1/7/22 Centex Invitational Wrestling Tournament?

     I was not looking forward to the tournament this week because of all the logistics involved.  The meet was held at Eastside Memorial High School, which is on the eastside of Austin, somewhere between 7th and 12th street.  The school looked fairly new to me, with walls of windows making it look very modern.  The only giveaway that it was a school from the outside was the football field on one side.  Even the gym was incorporated into the big main building, so it didn't really look like a gym.  It was an interesting layout, we walked into the gym on a second level above the playing field, then we could walk the stairs down to the floor, not that they were allowing that, because of the new stricter Covid rules.  The new rules also meant we were separated from the kids, which they were supposed to either hang out in a small side gym, on the floor or we could take some tents and have the kids outside.  I went and bought two large tents, in case that is what all the school were doing, but none of the kids ended up doing that.  It was really too cold to try and be outside for extended amounts of time.  I also ended up driving completely around the campus and only finding some parking on the opposite side of the school.  I then had to walk with a cooler full of drinks, and another package of water bottles on top of that all the way around which was kind of a pain in the ass.

    Baby A also had his worst outing of the season, he lost both matches, so he was done after one day of wrestling.  I had so many mixed feelings about this, but I don't think Mijo was that bothered, or he just processes things differently.  I worry he might have lost because he is injured or something else is affecting his thinking, he is usually lit up, maybe walks a little aggressively and I didn't see this.  Ultimately, this is his thing, we are there to support him, so if he says he is ok, we have to be ok.  ON the plus side, we get to sleep-in Saturday and Sunday, so I guess it's not all bad.  One point that did make me think was that he brought up that this will be it this year, as far as sports.  He will not be looking for track and field or powerlifting, he feels drained and like he hasn't been able to do anything else but be a slave to practice.  I guess with the two weeks off for the holidays, he sees that he could be spending his time taking it easy and not killing himself every day.  I understand this thinking, maybe his shoulder is hurting more than he is letting on, he did say it got tweaked again in the second match, as I was thinking I didn't believe a shoulder could turn back that much when the kid was holding him down.

    Last thing I want is for Mijo to walk away from this sport injured, so if he says he is done, that is fine by me.  He says he just wants to focus on getting stronger for next year, which I can appreciate, lifting weights is not a contact sport, and hopefully, he'll get a few months to heal any lingering strains.

1/6/22 Cobra Kai Season 4?

     I guess this might have some spoilers, but the new season has been out a week or two.  We love this show, it just comes together so perfectly, even with all the glaring problems we see from the parents.  In the new season, they are already doing prep work if they decide to continue the drama of fighting your problems out by showing the younger kid more and creating an enemy for him in the new kid, who honestly was just trying to fit in.  I really hated young LaRusso's friends more who kept taunting him to "do something about it", when there was nothing to be done, the new kid was struggling to make any friends.

    Overall, that is where I kind of have a problem, if this was a real family.  Daniel is a successful businessman, with a car dealership.  Why is he distracting himself so much from what he should be focused on?  Stop making life about you being the center of the goddammed world and remember you have kids.  Even when his kid does end up getting in trouble, his solution is not to engage with the kid, but to send him to his room and isolate him even more.  His relationship with his daughter is also dependent on her learning his karate, when he should be happy she interested at all.  She is a rich pretty girl, I can't imagine my niece lining up to take a kick to the face, just because this is what daddy is into.  He is actually upset when he finds out she has been learning different karate, not just his, until he swallows his pride and sees that it helps her win.

    For the drama, this show is perfect, in reality, it would be silly.  At one point, the old guard, Kreese and his partner get into it with Johnny, again, and a fight ensues.  The choreography was great, but I can't imagine a 70 something year old man taking a kick from someone thirty years younger and walking away.  A stiff breeze makes my dad lose his balance, and he is from the Vietnam era.  These old geezers are still performing round house kicks like they are 16 years old.  As I have said, I think I'm kind of strong and solid, until I try to grab my 16-year-old in a wrestling hold.  That is a beast I don't want to unleash, there is no way, these 70-year-old men can physically compete with the young people on screen.

    There seemed to be a new exciting development in every episode, each ending with an amazing new cliffhanger.  This stuff wouldn't fly in the real world, but as far as this world created by Daniel and Johnny, anything can and will be solved with some fighting.  As exciting as the All-Valley championship was, how can you top off the fight we waited for all season, the conclusion left a new cliffhanger that only leaves us excited for the new season.

1/5/22 Back To Normal?

     It took a couple extra days, but we are finally back to normal.  Baby A started school again today, so I dropped him off at 8:30am and it finally feels normal here.  I love having him home, but the last two days we also had to add wrestling practice, and it gets a little old because they are not long enough.  With football, he might be gone the rest of the day between weightlifting and running and everything else involved, I can do stuff, but wrestling practice is very focused and only lasts two hours.  I have to drop him off, come home, or like Monday, I went grocery shopping, but I have to stay mindful and pick him up when it's done.

    Normal means I drop him off at 8:30am and can plan the rest of the day as I need to.  I ran to Target to get some Texas toast for our spaghetti tonight, and I can take it easy, maybe work out, then go to work, knowing he will be busy until almost 7:00pm and Wife gets to pick him up.  

    I don't know if it was a lazy thing or that I just let Wife take over, but I have been planning and doing a lot of our dinners nowadays, but during the two-week break, I barely even washed dishes.  I think we are back to normal, I made chili last night. and already have the spaghetti lined up for tonight.  I also took the chicken from the freezer and put it in the fridge to start thawing for tomorrow night's dinner.  I used to hate the thought of doing any of the cooking, but now I kind of look forward to it.  I still haven't fixed the grill, and that is something we haven't been enjoying as much, but we are technically in winter, so it's ok.

    With the new year, I am planning to start a new workout regiment, I just kind of need to get off my ass and start doing it.  I haven't really started wasting time on YouTube today, so I think if I keep my YouTube time to the TV in the weight room, then I can at least do some light lifting, which I hope will spark my "want" again.  With that being said, I am using this writing as a crutch too, so I will cut it short and get off my ass.  We'll see how it goes.

1/4/22 The World Changed, I didn't?

     For the last two years or so, I have been calling myself a conservative and pretty much feeling good about it, but I was listening to some discussions, and it may be truer to say I didn't change, society decided to go farther away from center, and I was left looking more conservative than I ever thought I could be.  A big thing conservatives like to lean on is the bible, and I still think it is just a book, plenty of good stories to learn from, but I don't believe in everything in there.  I also don't care about abortion, the fewer unwanted babies on the planet, the better.  All those unloved, uncared for babies have a much higher percentage of turning into criminals and that doesn't do any favors for society.  If anything, the bible has guilted us into holding back on preventative measures which could reduce the need for abortions.  I have always liked the idea of putting birth control in the water or making teens with babies relying on government support to get on Norplant or whatever works to prevent more children.

    I have gone to the right on gun control.  I used to fear the idea of guns, but now I accept that if the criminals are going to have them, the good people of society should have them as well.  If you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have them, as the saying goes.

    This whole trip was started by the media when BLM was made a thing, but I don't believe black people were looked at unfavorably a few years ago.  I grew up in a world where my favorite quarterback was Warren Moon, my favorite shows were The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, The Cosbys, Martin, all great because they knew how to talk shit, and it was funny.  Our music was permeated and made better with all the greats, from Michael Jackson to Prince, the talent was and still is non-stop.  I don't know where all this hate came from, it wasn't around ten years ago, in my opinion.

    I could not continue supporting the side that was okay with demonstrations, against the police, for a very minute number of instances where bad policing was maybe evident.  These demonstrations only helped to destabilize inner cities and make even more dangerous those places where poor people already live.  All we see as a result of all of this destruction is small businesses driven out, old buildings destroyed, rampant looting to the point where regular people will not visit or vacation to those destinations.  As things are right now, there is no way I would want to travel to Chicago, New York, Portland, San Francisco.  All those places are full of history and interesting in their own way, but because of what has transpired over the past two years, I just don't think it is safe right now.

1/3/22 AITA 2?

     I probably will come out of this as the asshole again, but what can I do?  I went grocery shopping this morning after dropping off Baby A at wrestling practice at 10:00am (they don't start school until Wednesday).  I was not in any particular hurry, and I usually do the shopping nowadays, so this was as casual as I can get to do this chore that I will admit I don't love doing but I handle.  Anyways, I was minding my own business, getting things we needed and/or was requested, such as more toothpaste, Dr. Pepper, hairspray, cucumbers and on.  I hate going back and forth, but I do sometimes, like when I decide I am going to make chili later in the week.  I then have to go back and get the right cans of beans and cornbread mix.

    Eventually I made it to the meat section, and I usually get a whole chicken, cut into its parts in a big flat styrofoam pack.  I have compared the prices and I have found this is cheaper than buying the chicken whole or just split in half.  Again, I was not in a hurry, but in my way was one of those new carts being handled by an HEB employee for the ever so convenient lazy fuck who doesn't want to shop for themselves and she was at the perfect range where she could fit between her cart and the chicken and if I was 100 pounds, I could have probably fit in with her, but I am a gross 400 pound 50 year old man, I am not going to try and get anywhere near close to a 20 something twit chick in painted on pants.  I decided to wait, I was whistling whatever Billy Joel or soft rock song was playing over the intercom and thinking "well, she'll pack her one pack of chicken and move along... well maybe two since it is a big cart..." at what point does this become ridiculous?  She went and packed about 4 separate packages of chicken in plastic bags, like she was scanning and bagging at checkout.  The whole time I am staring at her in a "move your shit" kind of fashion.  She then decided it was the perfect place to bag the plastic bags into a paper bag, without moving.  I took this as a little passive aggressive, she knew I wanted to get to where she was at.  When she finally decided she was done, I continued whistling and whistled a little louder once she got her head out of her ass and acknowledged me, I motioned with my neck to "beat it" (moving it to the side).  Usually, people do an "I'm sorry" or "my bad, didn't see you", but this little Shit tells me "Use your words next time" or some shit like that.  I was like "huh?" and just said "yeah."  I proceeded to get my chicken and she came back to say something like "When we need people to move, we use our words."  I still barely acknowledged her and just gave her an up and down head nod.

    I guess me motioning with my head to "Scoot" was rude, but come on, she knew what she was doing, taking forever packing way too many packages right there, that was rude too.  I don't think I need to tell you to move when you have hogged the area for longer than a few seconds.  I am constantly aware of my surroundings and I don't want to be the guy slowing other people down because I am lost in my thoughts.  Save that shit for when you are home, out in public you should have your head on a swivel, as I always tell my boys.  So, Am I The Asshole?

1/2/22 Good Break To Reset For New Year?

     Today is the last day of our two-week vacation, and although we always wish we would have done more, I feel like it was a restful time to unwind and get our feet back on solid ground.  We saw my folks two days the first week and four days the second, which was nice since I am always being told I don't see them enough.  We spent New Year's Eve with my in-laws, I was surprised we didn't see them a bit more, but I leave that up to Wife.

    If there is something I wish we could have done more of, it would have been to stay up late and sleep in more.  It seems that because of Baby A and wrestling, we must be as disciplined as him.  The first weekend was taken over by the one meet, it wasn't until Monday that we got back to normal.  Then we went to Crystal City, which yes, we could stay up, but it isn't the same thing as doing it at home.  It was nice when we finally got home and were able to just run on our own internal clock, but that lasted only from Thursday until Sunday night.  By Monday, we were back to having to go to bed early for wrestling practice in the mornings.  I was glad to hear that he got the weekend off for New Year's, which means we got Friday through Sunday off too.  In total, we got about seven free days to do as we pleased, so I guess we can't complain.

    It is starting to look like Quintin Tarantino may be Baby A's favorite movie maker, he has liked all of his movies the best.  During the break, we saw Django Unchained and Inglorious Basterds and he really liked both movies, other than he thought they used the N word a bit too much.  We finally also got an out loud guffaw while watching Tropic Thunder towards the end when the Ben Stiller character is escaping the drug gang and he throws Half-Squat, the baby he decides he has adopted like a pinwheel into the jungle when he attacks him with a tiny knife.  It was a ridiculous scene, but I guess the overall effect got him, and he laughed out loud, which is very rare for our uptight young boy.  He was also left confused because he hated Tom Cruise for the Maverick character in Top Gun, but who can't love the Les Grossman show he puts on?   Cruise is almost unrecognizable as the heavyset bully, which Mijo kept saying he wants to be that guy when he grows up.

    It finally feels like the holidays with the cold finally deciding to show up as our break ends.  Mijo does have two more days, but Wife and I go back to work on Monday.  I don't know if we will have another freeze like we did last year, and if we do and we don't lose power, I am okay with it.  We never lost power or our water supply, so for us at least, it was just a week of taking it easy and staying in the house watching movies.  I'll do that for a freeze, or more Covid scares..., sounds good to me.

1/1/22 Last Night Of The Year Embodied What Was 2021?

     Last night was a concentrate of what we did all year.  I ate too much, napped, ate some more, made fun of some liberals, and hugged my loved ones.  We went and visited Wife's family for New Year's, we seem to do this because we can party with them and go home at the end of the night, where I prefer to wake up at.  It was a nice affair, all the important pieces of the family were there, unlike last year, when half the siblings were visiting with other people.

    The day started out slow, I got up maybe around 10:00am, drank my coffee and ate some of the cookies and cake that we've had around the house.  Wife then got up around noon and she made breakfast.  We ate together, which is always nice, Boy rarely joins us, but he was here.  After we ate, Wife said we would be leaving around 4-5pm, so I decided I should go lay down and maybe nap.  I laid down in our ghetto bed in the living room and was in and out of sleep for about 2 hours, mostly watching TikTok videos.  I then got up and showered, then we left around 5:00pm.  We got there around 6:30pm, the sun went down as we entered San Antonio, which was nice.  The traffic was packed but moving well.  We pulled into their house, just as the younger nephew came out to move one of the cars so we would fit better in the driveway.

    Wife's sister is a chef/cook, and her man loves BBQing even more than me.  I don't think we have stopped by when he hasn't just smoked a brisket, or some other exotic food.  Last night he was outside making "tripas", intestines, which I guess is a Mexican delicacy.  He said he started by boiling them for 2-3 hours, to soften them up, then frying them up for a good 30-40 minutes.  Apart from this, he had a separate grill and was making some "mollejas" (not even sure how they are spelled and saying the English word just makes it sound way more disgusting, but they are truly great, when cooked right).  I'm telling you; these people will fatten you up.  The other sister made a charcuterie board with all sorts of cheeses, crackers, and finger foods.  There were also empanadas with apple and pumpkin fillings, banana bread cupcakes that were still steaming when pulled apart, tamales, menudo, and so many other snacks.

    I had some fun, Wife told me not to get all political, but my in-laws gave me a sign which read "It's not my fault, I voted for Trump."  I thought that was awfully cute and I was having a good laugh when Wife's big liberal cousin walked in, with a blue mask.  I just reacted with a loud laugh and pointed, yelling something like "Ahhhh, of course you're wearing a mask!!!"  I thought it was funny because there was just a story I saw that says and the CDC admits that cloth masks are really just for show.  We should be wearing N95 masks if we really want protection, and come on, nobody is going to wear a mask like that, and then take it off to eat or drink.  If you are really that scared, stay home.  The cousin gave a lame "I'm wearing it because of the high levels of pollen outside, which sounded even weirder."  Wife had said not to get into it, so I just let it go, but it was funny for a minute.

    After eating a bunch of stuff, then taking about 6 jello shots and some coquito drink (some Puerto Rican alcoholic stuff), I was ready for another nap, so I went and laid down in my in-law's bedroom, which I have been doing the last couple years when we go visit.  This works great because I can nap, and Wife can talk all she wants with her people.  After about an hour and a half, I rejoined the party.  It was all good, the kids popped fireworks around 11:30pm (I am so glad my boys are past this, as I don't have to be out on the street supervising), then I helped Wife open the champagne bottles and poured the glasses right before midnight.  We rang the new year in right at the door running in and out trying to hand everyone a glass.  It could have been a bit cooler, I felt hot and clammy for a while after all the hoopla, I even thought I might actually be coming down with something, but I think now that I am fine, I just got uncomfortably hot for a bit.

    Wife helped to clean up for about 30 minutes, all the food had already been put away before while I was napping, so when we left the house was mostly back in order.  Honestly, with all the Jello shots and feeling hot and clammy, Wife drove and that was great.  I did stay awake most of the way, making small talk with her.  I-35 was surprisingly calm, and there was not much traffic, at 1:00am.  We got home at 2:00am and were probably in bed by 3:00am.  It is now 1:00pm and I can hear Wife stomping around upstairs, so let's see how this new year goes, it has to be better than fucking 2021.