When talking with others , I like to think I'm an "engaged listener"
I try to listen and understand what they're saying , and not just wait for my turn to talk
When I find an opening to start speaking , I try to get my thoughts out as quickly as possible
because I know that if I take half a second to catch my breath or arrange my thoughts
the other person will jump on the chance to take their turn to start talking again
and I'm left with this half expressed thought on my tongue
A few weeks ago, the city ordenance guy came and put a sticker on my door , because I hadn't mowed my lawn yet
I eventually got out the mower and weed wacker , and tidied up the front lawn
For whatever reason , I decided to let the grass and weeds grow in the back yard
It was interesting to see everthing grow tall and wide
I had assumed the ordanance guy was satisfied with my cleaned up front lawn because I didn't get another note on my door
What I did get was a ticket in the mail for a $100 fine for "noxious plants"
When I went to pay the fine , I was a bit snarky with the cashier
I claimed to be a criminal , and when we were done , she said "have a great day" , I just turned and said "sure" , and got half a laugh from her
I mowed the back yard today
I didn't put the collection bag on the mower , and let the clippings fly every where
I was covered in grass clippings when I was done
After cutting the lawn yesterday, I've been sneezing a lot, and been itchy everywhere
I'm wondering if I've developed an allergy to grass
I've cut pop and sugary cereals out of my diet
but I've had to subsitute those with a lot of extra fruit
lemons, raisins, watermelon, grapes
There is noticably less fat under my skin
but my belly is sticking out more
I'm pooping a lot more
and my guts are giving me a bit of pain
Reddit has become my go-to place for infinite scrolling
I joined r/overpopulation
which led me to r/antinatalism
then led to r/natalism
I'm obviously on the anti-natalism side
but I'm not as fervent or obsessed with the movement as others are
My reddit feed has been filled with posts from those people
and it's more about eliminating the human race or not causing suffering by being born
I just want to reduce the number of humans back down to a reasonable level to reduce pollution
and I do agree that I probably wouldn't have asked to been born , it's more because my parents sucked
I've had a back and forth debate with somebody trying to get them to understand that I want to have fewer humans by reducing the birth rate
not eliminate the human race by murdering everybody or stopping births
A new "restaurant" has opened called Motor City Meat Pies
I was expecting an actual pie, but it's just a folded over bit of dough with meat filling
The food is really tasty and will be my new replacement for Del Taco
Unfortunately, they're only open M-F until 7pm
For the past week, the temperature has been extra hot, more than 90 degrees
Obviously, I haven't turned on my air conditioning
but used a cool shower to rinse off
Tonight, a storm came through
The wind and rain cooled things down
It's so much better than AC
I'd have liked to strip down and cool off in the rain
but people get mad when they see me naked
I used to be excited about the solstices and equinoxes
but now they seem to just fly by without me noticing
Anyway, today is the Summer Solstice @4:50pm
Best Day Sailing Ever
I've been checking the weather forcast
It's going to be 90+ with a good wind coming out of the west
but I wasn't prepared for the best day ever
I got to the lake a bit earlier than I normally would
I had fixed my rudder, so I shouldn't have steering issues any more
The wind was perfect for getting away from the shore
There was plenty of wind, but not too many waves
I put on sunscreen, but the clouds became overcast, so no chance of getting sunburnt
I've always said that 90+ degrees and overcast is perfect weather
I drank a lot of beer and had lots of people loving my laidback attitude
bootie bootie bootie bootie BOOTIE ! OPPAI !
I got out of the boat and walked around a bit , enjoying the warm water
I was out there for a long time
And the wind was perfect for getting back to shore
I was worried that I got sunburnt eventhough it was overcast, but I got just enough sun
I've gone my whole life without getting bird shit on me
but in the past couple of months, it's happened three times
The first time , I was doing yard work in the back with my shirt off , when I felt a "splat" on my shoulder
Then a couple of weeks later, I was laying my hammock when I got a "splat" on my hand
Today, I was driving with my arm out the window, when "splat"
I wonder if the birds are getting smarter and more hateful
One reason I bought my house where I did was because it was so close to a body of fresh water
I was looking forward to splashing around on a hot summer day
but I was told not to touch the water because it is full of chemicals and filth
I was curious how bad it was , so I got a clear container and pulled up some of the water
The water was not clear , but not as bad as I thought it might be
It's a light shade of brown
If I didn't know any better, I might actually swim in it
I recently learned that the water is full of poop and ecoli
The sewer lines and storm drains go to the same place to get cleaned
but if it rains too much, both waters will over flow into the rivers
Which is why they will issue a warning when it rains a lot
I was thinking that the extra water would wash extra crap into the river from the surface streets
but that the river should actually get cleaner because the rain thins out the yuck
For the past couple of years, I've been having dreams about dead people
Rocky, Jim, Aunt Pat, Uncle Ray are some I can remember
If I were superstitious, I might take this as a bad omen of my impending doom
I play Wordle
As their first word, most people use words like CRANE to get the most clues
I use ZEBRA, because I can find the solution with any beginning word
and I like words that have uncommon letters like Q J and Z
and when the word of the day is ZEBRA, I'm gonna feel pretty smart
Well today is that day
Usually, I only get R and E to hit
I was surprised to see all the letters flip over at once
I would have been super pissed If I hadn't played today