The Life of Riley is a weekly post that details my activities since I ended a thirteen year career as a corporate drone. These posts are usually long, personal, and geared more for my own memory than the reader’s entertainment.

Sunday (Day 302): Wasted the Day With My Lady Friend

We wasted the morning watching TV, including a documentary about girls who were in the play, Annie. you would expect that if someone went through the trouble of making a documentary about Annie, it would be interesting and full of strange stories. It wasn’t. The only thing I learned was that a lot of famous people have been in the play and a lot of non-famous people can’t let go of it.

Somewhere in the mid afternoon, we went over to check on the house. Fifteen minutes later, we were safely back at home doing nothing again. I made chicken, broccoli and ziti alfredo for #1GF! and we watched My Best Friend, which made me feel like I was running out of friends. I’m not sure if that’s normal for someone my age.

Monday (Day 303): Picked Cabinets

After #1GF! left for work, I watched TV for an hour until an ex co-worker called. She has two kids and became a stay at home Mom, while I have zero kids and became a stay at home blogger. My life is filled with finding things to occupy my time, and hers is wishing she had a spare moment that wasn’t filled. It was an interesting conversation.

I dropped off a check for the contractor and found that I got a couple of CDs in the mail for review. I wrote and edited for a few hours, with the feeling hanging over me that writing is a complete waste of time. When #1GF! got home, we went to finalize the kitchen cabinets, which consisted of us comparing various shades of white. Once that was done, we watched a couple of episodes of Flavor of Love 3, which isn’t nearly as good as the first two. I think the series may have jumped the shark.

Tuesday (Day 304): Chasing Closed Down CD Stores

I woke up to #1GF! telling me that I should enjoy my last day of being 35. I went out with no destination in mind and ended up driving to the northern part of the state to check out a CD store. I didn’t really want any CDs, but when you have nothing to do, logistics are less important than staying in motion.

The store was called WebHead, and the discs averaged $5-6, with nothing (that I saw) exceeding $8. Even though the prices were low, I really didn’t care enough to buy anything. I did find a CD from a band called tiring Sky that a former co-worker used to be in, so I took a picture of it to amuse #1GF!. I went through their inventory in about an hour, and then made my way to another record store, which doesn’t exist anymore. After laughing and looking in the window, I decided to head home before the rush hour traffic kicked up.

Once I got home, I started playing video games until #1GF! got home, and then we went over to see our new bulkhead. It wasn’t done, so #1GF! made me put up a sheet of plastic to keep critters out even though I knew full well that a sheet of plastic wasn’t going to keep anything out that wanted to get in. I felt like a TSA security person. At night we watched Ninja Warrior until bed.

Wednesday (Day 305): Happy Birthday To Me (Cha Cha Cha)

I was in a pissy mood, as I am every year on my birthday, so when #1GF! asked to go to the house to see if any critters got in, I lost my shit. We were on the road to go to another record store that I didn’t care about going to, so it shouldn’t have mattered, but I’m a relatively large asshole on my birthday. After we checked on the plastic that wasn’t keeping anything out, it hit me that I didn’t really want to go out. I was just going out to avoid staying home.

I apologized for being a dick and we headed out to the record store. We eventually found it, but it wasn’t a record store. It was a CD manufacturing facility or something. After that, I just started driving around until I realized that I should probably go over to my parents and go out to lunch / dinner with them early before I was a raving ball of aggravation.

We went to my parents four hours early for dinner, and waited about 90 minutes to get going. We went to dinner, and I tried not to be a dick, but I think I was. It’s nice to be able to be around people who think you’re ok when you’re feeling like you’re not ok. On our way home I called to apologize to them in case I had been an ass. They said that I wasn’t, but parents are nice like that. I think that’s around the time I started lightening up. We listened to the singing answering machine messages and opened some cards, which I probably should have done in the first place because they were all great. One message even included a guitar solo, which I’m not sure can be topped.

My problem is not that I’m getting older. The alternative to getting older is not very attractive. My problem with my birthday is that I examine my life. I don’t care about the past, because I trust that I’ve made the best decisions that I could’ve at any point in my life. I think the real problem is looking forward and never having a clear place that I’m trying to get to. I don’t have goals. I have everything that I need, and without goals and something to work for, life is a random string of events with little meaning. I’m fine with that most of the time, but on my birthday, it’s something that I don’t like to do.

Later on at night, I convinced #1GF! to take me out to the Abington Ale House for a free dinner even though I already ate dinner and neither one of us was hungry. It wasn’t so much that the food is great, but I think that going there has become a little tradition for us. I’m miserable, and she takes me there for a free meal to cheer me up. And sometimes it does.

Thursday (Day 306): Joseph Palmer

I laid on the couch for thirty minutes before getting ready. Then, I played a little video games. When you are slowly giving up on the one thing that you have been focussed on, there’s not a heck of a lot of motivation to do anything. I’m not quite 80, but I understand not having to do anything. It’s almost maddening. At noon, I decided to get out of the house and go see the grave of Joseph Palmer for no other reason than it was 70 degrees and I had nothing to do.

Thanks to some construction, the 90 minute drive turned into a two hour road trip that I kept thinking about turning back on. When I finally arrived, the cemetery turned out to be larger than I expected and couldn’t find the grave on my own. I headed over to the main buildings to see if there was anyone around who could point me in the right direction. I came across a guy sitting in a small building on a folding chair and asked him if he knew where the grave of Joseph Pierce was. He repeated the name a few times (Pierce, Pierce, Pierce) before shaking his head and saying that he didn’t. I described it as having a guy with a big beard on it. He pointed out that I was looking for Joseph Palmer, and then stood up. The guy was not only immense, but his eyes seemed a little glassy in a way that I couldn’t figure out. I chalked it up to my imagination and he pointed me in the right direction and I headed out on my way.

As I was pulling away I thought, “Wait. There I was in a shed with an absolutely immense guy with glassy eyes who spends his days around dead bodies, and no one knows that I’m even here. The guy could’ve snapped my neck like a twig and dropped me in a new grave and no one would ever have known.” I then felt more than a little stupid. Like a mouse that falls into a snakes cage and stands on its back to try to get a better view of its surroundings.

I drove through the graveyard and eventually onto a dirt path that led to Palmer’s grave, which was about a quarter of the size that I expected it to be. I took a few pictures and then headed home. I looked at my pictures, and then played video games for some mindless entertainment that I could control. I didn’t want to turn on the computer. #1GF! brought home pizza, and I showed her my pictures, and she remarked jokingly that she thought something must be really wrong with me to go so far just to see a grave.

Friday (Day 307): Bad Haircut

Nine times out of ten, I can usually sit on the sink and do a quick trim of my hair without an issue, but today was that one time where everything goes wrong. I cut crooked lines, I slipped and cut out divots at least twice, and came very, very close to just shaving my head as a giant do-over. I eventually got things evened off, but the back of my hair line was at the bottom of my ears. That’s a haircut for metal patients and psychos, but at least it was even.

To calm down, I went and played video games again, but eventually got tired of them. I didn’t want to turn on the PC, but I thought that I should start typing up this post while #1GF! was at work. It’s even less fun to write when she’s home, because I’d rather spend the time with her.

We were supposed to go bowling and then dinner with #1GF!’s friends, but #1GF! got stuck at work, so we missed the bowling part. While I waited, I played more video games, which seems to be a theme for me these days. I don’t know what the hell is going on. I guess I see most of my activities as a waste of time, so sitting around playing video games has the same weight as writing. Both earn me the same amount of money and happiness, so who cares what I do. #1GF! eventually got home, and we went out to dinner which ended up being pretty fun.

Saturday (Day 308): Hybrids

We went out looking for faucets before the showrooms closed. There are about 1500 choices in faucets, and I don’t really see what the big deal is. They all shoot water into the sink and bar a few butt ugly ones, I can’t see much of a difference.

On a whim, we went and test drove a hybrid car. It felt like we were rolling when we got started because of the lack of engine noise, which made it feel a little out of control. The salesman kept saying “whatever” a lot, but he showed us Edmunds.com when we sat down to talk about the car. I thought that was respectably ballsy.

We looked at a few more cars and then grabbed breakfast for lunch at a diner. The food ended up giving me a headache, but that didn’t stop me from playing more video games when #1GF! went out for a walk. It felt more like Sunday because we had gone out the night before.

What I Learned

• I’m so tired of the web that I don’t even like to turn on my PC.
• I get a headache whenever I eat at Jimmy’s Diner.
• The lack of engine noise makes hybrids feel like something’s wrong.
• Joseph Palmer got the crap kicked out of him for wearing a beard.
• WebHead seems like a decent stop for used CDs.
• Wakefield has a nice lake in it.
• Sarah Jessica Parker was the lead in the Broadway production of Annie.

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Posted in Leisure