With the weather having improved so much, I was finally able to re-start my biking to work thing this week. This morning’s ride was a record-breaker, making it from home to my time-check corner in 11min flat, a full 3min off my previous best time (making all the lights makes a big difference). Since it’s supposed to be in the mid 70s this week, I went ahead and made the call that it’s high time to ditch the jeans and usher in the season of shorts. Sure, it’s a tad cool during the morning ride in – but it’s worth it for the warmer ride home. I went full-on head adorned, sporting my helmet, earbud headphones playing the Helio Sequence, and sunglasses – it’s a wonder my neck could support it all.
Tonight was a quick-dinner night. We don’t have many planned, high-prep dinners – so it’s often something quick: chicken and rice, pork chops and green beans, soup and sandwiches, frozen pizza, etc. Tonight it was Hamburger Helper. Y’know what the worst part of Hamburger Helper is? Surprisingly, it’s the hamburger. I love a good steak, I love hamburgers, beef is good to me. But for some reason, the pound or so of ground beef that’s supposed to be the signature ingredient, the culinary glue holding the Hamburger Helper dish together, ends up being the crappiest part. It’s just crumbly, dry, and tasteless… it just gets in the way of the yummy little pastas and their sauce. From now on, if I have to resort to Hamburger Helper, I’m saving money and doing it vegetarian style – sans the hamburger.
While browsing Nokia’s website today for some cool-looking faceplates as a replacement for the dull silver on that came with my new 6230 (which don’t seem to exist except for in Hong Kong) – I was shocked and appalled to come across a product announcement for the new 6230i. It’s nearly the same phone that I just got, except it’s got a 1.3 megapixel camera and a tiny extra little button on the d-pad which alleviates the accidental directional-instead-of-down push problem. I know, I know, it’s not out yet – but I still got a little bummed that the one-up to my phone hit the webpage like two days after I bought two of ’em. Such is the always catching-up game of new and cool gadgetry.
Sunday night I decided to attend mass with Pat. Aside from being baptized Catholic as a child before my folks went humanist and we stopped attending (I don’t remember going as a child) – the last time I went to a Catholic mass was in 6th or 7th grade with a friend. I’d forgotten almost all of the ceremony, but the motions were vaguely familiar. I wanted to go to check it out, since there’s so much history and ceremony associated with it – and because I’m fascinated with religion in general. Mass was fine, I enjoyed it – it was a lot more contemporary than what I’d been exposed to previously, with modern songs and such. The reason I’m writing, however, isn’t about mass. It’s about the kid who was sitting in the pew in front of us at mass.
The family in front of us consisted of two kids and a mom. Kid One, the kid I’m writing about, was about 7 or 8 years old (by my extremely poor age-estimation standards), his big brother was maybe 12. Like a lot of kids, Kid One had a pad and pencil with him so he could keep himself busy doodling during the boring service. At some point I glanced down and caught a glimpse of what he was doodling: chain necklaces weighed down with medallions, hands with rings, cellphones, and cars. All of these items were emblazoned with logos: G-Unit, 50 Cent, Tha Game. I couldn’t believe it. This 7 year old kid was doodling rap-crew-monogrammed bling. If I’d had more guts, I’d’ve snapped a cellphone picture when they went up for communion.
Before I go, some link-dropping. I saw this post the other day and really got a kick out of it, enjoy.
Goodnight lovers, goodnight lonely, and goodnight lonely lovers.
Also written on this day...
- thinking - 2019
- writer's block - 2010
- lock my tear-drenched heart away inside a steel box - 2007
- the times they are a-changin' - 2006
- ghostwriting about ghosts - 2004