Have I mentioned lately how bizarre it is to not have Chooch around because he’s a workaholic? Granted, I know deep down that even if he didn’t have a job, he’d just be out with his friends and doing everything in his power to avoid being seen in public with his PARENTS (*shudder*) but it has definitely been a bit of an adjustment for me. Luckily, Henry usually says, “Sure. Whatever. Fine” when I suggest Not Date options to him.

For instance, last Tuesday, we walked to the Hollywood Theater in Dormont to see the new Ghostbusters movie. Chooch actually wasn’t working that night, but he had already seen this several weeks ago with his friend Haojie and also he has some mentorship that he does on Tuesdays with the Carnegie Science Center so he wouldn’t have been able to go with us anyway.

I don’t understand why more people don’t take advantage of the old-timey goodness that is the Hollywood, but as usual we were the only people in attendance that night. We claimed my favorite seats in the balcony and everything was fine until 5 minutes into the movie when two people sat somewhere behind us. That whole fucking empty theater, and they also choose the balcony. Cool. Cool cool cool.

Now, before you think, “OMG get a life, you’re not the only person in the world, Queen Erin” let me just add that there was LOUD CRUNCHING accompanying the arrival of our new theater friends. I sneaked a peek at one point and they were a good 5 rows behind but it was the most obnoxious popcorn chomping I have ever witnessed. The only thing that was stopping me from flipping out was imagining that it was Buddy behind me, eating peanuts. (The Buddys a/k/a squirrels eat their peanuts so voraciously that we can hear them crunching from inside the house and because they’re animals and not PEOPLE, it is the most adorable thing.)

“Thank god they got a small,” Henry whispered once the popcorn-palooza died down. You know it’s bad when Henry of the Hard Hearing can pick up on the theater mastication.

We had several minutes of peace.

But then…

The crinkling of a wrapper happened.

And NEVER STOPPED. Literally for the rest of the movie, my ears were buffeted by the sound of someone unwrapping and rewrapping their entire self in cellophane. I have no idea what was going on back there but I ALMOST got up and found a new, quiet seat in the solitude of the empty main theater floor but I didn’t want to CAUSE A SCENE because I’m not sure I could have done this WITHOUT MAKING “YOU DISGUST ME!!!” sounds as I stalked past them.

I have absolutely no idea what the crinkle culprit was because I couldn’t see every time I turned around to glare in their general vicinity.

UGH. They almost ruined the movie for me but overall, I did enjoy it a lot and I cried much harder than I imagined I would, which is hilarious because I will cry just from THINKING about sentimental commercials so I really underestimated the voraciousness of my tear ducts I guess.

Oh, and Henry actually stayed awake through the whole movie AND his breathing didn’t annoy me but that’s probably just because I couldn’t hear it over the candy apple wrapping assembly line behind me.

On Saturday, I wanted CAKE for lunch and Henry was like, “Cool, same.” So we went to Butterwood, which is a fancy bakery with super unique and decadent flavors that I always forget about because we’re not in that area very much anymore now that Chooch doesn’t take piano lessons anymore (but speaking of, he actually dusted off his keyboard over the weekend and was jamming for a good hour in his room!). First, we went to Black Forge for fancy seasonal lattes (mine had matcha, pistachio, and cardamom in it, and Henry’s had cinnamon and cookie dough or something, who cares). “Let’s live it up,” I said and Henry said in a strangulated voice, “Anything you want, I’m afraid to say no to you, my love.”

We got two things to eat there like fancy people with tiny forks. Henry had an uppity sweet potato pie and I had some kind of black sesame orange cake thing that was SO RICH and DENSE, hoo boy, I loved it but it put me in a dessert fog for real. You can expect flavors like FIG and ROSEMARY and OLIVE OIL and LAVENDAR and EARL GREY up in this piece, which is totally my style. I love cakes and things that aren’t overwhelmingly sweet. (Which is probably why I’m also a big fan of Asian desserts too. Red bean FTW.)

Henry and his Tiny Fork.

“Can we please go now?”

Then we walked around Lawrenceville for a while because I always have to “Walk it Off” when I eat heavy stuff like this. Some annual Cookie Tour was going on where you go to all of the designated COOKIE STOPS along Butler St and collect the cookies. I always forget that this is a thing but we couldn’t imagine accumulating a bag full of cookies after just pounding down our rich day desserts. I’m not sure how much this event costs but I bet it’s worth it.

I was unreasonably mad that we hadn’t planned for this but Henry said we can do it next year and I was like, “WE WILL PROBABLY FORGET ABOUT IT LIKE WE ALWAYS DO!” God!

Anyway, we also got some magical almond, rose and strawberry cake; a blueberry & fig handpie (Henry of the Blueberry-Hating Tribe picked this one for some inexplicable reason, I guess just so he’d have a reason to complain later); and a brownie for Son. What’s his name again? Oh yeah, Chooch.

Or, you know, Riley.

Then that night we watched SINGLE ALL THE WAY and Chooch kept coming downstairs to spy on it and I was like, “YOU CAN JUST WATCH IT WITH US YOU KNOW” but apparently he likes watching movies on his “own time” so that he can pause whenever he wants. See also: Generation ADD.

The next day was B-O-R-I-N-G and also super frustrating because I was having a bad attitude day and literally everything was setting me off. I told Henry to pick somewhere to go for a walk and I didn’t like a single one of the THREE PLACES he chose and I threw several fits and then finally we were driving through the North Side because I declared that I wanted, nay–NEEDED, a cookie (I think my sugar levels must have been low because I was ready to jump out of the moving car) and while we were doing so, I yelled, “WHY DON’T YOU JUST PARK THE FUCKING CAR AND WE CAN WALK HERE?!?!” because there is a very cute city park by the Aviary and I used to walk over there a lot on my lunch breaks back when we still worked in the office.

I was almost immediately cured because there were a bunch of squirrels frolicking around and they RESPONDED POSITIVELY to us but of course we left our travel bag of peanuts in the car.

I’m pretty sure I told Henry that I hated him 8984578 times that day but he took it all in stride because, well, 20 years of my verbal and emotional abuse and a little “I hate you” doesn’t have much impact anymore.

Then we got cookies at Happy Day Dessert Factory (chocolate chip and PB) and I have to admit that these were some fucking bangin’ cookies and totally worth all the aggravation that the day had dumped on me.

Well, now I have to go and breathe into a paper bag because I’m going to see Genesis tonight with my bro Corey and I am having absolute anxiety attacks because I’m so excited but also nervous because it’s my first concert since the pandemic and being around all these people makes me scared even though I’m vaxxed and boostered and the venue “strongly recommends” mask-wearing. Our seats are in the very first row of the non-floor seats so at least we won’t be totally surrounded by people…?

Last Sunday was much better than this Sunday so please excuse me while I look at pictures and remember the good times.

(Nothing terrible happened today, but I’m just having a bad mental health day and being ultra melodramatic about it boo hoo hoo.)

Drew is so excited that all the Christmas shit is strewn about the house again.

The first part of Sunday was actually quite aggravating. I had to go into the office to get my laptop. LOOOOONG ASS story short, I have always connected remotely a different way than most of my coworkers because I already had a bangin’ home computer set up with two monitors and couldn’t fathom trying to work off the tiny laptop they provide. I knew that there were ways to hook it up so that I could still work from my two monitors at home, but it seemed dumb and like A Hassle to deal with that when it was already so easy for me to do it the old way. I even asked the IT guys once if I should, and they were like, “IF IT AIN’T BROKE…” Anyway, then we got new laptops and whenever they swapped mine out on my desk at work, everything got all fucked up for me at home. I lose connection approx. 87x a minutes and if you know me, you probably think I am being hyperbolic, but in this case, I’m really not.

So we went to get my laptop so that Henry could try to set it up and the only good thing that came of it was that I had this cutie chocolate set waiting for me on my desk.

Everything else sucked. I had to call the help desk and MIKE or whoever I spoke with was basically like NO YOU CANNOT USE YOUR TWO HOME MONITORS OH WELL TOO BAD SO SAD and I was like FUCCKKKKK and even made Henry talk to him and it was just pointless. So I had to take the laptop BACK to work in order to be able to connect remotely as before.

This is still an on-going saga, btw, but the whole point was that I wanted to share the picture of the chocolate lol. While Henry was half-strangulated with computer cords, I shoved a piece of the chocolate in his mouth. He froze and asked, “Why was your hand wet?”

“Oh,” I shrugged. “That was just my spit.”

LOL.

(/end boring help desk issues.)

Then we both needed to walk that shit off (Henry was just as stressed as I was over this bullshit) so we went to Allegheny Cemetery. Henry took this dumb selfie when I gave him my phone to take a picture of me acting like a hooligan.

Me, acting like a hooligan.

Um, also I just noticed that the size of these pictures is dumb which means HENRY changed it before taking the pictures and I hate when he does that! This is the same size of picture his dumb phone takes!!

I think we spent most of the walk bitching about IT departments and me responding to everything Henry said with, “Your butt.”

It was actually a really nice, leisurely walk though.

Henry remembered that this Korean food truck, The Boonseek, was parked near the cemetery that day at a brewery (don’t care about the brewery part so I can’t tell you the name of it, so sorry) so we drove on over.

The Boonseek specializes in a Korean version of what we know as corndogs, but you guys, as with all Korean street food, it is so so so so so much better. You can get these all over the place in Korea from street vendors so it really tugged at my heart seeing them again, you know?

I was so happy that there were non-meat options! I got the Cheese Seeker and an order of kimbap for Chooch, and Henry got the original Boon Seeker (sausage and cheese) and bulgogi mandu.

Oh man. Oh man, oh man, oh man. I need to eat this at least once a week, honestly. I love how Korean street food is sweet and savory at the same time. The breading is sugary, the ketchup is sweet, the mustard is tangy, and the cheese is SO CHEESY – I should have taken a picture of the cheese-pull. Combine all this with the satisfying crunch of fried breading and I dare you to not roll your eyes back into your head in taste-ecstasy. Good lord.

We were soooo full after this but also very very very content. Henry had one of these in Busan and said that this one was actually better! I love supporting local Korean food people. My inner hipster wants to be annoyed that dumb people are finally figuring out that Korean food/music/film/culture is amazing but I’m also really glad for this too because now it just makes it  more accessible for fanatics like me.

If only we can get an H-MART!!!.

Henry took this picture later that night. As soon as I sit down on the couch, Penelope comes over and plops down and evidently her bones turn to liquid.

Well, that’s all I have to say about last Sunday. It was fun spending time with Henry while CHOOCH was at work but now I’m dwelling on my work-from-home issues again so I guess blogging today is actually making my already dumb day worse. Woo!

Currently sitting in the Hollywood Theater with Henry waiting for Ghostbusters to start but I had to post the new Mino video because this song is a JIMMY JAM.

I was so excited to be able to invite Corey and Janna over this year to TRIM TRUDY since we are all vaccinated and some of us are even boostered. Last year was very sad trimming that broad without an accompanying gathering. Sadly, Corey couldn’t make it because of a work Xmas party, but Janna came over and was OMG ON TIME! She even made a point of eschewing the standard salutations with a “NOTE THE TIME” demand instead. LOL, oh Janna.

Earlier that day, Henry and I went to Fresh Thyme to procure some “healthy”-ish snacks to go along with the Korean alcoholic bev collection (various flavored sojus and makgeollis, get on our K-level). While there, some guy who was around my age kept making INTENSE eye contact with me, the kind that can be decoded as “I KNOW YOU” and it was borderline uncomfy. I started to panic, like, “Did I have a one-night stand with this dude back in the day?” I mean, he kind of looked like my type?!?! I was actually afraid he was going to be waiting in the parking lot but he wasn’t. I kept trying to tell Henry about it but I was wearing a mask in the store and Henry is already hard of hearing and was basically completely unaware that any of this was happening.

“DIDN’T YOU SEE HOW LONG HE WAS ‘LOOKING AT MILK’ WHEN WE WERE IN THE VEGAN DAIRY SECTION??” I cried and Henry was like, “No…maybe…wait what are we talking about again?” and then I think Henry was actually sad that this guy didn’t kidnap me.

My eyes are so fantastico at the YOUNG AGE of 42 that I can barely even get my photos in focus these days.

Got to break out my SHINee soju glasses for the occasion!

This was probably one of the 87 times Chooch asked told Janna to buy him Pokemon cards for Christmas.

“I think the gas mask year was my favorite,” Janna said dreamily, as we recounted all of the festive Yuletide transformations that Trudy has undergone. (Underwent? Undertaken? GONE THRU.) I think we care less and less each year though, ah, sweet complacency. I mean, I was all gung-ho about looking for a green tutu for her to wear this year so that we could also use that as a vehicle for hanging ornaments, but I got distracted after about like, one google search and then forgot to go back and look. LOL. Oh, Christmas. Who cares.

I mean, look how exhausted we are after spending a whopping ten minutes wrapping a mannequin with garland. She doesn’t even need strung with lights anymore because Henry just leaves the lights on her year-round now.

Here are pictures of all of us post-TRUDY TRIM.

Then Chooch wanted to play a game but I said NO because I didn’t feel like it, yet somehow I ended up with Chooch’s phone pressed to my forehead, hysterically guessing things from the 1980s. Oh Heads Up, I hate your existence yet I can never walk away from a challenge.

One of the categories is for songs but you have to hum or sing the song without giving away the song title. It was Chooch’s turn to guess and the song was “Hey There Delilah” by the Plain White Ts but I never liked that song and could literally only think of the Hey There Delilah line and had to keep humming it over and over and Janna was also trying to hum it because she couldn’t think of the words and then I was like, “JUST PASS IT YOU PROBABLY DON’T KNOW THIS SONG ANYWAY” so he passed it and then later when he looked at the ones he missed, he rage-cried, “HEY THERE DELILAH ARE YOU KIDDING ME WHY WOULDN’T I KNOW THAT???” and Janna and I defensively argued that we couldn’t think of any other lyrics.

“Like, who even knows the words to that song,” Janna said dismissively, to which Chooch screamed, “HEY THERE DELILAH?? WHAT’S IT LIKE IN NEW YORK CITY???? I’M A THOUSAND MILES AWAY???? BUT, GIRL, TONIGHT YOU LOOK SO PRETTY????” while the protruding vein in his forehead was barking an emphatic “Yeah!” after each line, and then dropped the mic on his behalf.

“AND YOU COULDN’T HAVE EVEN HAD ME GUESS THE BAND’S NAME?!?! REALLY? PLAIN WHITE TS???”

He was um, very upset.

Blake made the long and arduous trek over from next door later that night after his gaggle of children went  to bed, and the HEY THERE DELILAH party foul was brought back up again.

Immediately, Blake recounted the first four lines of the song too, with as much casual comfort as someone singing the happy birthday song. Janna and I just threw our arms up in defeat. (Honestly though I really hated that song so it’s not too shocking that I wouldn’t know the words.)

Whenever it was my turn and we were doing music, everyone’s first clue for nearly every singer was, “Oh you hate this person.” I hate so many pop singers that it was really hard for me to guess! Although it was mostly Katy Perry and Taylor Swift every time, except for the one time when it was Alecia Keys and Chooch ever-so-surely said, “You really hate this singer” and I was so confused because I do not hate her. I just have no feelings either way!

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Bros!

I was REALLY pissed because once when it was my turn, the answer was The Carpenters “We’ve Only Just Begun” but I only got the artist and not the song because Henry was being stupid with his humming capabilities and then afterward argued that I “wouldn’t have gotten it anyway” and I was like, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS SAY THIS SONG IS IN MUSIC BOXES?!!?” Honestly, my grandma had like 8 different music boxes in her house that played that song.

One time when it was Henry’s turn, the word was SHOULDER PADS and Chooch got Henry to guess it by saying “it’s what mom called Drew and thought it was so hilarious* – Ursula’s…” and Henry immediately said “Oh. Shoulder pads.”

*It WAS hilarious!

Also, chooch wouldn’t do the pop culture category with us because it has “relevant trends” that we “wouldn’t know about.” I hate him.

My other favorite moment of the night was when Janna told me that one of the BITCHIEST teachers we had for Language Arts / Communications in middle school made her re-recite a poem from the very beginning after she mispronounced the word BOSOM LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. This is my new favorite Janna thing! Apparently she pronounced it BOW-some LOLOLOLOL YESSSSSSSSS.

Well, Mary, I think that’s all for now. It was a nice night of snackin’ and Heads Up’in and somewhat house partyin’. And now Trudy is back to her festive dressings!

I wasn’t going to LiveBlog because we woke up late and now we can’t do all the fun stuff I wanted to do on the way home (ok it was just one fun thing and I wasn’t really married to the idea but whatever).

But I’m bored and need something to do so here we are.

It’s 10:30 and we just stopped at this place screaming about PEACHES PECANS AND FIREWORKS. We went there specifically to see if we could find any good deals on peanuts for the squirrels (lol my life) but they only had bags of RAW p’nuts which are not good for my Buddys and Grays!

Instead we spent $40 on deep fried peanuts, strawberry peanut brittle, locally made soy candles, lip balm, and beard balm. And something called Divinity that Henry tried to not share with me but I ripped it out of his hand.

I could have spent more money there, easily.

I didn’t see any real peaches there and made the mistake of saying so, and now I’m enduring a spiel from Farmer Hank about how peaches are out of season. I wonder where he hides his Farmers Almanacs.

Omg henry is so annoying. He keeps changing the route while he’s driving in an effort to bypass anticipated traffic. “This will put us through the top of Tennessee,” he said. “What’s the top of Tennessee?” I asked. “Not the bottom,” he replied. I MEANT LIKE WHAT CITIES BUT OK MR LITERAL.

Hi it’s almost noon. Henry and I talked about LGBTQ+ issues, nutrition, and Slutty Vegan for like an hour in case you were wondering why I wasn’t updating lololol. Now we’re at a gas station and Dunkin’ Donuts in Athens Georgia because why wouldn’t we have left Georgia yet. I had an annoying gas station bathroom experience thanks to a loud mom and her 12 children. Also I broke a nail last night when pulling down my restraint on Georgia Scorcher and I need a nail file but have not found one at any place we stopped. Also my macchiato (“macchiato” – very LOOSE definition) tastes like hot water. Henry tried to stir it by shaking it and sprayed “macchiato” everywhere so I yelled about how I “try to keep the car clean but then YOU PEOPLE–”

“Is ‘you people’ me and Chooch?” Henry had the audacity to interrupt.

“ANYTIME I SAY YOU AND PEOPLE IT ALWAYS REFERS TO YOU AND CHOOCH” I yelled. Because hello really??

Twenty five minutes later. In Tennessee. We just drove past a giant cross. I blurted out, “Giant crosses are pathetic” and I dunno why I said that other than the power of Satan compelled my tongue.

Also, earlier in the drive I was fixated on the fact that we don’t pronounce sugar soo-gar and now Henry says “SOOGAR” every time he sees a sign that has sugar on it. So that’s a cool linguistic monster I created.

1:11pm and I was just vocalizing how I imagine Henry would be right now if he’d never met me: sitting in a tattered recliner in a sweat-stained wife beater, shotgun propped up against the side, long greasy hair, knife in a holster of his belt which also features a huge belt buckle since he’s an OTR truck driver, eating a HUNGRY MAN tv dinner while shotgunning a generic beer and watching–

“NCIS?” Henry cut me off with a sigh.

“No, GRACE UNDER FIRE,” I shouted, choking on laughter. “And who’s that other asshole…JEFF FOXWORTHY.”

“I used to listen to him before he was famous,” Henry said and I think he meant it as a brag???

“Wow congrats. You were a redneck hipster.”

1:51: THIS JUST IN–at a Pilot somewhere in Tennessee and THERE WERE FOUR OF US BROADS IN THE BATHROOM WEARING MASKS. I felt like I was with MY PEOPLE.

2:25pm: had a fight about maps. Chooch actually defended me by pointing out that HENRY can’t even read a map. Thanks, Backseat Son.

Anyway here are mountains. Maybe the Smokies? Who can be sure. No one can read a map.

Also just passed a billboard for HEAVENLY STITCHES: a quilt store. Cool.

2:53: GUYS. WE JUST WENT TO PAL’S SUDDEN SERVICE. I have been OBSESSED with this fast food chain since we saw one Friday night when henry abruptly pulled off an exit to go to Dunkin’ Donuts and one was right next door. I AMOST forgot about it until today when Henry was saying stuff that I wasn’t listening to as usual and then casually added, “and then you can go to Pal’s” and I was suddenly ERECT WITH ATTENTION.

The exit sign is A POINTING HOT DOG!!!

I got a toasted cheese!!! I made Henry get a Mello Yello so I could drink some because I didn’t want my own!

Henry tried to pay at the ordering window and the girl LAUGHED AT HIM and said, “oh no, you pay at the pick up window” like Henry had asked to see the basement. It was such a highlight.

Here are pictures I took Friday night:

I need a Pal’s t-shirt SO BADLY NOW.

6:00pm: HENRY made me drive for the last TWO HOURS most of it was GRIDLOCKED TRAFFIC in Virginia, while he slept like a precious WHITE MAN. My nerves are shot now. I pulled over to switch with him RIGHY BEFORE the dumb toll thing which I had to drive through on Friday too and it was so annoying because we have EZ Pass but were behind CANADIANS who had to dig around their car for change and I was very unhappy with our NEIGHBORS TO THE NORTH in that moment.

Anyway did I mention that I’m in a bad mood now? Because I am. Fuck off Henry. If you even ever read this!!!!!

Omg he just had the audacity to say something about me complaining about driving when he still has to drive for 3 hours and 45 minutes and I was like, “yeah and you got to sleep for 2 hours so I dunno why you’re complaining!” But now he’s saying he wasn’t?? Um I’m sorry but when he bitched about the remaining time left he has to drive, that was him LODGING A COMPLAINT. Fuck off!!

6:25: Hi. My other dream was to go to Tudor’s Biscuit World & get a motherfucking biscuit since all my other biscuit dreams were crushed on this trip. Now we’re here but we got stuck behind an elderly couple who just materialized from outer space and we’re ecstatic to order human food except they had no idea how. But at least they’re wearing masks!

OK REPORT’S IN: BISCUIT WAS WORTH IT.

I loved our experience at Tudor’s was amazing and I am very happy. My favorite part was when Henry accidentally threw away all the plates into the garbage can:

And then couldn’t find anyone to tell because they were all outside smoking. So when he found them on our way out, the one lady was like “oh it’s alright. We’ll just leave them there” and the other lady said she wouldn’t tell. Henry’s such a chump.

Also, I feel like I missed out by not ordering the CAPPICINO:

8:25pm: I just changed Henry’s Waze profile to this and I’m crying and he’s in the drivers seat going WHAT. WHAT. WHAT DID YOU DO. STOP FUCKING WITH MY STUFF!!!

I just spit on myself trying to hold in another round of hyena-level laughter.

I just signed him up to be a Waze carpool driver and I’m crying.

I’m nice but don’t like to talk much unless it’s about military airplanes and the TV show Monk.

I gave myself a stomach ache.

I’m so overheated from laughing that I’m sweating. I tried to show Chooch my hard work and he said I DONT CARE. Meanwhile Henry is over here panicking, wondering what damage I’ve done to his impeccable Wave profile.

9:06: we still have 90 minutes left *SCREAMS INTO A PILLOW EXCEPT I DONT HAVE A PILLOW SO THIS IS JUST A REGULAR FULL-VOLUME UNSUPPRESSED SCREAM*

9:20: Listening to my old COCK ROBIN jam and I said, “I’m not sure how I ever knew about this song. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it on the radio.” And, with a SMIRK, Henry said, “probably from one of those dumb CDs you used to buy.”

LOLOLOL: he means all the COMPILATION CDs I used to get via MAIL ORDER using my mom’s credit card lol.

https://open.spotify.com/track/3d6zRaJbLV2XvxY93Yow1l?si=6EtYY8nTQ1KAX2Wo4sOwTA&context=spotify%3Asearch%3Acock%2520robin

I guess I will post this worthless account of nothingness now. Will update if anything interesting happens??

UPDATE: I only accumulated 2500 steps thanks to basically driving non-stop all day. We got home at 10:35 tonight and I was DETERMINED to meet my daily goal of 12000 (I usually get way more than that but 12000 is what I have FitBit set at). I walked/jogged in place from the moment I walked in the door, pausing only once for a pee break, and I met my goal WITH TWO MINUTES TO SPARE. You can ask Henry–he was sitting on the couch staring at his phone the entire time.

Ok. Trip’s officially over. Happy to be reunited with my insane, attention-deprived cats. Taking my contacts out now thank god. Peace out all-gendered scouts.

Henry actually came home early today! So we are currently Atlanta area-ish bound.

I don’t feel like live blogging but here is what happened today so far. I woke up at 4:45am to the sounds of movement upstairs. I knew henry had already gone to work so this meant either HOME INTRUDERS and Chooch actually set an alarm and woke up early for Black Friday shenanigans.

Yep. It was Chooch. Can’t wake up on his own for school but that’s not a priority I guess. I texted him for shopping updates every so often not because I cared deeply but mostly was just vaguely curious what a gaggle of 15-year-old boys were accomplishing at the mall at 6am.

Apparently: Pop figures.

I laughed at first thinking how rich it was that Chooch had only bought a Pop figure, how he must realize how much less fun it is when you’re spending your own money.

But then he came home with a bag of them and oh, he spent like $200 on them. Great. Cool. Awesome.

I had the whole morning to myself and nothing to do. So I put on Pierce the Veil real loud and took some pictures of the new sweater I got from Sleepy Peach and then realized that I never took any photos of one of the shirts I got last year from Unlogical Poem so we did a wardrobe change (we: Drew and me. She was prowling around my room keeping me company, god bless her!).

Fun fact!! That coffee cup was the only thing I could afford when I was 18 and stupidly thinking I could furnish my first apartment from anything at my fave store PerLora. I also had a purple one which has mysteriously gone missing and I know one of those fucker bitches I live with broke it but won’t fess up.

My room is such a mess lol.

I like that this shirt has cool sleeves and the thingie that goes around your finger which has a name and now I can’t think of it (see also: not a fashionista or whatever). I used to cut thumbholes in long sleeved shirts and this is like a much fancier and less sloppy version of that look.

Here is another picture I took after I saw the other one and thought that maybe I should pick up some stuff from under the desk (read: kick it out of frame lol). This is actually one of my fave areas of the house, though I don’t sit over there very often if at all anymore since I don’t paint anymore. But that wall is full of photos that make me so happy and I love that swag lamp so much! The large painting to the left is from my grandparents house. <3

Henry has the GPS set to use Dexter’s voice and it’s fun for now but will get old soon.

Durrrrrrr d’durrrrrrrr.

I love the sleeve ruffles! Highly recommend both places for clothes: Sleepy Peach and Unlogical Poem.

I’ll leave you with a picture of Chooch, who only lasted 20 minutes before passing out in the backseat:

I bought my very first ever monstera plant last January, with very little confidence or faith that I wouldn’t let it wither away into a brown crisp. I’m so hit or miss with houseplants and have killed an embarrassing about of cacti even. (Succulents and cacti are actually NOT THAT EASY TO MAINTAIN for most of us people, honestly!)

Also, quick back story: Henry kept calling it a Monsta X plant because there is an awesome Kpop group by that name. So then I officially dubbed him Wonho after our joint-bias in that group (even though he is no longer in Monsta X and is currently living his best damn life as a solo artist!

Observe: Wonho last January on the day we saved him from dumb Lowe’s.

And here he is last week, November 2021.

What a beast!!

You can see that he is soaring over the buffet now.

He is so lush and has strong big boi energy.

I do talk to him every day (along with the cats, squirrels, my other personalities, the computer screen and basically any inanimate object I encounter throughout my sad and lonely work-from-home days) and I guess what they say is true re:talking to plants etc.

Wonho actually lives in a corner with several other large houseplants and that space looks like a mini rain forest, and that makes me feel calm.

I never would have thought I’d be a plant bitch yet here we are: first came succulents and now this.

Hey, let’s check in juman Wonho!

How it started (as a rookie in 2015).

And um…how it’s going. *fans self*

Whenever I exclaim, “holy SHIT Wonho is getting so BIG,” Henry always asks, “Which one?” Because truly it could be either.

Ok um on that note 잘 자요!

Ever since I deep-dove into the LJ archives last week, I’ve been feeling some type of way. I guess also because we’re in the throes of our 20th year together so the emotions have been REAL.

One of the posts I read was from our first or second year together where we went to this family restaurant out in Perryopolis (whatever that means) called RANDALL’S and I made a point to ask for separate checks but when I went to pay, they didn’t accept credit cards so Henry ended up having to pay for me anyway. I thought it was interesting because he was definitely living with me at that point but apparently we still paid separately when eating out??

It’s hard to even imagine.

So since Henry is done with his BIG CHORE (aka THE SIGN), I suggested that we revisit Randall’s today for lunch while WORKING CHOOCH was WORKING. Kind of like a date??!!

Plus I just really kind of wanted a grilled cheese, you know?

First of all, henry got cole slaw and I was excited because it’s been a hot minute since I got to take a HENRY EATS COLE SLAW action shot. I truly apologize for the delay.

But guys. That cole slaw. It was THICK. Literally had SKIN on it. Clearly it was proportioned and chilling in a fridge all day but still – stir that shit! I mean it was ok, not the worst I’ve had (yes I always stew a forkful or five from Henry’s ‘slaw) but DANG that consistency was jarring.

My grilled cheese was you know, basic. This ain’t Melt, yanno.

Meanwhile henry was making dumb observations like “are these booths new?” Bro I don’t fucking know! I literally can’t even remember the last time we ate at Randall’s! It was basically like being there for the first time, at that point.

The first time I was ever there was in high school (senior year or possibly the summer after?) with Janna. Why the fuck we were in perryopolis is beyond me but I remember this was back when I was obsessed with .38 Special and Janna either had a car phone (?????) or a cell phone (????) because I remember calling the classic rock radio station afterward to request “Caught Up In You” and the DJ answered and asked me where I was calling from and I said “a parking lot” because duh, that’s where we were?? And he was like BUT WHERE IS THE PARKING LOT and I yelled I DUNNO PERRYOPOLIS??! and then he played my song after making some exasperated comment about me on air and it was also raining REALLY HARD I think? Janna if you’re reading this, feel free to weigh in but if you say “This never happened, you’re dreaming” a la my mom, I will fucking cry probably.

Yeah so that was a story. You’re welcome.

Our lunch was nothing to write home about, she said in the full-ass blog post she’s writing about it. Even still, when our waitress (who was great btw, service was fine!) asked if we saved room for dessert i barely gave her a chance to hang the question mark at the end of the sentence before blurting out YES WHAT KIND OF PIE DO YOU HAVE.

A LOT, evidently. She made a point of specifying that the two different kinds of apple pie had REAL APPLES (in Korean the word for apple also means apology) NOT THE CANNED STUFF and my gut was singing a “get the Dutch apple” jingle but NO I ordered a slice of coconut cream and told Henry we would share.

Coconut cream is one of my faves BUT I am very picky with it. I hate hate hate meringue (most of the time) and definitely prefer when it’s capped with a whipped cream topping instead. Don’t boo me, meringue lovers! Sometimes meringue can actually be good and refreshing and I will gladly slurp it down. But I find that is not often the case in restaurant meringues.

Bro. I knew as soon as I spotted the waitress with the coconut creame’d plate from across the room that it was going to be bad.

And it was. Not just the meringue. But the actual coconut custard was made with the same carelessness as the coleslaw! It was soooooo gelatinous and even Henry hated it. He pointed out that it tasted like chemicals. I had two small bites and pushed it over to his side and even he couldn’t finish it.

Dang, Randall’s. Put some effort into that shit! I cannot remember the last time we left a restaurant with an unpolished dessert plate.

Since we were in the vicinity I suggested popping over to the nearby Quaker cemetery because it’s been a while since we were last there. Henry was secretly scared because it’s haunted and tried to say that it was gated now because of vandalism but when we got there, the gate was open. Too bad so sad, Henry.

Quakering in my not-boots!

I swear it was way windier in the cemetery than it was anywhere else but henry will probably just rationalize it by saying WE WERE ON A HILL or whatever.

Sadly, no spirits that I can see but something inside the Church kept banging and Henry was like THAT IS FROM THE WIND but no, it was FROM DEMONS I am sure of it.

Then Professional Driver got lost somehow and blamed my phone because he hates Apple. Mm, cook on. That was fine though because it gave us more time to listen to NCT127 (this latest comeback has me dead) and then fall down a rabbit hole of NINETIES R&B THAT MADE TEENAGE ERIN WANT TO HANG HERSELF. It was a good afternoon. Really. It was.

If you’re thinking “boy I thoroughly enjoyed reading this drivel and could really go for round two,” here’s a post about a time we were at this cemetery when Chooch was but a wee one.

Being a Kpop fan has been hard for me lately because while I do love the genre as a whole, of course I have my faves. But my top faves have all left a huge hole in my heart:

• SHINee is on military hiatus again, this time with Taemin enlisted.
• Same with Winner.
• Got7 is presumably disbanded.
• The drama with B.I. has IKON feeling a different type of way.
• VIXX, Infinite, Block B are all done-zo I guess??
• And PUH-LEASE don’t get me started on BIGBANG.
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  Being a VIP is so heart-breaking these days. Can we at least get a G-Dragon solo comeback?? Can someone get Seungri out of jail or wherever the fuck he is?? Can TOP stop hanging out with artists long enough to collab with GD maybe?

However, every time I start to lose interest or get stuck in a “2nd generation kpop” loop on Spotify, NCT have a comeback and totally breathe life back into me. They are literally the only current, active Kpop group that get me legit hyped with new music. Specifically the sub group NCT127, and their latest comeback for “Favorite” has me in a constant state of SWOON.

Please allow me to share with you one of their live performances of this sweet sweet Jimmy-jam. The choreo makes me squeal and the chorus reminds me of old SHINee. I am so into this song that I’m practically wearing it like a parka.

I think they have come so far since the first time I saw them live in 2017. They are stacked with talent and for all the people who insist that Kpop idols can’t sing? Here’s a video of them singing an encore after winning on one of the music shows.

Look how much fun they have!!!

They also have huuuuuge personalities and their behind the scenes fan content (especially Johnny’s Communication Center videos) never fails to crack me up. Even Henry smiles and almost knows all of their names lol. (His bias is Jungwoo.)

(Mine is Haechan but Jaehyun is my bias wrecker.)

Well, that’s all I wanted to say on this crisp November Saturday. Annyeong!

A few months ago when SHINee’s “Don’t Call Me” MV came out, my fellow Shawol Veronica DMd me and was straight bugging over Minho’s “sick of all your trash” line.

I love Veronica for this because sometimes I don’t initially picked up on these things because I’m too fixated on the beat, the dancing, the visuals, etc etc. So I had to go back and relisten.

It cracks me up every time I hear it now!

Anyway, a few weeks ago, Veronica was saying she wished there were T-shirts commemorating this iconic line and in my head I was like FUCK U HENRY FOR NEVER BUYING ME THAT SCREENPRINTING PRESS or whatever the fuck.

But then I was like OH HOLLA there is something I can make her…

Goddamn I was cracking up when making this card. His gritted-teethed grimace! The trash bags!

I really am grateful for the inspiration Veronica wafted my way because I have been in a card-making slump these last few months. I have so many ideas but the mental lethargy is real, yo.

If you’re a SHAWOL or know a SHAWOL that would enjoy the absurdity of this paper product, I do have it listed in my Etsy Kpop Card shop.

And here’s the “sick of all your trash” video!

Good eve. I took these photos ten years (!!) ago when my old friend Andrea was visiting. I’ve been thinking about refreshing these shots for a while now because I was never satisfied with the original ones and today after work I finally felt motivated to search the computer for the raw files (ok Henry to help me lol).

Anyway, I remember this being a really fun day so please enjoy these old relics from when Chooch’s cheeks were chubbacious and he was front-toothless!

Fun facts: these were taken at the same cemetery where Night of the Living Dead was filmed.

Chooch was REALLY into zombies back then and used to shamble around saying, “they’re coming to get you, Barbara” and also was in a heavy phase where he liked to watch YouTube videos of people walking thru Spirit Halloween to the point where some of my friends started making their own walk-thru videos for him.

That hearse just literally rolled up out of nowhere while we were taking pictures and dude driving was like WOULD U LIKE THE HEARSE TO BE IN YR PICTURES. I didn’t feel like edited the other ones with the HEARSE CAMEO, please forgive me.

Wendy was also on site, as a standby Chooch handler.

Henry was there too and did nothing to help.

Just over here lounging on a heating pad (‘oh my aching back’, she’s been saying since the 1990s), watching “In the Dark,” with two sluggish cats while Henry & Chooch are at the store (perpetually). It’s a pretty good, cozy October Thursday.

Hello it’s October aka Spooky Season as all the annoying kids say, so here are two pictures of Chooch being a gross clown at Zombie Fest in 2014. Also I’m kind of sad because this is the first year that I won’t be making a costume for him because he’s 15 and has no interest, should I have another kid then???

Quick! Someone lend me a kid to decorate.

Hello. We are in Princeton, NJ about to make our way home from our time at Six Flags Great Adventure. Last night, we were out looking for War of the Worlds roadside attractions because apparently this is the area where the Orson Welles radio show happened. That was kind of a fail because we couldn’t see anything at night, but!! we drove past a shopping center with a sign for Woori Mart, which made me do a double take. “IS THAT A KOREAN MARKET” I screamed. It felt like it was the romanization for 우리 which means “our” in Korean. Sure enough I was right and I love being right!! It was closed but we stopped this morning after checking out from a Quality Inn that had music softly pumping out of speakers near the elevators, such as INFORMER BY SNOW.

Anyway, Woori Mart was cool. I bought a case of some type of beverage endorsed by Korea’s MC Yoo Jae Suk. And we got black sugar milk tea flavored Choco Pies and some other snack items, and good grapes. But we didn’t want to buy too much because we had already planned on stopping at an H-Mart in/near Philly, and that is where we are headed now, woo!

It’s now 11:07 and we’re leaving H-Mart. Henry was so annoying in there and spoke to me with no sincerity in his voice at all. Then he accidentally took someone else’s shopping cart and she was like excuse me this is my cart and I was like OMG GREAT JOB HANK because of course it was at a moment where he had handed the cart off to me.

Here’s a selfie of Chooch and me inside Artbox!

I took it for Veronica because she is going to H-Mart in LA today.

Now Chooch is trying to retrieve his Apple juice from under the seat using the backscratcher he won at an arcade in George, NY over Labor Day weekend.

Props to Henry, I would never want to drive in Philly.

We made it! No one would order when the lady came to the window so I was like OMG CAN WE HAVE TWO VEGAN CHEESESTEAKS AND ONE VEGAN NASHVILLE HOT CHICKEN. For gods sake, THESE PEOPLE!!

Anyway holy shit both sandwiches were good but that chicken was AMAZE. Unlike Eden Burger’s korean chicken sandwich, this one actually was coated in sauce we could taste and the fake chicken itself was delightful.

Did not enjoy sitting next to the road though.

Then we walked around for a few blocks because I didn’t want to get in the car right after eating. We went into a small pet shop and got Drew & Penelope cat nip bubbles and made friends with the shop cat, Marvel.

After calling Henry out for ogling numerous lingerie / bondage shops, we went into a comic book shop and the “saxophone guy in a thong on the boardwalk” song from The Lost Boys was playing but Dumb Chooch didn’t recognize it.

Oh yeah and we stopped at Dottie’s Donuts (also vegan) because we parked right across the street and I took it as a sign so we stopped in and got a hibiscus and blueberry jam-filled. Haven’t tried it yet because we’re still full from lunch but I’m sure at some point during the drive home we’ll be digging into them.

1:34pm: on our way out of Philly we passed Laurel Hill Cemetery and I was whining about how I always wanted to go there, and Henry was like OH OK REALLY? HOW DO YOU EVEN KNOW ABOUT IT like I WASNT masquerading as a goth for like 4 years of my life. I started naming off things about it.

“And it’s a really popular place for photo shoots,” I finished.

“Ok let’s never go there,” Chooch piped up from the backseat.

2:23pm and we just left the PETER J CAMIEL rest stop. Henry needs to find another rest stop because “there were too many people in the bathroom” and he needs “to sit down.”

You’re welcome.

Wait! More rest stop happenings. We decided to taste test the two donuts from Dottie’s (I was like WE ARE JUST GETTING TWO BC EVERY TIME WE GET MORE THAN THAT ITS GLUTTONOUS).

Hibiscus: v. good & light, the glaze is v.v.v.sweet though, with just the right amount of floral. Into it.

Blueberry jam-filled: DELECTABLE and visually pleasing. I had to make Henry take it away from me so I didn’t inhale the whole thing.

Meanwhile, some dude was getting out of his car and Henry noted, “That guy gets out of his car the same way I do. Let’s see if he’s limping when he walks—oh! He is! Let’s see if his wife makes fun of him–Nope, she’s holding his hand and helping him! Wow. You just slam doors in my face.”

Omg we’re at another rest area you’re shocked. We checked on the popsicles that we bought a thousand hours ago at Hmart knowing damn well they’d be melted even though they were in a cooler with ice but that’s HOW FROZEN STUFF WORKS I guess. But henry was all THEY WILL BE OK WHEN WE PUT THEM IN THE FREEZER.

Chooch ate…er…drank one and said that, contrary to Henry’s optimistic assumption, there is no way they will refreeze and be ok. Then Chooch & I cooed over a corgi who was being walked over by the garbage can where we were throwing away wrappers of Korean snacks.

When we got back to the car after that, Henry was all LOOK AT THE CORGI and we were like WE KNOW BUT NICE TRY. Then I told him that Chooch said the popsicles probably won’t be ok when they refreeze and Henry barked, “WHO said that??”

“The corgi, henry. The corgi told me that. He is a fucking Popsicle oracle.” My god, CHOOCH SAID IT, HENRY!! TRY TO KEEP UP! Fuck.

Hello from the last rest stop in PA at 6:21. Henry had to pee SO BAD but chooch and I stayed in the car. Thank god henry was kind enough to park with this wonderful BLARING view of the sun.

I want to kill him, honestly.

It’s 7:04 and we’re on our street. BYE!!

Good morning! Today is Hangeul Day (한글날) in Korea, which is a day to celebrate and commemorate the creation of the Korean alphabet by the great King Sejong in the 15th century.

Obviously I am not Korean but nevertheless, I have a very deep respect and love for Hangeul. The way it sounds and absolutely the way it looks made me want to learn it; while I can still hardly speak Korean, just the ability to decipher Hangeul has made my life feel so much fuller. Learning it made me feel like a code had been cracked and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself, honestly.

The first time we went to Koreatown in Toronto, I was in tears because we were surrounded by signs and storefronts smothered in Hangeul and I was able to read it. I kept pointing things out to Henry and he was like “ok I get it cool mmm.”

It’s such a beautiful language and I’m happy to celebrate it today, even as just an American from Pittsburgh.

Anyway, I’d like to share some Hangeul-laden pictures from our trips to Korea. Just look at how pretty those characters are!

This one is really sad – Many families were pulled apart during the Korean conflict and those in the South are still trying desperately to be reunited with estranged family members. There was a TV show to help these efforts and people wrote down their addresses and phone numbers to be posted in Imjingdak. We saw this during the DMZ/JSA tour we took in 2019.

I really hope I get to visit 한국 again someday. Happy Hangeul Day, my friends! Go watch a Korean drama today with subtitles, no dubbing!