Author: Jason

Sophia says he looks just like me ☃️

I started a calendar to help track the days. So far so good. I put a smiley face for every successful day. Couple minor “tests” so far but feeling pretty motivated to go the distance.

happy 19th Julian!!

Jan 2nd. Back from Palm springs. And a really wonderful trip all in all. Few highlights included hiking around in Joshua Tree, playing pac-man, ping pong, pickleball, puzzles and whatever other P’s with the fam. Spending time with Phi. And maybe best of all, just cruising around in the convertible “stang” with the Reese’s pieces.

Steph’s bday and New Year’s Eve have also come on and gone. Was a weird one this year given an unexpected funeral for a close family member on Mitchell’s side. Mamoo came down early with Mary Ruth, picked up Steph, and made the trek down south to Locust Grove. They ended up bringing home a couple distant family members to spend the night so it was oddly surreal to end up feeding 5 old ladies dressed in black. I baked off a very nice chicken pot pie with green beans and honey glazed carrots.

skipping ahead…my bday is coming up on Saturday. I didn’t meet the weight loss goal that I had set earlier. Nor did I make any meaningful resolutions for 2025 thus far. The old adage, hope is not a strategy, comes to mind. So I’ve decided right here and now to make “dry January” a thing. Starting right after my bday (albeit a little late). We’ve got reservations at a new Italian place and I’m not ready quite just yet. But for real, it’ll be a nice way to close out the extravagance of the season and start to form some welcome new habits

hope is not a strategy. I got this!

we’re going to observe a “dry” household in Palm Springs. Sophia can vape if she wants but I know she’ll be discreet. with sobriety in action for her and Justin, plus the ratio of those who drink (mostly me) minus those that don’t, it actually makes positive sense. so, with that in mind, I’m starting to psych myself up. a bit of forced reprieve will do me well.

last “work” week before we cut out for the desert and enjoy an all expenses paid trip to Palm Springs! Thank you Dad and Irene!!

I say “work” in quotations because even though Dell is officially shut down for Xmas week, Steph and I have been going nuts on the home front. Landscape overhaul at Fowler. Full interior paint job at north coleman. Juggling tenants. Wrapping presents. Testing patience.

Cien Anos de solidad
I really love this old book. It won a Pulitzer Prize for good reason.

And then all of a sudden, 50 years after original publication, Netflix turned it into a limited series. Thank Dios they didn’t f$&k it up, like so many book to movie translations. whoever was in charge duly realized the importance of the effort. They spent tens of millions to build an entire city, infusing new life somewhere deep in the heart of Columbia. Their end result evoked a vision so surreal, so magical, Macondo literally leapt of the page. I’m no hardened movie critic, but I melted in the embrace of this newly rediscovered saga of the Buendia family. Thank Dios we have 8 more episodes to come.

I checked my shelves and saw i must have displaced or given away my old paperback. So I bought it again on Amazon. I can’t wait to reread what I’m now reimagining on screen. I don’t know. Maybe it’s the way Marquez captures the beauty of discovery. Like witnessing ice for the first time. Or capturing the first photo. And of course the pangs of love. His characters are spiteful. They wage war. They eat dirt. there’s a yearning to see Gods existence in life and a madness when they start to succumb to the reality of death. powerful and poetic stuff.

about to lock up our Franklin house and head back home.reflecting on a great trip. I got to speak some Japanese. Like literally for the first time in 20 years. His name was Ted (san). 82 years old, so gracious and humble, with a glint in his eye and a lifetime full of experience. Immigrated to the US by cargo ship when he was just 20 years old. Didn’t speak a lick of English. Landed in none other than Port Angeles WA which gave us a kick, having lived in Bainbridge island and all. somehow he bused himself all the way to Iowa to work on a cattle ranch and the rest is history. Imagine that kind of origin story for a desperate and bewildered Japanese kid born right after WWII. And then there he was. Right at our dinner table for Thanksgiving in Franklin NC.

Sophia was there. And she looked so beautiful. Julian by my side, fresh off our trip to South Carolina. And then there’s my beloved Steph. What did I do so right in my past life to be so lucky in this. And bringing up the rear, our ever faithful, two weinees, Chai and Remy.

Ted san took our family photos, but, truth be told, the lighting wasn’t so great. So, with all due humility and gratitude, here’s the Japanese inspired, AI rendering of what might as well be our family portrait.