LIFESTYLE Newsletter Vol. 5 No. 1
Nick’s LIFESTYLE Newsletter Vol. 5 No. 1
Over the summer, I replayed Spider-Man. Melonie was inspired by Game Center CX where they always Photoshop Kachou into a game image. THIS WAS AN HONOR.
THIS IS AN INTRODUCTION
Hello again everyone. It's been a few seasons. A hot seasons, a nice season and now winter. Been LIVING IN THE FUTURE~! for 7 months now and It is great. I've put about 3500 miles on my car and spent about $20 on electricity for it. WHAT A LIFE.
- Had an AMAZING NEW YEARS with some friends who put so much work into the party. It was a labor of love and while the theme was about as far from my wheelhouse possible, it was amazing to see. How was everyone else's new years?
- I'm typing this sitting on my office chair, drinking tea with a blanket on my lap. I have never felt as old as I do right now. FUCK.
- I've gone through a rollercoaster of COVID, as we all have, but am settling into this new normal. I have my first concert in about 6 weeks at the Fine Line where vaccination is mandatory and masks are too. Exciting time. BTW - going to see potential LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER~! Musician of the Year, Claud (they made it on SNL last week!). I will likely be the weird, old guy at the front. I may feel even older than I do today. I should being my blanket.
- Still reviewing all the 2021 music. It's a great time to be alive (at least for music).
- Melonie and I just finished Yakuza Kiwami and won the hearts and minds of the children at the Pocket Racing track and playing too much Mesuking.
- Spent New Years Day binge watching Queer Eye with pop ins from FRIENDS OF THE LIFESTYLE. A great day and season. Until I went on Reddit's QE subred where it was people judging how worthy the heroes were using their standards. I HATE LIBERALS SOMETIMES. Don't give up progress for perfection.
THIS IS THE END OF THE INTRODUCTION.
4 THINGS THIS WEEK.
ITEM THE FIRST:
FLY LIKE AN EAGLE (DOO DOO DOO-DOO) For the past 5 years I have wanted to go on a glider flight. I was going to do it the year Emily got sick, but we needed the money for her treatment and then things with Johnny made everything so uncertain. Now that happiness is gone from my life, I was able to enjoy my glider trip.
I went to an airport about 45 mins south during a beautiful fall day with this AMAZING GUY: Don Ingraham. I paid for the mile high club and it was so worth it. Don is an incredible dude. He noticed I was wearing a Doomtree shirt and started telling me stories about Bob Wander (Dessa's dad & super famous glider instructor) and the taking up the crew. After we got up, he could tell I loved crazy shit so we were flying around, hitting thermal lifts and doing semi-acrobatic flying.
He was talking about how he worked at Cray, Control Data and all the tech places that were around MN in the 80's and he said, "wait, what is your last name again?" and apparently he worked with my dad at some point. What a weird world where the Venn diagram is: my dad, Doomtree and gliding.
Being up in the sky with no engine is BEAUTIFUL. You feel like a god bird just hanging out with regular birds. It is so silent and peaceful. That being said, if money were no object and environmental guilt was non-existent I would still get an acrobatic plane and carve clouds all day. However, I highly recommend it. If you need some relaxing time in the sky with a good dude, BOOK IT: Cross Country Soaring
My view from the cockpit getting winched up for the tow. The only photo I took because it was too peaceful. Like taking a photo in a monastery.
ITEM THE SECOND:
LESS PINK, LESS STINK. In case you haven't been to the Palatial Lavely Estates recently, you haven't seen the amazing new carpet, couch and fuckchair that we got.
One thing I have hated about our house is the disgusting carpet in the basement. It was super old, compressed and every time you touched it you smelled like dirt, sweat and vinegar. I finally reached the point where a comfortable amount of money saved and disgust meet. Viola! New carpet.
Our couch was over ten years old as well, so we decided to look at new ones. We did a TOUR DE COUCH which involved me running and jumping on couches in about 12 different stores. Sales people gave me the side eye and obviously did not appreciate TRIED AND TRUE TESTING TECHNIQUE. I have to say after two days of this, my ass hurt a little bit.
Anyways, we found a GIANT couch that we liked at Dock86. It is so big that Melonie and I can both be on it and not touch other. Apparently, we buy things way too big (like houses). The real standout piece of the collection is the chair that Melonie insisted we buy, which is a 5ft wide 360˚ swivel fuckchair.
Now, to get the carpet out of the master bathroom 🤮.
ITEM THE THIRD:
GRIEFFLIPPERS. I've been doing a lot of reading and listening about grief as I think that might be something that has really been preventing me from moving forward in life since THE TERRIBLE THING. Other things: COVID and not being able to talk about THE TERRIBLE THING.
I ran into an interview during this and I thought it was a brilliant way to look at grief from this celebrity whom I have no idea about who they are.
video, click to watch
“I love talking about this,” Garfield says with a sad smile. He defines grief as “the unexpressed love” we feel for a person, even a person who was well-aware of being loved every day. “We never get enough time with each, right? No matter if someone lives until 60, 15, or 99. So I hope this grief stays with me, because it’s all the unexpressed love that I didn’t get to tell her. And I told her every day. We all told her every day.”
Hell of a way to put it.
ITEM THE FOURTH:
LINK DUMP. Some of the SECRET SAUSAGE that goes into the LIFESTYLE is a running file I keep of interesting things. Since I absconded my writing duties, I'm just dumping them here. Maybe you've seen them by now. Maybe they are old. Maybe you won't click them at all. You do you.
1 big thing: America’s trillion-dollar concrete bill is coming due - Fascinating article about something I have never thought about. We are doomed.
Bukkake Noodles Get A Safe For Work Name In The U.S. - It's not you Japan, it's us. THIS TIME.
America’s Abstract Freedom - I wish I could write and talk this eloquently. We are doomed.
Mirror, Mirror 2021: Reflecting Poorly. Health Care in the U.S. Compared to Other High-Income Countries - Just need to look at Exhibit 2. We are doomed.
Dying in the Name of Vaccine Freedom - This pandemic has been a real empathy test most days. I fail most days.
Behind Low Vaccination Rates Lurks a More Profound Social Weakness - I read this one on a day and I did NOT fail empathy that day.
Why Smart People Believe Stupid Things - Well laid out and helps me not fail empathy some days. Yes, I have read this multiple times.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (please mark "ok to print"):
None.
GRATITUDES:
None. Not because I'm a terrible monster, just running out of space. Well, maybe a mixture of both is possible.
FAVORITE THING TO GO IN MY EYEHOLES THIS WEEK:
Cobra Kai: Season 4. ENOUGH SAID.
THIS IS THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER
MORE WILL COME SOON.
UNLESS TIME LOSES PERMANENCE AGAIN.
JUST NEED TO HOLD ON FOR 60 MORE DAYS SO I CAN TAKE A VACATION IN JAMAICA.