A Christmas Playlist!

It has been created! I’ve made my first Plex playlist. I didn’t see it under the kid’s profile. I was hoping it would span across users. Maybe it can, but there is no time to do it right now.

That’s tomorrow me’s problem!

What’s today me’s problem? A kindergarten kid failing gym! How?? The only way you can, lack of participation!

How do you convince a kid to try!? I’ve repeatedly said it makes my heart happy when he tries. I think I’ve tried encouraging him as best I can, but I’m not sure what needs to be done. There’s been carrots and sticks (puzzle pieces for good bus travel, reduced screen time).

Deep down I hope it’s not my disability holding him back.

My partner is exhausted and we just keep swimming. I guess that’s what we’re expected to do. Just wish I knew which way was upstream!

So here I sit, in my rollator, ensuring there are no monsters randomly appearing while the kid tries to sleep.

I guess the rewards should be after the task? He asked for another 15 of screen time after his time elapsed and I accepted on the condition that he tries to go to sleep alone.

He didn’t even try 2 minutes!

Well, as frustrating as the work day was, why not bedtime! I need a nice relaxing weekend, but oh wait, I need to find a place to do 10m walk tests for a prescription!

I assumed a parking lot, but I fear it may rain… hope it clears enough to accomplish this!

Rudy!!!

Well, Rudolph. The first film of the Christmas season here at our house.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

It was well received and if I had to say, maybe a touch too long. The child did get a little restless as the show went on. Zero “I’m scared”, but a moment of honest concern near the beginning that Rudolph’s nose would fall off during the Reindeer Games.

I found it very rough and stern, that head elf is really no-nonsense… Until HE needed that dentist!

So here’s a list of films suggested so far:

• Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
• The Polar Express
• Elf
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
• Dr. Seuss’ the Grinch
• A Charlie Brown Christmas
• The Snowy Day
• Mickey’s Christmas Carol
• A Garfield Christmas Special
• Home Alone
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
• The Santa Clause
• The Muppet Christmas Carol

That’s a nice list to start with! I’ll have to pepper in a few shows he loves…

• Paw Patrol – S01E11 – Pups Save Christmas
• Blaze and the Monster Machines – S02E08 – Monster Machine Christmas
• Bubble Guppies – S02E02 – Happy Holidays, Mr. Grumpfish!

And I’m sure there are more, let’s hear your further suggestions!

The excitement is mounting

I don’t know which excitement is greater, the general kid/christmas or the adult/new tv excitement…

On the one hand, the kid is 5 and he hasn’t known many Christmases…

But on the other hand, I am an adult, I know Christmas is fleeting and will be back again next year…

But the tree is up, and there’s gifts under it already, for the kid…

And I already have a TV…

And a play doh advent calendar that we must patiently wait to open only one per day…

And a living room to reorganize…

OK, that’s enough self debate, the kid clearly wins!

Now the question is, what Christmas shows should we subject him to? Clearly the claymation classics right? And Frosty? He’s clearly not old enough for Elf, or National Lampoon’s…

I’m just going to have to pour through the shows he watches to see if there are any Christmas episodes!

I guess Bubble Guppies? Daniel Tiger must have one as well… this will require some investigation. Suggestions for 5-year old tv Christmas shows?

Tree somehow made it up

It’s ok to put it up after the US Thanksgiving, right?

We had to do a major living room tidy job to get a space for the tree this year. It saddens me a little to know the tree will soon be surrounded by boxes that will contain yet more things I will ultimately have to avoid stepping on!

Is it a good idea to trade personal safety and mobility for your child’s happiness?

Clearly it isn’t because we keep getting more deadly plastic toy obstacles! And honestly, I would not care about the number of toys, if they all got played with!

I think 2021 will be the start of the toy purge, so if you know my partner, keep an eye on her twitter/facebook for toy offers to remove them from our house at little to no money!

But yes, tree decorating day was preceded by a living room cleanup which was well overdue! While it’s not completely clear, there is a larger space where the break dancer can bust a move without stepping on things.

Tempers may have appeared short in the little one’s eyes at time, but I assure you we were overly patient with the cleaning protests, but as the dripping water cuts through stone over time, so does our patience with the young one.

Bit shout out to my lovely partner for the work she has done tonight. If she’s reading this, she may ask for a foot rub. I’m saving a spoon for that, just in case!

I can say that I am happy with the amount of tidying done as I can ambulate the whole way around the living room! No forced kitchen path for this guy!

If you’re new, I rely on assistive mobility devices such as a rollator (4-wheel walker).

Anyway, the tree is up, decorated, and how the home of 3 presents already!

Confusingly, it’s still above 0 weather, but I’m not mad, and I’m starting to get used to the non-snow Christmas seasons. One of my first years living down here, we had to delay burning our Yule Goat as it decided to rain on December 25th!

You live in Canada, right? I’ve seen a lot of snow on TikTok already…

Just not here.

Snow? Where are you?

We have failed as parents

While out for a drive to and from my massage appointment today, we were told by our 5-year old to turn down the music.

Turn down what music?

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE!

Well, far be it from us to simply reply to our child “Fuck you I won’t do what you tell me!” but well, maybe we did while singing along? Either way, his music taste has steadily declined since his exit from the womb.

Maybe the kicks to Ice Cube’s voice were his form of protest to the music?

I’m not sure, but the child’s music has infected my auto-generated playlists! I thought the 2020 playlist would be a fun reflection of the horrible year, well even it couldn’t hold back from a beatdown.

Frozen 2, almost all the songs were Frozen 2…

Well gee, that doesn’t sound like my kind of music. Sure, the movie was “ok”, and the sound track was “tolerable” the first, i don’t know, 50 times? But the music now haunts the house for 12 hours of the night. From bedtime to whenever someone turns it off.

I think it’s time we turn a timer on for that. The music doesn’t keep the child in his room when he wakes up, so yeah, I think that will soon be the end of that.

But seriously, Rage? Kid, you don’t even know!

Christmas parade of boxes

As the month rolls on, and the pandemics ominous shadow looms over our once secluded and safe hamlet, we must not let down our loved ones!

You talk fancy, going to tell a story?

No, not tonight. Storyteller Me is not really being employed these days. I’m mostly a TV show selector and a guy who barks orders at a child. So I’m a little rusty.

Oil can?

Stop. Back to the parade! As I said the pandemic is starting to knock on our doors. Much as we suspected, the fall season brought the surge of seasonal illnesses and we were not immune as a province. Perhaps the rise in number is covid fatigue, or people with a cough testing because they were asymptomatic otherwise?

I know that technically I would always have a couple of the symptoms but they are not new and worsening. But if someone wasn’t experiencing covid symptoms and a silent carrier suddenly develops a cough from the dry air or a cold, well boom! Covid for everyone!

I think that was a complete thought, maybe…

But anyway, to avoid such a potentially deadly scenario, I stay home and online shop! There is a growing stack of boxes in the bedroom and entrance, and they might only get worse as the days roll on! So much being delivered! I know in the next 3 weeks I’ll have multiple medicine deliveries, Christmas gifts, and Epicure!

Maybe a SkipTheDishes, too?

Sure can’t eat at a restaurant now! Sorry Pür & Simple!

So I force a lot of bending and stooping in the next few weeks trying to get boxes inside. I know my partner was impressed when I managed to get my office chair box inside, but I personally think the smaller boxes will be the expert level challenges!

And really, this works in my favour because I believe gifts go down the family tree, and extended family only get gifts with in person interactions, so 2020 has definitely trimmed down my shopping!

That sorta seems selfish.

Well, I’ve never been great at giving gifts, and I don’t need the extra stress in my life. Now I’m not greedy or cheap, to the contrary! I give to those who need. Be it cash or my time. Sure, those are probably in short supply, and I know nobody would, in their right mind, ask a heavy burden of me.

Ok, I’ll stop there. I’m not very boastful either, so I don’t want to let my own words inflate my own ego unnecessarily!

I am sleepy however, so that’s all I got!

Shop local if you can, curb side pickup is your friend!

So so tired!

I managed to get a full 7 hours the other night, and that was exciting. I was unable to reproduce the feat last night.

I certainly tried! I didn’t even get a blog post in!

Biden’s transition is happening, so yay to that.

Covid is starting the second wave here, so boo.

Stay the blazes home of course.

Oh, but today was parent teacher interview day, and we had a pleasant video chat with our kid’s teacher. She’s happy to have him in class and going over what was reported on his report card, we are happy and relieved to know his progress is more or less on par.

Maybe less.

Routine appears to be his friend and things are easier when he knows what to do, just has a big hurdle when uncertainty sets in

Boo, nobody likes the unknown.

The day also landed back to my normal routine, regular lunch hour, regular heavy load of work, fun fun fatigue and stress to just negatively impact my health. Comfort food doesn’t help either, but it sure is tasty!

There has been a few MS conferences to peep into recently. A lot of the speakers yesterday were talking about demyelination which is an exciting prospect. Nothing new for information however, or at least nothing I hadn’t previously read online.

Stress bad, diet and exercise good, stay healthy and stay safe out there.

TV needs a label maker

OK, granted TV does display a ratings system, but I’m starting to think that if a channel wants to be a news channel, then they need to be independently monitored for factual statements.

What do you mean? Sounds like you want to censor the news!

Not at all. Some shows are light-hearted and some shows are bile filed hatefest. The shows need to be scored and on screen, visibly marked OPINION when it’s not actually news.

But some shows have facts, but are possibly opinion mixed in, what about those shows?

A sliding grade scale perhaps? Continue to spout opinions as fact and you lower your score? I’d love to see a “reporter” score on the top corner of their camera frame. Include guests as well!

Seems like a lot of work…

Sure, untangling the web of lies is tough work, but people already do it. So if it were centralized and distributable, then a rating system could be organic and live based on shows.

How would that work?

Well let’s take a news comedy show like the daily show. It reports news, and makes it take a funny spin. Have a box in the corner with a fact/opinion status, and a percentage score based on the accuracy of what they label their content.

Seems like a distraction.

But we need it. A lot of people swallow the “information” spewed by “news” channels as fact without verifying other reliable sources to cross reference and validate what they heard.

Who’s got time for that?

Exactly! So since people fact check stuff already, lump all the checks and valid them to assign channels/shows a reliability score and work with that. You could even fine non-compliance!

Crazy, who would control this?

I don’t know. I’m an ideas guy in the dark with no real implementation plan. I just see stuff and think of a way it could be “objectively better”?

I like to watch dystopian future shows/movies and think they could be a future that “mostly” happens if information is abused and too much control is put on things.

But you just said all that reliability score stuff, sounds like control!

Yeah… But like a loaded gun, I wouldn’t trust that with just anyone! And no, not touching gun control! Not today, Satan!

Anyway, is cinnamon hitler still pouting? Our Atlantic Bubble is crumbling and it’s centre stage in our world right now, not that crybaby!

Caffeine is my crutch

I have been drinking a can of Monster Ultra <insert colour> daily for a long time now, and I would have to say it gets me most of the way through the day. Now I have sugar free Red Bull and it is intensely sweet in comparison. I’m finding it harder to consume a can, and have now faced a strong desire to sleep and nap.

I don’t know if I can bring myself up to two cans a day, but I have only just begun this transition of caffeinated beverages.

I did not consume any yesterday, and I was tired. I know this because I crushed my sleep average for the week.

Crushed? Hyperbole I say!

Ok, so 45 minutes above my average does feel like a huge jump when you average 5h45 a night! And I know that doesn’t sound like enough sleep, and I know it’s not. Sometimes it’s hard to fall asleep, and that is an average I provided. If I could sleep whenever I wanted throughout the day, I would certainly get more sleep, but there are so many things to be responsible for.

Luckily you have an amazing partner to help you.

Yes, and as every day passes, the child seems to need me a little less. I can’t say the same for his mom! Surprisingly we were left alone to snooze a bit this AM, thanks to the newfound ability to watch a damn TV show without someone watching him!

Today we binged the Animaniacs, and admittedly there were some scary moments but he soldiered through them and enjoyed our throwback reboot experience.

I am happy!

Now to get him in to Star Wars. We know baby Yoda, and have seen a few LEGO Star Wars shows… So let’s really nerd him up! Hopefully they will still be cool when he grows up!

Oh, and I am proud to say that the protests to French were few and far between. I’m actually concerned at how much he apparently understood, and that our secret language may be lost to us…

Private text chains it is!

Anyway, it’s still early and I don’t know how I will be feeling after supper, so slightly early post it is! Yay!

Common sense is lost to some

Not much happened to me today, quite the quiet day indeed. But to hear about a crazy house party in town last night just goes to show that even in the Atlantic Bubble, we’re not immune to the covidiots.

Shame. And as the disease starts to poke around our bubble, these morons happen?

Yup, we can’t gloat over our low case numbers, because we’re just as stupid as everyone else it seems. But can infection be linked to education? No, likely not. It’s just bad luck in most cases.

But wait… Can I tip the odds in my favour?

STAY THE BLAZES HOME!

Seriously, stay home, hav e a video chat party, drink over video, watch a stream as a group, there are so many options these days, how much real human interaction is required?

Stay home.

Got invited to a party?

Stay home.

Caution is advised and also tell the people trying to get a party going.

Stay home.

Grow the fuck up!

Ok, so I only have a little rage because it’s mostly just disappointment. We have increased restrictions starting Monday. I guess they wanted one big hurrah before the restrictions? But wouldn’t that be doing one more of <insert vice> before quitting <insert vice again>?

Because that always works.

Oh, but I think someone tried to scam me today. Seemed iffy from the get go, but when an old lady from my small hometown starts talking about Euros, I’m done. Nope, not for me. I promptly blocked the user.

Just because we have mutual friends and are from the same small town doesn’t mean I’m a gullible backwater yokel.

I’ll admit I’m polite, and usually let scammers get a few words in before I check out of the conversation.

*sigh*

At least there was nothing work related that happened.

The kid will be getting a rude daddy awakening when I start talking French tomorrow! Should be fun. Should I tally all the protests and “stop talking French” screams tomorrow?