Queen Mediocretia of Suburbia

Putting the TMI in absentminded

Month: April 2022

  • Wildlife Takeover

    I was out in the back yard and noticed our chimney siding no longer lines up at the top. Click the photo below to see how the edging is canted out, and also note that on the left side the nails are almost entirely out: you can see them silhouetted against the sky. Not unrelated:…

  • Draft 2 Done

    The requisite “shitty first draft” is now an equally shitty second draft! But it’s better, because it’s twenty percent shorter, so, less shit. Even still, the resolution is somehow more bloated, and needs to be rearranged. I discovered other issues, and now there are two additional drafts on the list. I suppose it’s like cleaning:…

  • Weekly Paint Progress: 4/28

    This week there is a new dog. I had to take him into Photoshop and tweak him. Here is step one:

  • Errands

    When I was partly laid off, I remember my “free” days were utterly consumed by running errands. It was infuriating to think I had 40% more free time, and I just frittered it buying stamps and going to the hardware store. I have not run an errand in over two years. It was vital before.…

  • Mr. Science

    I had the best of all possible junior high school science teachers. He was literally Mr. Science. From his obituary six years ago: From 1970 – 1985 he was the Astronomer/Lecturer at the McDonnell Planetarium, and from 1970 – 1980 was known as Mr. Science, acting as the host of the Science Show and appearing…

  • Rolling Stone Covers

    We keep magazines in the bathroom: there’s a chrome bucket that holds old issues of the AARP magazine and Rolling Stone. A few years ago I noticed that Gary kept putting one issue of Rolling Stone back in the bucket so you couldn’t see the cover. I’d see the back cover instead of these pretty…

  • Today I Learned: Gary Edition, #2

    I need to make a new category up top there, one for the times Gary explains something to me that I do not already know. We had one recently about the Great Schism, and just a few days ago he taught me a little biology. I was under the impression that cats have sex pretty…

  • First Hallmark Movie

    I know lots of people enjoy Hallmark movies. They’re like McDonald’s, always reliable, comforting. I’ve never seen one, even though the TiVo seems to think I would really enjoy them. I just shudder and press delete. Gary roped me into watching one because it was in a subset of Hallmark movies based on the Aurora…

  • Co-worker Owns Me

    I was in a meeting when someone mentioned that April showers bring May flowers, and of course I responded with,”Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote!” And then I stopped, because that’s all I know of Canterbury Tales, just the “April showers” part written in Middle English. A co-worker answered, “The droghte of March hath…

  • Weekly Paint Progress: 4/21

    This week the dog went from this: … to this. Dog is done! Here’s where it started.