christopher575

I've had carrots, celery, cherry or grape tomatoes, and a pickle with almost every breakfast and lunch for years. Not sure exactly when I started, but shortly after we moved here in 2014 I started keeping crudite around a lot. There used to be more variety, with a single batch having things like carrots, zucchini, three colors of peppers, and cucumber. As is often the case, it got simpler as time went on. Even the carrots themselves got simpler. I used to buy multicolor ones and peel them myself and cut them up, then I switched to baby carrots, and finally petite cut whenever I could find them.

But today's the first Monday shopping trip in ages that I didn't buy any carrots or celery because they just haven't been good lately. No way I'm giving up the tomatoes and pickles, they're just so consistently good. My favorites are red grape tomatoes and Grillo's fresh dill pickles, by the way. I looked around at both stores I went to this morning and no other vegetables were jumping out at me. A big part of why carrots and celery became the default is they can last a week packed in water, but I wouldn't do that with other vegetables and would probably have to do a smaller batch twice a week.

I might do fruit instead. An apple tastes fantastic with a pickle and a banana is always satisfying, and neither needs any prep so they're good to always have around. In fact, we usually do! And there's really no fighting over bananas because I prefer mine much less ripe than Garrett does.

A side effect of all this is that I'm really craving other vegetable dishes. I'd love to make our old favorite fennel salad or cook up a side of onions, zucchini, and squash. I guess spending too much time eating the most boring vegetables possible was a bad idea!

I'm at the point with tattooing where I have a lot more ideas than I can ever use, so I have to prioritize my favorites, commit to a lot of coverage, and have a plan. I was at Burial Tattoo yesterday working with Gage on my right shoulder when the next few sessions came together in my mind. First, I consulted with him about something I'd like to do to on my left just below the ribs, and I have a couple of ideas for right above that with Daniel at Foundation, who hasn't tattooed me yet.

When I left Burial yesterday I made a stop at Lion's Paw to finally book two hours with Sarah so she can finish up the band around my right bicep. I need that done before Gage can resume work on my shoulder because he's going to fill in all the remaining space and extend the sky in the design to extend all the way behind other things nearby. Jimmy was also there, and I'd texted him to ask if he had time to consult about the right side of my chest soon, so we did that. He took a photo of my chest so he can plan it out. It's going to be big so I'm not sure exactly how soon we'll really dive in, but I said I'd like to do the outline as soon as we can so I can't change my mind and won't inadvertently grab any portion of the space.

I'm more concscientious about planning now because the very tattoo we worked on yesterday ended up taking part of the space from something I had planned for a gap next to it and now I'm not sure I'll be able to do that. It's an idea I previously discussed with Jimmy and he even has a rough trace of the spot, so we can make that determination when we line in the chest piece.

I can't remember if I talked here about the saga with my right nipple piercing. Long story short-ish, when I was in college, I had them both pierced and ended up creating the first website for the shop where I got all my piercings done. In exchange for that, the owner's brother made me an incredible pair of 4ga rings for them out of titanium, along with a very unique pair of smaller pieces to wear initially that wouldn't move around as much so the stretch could heal easier. Basiclly each was a shorter piece of the same wire bent over and he removed a bit of material from the opposing sides so a bead could pop in and close it. Really quite clever.

It was stupid of me to take those piercings out after I graduated from college in 1997, and ten years after that I decided to pierce them again and was much more aggressive. The piercer's largest needs were 6ga so we used those and immediately stretched to 4ga and used those custom pieces. My left nipple has been pierced ever since, and I've tried to do the right one five or six times since then but it's rejected every attempt. I decided less than a year ago that we would try one final time but would use a dermal punch rather than a needle so it would immediately be the gauge we were after and would also remove as much of the old scar tissue as possible. Unfortunately, it still rejected, but Vaella the apprentice piercer had an interesting point: maybe now that it's healed from that attempt, a new piercing might finally succeed. The reason I'm mentioning all of this is that the big chest tattoo I'm planning will in all likelihood cover that nipple, so while I was considering getting it pierced soon since I'm planning multiple tattoos in succession, it's best to wait now because of the tattoo. I'm not thrilled with the idea of tattooing over it, but Garrett's full chest is done and it looks way better since they included his nipples in the design rather than leaving cutouts around them.

And of course there's still the issue of my right leg, which is fully claimed because it'll be totally covered in stuff from TRON. It's been far too long since I had a session wtth Tyler for that. I need to pick an image of Bruce Boxleitner for the back of my thigh and from there the rest will be covered in scenery. I kinda want to start with some of the scenery on my lower leg since it's more visible. But that's a plan for another day.

Sometime during the week before last, maybe starting wednesday 10/29 but definitely no later than Thursday 10/30, I had what felt like an ingrown fingernail on my left index finger. I hadn't recently cut my nails, nor had I recently injured my finger in any other way, so it was a bit strange. I figured that, no matter what happened, I'd at least be able to bring it up to my doctor on Monday 11/3 because my annual exam was that day. But it kept getting worse, with no relief in sight.

( Cut for nasty pictures and gory details... )

The next nationwide No Kings protest is one week from today, and I've been put in charge of signmaking again. It's a bigger job this time because my mother-in-law decided to come along, her first protest! It's only our third, but I learned a lot about what does and doesn't work for me the last two times I made signs.

The first thing was that I really don't like multi-colored letter stickers. I think they just look terrible and detract from the message being presented. It's a shame because they're cheap and so easy to use. Thankfully I found some that are white letters with black borders.

Another way I'm working smarter is by reusing our signs from the last No Kings. Not both sides, though, because Elon Musk was in the news last time and he's not really relevant this time. I like the other sides, though, so I'm gluing and stapling a second poster board over the Elon sides. They'll be sturdier and they should be easier to hold, too. And now I'm not limited to using a white background just because the original sign was white.

That brings me to another lesson: black posterboard is better than white. White will look dingy faster and the black background just has a much cooler look, especially when colored letters and black and white graphics are added. Colored paper letters are time consuming to glue in place, but they're easier to find than the stickers. At least, easier to find at the dollar stores, which is where I buy everything to keep the costs down.

That's another lesson, hit multiple dollar store locations because the stock varies a bit.

Finally, the most important thing I'm doing this time is spreading the work across multiple days, and sitting while I do it instead of standing. The last two protests, I set aside many hours and worked at the kitchenette counter downstairs. Making several signs all at once led to a sore neck, a sore back, sore hands, you name it. From now on, I'm doing one side of one sign per day, sitting, and it's at a big table we have set up in the garage. So far I've done two sessions, one for each side of Bev's sign. At the end of yesterday's session, I glued a new back to my sign and today I'll decorate it and glue a new back to Garrett's sign. Then I can finish it tomorrow.

The most important thing is to assume everything will take longer than you think. Normally that's a bad thing, such as when you're doing chores and are overwhelmed just by the thought of them. But unless you're constantly doing similar crafts, it's really easy to think it won't take very long to make a sign. It's harder than it sounds to make one that looks good, so just be ready to buckle down for a while.

I'm just glad the protest is at a more sensible time, 1pm. Last time it was at 4pm. We took the dogs to the dog bar for a while beforehand to kill some time but I'd really rather just do the thing and get it over with.

Hopefully the weather is good so the signs don't have to be retired after this next use.

Update: a regular stapler can't go through two layers of poster board so glue alone will have to do! Unless I find a big stapler laying around.

The first real date I went on with Garrett was at an Indian restaurant near my apartment in November 2008. I showed up wearing an Information Society t-shirt from their concert I went to in 2006 at El Corazon in Seattle. That's how we learned that we shared the same favorite band! Great way to start a date, but he was bummed to learn he narrowly missed seeing them. I was lucky to have seen that show, since I only knew it was happening because I saw a small flyer in a record store window.

One of our major regrets has always been not going on the Star Trek Cruise they were a headlining act on. For those who don't know, their self-titled album has a lot of samples from the original Star Trek series, and there's a lot of overlap between Star Trek fans and INSOC fans. We didn't go because it was extremely expensive and we weren't exactly flush with cash. Ten years or so later, they announced a show with Tiffany and Taylor Dayne at the Daytona Beach Bandshell in Florida, which looks like a pretty neat place to see a show!



This would have been our first time on a plane since COVID came and we were pretty excited to go. We had tickets to the show, a hotel, and a flight all booked, and then the band canceled. Then they announced a show we were less excited to go to at a place called Sam's Burger Joint in San Antonio, Texas. The venue had a few booths that were already sold out, and two opening acts were on the lineup. It was going to be a long, exhausting night, but we once again got the tickets and made the reservations.

Then the band announced another show with an early start and one opening act at a beautiful amphtheatre in Ojai, CA. That sounded so much better than San Antonio, so we canceled that trip and booked a multi-day trip in Los Angeles during which we'd spend one night in Ojai for the show. Then they canceled Ojai. We were zero for three, twice because of them and once because of us. A couple of years went by with no shows that would really work for us, but then they made an announcement I absolutely couldn't believe: three new dates in New York, Philadelphia, and Everett! Our favorite band in our very own city, what are the odds?

Kind of good, actually, because the new APEX art and culture center in Everett is starting to really take off, especially with acts that'll draw older music fans. A Flock of Seagulls has played there twice, and the venue has also hosted Anabella Lwin of Bow Wow Wow among others. Lene Lovich is doing a huge tour after no shows for 30 years, and we'll be a stop for her, too. They're even hosting reunion parties for Skoochie's, a famous all-ages club from Seattle back in the day, and even though its fans are 50 and up now, they're packing the place for a night of dancing each time a reunion party happens.

When I saw INSOC would be there September 27th, I sent a calendar invite to Garrett and then messaged him telling him to check his email IMMEDIATELY. September 27th happens to be our friend Claire's birthday so we told her sorry, but we were choosing her birthday activity this year. Garrett wanted to make a great big event of it and bought 16 table tickets so we and our friends would be guaranteed a place to sit. Of course, it would be quite a herculean effort to find enough people to use them up. We ended up wasting one ticket, and my brother and sister-in-law couldn't go at the last minute but the tickets had already been transferred to them by that point. I told them to try to sell them in the Ticketmaster app but I think it was too late.

Speaking of the transfers, that was a lot of work for Garrett. Thankfully a tab in our house spreadsheet made it easy to keep track of everyone's contact info, who had paid him back yet, and the transfer status of all the tickets.

There wasn't really a good way to go out to dinner first with so many people, so we hosted a pre-func at our place and it was a lot of fun. Parking downtown was super easy and we got there during the second DJ, who was also the promoter who booked the band. When we got to the venue I realized I'd left my license in my water fitness bag, but thankfully they were OK with checking my name in the Ticketmaster app against my Costco card since it also has my photo.

Thankfully we got there when we did because while the email from Ticketmaster said the band would go on at 9:30, they actually started at 9:00. That didn't bother us at all, but I have to imagine quite a few people missed some songs.



I forgot to mention that my friend Chad joined us. We've known each other since Kindergarten, so in addition to being one of my closest friends, he's my oldest one. When I RSVP'd to the show's Facebook event, he messaged to ask if he could visit and come along and I said please do! He currently lives in Ohio and we hadn't seen him since we met up in Hawaii in 2016. Coincidentally, our friend Melissa who was also part of that group trip joined us for the show. He arrived Thursday and left this morning, so we had plenty of time to show him around. We went to White Lotus for lunch after I picked him up, which is where my favorite dish in town is.



We also went to my favorite restaurant, Terracotta Red, and I of course took him to the Funko flagship store and had him do my favorite photo op there.



The concert was incredible, and another great thing about this visit was that Chad came to my classes Friday and this morning and is even planning to check out his local YMCA and their water fitness classes after he gets home. Melissa came back home with us after the concert and we all stayed up until 4am visiting. I was a designated driver for the show and didn't have any drinks until we got back home, and I'm really glad I did that. I've had so many concerts ruined because the show lasted a while but it's hard to keep the energy up when alcohol's involved. And of course concert drink prices are outrageous. I was impressed there was free water, it reminded me of one of my old favorite club nights.

We wondered for a long time if we'd ever get to see Information Society, and it would have been sad if not because Garrett never did before this show. It's nice to see Everett in its early stages of becoming a very cool music destination and a fun alternative to the old Seattle venues.

On June 2, I saw that Nikki Glaser would be playing at the stadium in Everett and asked Garrett if he'd like to go to a surprise show. The last time I asked him that was when we saw Michael Carbonaro in Seattle, and he didn't know who it would be until we drove up to the hotel and saw his name on the marquee of the venue kittycorner from the hotel. I was sure he'd hear about the Nikki Glaser show since she's definitely one of the top names in comedy to ever perform here, maybe even the biggest one yet.

Whoever promoted the show clearly didn't pay for much targeted advertising. I never saw an ad for it and neither did Garrett, and we managed to make it all the way to the stairs leading to our seats before he saw the graphic on the screen.



We saw someone he knows from the neighborhood bar as we got in line and he said, "Ready for some laughs?" and I told him not to say any more because Garrett had no idea what the show was yet. That was close.

I'd bought us the cheapest seats on the second level, and when we got there they said everyone with 200 level seats should stop by a table where they were upgrading everyone's tickets to floor level. I guess they just didn't sell enough of the floor and didn't want Nikki and her two openers looking out at an empty floor. I wouldn't say the view was that much better since we'd be watching her on the screen anyway, but there was so much more leg room on the floor, and there was a restroom nearby.

I do wish they'd used the ticketmaster app to take care of the reseating process, though. They probably never thought of how it'd be so much better to get an alert that you could select better seats and be ready with the app instead of dealing with a person who had huge piles of paper tickets to hand out. Thankfully we were among the first people to stop at that table and complete that process.

Our arena is nice and we walked all the way around the concessions level to check it out. The first place we stopped had no wine at all and the stand they sent us to just had one red wine option. I told the guy to prepare for a riot if Nikki Glaser was playing and there was no chardonnay available. He was bummed that the venue hadn't prepared better.

It was such a fun show and I honestly can't believe how good she is at weaving together a nonstop train of thought that works so well. Toward the end she mentioned that lots of doctors and teachers over the years hinted that she might have autism, and that made me realize more autistic people should probably pursue comedy.

Much like with the casino amphitheater, I have a good parking trick for our arena. We decided after it took half an hour to get out of a parking garage when we saw Sarah Colonna that we'd just street park for big shows in downtown Everett from now on. From my recent experience at a new tattoo shop, I knew exactly where we'd find plenty of parking. We ate at home, but next time we have a show there, there are plenty of fantastic dinner choices nearby, too.

Unfortunately that's not the case with the next concert we have planned on 9/27 but that's a problem for another day.

I went to Nelly's water fitness class on Wednesday, the only morning I don't teach. We were chatting after class and she said we should get water fitness tattoos. I pointed out that I already had mine, my second row knuckles that read DUMB BELL and said she should get them, too. She doesn't want to tattoo her hands, and suggested we could get pickle tattoos instead since we're both pickle fanatics. In fact, she probably suggested that because on her way in she discovered the scratch-and-sniff pickle stickers I'd left for her in the rolling case our speaker is in.

It was great timing because I had two back-to-back appointments yesterday and was able to get Aubrey to freehand a pickle for me in a perfect spot that needed a gap filler. Funnily enough, I wasn't paying attention and she drew it in a different spot than I suggested, but the one she picked turned out to be better.

This weekend is Arlington SkyFest, the aviation event Garrett is on the board of and has been involved with since 1992 (I think?) when it was the Arlington Fly-in. He always spends a few days up there leading up to the event and I bring his mom for the best parts Saturday evening. She and I always hit a casino and get some food on the way, and this time we'll be seeing the newly-expanded Tulalip casino for the first time. If the name's familiar, that's because the amphitheater where we recently saw a concert is there. It was surprising to see the casino's new north entrance so close to where the show was.

Garrett's cousin Becky is volunteering this year and since I'm home today I'm watching her dog Bear. A visit where Bear and Tuvix had a swell time was how we ended up deciding to meet Tilly and adopted her. Here's a brief break from the chaos.

Right around when I got to the Y this morning, my lower back started to hurt. It's been a while since I had any back pain and I thought it'd stay away long-term thanks to deep water fitness. There are quite a few core-centric moves I have to demo and I always do as much as I can. I slept pretty well last night and I wonder if it happened because I spent too much time sleeping on my back because I wasn't tossing and turning so much.

In a couple of months when my job has gone from part-time to full-time for a spell, I think a new mattress is in order. Someone I chatted with after class today said a nice, new firm mattress would be great but I think it's time to get a soft one. I've had a firm mattress for years now and and the only reason I can stand it at all is that I have a topper on it. I'll go to a store and try out a soft one and make sure I can exchange it if it doesn't work out.

Everyone in class was very understanding as I struggled through the hour, just like they were when I hurt my knee. I've already arranged for a sub for Monday if I need one, but I'd really like to teach that day since my last two classes there were canceled. I'm subbing for Nelly who does the other deep water day, so I'll do that class twice next week.

I got some feedback today regarding deep water, that it can be hard to keep up with the combination moves. The transitions are supposed to be part of the challenge but I'd rather up the reps for less switching around in order to keep the class happy. I polled the class on Tuesday to see if I should introduce a new routine and people were into the idea. A couple said they didn't want to switch immediately, so I said my goal would be to introduce a new routine in three weeks. It's about time I got some more use out of the site I subscribe to for lessons.

I'm on my own for much of today so I figured I'd see a matinee. Garrett is up north and it occurred to me that I might be able to see a movie and also get lunch at District 1, a fantastic Vietnamese restaurant and bar that's close to the movie theater in Marysville, and maybe he could join if the stars aligned. And maybe I could get takeout for later if they didn't.

I went to check the menu and that's when I noticed something very interesting about District 1: there's no pho! It's quite possible I noticed that the last time I was there which would have been in 2019. But I think I didn't notice because I didn't mention it in the post I wrote. The lack of pho greatly reduces the options for Garrett since he's allergic to soy and a lot of Vietnamese dishes use it in the marinade. Pho is always fine, though.

Incidentally, one thing that's great about that place is that they have fries. More places that serve banh mi should have fries, dammit!

My future plans for us going to District 1 and a movie dashed, I decided to look at movie times here in Everett and learned there's an RPX showing of The Fantastic Four: First Steps here at 9am! The ticket I bought online was definitely not cheap, but I'm grateful for something to do this morning. This isn't the only movie in theaters right now that I'd like to see, but Garrett's interested in the Superman one and the new Naked Gun. I hope we manage to see them.

It's wild how my moviegoing habits have changed. Back in the MoviePass heyday, I also happened to be working 4am-noon, so I went to the theater 2-3 times each week. A lot has changed in my personal and professional lives, but the biggest reason aside from my schedule change that I don't go to the movies much is COVID. It's funny and appropriate that my fourth outing since COVID came along is Fantastic Four. The others were:

- A Quiet Place 2 because the first one was absolutely incredible to watch in the theater.

- Spider-Man: No Way Home because I was traveling and had time to kill driving from Long Beach to Seaside, so a stop to watch a movie in Astoria was perfect.

- Final Destination Bloodlines, because obviously I had to see the long-awaited installment in one of my favorite franchises that features a knockoff Space Needle on the big screen. I actually already bought that on DVD and it came to streaming this week, too.

I'm trying not to have too much of an agenda after the movie. I might pop into White Lotus for banh hoi, my favorite dish that's only available at two restaurants locally, theirs being the best. I might pop into Lion's Paw because one of my tattoos needs a touch-up. In other movie news, I may as well share what I posted earlier on Facebook about a series I found this week:

I recently learned about a series of vampire movies called Subspecies via some gifs I saw on Tumblr. How a cheesy horror series with five chapters evaded me so long is a mystery, especially since it's absolutely terrible, which you know is a bonus for me. Parts 1-3 and 5 are on Tubi, and I thought I had to install Xumo Play to watch part 4. Xumo Play doesn't have a search feature so you're expected to search for it from your TV's main menu, and that's how I found out it's on Roku Channel as well, which is where I'm watching it, because apps that don't have a search don't deserve the traffic.
The movies came out in 1991, 1993, 1994, and 1998. Then part 5 came along in 2023 with lots of returning cast members. I love when that happens.