Revelation

  

As part of one of my New Year’s resolutions, I joined a bible study group at my church.

 

Four studies were offered: The Mass, The Timeline of the Church, Mary, and The Book of Revelation. Which do you think I chose? Your humble author, devourer of science fiction and weird esoterica such as Nostradamus, and aficionado of historical mysteries? That’s right; I signed up to do a deep dive into the Apocalypse.

 

We meet on Monday nights from 7 to 9. So far I attended two sessions. We’re working with a study guide published by Ascension Press. The classes start with an hour reviewing the questions from the workbook out loud; these vary from simple listings of the various items we read in the current chapter to speculation on what God is speaking to us through them. Then we watch an hourlong recorded presentation by the author of the study workbook. It covers not only the text of the Book of Revelation, but the historical, cultural, biblical, and spiritual context of the themes we encounter. There are about 25 of us in the group, one-third men and two-thirds women, ranging in age from mid-30s to one in her late 80s. I’m about the median age. So far I’ve found it warm, welcoming, and extremely interesting and informative. I expect to be an expert in the final book of the New Testament when the study ends in ten weeks.

 

In the days leading up to the first class I felt a little weird. The last college course I took was nearly thirty years ago. Apart from a few classes for my IT certifications around the turn-of-the-century and my eight-week H&R Block tax preparer course in 2016, this is my first foray into formalized group learning in a long while. I must admit, auto-didact I claim to be, there’s nothing like a group setting to hold one’s feet to the fire. Plus, I am learning from my classmates. All are nice people, all are the sort of Catholics who put their faith into practice, so I quickly overcame any nerves midway through the first session.

 

Already I am loaded with stats and trivia. But I am wondering whether I would share that here or, if so, how much and what exactly? While recapping every session might be overkill, I think I’ll post some “highlights” midway through and an evaluation when it finishes at the end of March. And maybe some odd or inspiring things I come across here and there. There is a “homework heavy” aspect to the preparation before a sessions (15-20 minutes daily), so I don’t want to burn myself out. I am, after all, still reading other non-religious books voraciously, as well as working and parenting full time, walking as much as possible, etc.

 

I’ll have to give it some thought. But I’ll definitely post something, and continue to write and publish here when the spirit moves me.

 

Happy (End Times) readings!

 

Christmas 2025

 

Well, our fifth Christmas down in Texas has come and passed. And to celebrate, Texas delivered summer for us. Yes, temps hovered around 80, blessing us with a minor sun’s anvil. I walked my route around the ponds both days, in t-shirt and shorts, and each time I finished I felt like I had mowed the lawn, ran a 10K, lifted weights with a young Arnold on Venice Beach and gyrated to the “Flash Dance” song while welding two metal boards together. It was unseasonably hot.

 

But it did not dampen our Christmas. Fortunately, down here AC systems are no joking matter, and we kept the indoor climate a frosty 68.

 

That was really the only negative, though. We went to Christmas Eve’s midnight mass at our local parish, with Little One’s boyfriend joining us for the first time. He’s a Christian but not a Catholic, so this was a legit trial by fire for him, and he handled it well. By the time all was done, however, we didn’t get to bed by 2 am (or 3 am, in some cases), so Christmas Day didn’t commence until 11 am the next morning.

 

It was a leisurely day of opening gifts, snacking, drinking, and eating leftovers. The Mrs. made a pot roast for dinner, complimented with Little One’s carrots and feta cheese dip. Patch was recovering from sickness, so we kept her away from cooking duties. We watched – and good-heartedly mocked – a Hallmark flick while Little One visited her bf’s family in the evening. Then I read a bit and went to bed just after midnight.

 

So I know you’re all wondering – what did Santa bring the Hopper?

 

Well, as always, Santa did good by me.

 

The Mrs. bought me two John Le Carré books. Le Carré is my newest literary obsession, having read The Spy Who Came in From the Cold last week. Haven’t “reviewed” it yet, but I’ll get there. The books she bought me were the two that precede TSWCIFTC. You should read Le Carré in order, as later books reference early ones, and you want to journey through them as spoiler-free as possible. She also gifted me some socks and skin care, which my old epidermis is in dire need of, plus a gift card to my local used book store.

Patch continued her passion for gifting me records – the 62nd and 63rd in my collection: Two Schubert albums, Symphony No. 5 in Bb, Symphony No. 8 in Bm (“Unfinished”) and the Quintet in A, better known as the “Trout.” And Little One bought me … an ergonomic comfy chair for my desk, having seen the pathetic metal folding chair – with a small blanket cushion – I’d been using for the past couple of years. So no more achy back. A practical gift, one of the best types of presents.

... Not shown - my new ergonomic chair! ...

I, whose love language is definitely NOT gift giving, lucked out. Everyone seemed to like what I gave them. I bought the wife a hockey puck – with tickets to a Dallas Stars game on the other side. She’s turned into a manic hockey fan, and enjoys the games exponentially more than I do. They’re playing the Bruins at the end of January, and she hates Boston. I got Patch Steven King’s Carrie (a favorite she’s been looking for forever but Texas doesn’t seem to stock) and an Ulta gift card; and Little One a flexible jar opener (an inside joke, useful now that she lives in her own apartment) and a PetCo gift card, to take care of her new kitten over there.

My boss got us all squishy blankets, so I regifted that for my dog Charlie; he’s a connoisseur of anything blanket-y, the softer the better. Candles and gift certificates and gift cards from parents both north and east of us rounded out the holiday haul.

I’m off for the next three days – my gift to myself – and then I work Monday and Tuesday of next week, followed by New Year’s Eve and Day off. I plan a post on my resolution as well as a post mortem on 2024’s resolution for 2025. Oh, and the 2025 Best Ofs! Don’t forget that annual festivity!

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

More to follow!

 

Hopper's Day Out

 

At the beginning of the month I still had seven days of PTO left. These are of a “use or lose” variety, so I requested some random Wednesdays and Fridays. Today was the first. And since I was all by myself (well, the dog shadowed me all morning while I did my laundry), I decided to jump in the car and drive the 40 minutes northwest to Denton, Texas. We’d been there last four years ago touring the University of North Texas with Little One, and while there, after a late lunch, we spotted a huge used bookstore where I was able to browse and pick up a few things of interest.

 

It was time to return.

Downtown Denton

 

So I motored on out and spent an hour in the store. A vast quantity and quality of used books, CDs, DVDs, records, games, video games, and other collectible memorabilia. Heaven, in other words. Here’s what I scored:

 

Three records –

 

Florida Suite / Dance Rhapsody No. 2 / Over the Hills and Far Away – composed by Frederick Delius and conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.

 

Holiday Symphony – composed by Charles Ives and conducted by Leonard Bernstein.

 

Der Freischutz – an opera composed by Carl Maria von Weber and conducted by Rudolf Kempe.

 

Florida Suite is a lovely piece of melody sublime in its beauty, its conciseness, its power to evoke nature untouched by man. Loved it for over two decades and have possibly a different version of it on CD somewhere. Holiday Symphony features the discordant work of Charles Ives (I did a short post on this highly eccentric composer in the early days of this blog). My favorite piece is “Thanksgiving.” Finally, I bought the opera Der Freischutz due to having fond memories listening to it as a newlywed when we first returned to New Jersey after our 18-month stint in Maryland. Good stuff, all.

 

Then I spotted stacked double against a long wall an uncountable amount of science fiction paperbacks – must’ve been about 750 I would guess – and all priced for $1.00 each! How can you go wrong with a bargain like that? Unfortunately, they were not organized alphabetically, so I spent a good twenty minutes with my head tilted reading spine after spine. I picked out three, each one for a specific reason.

 

Space Skimmer is a book I read in Binghamton, NY, visiting my paternal grandparents right after my parents divorced, probably in the winter of 1981. It was a comforting read. Pirates of Venus was a book I may have read even earlier. But I do remember picking it up again in early 2009 and starting a re-read, when my toddler Patch disappeared the book for me. Never found it again. So I have unfinished business with this one. Finally, Asimov’s Foundation. Ah, Asimov’s Foundation! If ever a book was an Achille’s heel to my reading life, it was this one. Universally lauded as one of the all-time SF greats, I never read it as a kid, and the two or three times I tried as an adult it just never gained traction. Maybe this time will be the charm.

 

I got some Italian food on the way back, brought it home and ate while the dog tracked every piece going from my plate to my mouth, drool pooling around his anxious paws. And now he’s staring at me typing this. Will work on my two current reads later this afternoon and tonight will throw one of the new discs on the turntable.

 

All in all, a great PTO day.

 

PS – I have outlined reviews of three books recently read. Just need to compose them into some medium-length posts. Hopefully I can get one out every three days going in to Thanksgiving.

Hopper Yet Again a Year Older

 

Weird birthday this year. It fell in the middle of the week, during a stressful time for the Mrs. – she had CEOs from Europe touring her stores and would be overnighting in Houston on my birthday. No problem; I’m a big boy. Little One was stuck in school 45 minutes away; student teaching during the day and taking a class or two every night. Patch, however, has a birthday that falls the day before mine. So the agreement the family decided on was that we’d all celebrate Patch’s birthday the Sunday before and mine the Saturday after.  

 

Patch, as always, made out like a bandit. The Mrs. took care of all the makeup, beauty, and clothing gifts, with some help from Little One. I bought her a “Five Nights At Freddy’s” stuffed animal, an LED-strobe light thingie for their upstairs apartment, and a gift card to B&N. We had ramen at a highly-rated restaurant in downtown Dallas, and cake afterwards at home.

 

Me, all I wanted was a home-cooked meal. And the wife, as usual, outdid herself: homemade lasagna (half-veggie for Little One, half-meat for the rest of us) and – brownies for dessert! This we did last Saturday. I mowed the lawn and took Little One on errands on me while Patch worked at the boutique. I chilled in the afternoon watching a bad movie from my youth (1978’s The Medusa Touch, starring a drunk or hung-over Richard Burton) while the ladies went to the town pool. Then, lasagna, and after we ate I sat down in my chair in the living room to open up gifts. And what did they get me?

Well, for starters, I got this card from Patch:

 

Loved it. I know deep down she wants to read Tolkien but will never admit it. I’ll have to work on that.

 

She also gifted me two records: Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 in Bm (“Pathetique”) and a dual record of “Death and Transfiguration” by Richard Strauss on one side with Wagner’s “Siegfried Idyll” on the other. Both records are older than me by four and seven years respectively. I plan on listening to both later today. My collection is now up to 56 albums.

 

Little One, my impoverished college student, bought me a large Yankee candle for my desk, pumpkin flavor. But she spent the early afternoon with me, which is more priceless than any gift I could receive. She also bought me a card showing a smiling slice of pizza wishing me a Happy Birthday, with a heartfelt message inside.

 

The Mrs. bought me a desperately-needed pair of khakis and a book written by Charlie Kirk, Time for a Turning Point. I told her honestly that I may need a bit of distance before I crack the book. I was a huge Charlie Kirk fan for several years. He was one of the twenty or so YouTube channels I watched almost daily, and I agreed with about 98 percent of his message. If rumor was correct and he was contemplating converting to the Catholic faith, then that would up it to 100%. I’m thinking of starting the book early in the new year. To round off my gifts, she bought us tickets to see the Dallas Stars play in early October.

 

And that’s that. Another year round the sun, another year older. Sands through the hourglass, waiting for nobody. I’m in a good place in most of the categories I should be in a good place, save for two major areas I’m struggling with. Other than that, we now look forward to Little One’s birthday next week, the wife’s three weeks after that, then Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. Time marches on …

 

Feeling Guilty ...

 

 

Over the lack of posting this summer.

 

Truth is, my attention lay elsewhere, by choice and necessity. I’ve also been pursuing a lot of non-blogworthy topics and trains of thought. Couple that with a lack of inspiration, drive, and energy, and that should explain the dearth of posts.

 

It’s not that I’ve had no inspiration, drive, or energy this summer. But it’s been expended on … real life. A lot of busyness. A lot. Much familial growing. And we’re already back in school.

 

The wife and I met Little One’s new boyfriend over dinner and drinks in July. My daughter’s happy, he seems great, and we approve. She finished her day care job mid-August and jumped immediately into student teaching, helping with fourth- and fifth-graders in an impoverished city school. For commuting she bought my car (actually, paid off the remaining loan with her funds from the day care job) and I had a great experience at Carmax buying a new used car, which I’ve been driving three weeks now.

 

Patch has started her first retail job, working in a boutique a couple miles away, necessitating drop offs and pick ups at odd hours. She started her senior year in high school two weeks ago already. We had Back to School Night and met her teachers, and are happy with all. I particularly bonded with her new English teacher, who’s reading Watership Down for the first time. When meeting her statistics teacher, I opened with, “Tell me, what percentage of parents show up for Back to School Night?” Patch also got her driver’s permit, and we’re looking to head out to a parking lot this Monday for her first parent-taught lesson.

 

We drove out to Hill Country near Austin for a long lazy weekend, hanging with my wife’s sister and her extended family. They have a sprawling ranch with a pool, barn, and guesthouse, and are fresh from a year working in Barcelona. Many stories and much laughter. I actually got a little sunburnt swimming. Oh, and I saw my first scorpion – hanging out in the middle of the guest house where we were staying, where I was walking around in bare feet! I hurriedly covered it with a drinking glass. Per my brother-in-law, they can’t kill you, but a sting feels like a hot lava injection and is excruciatingly painful for about ten minutes. He promptly squashed the critter. And he warned us not to go behind the guesthouse, as he heard rattlesnakes back there.

 

Last weekend we moved Little One into her first off-campus apartment. She rooms with two other girls – one of whom has a very famous parent I cannot talk about. The other girl’s parents were there, and the father and I spent three hours assembling IKEA bunk beds. The apartment is across the street from her college and has (I’m told) a very Melrose-place vibe. There’s a central pool and courtyard where all the college kids relax and party. There’s also a stray cat that’s made the courtyard its kingdom and prowls up and down, begging at doors.

 

Man, senior year for both girls is going to fly by. Next May we’ll have two graduations, and that follows right on the heels of our 25th wedding anniversary. Don’t ask to borrow any money off me in 2026 – I’ll be tapped out for a long while.

 

My reading has improved. I devoured a fascinating if somewhat dumbed-down-for-the-masses book called Math in 100 Numbers that’s got me inspired again. Those who know me know that every September when school starts, when that crispness floats in the air, I get an urge to read science and math. I also powered through a pretty good Ben Bova sci fi soap opera (Leviathans of Jupiter) and re-read the sci fi horror Altered States, a book I remember reading at the town pool 15 years ago with my toddlers in the kiddie pool. I am excited because September 1 I am going to start re-reading Stephen King’s It, one of my favorites of his, and one which I last read as a teen in 1987.

 

Healthwise, I did re-gain some weight this summer, but I resumed lifting weights and walking. I’d like to be under 200 by my birthday next month. But lifting gives me confidence and an overall sense of well-being, and I’m reconciled to have to do it for the rest of my life. Nothing nearly Schwarzeneggaresque. Just heavy enough that I won’t have a heart attack and my muscles will firm up and my belly shrink. And I still enjoy listening to my history podcasts while walking.

 

Other random summer 2025 events: played Mr. Mom for a couple days while my wife was on a short business trip to Houston; had a wonderful confession experience with a wonderful priest one Saturday; bought five more classical records for the collection; one daughter with a scary inexplicable hive breakout one night; another daughter hosting her bff at our house for a movie night / sleepover; and perhaps the biggest adrenaline rush – helicopters overhead and police cars zipping around the neighborhood one night searching for a possibly dangerous fugitive.

 

Toss in some other non-blogworthy stuff, and it’s quite a busy five weeks. This weekend, however, should be restful, relaxing, and chill. We’re expected to have blah weather. Overcast, spots of rain, temps not too hot but kinda muggy. The wife wants to get some pool time in with Little One, but we’re not sure if that’ll happen. I want to wrap up my current read, watch some movies with and without Patch, keep lifting weights and get a few walks in. I need desperately to mow the lawn but need 24 hours of rain-free weather to accomplish that. Then, September, the Hopper birthday month.

 

Until then, here’s Charlie:

And here’s a review I posted in 2010 about Altered States. It’s a quick read worth a look.

 

Summer Moving Along

 

Haven’t had the energy or the will to post anything of interest. Not that it hasn’t been an interesting summer so far. But what is currently occupying my mind and my time are private thoughts, deep thoughts, self-directed thoughts which might not interest you.

 

The most I will say, however, is that I have been expending a great deal of effort trying to figure out how to proceed to a new career. For twenty-three years I have been handling people’s money, in the form of payroll or tax prep. To be honest, similar to the three years I spent in IT at the start of the century, I am kinda sick of listening to people complain. I’m trying to find a niche that hits the ikigai sweet spot: something I’ll enjoy, something fairly in demand, and something that pays. I don’t need nor want to be a multimillionaire, but my salary over the past few years hasn’t risen with the costs of just about everything else, and that scares me a bit. Haven’t had any breakthroughs yet, but I’m still working on it.

 

The girls are spreading their wings, testing the air above and around the nest. Little One is getting valuable experience running a classroom of twenty-three children ages five to nine full-time. Patch is doing lots of odd jobs and is getting ready for the drivers exam to get her permit. They and the Mrs. are currently in Pennsylvania with my folks while they investigate a couple of northeast colleges for Patch and visit old friends. I’m stuck here in Texas, working and babysitting the dog. The $1,000+ we’ll save that would’ve gone to a round-trip ticket for me and a dogsitter is going to the cost of their rental car.

 

This week my routine has been fairly, well, routine. Wake up, let the dog out, feed him, go to work, do my spreadsheets and chat to my small circle of workmates for eight hours, go home, walk the dog, feed him, then feed myself and watch a movie. This week I watched Knocked Up, The Meg, Dream Scenario, and The Mummy. Then I try to read a bit, play fetch with good old Charlie, then go to bed. Rinse and repeat. Much like my bachelor days in the 90s, but with no beer, no cigarettes, no band and no night school.

 

Oh, wait! I have been playing my electric guitar. I usually practice for about an hour every weekend; been doing so since February – by the end of the year I should be up to speed. I’ve been focusing a lot on Led Zeppelin; got down the solos to Whole Lotta Love, Stairway, Misty Mountain Hop, Living Loving Maid – simple stuff, but fun stuff. Might try to learn Gilmore’s solo to Another Brick in the Wall. And I also got down the little solo and heavy bridge break in Beck’s Bolero. Sometimes I play along with an album, such as AC/DC’s Powerage or The Cult’s Sonic Temple. I find it a great distraction from the stresses of life, and now that guitar playing has no stress associated with it (auditioning band members, hauling everything to shows, balancing egos and having to keep pace with bandmates, etc.) I’m having a blast.

 

One area I’m not having a blast with is my literary life. I finished a cheesy beach paperback the first week of the month – I think I’ll save that for a review – but after that, I’m striking out one after the other. I tried my hand at a new fantasy novel (got 45 pages in), a philosophical history of German idealism (got 30 pages in), and indecision over whether to crack open an unread physics book on deck or an unread World War II book on deck. Even Little One attempted to help me out by lending me her copies of The Merchant of Venice, History of the Peloponnesian War, a book on Catholic teaching, and another on the 300-year history of the Medici family of Renaissance Florence. I thumbed through the first few pages of the Medici book last night, and will try to break into that later tonight.

 

I’m scheduled to pick the girls up from DFW late Sunday night, so I have another two days to myself. I think I’ll do some long walks both days and relax with a book at the park one afternoon (it’s supposed to be a high of 95 this weekend). And I also plan on driving over to the used book store to pick up my 50th record. I’m hoping to score a Wagner, but since they’re all good, I’m not picky.

 

Enjoy the weekend!

 

June Recap

 

 

In light of the dearth of postings, you may surmise June has been quite the busy month. And you’d be surmising correctly. A lot’s been going on down here at Chez Hopper south-of-the-border (well, south of the Mason-Dixon line, if said line stretched to the midpoint of the United States). Some blog-worthy stuff, some stuff that’s too personal for the semi-anonymity being thrown around here, and some stuff I don’t even want to commit to the electronic page.

 

One thing’s for sure: we’ve been on the go somewhat constantly. Little One, elementary school teacher-in-training, has been working full time at a pre-school / summer camp, going crazy each day with different themes (movie day, wacky water fun day, bake bread day, etc.) managing a class of around 25 five- to nine-year-olds. To get to her job, though, she needs my car, which leaves me with no wheels. So I have to be dropped off and picked up from my place of business three days a week, and to this soul who loves regularity, that’s often stressfully unpredictable. I normally clock out at 4, and being picked up at as early as 3:15 or as late as 6:30 is not an uncommon occurrence.

 

Patch had a week of Yearbook Camp, but that only meant we dropped her off at the high school and picked her up in the early evening. They bussed all the high school yearbook students (we have something like eleven high schools in our own monster-sized town) to one of the local community colleges where they all learned the creative and marketing aspects of yearbooking, brainstorming, playing games and winning prizes, and socializing.

 

The Mrs. has been fairly solitary, only leaving on one short business trip down to Austin for three days. But she’s been busy and stressed as ever. Me, I’ve taken to working on the exterior of my home. Each weekend I’m mowing, cutting shrubbery, mulching, keeping the encroaching weeds at bay with Roundup, filling cracks in the ground and bunny holes with dirt, etc. I have a huge gardening hat (given to me by Patch on my last birthday) which keeps the anvil of the sun off my face and neck, but the mosquitos have been feasting on me, which can be quite unpleasant. Everything down in Texas is bigger, even the mosquito bites.

 

Speaking of gifts given to me, I had a great Father’s Day two weeks ago. The ladies treated me to a juicy steak, with sides of asparagus and home-made macaroni and cheese. Little One bought me a book Constantine and the Conversion of Europe (which I read the following week) and Patch got me L’Enfance du Christ, a double-album oratorio by the composer Hector Berlioz (my record collection is now up to 49). And to top it all off, we four watched Titan: The OceanGate Submersible Disaster, something I’ve been into off-and-on since following it closely in real-time Father’s Day weekend in 2023.

 

More importantly, my daily background radiation of existential dread has been shouting and gesticulating and doing angry cartwheels louder and louder, until I could no longer shut it out. While Little One and the Mrs. and, to a lesser extent, Patch, are all thriving down here, I have yet to hit my stride. The job is meaningless to me, a dead-end that merely pays the mortgage and some groceries. I have not connected with anything or anyone (not that I’m a connector by nature), but the girls are becoming adults and making strides to move out and start their own lives, and I’m a little frightened by the aspect of not having them around on an everyday basis, as they’ve been for the last 15, 20 years. Even the dog is getting older, having just surpassed the Mrs. in the dog/human year ratio and rapidly catching up to, and soon to pass, me.

 

So I decided to devote some time to finding meaning. Sounds suspiciously hippy, and I’m naturally suspicious of anything hippy. But as a first step I got some books and promised myself to do the exercises in ’em, which ultimately revealed nothing new to me. Though, to be fair, I haven’t finished everything I got. I suffer from a lot of psychological hangups, some innate and some from environmental causes, and even if I were to move past them, there’s always the financial vise of debt and obligation, as well as familial and social expectations, and all these and more conspire to keep me locked in unfulfilling routine. Not sure how to break out, but I have been giving it my strongest effort since moving down here to Texas four years ago. 

 

What does the immediate future hold?

 

Well, I took today off from work to take care of a few things, and I have a three-day remote week ahead. Then another three-day weekend as we celebrate the Fourth. The wife and girls are flying up to Pennsylvania for 10 days two weeks into July, as part of a vacation / college scouting trip for my youngest. The Mrs. will be doing a lot of driving, the farthest being a trip to a college in Buffalo that Patch is interested in. They’ve never seen Niagara Falls, so at least something positive will come of that if the school fails to check all the boxes. Me, I’m staying home with Charlie. The $750 round-trip airline ticket for me plus the $600 dogsitting charge will offset the cost of a rental car. I’ll be working and walking the dog, but at least I can watch a few science fiction flicks and feast on some Hawaiian pizza while dueling with that cartwheeling existential angst.

 

That’s the tip of the iceberg here. June, on the whole you were okay. Had better months, but had worse too. Now get outta here, and let’s get on with summer.

 

Vacation 2025

 

Spent last week visiting family and friends in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the first time I’ve been up there in exactly two years. We have the girls fly up once or twice annually to visit their grandparents, cousins, and old school friends, but I haven’t been to the great northeast wilderness (yes, there is plenty of wilderness up there) in a long time and I missed it.

 

It was whirlwind week. We hit an extreme amount of turbulence flying up into New Jersey / New York airspace (of the type when the 747 drops a stomach-churning fifty feet than banks sharply to one side, to be repeated at unexpected intervals) but landed safely in LaGuardia on Monday. We picked up our reserved rental car and made it up to my folks’ by eight that night.

 

Over the next four days we did a lot, thanks to mild weather. Tuesday saw us hitting the thrift shop with the girls (I picked up four golf shirts suitable for work plus a beautiful edition of Moby Dick – Moby Dick! – with a cover price of $21 – for 89 cents[!], the greatest bargain of my book-hunting career). Wednesday my brother and aunt and uncle drove up for a barbecue and we played pickleball all day. On Thursday we visited a college for Patch and then hit the local wing joint for dinner. Friday we drove into New Jersey and visited our old friends (my movie-going buddy from back in the day) while the girls socialized with one of theirs. Saturday we lounged in the morning and left at noon for the drive back to LaGuardia and the flight home. Sunday was a recovery day which included a lot of laundry being done.

 

The only downside was all that driving. 700 miles, I estimate, over the course of five days. Ugh. My buttocks are still petrified.

 

Needless to say, I was quite whelmed at work, having to do nine days of accounting in four days, including closing the month, and responding to 87 emails. Most nights I came home shell-shocked and spent the evenings with Ishmael on the Pequod. Today, Friday, I am quite caught up and working from home, hence this short update. Only one more big report to get done, then I’m off the clock.

 

Anyways, I think I’m going to start reading Augustine’s Confessions followed by his City of God this weekend. I’m about halfway through Moby Dick, my third visit with America’s greatest novel. Truly it encapsulates more than, in the words of Ron Swanson, the story of a man who hates a fish. There’s natural history, existentialism, a deep dive into human consciousness and motivation, intense drama and glorious, flowering mid-nineteenth-century prose, the chronological highwater mark of English literature that only few can delve nowadays. I’m enjoying it immensely, so much so that I might check out another 1850-ish novel by an American, The House of Seven Gables, once I’m finished. But Augustine is calling me now, so perhaps I’ll read that in the evenings and Melville at lunch.

 

Little One is in town today; she has two local summer job interviews this afternoon. My firstborn is growing so fast it’s almost frightening. The Mrs. will drive her back to school Saturday, grab her roommates, and they’ll all go “tulip picking,” or something of the sort. Patch is reffing Saturday morning (as long as the fields are dry; it rained all last night and this morning) and then later heading out to Six Flags with her friends. So I’ll be alone tomorrow afternoon. Probably get some wings or perhaps a Hawaiian pizza if I’m feeling wild and watch a classic flick.

 

Well, I got four emails while writing this, so back to work I go.

 

Happy reading!

 

February Recap

 

Hi, apologies for ghosting the Hopper!

 

Been very busy at work and at home. First off, February’s a short month, and for accounting purposes that makes it a busy one, as essentially I’m losing three work days compared to January. Plus I have a new partner in the office, and there’s training and all that. Went out for lunch with the bosses and the new hire a few days ago to plan out the upcoming month. At home, with my two spiritual devotions (still to remain unnamed and anonymous), plus my odd-day weightlifting workouts (15 so far in 2025), plus Thursday night movies with Patch, plus Star hockey with the Mrs., plus two Valentine’s Day nights out, well, I haven’t really had the energy or the motivation to blog here.

 

But I do have some ideas in varying stages of enfleshment.

 

First, those two Valentine’s Day night outs. For something different, the Mrs. and I decided one night would be for one person’s interests, and the other, for the other’s. This worked out so well we’re going to do it again next year. Then I have two musical posts on the way. Also I’m reviving an old feature of mine, a variation of “Words I Hate volume X” with “Phrases I Hate volume X.” There’s two on deck, and hopefully once completed there’ll be more humorous and punny than crotchety “get off my lawn!”-ish.

 

Today, though, I want to semi-publicly acknowledge that my January resolutions are still intact. I am still on the low-low-low sugar diet. An additional 6 pounds of sugar has NOT been filtered through my stomach, bloodstream, liver, kidneys, and digestive track, bringing the total to somewhere around 13 pounds. Google tells me my Les Paul electric guitar weighs around that much, as does a gallon of paint, a bowling ball, or a groundhog. Picture that volume-wise in sugar.

 

As mentioned above, I’ve been consistent moving the iron. Have not been consistent, though, with my walking, as we’ve had two cold spells of below-freezing weather. In fact, ten days ago, driving Patch to school one morning, my phone told me it was minus-2 with the wind chill, a record for us in the four years we’ve been down in North Dallas. And I’m still alcohol- and soda-free.

 

Has it helped me? Somewhat, yes. I’m down 9.5 pounds since December 31. I don’t feel as flabby and sluggish as I did in 2024, so my body is glacially reshaping and my energy returning. I’m sleeping much better than before, though I did have two sleepless nights this past month. The most important part, I think, is that I am regaining some peace of mind. I actually can’t wait to have my bloodwork done at the doctor’s (I have an April appointment). I’m expecting a nosedive with my triglycerides, and a better balance of good/bad cholesterol.

 

The overarching point here is, yeah, go after those goals. As a man who’s had a love-hate relationship with goal-setting (mostly hate; I can’t tell you how many times over the years I’ve set ambitious goals only to be derailed by either myself or outside circumstances), this is a very unique experience I’m having. A long time ago a self-help guru once said, when you have a lot of things you need and want to do, start with the physical. And it seems to be working for me. (Fingers crossed.) I may actually start to move on to larger goals, such as a third career option in the third half of my worklife, or some other extracurricular activity I’ve been afraid to try. We’ll see.

 

So, more to follow in the next couple of weeks. My writing goal with the Hopper is to post twice weekly, shorter stuff as the longer stuff tends to bite into my packed schedule. I’d like to hit a hundred posts a year. A far cry from my original goal of a post-a-day from 2008, but ambitious nonetheless at this stage of my life.

 

Office Fatigue

 

So for the first time in 58 months – something like 1,700 days – for the first time in nearly five years I worked “in office” for three days in a row.

I believe it was around the third week of March of 2020, during the Wu Flu thing, we received orders to work from home. As a payroll manager, this was something I could do after my company provided me with a laptop and a scanner.

After a couple of weeks we were allowed to come in on a two-day-a-week schedule. I can’t remember when this exactly happened but I believe it was around the end of April. We had to mask up unless we were in our offices / cubicles by ourselves. This charade played out for the remainder of my time in New Jersey.

When I arrived in Texas in July of 2021 I obtained a corporate job which was completely remote. I did all my interviewing via Teams and they shipped out a laptop to me a day before my start. In late January of 2022 we went to a two-day-a-week schedule, and they were generous in giving us remote time (for example, if a holiday fell on that Monday, we could spend the rest of the week working from home). Our department’s schedule was staggered, and my normal days in were Tuesday and Wednesday.

This continued for two years.

Now, at the start of 2025, we received the command to come in three days a week. This week was the first week for this (last week was shortened due to the Snowmaggedon), and man did it take a lot out of me. I wake up earlier than most farmers – it’s pitch black out and freezing (for Texas, but still, it’s been around 32 degrees every morning down here). The entire house is slumbering as I’m showering. I have to warm up the car for 10 minutes. And since I’m a night owl, the constant early waking has taken its toll, and I’ve been dragging buttock all week long.

Now, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, and I don’t mean to sound like a wimp. For 32 years I worked Monday through Friday, sometimes Saturdays, sometimes Sundays (with H&R Block) and sometimes late into the evening (again with H&R Block and regularly with the dealerships). I did it, and I reserve scorn for those techie company employees who fight their overlords against coming in a full week. 

But … man … did this remote job spoil me. I can do this job from Antarctica if I had to, as long as I had an internet connection. For me it boils down to another day of fighting traffic (north Dallas seems to have as many cars – and traffic lights – as Manhattan) – drivers riding my bumper, drivers zipping in and out of lanes, the cost of additional gas and tolls, and, most importantly, additional time I’m not paid for. All because I’m needed to sit at a cubicle in an office because “we work best when we collaborate face to face.”

Yesterday before heading out for the day one of my pals at work came up to me and said, in mock seriousness, “We did it. We did it.” And I had to laugh, knowing these same thoughts had been going through his head as well …

Happy Happy New Year!!!

 

Ah, one of my favorite nights of the year. Not for the reason most people think; I’ve been a teetotaler going on three years now. Besides, those days are long past. I’ve been at Times Square in NYC for the ball drop a couple of times in the late 80s; I’ve gotten dangerously smashed with friends at various friends’ houses a dozen times or more since. One of my favorite memories is a New Years Eve about twenty years ago. We were partying with two other couples. The two other husbands were both named “Steve,” so I was the honorary “Third Steve” of the night. While the womenfolk stayed upstairs drinking their wine and oogling the newborns, the lads and I hung out in the garage, drinking hard liquor (having moved on from beer), chain-smoking cigarettes, and – lifting weights under the stars.

 

Tonight will be much saner down here in latitude 38:08:30 Texas. It’s been a cool day and a cooler night, falling to the low 40s at year’s end. Sunny, so the stars’ll be out. We bought some TGI Friday snacks to toss in the oven later, and I’m getting my year-end Hawaiian pizza in an hour. The ladies will be drinking their mixed drinks. Little One is 20, and she’s fairly responsible, but I’ll have to keep an eye on 16-year-old Patch. We plan on watching one of the “Rockin’ Eve” things around 10 pm. It’ll just be the four of us, which is just fine, as more and more I take a philosophical view of the holiday.

 

2024 was a successful year for me resolution-wise. I overcame my soda addiction, which means I did not consume 25 or so cases of Diet Coke and Diet Dr Pepper over the last twelve months and probably save something like $500. I also added two habits of a spiritual nature, which I find beneficial. Since I had such a productive experience, I’m looking to take on a more ambitious resolution:

 

Sugar-Free in 2025.

 

Eek, the very thought makes me tremble. 18 hours without something sugary in my veins and my head starts aching and I get very growly. I quit sugar before, but never longer than a week or ten days, and only two or three times. But the advantages so far outweigh the addiction, and with my positive inertia from 2024, I definitely think it’s doable.

 

More on this later in 2025.

 

For now, have a Happy and Safe 

New Years Eve all!

Christmas 2024

 

 

Was nice and relaxing down here in Texas.

 

The weather’s been pretty crappy this week … lots of clouds and rain and temps loitering in the 40s and 50s. Drab and blah. So we spent most of our time indoors. Which is fine, ’cuz it was a leisurely day of laughing, opening gifts, and nonstop eating.

 

I had to work until 4 on Christmas Eve, finishing up December as I’m basically taking the rest of the year off. I was quite frantic and busy, but once I clocked out I seemed to slip into a new, easygoing mindset. We decided to go to 7 pm Christmas Eve mass, and the ladies got all nicely done up as I squeezed into my suit. Once home we chilled and had a salmon dinner. The ladies made some drinks and Little One and the Mrs. and I watched some TV while Patch did her last minute things upstairs in the “apartment.” They all went to bed by midnight but I stayed up until 2 watching videos, listening to music, and playing sudoku.

 

Christmas morning I woke up at 7:30, muttered “Ah hell no,” and rolled over until the Mrs. tapped me on the shoulder at 10. The girls bustled downstairs and we opened gifts, then feasted on my mother-in-law’s coffee cake, and finally watched a Hallmark movie. Yes, barfingly wholesome, but that’s the stage of my life right now. Later on we dined on pot roast, asparagus, and potatoes, then motored around to see some hyperdecorated houses a few towns over.

 

So how’d Hopper do, you’re dying to ask. Ask away. Santa was good to Hopper, as always. I got two gift cards to the local book shop for starters, and I’ll have to think about what I want to do with them. I’m finding out that the older I get the more aware I am of that ticking clock, and the more discriminating I’m getting in my reading life. The ladies also got me my annual Tolkien wall calendar and a 1000-piece Tolkien puzzle. Little One gifted me a Crusaders baseball cap. Patch got me two albums – Handel’s Messiah oratorios and choruses and Symphonies 97 and 98 by Haydn. My collection of vinyl is now up to 45. The Mrs. bought me Geddy Lee’s biography. Geddy’s the bassist for Rush, and I’ve been a huuuuge fan of his for almost 45 years now. Very exciting to delve into that; it’ll be my first 2025 read.

 

I did fairly well in the gift-giving department. Since the Mrs. and I try to spend more on the girls than each other, and I sprung a lotta dough to buy her birthday gift in October, we decided to keep it low-key this year. I bought her a Dr Pepper t-shirt and socks (it’s who I work for in corporate, and she mentioned her lack of Dr Pepper swag earlier in the fall), and two gifts for her newest infatuation (the Dallas Stars) – a hockey rulebook (what is icing? what is the difference between hooking and spearing?) and her own wall calendar featuring our NHL team dressed all dapper. Little One got a hoodie and socks themed with her favorite TV show – Law and Order. And Patch got the most random gift from me: a black t-shirt of an octopus preparing sushi with all eight arms, complete with the Japanese bandana across its forehead. To help normalize her Christmas, I also gave her a Starbies gift card 😊

 

(And, of course, the Mrs. showered them in makeup and skin-care and Ulta gift cards and all those other things so dear to the hearts and minds of 16- and 20-year old young ladies. She bought Little One two “teachers dresses”, and I positively glowed with pride.)

 

All-in-all a fine, restful holy day. The ladies are all out thrifting today, and I’m working on finishing my current read, Arrowsmith, in the quiet peace of the house with only the dog keeping me company.

Merry Christmas Y'all!

 

I’m actually working all day today, but I will be off for the rest of the year (save a cameo appearance at work next Monday).

 

Some upcoming year-end posts:

 

 - Christmas 2024 recap

 - Best photo of the year

 - 2024 Best-Ofs

 - 2025 Reading Plan

 - New Years resolution

 

Enjoy the holy day and remember the reason for the season!

 

T-Day '24

 

Ah, perhaps my favorite holiday of the year! Thanksgiving, a time for not only giving thanks for what we’ve been blessed with, but also a time of relaxation, reflection, refreshment, and an overall pause from the hectic busyness of life.

 

Thanksgiving and Easter are, hands-down, my favorite holidays of the year. Christmas is a far distant third, as I often find it one of the more stressful stretches of the year (“Spendmas,” endless socializing). But this year, however, I was extremely proactive, and over these past couple of days off for the Thanksgiving holiday I was able to get my Christmas shopping done save for a stocking stuffer or two.

 

Anyway, we had an enjoyable, peaceful couple of days down here in Texas. The weather finally turned brisk, with most days hovering in the high 50s / low 60s with nights dropping down below 40. Little One was home from college since the Saturday before, and Patch was off from school all week too. I worked a full crunch day on Monday with two hours Tuesday morning to get all my November accounting done. After 10 am on Tuesday, I’ve been in holiday mode.

 

The girls spent time with their mom thrifting, holiday shopping, and at the grocery store(s) for our big meal on Thursday. They all caught up on their baking shows and their SVU criminal shows while I listened to my records and read. One afternoon we all watched a corny Hallmark flick and in the evenings put away a couple of episodes of our newest season of 24. Little One and I watched half of Donnie Darko. Patch and I watched some Regular Show episodes. And among all this laying around in front of the tube we all pitched in to clean the house, run last-minute errands, walk the dog, and all the other ephemera a household needs to run. I actually lifted weights and walked a few miles a couple of days.

 

The Mrs. baked a pumpkin pie Wednesday evening, while my girls alternated on dinner duty during the weekdays leading up to Thanksgiving. Me, I don’t cook. I’m the cleaner. I must’ve washed a hundred dishes, glasses and utensils and loaded/unloaded the dishwasher a half-dozen times. But the ladies outdid themselves cuisine-wise. They started early Thursday cooking the turkey (my wife), stuffing, cranberry and carrots (Little One), and sweet potato casserole (Patch). And it was all mouth-watering-ly perfect.

 

Around 2 in the afternoon I made up a charcuterie board – sliced cheddar cheese, soppressata, and crackers. The Mrs. heated up some brie to go along. We had our “appetizers” in the living room along with Margaritas (the ladies) and my favorite fake beer, Run Wild by Athletic Brewing Company. We chatted and relaxed for about an hour, then they all descended upon the kitchen for the last-minute push while I put on the Giants-Cowboys game.

 

Yes, I’m a glutton for punishment; but I haven’t seen the Giants play all year but I have followed them and am rooting for The Tanking. More so that the front office and coaching departments can get shown the door. But they fought valiantly against Dallas, and though they did not win, as expected, they weren’t blow out, which was unexpected. But I got to witness firsthand the sloppy, undisciplined, uninspired, unathletic play of the New York Giants.

 

We still had a few minutes of daylight left before dinner, so the girls and I went outside and tossed around a football. Both my girls can throw a wicked spiral with some mph on it, usually better than I can. It was a fun little callback to their youth when we’d do the same, only in snow. Then we went back in and had one of the best Thanksgiving meals the Mrs. put out ever.

 

 

 

Once the table was cleared we took Charlie the dog on a short car ride to the ponds by my house, where we could walk through brightly-lit life-size Christmas ornaments along the walkway. Upon returning we watched Christmas Vacation and had some pumpkin pie. After that, Little One had to get to bed early as she’d be working in the mall for Black Friday and whatever color Saturday is. The Mrs. was wiped out and she too went to bed early. Patch retired to the “apartment” upstairs to text friends. I let the dog out and crated him for the night, then reclined in my reading chair with my fourth Koontz book, Dragon Tears. Read 80 pages until I, too, could no longer fend off the turkey tryptophan, and hit the hay.

 

A great Thanksgiving. Simple, fun, and just the immediate family. True, we do miss our extended family and our friends throughout the US and feel a little guilty about being so far away, but Facetime is a wonderful thing.

 

Now to gather the strength for Christmas, less than four weeks away …