Random Notes from a Crank

Someone should do a documentary on the actors who were in the High School Musicals. Because I've seen all of them multiple times because of my kids, I'd be interested to see what those folks are up to. 

That thought reminds me of my daughter playing Sharpay in High School Musical Jr. in middle school. It was quite a treat. 

I'm a frustrated Dad up in the stands this basketball season. My son dresses varsity but rarely gets to play. The head coach is playing guys ahead of him who are clearly not as good as him. Those players are seniors and/or are sons of people who work in the school district. 

As a coach I would be committed to playing the guys who give me the best chance to win. Small town bullshit. 

As much as these basketball teams want to chuck up threes all the time, if you're not going to play good defense, you're going to get beat. 

I saw the image below online on Bluesky. It's a good image to reflect what Project 2025, Moscow Don, and his goons are going to try to do. 

I have not read The Handmaid's Tale, but I get the general premise of the novel: men wanting to control women. I recently ordered a copy and then cancelled the order because I'll just get a copy from my local library when I feel like reading some fiction. I'm more of a non-fiction reader. 

Today's my birthday, and two of my presents are the following: Tottenham won 3-0 in extra time in their FA Cup match, and Manchester United beat Arsenal on penalty kicks in that FA Cup match.  

Random Notes from a Crank

So I'm here in Florida visiting the in-laws. We did the Disney thing as usual, going to Epcot on one day and the alleged "magic kingdom" the next. The trip to the latter was brutal ~ hot and crowded as Hades. 

Epcot was a more enjoyable day although I've met a ride that made me nauseous. For some reason, we decided to go on the "more extreme" option of the Mission: Space ride there. The other option was "less extreme." The ride takes you on a space shuttle launch to Mars with certain stomach-churning hijinks. Of the four of us who partook in the ride, the only one who wanted to go on it again was my nine-year old daughter. Mrs. Nasty had serious thoughts about using one of the barf bags that were furnished. 

Since my in-laws live in a gated community, when I read Roxane Gay's flash fiction piece in the Spring issue of the Oxford American, I was taken by this bit of dialogue from Marcy's husband in "Group Fitness": "'Baby, people love the illusion of safety and the spectacle of enclosure.'"

Random Notes from a Crank

I've spent part of the last three days painting the trim and wood parts of the exterior of the Nasty home. Painting, and I've done a lot of it in the past dozen years or so, always takes longer than you think it's going to. The most uncomfortable part of the project is that my feet hurt. All that time going up, going down, and standing on a ladder kills your feet. My dogs are barking.

Before I started painting this morning, the neighbor across the street was having a big garage sale because they finally sold the house after they got the asking price to a reasonable level. I picked up some nice old tools--channel lock pliers from the 30s, skinny needle nose pliers that look just as old, and a sledgehammer. I don't know why I need a sledgehammer, but I got one now. I'm gonna be pounding some stuff, whatever that stuff may be, with force, clowns.

After I applied sunscreen before we went to the pool, my five-year old son had this comment as we backed out of the driveway: "You're really hairy, Daddy. You're like a BEAST." I am, son. And he's one of my favorite Marvel comic book characters. My son's comment also reminded me of a couple of my fraternity brothers who enjoyed calling me Teen Wolf. It could be time to do some "urban surfing."

I have been known, on occasion, to howl at the moon.

Because I've seen so many Disney Channel sit-coms, I'm thinking about writing a post that acerbically distills the fundamentals and themes that have to be in a Disney show.

Then again, I have to give the massive company credit for their new standards about food advertising to kids. There are lots of articles out there about the new standards, but here's one from Time. Kudos to Disney/ABC/etc.

As for the two recipes below -- Sweet Potato Salad and Serrano Infused Cucumber Soup -- I prefer the latter. I'll be making it again for sure, especially since summer is upon us.

Random Notes from a Crank

We're down here in Florida for spring break. On Monday we were at Disney. We took in Hollywood Studios and a bit of the alleged Magic Kingdom. The highlight of that day was my son and daughter being part of the Padawan training associated with the Star Wars part of Hollywood Studios park. They got trained to be Jedi warriors and then took on Darth Vader.

My daughter was up first. She did the moves as instructed. My son, on the other hand, "freestyled" as his trainer described it.  He must really hate Darth. He went after him. 

After about three hours into our time at the Magic Kingdom, the kids were tired. So were we. They wanted to go back to the condo and swim instead of deal with all those people at Disney during spring break. I concurred. Concur I did. Verily.

I'm worried about my garden. On Friday I planted two rows of shallots (one from seed, the other from sets), a row of spinach, a row buttercrunch lettuce, and a row or red Romaine. From what I gather from the InterWebTube, it's been unseasonably warm in central IL. That wouldn't be a big deal, but I'm not there to keep the newly planted seeds moist. Sure hope there's been rain. 

This season I tested whether I could keep my flat leaf parsley in the ground and have it come back in the spring just like my chives do. The parsley did fine. I could go pick some now if I were there. 

I have a hunger for raw oysters. I will satiate it soon.

After finishing Kevin Young's Ardency a while back, I started into Sherman Alexie's old collection, The Business of Fancydancing, but didn't bring it with me, unfortunately. But I've got plenty of other stuff I need to read anyway.

I'm gearing up for my fantasy baseball draft next Saturday. Projected WHIP, K rates, OBP, homeruns, and RBI along with last year's BABIP, these are on my mind every once in a while. 

Maybe I'll do another Fantasy Red Herrings post for the schmohawks out there.

Disney Post-Mortem

As is our fashion, when we visit the grandparents in Florida, we usually take in a Disney theme park or two.

Here are some random observations from this trip to Disney:

• What is it with going to Disney that makes college football fans wear all of their gameday gear? I saw scads of LSU fans with their garb on along with Auburn, Tennessee, Florida, and Alabama. There was lots of double- and triple-dorking going on. For example: a guy wearing a Michigan jersey along with a hat; a dude wearing a strange camo-like sweat suit with LSU on the pants, jacket, and hat--all matching; and a fellow decked out in Georgia red and black. Less is more, people.
• I'll say this again: tattoos don't age well.
• I'm not being xenophobic here, but in America we tend to walk on the right side of the street like we drive our cars. Get with it, Europeans.
• We destroy main streets across America, but then we create hokey facsimiles of them in theme parks? Is America, as Bill Bryson relates I'm a Stranger Here Myself, prone to celebrating things it destroys? Is American culture a Faux Culture?