|
Post by kds on Jun 5, 2023 13:44:08 GMT
We haven't really had any humid weather yet.
I saw over the weekend that one of my favorite summer treats from several years ago is coming back this year. Cotton candy Oreos. Years ago, it seemed like cotton candy flavoring with on track to become to summer answer to pumpkin spice, but it didn't really catch on. But, I'm glad to see this is back.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Jun 5, 2023 13:52:37 GMT
I don't like the humidity, but with the smoke, it's 10x worse. Something about smoke on hot and humid days that becomes just really oppressive. Might be my imagination but it seems like between wildfire smoke from the north or west, or (less often, but occasional) regular pollution, we've had more air quality warnings the past two years than I can recall in total before that. Probably a lot of that is seeing those warnings more easily, though, as they're shown on the weather app of smartphones. In earlier years, you'd have to hear an announcement on the radio or something.
|
|
|
Post by kds on Jun 5, 2023 13:55:11 GMT
I'm fine with humidity, but I can only imagine that the smoke is terrible. The only smoke I like outside on a hot, humid day is the smoke coming from my Weber grill.
|
|
|
Post by kds on Jul 7, 2023 12:20:38 GMT
Today is the first day of my summer vacation. And, perhaps one of the ultimate first world problems is the stress of getaway day.
Did I tie up all my loose ends at work? Did I pack everything? Will we hit the road before the traffic? Etc etc. Before having a kid, getaway day was all excitement. Pack up the car, put on some music, enjoy the long drive at leisure. It's a bit of a different experience now. Now, the excitement of vacation really doesn't hit until we get there, and get settled.
There's an added factor this time as the check engine light of our SUV came on last night. So, we'll be taking the sedan down, for the first time since we've had a kid. Luckily, we don't have to pack as much as when he was an infant or toddler.
This is also the earliest in the calendar I've ever taken our summer trip. I posted in the Sound of Summer thread that I got so used to going on vacation in late summer. Growing up, we went down in mid to late August, so when we'd return home, there was very little summer left. Later on, when my friend and I did a full Bike Week trip, we went in mid September, so summer was over by the time we returned.
I think I'm starting to prefer this way, where we return from vacation, and there's still two months of summer left. It actually makes the end of vacation a little less depressing.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Jul 7, 2023 12:36:03 GMT
I can relate to that stress of leaving. On a related note, I almost always overpack as I'm scurrying about the house, trying to remember to pack everything (and thinking of more things along the way). As if where I'm going is a third-world country as opposed to a place I could just buy some toothpaste or whatever, if I happened to forget it! And then once I'm in the car! Did I lock the doors? Did I leave the coffeepot on? Did I leave the oven/stove on? Etc. ...
Hope you have a great vacation, kds.
|
|
|
Post by kds on Jul 7, 2023 12:40:20 GMT
I can relate to that stress of leaving. On a related note, I almost always overpack as I'm scurrying about the house, trying to remember to pack everything (and thinking of more things along the way). As if where I'm going is a third-world country as opposed to a place I could just buy some toothpaste or whatever, if I happened to forget it! And then once I'm in the car! Did I lock the doors? Did I leave the coffeepot on? Did I leave the oven/stove on? Etc. ... Hope you have a great vacation, kds. I'm an overpacker too. I'll never forgot that first week long trip I took in 2009 when my then roommate. It was really my first full vacation on my own as an adult, at the age of 29. But, we picked up random snack stuff and random stuff leading up to the trip. So much so that it took nearly 45 minutes to load the car. We laugh about it now, but it's like we forgot that we're going to a beach town that has grocery stores, not going out into the woods for two weeks. By the time we did our last trip in 2013, we'd streamlined a lot. Same thing happened the first time my wife and I took a trip as parents. The SUV was packed so tightly, you couldn't see out the back. It made me understand why John Candy needed a U Haul trailer for his vacation in Summer Rental.
|
|
|
Post by kds on Jul 17, 2023 13:44:16 GMT
So, after we got home yesterday afternoon and I unpacked, I had to run to the grocery store for some basic items.
And, what do I see at the store - Halloween candy....on July frickin 16th!!!
I think I first saw Fall stuff on the shelves at the very end of July last year, but I can't recall ever seeing it this early. It's kind of a bummer when you get home from your big summer trip to see Fall stuff. That used to be the case when I vacationed in mid August, and later on mid September, but not mid July.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Jul 17, 2023 13:48:13 GMT
Halloween candy? Wow. I haven't noticed any yet, but I'm going to keep an eye out now, just to see when it pops up here. I suppose back-to-school displays will be up soon, too, if they aren't already. (I haven't been to a Target, etc., in a couple of weeks, so they may be up now.)
I realized fully this morning that I'd taken off a few days late this week and early next. The time was booked off a couple months ago with nothing in mind, and I'd more or less pushed it to the back of my mind. Last week I got sidetracked with my dad's health issues, and so now I'm looking a little mini-vacation in the face that I have yet to actually plan. I'll need to think about whether I'll go somewhere (and if so, where), or just take the time here.
Regardless, I'm planning to take a more real vacation later--probably right at the end of summer/early fall, like late September. I like being in a remote, rural area as the weather changes. But as for late this and early next week ... what to do?
|
|
|
Post by kds on Jul 17, 2023 13:59:34 GMT
Halloween candy? Wow. I haven't noticed any yet, but I'm going to keep an eye out now, just to see when it pops up here. I suppose back-to-school displays will be up soon, too, if they aren't already. (I haven't been to a Target, etc., in a couple of weeks, so they may be up now.) I realized fully this morning that I'd taken off a few days late this week and early next. The time was booked off a couple months ago with nothing in mind, and I'd more or less pushed it to the back of my mind. Last week I got sidetracked with my dad's health issues, and so now I'm looking a little mini-vacation in the face that I have yet to actually plan. I'll need to think about whether I'll go somewhere (and if so, where), or just take the time here. Regardless, I'm planning to take a more real vacation later--probably right at the end of summer/early fall, like late September. I like being in a remote, rural area as the weather changes. But as for late this and early next week ... what to do? I know that Walmart and Target will typically put Back to School stuff in their seasonal aisles right after the Fourth of July, so I'm sure it's there already. And of course, like clockwork, I've started seeing the social media memes "I can't wait for hoodies, and leaves, and bonfires, and pumpkins, and......yada yada yada." And, I've said before, I enjoy Fall...or at least the idea of Fall, but I hate the rushing of any season. Summer's my favorite time of year, but I don't start getting itchy feet about it in mid March.
|
|
|
Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jul 17, 2023 14:07:25 GMT
We've talked about it here on a couple of threads, but I can really see things changing in society, slowly but surely. Right after the 4th Of July - and I mean July 5th! - "places" are already in fall/Halloween/winter/Christmas mode. It's like they can't wait. There's Christmas movies on TV, the home shopping networks, the stores of course, and just people already planning that far ahead. There seems to be this attitude or approach of wanting to get ahead, don't be left behind, get it done...do you know what I mean? It goes waaaay beyond waiting until the last minute. It's the opposite, actually. Sometimes I feel the pressure, like I gotta get moving or it'll be too late. Too late for what?
|
|
|
Post by kds on Jul 17, 2023 14:12:30 GMT
We've talked about it here on a couple of threads, but I can really see things changing in society, slowly but surely. Right after the 4th Of July - and I mean July 5th! - "places" are already in fall/Halloween/winter/Christmas mode. It's like they can't wait. There's Christmas movies on TV, the home shopping networks, the stores of course, and just people already planning that far ahead. There seems to be this attitude or approach of wanting to get ahead, don't be left behind, get it done...do you know what I mean? It goes waaaay beyond waiting until the last minute. It's the opposite, actually. Sometimes I feel the pressure, like I gotta get moving or it'll be too late. Too late for what? I notice it too. I know people who put up their Fall decor in mid to late August, and Christmas stuff prior to Halloween. It's bizarre to me that people are so impatient that they chose not to experience the seasons during the seasons. Are we losing our ability to live in the moment?
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Jul 17, 2023 14:19:17 GMT
I think that phenomenon is terrible for the psyche. I do think, as kds said, we are losing the ability to live in the moment. If all you do is look ahead to what's coming, you're mostly experiencing the stress of that future event: Have I booked those tickets? Have I bought those gifts? I need to clean the house before the big day! I need to start packing. And so on. And then there's a lot of looking backward: What went wrong? Who said what, and what was that supposed to mean? Why did I have to so-and-so? It seems to me that many of us are split into roughly 90% future, 9% past, and 1% present. And (one can philosophically say) the only thing that actually exists is the present. It's a total misplacement of mental energy, and it mostly adds stress, envy, anxiety, fear, regret, disappointment, while minimizing actual enjoyment and contentment.
|
|
|
Post by kds on Jul 17, 2023 14:27:45 GMT
I think that phenomenon is terrible for the psyche. I do think, as kds said, we are losing the ability to live in the moment. If all you do is look ahead to what's coming, you're mostly experiencing the stress of that future event: Have I booked those tickets? Have I bought those gifts? I need to clean the house before the big day! I need to start packing. And so on. And then there's a lot of looking backward: What went wrong? Who said what, and what was that supposed to mean? Why did I have to so-and-so? It seems to me that many of us are split into roughly 90% future, 9% past, and 1% present. And (one can philosophically say) the only thing that actually exists is the present. It's a total misplacement of mental energy, and it mostly adds stress, envy, anxiety, fear, regret, disappointment, while minimizing actual enjoyment and contentment. I feel like I'm way more than 9% on past, which also probably isn't very healthy. When I was in middle school, we had a guest speaker come in and talk to us. I think it was in a science lab, but something he said always stuck with me. I'm paraphrasing here but.... "I know a lot of you always look forward to the weekend, but you're wishing away four or five days. The next think you know, a week, a month, a year, several years have gone by." I have no idea how that came up from a guest speaker in a science lab, but that always resonated with me, and I've tried to keep it in mind, especially the older I get, and I realize that this....this is all temporary, we shouldn't wish it away. I feel like I've really tried harder to live in the now, especially after my mother passed two and a half years ago. I posted it before, but it got to the point last year where I was actually a little sad to see winter end. In the past, I'll admit, I was guilty of wishing that season away once the festive Christmas season was over. And I know we're soon heading into late July, so I'm going to try to soak up at many summer moments as possible.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Jul 17, 2023 14:32:47 GMT
I agree with that entirely. (And to be clear, my stats were entirely made-up... Probably 9% is low, I don't know. Total shot in the dark.)
But yes, this is temporary. Whether or not you believe in an afterlife, it feels safe to say this life is temporary, this life is all we know for sure. So we can grant maybe there is some kind of reincarnation of spirit in a future material body, maybe there is a destination for a kind of soul or body somehow, but we definitely don't know for sure. (I do not believe in any such thing: I think we've got our time here and that's that.)
The only thing we have is the present. Memories can be nice (or awful), anticipation can be nice (or awful), but in both cases, it's just a mental thing, not a reality. The present is real--the only thing that is real. And too many of us miss it almost entirely far too often.
|
|
|
Post by kds on Jul 17, 2023 14:41:03 GMT
I agree with that entirely. (And to be clear, my stats were entirely made-up... Probably 9% is low, I don't know. Total shot in the dark.) But yes, this is temporary. Whether or not you believe in an afterlife, it feels safe to say this life is temporary, this life is all we know for sure. So we can grant maybe there is some kind of reincarnation of spirit in a future material body, maybe there is a destination for a kind of soul or body somehow, but we definitely don't know for sure. (I do not believe in any such thing: I think we've got our time here and that's that.) The only thing we have is the present. Memories can be nice (or awful), anticipation can be nice (or awful), but in both cases, it's just a mental thing, not a reality. The present is real--the only thing that is real. And too many of us miss it almost entirely far too often. I wonder what the percentage actually is if you take a big sample. Either way, I think the present is the least represented of the three. We're funny beings, spending inordinate chucks of our lives either pining for days gone by or wishing for whatever's next. It's a shame it wasn't a better movie, but the Adam Sandler vehicle Click actually had some powerful moments that tries to preach to live more in the moment.
|
|