I’m bursting with things I want to discuss Re: NCT DREAM IN CHICAGO but I’m in the car on the way home and cannot do so at this time.

So instead I will share Mark’s new solo song, Golden Hour, which came out yesterday and the rest of the Dreamies were cutely helping him promote it on stage.

FUN BACKGROUND INFO about this song first! A few years ago, Mark posted a picture of his failed attempt to make eggs, and an NCT posted this on Twitter:

It’s turned into this big NCT inside joke, and people will hold up signs at NCT concerts that reference it, like, “Mark, I’ll cook eggs for you” etc. (Um can you imagine if Mark and I were roommates?? I started a fire two weeks ago cooking scrambled eggs, and I burnt my oatmeal last week.)

Anyway, all these years later, and Mark basically wrote a song about it and it is MY NEW FAVORITE SONG.

Honestly, Mark Lee should be a worldwide household name at this point. Per Henry, “he definitely has a presence.

” Henry also confirmed that Mark his 7DREAM bias! (He also likes Jisung, that’s his OG bias.)

Hello it’s 8:12am and we’re leaving our dumb hotel in Toledo-ish to start the second leg of our Chicago journey. I’m glad I didn’t live blog last night because it was extremely uneventful unless you consider me having my dinner hopes and dreams dashed twice in a row before finally settling on Sheetz which is what I should have just done when we were still near home but I said NO, MAYBE WE CAN STOP SOMEWHERE BETTER ON THE WAY but then Oath pizza had a confusing menu and a worker who was too busy fucking around with ingredients to pay attention to us and then another rest stop has a Freshens which excited me because I wanted something healthy and was eyeing up the rice bowls but, as if reading my mind, a surly worker emerged from the back and mumbled, “Just so you know, we’re out of rice bowls” extremely eventful.

FUCK YOU.

(Not you!! The food places.)

We’re at Flying Joe. I got a BLUE BIRD latte (white choc/lav) even though I came in here just wanting a regular coffee. Sigh. Henry got a lemoncello cold brew which sounds disgusting.

We’ll see. I liked the woman who waited on us.

I also got a kombucha because my stomach is begging for it.

ok Henry’s has a lemon cold foam on it which is delicious. I didn’t taste it with the coffee itself though. I dunno, it was a fine experience except that one of my fave NCT Dream songs came on RIGHT when we got there and I was sad to get out of the car.

9:56am: just stopped at PETRO in Somewhere, Indiana because I had to pee so bad but first I had to walk past a rack of NOT GUILTY Trump shirts (mmm) and a hunting knife kiosk. Ugh. I hated it there except that Demi Lovato’s “Heart Attack” was playing (love that song) and the bathroom soap smelled nice.

Hi.

Then Henry drove right down the road to Pilot to get gas and I screamed WHY DIDNT WE JUST COME HERE TO BEGIN WITH and he said “I dunno” with a mouthful of pretzels. Ugh.

Lolololol.

12:59am: Dude.

12:34: oh fuck I am fully stuffed you guys. What a great experience!!

Fish sandwich!! I have been craving a good vegan fish sandwich ever since the not-great one we recently got in Pgh. I really do not understand the Pgh vegan scene at all. Every other city we go to has it locked down, but Pghs over there having vegan restaurants that only open when they want and, as Henry pointed out, caters to only one demographic: white hipster assholes. With the exception of Sugar Spell (and Zenith, which is not fully vegan) I have always felt like an interloper at these establishments.

Henry got a po boy but my photo sucks:

Also, their chocolate chip cookies were bus.

12:38pm: Henry just performed a series of weird nose noises and I asked him to please calm down. “CALM DOWN WHAT??? WHAT AM I DOING??” Clueless.

1:24pm: we’re back in the car after doing a WALK ABOUT at some small park near where we ate lunch. I can’t eat and then sit in the car – I need to digest, Fran.

Henry loves when he’s about to take my picture and I say “wait! Should I pose?” and then activate my signature floppy limb stance. (Also, 6.5 hours until NCT Dream!)

There were a lot of different birds at this park because it was surrounding a lake, and it made me miss Chooch because he loves ducks, geese, and seagulls, and this spot had them in abundance.

Chooch, in case you’re wondering, is home with the cats, not even remotely caring that we’re gone.

3:56pm: in case you’re wondering, we checked into our room at the Wyndham for about 90 minutes now. We drove past the Allstate Arena on the way here and NCT Dream was already there and I was SWEATING.

Our hotel is decent. Henry napped off and on the whole time and I did a Grow With Jo workout and watched Friends. Then I got dressed for tonight (a preliminary run) and made Henry take pictures of me which is his favorite thing to do. But now we’re on our way to this vegan Korean restaurant for a light dinner before the show!!

5:01pm: We swung by Amitabul for some vegan Korean fare and lemme tell you something: if I lived in this area, I would be a regular. So peaceful and the food felt fully nourishing!

Spicy kimchi maki roll!

(Wait hold on we’re in the car going back to the hotel now and Henry said I BET THESE TINY HOUSES COST $300,000 AND THEY DONT EVEN HAVE DRIVEWAYS and I said “they’re cute but this area seems congested” and then immediately second-guessed myself because sometimes when I try to say adult things, I’m exposed, but Henry said “that it does” – I constructed an adult statement and it was correct, you guys!)

Back to dinner:

I got the Buddha Bop and it was delectable. I ordered the spiciest version and it was a gochujang explosion of ecstasy in my mouth-space. Ugh I love the taste of gochujang and sesame oil.

Meanwhile:

Chooch would have been THRU THE ROOF if he was here to hear Henry’s wet mastication of his meal with the soundtrack of a monk chanting “Om” on repeat playing from a speaker. It was actually making me twitch a bit.

We both only ate half because we were still full from lunch but now we’ll have food for after the concert at least!

6:01pm: we just came back to the hotel after getting some of the best lattes I’ve had at:

It’s inside a train station. I got an ube latte (hot) and Henry got an iced pistachio donut latte. We are both in agreement (I tried so hard to make agreeance a word) that they are quality.

“It’s because they’re handcuffed,” I said, AN INSIDE JOKE because I saw a sign that said their coffee drinks are hand-crafted and my shit eyes read it as “handcuffed.” Because that makes sense.

Some girl was in the station with her NCT lightstick!!!!

ITS ALMOST TIME so I have to change back into my concert clothes and say BYE.

(Bye!)

Taemin is officially out of the military and I am still processing my emotions lol what is my problem. He did an Instagram live the other day and it was so soothing, like being reunited with a security blanket.

I can’t wait for him to have an official comeback! Did you know that he was named the best dancer in Korea? It’s true. And Ten was #2! I would honestly expand this to the best in the world and this is not even because he’s my ult bias (title shared with G-Dragon, yes it’s officially a tie now) but objectively speaking.

******

I spent all evening watching NCT content on YouTube – NCT127’s drinking vlogs from Columbia (lol) and fan vlogs from NCT Dream’s recent concert in London. I’m not ready for this concert on Friday. I am going to be a big mess! Henry still doesn’t know if he will be buying a ticket for a cheap seat but I really hope that he does so that we can discuss in excruciating depth everything that happens that night!! I was crying on the couch watching some girl’s fan cam so pray for me because I don’t know if I’m strong enough. NCT Dream is my favorite of all the NCT units and I can’t believe they are in America right now as I type this!! Their concert on Newark is probably just wrapping up!

******

On Saturday, Henry asked DID U SEE THIS and practically smashed his phone in my face to show me that the main guy from the coaster group we’re members of posted that they have decided the 2023 season will be the end, etc etc and my stomach sank because HOW WILL THIS AFFECT US, WE HAVE MADE PAYMENTS ON THIS FUCKING SCANDINAVIAN TRIP THAT THEY ARE HOSTING, IS THAT STILL HAPPENING?? We have been (im)patiently waiting for the grand total and finalized itinerary and then this?!

Then it hit me and I roared, “FUCKING APRIL FOOLS.” I hate April 1st so much!! Nothing is funny!

That seriously nearly ruined my whole weekend / life.

#dramzzzz

******

Last night, Henry came home from one of the dumb tool stores and he was QUITE arrogantly holding a bottle of cream soda in his hand. Sensing my judgment, he cockily said, “I was in the mood for a cream soda, so I bought a cream soda.”

And then, “I do what I want,” as he strode past me to continue doing his chores, cream soda in his paw.

Wow. What a cool guy.

******

Chooch started physical therapy today! I have no idea how it went because he doesn’t tell me anything.

******

Ok I’m going to bed now. One more work day to get through, then we’re leaving for Chicago as soon as I log off! TO LIVE BLOG OR NOT TO LIVE BLOG?! Probably “to not” because we’re only driving as far as Toledo tomorrow and my live blogs have been so mid lately. We’ll see what kind of mood HENRY is in I guess.

And I’ll leave you with another magnificent Taemin performance. How is he so perfect??!!

I recently had this urge to dye Easter eggs after realizing that possibly the last time I dyed eggs was when Kara came over with her kids probably back in…2017?? Hold on, let me check the blog archives.

OMG yes, it was 2017, pre-Calvin, I hadn’t even been to Korea yet, and Chooch got impaled by a toothpick! Um, I can’t believe how little Chooch, Harland, and Theo were back then, even neighbor Markey was here?! I must have imbibed lots of soju that night because I have no recollection of him being here.

So, I texted Kara to see if she had any interest. I hadn’t seen her since the PIE PARTY which I’m LOLing at right now because that is also a line from the linked 2017 Easter Egg blog post. Anyway, Kara was on board and I was so happy because I barely got to talk to her at the aforementioned pie party and it was definitely pre-covid before that! I need to do better. I am trying! FRIENDS ARE LIKE SEA MONKEYS AND WILL DIE WITHOUT ATTENTION BUT WILL ALSO DIE IF YOU PUT TOO MUCH POWDERED FOOD IN THEIR WEIRD SPACE-Y AQUARIUM. Remember that, Erin.

Remember that.

I was so excited to have company so I made Henry prepare for us a snack spread of Asian market produce and Korean banchan (he made the lotus root and it was so delicious, I love braised lotus root so much! My friend Jiyong even commented on this photo on Instagram and said it looked great!).

Kara brought wine and Pittsburgh Popcorn Co. peanut butter popcorn! I haven’t had their popcorn since back when I was still working in the office. Actually, I feel like the downtown location may have even closed prior to the pandemic?! To this day, they still have the best cheddar popcorn I’ve ever had in my life – I actually never really liked cheesy popcorn until I had theirs!

Anyway, it was so great to sit back and catch up with Kara while effing around with egg dye! Henry didn’t dye any, but he obediently prepared everything for us and then loomed over us like some fucking Paas warden.

OMG and Mr. Bum Knee sat with us the whole time and EVEN REGALED US WITH SCHOOL STORIES, a lot of them I had never heard before like the time he got in school suspension when he was in 3rd or 4th grade for being overheard calling a kindergarten teacher a predator because she had her students put pins on a street map to show where they live and this was apparently displayed in the hallway?! No one ever told me about this but um, I don’t blame Chooch for thinking that was kind of weird?!

He also started blabbing about colleges he’s interested in which hello, I can barely get any serious info out of him so clearly Kara needs to come over more often so I can know more about my son’s life!

While all of this was going on, I was being SUPER SECRETIVE about my eggs and kept screaming at everyone not to look. Chooch was getting super irritated about this and then when I finally realized my masterpiece ovo-trio, he rolled his eyes and sneered, “First of all, everyone knew what you were doing and second of all, it’s not that great.”

WOWWWWW.

I ran upstairs to get my lightstick to use as a prop and this really sent Chooch.

“SHOULD I ALSO GET SOME OF MY NCT ALBUMS TOO? OK, I WILL HOLD ON!” I yelled without waiting for an answer.

I think Kara was in the middle of offering her condolences to Henry, lol.

I only dyed one other egg after this, lol. Egg dyeing is only fun for me for a few minutes.

That olive-ish one with the blue and pink squiggles is one of Kara’s and I was obsessed with it.

And then this was my happy accident! I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing because I was too busy talking my voice away – literally, by the end of the evening, my voice was half-zapped. I clearly had a lot to say!

One of the highlights I think was when Chooch called me out as a gaslighter and when I said that’s not true, he told Kara, “She even tried to gaslight me about the definition of gaslighting!” He had me in literal tears at one point from laughing so hard – he was on fire! It was definitely Throw Mama Under the Bus night at the Pioneer Avenue Whacky Shack. He’s going to have a lot of childhood stories to tell people when he grows up, I think. Either that or he’s going to be like, “Eh, my childhood wasn’t very memorable,” because I can see him doing that, too, lol.

What a great night, though! I missed Kara tons and drinking wine and dyeing eggs was pretty much the best way to catch up!

A bunch of theme parks had their opening day this weekend, not to mention the unveiling of the new RMC, ArieForce One, at Fun Spot Atlanta, PLUS Chooch’s bum knee keeping us from planning any coaster road trips in the near future – all of which has me floundering in FOMO.

I should stop watching the enthusiasts’ YouTube videos, truly, but I’m a glutton for punishment. So, I spent most of the weekend watching on-ride POVs of ArieForce One, walk-thrus of Hershey Park and Six Flags Great Adventure, and a tour of Australian theme parks on the coaster channel* I hate watch

*(Coaster Studios – I used to really enjoy this channel but then the guy started dating some broad and now she’s riding his coattails over all over the world, and I know that I should celebrate this because the coaster community is such a nerdy sausage party, but she is so fucking annoying / obnoxious / thinks she’s funny but she’s not. So, basically if I started dating one of the most popular coaster snobs on YouTube.)

ANYWAY. I felt inspired to wear one of my coaster shirts on Saturday because this is the closest I’m gonna get to a coaster for the foreseeable future.

Also, I had to laugh because Henry knew that the sweater I was wearing on top is called a shrug – that seems like a piece of info that should have cruised in one ear and out the other, as they say, but I guess some level of his conscious dog-eared this as valuable.

I like this look though because roller coaster t-shirts are generally SO MASCULINE because you know, girls aren’t meant to enjoy air time, etc. I love Lightning Rod SO MUCH (baby’s first RMC) but every shirt I have ever seen for it is so ugly. This was the least testosterone-themed one I could find at Dollywood, but I still don’t like it very much. So at least my afghan-inspired shrug adds some cuteness to it!?

In other weekend news,  it was a good one! Too short, as usual, but I got to hang out with Kara (more on that separately!), start some decent (so far) books, drive Henry and Chooch nuts while feeding the squirrels actual nuts, and we shopped for what is probably the penultimate Easter basket for Chooch. :(

Aw, who am I kidding?! I’ll be That Mom who continues to prepare an Easter basket for my kid when he has his own kids!

Tomorrow starts spring break so of course I’m pouting because last year’s spring break was the most fun, but even if Chooch hadn’t busted his knee, we still weren’t going to be doing anything major this week so I can’t be too whiny. Besides, FRIDAY IS NCT DREAM IN CHICAGO ANYWAY!!! I have spontaneously eye-squirted over this numerous times over the weekend, I’m just so excited!!

ALSO – TAEMIN IS BACK TOMORROW!!!!!!!

I hope anyone reading this had a really great weekend, or at least a neutral one, because sometimes neutral is all we can really ask for.

I feel like there is no chance that Kennywood will ever get an I-box RMC, but….maybe Waldameer?! DEL GROSSO’S?? Lol.

Last Friday, I was in a group chat at work when the oblig “what’s everyone doing this weekend” question came up. I excitedly divulged that I was finally, after like 20 years, meeting a friend that I had made on LiveJournal back in the golden days. I can’t remember exactly how or when Lindsey and I friended each other over there but it was definitely well before Chooch came into existence and also back when I was still in the mix CD game because I’m 99% sure I made her one. #dorkalert!

Neither of us still use LJ, but we have continued our online friendship through Instagram and Twitter, which, you know, say what you want about social media, but it does have some perks!

“Do you know where she lives? Where she works? You should tell your husband where you’re going to be, so he knows,” a concerned new-er coworker said who truly does not know that my lifestyle is based solely on tempting fate and dancing on the edge of sanity. Also, lol my “husband” was the one driving me to get axe-murdered!

Anyway, how this happened was that we have both suggested meeting up here and there over the years but we have never actually solidified it, you know how life goes.

And Lindsey has really been so complimentary about the changes in decor we’ve done around the house, so I always want to be like YOU SHOULD COME OVER but is that weird?! I dunno, I feel like when I was younger I would have asked and not thought twice about it but I’m a little more socially conscious (lol am I though) the older I get so I thought maybe we should have lunch so it doesn’t appear that I am luring her into my psychedelic lair. I DMd her on Instagram and said, “OK we gotta get something scheduled” because it just felt like the time was right! We picked a date (which I then had to switch up on her because the WILL SIGNING thing ended up being redcheduled for the original date we chose, of fucking course it would be!) and then Lindsey provided some restaurant suggestions which I appreciated because I am way out of the loop with the Pgh restaurant scene.

The first place I looked up was 40 North and immediately saw spaetzel on the menu. That was all I needed to see. We agreed on it, made a reservation, and then my “husband” dropped me off with nary a “good luck / be careful / don’t embarrass yourself.” I don’t even think he fully brought the car to a stop, now that I think about it.

OK can I just say that meeting people is so hard for me but I felt so relaxed from beginning to end because Lindsey had such a chill and calming vibe about her! I know we’ve e-known each other for quite some time, but that doesn’t always translate well in real life. But this felt like we had already gotten the first meet-up out of the way and now we were just catching up. So weird how things work out that way sometimes!(Obviously I’m speaking for myself, so I hope Lindsey wasn’t actually physically clawing at her skin, dying for me to STFU and finish my lunch so she could leave!)

Sometimes I forget how nice it is to have a conversation face-to-face with someone!

The food was excellent, my drink was so smoky, gingery, and delicious (the smokiness caught me off guard but hello, it was called Tindersticks so…), and there were no uncomfortable lulls like I experienced the day before at Station 4. I didn’t even realize that we had been there for 2 hours! The only weird thing about the entire lunch was our waiter’s penchant for whispering; I kept trying to read his lips for clues but he had a bushy beard so then I was just guessing what my answers to his whispers should be.

Seriously, I will never stop talking about the LiveJournal days because of moments like this. I hope we do this again before another 20ish years pass by! (Even though she doesn’t like Phil Collins!)