Interesting Things
The most interesting thing that happened today
Writing humor and drawing comics, Rochester, NY
A terrible photo and an interesting thing daily Jan. 1, 2024, Mon.— Walnut shell, sculpted by squirrel tooth near the University of Rochester I listened to a This American Life rerun, a series of vingettes, the last being a tear jerker—teens in juvie apologizing to their moms. My friend had heard it before, “I was […]
Week of December 10, 2023— A week of dusting bookended by two warm weekends. An interesting, meaningful, or weird thing daily December 8, 2023, Friday— When the vegan goes away, the mice will scramble eggs. This is Rachel’s drill weekend, so I made the house stinky. 💛 December 9, 2023, Saturday— “What is that bird?” […]
September 6, 2023, Wednesday— A coworker with a Sardonic persona (though, he’s very funny) was laughing in the silent quiet break room. It’s been 90°+ this week, so everyone’s crowded exhaustedly in the air conditioned room. “That’s too cheerful for 11 pm!” I fuss. Tears in his eyes, he showed Tisha and I a Tik […]
September 4, 2023, Monday— I need to make it for them. My thought to remember from today is, I know Meg Ryan’s new movie will be fun. I just wish she could team up with Nora Ephron again. I sleep a lot on what I want to make. I figure I’ll get around to it. […]
September 3, 2023, Sunday— I dumped the cat litter in the trash before I realized we had no fresh litter! So, Rachel jumped in the car, and we headed to Pet Supplies Plus. I just finished six days of work, and we hadn’t seen each other in forever. Hence, the date. I’m glad she came […]
September 2, 2023, Saturday— Hunting flies with the ceramic hawk! Photos by Rachel
September 1, 2023, Friday— Rachel and I went to Mendon Ponds before my work, and then investigated two lunch buffets. Rosie Nepalese and Indian Cuisine in the Trader Joe’s shopping center, which we know is great, was $17 a head at lunch on Fridays. Which is a lot of lunch. Natural Oasis on Monroe Ave […]
August 28, 2023, Monday— You can’t see it, but this is where I saw the bald eagle near our house on the Genesee, on my walk to meet Rachel on her first day of school.
And Sometimes Shocked my Legs August 26, 2023, Saturday— Regarding this old MacBook that Rachel recycled at Ecopark in Rochester today, along with decades and decades of other laptops and phones. I think it’s the Mac that periodically shocked my legs.
August 25, 2023, Friday— Rachel and I took a nice walk to City Hall to pay our $3.90 water bill in cash. It’s hard to drive anyway because some giant pinched a handful of traffic cones and pylons, and sprinkled them all over Main Street. Photos, Rachel’s steely gaze, and stoplights on the way home […]
August 24, 2023, Thursday— Break doodle. I used this box cutter to open an orange, electrolyte freezer pop.
August 23, 2023, Wednesday— I bought a Red Bull at the Mobil near work, where a guy with sharp dark features exhaled a plume of white vape. He had just stepped out of the attached McDonald’s. You understand the power of “young” when a McDonald’s bib apron evokes “samurai.” Young people (the warehouse’s night crew […]
August 22, 2023, Tuesday— My first two pallets were chaos monsters! Six big, soft boxes on the bottom? We wrap the pallets up afterward in plastic, so at least they’re restrained when they fall. Plastic we have to slice off, to rebuild. A co-worker an aisle behind me most of the night’s tinny rap, rhythmically […]
August 21, 2023, Monday— We would have been breathing pencils this winter. A great company, Indoor Air Professionals of Rochester, NY, got all the crud out of our vents! A tiny sample pictured. Before and after. They were also great with the cat, but it was still a van-sized vacuum. Later run at the river, […]
August 20, 2023, Sunday— Rachel killing the last flecks of oily splatter with paint. 🙏
August 19, 2023, Saturday— One of the warehouse guys, in my weirdly phrased opinion, is the very best outcome of letting a child choose how long to wear his hair. He graciously taught me how to do the “hand stacks” task. “Handclaps for hand stacks!” I said, when I got it.“Yippee!” he squealed.
August 18, 2023, Friday— A day of Doppelgangers. First this fun text from a friend. I hope this lookalike is sensing Evil. Then, a new episode drops and I have to Google, “what we do in the shadows season 5 episode 7 who plays the sorceress?” My celebrity Doppleganger Kerri Kenney-Silver?! As a donut-loving crone? […]
August 17, 2023, Thursday— Driving home from work, I thought, you don’t get a shift deferential for living in Produce. “Produce” as in the warehouse, which is kept really cold. It’s not as cold as the freezer warehouse at 20° below, but it’s also still September. I mean, August. Though, not complaining. I’d rather my […]
August 16, 2023, Wednesday— I wake up after the nightshift, eyelids sheltered by blackout curtains. Then, off to brew coffee, and get sunlight on my face to get the old circadian rhythm drumming. I go outside and Rachel had already done yard work for hours. She beamed, cheeks pink from work, curly hair radiating from […]
August 15, 2023, Tuesday— I started the warehouse nightshift. I asked my trainer Ed last week if nights were really different—if everyone had mohawks, and fought in Thunderdomes on breaks. “Yes!” he said. It turned out to be more ghosty, half the people, and tasks that tie up loose ends at the end of day. […]
August 14, 2023, Monday— Rachel and I whittled down the mountain in our driveway today of chipped up trees! We scooted it via cardboard sleds (moving boxes) completely onto the weird weedy plants and poison ivy in the backyard. We got the chips for free via ChipDrop, a nice little web app connecting arborists and […]
August 13, 2023, Sunday— Matinee at The Little with my doll! Barbie has exactly the same and exactly the opposite of Wes Anderson’s aesthetic. vs. Fight! Fight like the Kens! Top photo by Rachel
August 12, 2023, Saturday— This Barnes and Nobles display reminded me to read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Who doesn’t need to be (or find) a better man? The part that spoke to me so far was what he learned from his teacher, Maximus:“The sense he gave of staying on the path rather than being kept […]
August 11, 2023, Friday— I like the one light (maybe a beverage fridge) deep inside the cafe, on my way to work. I couldn’t really capture it, but I got a red light so I gave it a snap—
August 9, Wednesday— And a Few Recent Vignettes I finally went to Rathaus Press! It’s in the old factory on the next street. We made Risograph prints! It was cool. The Sheetrock hallways were dusty with renovation, and a Riso guy said displaced Hungerford artists were moving in. We could we have a “Hungerford” at […]
August 8, 2023, Tuesday— First solo walk to the Genesee from our house. Maybe coltsfoot (above), and a momentary zone-out is a selfie unawares? Rainy, breezy 65° in August, what is this place A little glue from where we taped up the blister from my boots. Ol’ Genny Someone else’s house, and me
August 6, 2023, Sunday— I walked to Three Heads to see the old neighborhood (where we once lived, two weeks ago) and enjoy a rare beer—The Kind, of course. Weirdly, my Co-Star for today:
❤️ August 5, 2023, Saturday— Rachel checked into a new Holiday Inn today for one more week, away for duty. She called me on Facebook, looked at the wood paneling behind me and thought, “Where are you?” Exactly All these half-sleeps—anxious to wake up at 4 am for the new job, away sitting dogs in […]
August 3, 2023, Thursday— One time, one of the warehouse workers set the break room toaster on fire by turning it on its side to reheat a slice of pizza. Also, Keturah fixed the door frame with putty and toothpicks. Also, this Tweet: Morgan Housel @morganhousel Feb. 27, 2019 “When you first study a field, […]
August 1, 2023, Tuesday— What if I could quietly, low-key walk away from junk food, fast food, and random junk snacks, like, today? The hyperpalatable, processed stuff that isn’t someone’s birthday cake (not social, not special). “I submerge into writing, for instance, trying not to think about starting. When I think, I worry, ‘What if I can’t […]
July 31, 2023, Monday— The dog we’re sitting does the two-step when he sees a bunny, but it’s no big deal. I had to walk him before I left for the warehouse, though, and I was afraid we’d see a raccoon. Or a skunk, or some other round-eyed garden monster. I didn’t expect the flash […]
July 30, 2023, Sunday— Ancient dust is the one constant in our lives right now. I’ve trained to order pick at the warehouse the last two weeks, and let me tell you, most packages in transit have a fine sheen of dust. It runs off in black streaks when you soap your hands. It was […]
July 29, 2023, Saturday— Rachel simply texted me images of an enormous bouquet of maple leaves that had squashed our chain link fence. What now? This, after a tree of heaven dropped a branch on our backyard, only nicking a gutter, thank Brigid. A slow, massive creak preceded the crash, so she thought the cat […]
July 28, 2023, Friday— Woah! Today was my wife’s last day at her data entry job/her active duty with the Coast Guard actually starts Monday. No big deal, she figured it out. *heart pounds* Also, a drunk man was throwing rocks at the house across the street at 3 am. Feels like home (Brooklyn). Photo: […]
July 27, 2023, Thursday— A roar one minute before the alarm went off at 4:30 am. Our cat was looking out the front window, presumably at some trespasser cat who used to hang out before it became Fresno’s porch. Rachel and I also took our first after-work walk to the Genesee, a brief reprieve from […]
July 26, 2023, Wednesday— We always meant to visit the food cart randomly on Goodman, a few streets from our old house. Back over there sitting a Maltipoo, Rachel got a veggie sammy. Photos by her. Otherwise, I found a granddaddy longlegs in a plastic orange bin at work. I gave it a little shake […]
