Mid-July vibes...

16 July 2026: Pretty quiet day here today, but I managed to get a lot done. Got a lien-free title for the car (took less than 15 minutes at the DMV, I think?), did some cleaning out of my kitchen cabinets and took a bunch of stuff to Goodwill (inspired by cleaning out the Martinsburg house), and did some "work work," too. 

All of that is good...but the vibes all around sure seem oppresive. Can't be outside too long because of the heat and the wildfire smoke. Can't even eat salad or berries without worrying. So many signs of broken systems in a broken country. And so much uncertainty with my mom.

I meant to get even more done tonight, but might just take is easy. Checking out the new Little House on the Prairie. Hope it's good.

Cold Case

9 July 2026: Yesterday I discovered that a network I didn't even know I had is showing a block of Cold Case episodes every afternoon. 

This is very good news: I really liked this procedural in my grad school days--Rita and Vogel used to come over to my apartment to watch it. We'd cook dinner and everything. And I remember some of these episodes so well. (We'd also play a game where you had to guess the killer before the last act break.)

It's also potentially very bad news, maybe distracting me from my work. Ha.

Anyway, an episode started today that I instantly remembered, including that Jason Dohring, who I loved so much on Veronica Mars, was in it. And man--rewatching this? You see everything in that performance that you would later see in Logan Echolls.

In fact, I was just thinking that when a graphic popped up...

Okay, StartTV...why is your programmer targeting me this way? 

"Hot Pants Rain Dance"

29 June 2026: Sitting here now watching the Bob's Burgers episode "Paraders of the Lost Float" This one never jumped out at me before, but tonight I am loving how it's ultimately about embracing joy and fun when it comes to us. "Hot Pants Rain Dance" epitomizes this vibe, of course--a vibe that I welcome this evening. 

Strange, silly, but ultimately true that this show has gotten me through so much hard stuff. 

5001

27 May 2026: So I just noticed that Blogger is saying this is post #5001, which is kind of wild. Been at this since 2007 and posting daily since 2016. 

Seems like that's enough for a post today--at least once I add a little groove: this song that's been in my head since I heard it on an episode if Ponies (which is a very fun show).

We did, indeed, have time, baby...

2 May 2026: Just finished the second season of School Spirits, not bad considering what I posted a last Friday. But sure enough, with some of my regular TV shows going on hiatus and work slowing down just enough, I got to enjoy every episode and can cross this one off my "to be watched" list. 

Onto the next one...

School Spirits

24 April 2026: Got home this evening and started up where I left off on the latest season of School Spirits--episode six. The "previouslies" had me thinking, "I don't remember any of that..." So I went back to episode five. Same thing. Then four. Then three.

I think I must have been half watching them--over Spring Break, I think--and with everything going on, they just didn't sink in. 

It kind of bummed me out. Like...just weird and a sign of being kind of a mess at times--unfocused, distracted. 

So...I started the new season again. Just about done with episode one. Starting over feels kind of good. 

"It's almost summer, baby, and we've got time," I tell myself, trying to believe it. Every time I say something like that--even to myself--I cringe like I'm conjuring some bad mojo...

This evening, though, I'm mostly believing it. "Relax. We've got time."

"Amelia"

24 March 2026: A lot on my mind tonight at the end of a long day. Getting just a few more things done with one of my favorite Bob's Burgers episodes playing: "Amelia." Always soothes me and makes me smile.

 

WFH day...

5 February 2026: A long WFH day is exactly what I needed. I made good progress on a bunch of fronts which is letting me breath easier as I move through these busy weeks. 

The extra reward: a new episode of The Pitt. 

Back in The Pitt...

7 January 2026: In preparation for Season 2 dropping tomorrow, I am rewatching Season One of The Pitt. Just as with the first watch, this show--somehow--gives me such comfort and hope. Decent, compentent people who care and do their best. Everything is so dark right now--a violent, reckless government with so much blood on its hands--and helplessness and hopelessness are right there, calling us towards them. Art like this show, though, reminds us of the light. 

Reading, thank-you notes, and course prep...

28 December 2025: Started the day off finishing my book club's latest novel, Food Person. I didn't love it, but I am glad to have read it and I am excited to talk about it with Kaitlyn and Cory next week. (We had to reschedule.) 

Next, I knocked out my thank-you notes. Some are for folks who sent flowers or other gifts when my dad died. The rest are for Christmas gifts. When you are feeling the way I am these days, taking the time to pick out the stationery I'll use, thinking about what to write, and addressing the correspondance is exactly the kind of work that can be satisfying and rewarding, reminding me of what I am thankful for. 

Finally, I've been working on my syllabi, particularly for ENGL 377. Making steady progress here and feeling excited about the work the students and I will take on this semester.

In between all of that, there's been walking (mostly around the house--too cold and rainy for me to venture out), movies, and TV. 

Almost got misty when I saw that Bob's Burgers reruns are on until 9:00 (and then the regular episode on Fox at 9:30). Perfect accompaniment for working through my list...

Still thinking about "What the Living Do," perhaps the perfect text for this "always strange but this year stranger than ever" time of year before the spring semester starts.

Christmas 2025

25 December 2025:

[Catch-up post...]

Muddled through somehow, as the song goes. Presents with my mom, church, a visit to the cemetery where Ryan is, a long, cold, windy walk (the only kind they are offering on LI these days, I guess), dinner at Tara's, Legos with Evan, then back to Palm Road for the Call the Midwife holiday episode. 

Jeopardy! is back!

8 September 2025: Long Monday (see previous post re: a bruiser of a week). Got home after Jeopardy! started--and not even aware that we were back to new episodes, but the DVR caught it. Having it back in my evening routine? Now it's a fall semester. 

Forever

2 August 2025: Slowly working my way through Forever on Netflix. I still have about an episode and a half to go, but it strikes me as a really beauitful show. 

The two kids at the heart of it are so sweet and swoony. They feel real. (A credit to the actors--and all the actors involved.) The parents also seem real and nuanced. They remind me of how hard it must be to love your kids so much yet have this wall that springs up when they reach adolescene. 

Little moments are skillfully realized, from the way the kids text each other (or not--lots of hot and cold at times!) to the confrontations between them and their parents. 

It's a slow and quiet show, the kind that sometimes get overlooked by larger audiences, but it really is a gem.  

Somebody Somewhere, again...

24 July 2025: Not a ton of "new" stuff that I am watching right now, but I was searching for something that could make me feel okay--even happy--for evening watching. Decided to rewatch (for the fourth time, maybe?) Somebody Somewhere. I know I've written about it before (more than once), but it's just perfect. Each watch reveals something new. Grateful to have it in my life. 

Pretty sweet Sunday...

20 July 2025: I know I sometimes document days like today--posts that are basically lists of things I did. They aren't the most interesting posts, I know, but for me, they can serve as little snapshots of ordinary but sweet days. So here's one:

I got an early start with a trip to campus (my first in over a week!) to do a little work and (almost more important to me, at least emotionally) water my plants. 

It's pretty cool to be close to the end of my reading for the "Year's Work" essay. My syllabi are coming along well, too. On Friday, I accepted a new role--Coordinator of First-Year Writing--that means a course release for me, which cut that syllabizing work down quite a bit.

Once I got home, I took my walk through the neighborhood. Laughed really hard at an Extra Hot Great episode. 

From there, I was basically inside the rest of the afternoon. (Still pretty hot out there; it's been an intense summer.) I watched some TV (finished You, which was okay) and read a horror novel by a local writer. I'm enjoying it and have about 120 pages to go.

Then Amy and I saw Magdalene, a CATF play. I really enjoyed it; terrific acting, as always, and some cool ideas. From there, we had dinner at King's.

Home now and just finished a phone call with Tim. Bob's Burgers time (it continues to be my comfort show) until some more reading, bath, and bed!

"Replicants"

7 July 2025: Working my way through the latest season of The Bear. It's good (duh), with moments of absolute greatness, but continues to perhaps take too long and retreads familiar ground. 

But, man: the first scene of "Replicants," in which Kate Berlant (in a one-off performance, I think?) talks about her love, frustration, anger, and profound sadness towards her addict brother? I am adding it to the canon of texts that feel so sadly right to me.

I was already thinking about Ryan today, after hearing that a friend lost her sister to an overdose...

Andor

27 June 2025: Given all the political news (including just awful stuff out of the Supreme Court today), it's a heck of a week to start watching Andor. But seeing it was available for a limited time on Hulu, I decided to give it a shot, given all I have heard about how good it is. 

Me being me, I teared up time and again while watching, especially "One Way Out" and "Rix Road." What a show for this moment. 

(On to Season 2, I guess. We'll see how far I can get before the free window on Hulu runs out.) 

Quite the resume...

28 May 2025: As I type up notes this evening, I am continuing the very slow first-time watch of C.S.I. (started last summer). I made it to season five, episode 15, where a very familiar face played the very much non-nurturing mother of an "adult baby." (This show is so wild...)

Anyway, the actress, Nan Martin, had a long career, but two iconic (to me) roles stand out: Freddy Krueger's mom in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Child and Frieda Claxton on Golden Girls. 

What a career! 

School Spirits

9 May 2025: Besides a bit of work on my SSAWW paper and some little things on campus, I've been kind of lazy when it comes to work these past two days. And that's okay. One sign of that laziness? I just kind of randomly decided to start a new series on Paramount+, School Spirits. Since yesterday, I've watched the first six episodes and it is fun and smart, with some Veronica Mars and Buffy vibes. 

"Where'd she go?"

26 February 2025: I first saw Michelle Trachtenberg as Lily Benton way back in 1993. She must have been about eight. When she appeared in the last scene of "Buffy vs. Dracula," I clocked her as Lily right away. And then I just marveled at how well she played the very difficult role of Dawn--a character meant to be a lot and immature and annoying, but also just a kid. She nailed it. 

I keep thinking of the last scene of "The Body," where she asked, "Where'd she go?" as she reaches out to Joyce, with the scene ending just before she touches her. 

Hard to believe that kid is gone. I hope she rests in peace.