Christmas lights need considered perfectly reasonable any time of year. Maybe it’s a branding or packaging challenge.

My laptop gets angry if I plug it in to an external monitor and unplug it or close the lid or something. The good news is that every once in a while it makes this neato pattern on the screen.

New minor life goal? Have an accent wall with color, texture or wallpaper. Then have a painting that incorporates said feature, like The Comet All-Stars pictured here (or this). Maybe I simply need an empty frame… friends do this with great success in their home.

This phone snapshot of a sketch for a thing will have to suffice as a memento for the day. Truth be told, I took a metric ton of photos using instant film but those are for another thing. I can say there were snowballs involved. Those images will likely surface later, but I’m still remiss. There’s another thing that happened in the span of the weeks since I last posted: I dropped my trusty GF-1 camera and busted it up good. So that’ll go in for repair, but there are still lots of photos to sort through between now and then, it’s just that some of them look entirely messed up. I often say, keep expectations low and everything’s a win!

The last time I went up to Benihana I started really doubt stuff—mostly the wait time and feeling I got afterward. Something in my stomach suggested too much of something not wholesome. Surely there was a way to capture my favorite elements in a healthier manner…

So I gathered the ingredients for this knockoff ginger salad dressing and spent most of my entire lunch hour chopping, measuring and blending. It was just about perfect and totally delicious, but wanting. Next I’m going to learn how to saute shrimp in MSG or something.

Rented Searching for Sugar Man after recommendation from a few trusted friends. Enjoyed it very much. Took this snapshot of the television to remind myself to visit Detroit one day and ride the People Mover.

Sometimes I write a headline in the space provided on these posts and I feel like I can simply drop the microphone and walk off stage. But this day held a few extra nuggets that can’t be contained by a title. First? The dental hygienist said my gums are improving and that I’m doing something correct with my brushing habits. This is frankly amazing at my age, I feel. And speaking of age, my oldest brother had his birthday today and we went and got tacos to celebrate. I flossed before going bed.

Went back to the Southgate House Revival the next day. I brought an instant camera but I haven’t scanned in any of those photos.

Checked out some rehearsing down at the (somewhat) new Southgate House Revival over in Newport. Great space that has an entirely different vibe than the old location, but more intimate and just as intriguing. Looking forward to many return visits.

I always leave out a few details for no reason other than economy, but I’ve been visiting shelters all over the area looking for a pet on the weekends. After realizing a dog was not the best option at this point, I moved back to the original notion of cat. I’m pretty sure my friends were beginning to tire of my constant window shopping, but I’m very slow when it comes to these things. (I’m just as methodical when looking for automobiles.) Something aligned this sunny Sunday and I brought home this young lady.

I’m calling her Edie, short for Edith (a savings of one letter!) She teeters on curious, needy and entirely independent. I dig her lots.

A few snapshots from the Cincinnati Travel, Sports and Boat Show.

The week wraps up and it was time for a bourbon, and judging from the bar at happy hour, it looks like Mardi Gras is coming up. They always have impressive decorations at Rosie’s Tavern. I wonder where they find room to store them.

Another view walking around the neighborhood in Covington.

Sometimes I fill up the tank on the way home at the gas station up there in Colerain. It’s easier to snake back behind a strip mall to hit a stoplight and make the left turn home. Often times there’s a bus back here, waiting for transfers. It feels like some hidden place, completely out in the open.

I’m sitting at my desk, blinds down after a long, long day of work. I check Facebook and see the most amazing sunset happening all around the area. I thank my friends, for reminding me to stop and look, because otherwise I would have missed this brilliant sunset.

And here is one totally unedited.

It’s funny about things, how we dust and rearrange, curating our small museums of things we hold dear. Most of these items have shown up in this album many times before, but now they’ve moved to a shelf where the Christmas tree used to be.

I’d been meaning to get a thing to house a record player for some time, but nothing jumped out at me (or it was prohibitively expensive). So instead of waiting any longer, I went to IKEA. This will do just fine, for now and maybe for a long time.

And yes, after taking this photo I now am aware the assembly instructions are under there.

I don’t know what that smokestack is way off in the distance, but I like to imagine it is some fantastic factory.

The weather turns quickly, back to what feels more like winter. Made a quick trip through the rain to visit with friends gathered around a football game up in Dayton. I marvel at the youngest of the group who may now officially be categorized as toddler. Topics skip from superbowls to cats, music to tv shows. Sherlock from the BBC is highly recommended. It’s apparently an awesome series, but better yet? There are very few episodes. After that Lost debacle, I’m picky to invest.

I bid adieu before I’d like to and rush home for a delicious meal with good company.

Craving second helpings for every moment of the day.

Intermission in The Writer’s Block Blocker by Greg Lofaro. A most peculiar chapbook I received as a gift, with each page a vignette to encourage wandering of the mind. There’s connectedness to it, and the production alone is engaging: a combination of silkscreen, laser printer and hand-binding. I quite dig it.

In other news: I took down the tree today. It was a much needed task to make it feel like the house is in order and the new year can officially begin. Plus, there’s been this springlike weather and dusting the corners felt like the proper thing to do.

The light is surreal, shifting between sun and rain. (And by surreal I mean, Photoshoppy.)

In other news, I was overdue for a flu shot. They have these stubby needles now. “It’ll feel like a bee sting” she said. Which was a bad way to describe it as I’d rather have a needle jab than a bee sting.

Two good friends started playing this game called Hay Day and exclaimed it was fantastic. So I gave it a whack before bed one night and now I understand their… obsession. It’s essentially a Role Playing Game on a farm where you try to level up and get new goodies. Instead of magic spells and armor you’re vying for a chicken coop or pie oven.

Two mechanics are new two me: time based resource development and the ability to buy your way out of a jam with real money. The former makes for nice short sessions of play; five minutes and you’re done, you can walk away for hours until a crop is ready for harvest or animals are ready for tending. The in-app purchases to advance however, make the whole thing feel like gambling. It colors the gameplay with annoying intent.

I’m sure at some point I’ll hit a wall and the app will lie dormant like Angry Birds, Draw Something or Words with Friends. Nonetheless, I’m enjoying this time wasting and appreciating the short spurts of interaction.