Ordinary Canary

What a month!
About a month ago, I took my kid brother into my house and set about the business of raising a teenager. Although strange at first, this has gone surprisingly well, and it’s been just delightful having a young mind around the house. I really enjoy his different perspective. Even if [...]

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New York has something called The Season, which I’d never experienced before moving here. It starts on Memorial Day, lasts until Labor Day, and means that you go to the beach as much as possible. You sip teas and take things slower. You go to your timeshare on Fire Island or [...]

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This weekend was very busy, since I was entertaining a friend that was visiting from out of town. The highlight was seeing Patton Oswalt who is an absolutely brilliant comedian from Sterling, Virginia (Virginia pride, whoo!). You probably wouldn’t like him if crude language offends you, but he has some very smart things [...]

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Signs you’re in a serious relationship:
1. You gave away some of your own clothes to clear a drawer in your dresser.
2. You gave said drawer to him for him to keep clothes at your house.
3. You live in New York, where closet space is slightly more precious than the blood of a [...]

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The weekend sum-up:
1. Get home, go to local hardware store, buy more paint stuff. Make subpar dinner with roasted potatoes and peas.
2. Ignore exhaustion, spend hours taping up room, hallway and bathroom in preparation for painting.
3. Sleep for five hours, wake up with Looming Responsibilities hanging over me. 
4. Paint, paint, paint.
5. Discover body is in [...]

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Aside from my current insomnia, it was another rather lovely weekend.
My house is well under way in being painted, but I still had to run around to hardware stores to pick up a few last colors. Damn my training in color theory that makes it impossible to paint everything one color because the [...]

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September has arrived again, though this is the first time that I’m 28 years old for it.  It is the second time that it’s shown up and I’ve had a college degree, which has lead to no small amount of duress.  It took me so long to get my degree (six years) that after I [...]

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My big Irishman and meself have been talking about how to get more exercise, since neither of us are doing much of it lately. So last Sunday, after he got back from Dublin, we went to the local indoor/outdoor pool complex.
Let it be known: I am no Michael Phelps.
In fact, I can barely swim [...]

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Last night, my big Irishman called me from Dublin, where he has been for the last week.
me: What were you up to today?
him: Well, I went to the store and bought some maggots so I…
me: Stop right there. You bought maggots?
him: Well, it’s for the trout, see, I was going to the river…
me: Honey, [...]

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Energy has been a bit of a struggle lately. Unfortunately, it’s mid-July, which means it’s high sinus season. Fighting off sinus headaches and praying for rain to come and alleviate the problem takes an awful lot of energy.
This morning I was woken up by the pain in my head, which my sleep groggy [...]

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