Have we all fantasized about disappearing into a tiny cabin in the mountains, or is that just my personal midlife coping mechanism? Like—could I actually live without TV, internet, and the endless parade of things designed to manipulate, monetize, and emotionally ambush me every waking moment?
This weekend I put that theory to the test during my once-a-month volunteer camp ranger duties and made a genuine attempt to unplug and let nature humble me. Nature’s first move: a daytime opossum hanging out near my cabin. In broad daylight. Just living its best life. I had my dog with me, so we probably scared it off, but it was still nice to see one existing peacefully instead of being tragically road-flattened.
Usually when you see opossums it’s at night, frozen in your headlights, eyes glowing like they’ve been summoned from a low-budget horror movie. This one? Chill. Respectable. Possibly judging me.
Overall, very laid-back weekend—minus a toilet overflowing in one of the cabins. Thankfully it was only clean water, which I mopped up.
Well. “Clean.” As clean as toilet water can be before it becomes a philosophical question.
I’ve been listening to…
the new Story of the Year album, A.R.S.O.N.—which, for the record, stands for “All Rage Still Only Numb.” I love this band, but that acronym feels like one of those moments where everyone in the room brainstormed what the word could stand for instead of saying, “Yeah… maybe don’t force it.”
This band has been floating around my life for a long time. Back in the early 2000s, Page Avenue was a no-skips classic for me. Fast-forward to adulthood and somehow their last album, Tear Me to Pieces, became the unofficial soundtrack to my entire 2023—one of those records that just quietly attaches itself to a year whether you plan for it or not. I even caught them at a small venue in Minneapolis when they were touring that album, which is always a reminder that seeing a band live can completely rewire how you feel about them. Bonus outcome: I walked out with a new favorite band thanks to the opener, Four Year Strong.
So expectations were… not low. If Page Avenue is an A and Tear Me to Pieces is also an A, then A.R.S.O.N. lands somewhere around a B- or maybe even a C+ on a grumpy day. It’s solid, it has moments, it just doesn’t hit the same emotional pressure points. “Gasoline,” “Disconnected,” and “Into the Dark” are the standouts, and I gave the album multiple listens because sometimes music sneaks up on you like that.
It didn’t sneak far enough yet. Still good—just not that good. Which, honestly, might be a me problem as much as an album problem.
I’ve been reading…
Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope by Mark Manson. This was a strategic pivot. Red Rising had me spiraling about the future of humanity, and Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism was… also not exactly a warm hug. So I decided I needed something lighter. Something hopeful.
Naturally, the first few chapters were about lobotomies.
Not the vibe I was aiming for.
For context, Manson is better known for The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, which I still haven’t read but absolutely enjoy owning in theory. I figured a book literally subtitled “About Hope” might help balance out all the doom I’ve been marinating in.
To be fair, once I powered through the unexpected brain-surgery content, it does start trending upward emotionally. I like his writing style—smart, blunt, and weirdly comforting in a “we’re all doomed but let’s be honest about it” kind of way.
So I’m sticking with it. But this experience has made me realize I might need to rotate in some aggressively bubbly nonfiction soon. You know. As a treat.
I’ve been watching…
a little NASCAR racing (which is like saying National association for stock car auto racing racing) and caught the first episode of season 2 of The Pitt which ended on such a cliffhanger and I just haven’t gotten to get to episode 2 yet and still am just aching to find out what the realization was at the end of that episode. My fandom in auto racing has definitely come back in recent years and I was pretty excited to see the stock car racing season return. I tried to catch the grand national series race on Saturday but had no access to CW. The cup series race was a typical superspeedway race, only exciting at the end. My guy, Chase Elliott, was in position to win right at the end but was overtaken in the final turn and then fairly unnecessarily crashed out by Riley Herbst along with a few others. I saw some in-car video of Kyle Busch’s last lap, he was in 30th place, frustrated that he was losing yet another Daytona 500, and he can be heard on radio being asked “Did you run out of gas” as he dropped away from the pack. He said something along the lines of “no, I’m not going to race up to the wreck, I’m in 30th place.” Turned out he knew what he was doing as there were two big crashes on that last lap and he just drove through them to 15th place. He called it! Anyway, one of Michael Jordan’s cars won the race which is cool for him. I feel like if more people knew about his involvement MJ could bring some mainstream interest back to the sport. If you haven’t read the story, his dad was a big racing fan in North Carolina. Oh, speaking of North Carolina, I have a work trip to Charlotte coming up in March! A very random place to be traveling for my corporate creative job that I’ve never been to. I’m thinking of checking out the NASCAR Hall of Fame while there if I can get a little extra time.
I’ve been drinking…
Summit EPA, didn’t have a chance to explore as there’s no drinking out at the Scout Camps. So I just had a couple while watching racing on Sunday and it mostly just made me drowsy but was a comforting flavor to enjoy on a Sunday with the sun out, made me feel like summer is coming which is a great feeling. So no beer review from the weekend as I’ve already of course reviewed my favorite beer.
Hot take of the week…
NASCAR is way more of a sport with physical and mental skill tests than people realize.
“They just turn left” is the laziest sports take on Earth. Yeah, footballers just chase balls around. Managing tire wear, drafting inches from other cars at 190 mph with full focus and turn timing at the edge of control, adjusting lines lap-to-lap, and keeping your brain focused for 3-4 hours is elite. I’m honestly more impressed with it than some Olympic sports.
Quote of the week…
“Racism isn’t born, folks, it’s taught. I have a two-year-old son. You know what he hates? Naps! End of list” –Denis Leary
Denis Leary is one of my favorite comedians from the 90s. He was part of the Daytona 500 intro show, which led to some comments about him in the Reddit pre-race threads that were disappointing. “What’s he doing here? Was he ever funny?” Really? You haven’t heard the asshole song? How can people not appreciate Denis Leary? He’s awesome. Kurt Russell was also at the race, also awesome. You gotta watch Big Trouble In Little China if you haven’t.
Be sure to check out my other recent posts…
- A Professional Network for Unprofessional Thoughts, a hot take post on the lunatics who post on LinkedIN and get called out regularly on a popular subreddit
- My previous Monday check in on surviving snow tubing with the Cub Scouts
- My Super Bowl Sunday evening reactive take on Lady Gaga’s Mister Rogers cover in a Super Bowl commerical
- My Beer Review of my highest rated beer, Pseudo Sue, also a highly rated Iowa beer on BeerAdvocate
- My story about my kids laughing at me while playing Fortnite and rage quitting
