8:14am: getting ready to leave. I am feeling ok emotionally this morning! So happy that we got to see SKZ last night. It was phenomenal – aside from Coachella and Riot Fest, I have never seen a concert of that scale before and it was insane and amazing. I did feel like we had just spent the day at a legit music festival by the time we crawled into bed last night / this morning. It was a rough day but the pay off was worth it!

10:08am: At the border. We came through Niagara Falls this time to avoid truck traffic. Made it through in 30 seconds literally lol. The guy was like “Lol not even gonna try” when Henry said “Stray Kids concert.” Handed us back the passports and said “OK man have a nice day.”

Also stopped in the duty free shop and got chooch some maple shit. The bathroom had a Dyson hand dryer and they never work for me so I had to walk around with wet hands.

Also got a drink at Tim Horton’s just because I wanted the fun straw. “So what’s the deal with the straw?” Henry asked. “Nothing it’s just paper but everyone we walked past all weekend had their Tim Hortons drinks and I thought to myself ‘I want to drink out of that straw too,'” I saw matter-of-factly.

“Omg,” Henry muttered.

12:42pm: Just stopped at Sheetz in Erie for “lunch” – I always just get half of a veggie sub or a wrap, pretty fucking simple if you ask me, but they always find a way to screw it up! This time NO TOMATOES. Instead they tucked in some rock-hard jalapeño twig that probably would have broken a tooth had I bit down hard on it but I felt it with my tongue before any damage could be wreaked!!

Ugh!!

Meanwhile some older man was standing there trying so hard to figure out my shirt (wearing my SKZ tour shirt obv!!).

2:13pm: This is a dumb liveblog. We should be home in about 30 minutes and I’m so excited to tell Chooch all about the Stray Kids concert that he sincerely doesn’t care about. It was just so good!!

Other than dissecting our favorite parts of last night, we’ve been ranting about tRump as usual. Nothing new there.

Oh!! I just realized we were a part of two history-making events this month! The No Kings 6/14 protest and the inaugural event at the brand new Rogers Stadium! I didn’t even know until after I bought those tickets that it was going to be in a stadium that wasn’t even finished being built at the time.

OK BYE.

10:20am: Hello we are en route to Toronto for the weekend currently in Cranberry. Why haven’t we made it very far, you ask, Mary? Well because I threw a fit this morning and said I didn’t want to go anymore because I’m having a bad body image day. Like I hate the way everything feels on my skin. So I yelled IM NOT GOING and Henry was like “ok” and he started doing the dishes and I went for a walk. Then I calmed down eventually after having PB toast for breakfast and I said FINE I WILL GO so I finished packing and here we are. To be fair, I was still going to go tomorrow because that’s when the Stray Kids concert is. I just didn’t want to be stomping around Toronto today with my thunder thighs but even more than that I don’t want to waste the money for the hotel. Ugh.

11:20pm: Still in PA. I’m bored.

12:25pm: Finally crossed over into New York. I’m still bored. We stopped at GetGo in Erie to pee and that was also boring. We put new batteries in my SKZ light stick. Boring still.

Henry said just now, “we can go to Lake Chautauqua. Smrobly not.” UGH he’s not allowed to say smrobly??!! After decades of making fun of me for it??

1:36pm: Henry is driving so chaotically and now I feel car sick which almost never happens. Also we stopped at the rest stop in NY we always stop at with this iconic pedestrian bridge:

But they completely renovated it so now it’s basically like a mall food court and it was PACKED. I said NOPE and we left so now I have to pee and I’m starving. Standard for our road trips. Always disappointed in the food dept.

1:46pm: Wish us luck.

Also, Henry picked the worst / slowest line as usual.

2:13pm: OMG OMG OMG we just had the most amazing border experience.

When we said why we’re coming to Canada (“concert in Toronto”) the border guy laughed and said “Oh that kpop group right” and I said “Yeah actually – Stray Kids” (I was leaning over Henry and being the passenger seat mouthpiece, because this was my time to shine now) Border guy goes, “SERIOUSLY?? I was joking! You guys are…not the target demographic!”

He actually chatted with us about it for a few minutes, asking how we got into Kpop, etc which held the line up and everyone behind us probably hated us. I said “We like it so much that we got married in Korea” and he was like “GET OUT! OK you are blowing my mind!”

He told us he just saw AC/DC in Cleveland with a buddy and how Angus Young is still so awesome for his age etc. It was hands down the best experience we’ve had at the border lol.

Anyway, that was a fun and heartwarming interaction that I will think about a lot. Sigh. Canada, can we stay?

3:25pm: Update – i finally had “lunch” at Tim Hortons. They had a pretty good cilantro lime veggie wrap which felt moderately healthy and didn’t make me sick.

3:41pm: We lost service and I said “But how is the map still mapping?” Henry started to mansplain the FUCK out of that and I quickly cut him off to say, “ok great I don’t care anymore. Everything you say is sooo boring.”

“Yeah but you learn something from it,” he said smugly, like how cocky???

“No, actually, I don’t. I actively do not remember a single thing you tell me.”

4:08pm: fucking finally! Also I hate how it always says his name on the TV.

4:46pm/ train time.

5:46pm: other people stopped to take a picture so i had to as well.

7:12pm: Made it to Left Field Brewery on foot.

the beers – mid

Vegan Chicago dog was pretty good but not pictured is the absolutely exquisite vegan chicken sandwich that I gained in a food trade with Henry. (“That’s what a great husband I am, I order from the vegan menu so that I can share with you.” Oh here we go, martyrdom reaching.)

Apparently there is a soccer game happening right down the street so everyone came here in their matching shirts to pregame and it is LOUD.

Henry confirms that he thought the hot dog was good but they didn’t capture the essence of a true Chicago dog. I have never had one even in my non-veggie days so I can’t add to this commentary.

The Commodores “Lady” is on right now and this song has always made me feel a strong level of comfort because I relate it to my childhood at my Pappap’s house in case you care. I have had not even a whole flight (I didn’t like 2 of my beers and passed them onto Henry the Sink) but I’m kind of drunkish.

WOWOWOWOWOOWOWOWOW

8:08pm: we’re here now:

The beers are significantly better than the last place and ironically one that we like a lot so far is a collab with the last brewery lol.

Also on the way here:

Accidental sloshy foot selfie.

8:48pm: wow what a shocker Henry trying to decode a trolley schedule.

Also we passed an Amazing Pride dance party under a bridge and I was so inspired. But I have Henry with me ughhh.

You guys I’m buzzzy.

8:52pm: We just got on the trolley and Henry’s phone got an error when he tried to pay so I stuck my phone over and it worked for me so I said GOODBYE and trounced away while he was left to struggle on his own. He thinks it was my fault though bc the error message said “multiple cards detected” and he said it was because I was standing too close lol ok bro. Keep white knighting yourself and your pubtrans trials and tribs.

9:17pm: at Union Station after taking a trolley where I tried to psychically latch on to a group of 4 fun people. HENRY NEVER LOOKS WHERE HE IS WALKING AND ALWAYS COLLIDES WITH SOMEONE HE IS SUCH AN OAF. I am so embarrassed.

9:26pm: He just had the audacity to tell me where to sit so I walked far away from him and sat somewhere by myself didn’t ever fucking tell me what to do bro. Dumb white man.

Also, I took this of Henry outside of Something in the Water.

9:34pm: this broad just ran over and stood RIGHT UP IN MY FACE LIKE WHAT. Henry noticed from his TIME OUT corner and took this picture:

Now he’s sitting next to me and I’m like “hi I didn’t invite you here?”

9:39pm:

11:09pm: Now we’re driving around in the car like idiots because Henry wants ice cream and every place is either super crowded or a SIT DOWN ESTABLISHMENT and we just want it to go, actually I don’t want it AT ALL, I just want to go to the hotel and sleep.

“What was Daddy Warbucks’ secretary’s name? I can’t believe I can’t remember!” I cried, to which Henry was like, “I certainly do not know and also, why??”

It was because right before that, he read out loud the sign on a restaurant that said something about Punjabi flavors which obviously made me think of Punjab from my beloved Annie and in my mind, I started replaying scenes and then blanked on her mane – it’s Grace, btw.

Anyway I googled Punjab and did you know that the actor who played him was apparently more well-known for being the voice 7Up’s “Uncola”?! Who cares that he won Tonys for his direction and costume design for the Wiz and something to do with Eartha Kitt, I already forget.

Ok I’m signing off. We’re almost to the hotel and I am exhausted. We walked almost 20,000 steps which isn’t a lot considering one time in Toronto, we walked over 40,000 which was my first time unlocking that foot-on-pavement level!

*If I had excelled at Latin, maybe I would have been able to write that title in Latin. OH WELLZORZ. At least I am good at Internet speak.

Ever since our lunch with Todd & Brittany last weekend, I have been reminiscing about my old Latin class in high school. I knew I had a picture somewhere and I found it!! This must have been from sophomore year. That’s me bottom row, second.

Some interesting facts:

• The last girl on the bottom row is my friend Liz of LAKE CHAUTAQUA FAME!!! The girl above her is Kim, who was also there that weekend! We were super close in middle school. I’m still in touch with Liz but lost touch with Kim after I left Facebook.
• If this had been a group picture from freshman year, you’d have seen sophomore-at-the-time BECKY LEE, who I played tennis with as well BUT also was the first runner-up in Survivor history! She was a really great person from what I remember and it looks like she went on to do good, meaningful work in DC. I love that for her!
• I’m still social media friends with 6 people in this picture.
• The first guy in the back row convinced me to stick the foil part of a gum wrapper in an electrical socket that same year and it made the lights blow out in our homerun. HE GOT IN TROUBLE, NOT ME. He also signed my yearbook by saying something about teaching me about the flow of electricity. If you say so, Vince. He was also one of like a million valedictorians because our graduating class was so fucking smart.
• I also was smart (not that level, but I was in advanced math and sciences, against my will) but Latin was my achilles heel. I was so good at the vocab portion, loved those quizzes, loved the history aspect of it, but I was SO BAD AT THE DECLENSIONS. Literally, I sucked so bad, like I had a learning disability. It was actually bringing my GPA down because I struggled every time we had a test. At the end of every year, there was this big exam that we were required to take in order to…get something. At first I thought it was a membership to the Junior Classical League but I found two membership cards in my name for that, so it must have been something else because I failed to achieve this in 9th and 10th grade. Finally, at the end of 11th grade, knowing I wasn’t going to be taking Latin for a fourth year (barely anyone did!), the guy in the last row, 4th over was like, “JESUS CHRIST, HERE” and let me copy off of him :) I distinctly remember this because we took the test not in our regular classroom but a room that was used for study halls and whose real purpose is not remembered by this author, but it had long rows of tables on shallow steps that went up to the back of the room. I was sitting next to him in the back row and it was easy for cheatin’.

• Our teacher, Ms. Fiore, was actually teaching us at a college level. She was REALLY INTO LATIN, YOU GUYS. She was also very serious and we had a love/hate relationship. I think I was just too much for her. I remember this one time she had told us something, I can’t even remember what it was now but apparently it was told to us in confidence, and for some reason I had let it slip to the substitute teacher we had in English that year while the regular teacher was on sabbatical. Her name was Miss Ali, she was young, also worked as staff/security at concerts at Starlake Pavilion, and hated me because she fell off a horse that year and I parodied the incident in a group video.* Surprisingly, she did not find that cute! Anyway, whatever this was that Ms. Fiore had said, I repeated to Miss Ali and it apparently set her off and she confronted Ms. Fiore about it, which prompted Ms. Fiore to give me a stern “WHAT I SAY IN THIS ROOM STAYS IN THIS ROOM” talking to, like Latin Fight Club. I feel like it had something to do with an opinion related to women’s rights.
  • *Oh you better believe I still have that video –  it was about Longfellow and themed off of The Real World. I even went around and had random people in the wild read a line from the opening of the Real World, modified to fit our English video lol #dorkalert. The part where I was mocking Miss Ali’s accident was one of the Real World “confessionals.” I had bloody gauze wrapped around my head and was crying about how I was just trying to read some Longfellow poems when my horse threw me off. Then I’m clobbering down a hallway on crutches, crying, “SOMEONE GET ME MY LONGFELLOW, I NEED TO READ LONGFELLOW.” We also had a Longfellow birthing scene with me walking in the background with a sign advertising my favorite syndicated TV show on FX, Vega$. It was very irreverant. Everyone involved got an A but I got a vindictive C even though I brainstormed the entire concept and wrote the whole fucking script AND FILMED IT AND EDITED IT, BUT COOK ON, MISS ALI, WITH YOUR SMUG VENGEANCE GRADING SCALE.
• At the end of junior year, our Latin class had a cook-out at LARGE FIELD* or whatever it’s called and I have pictures somewhere but can’t find them. I just remember I looked totally shitty and had my hair in a ponytail which was a rarity because I LOOK SHITTY IN PONYTAILS but for some reason, I really thought…
  • *OK it wasn’t called that, but it was in the “Large” area of town off of Rt 885. I typed in JEFFERSON HOSPITAL and clicked on the little map that came up because I know it’s somewhere out there but nothing was showing up so Henry came over and peered over my shoulder to inspect my detective work once he realized it involved MAPS and DIRECTIONS. “What map are you even on? Stupid Maps dot com?? Go to Google Maps.” Wow, apologies Sgt. GPS. Jesus. Google maps is much more informative but it tells me that it’s called AE REILLY MEMORIAL PARK and honey booboo that is NOT what we were calling it back then??? That doesn’t even ring the rustiest, most distant bell in my head. Oh well, I don’t care anymore. 
• Lastly, and this is the best part, I decided that for senior year, I would take Spanish because all of my friends who took Spanish LOVED it and the teacher. GUESS WHAT. MS FIORE DECIDED TO ALSO TEACH SPANISH THAT YEAR SO I FUCKING HAD HER AGAIN AND DID NOT ENJOY SPANISH ONE BIT. It was fun being a senior in a class of freshmen though and I will say that after three years of Latin, Spanish was a cool walk in a park, stopping to sniff the flowers, eating berries out of the apron that I am inexplicably wearing in this daydream scenario.

I don’t even want to talk about how stressed this made me and how I might have just sweat off 5 pounds from my body. But we’re going to see G-Dragon!!!

Edited to add: Aaaand a second show was announced 10 minutes into this show’s fan club presale and I ended up getting better seats for that show + VIP so now I am super in the hole and Henry is like the largest, grumbling walking frown you ever did see.

Not much happened over the weekend other than acquiring the elusive beer can, us just trying to survive this gross heat wave with no A/C, and cowering in fear at the thought of WWIII thanks to that motherfucker who is unilaterally in control of America, and, in his pea-brain, the world.

However! We did meet Todd and Brittany for lunch at Novo Asian Food Hall and that was a definite highlight of the weekend! Obviously, I have known Todd for 10+ years now but this was only the second time I have hung out with Brittany and both times felt like the complete opposite of a first time meeting! We have so much to talk about! Even Henry sort of piped up here and there, lol.

I was sad though because the place I had my heart set on – Lolo – looks like it’s closed forever. So I settled on a veggie chicken sandwich from Kungfu Chicken and made Henry also order a side of FRIED MILK which I then forced upon Todd and Brittany, lol. I thought it was delicious! The general consensus from the rest of the table was that it was fine, but I was lowkey obsessed with it. I loved how jiggly the inside was! It definitely had the texture of tofu which I refrained from saying until I finally managed to get Todd and Brittany  to try it because I know that tofu has a reputation of being off-putting for some people but really, it’s just so misunderstood.

But still…..

Don’t Ask Me About Tofu

Our beloved Sumi’s Cakery also has a stall here now, and ended up closing their flagship bakery in Squirrel Hill because of it. This is actually dreadful because the bakery was so much better – more authentic, more real Korean flavors, just all-around MORE. They had some food-food on the menu too so Henry ordered rose tteokbokki and proceeded to sit at our table for over 30 minutes (he had food from Kungfu Chicken as well, so don’t cry for him like Sally Struthers) before the pager finally buzzed and he was given a refund because no one knew that they were out of tteok.

On the way out though, we did grab some bbang to go, and a slice of ube cake, and everything was delectable as usual but it just didn’t hit the way it did when it came from the actual bakery in Squirrel Hill :(

But regardless!! It was a terrific afternoon and we sat around for a LONG time after we had finished eating because there was so much to chat about. For instance, Brittany mentioned that she took Latin in college and I was like YO I TOOK LATIN IN HIGH SCHOOL and then we talked about languages and how it’s good to be forced out of your comfort zone when traveling in foreign countries where you don’t know the language. It made me think about a time recently where someone said in convo that they really think English is going to be the universal language soon and they were excited about this concept but I was NOT. Brittany agreed with me that it would be awful and part of what makes the world so great is that there ARE so many languages. I am super passionate about this topic to the point where I often regret not going to college for real and majoring in linguistics or something. (Oh, I know – it’s not too late except that I am tired and am already back in debt putting Chooch through college, let’s not add more tuition to that lol.)

Anyway, I feel like this happens every several years but I went down memory lane HARD re: Latin class. It was my worst class yet the one that has stuck with me the most into adulthood I swear to god. I was so bad at Latin but I loved being in that class at the same time.

I feel like a Latin Memories post is long past due.

Penelope, splooting on a Saturday night.

Other than that, the rest of the weekend was quiet. Henry spent most of Sunday running a new electrical line or something, I wasn’t paying attention, from the basement to Chooch’s room so that a window A/C unit can be turned on without blowing a fuse. Oh, the joys of renting an old piece of shit house! And in between that task, he took breaks to work on the crucifix drawer pulls for our dresser. I spent all day doom-scrolling and panicking and then I tried to distract myself by looking for quirky diners to stop at on our July roadtrip but all that did was make me panic even harder because who knows what will be going on in the world then and I’m over here watching a YouTube video about an Iowa diner that inspired “Roseanne”???

Ugh.

SHOULD I SAY IT AGAIN, LOUDER FOR THE MAGA IN THE BACK??

UGHFUCKYOURPRESIDENT.

Dear Blog,

It’s me, the Obsessive One. The Finnicky Fixator. The Alice Down the Rabbit Hole. Circling back on my ELUSIVE BEER CAN mission from several weeks ago.

You might remember that Henry and I had purchased a limited edition Penn Brewery six-pack in collaboration with Kennywood and I was so stoked on it. Not only did I LOVE the can art, but the beers were actually pretty good too. I liked ALL SIX varieties which was a big deal for this Picky Peggy (sorry, once I start, I can’t stop). I had a vision of cutting and flattening the cans to make a picture frame and was super excited about this. If you know me, you know I am a hugely sentimental person, I love souvenirs, mementos, memorabilia, etc. ESPECIALLY when it involves amusement parks!

But then a week later, we met my sister and her husband at Penn Brewery and this is where a wrench was thrown in my plans. First of all, we had a shitty experience as far as the server and most of the beers went. Maybe it was the Kennywood cans that were hyping up on the other Penn Brewery flavors in my mouth, but the ones we actually got on draft on there were mid at best. The lemon shandy especially was extremely bland, like Lysol without the lemon scent.

On the table was one of those little plastic stands with their “specials” slipped inside. On the other side was an ad for the Kennywood six-pack, with a picture of it in the middle and then all of the individual cans bordering it – 4 on both sides.

You might be thinking, “But 4+4 = 8, Erin. How is that a six-pack?” THAT WAS MY QUESTION TOO, YOU GUYS. I might hate math but I didn’t suck at it in school. I held the sign close to my nose so that I could really scrutinize it and saw that there were TWO BEERS not included in the six-pack: one called a Potato Smash and the other one I couldn’t see very well but could tell that it was themed on the now-defunct dark ride, Le Cachot. And unfortunately it was the dreaded lemon shandy, LOL. I didn’t care though – I NEEDED BOTH OF THESE NOW THAT I KNEW THEY EXISTED.

Henry was going to ask out server but I stopped him because she was seriously the worst and acted like she hated us, so god forbid we ask her to do more of her job. So, he went to the bar and had an equally abysmal interaction with the bartender, who did sell him a six-pack of the Potato Smash one, but basically gaslit him into believing that the other one didn’t exist in the Kennywood can. She kept trying to push their regular brewery cans of lemon shandy on him like we were actually buying this for the beer itself.

As.

If.

I was in a spiral and kept arguing with him the entire weekend that this couldn’t be true.

“WHY WOULD THEY HAVE THAT AD ON THE TABLE WITH 8 CANS IF THERE ARE ONLY 7???” I kept crying, and Henry was like, “Jesus Lord in Heaven, beam me up. I’ve put in my time and I wish to now clock out.”

Hey, Sus – you stay out of this.

We kept checking some local distributors thinking that maybe they would have it because another bartender said something about shipping them out, etc. But we came up empty.

Not one to be deterred that easily, I decided to send the brewery a message on IG, in hopes that someone who actually knows what goes on there would be the one to respond. I explained my dilemma, “lay awake at night thinking of this mystery can” etc. – I gave it my all. I laid all of my neuroses on the table. I’m just a girl, on the other side of your Instagram DM, freaking the FUCK out because now I have an UNEVEN NUMBER OF BEER CANS FOR MY ART PROJECT!!!

No, I have never been diagnosed as OCD but sometimes I wonder. I also think I am on the spectrum a ‘lil bit. (Aren’t we all??)

They replied a day later and said that YES! THE KENNYWOOD LEMON SHANDY CANS ARE AT THE BREWERY! I mean, I made sure to emphasize that I needed the KENNYWOOD CANS, THE ONES WITH THE LE CACHOT ART, and their response acknowledged this. .

I sent Henry out to get it.

And they were closed.

This was a fail on his part, though!! He should have checked their hours! I will give Penn Brewery a pass on this one.

But then he went the next day and the same lady bartender from the day we were there with Amy tried AGAIN to give him the basic cans and he was like, “No the Kennywood ones” and she told him they didn’t exist! AND HE WAS LIKE OK BYE AND LEFT!? No push back!?!!?!?!?

I was livid. I sent Penn Brewery a reply and told them what happened and they read my message and never responded!!!!!!!

SO THEN I MADE JANNA MESSAGE THEM ABOUT IT AND THEY NEVER RESPONDED TO HER AT ALL.

OK, I was really hating on this place at this point and I felt actual sickness in my stomach when I would think about how now my project was going to be lopsided and forever incomplete in my heart since I KNEW that there could be an 8th design out there!!!

HOW DID THEY HAVE A PICTURE OF SOMETHING THAT DIDN’T EXIST?!!?!?

THE MATH WAS NOT MATHING!!!!!

Eventually though I told myself that I had to let it go. I have never been more frustrated over something this small and non-life altering! This stupid beer can was living rent free in my head but I’m about to be charging this squatter back rent!!

2 weeks have since gone by since Janna messaged them with no response. I had actually given up. But this morning, I opened Instagram and one of my fave local cafes posted a picture of a guy painting a mural in one of their locations. I was like, “That looks nice” and then I clicked on the artist’s Instagram and didn’t have to scroll very far before I saw THAT HE IS THE ONE WHO DESIGNED THE KENNYWOOD CANS!!!!! (In hindsight, the cans DO say his name but it is VERY TINY and I only just noticed it now!)

He has a video where he is in the brewery watching them can the Jack Rabbit Wheeeeat and it says, “Get this and 7 others at Penn Brewery!”

SEVEN.

OTHERS.

I mean, he should know, right????

So I commented on his post and told him my sob story and he said that yes, the mythical 8th can is available AT THE BREWERY.

It just so happened that we were having lunch today with Todd and Brittany in the Strip so since we were already out that way-ish, I made Henry swing by the brewery on the way home.

“I WILL GO IN MYSELF AND HANDLE THIS,” I hissed, and Henry of course was like, “Thank god.”

“Yes, we have that,” the bartender replied, no hesitation, when I explained in CLEAR ENGLISH that I was looking for the KENNYWOOD CANS of the lemon shandy.

“OMG! Can I please have a six-pack?” I giddily asked, in disbelief of how easy this was panning out to be.

He came back WITH THE PENN BREWERY CANS.

“No….” I began to say, and he cut me off to explain that this was the same lemon shandy found at Kennywood, just in the Penn Brewery cans.

So, once again, I used my CIVIL, POLITE WORDS to explain that I was looking for the CANS WITH THE KENNYWOOD ART.

“Oh, you have to buy the variety pack,” he said. “You’ll only get one can of the shandy, but it will be the Kennywood art.”

“No, that’s not one of the ones in the variety pack,” I DEMURELY and CUTESY-ly argued.

He retrieves a six-pack to prove his point and immediately says, “….oh.”

“Yeah,” I said, relishing the moment he realized that the lemon shandy WAS NOT in the variety pack.

I then argued that I was told by THE ARTIST that this can exists and that it’s available AT THE BREWERY. I was NOT leaving until he went back and checked again. Like, bro – can I just come back there? Can you just let me look? Are you just like, glancing around? Opening the junk drawer halfway? What is going on here?!?

He did go into the back again and if I’m not mistaken, he retreated with a bit of ‘tude in his stride that I did not appreciate.

But guess what you guys? HE CAME BACK AND PLACED MY HOLY GRAIL ONTO THE BAR IN FRONT OF ME.

This was like my own version of the motherfucking DaVinci Code. The trials and tribs I went through! All that was missing was a pair of sphinxes asking me a riddle.

“This was the last one,” he said, explaining that the rest of the batch was sent off to the distributors. Are you kidding me? If I start seeing these everywhere, I’m going to lose my mind. Regular people be walking into Giant Eagle and snagging a six-pack of Le-mon Cachot Shandy not knowing what those before them went through to acquire this bounty.

The worst part is that THIS BEER SUCKS!! But yo—-that can design. Can you even believe it?  It is so good! I loved Le Cachot when it was still around! Paul Haggerty, you are a brilliant artist.

This was the other one that wasn’t available in the variety pack. If you have never been to Kennywood, they are famous for their Potato Patch fries.

I love that this one, named after the Thunderbolt, has a Golden Nugget ice cream on it!

RIP Log Jammer.

THIS shandy was actually really delectable.

And that’s my story about how I obtained all 8 cans and will never go back to Penn Brewery again. (Unless they do a Kpop series one day.)

Ahhhh, let me just preface this by saying that it was one of best (non-Kpop related) nights I’ve had in a good long while. OK so last Friday night was the Loving and Losing tour at Thunderbird Cafe – Honey Revenge was headlining and while they are great and I have followed them on Instagram for a few years now, it was the opening band – nightlife – that I was there for first and foremost. If you read this post from last week, you know that I was having extreme FOMO because this show was sold out and I so desperately wanted to be there. nightlife hooked me up by putting me (and a +1, sorry Henry, you almost had an out but I have no other friends to take with me lol) on their guest list and I am forever grateful about this.

Doors hadn’t opened yet when we arrived, so I did have some mild panic standing in line, hoping that my name actually WAS on the list! Thank god they confirmed with me prior to this that my name is Erin KELLY not APPLEDALE which is how I’m known on Instagram haha. I feel like this happened to me once before where I was on a list for something as Erin Appledale and it was Big Confusion. Then there was the time where Debby’s niece’s boyfriend’s band was playing at the Four Chord Festival several years ago (god, more than a several years ago at this point) and put me on the list but THEY HADN’T PUT ME ON EARLY ENOUGH so I was arguing with the guy at the door and he was making smug, “MMM, SURE you are” faces at me so I had to frantically message Debby on Facebook (OK then yeah, this was like 10 years ago then lol) and she had to call her niece and then finally I was on the list but whew, I was sweating.

I was very worried that this was going to happen again and was glad that the people behind us in line were older and seemed cool in case this ended up perpetuating A SCENE.

But I was on the list and we got our wristbands with no issue!

We got cozy in the downstairs bar while waiting for the show to start. I was loving the vibes already. Laid back, cool, chill, varied crowd of all ages. Henry might not have been the oldest person there, even. I felt very comfortable and giddy. Just like, myself again. I can’t explain it but this night was starting out so perfectly.

Around 6:50, I left Henry to go out to the main floor for nightlife. I didn’t want to be sitting in a bar cave, drinking beer while watching them. Especially not after they did me a solid – I wanted to be out there and up in it. So I staked out a good spot near the right side of the stage.

Um. You guys. I can’t articulate well enough how energized and full of life this band made me that night. I was so stoked from start to finish!

AND THE SAXOPHONE!!

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A post shared by Erin Appledale (@ohhonestlyerin)

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A post shared by Erin Appledale (@ohhonestlyerin)

Oh Jesus Christ. This band. I am so thankful for that fateful afternoon when they came on my Spotify. I am obsessed. This was such a feel good set, my face hurt from smiling!

I did get to talk to Hansel at the end of the night and he was so great. I thanked him profusely for helping me get there, it’s been a very long time since I felt that drawn to a non-Kpop band where I felt like I could die if I didn’t find a way to their show. Please, if you’re reading this, go listen to them on Spotify or whatever you use, help boost their streams. They deserve it!

I rejoined Henry after their set. I had told him that I was going to just stay with him at the bar for the rest of the night. LOL. I’m so funny. I was back out in my spot right as Vana was getting ready to come out. I knew a bit about them so I wasn’t shocked when their adorable cat-eared singer started roaring.

I really liked them a lot, more than I expected to! It sort of reminded me of some of the female-fronted bands in the early 2000s nu-metal scene. Not overly heavy, and it had a slight goth/industrial edge to it. VERY different from nightlife, but still had a solid crossover appeal.

Their sound made me miss Warped Tour so much. (Like, real Warped Tour, not whatever this anniversary bullshit thing is that they’re doing – bring it back as a full summer cross-country tour or don’t do it at all!!!!)

I can’t remember when it was that this happened, btw, but when I was walking from the bar area back out to my “spot,” one of the Thunderbird employees followed me all the way over there just to say she liked my purse, then she turned around and walked back, lol. You KNOW I texted Chooch this immediately.

“Ugh” was his succinct and predictable response.

Back at the bar with Henry, lol. He went and got himself some pizza and garlic knots at some point and saved one knot for me, what a gentleman, my fucking hero.

OK, the next band was Daisy Grenade and FOR SURE I was going to stay with Henry for this. FOR SURE. We had just seen them two weeks ago at the Pierce the Veil concert anyway, so I was fine with enjoying them from afar. And from our spot at the bar, the view of the stage was actually not bad at all. Henry said he had no problem watching any of the bands that night, right from where he stood. Good for him I guess.

But then! One of the girls said something about doing a cover, and they had asked their fans before the show what they wanted to hear. I missed what they said after that but one of the singers said something about hoping they could pull off Kevin’s voice, so I was flipping through my mental rolodex of bands, thinking for one with a singer named Kevin, when suddenly the opening (and iconic) notes of King For a Day blasted out of the speakers and I looked at Henry with wide eyes and said, “Oh, KELLIN!!!!!” They were covering Pierce the Veil’s song with Kellin Quinn from Sleeping with Sirens! I was like, “OK I lied, I gotta get out there” and then I recorded the whole song to send to Chooch because I was up against a wall so my phone was not in anyone’s way and also I was kind of buzzed and REALLY feeling excited about this?!

I was sold after this.

The band walked past me while I was waiting for Honey Revenge (I was standing near the STAFF ONLY door which was good because I got to see a lot of the bands walking by but also annoying because that door was opening and closing constantly) so I was able to say my signature & dorky, “You guys were awesome!” to the singer on the right up there and she said, “Thanks! Have a good night.”

I was excited to relay this to Henry afterward.

“Wow,” he said, trying to navigate his way out of the venue. God, get you a concert buddy that cares, amirite.

By this point of the night, I was ultra-hyped, all-in, totally stoked for Honey Revenge. So when I said that I was just going to run to the bathroom real quick and brb and then saw the line was super long, I shrugged and decided to just go straight back  to my spot near the stage, lol. Sorry, Henry!

While the rest of the band was setting up, the singer (Devin) ran past me and into the STAFF ONLY door to get to the stage. Her beautiful pastel hair fluffed the side of my face and I had a mild MARSHA BRADY post-Davy Jones kiss reaction to this.

OK, the hype is real, yo. I only knew some of their songs from scrolling through my IG feed but the day before the show I put them on Spotify to get a better feel for them and almost instantly fell into their….honey trap. Ugh I hate myself, lol. I hate comparing female fronted pop punk bands to Paramore because that’s such low-hanging fruit and so stereotypical BUT, feelings-wise, they gave me the same happy and excited vibe that the first Paramore album gave me back in the day before they went mainstream. They don’t SOUND like Paramore, but they FELT like early, pure Paramore. I was SWEATING through their set, it was the best aerobics.

There was something about her that reminded me of Georgia from the Netflix show Ginny & Georgia??? Chooch hates that show so when I told him that, he replied with a rude, “Mmm.”

I don’t have it in me to write concert reviews that hold any value these days, but this was honestly one of the best (non-Kpop!!) concerts I have gone to. I was so into it for all 4 bands and that’s just not always the case. I walked away loving nightlife even harder and being a legit fan of Honey Revenge. So far, my declaration of “go to concerts regularly like you used to” has been doing wonders for my mental state.

Apparently, Henry had an exciting time in the bar when some girl fell off her stool and was laying on the ground, passed out and drunk. Apparently, her friends left her and I was like, “OMG did you help her??” but he said other people were already assisting – that must have been really tough for Henry to keep his cape in his back pocket and play the role of bystander instead. I sure hope he was OK after that. Phew.

And also, he admitted that he enjoyed all of the bands and was glad that we went. WOW.

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.

I have a full Kennywood post and a concert recap forthcoming but here are some of the in-between thingies that happened over the weekend:

When my starting word for the last 2+ years is finally the Wordle of the day. This was my second one-guesser! The other time was when I had just been looking at Amazon, opened Wordle, guessed “prime” without even thinking about it, lol. Chooch accused me of cheating.

Chooch is home for the summer as of Saturday night and Penelope is feeling very mid about it, lol.

I saw this on Instagram and thought, “Oh! I bet you can see Henry and me in there” because we were directly across from the middle of the steps where the speakers were….speaking. I spotted the Palestine flag and immediately knew that was our spot because the guy holding it kept dragging it across my shoulders every time he lowered it, haha. So, I zoomed in and staying true to every large group photo Henry and I have ever been present for at concerts, outdoor music festivals, etc. you can see Henry plain as day:

BUT I AM BLOCKED BY A FLAG!!!

My friend Lyda thought this was the funniest thing and honestly, fine, so did I lol. It never fails!!!

Speaking of the No Kings march, Henry and I walked to Sly Fox downtown afterward. I was sweating through my orange DICK PIC shirt but everyone else there had also come from the same place so we were all kind of grimy.

We had a late lunch and shared a fight – I really liked every beer we tasted but the Royal Weisse was the best! It was a nice way to calm down a bit and refuel before heading back home on the T….

….where we ran into Blake! I have only seen him once since he moved out from next door two years ago, not sure how many times Henry has seen him, so it was nice to catch up because I thought he hated us?! Anyway, we were halfway to our step when he asked, “Hey….why are you guys on the blue line, anyway??” because we live within a 5-minute walk from a red line trolley stop.

“Um….because we were trying to avoid someone,” I laughed and then filled him in on the person I have been playing “hide but please don’t seek” with unbeknownst to them. They had invited themself to tag along with us today and I didn’t want to deal with it (11:30 to 3pm – plus the time we spent at Sly Fox) was a long-ass day!) so I said we were no longer going and then we DROVE TO ANOTHER TROLLEY STOP on a different line and had to pay for parking but it eased our nerves knowing that we at least wouldn’t run into them on there.

And of course, because PGH IS SO SMALL, we ended up spotting them right before the march started, but it turned out to be a good thing because then it gave us better odds of not accidentally merging into them during the actual march. I was telling some friends about it and they were like, “JESUS CHRIST, HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN TO YOU.”

(Yes, it is the same person as mentioned here, too, lol ugh.)

This was the random screensaver that appeared on our computer the other day and I was like, “Weird, I don’t remember taking a picture of that tree without people in front of it?” and then realized that this wasn’t MY photo of Gyeongju burial mounds, but some random “places around the world” photo. It made me so happy to see it though! I loved our time in Gyeongju and for some reason, those blog posts still get views almost every day from visitors around the world and I love that so much! HAVE YOU EVEN READ MY GYEONGJU POSTS??

Well, I think that was really all that happened this weekend in between the big events. I will tell you right now that it is so awesome having Chooch home but I am trying not to get too used to it since it will likely be his last summer home, unless he graduates and moves back home with us which I don’t see happening but never say never!

OK, time to go watch the new JNJ video, lol.

I’m exhausted but I wanted to share some pictures from today’s 50501 NO KINGS march in Pittsburgh that Henry and I attended today. We got home late last night from a concert, woke up tired AF, I had a headache. But fuck you, Trump. We still put our asses on the T (adorably packed with protest-ready senior citizens and I loved that) and spent from 11:30am to 2:30pm chanting, cheering, booing, and being together with what has been estimated was between 7000-10000 GOOD-HEARTED, SMART, but PISSED OFF people downtown Pittsburgh.

Grateful that Henry (who always looks like a husband who has been dragged out of his man cave against his will even when he genuinely wants to be somewhere) accompanied me, grateful that it was a peaceful turnout with no intimidation from outside groups or the police so that Chooch doesn’t have to walk from the train station tonight to the county jail to bail us out, grateful that I live in a liberal city on the right side of history. I know I diss Pgh a lot but today I really loved it here.

I bought this shirt for Chooch during that orange cunt’s first term and was glad to have it as a backup because the TACO shirt I ordered for the occasion won’t be here until Monday.

“I’m sure you will have plenty of opportunities to wear the TACO shirt,” Henry assured me while also simultaneously UNASSURING me –  I just want this to be over, take the fucker out, lock him up, please do not let us have to endure 4 full seasons of the real American Horror Story. Cancel the show, someone, anyone.

There were a bunch of speakers and while they were all fantastic and brave with strong and smart messages, I was getting antsy because I wanted to do the march! You know me and walking! I love to walk.

The guy who was walking around with Trump’s smug head on a stake was the MVP.

Finally the march happened. It wasn’t a long march but I was totally all about it.

“That was the first time in my life I said ‘jagoff’ unironically,” I said later when we were walking through downtown to Sly Fox for a late lunch.

“It’s probably also the first time you carried an American flag,” Henry frowned.

It’s true. I am very meh when it comes to patriotism but Trump is forcing me to care.

We were somewhere in that circled area, if I had to guess. There weren’t many people there yet when we arrived and that at 12 when they blocked off the streets, everyone moved closer to the City County Building and there were suddenly so many more people! It wasn’t too overwhelming though – people were giving each other space and everyone was hyper-aware of their surroundings so I felt pretty calm.

Anyway, I just wanted to share these quickly. Just in case anyone stumbles across this and doesn’t already know where I stand, I am very much anti-MAGA, Fuck Donald Trump, Abolish Ice, Hands Off, BLM, and just genuinely believe in doing what’s right and putting humanity over everything else. Fuck that cult bullshit. Fuck anyone that voted for this with no regrets and no remorse.

A few Fridays ago, I was sitting here at work listening to Spotify. This was around the time I started to get back into Kurt Travis and was heavily listening to his side project, Gold Necklace, so the algorithm was going with that. Most of the stuff I knew because I might have been out of the scene for a minute but the scene hasn’t changed THAT much.

Then suddenly, this one song came on that stopped me dead. Vocally, it sounded a bit like Bradley from Emarosa but also Tyler Carter from Issues a little and I was half-expecting it to be the latter even though it wasn’t very heavy.

It ended up being a new-ish (2021, I think) band from Baltimore called nightlife. They’re considered “soul punk” and I was like, “OK, I HEAR YOU, NIGHTLIFE.” I immediately looked them up on YouTube and saw that there is a video for the song that snagged the obsession lobe of my brain, so I immediately sent it to Henry who was napping. Then I ran upstairs and stood above him in bed like Fatal Attraction and when he didn’t immediately sense my looming presence, I started yelling DID YOU WATCH THE VIDEO I SENT YOU.

Literally 18 seconds after I sent it.

I made him watch it right then and there, drowsy from his startling nap-arousing, while I stood there watching to make sure he watched the whole thing before falling back asleep.

“WELL???” I screamed, awaiting a veritable college thesis on his thoughts of a 5-minute song.

“It was good,” he mumbled.

Then I sent it to my bud Wonka who practically DID write a book report on it as a response. He was really feeling it too!

Imagine how double-rainbow excited I was when Spotify told that nightlife was coming to Pittsburgh in a few weeks!!! I quickly went to the venue’s website and saw that they were actually an opening band for the Honey Revenge tour, and I had been following Honey Revenge on IG for several years. Plus, another supporting band is Daisy Grenade who we JUST saw at the Pierce the Veil concert. So, I had a lot of familiarity here and was stoked to buy tickets post haste.

Except…..

SOLD OUT.

I can’t explain the intense FOMO that encompassed me like a Killer Klown cotton candy cocoon in that moment. Just hang me from a rafter. It had been a long time since I had my heart THAT set on attending a non-Kpop concert and to see that I had no chance made my stomach hurt.

Spiraling out, I went to Instagram to see if I could find anyone with extra tickets. People were commenting on Honey Revenge’s post, and the band kept suggesting to check their Discord because fans were often selling extra tickets there.

I DON’T KNOW HOW TO USE DISCORD, I’M AN ELDER. I tried for about 5 minutes to figure it out and then gave up and texted Chooch who said he was “busy.” I kept nagging him and he said he didn’t know how and I was like OK LIES because he used to be on Discord all the time! I think they were using it for school during the pandemic, even?! Then he said, “I have to join a server and I don’t want to” WHATEVER THAT MEANS.

I gave up on my useless son who I am spending big money to send to college BUT THAT’S FINE, my body is still wrecked from CARRYING HIS LARGE HEAD INSIDE OF ME, also fine. Don’t throw Mommy a bone or anything. I’ll get over it.

Later that weekend, I was scrolling through nightlife’s IG feed, in full pout, watching videos from the previous shows and feeling so sorry for myself. One of their posts was the list of dates, urging everyone to come out, and I commented that I was crushed that the Pgh date was sold out before I could buy a ticket, but that I hoped they would come back soon.

They responded, “DM US, HOMIE.”

AND THEN THEY PUT ME +1 ON THEIR GUEST LIST FOR THE PGH SHOW!!

I truly was not looking for a handout, I would have gladly paid for a ticket, but this was so incredibly sweet of them. You better believe I will be hitting up their merch table tomorrow night! I am so stoked for tomorrow! Plus, Honey Revenge is so energetic, and I am in need of some girl power in my life.

I told Chooch and he actually responded with “That’s great!” but I can’t be sure if he meant it or not, haha.

(When I told Henry the good news, he said, “Oh. Good.” LOL.)

I had another bad night of anxiety attacks / restlessness, which left me feeling so gross this morning that I had to skip my morning walk. I’m feeling mostly like myself now though! I don’t know why this happens out of the blue like this – I had a decent day yesterday. Lots of external things out of my control are probably affecting me while I’m trying to sleep at night though, like the constant shit show this country has been ever since PREZ TACO took office again.

Anyway, today is a new day and I’m not going to panic thinking about going to bed tonight lol. Here are some good things because otherwise this page is going to be filled with anti-ICE raging and FDTs but I will save that energy for Saturday’s protest!

Henry blended some fresh strawberries into my strawberry Nami matcha the other night and it was very delectable and I think I will order another one tonight. You don’t know my life.

I’m kind of annoyed though because I bought that glass from Etsy a few years ago specifically because the ghosts on it are supposed to change color once you fill the glass with cold bev but it stopped working and now it looks dumb.

This is the current state of the wardrobe/dresser thingie. Please excuse the messiness. The drawers aren’t painted because they are going to be covered in fabric so Henry was like I AM NOT PUTTING ALL OF THE DRAWER PULLS IN THERE JUST TO TAKE THEM ALL OUT AGAIN. Who knows how much longer this will take BUT all of my clothes are folded and put away, at least. And now we have to get another smaller dresser for Henry’s ugly shirts since there is no room in this one now hahaha.

Oh look guys! My “JnJ” shirt arrived yesterday, another shirt for Henry to fold haha. I wore it last night when I met Margie at Red’s and she didn’t even inquire as to what/who JNJ is!!!

Henry and I love them so much haha.

As previously mentioned, Margie and I went to Red’s Good News after work last night for beer and chats. Can you believe that Red’s has been open for…five years now?? Did it open before the pandemic?? I can’t remember anymore, but you might recall that Chooch and I used to love to go to this place on the blvd called Parker’s, which specialized in breakfast sandwiches and had the best vibe. the owner, Luke, would always treat us like we were co-mayors of Brookline, just me and Chooch, though – never Henry!! But then he bought the bar next door (the old Zippy’s, which was a true dive but also pretty great in an ironic way) and whipped it up real nice in the Parker’s fashion. I walk past it every day because it’s right on the blvd and I can verify that even while never having set foot inside, they put so much effort into gussying it up for each and every holiday. Even back to school! We never stopped by because we aren’t big bar-goers and their food menu doesn’t have much for the meatless set.

Anyway, we had a really great time – I have had some family crises going on (what else is new) that I had been bottling up and it all came spilling out of me as more beer went in, lol. I didn’t realize how much I needed to blabber, and somehow I got kind of drunk off 2 beers in the span of 3 hours, I really can’t stand myself. I actually felt hungover this morning and I’m sure that contributed to much of my restless night. UGH.

If they would add a simple grilled cheese to the menu, I would make a conscious effort to hang out here regularly. It’s just really hard for me to drink without also eating because I get drunk/sick so quickly.

Oh, and the thing I love the most about them is that for Halloween, they cover “Good” on their sign with a pirate-esque flag that says “Bad.” Their attention to detail is amazing and totally my style.

(WHOA WHOA WHOA, Henry just saw his circulars in the trash (courtesy of me) and huffed, “You can make your own dinner!” while stomping away in a pout. Lol, Henry and those fucking circulars, Jesus Christ.)

I’m feeling much better now though, especially after this beaute arrived:

I know everyone always q-tips their dickholes over Black Parade but Three Cheers was peak MCR as far as I’m concerned. I was so into them in the early 00s (even before this record) and feel grateful that I got to see them open for other bands in really small venues and I think I can accept the fact that I grew out of them after this album, but that doesn’t mean these songs will ever stop meaning something to me. Ugh, my MCR phase was a good one. I’m also at a stage in my life where I don’t give a shit about bragging about my past concert luck. I DID THESE THINGS, SO THERE. Lol.

I’m ending with this bad bitch of a Seventeen song, thank god they gave it to us uncensored because ON THE ALBUM IT’S CENSORED!!!!!

About a month or so ago, my therapist gave me this “empty nester” worksheet to help me put in writing a lot of the things I’m feeling so that we can find coping solutions, ways to grow, new avenues to explore that veer away from the bridge/cliff/5th story window, etc. It was really easy for me to answer everything on the page because I am so IN MY FEELINGS 24:7, surprise, surprise. But the one that tripped me up, and I’m sorry I don’t have it in front of me so I have to paraphrase, was something about listing some things that I have always wanted to do but never could while I was busy parenting. Or something.

So, I was like, “OK cool, this is the fun part.” But then I just stared at the page. I couldn’t think of anything! Because look, when I became pregnant, a close friend at the time said to me, “Well, it was nice knowing you.”

I was completely caught off guard by that and asked wtf that meant.

She explained that people change when they become parents, implying that my only identity then would be “mom.” That all of my current hobbies, interests, passions would fade away and be replaced by, what? A minivan, mom jeans, and PTA meetings? I’m almost glad that she was audacious enough to say that to my face because it really stuck with me, obviously it’s 20 years later and I still think about it, ha! I can’t say for sure if I would have naturally gone the same route regardless, but it did trigger me, gave me a bit of a complex, and I was determined to find balance as a mom and as…me.

I never stopped geeking out about music. I never stopped going to concerts. I got back into art for the first time since way before I was a mom, I still kept writing.

Haunted houses? More than ever.

Road trips? Tons.

Big travel? Eventually, yes, we got there as a family!

Becoming Chooch’s mom was THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE. But one time at work, one of my coworkers said to me, ” God, I always forget that you’re a mom.” And that was one of the compliments ever! Because YOU CAN BE BOTH A PARENT AND YOUR OWN PERSON. BOTH CAN EXIST AT THE SAME TIME!

So, I told my therapist later that I couldn’t think of anything to put on that line because I have been able to do all the things I wanted to do while still being a mom. And she said, “That is really amazing.”

But I went on to tell her that after going to a few non-Kpop concerts this year, and then accidentally obsessing over Johnnie Guilbert which got me back into scene music, I realized that while Kpop is still my #1, it sucks to only be able to go to those kinds of concerts several times a year. (Dude, we have to travel for every single one of them + HAVE YOU SEEN KPOP TICKET PRICES.) So I decided that instead of choosing something new (not to exclude new things! I’m sure new interests will arise from time to time, they always do with me!), what if I…allowed some of the “old” back in. The “past” parts of me. And find a balance between the two.

Because not only will it keep me feeling young and excited for things coming up, but it will scratch that live music itch in between Kpop concerts.

I was worried my therapist would consider this akin to living in the past, not allowing personal growth, etc. But she fully supports it!

And thanks to Johnnie Guilbert (lol), I went to see Pierce the Veil and my Spotify has cracked the door open for my old Swancore* mainstays to slip back in as well.

*(Speaking of swancore, I can’t believe I’m so old that I was there for the genesis of swancore and now it seems like fans of the sub-genre don’t even realize who it was named after?!?)

So now I am giddily adding little concerts here and there into our schedule and Henry is in full OH BOY mode, lol.

I just can’t keep sitting here every night after work doing nothing. It’s a pit of despair. Log off, eat dinner, exercise, watch YouTube, go to bed. I would rather have events/concerts to go to rather than something like a lesson or a class that is consistently on my schedule because commitment is hard for me and makes me lose interest, fast!

(I am still not ruling out something that Henry and I can jointly enroll in because I really think he needs to find things to enjoy in life too, like BALLROOM DANCING, I don’t know why I’m so fixated on that because I truly have no interest in it other than I think it would be hilarious.)

(Because, it’s me and Henry.)

(Doing ANY kind of dancing together.)

(Kara, maybe MACRAME, FINALLY??)

When we were with Chooch in Philly on Sunday, he randomly started telling me about the bands he has been listening to a lot lately, like DEFTONES and Pierce the Veil! Deftones was especially exciting for me because I was his exact age when I constantly played their Adrenaline album (ON CASSETTE) in my Eagle Talon when I was first living on my own. And then we just sat there and dished about music and it was so important and special to me because I have included him in so much of my music obsessions all through his childhood and to be able to sit there with him as basically an adult, and talk about this and see that he really appreciates it now – it was so huge for me! Yo, Pierce the Veil was his first concert when he was….6??? And it was a roadtrip concert, no less!

I don’t know, I guess I just needed to type all of this out to hold myself accountable and actually start living my life again. Crying every day is not the way!

8:36am: We just left a Greensburg Sheetz, en route to Philly to get Chooch mostly-moved out. Henry’s breakfast sandwich is making the car stink of b.o. so bad and also I looked over right as he pulled a LONG onion tendril out with his teeth and I started gagging.

“Why are you laughing??” he demanded.

“I’m gagging, thank you very much.”

Anyway, I’m using this time in the car to also do a photo dump from the last week so I can stop being so behind on blogging.

Here are some pictures from our Sunday visit to our fave, Pink Box, for some pre-cemetery walk treats:

Seriously love this place so much, love supporting it, love their delicious treats! Please stay forever, Pink Box.

I got this giant pineapple croissant because I needed croissant redemption after that shitty bread-lump that I was served at Penn brewery the day before. Oh and while I’m at it, let me state for the record that I hate them even more now because I messaged them on IG re: the Kennywood edition of their (shitty) lemon shandy. I specifically said LEMON because there is a strawberry shandy that comes in the Kennywood six-pack. Whoever answered me said that YES the KENNYWOOD LEMON SHANDY was available at the brewery in the KENNYWOOD CANS. So Henry went out (twice because the first time he forgot to check their hours and they were closed lol) and that same shitty bartender lady tried to sell him the REGULAR six-pack and he was like NO, THE KENNYWOOD ONE PLZ and she said NO.

So I responded again and my message was SEEN but not replied to. Fuck you Penn Brewery.

Anyway, my Pink Box croissant was so satisfying.

Homewood Cemetery has the most beautiful pond. We come here all the time (miss not having Chooch with us) and just stand there looking at tadpoles, turtles, etc. like it’s nature porn.

P.S. I had to wear glasses for nearly a week because whatever allergies/sinus ailment I had made my one eye red under the iris. It didn’t hurt at all but it made me nervous. Not nervous enough to get it looked at by anyone other than Henry though. Haha.

—————-

9:21am: We still have 3:32 hours left ugh. And it’s raining. We’re listening to the Stray Kids DominATE set list now but this came up earlier and cracked me up:

10:14am: LOL I texted Janna and asked her to do me a HUGE FAVOR because that’s just the sort of text everyone wishes to receive out of the blue (갑자기) and after waiting AN HOUR for her respond, I asked her to message Penn Brewery about the cans and she said SURE.

LOL. I AM GOING TO SUE THEM FOR FALSE ADVERTISING.

In other non-on-the-road news, we are still in the process of getting the wardrobe and dresser set up. Henry spent all last weekend tediously trying to fold all of my T-shirts because I just ball them up and punch them into the drawers. He even ordered a T-shirt folder and taught me how to use it so I can fold my own shirts going foward lol. But anyway, everything is removed from the old dressers and they are currently bashed into pieces in the dumpster at Henry’s work. (Trust me, I’m all for upcycling but these were TRASHED. It was so bad & aggravating, trying to access clothes in the condition BOTH dressers were in.)

10:20am: Henry just gave me a quizzical look because he looked over and saw me crying.

I was thinking about G-Dragon. Lol.

12:31pm:

Me: Do I have to do anything when we get there?

Henry: like what?

Me: Help.

Henry: That’s hilarious. I just brought you along for company.

Lololol.

Speaking of Henry, did you know he moonlights as my inhouse matcha barista?

Of course this is Nami Matcha, their new strawberry-infused blend. It is sooo good. The strawberry essence is subtle and natural, but not artificial tasting at all.

And here’s some Penelope pics:

2:09pm: this is very tedious and frustrating lol.

2:30pm:

Me: I’m sweating!

Henry: from carrying that poster?

lol srsly that was pretty much the extent of what I did.

3:16pm: we had lunch with Chooch at GFG Cafe and it was delectable. Veggie mousakka!

And we finally got to meet FOUR of his friends finally, two of them he’s rooming with next year.

What a whirlwind day. Now we’re heading out. I let Chooch off the hug hook this time around since we’ll see him on Saturday!!

Bye Drexel!

5:31pm: Still in the car, trying not to have a heart attack while reading updates on the Orange Psycho’s war on Californians. Trying to balance it with G-Dragon content.

Speaking of, my fan club members only version of his mini-lightstick arrived on Friday :)

6:07pm: It’s really sad that we have made this trip so many times that we recognized the last working at the 7/11 at whatever rest stop we just left. (Blue Mountain or something.)

Also Henry bought a Mr. Beast Feastible because he was influenced by Jake Webber.

7:06pm: Just left this cutie rest stop:

We’re listening to Kurt Travis and getting so stoked to see him again next month and by we I mean me. “Isn’t his voice so pretty?” I said to Henry.

“I guess?”

Ugh.

9:42pm: We’ve been home for an hour. Byeeee!!

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!