Welp, I had therapy today and wasn’t planning on mentioning it, but I ultimately shared with my therapist the agonizing “what even is this feeling??” that has overcome me since hearing about Mark Lee’s departure from NCT last Friday. She helped me understand that it’s not weird or dumb, this emotion that I can’t pinpoint, but it really does signify the end of a golden era in my life and that it makes sense that I am feeling this grief-but-not-grief because no one died unless you count a past version of myself.

Please indulge me here, but I thought it would help to go back through the pictures Henry took of me at every NCT / Super M / KCON concert where I literally felt like my best, most happiest, purest self. NCT has been with me for years now and I really feel like while all the members were growing up, I was growing up in a way too by putting more even space between the Erin of Now with the Erin of Then, which wasn’t a good Erin.

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KCON 2017!

Not me wearing a Pierce the Veil shirt to my first Kpop concert lol. June 2017!

That’s NCT127 in the red.

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KCON 2018!

Saw them again at KCON 2018!

 

This was back when Winwin was still with them. </3

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SUPER M 2019!

20     

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NCT 217 in Newark 10/22!

Mark Lee on a bus stop ad </3

 

I spent so much $$$ on my ticket that Henry had to wait until the day of and get a nosebleed seat for himself. This was the selfie he sent me from his literal last row seat haha.

We stayed afterward too and waited for their vans to leave the venue just to get a split-second glance of them through the tinted windows, it was so much fun.

This was when I had FULLY accepted that in addition to VIP and SHAWOL (KPOP fandom names, don’t try to understand) I was now an NCTzen.

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NCT DREAM 2023 in Chicago

This was the one that really sent me. NCT 127 had been to the States numerous times but the Dreamies never had. Until spring of 2023. Again, I threw down some serious cash on my ticket and I will live the rest of my life having not even a single regret. This was one of the best concerts and nights of my life. I bonded with the other NCTzens around me. I saw my bias Renjun for the first time ever. I cried so hard but also smiled so big and screamed so loud that I gave myself a headache.

That’s  me on the screen, smiling a genuine smile which doesn’t happen very often (I’m the President of the Fake Smile Club).

 

This was one of the happiest days for me and I think about it a lot.

This was when I escorted Henry to his seat, lol.

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NCT EXHIBITION IN SEOUL 2024!!

OK this doesn’t really count as “seeing them live,” but there was an NCT127 exhibition happening at the DDP when we were in Korea for our “marriage mission.” Chooch was off Pokemon Go’ing so I made Henry go to it with me and I loved every fucking second of it.

I got this delightful mug in the gift shop at the end. They had one for every member and I got Haechan’s of course because he’s my ult NCT bias (tied with Ten who btw also just announced his departure from SM although he is allegedly still going to participate in team activities with NCT and WayV – we’ll see) but I wanted to get one of each, honestly.

Another fun fact is that we were in Korea for NCT Dream’s comeback, so I got to buy their new album from the SM Store and watch their video FROM SEOUL. Short of actually seeing an NCT concert in Korea, that was next level for me. (Although Chooch and I did see one of the Dreamies in 2019 – Jeno – when he was hosting The Show and we attended a live taping of it!)

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NCT DREAM 2024 – LONG ISLAND

They didn’t have Renjun with them for this tour and that made me sad but I was still grateful to see them again!

There’s this inside joke within the Kpop fandom that no matter what the concert is, you are guaranteed to see at least one neobong (NCT lightstick) in the crowd and I have definitely found this to be true! It’s funny because now it’s crossing boundaries into non-kpop territory too.

Henry sits alone – again LOL.

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JINGLE BALL 2024 DETROIT!

One of my work friends tried to talk me out of buying tickets for this since I had just seen NCT Dream 2 mths prior BUT THERE WAS A CHANCE THAT RENJUN WOULD BE THERE.

AND HE WAS.

Henry got to sit with me this time. I used my Capital One card for the presale and got really great seats.

This was on TV as well and some of my friends were like THAT GROUP YOU LIKE IS ON MY TV RIGHT NOW. YEAH BOY!

I was so grateful to get to see Renjun again but now, in hindsight, this would be the last time I’d see NCT Dream with all 7 members. JFC that stings.

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NCT 127 3/25 CHICAGO!

I ALMOST DID NOT GET TICKETS FOR THIS TOUR. Some of the members were in the military. One was kicked out and we do not speak of him. I almost said, “Well, I have already seen 127 three times, I can pass on this one.” But then I was like, “Hello, what kind of shit talk is that for an NCTzen!?” So, I got the tickets. AND THIS WOULD END UP BEING THE LAST TIME I SEE MARK, MAYBE AT ALL.

Henry sits alone again LOL.

We made a bunch of pins to give out as freebies.  This is just a few – there were at least 100! <3

MARK.

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Literally. The end of an era. I’m really sad.

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I was IN A MOOD on Saturday. You know how they say babies throw fits because they literally aren’t capable of using their words and understanding exactly what emotion they’re feeling? Tell me how I am 46 years old and still LIKE THIS.

The bottom line is, and unkindly fuck right off if you’re about to minimize my feelings, I am going through something weird following the departure of Mark from NCT. It’s not that I am some crazy-ass fan, but I am relating this to my own life and it is reminding me in a shitty way that people age out of things and need to move on. Nothing lasts forever.

Nothing.

Lasts.

Forever.

That is what I am hung up on right now, flipping through memories of the golden era in my Kpop Phase of Life. Remembering how it felt, and how happy I looked, to be at my first NCT Dream concert. Remembering how I had the all-consuming impulse to run to the nearest tattoo shop and get sprouts and YO DREAM etched on my body permanently.

It all came to a head late Saturday morning when Henry and I drove to Freeport to get some treats from Vivian’s Bakery, and then the plan was to continue to KITTANNING for some reason to go for a walk. But when we got to the bakery, I short-circuited and lost my mind  when it was time to order and ended up not getting what I wanted, blamed Henry, acted like the reigning Douchey of Cuntswold, and proceeded to derail the next 2 hours by yelling for no reason, playing mind games, and then curling up in a ball facing out the passenger side window, crying with NCT Dream on blast.

How old am I.

We ended up coming back to Pittsburgh and Henry, without a word to me prior, went to Yinz Coffee on the Northside, got me their seasonal iced cherry blossom chai and two cookies. Then we went to Uniondale Cemetery where I stormed off ahead of him and walked most of it by myself until he took a different path and stepped out from behind a tree like fucking Michael Myers, I guess to try and remind me why I got a crush on him in the first place way back in 2000.

Jesus. 26 years ago. I hate time.

So, then everything was OK. We came home and I had my afternoon feeding which helped a lot. The cookies did too.

I suggested that we go to Firewhistle Brewing in Elizabeth later that day. Initially, I was going to suggest that we do this earlier in the day and then walk the bike trail thingie that’s out that way because we haven’t walked it in a few years now. But then Henry had his KITTANNING plan –  like wtf even is in KITTANNING, I hate it there now after Saturday morning – so I let him run with that since he rarely cooks up an itinerary of his own. Anyway, he was down with this plan (like he would ever say no) and on the way there, I got an alert that the Pens game was starting.

“Oh, maybe we will actually be able to watch a hockey game for fucking once!” I cried happily, the Erin of Morn’ nothing but a ghost now.

You guys, I ALWAYS HAVE THE BEST IDEAS. This place was such a cozy local establishment. EVERYONE AT THE BAR KNEW EACH OTHER but NO ONE gave us suspicious once-overs. The bartender was down-to-earth and patient while Henry decided what he wanted. (I already knew I wanted the RED ALE – that’s my current go-to, further adding to the misconception that I am Irish.)

(I guess technically this is listed as an AMERICAN red, but whatever.)

I loved the vibe. The owner is also a firefighter and fun fact: my baby shower was actually held in the basement of the fire hall nearby. Don’t ask.

OMG this beer was really good too. It was called Ritterweisse and we heard the bartender tell someone that he’s been calling it the Kyle Rittenhouse but it wasn’t going over too well!! This was some kind of dark German beer that reminded us of the Golden Age Christmas ale we got for Xmas Eve, just without the spice. It was so good. I only just got the red ale and then “helped” Henry drink the ones he got, lol. Not the wheat beer though – I was too busy writing tongue-tip love poems on the roof of my mouth about my beloved red ale while Henry was slamming the wheat.

And we got to watch the Pens cream the Panthers 9-4! FUCK YOU TKACHUK!

I was having so much fun listening to everyone talk about the Pens (only complaint is that the game was on mute because the bartender had a playlist going) and engaging in small town small talk. Don’t get me wrong, I prefer to keep to myself here in Brookline but sometimes I do wish I was part of the community. Sort of. OK, no I don’t. I can barely stand to talk to my actual neighbors, let alone expanding the borders to….other streets. Gulp.

Granted, every so often I would think about Mark and get morose all over again, but at least I wasn’t alone.

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

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

:(

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

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

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

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So, I woke up at the crack of dawn this morning to the news of Mark Lee leaving SM and halting all NCT activities. First, I saw it from his own Instagram – you know it’s not going to be good when the post is a picture of a handwritten letter. I still didn’t fully understand the context – what was he apologizing for? Was there a scandal? Did he get hurt?

But then right after, I saw SM’s statement confirming that they had mutually decided to part ways after 10 years. Mark Lee! Literally carried 4 teams on his back at one time. The backbone of NCT. Haechan’s bestie.

It’s no wonder why there were so many videos of the NCT Dream members straight up sobbing during the finale of their Dream Show run in Seoul – we all thought they were just sad because that era had ended, but no, they knew. They knew it was their last time performing with Mark. Ughhhhh.

Sorry to be MELODRAMATIC, the man isn’t dead, but yo…NCT has been my antidepressant for YEARS. They were also at the first Kpop concert I ever went to – KCON 2017! I feel blessed that I got to see Mark so many times with NCT127, NCT Dream, and even – gloriously – Super M. I will support him no matter what, especially since it sounds like he made this decision for himself and he has admitted that he is scared of what’s to come.

FUN FACT, back when Chooch was a Kpop stan with me, Mark was his bias.

This is true with bands of any genre because aging is aging no matter how you slice it, but there is something especially jarring about watching Kpop groups grow up. There is little in life that makes me feel as old and panicked about time & mortality as going through an entire life cycle of a Kpop group and realizing that you’re reaching the inevitable expiration date. I hate it so much. I fear that NCT won’t survive this and their current & future military enlistments. I mean, I thought that all of the viral “NCT Dream crying” videos from this week were because they knew Haechan was due to enlist soon. Not this. (BTW, Mark is Canadian and exempt from military enlistment in Korea so Henry and I are always talking about how with NCT Dream, at least they would still have him, Renjun and Chenle (both Chinese), and NCT127 would have him, Johnny (American) and Yuta (Japanese), but I guess that is not going to be the case after all.

This is making me spiral out for so many strange, personal, possibly neurotic reasons. I have attachment issues (bigly). I take everything so hard. And it’s such a weird thing to be like, “Hi, I’m upset, can I talk to you about it?” to anyone other than Henry, who has been bracing for the fall out and of course it happens when he leaves to go to Lowe’s and I’m here alone, thinking about all of my favorite NCT memories, how I never got my NCT Dream tattoo (but really need to), and just how they have always been my cozy/comfort listen. Tears incoming.

This will always be one of my favorites:

And before I end this: A BIG FUCK YOU TO SM. I know it’s been said that this was a genuinely respectful departure and not the typical LEGAL NOTICE that these agencies are also putting out in these situations, I just feel like they could treat their artists better. They worked this man to the fucking bone for 10 years.

ETA: I just heard someone say that Mark chose himself and you know, TRUE. That takes away some of the hurt knowing that Mark is going to be able to do what HE wants to do now (hopefully starting with a vacation and lots of rest!!).

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Oh you guys, to be back in Busch Gardens after 4 years! What a dream, what a blessing, what a…oh, who cares. It’s just an amusement park, what do you guys care lol. It was unseasonably hot that day – mid-80s in March! I hate winter (well, I guess technically we had reached the milestone by this point) but it seriously scares me when we get weirdly inappropriate warmth so soon. Like, legitimately terrifies me. Luckily, it wasn’t humid so the sunshine and heat was very enjoyable.

After choosing the wrong ticket-scanning line (always have to pick one wrong line, whether it’s the parking booth lane, security, or ticket-scanning) and standing for an eternity behind two people who didn’t have their tickets ready on their phone and then couldn’t find them (and hello ticket-scanning lady, did you think to maybe have them step aside and scan us while they got their idiotic selves sorted??) we speed-walked straight to Darkoaster and by that I mean first we had to stop at a restroom so our token Old Man could pee (fine, we all took the opportunity) and then walked for a good fifteen minutes around the sprawling park before finally reaching our destination. I always forget how freaking giant Busch Gardens is! And for as many times as we’ve been there, I cannot get the layout to stick in my memory so I’m always like, “Is this the right way? Shouldn’t we have been there by now?” It’s not great when you’re in a hurry. (And we always are!)

Durrr.

This was one of the new coasters that arrived on the scene after our last visit. It used to be a dark ride – Chooch and I went on it the first time we ever visited way back in…2013? 2014? and it was super fun and unexpectedly “high tech.” Kind of like a precursor to what Universal would eventually do with the Harry Potter dark rides. Looking back, it seemed kind of ahead of its time. I had to google it – it was a 3D motion-based dark ride called Curse of DarKastle. So, BG kept the building and themed an indoor coaster around the original lore.

We were making Henry take pictures of us in the BACK ROW line. We actually had to wait quite a bit for this one – maybe around 40 minutes? And we were dying the whole time because Henry stupidly got in the same line as us rather than choosing another row where he could ride on the same train as us, and it was looking like he was going to be riding with a young girl (maybe 10 or 11) who was very forlorn-looking AND had a bandaid across her forehead. Her dad and sister were in the row next to us, leaving her relegated to single ride status. Henry was NOT amused by our giggle fits.

I was just so giddy to be back at an amusement park, waiting for a backrow ride on a new-to-us coaster!

I mean, it wasn’t that great of a coaster – the thoosie reviews were correct in that the lack of theming was very sad – but it was still fun and I was doing my hyperbolic screaming much to Chooch’s chagrin. Then we were DYING when our train rolled back in the station and we saw that Henry was gone…but BANDAID GIRL WAS STILL IN LINE! She opted to NOT RIDE WITH HENRY which meant that she actively chose to ride on an entirely different train than her dad and sister too LOL. We were cracking up so hard over this that people in line were probably like, “Wow, they thought this was a really fun coaster, maybe they’re Amish.”

Busch Gardens makes a killing from parking ($35!!!!!!), admission, and food prices so I do not feel bad ONE BIT that I didn’t pay for this picture.

LOL, Henry the Lone Rider.

From there, we headed over to the other new-to-us coaster that Chooch needed for his coaster count – Big Bad Wolf. (I think?) It’s a family suspended coaster and another long-ish wait. Probably 45 minutes? I need to state for the record that the park was NOT crowded by any means – it was just the park was only running ONE train on nearly every coaster, paired with slow-ass ops. Obviously I’m not an expert on the fiscal aspects of this industry but when you’re charging astronomical prices (it was just under $300 for us, not including parking!!!! and food) you should be running all of your trains no matter what.

At least there weren’t annoying people (not including us) in any of the lines we were forced to spend time in. And blessedly only one line-cutting incident during the entire day.

Speaking of theming, this coaster got some nice treatment on that front! The station was cute and there was also some little village scenes built out along the course. This ride is supposed to be an homage to the fan favorite coaster that was removed years ago to make room for Verbolten (my favorite coaster in the park but it was closed on our visit because it’s being refurbed / reimagined so I’m excited to see the new version of it someday!). Oh, sorry, I just realized the full name of the coaster is THE BIG BAD WOLF: THE WOLF’S REVENGE and clearly the OG coaster was The Big Bad Wolf. So, a very original name for the revenge coaster lol.

(KENNYWOOD ALREADY DID THIS, BTW. TRY AGAIN, OTHER PARKS.)

Henry had a friend to ride with this time lol.

“Are they talking??” I cried to Chooch.

“I think so!” he said, holding up his phone to take a picture.

We asked Henry later what they talked about and he said, “Nothing. The guy sat down and said something about his neck.”

THAT WAS ALL?

Papa H did his dadderly duty by waiting on the exit ramp to take pictures of us returning to the station. What a fucking peach.

Anyway, this was a cute family ride. Nothing to write home about though which reminds me, I wanted to get some postcards to send to friends BUT FORGOT.

I still love Busch Gardens with my whole heart but I need to stop ignoring the fact that I have miserable food experiences there 100% of the time. Look, I get it – it’s because I don’t eat meat, etc etc. but come the fuck on. This isn’t the 90s.

I wanted to go to the place that has the veggie burger (this was CLOSED the last two times we were there) but Henry was being a dweeb and taking way too long looking at the map or whatever on his phone and we were sitting right across from the dumb Festhaus – where we eat 109% of the time so tell me if that has anything to do with my 100% miserable food experience rating. I mean I didn’t take Statistics in school but…

So Chooch was like “Fuck it, we’re here let’s just eat at Festhaus.”

Ugh.

The veg options are cheese pizza or salad. Or a small selection of sides. The one time I got the pizza, I became instantly “with cheese” and spent the rest of the day with crippling gastrointestinal pain and the inability to poop for like 2 days. So I was NOT getting the pizza. The salad looked gross. So I got a thing of three small rolls and Chooch grabbed a basket of fried pickle sticks to share with me.

He and Henry both got pizza, Henry also got fries, Chooch got a small salad. Plus two waters and a Coke.

Can you guess how much this cost?

Ok if you read my post from Spoonwood you already know (cheater) but it was $98!!!!!!!’

And that didn’t include the two beers that Henry and I got which was another $30!!!!

And I immediately got sick. Barely ate anything but I started the day with a headache and Henry conveniently only keeps advil or whatever in the car when he knows HE will need it so I was like “I will be a real woman and push through it” because to be honest I don’t usually take anything for headaches. I am STRONG.

(Forget the fact that I tried to run away from the hospital when it was epidural time in 2006.)

I was sick but not so sick that I couldn’t obnoxiously participate in the Festhaus lederhosen battle cries with the LIVE PERFORMERS. I was born to be on the “you say” end of the “When I say <x> you say <y>” bits. I am so good at repeating in a loud and boisterous manner! Henry and Chooch were glaring at me. Especially when it was the chicken dance time and I was too sickly to stand up and do it but not too sickly that I couldn’t perform a seated version.

Also, we were there at peak lunch hour and more than 1/2 of the tables were empty so THE PARK WAS NOT CROWDED, EVERYTHING SHOULD HAVE BEEN A WALK-ON.

He was so bored, you guys. So bored.

Meanwhile, I was like, “Holy shit, I might have to throw up” and also “but this beer cost almost as much as parking so I must finish it.” I ended up taking to go

Most of the rest of the day was spent with me holding my stomach and moaning. But here is this iconic shot of Loch Ness Monster.

We took our good old time walking over to the Italy section, in hopes that my stomach would be OK to ride Pantheon. You know what’s hilarious? We couldn’t remember if there were small item baskets in the station and a sign near the steps to the station was like ABSOLUTELY NOT, GET A LOCKER so we thrust our stuff at Henry who dejectedly left the line, only for us to run to the back row queue, see that there ARE baskets up there, and then get slapped with the ATTENTION RIDERS, THIS RIDE IS NOT OPERATING AT THE MOMENT announcement.

WHAT IS IT WITH US AND PANTHEON??

Chooch and I opted to wait it out since we were like, 3 trains back in the queue. It was the right call because they started testing it immediately and there is something so perfectly voyeuristic about witnessing these types of things from the station. It makes me feel like I’m in the know. And it was only about a 25 delay anyway.

I want to say that I still love Pantheon as much as I did when it debuted in 2022 but…I quickly realized that perhaps I shouldn’t be riding coasters at the mo’ because I immediately felt worse and the entire last half of the coaster was physically painful. So what did I do after this? Immediately get in line for Apollo’s Chariot!

Again, this is another coaster that is usually a walk-on or a station wait at most every time we go there, but we actually HAD TO STAND IN A LINE that snaked out from the station and down a set of steps.

BECAUSE THEY WERE ONLY RUNNING ONE TRAIN!

I will spare you the details but good lord, I really thought this one was going to break my record of “never puked at a park” lifetime track record. I was so clammy and cold by the time we returned to the station and began a frantic search for a shaded bench to hopefully not die on.

Found a bench here and plopped down while Henry – finally – set off to find me something for my head because that was the ROOT ISSUE. This fucking headache went on too long.

So thrilled to be sharing a bench with me. Oh wait! Henry went to get me a cookie first. Then I sent him back out for Tylenol, lol.

We stopped to watch a wolf performance on our way to Griffin. In case you didn’t know, both Busch Gardens (Williamsburg and Tampa) also have numerous animal things/shows/etc. But now you know because I just told you. So, we watched some wolves get fed treats for sitting and stuff. They were so precious.

Then Henry and Chooch rode Griffin while I sat on another bench and let the Tylenol do its thing. I was nearly cured by the time they came back! (This one had two trains running and they barely had to wait at all.)

I really hate Henry’s phone. This was me and Chooch on Alpengeist WHICH WAS A WALK-ON because they were running  2 trains. The first ride, we were in the back and I was like, “OK! This is fine! I forgot how much I loved this ride!” and then when we got off, the station was still empty so I was like “LET’S RIDE AGAIN” so we did and this time I was in an outer seat and yeah – no bueno that time around. I came off feeling like I was green in the face.

Chooch and I then rode Invadr which always looks like it has a short line until you realize it’s one train plus the ops are slow AF. It’s a family coaster so you get lots of annoying little kids in line too. There was some – OK I’m saying it – white-trashy grandpa and his grandkid a few people behind us. The kid was being really bad, so the grandpa kept yelling his name, which was….BANIYA?? I don’t even know how to spell it. I kept expecting him to say “banana” and it was catching me off guard every time.

Then there was a little boy and his sister behind us. The little boy strapped on his Go-Pro at one point and started giving his sister prompts.

“Say what ride this is,” he stage-whispered.

“Um, Ok. Yeah. So. We are, um. We are standing in line, um, for, uh, Invadr.” It was excruciating to watch. Chooch kept trying to squeeze past me because the boy fixed his camera directly on him several times. “I do NOT want to be in this kid’s vlog,” Chooch muttered.

Meanwhile, there was a solo guy in front of us in line wearing an Iron Gwazi shirt. He looked kind of familiar to me but I didn’t think much about it until we made it to the station and he was in the queue for the back row, with us right in front of him. He kept sighing heavily and at one point, I thought, “Is he trying to get our attention?” I couldn’t really figure out what was going on – if anything even WAS going on – but then during the actual ride, hearing his backseat reactions, a memory was unlocked and as we exited the ride, I whispered to Chooch, “I THINK THAT GUY WAS AT FUN SPOT ATLANTA THE DAY WE WERE THERE.”

Literally, you guys, I think it was the guy that I bonded with on the brake run of ArieForceOne???

Chooch thinks that is where he knows him from too! We pointed him out to Henry afterward and he was like, “Go ask him!” and I was like, “NO THANK YOU!” I spent almost all day trying not to vomit and now he was trying to push me into a SOCIAL INTERACTION?

Mm. Hard pass.

Then it was Loch Ness Monster time! They revamped this one since the last time we were there and I was excited to see the changes. They added more theming and the tunnel portion got a big audio/visual glow up! I just wish there were less head-banging moments, but this is still such a classic coaster. And so visually pleasing too!

I can’t even remember the last time we rode this. It’s my least favorite coaster in the park. We didn’t ride it this time either but I always like to take a picture of the lights in the queue! Anyway, this was after we rode Pantheon one more time, this time with Henry in tow. I was able to enjoy it so much more this time around too, now that my headache was gone, taking my nausea with it.

“HE WAS WAVING AT YOU!” Henry cried after I stood up from taking this picture.

“Wha—who??” I cried back, heart racing, thinking I missed a Kpop idol sighting or something.

“The conductor!” Henry yelled.

Oh.

I just want to say that is this tree was in Korea, there would have been a crowd of nature paparazzi, aggressively snapping pics, with influencers lining up for selfies.

The last picture of the day, right before we left. The park closed at 8 and we made it until a little after 7. Chooch was already wanting to leave by 4 but I was like WE PAID A LOT OF MONEY TO BE HERE, BOY, SO YOU ARE GOING TO RIDE COASTERS AND LIKE IT!

Overall, it was a really nice day once you factor out my illness and food fails. I was just happy to be there again with those two, after 4 years! To be at an amusement park in general!

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View from the elevator bank of Chooch’s floor at his Drexel suite.

Yes, that means we were in Philly, returning our PRECIOUS GOODS to the Home of Gritty. :(

And can you believe that Henry had the audacity to suggest I STAY HOME because I woke up feeling a sickness coming on? It was the beginning stages of a head cold / sinus thing. I wasn’t yet dripping like a broken faucet (that would be Monday and Tuesday) but I was in the extreme “my face is constructed of shifting tectonic plates” type of pressurized pain. Plus, I slept for most of the ride there and that just isn’t something I do especially since I brought a book with me AND we were having a nostalgic Pierce the Veil deep dive which started because earlier that morning in our bedroom, Henry goes, “Since when do they play this on the radio???” and I had to actually ear-squint to hear because my brain initially rejected the information that it was PTV. That’s a good indication that I was sick—I can usually pick up on what’s playing in the bedroom FROM DOWNSTAIRS. It drives Henry nuts, especially because the bedroom radio isn’t even on loud.

But yes, it was PTV! Granted, we haven’t listened to the alternative radio station here in years but only recently put it on again when I accidentally go back into hockey since that’s the station that airs the games and we don’t have the ability to watch it on TV.

PHEW that was a lot to say: we were inspired to listen to PTV in the car that day.

I had to laugh though because Henry used to be the disgruntled lone passenger on a stinky bus to Frown Town anytime we’d go see Pierce the Veil but now he is so far-removed from that timeline that it’s a nostalgic listen for him I guess and he defensively said in the car, “I NEVER SAID I DIDN’T LIKE THEM.” Oh, OK! Coulda fooled me!

Anyway, this song is three years old already so who knows when The X started playing it. Before we move on from the PTV portion of this post, I need to just remind everyone that they have been one of my favorite bands since 2007 and I will never not love them, and Vic is one of the few singers from that scene who has never let us down.

Oh, this has nothing to do with Sunday, but yesterday Henry was telling me that he was almost done with a book that I have been hounding him to read for years. “She just got fired,” he said.

“And she doesn’t have a back-up plan?” I quipped, all nudge-nudge, wink-wink. He just looked at me blankly.

“Oh OK, I guess you’re not really a Pierce the Veil fan after all!” I cried. IT WAS A REFERENCE TO THIS SONG, ASSHOLE.

(I can’t hear the part “You know I’ve never held a gun in my life / but now I carry one around in case I see you tonight” without tears spontaneously springing forth.)

Anyway! After helping Chooch unload all of his crap to his room (don’t worry, we interrogated him before we left home that morning to make sure he had his: wallet, backpack, laptop, student ID after last time when he left ALL OF THOSE THINGS AT HOME), we took the train to…wherever – I still don’t know my way around, but it was like 5 stops from where we got on at the Drexel campus lol – and then walked about 15 minutes until we arrived at Madjal Bakery, a Syrian bakery that I found out about from Cari Cakes when she was visiting home a few weeks ago from Korea. (If you read the plethora of nauseating Korea blog posts from 2 years ago, you might remember that she is an American expat Youtuber in Korea – I have been a subscriber since 2017 when I found her “apartment tour” video during a very chaotic period in my life when I was 100% convinced of giving it all up and moving to Seoul. And we ended up running into her in Seoul on that trip and had an awkward conversation lol.)

Cari really pimped this place out well so I had to try it.

We ended up getting there RIGHT BEFORE a huge influx of customers, and also right before they sold out of the pastry I had my heart set on – the pistachio cinnamon roll.

It’s small inside but very pretty.

Pictured: Tahini Rye Brownie; Tahini, Maple & Pecan Babka; and my coveted Cinnamon Cardamom Bun with pistachio cream cheese frosting.

YES, SIR!!! Everything was divine.

Henry and Chooch also got some savories which they loved. And no, all those baked goods weren’t just for me! We split them, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

I also got a hot spiced tea which was perfecto for the state I was in that afternoon.

Also, I’m sorry but any time I  think of Men I Trust (see: Chooch’s shirt), I’m immediately transported to the backseat of Corey’s car, seeing a dead lady on a sidewalk outside of the Mattress Factory, UGH.)

The man working that day (I don’t think it was the owner based on Instagram) was so friendly. I appreciated that every time he said, “Hi there!” to a new customer, it felt sincere and didn’t devalue the “Hi there!” he gave to us when we walked in, lol. I’m very protective of the salutations bestowed upon me! He made me feel SEEN and was very patient as we deliberated amongst ourselves.

We were lucky to get a table with three chairs, because as soon as we sat down, there was an unrelenting surge of customers through the door, like some divine God Hand was reaching down from the heavens to finger-pluck people off the sidewalks and deposit them on Madjal’s stoop. Good for Madjal!

Highly recommend this place and already can’t wait to go back and try more! (Preferably when I’m not on the verge of a sinus situation.)

Afterward, we decided to eschew public transportation and walk back to campus – it was about an hour walk but the sun was shining and it’s all flat so it was a really nice afternoon stroll. Especially after being cooped up in  the car for 4+ hours. Right away, we passed a record store and Chooch slipped inside. We had to stay outside because we had beverages, but then curiosity got the best of me so I thrust my tea at Hery and walked inside. It was mayhem in there! Then when you factor in my invisibilty, people were just stepping out in front of me left and right and it was very frustrating because I could see Chooch halfway down an aisle, holding up a record to show me, but it was like I was in some niche 1990s NES game, trying to navigate through a record store and reach my son while patrons blocked my path every step of the way and poorly-placed tables further obstructed me while also delivering insulting blows to my hipbones. It was almost comical.

Then I walked back to the counter with him to check out. There were two men working – one very young, one old. The older of the two was ringing Chooch up with the younger one kept directly asking me something about a bag. I couldn’t hear him – HELLO, I WAS SICKLY – and asked him to repeat himself, but Chooch was over there answering, “yes.” So I thought that was the end of it but then the guy asked me AGAIN and I swear he was saying that they needed to check my bag. I was like, “You have to check my bag?” to which he said the thing again but as if he were swimming in a fishbowl and I was desperately trying to parse this together in my clogged-head.

Chooch was still next to me saying “yes” and this is when it finally occurred to me, AFTER I WAS HANDING OVER MY PURSE, that he was asking us if we wanted a bag. And even though Chooch kept saying yes, it was like he NEEDED TO HEAR IT FROM ME TOO which added to the confusion.

“I thought you were saying you needed to check my bag, I was so confused!” I laughed nervously. The older guy laughed too and joked, “Give us your purse, show us what you’re hiding in there!”

It was so bizarre but luckily ended with us all chuckling like it was some sketch from The State that ended up on the cutting room floor.

We were regaling this scene to Henry afterward and Chooch actually had my back and didn’t make me out to be the fool in the situation! I was….shocked.

This is part of the Magic Gardens – the artist, Isaiah Zagar, actually just died in February. :( His mosaics can be found on the facades of a lot of buildings in Philly.

Literally, such a beautiful spring day. Just chilly/windy enough to need a light denim jacket but that shining sun was so wonderful, especially on my face as it felt like it was being torn in two. Fucking sinuses.

I loved this walk and prolonged time with Chooch! Also, we were joking that we’ve now been to Philly at least a dozen times what with concerts and Drexel stuff and still have not done anything tourist-related aside from the Mutter Museum, which we passed on our walk back and I had no idea it was so close to Drexel! I threatened Chooch that one day, Henry and I will come to visit just to do tourist things and he mumbled, “Great, can’t wait.”

I hate these goodbyes. This one cut especially deep because we don’t know when we’ll get to see him again since his first co-op has just ended and now he’ll be in classes all through the summer until his next co-op starts. We’ll definitely see him end of August / beginning of September to help him move into his new apartment (we got to see the outside of it on Sunday – it is on the cutest street!!) so that should be a nice headache.

And then we just found out yesterday that he forgot his toothbrush charger and potentially his earbud charger.

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