at the outlets, and we let him roadtrip to Cleveland today for another Steelers game with two of his friends. So, he is happy!

As for me? HIM HO (that’s what Drew :( and Penelope call Santa) got me G-DRAGON’S PEACEMINUSONE NIKE PARANOISE AIR FORCE 1s!!! This was the most recent version released earlier in the year that I didn’t even attempt to buy because it’s a bloodbath and no one can compete with sneakerheads PLUS G-Dragon fans. But then I found my size on eBay and sent it to Henry as a HINT.

(

Oh! And as usual, half the fun on Christmas is watching Chooch roll his eyes at who all of his gifts are from. This year:

• Truman
• Lady on the sidewalk, dead
• Pam’s Eagle tattoo (our coaster friend loves the Eagles and is always showing off her Eagles tattoo lol but Chooch hates the Eagles)
• Splenny Claus (I inexplicably call Penelope “Splenny”)
• Wolfman’s Nards (obviously a nod to Monster Squad)
• Truman again, I guess I’m losing it
• 마크 (Mark Lee from NCT – when Chooch cared about Kpop, Mark was his bias)
• Johnnie Gilbert in his Never Shout Never phase (Chooch hates that I love Johnnie)
• Tara Yummy’s dog, Sugar (Chooch hates that I watch this certain group of YouTubers and know random things about their lives like the name of their dogs)
• “Welcome to the shithole!” guy in Iowa (literally one line in this entire blog post good luck finding it)

Let’s look at my shoes again!!!!

OMG my dream is to wear to these to a BIGBANG concert in 2026.

Excuse me, who is this adult.

Penelope, checking to see if they’re G-Dragon scented.

Later that day, we went to Pink Box for our annual Christmas buns. I got a taro mochi. I don’t know what the others got, just that they were annoyed that I wouldn’t let them eat them until we got our family pictures done in the cemetery.

The day started out so ugly and wet – just in general, the air was so cold and damp. But on the way to Pink Box, the sun came out and then the skies were a beautiful blue at the cemetery! It was also just warm enough to comfortably take off our jackets (hilariously Mr. Anti-Coat kept his on???).

There was only bad sour moment of the whole day and it was when I got into a big argument with the tri-pod and then pouted in the car for only approx. 30 seconds – BABY’S GROWING UP.

I ALMOST FORGOT TO TAKE PARTY!PARTY! PICTURES! Chooch was like, “Oh GREAT, you’re still using that app?!” when I screamed, “WAIT! PARTY! PARTY!”

Location change! And bun debut!

Anyway, as usual, these turned out like the usual Erin and Her Background Standers snaps that everyone is used to. There were actually quite a few people walking around the cemetery at this time (it’s usually dead, pun intended, but ever since Covid it’s like people realized that cemeteries are great places to take a stroll, ugh, go away) and I felt like we were getting stares but fuck you people, this is our TRADISHAWN.

Then, to cap off a perfect Christmas, we gathered on the couch at 8PM to watch all three new episodes of Stranger Things, and Penelope even joined us here and there. It was the coziest end to a wonderful day with my two faves and the only bad thing is that it’s going to make it so much harder to say goodbye to Chooch next weekend. :(

This just REALLY made it feel like Christmas to me.

OMG he went thrifting his friend last week and got this blanket gown thing that he has worn every day since and he’s so annoying about it.

Splenny <3

This has been a rough for most people I know and I just hope that everyone found some peace with their family / friends / furry kids during this holiday season.

We hosted Christmas Eve at our house this year and it was really nice if not a little frantic as time ticked on during the day but that’s normal for us, lol! Obviously, Chooch and I are of NO HELP to Henry in the kitchen but I at least cleaned the bathroom and living room and got the table set and the house mood-prepped, while Chooch was the designated “OH SHIT can you go to the store and get all of the things Henry forgot to buy” runner.

To his credit though Chooch did attempt to bake cookies (I forget what they were actually called – something about slamming the cookie sheet onto the counter after they came out of the oven, but they were essentially just sugar cookies) but he got immediately frustrated with using a hand mixer so Henry had to take over and do most of it while Chooch stood there antagonizing him. Ah, the harsh tones of two surly men sniping at each other in the kitchen, I’m going to miss that when Chooch goes back to Philly next week. :(

I think this was when we were looking for the Christmas tray for the ham that Kevin was bringing, lots of slamming and metallic rummaging ensued. And sorry if my unread message count stresses you out, you should see the number of unread emails I have on my phone (it’s over 10,000, you’re welcome).

I’ve been really into Romanian club hits which apparently the actual genre is called “Popcorn” – that makes me love it even more! So I had a YouTube playlist going on the TV to set the “mood” – right when my mom showed up, a video of half-naked girls wrestling in oil was playing. She just kind of glanced at it and kept on walking past, lol. Oh, Romania.

The incomplete dessert station featuring “Chooch’s” cookies. Henry also baked an apple butter pie (I FOUND THE RECIPE) which was legit fireworks on the palate – the perfect mix of apple and pumpkin pie, really. Best of both worlds. But just in case, I had him also get a storebought sweet potato pie as backup. The apple butter pie was perfection though and made me really want to bring back the pie party next year.

Henry got this Christmas beer from Golden Age so that I could get a stamp (lol) but it ended up being worth it regardless because it was SO GOOD. I think second to Belgian beers, I like Christmas beers the best?? I haven’t had one I didn’t like.

I like that it looks like I’m the only one who showed up to Christmas Eve dinner, but the truth behind this picture is that, true to the type of ride hostess I am, I ran to the kitchen to serve myself first, lol. So, when I took this picture, everyone else was in the kitchen getting filling their plates except for me, Chooch (who was shoving me out of the way to get to the food first) and Henry the Martyr of Holiday Hosting who waited for everyone else to get their food before getting his own. Remember when I used to do the Goofus and Gallant, Oh Honestly Erin-style drawings? This would have been a good one.

I was going to make a kohlrabi and apple salad until I realized that it involved lots of slicing and I didn’t feel like doing that so I delegated it to Henry who pointed out that the recipe was behind a pay wall (I didn’t even get that far when I found it – just looked at the picture LOL) so then he took it upon himself to find something similar and I don’t know what he did but literally all I could taste was vinegar and I hated it, sorry Henry.

The tofurky was good though.

Oh look, there are the pies!

Chooch got to talk to Uncle Ryan about football. I still can’t believe he likes football. He’s going to Cleveland tomorrow for a game!!! WHO IS THIS KID.

Annual sibling photo.

Chooch in his new Seahawks (his favorite team??) zip-up from Ryan and the “dad” Blueie slippers my mom got him, lol. College Fashion. Of course, Chooch made us play a game after present-opening (Chameleon) and said that Kevin was the only one who understood the assignment. He is so judgey! That’s why I hate playing games with him!

Other than that, I feel like I told the same stories I always tell, my mom said things like, “WHERE WAS I???” every time Corey, Ryan, and I reminisced about our childhood hijinks, and Chooch accused us of talking about beer for 80% of the night which I strongly disagree with.

Relaxing after everyone left. <3 Penelope glowered on the back porch all night, refusing to greet her guests, lol. Overall, it was a very chill Christmas Eve and so nice to have my family here. I’m not saying I was a Grinch this year but there was so much going on that I didn’t really get too much into the Christmas spirit – we didn’t even have time to have Chingumas and that was a hard decision to make because I love having parties here.

This Thanksgiving was a very lowkey affair and I am not even a little bit mad about it. I was just happy that we got to have Chooch home, even though he is a big football bro now and that’s annoying.

It was just going to be the three of us (it usually is for T-giving), so I suggested to Henry that we (LOL “we”) just make a few Romanian dishes and call it a day. henry found a recipe for vegetarian sarmale (stuffed cabbage rolls, but the Romanian version uses sour cabbage), mamaliga (polenta with farmers cheese and sour cream – we got Bulgarian feta from Pitaland and Ukrainian sour cream from one of the European markets), and sour cherry pie but somehow that morphed into a sour cherry cake and I was not happy about that but whatever.

I think I must not actually be Romanian because I was not a fan of this. Maybe it was just the way Henry made it, I don’t know, but I had to unwrap the cabbage and just eat the insides.

When Chooch set the table, he said “Pick a holiday.” I chose Halloween.

LOL and then when Henry brought out all the food I realized that OK, perhaps we underplanned this holiday spread. Henry also made green bean casserole and mashed potatoes but it didn’t feel like Thanksgiving.

I think that a past Erin would have pouted about this but I chose to look at it through an optimistic lens – Chooch was here and it felt normal here again. Also, the part of me that is terrified of food was glad to not be tempted to overeat. It was nice to spend the evening not feeling sick!!

See?? We actually had a decent evening anyway!

This was fine but it was supposed to be like the pie we had in Sighisoara and I was so excited because Henry said he found a recipe online that was a dupe of the exact pie we had at a cafe there, but then it ended up being a cake so I was extremely confused. It was still good but also had a pizelle-esque taste to it and I don’t like pizelles that much. I’m not sure where he went astray and I don’t bake so I guess I can’t judge him too harshly. IT WAS A DAY TO BE THANKFUL, AFTER ALL. I think I did a pretty good job not being too much of a brat – baby’s growing up.

It just took 46 years and getting back into therapy, lol.

Ugh, then we played some games even though I didn’t feel like it – especially not Scattergories because I get so competitive and then everyone accuses me of cheating but hello, maybe I’m just really good at linguistics?! The humming game is always dumb to play because I can’t hum without laughing, Henry is tone deaf, and the only time anyone ever guesses anything is when it’s Chooch’s turn and it’s always me guessing it correctly while Henry looks on in confusion.

And Scattergories – of course I killed it as usual, but there was one point where I was laughing so hard that I started to cry and Chooch was like, “I HATE PLAYING THIS WITH YOU! YOU’RE SUCH A CHEATER!!” while I was laugh-sobbing and defending my answer of “dabbing down ditches” as a hobby.

“No ‘cuz look – there is probably someone out there that enjoys jumping down into a ditch and dabbing!” I squealed in defense, wiping away tears, which Chooch and Henry started at me in disgust.

Then Chooch took over the TV for the rest of the night because FOOTBALL ugh.  I truly don’t know him anymore.

Anyway, it was a really nice day. I can’t remember the last time we all crammed onto the couch together – me frantically playing Duolingo because my friend challenge with my work pal Michelle was ending in 2 HOURS OK Duolingo, why would you do that on A HOLIDAY.

Today, Chooch was bitching about the Thanksgiving food selection and OK, I’ll claim the L on that one, it was my fault, I shouldn’t have suggested the Romanian theme! Henry worked hard in the kitchen all day and I know he felt bad about it but honestly, it was still a really nice day and I am thankful that I have a family that gets along – even when Chooch accuses me of cheating and then we start sniping back and forth at each other (“You’re annoying” “No, YOU’RE annoying!”). It’s what makes us “us” :)

(Chooch leaves Tuesday morning and I know he’ll back for Xmas but I’m still sad.)

My Halloween costume every year: desperate for trick or treaters, looking like a bitch waiting for her fisherman husband to return home from sea. This might be the worst Halloween yet and some A-HOLE a few houses up (the drunk guy who tried to barge into HNC’s house a few years ago with his drunk wife!!!) has decided for the first time ever to hand out candy so he was hulking around the sidewalk with a CASSEROLE DISH and legit just tried to STEAL A TRICK OR TREATER FROM ME. I had to deer-leap out my front door and cry WAIT COME HERE FIRST.

Eff that guy and his casserole dish.

P.S. I only know it’s a casserole dish bc Henry said “he has his candy in a casserole dish.” Like, why would I ever know what that is, amirite.

I was texting Chooch a play-by-play from the night and I am sure he was sitting at the edge of his seat, caring deeply about this. I was so pissed because this dumb drunk guy NEVER HANDS OUT CANDY?? And I lost an idiot kid to him because I guess walking up sidewalks is too much of a hassle so he and his dumb parents and toddler-sibling in a stroller-wagon with fake leaves and a Jurassic Park sign skipped over my house (I HAD MY PORCH LIGHT ON AND IT’S A COLOR-CHANGING LED LIGHT SO YOU WOULD THINK THAT WOULD INDICATE WE’RE A CANDY-GIVING HOUSEHOLD) and went straight to that asshole because he was SITTING OUTSIDE WITH THE CANDY CASSEROLE PAN. I was livid.

Meanwhile, Henry just sits on his ass the whole time, watching Instagram reels. He is the most brain-rotted adult male that I know and I would love to just rip that phone out of his hands and smash it LIKE HELLO YOU ARE MISSING ALL OF THESE THINGS AKA MY PERFECTLY CRAFTED AND WELL-TIMED QUIPS BUT OK, KEEP WATCHING YOUR JUNK THAT YOU WILL THEN SEND TO CHOOCH ONLY FOR HIM TO TELL YOU HE’S ALREADY SEEN IT AND/OR IT’S NOT THAT FUNNY.

Halloween used to be my favorite holiday but lately I am so sour and bitter because I’m sick of it all!!!

Anyway, I would say we (“we” like Henry ever came to the door even once) got about 7 or 8 kids total. I felt bad because the kid that almost skipped me because of Casserole Asshole was a bit older, maybe middle school or 9th grade, so I thought I was OK to totally barrel out of the door with the candy and cry, “I’m desperate!” Turns out she may have been autistic or something because she seemed really terrified of me and had a very pronounced stutter and I felt really bad for letting my lunacy leave the house with me.

There were NO KIDS who came to this house of their own accord. I had to stand at the door holding my pumpkin basket and literally making, “COME HERE” finger waves like I’m the Old Ass Schizo Widow of Pioneer. (MIGHT AS WELL BE A WIDOW, INSTAGRAM REELS HAS KILLED MOST OF HENRY’S BRAIN CELLS AT THIS POINT).

Meanwhile, one of the people who lives next door did a couple + dog Toy Story costume theme and they looked so fucking adorable sitting out on their porch with their candy bowl, only for NO KIDS TO PASS BY so they gave up and went inside. They did get two small groups of older kids that came to their door after that though (and don’t worry, I got them too!) but it made me sad for them. I hate this fucking street so much.

My last customers weren’t even trick-or-treaters, I don’t think. They were two high school-aged boys walking past with their bikes. I think MAYBE one of them had face paint on, I’m not sure, and I also think that maybe they WERE attempting to trick or treat because they DID have tote bags. They stopped when they got to my neighbor’s sidewalk because they had their porch light on and actually have a few Halloween decorations up, so after I watched them go there, I frantically waved them to my house too. WHAT NICE BOYS. Literally, so polite, so grateful. I told them to take a bunch since we always have so much left, and they still each only took one so I had to insist. They wished me a Happy Halloween AND a good night and you know what? I almost started to cry because I am so sick and tired of the rhetoric I see online about how “only kids of a certain age” should trick-or-treat, and people who “won’t give candy to kids who aren’t in costume.”

Look, I live in a neighborhood of the city of Pittsburgh. There are some rough sections here. Some of these kids could be out doing WAY WORSE THINGS but here they are, politely collecting candy as is the custom on this day. I don’t LIKE kids, you know I don’t, but I like this holiday and Jesus Christ can we just let kids be kids?? I don’t give a shit if an 18-year-old high school senior comes to my door for candy on Halloween. To me, kids are kids all the way through high school. Let them hang on to their youth for a little longer MY GOD.

Also, the costume bit? You don’t know these kids’ lives. Maybe they have parents who are never home because they have to work several jobs. Maybe they just have deadbeat parents in general who don’t care to help in the costume department. Maybe they don’t HAVE THE  MONEY – SHIT SUCKS, REMEMBER? Just because some parents can afford to get their kid a costume at Spirit Halloween, or just because they have the time, ingenuity, and creativity to make a costume for your child doesn’t mean that all parents do. My criteria is “trick-or-treat” and “thank you.” And every kid that came here that night did that and more. They were so sweet and polite. Take all my fucking candy and enjoy being a kid for as long as you can, my dudes.

God, I had such a headache after those stressful two hours! Luckily, the night redeemed itself after that because we went to Castle Blood and had one of the best times there but I will recap that another time. I HAVE TO GO FOR A WALK NOW AND STOMP OUT THIS ANGER.

Well, like at least half of the country, we weren’t exactly donning our red white & blue attire and firing up the grill in honor of America. I know that you can hate the president and love the country at the same time, and that is WHY we hate Trump (among a full-ass tome of other reasons), but being celebratory when inhumane ICE raids and “Alligator Alcatraz” and the big ugly bill are also happening just feels gross.

So instead, I spent the morning having a good, long convo with Corey over iced berry cobbler lattes from Reginald’s, where the super cool and college-aged barista told me that she loved my outfit. “The butterflies over the Gemini shirt – it’s such a vibe!” and I was like, “WHY IS CHOOCH NOT HERE TO WITNESS THIS.” He would have been even more annoyed because my card got slightly stuck in the reader and the barista said, “Oh no, I’m sorry – that’s never happened before!” After I yanked my Visa out, I said, “Oh it’s not your fault, it’s because I have this overlay on the card,” flashing my custom Seventeen credit card at her. Chooch would have been mortified, lol.

Later that afternoon, I wanted to go for a walk and surprise, surprise – look who came with us!

We stopped at Pink Box first, as per tradition, and this was the first time that the owner was there! She chatted with us at length and wow – what a sweet woman! It made me appreciate Pink Box so much more. We have been popping in there for years, and it’s even become our treat of choice to take to the cemetery with us for our traditional Christmas “picnic.”  They have some new buns at Pink Box and she was explaining to us how they are made. Every time she would say goodbye, she would remember something else though and the conversation would start up again – it was hilarious. Then as we were walking out, she yelled out that she thought my purse was cute! INYERFACE Chooch!

LOL, I didn’t know Chooch took this but I’m keeping it because I look like I’m scanning the horizon for danger. My face is so serious! But really it’s just because I was squinting into the sun and being mad at two cars that were practically drag racing through the cemetery.

But yeah, here’s my “vibe-y” OOTD, lol. That Gemini shirt is honestly one of my favorite shirts ever. I wish whoever designed it would do one for Phantom’s Revenge because those shirts consistently suck.

This was a whole ordeal to take these since we didn’t have a tripod and had to rely on a flat tombstone. But surprisingly, no one fought! Chooch acted like it was the worst day of his life, though.

G-Dragon member’s only mini-lightstick, check. Haechan T-Money card, check. Limited edition Korean Vans, check. Stray Kids bracelet received at last week’s concert, check.

And then we spent a good 20 minutes walking the perimeter of the pond, talking to the bullfrogs, turtles, and geese. There is always so much action in this pond in the summer!

Other than that, 7/4 was a laid back day. And that was just fine! Hopefully some day soon it will feel like a holiday again.

We used to go to Kennywood every Father’s Day because for some reason it is traditionally uncrowded there that day. I guess most dads want to stay home and grill meats, who knows. I’m not a dad, I don’t know what goes on in Dad Minds.

It ended up being not crowded, per the norm! And Chooch had already said he was bored before we even entered the park so that was a great start, status quo, welcome home, etc.

Steel Curtain finally reopened this season after having been closed all of last season and….most of 2023 I think? I quit caring, to be honest. Kennywood does this thing where they buddy up with a coaster manufacturer and agree to have a prototype / first of its kind added to the park and then it ends up being a maintenance nightmare, but whatever – you do you, K-wood.

Oh! I can’t believe I never mentioned this on here but Kennywood and its sister parks were recently bought by Herschend, the owner of DOLLYWOOD AND SILVER DOLLAR CITY. I am so stoked on this. Do I wish that Kennywood could go back to being family-owned? Of-fucking-course. But this last corporation that owned them (Palace) made some real stupid choices. I’m hoping that Herschend will put some theming in, get some better food up in that piece (I’m thinking of YOU, Dollywood’s famous cinnamon bread,  but then again – it might lose its novelty if we’re able to have it whenever we want here in Pittsburgh!), and AHEM – RMC MAYBE??? We know Herschend has a good relationship with RMC! (OK, Lightning Rod might have tarnished that relationship BUT they were still invited to re-track Fire in the Hole at Silver Dollar City, so maybe??)

Sorry. Tangent.

LOL Henry had to ride with some other dad. They immediately started talking, too, and Chooch and I were dying. Then Chooch realized he had allowed himself to share a moment with me and went back to being sullen and bored.

Anyway, Steel Curtain is still good! I didn’t notice the new trims that much, but Henry said that his ride was super bumpy but maybe that’s just because his brain is bumpy.

KANGAROO.

Honestly, nothing that exciting happened all day so this is mostly just going to be pictures.

We didn’t even really ride that much because we were all tired for various reasons (Henry and I had a late Friday night and then the No Kings protest most of Saturday, and Chooch is just perpetually tired because he’s of a certain age + spent all of Saturday on a train home). But we did get some Phantom rides in and I can confirm that it is STILL one of my all time favorite coasters.

Then Chooch guilted me into riding Black Widow with him and I cannot stress enough how much I dislike this ride.

They assign you a number when you walk on and are very serious about everyone sitting in their assigned seat. They were going in order starting from 1 and I ended up being 15 but then they skipped to 20 for Chooch. I know it was weight / balance thing because the park wasn’t crowded enough for them to fill every seat on each cycle, but it was still annoying because I didn’t want to ride at all and now I had to sit alone. Then they moved him and some of the people next to him clear on the other side!

I’m not going to lie, I thought I was going to throw up as the ride was coming to a stop. I was hungry and also definitely needed water so that just exacerbated things and I am totally certain that all of the casual bystanders could tell that I was having a bad time, lol. The ride operator even said, “How was that ride?? Some of you looked like you were having fun, others….did not.”

HEY, THE LITTLE NEXT TO ME ALSO HATED IT AND WAS YELLING AT HER BROTHER THE WHOLE TIME FOR MAKING HER RIDE IT, SO THERE.

DARK SKIES.

OMG he’s so happy to be home with mommy and daddy.

We didn’t get a Golden Nugget! But we have season passes so I’m sure I will get my Gol’Nug fix at some point this summer.

That stupid Bites & Pints thing was happening again so Henry bought a dumb tasting card and there was next to nothing for non-meat eaters, I’ll tell you that much. Chooch and I would have been extra-screwed if we were full vegan. As it were, we could only really eat the dessert options at nearly every country’s booth. I was PISSED at Italy because it looked like ALL THREE OPTIONS were meatless so I was stoked and asked for the flatbread that had peaches and cheese on it, I forget the exact kind. But then when I saw in under the heat lamp thing, it looked like it had MEAT CRUMBLES on it so I asked the guy who punched my taster card if it did and he emphatically said no. But some woman next to him overheard and said, “Yes, it does – pancetta.”

UGH!!! The description did NOT mention that AT ALL. Do better, Kennywood. It is literally 2025.

Oh and the “pints” option for Korea wasn’t even a Korean beer, but ok.

My favorites were the churros from Spain and whatever the raspberry pancake things were from Poland.

It started raining pretty hard around 3PM and Chooch was like, “Oh darn, I guess we will have to leave now.” He was in a big hurry to be done with family time!

Before we left, Chooch and I rode the Racer in the rain which was kind of fun actually, but there was a Jonny Craig-looking dad in front of us (in a wife-beater, no less) whose young son was sitting in front of him and he proceeded to SLAP THE KIND ON THE BACK OF THE NECK for the entirety of the ride?! Granted, he was doing it as a loving rough-housing type of thing but it was making Chooch and me so uncomfortable, like bro – ok, you could have stopped after the third whack, you know?

Just so fucking weird.

What else do I want to remember? Oh, Johnny Rockets is now the Carousel Cafe and they have a veggie burger! We were HOT several seasons ago when Johnny Rockets removed the black bean burger from their menu like fucking haters. Anyway, only Chooch wanted to eat there so I went inside with him while Henry went to pee (the Kangaroo really jostled it out of him), but then I realized I didn’t have my credit card so we standing there by the register like losers waiting for Henry to come back and then a big family came in and I was like UGH NOW THEY WILL GET IN FRONT OF US AND THIS WILL TAKE LONGER but luckily, they hung back to look at the menu and then I saw Henry finally walking over so I pushed Chooch over to the register to order. I was frantically waving Henry over but a mom and her daughter thought I was calling them over so they cut in front of the large family and joined us?!!? It was so awkward!!!

And then the young emotionless girl who rudely took Chooch’s order was so confused because there were three of us but only he was ordering and it turned into a whole thing much like everything does when the 3 of us are united, like we’re aliens from a planet of socially awkward dysfunctional families. She acted MAD that only Chooch was ordering food though and I was like, “MIND YO’ BUSINESS, MISSY.”

Anyway, not the most exciting trip to Kennywood but it was still fun, we rode Phantom, I sipped some beers, and it got us out of the house AS A REUNITED FAMILY and that’s all that really matters! Don’t worry, I’m sure there will be many more amusement park recaps this summer and hopefully at least one of them will be more exciting than this one.

Yesterday was a milestone birthday for Henry – the big 6-0! I posted these pictures yesterday on Instagram in his honor (he was so thrilled and touched by some of them, as you can imagine) so I figured I’d share them here too because honestly, we didn’t do anything to celebrate. I kept asking him what if anything he wanted to do and he gave me nothing to work with. Some people are just like that, which is crazy to me because I will pout and sulk if nothing happens on my birthday which is why I start planning ahead of time because I have learned over the years that if you want to have a happy and fun birthday, ain’t no one going to do that for you but you.

I did chat with Chooch about this a few mths ago but we couldn’t think of anything he’d actually enjoy, lol. I definitely wasn’t going to have a party for him because that would be just me doing something for me, in the end.

And besides, the last year+ has left me stripped of energy, motivation, and creativity. Plus, it sucks without Chooch here. He’ll be home next weekend, which is Father’s Day, so we can celebrate then.

Shout out to Henry for having more patience than anyone I know, keeping Chooch & me from perishing more times than I can recount here, being a one-man crafting powerhouse (he takes all of my ideas and makes them tangible!), driving me hours upon hours for Kpop concerts and never complaining, loving G-Dragon almost as much as me, rolling with all of my stupid “OK HEAR ME OUT, WHAT IF—-” ideas, and honestly just being my best friend. I don’t know how I would have gone through this last year+ without him.

Remember when I used to take coleslaw action shots?? Should I start this series again?? Lol.

Chingumas poca Henry.

Looking like the cook. 

Celebrating Hyunjin in Seoul.

This was taken by me in Gamla Stan, Stockholm just to show him an example of how I wanted him to take a picture of ME and he still failed miserably even with a visual aid. Anyway, it turned out to be one of my favorite pictures of him and his man-purse.

Chilling with a troll in Norway.

If Henry was an office worker.

He found the Ted Nugent hotdog bun at Tony Packo’s in Toledo!

That time he got stuck on the floor at my birthday lunch in Seoul. 

This was taken at one of our favorite places to walk – Keystone State Park.

Mt. Olympus angel. He was annoyed because I posted it on Instagram and Mt. Olympus liked it haha.

This was when we were visiting Alyson in New Hampshire <3

LOL donut photoshoot in some random town in New York.

Posing at Six Flags Great Adventure.

LOL. Even when Henry is having fun, you can’t tell.

Being a proud Air Force person at Indiana Beach even though he went AWOL.  

We love Phantom’s Revenge!

At a SHINee anniversary event in Cleveland!

Working on some project for me.

Seeing NCT127 for his first time in Newark!

Enjoying his Golden Nugget at Kennywood.

Henry and his twin brother at Six Flags. 

Had to include this classic Henry photo lol.

Anyway, Henry seemed to have an OK day. He came home from work, got a haircut, went to TWO GROCERY STORES at TWO SEPARATE TIMES which is his favorite past time, and then had some beer while watching Korean content on YouTube. (Specifically: Taemin on Daesung’s talk show, and Joshua on Yoon and Brian’s show BYOB.) I don’t know what today will hold but tomorrow we’re driving to Philly to bring home the bulk of Chooch’s shit so at least he will get to see him for some belated birthday aggravation!

Greetings from Saturday. So far, Memorial Day Weekend has been decent. I took the day off yesterday and it was mostly spent reading, walking, and finally revisiting the 4th season of You, which I had quit watching after 4 or 5 episodes last year because it was one of the most dreadful seasons in a series I’ve ever experienced. But I wanted to be able to watch the final season that just came out so I barreled through – fuck, that was some rough hate-watching TV.

I think the only thing of note that happened otherwise was that I decided to treat myself to a latte so I walked to Potomac Station (yeah, my boycott didn’t last long). However, I was one block away when I looked up and realized I was about to walk right into someone I’ve been avoiding. Sorry to be vague but you just never know. They were at a parking meter and I was like OMG SHOULD I TURN AROUND but I figured that would be more noticeable so I just kept walking and legit had to walk RIGHT BEHIND them, so close that I was sure they’d catch me in their periphery. Right as I slipped past, I was about to exhale when they turned and started to say something and I went rigid – but they were just asking a nearby cop a question about the meter.

Now I was panicking that they were also going to the same cafe as me so as soon as I got to the end of the block, I dove around the corner of a pizza joint and flattened myself against the wall. Then I called Henry and in lieu of “hello,” I hit him with a “FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!” and he was probably thinking, “This is it, this is the call from jail I’ve been expecting for 24 years.” But then when I told him what was happening, he started laughing and excuse me but the last time I checked, this was not a laughable situation.

I waited another minute and when I didn’t see that person pass the pizza place, I tempted fate and poked my head around the corner after trying to peer through the pizza place windows only succeeded in making me look even more suspicious, like some begging to lose a game of hide & seek.

They were still at the meter!!! So I hurriedly retreated to my hideout in the stoop of an apartment building next to the pizza place. One of the residents came out at one point and almost walked right into me, that’s how great I am at HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT.

“Ok, I’m going to check again,” I whispered to Henry, who had stayed on the phone with me so at least it looked I was doing something and not just creeping up and down a quiet side street for no reason. Right as I stepped off the stoop of the apt building, two people emerged from the other side of the pizza place and it gave me such a DAYLIGHT FRIGHT but it was two men and not the person I was trying to evade. When I popped my head around the corner, the rest of the sidewalk was empty. I dunno where they were went, but it was somewhere the opposite direction of the cafe, thankfully.

Still, my nerves were all tweaked when I got to the cafe so I stood there waiting for my Bakewell tart latte, wringing my hands and casting furtive glances over my shoulder.

I texted Megan this story while I was in the cafe and she was like “This WOULD happen to you!!” and then Chooch actually said, “LOL that’s really funny.” Wow. Glad I could send you a chuckle, dear son.

Apropos song for this moment:

Nothing else that great happened except that when I was on a post-exercise evening walk, I was listening to an audio book that was boring me so my mind started to wander and the final result was that for the first time in years (maybe since 2020??) I have a concrete idea for family Christmas cards and had to run back into the house and write down the ideas because all I do these days is forget.

Henry was like, “It’s….May.”

I saw this sign & dog poop baggies on my walk this morning and it made me laugh.

Then my sister Amy sent me a post from Duffy’s (beer dist. that we go to sometimes) where they were advertising a six-pack of Kennywood-inspired beer from Penn Brewery so Henry and I stopped there on our way to Mingo Park (today’s afternoon stroll locale). I mostly wanted to get this because of the cans – I have a plan to cut them, flatten them out, and tack them down onto wood and somehow incorporate one of our family pics from Kennywood into the middle of it. TO BE CONTINUED.

We got one for Amy & Dick too :)

Mingo Park was a nice time but it brought back some memz about PSYCHO MIKE because I was there once with him in high school so I started venting about that and I guess I want to say that I’m thankful that Henry is a WE LISTEN AND WE DON’T JUDGE type (most of the time). Somehow the conversation went to how when I broke up with Jeff (not a psycho but also not for me) for Henry, the most biting dig he could think of was, “Have fun dating an old guy and listening to country music and drinking Coors!”

LOL we have never done either of those things, but OK.

“Isn’t it crazy how we had nothing in common when we first met and now we do?” I said to Henry.

“Yeah because you made me assimilate to you and now I have no individuality,” he answered without missing a beat.

This is SO TRUE but he loves my interests. My interests make him interesting.

You know, it’s not great. It just isn’t. I miss Chooch. BUT!! Henry and I had a nice day out yesterday (well, mostly – I’ll get to that later this week) and I even treated myself to some stuff…like TWO Johnnie Guilbert shirts – I wanted to get a third but then Henry and I both said at the time “does anyone really need three Johnnie Guilbert shirts.” But yo, he has some really good designs! And I wanted to definitely have the one of him where his Robert Smith tattoo is showing.

And then because I’m emotionally regressing, I also bought tickets to Pierce the Veil whom I have not seen since 2017!!! Also, I said that I had only ever seen them in Pgh at Warped Tour but apparently I have also seen them at Stage AE THREE TIMES. You know you go to a lot of concerts when you lose count of how many times you’ve seen one of your favorite bands.

Today was decent. Chooch actually called me ON THE PHONE this morning to wish me a happy mother days and I got lots of other nice messages too which made me feel loved because I think everyone knows I haven’t been dealing with life very well & am in my KMS era.

Later, went to Home Depot to get paint samples for the bedroom dresser and then to an antique store on Library Rd because the vision of the dresser has finally fallen into place in my head and I wanted to look for crosses and rosaries lol. We struck out (did get two other items though but one is for Chooch and I don’t want him to know what it is until he comes home!) but I got two rosaries later on eBay and one of them is glow in the dark!

Came home and I started to make my lunch after getting super hangry while antiquing because that makes me frustrated and angry in general only to find out once I pulled everything out of the fridge that WE WERE OUT OF AVOCADOS. I was big upset but Henry was like “calm down I will go to the store chill plz put down the knife.”

I got to wish New Girl Buddy a happy Mother’s Day but she didn’t seem impressed and looked at me like “I come here for your walnoots not conversation.”

Jesus.

That was Mothers Day. It was mid but at least I didn’t cry.