I’m very pleased to announce that I was incorrect last week when I stated that I had missed Michigan’s Spring. After a week of ridiculously warm weather, we are back to a more temperate clime. This has made working outside a lot more pleasant for sure.

Right now my pool looks suspiciously like the Reflecting Pool. I’ve been working on it off and on all day trying to fix that particular problem. For the last week or so I’ve had to backwash the filter every couple of hours as it clogs up with crap. Today has been all about muriatic acid and chlorine. The water is already infinitely clearer and the filter has been working much better. One benefit of the cooler weather is that The Mrs, who was dying to go for the first dip of the year, is less inclined to go for a swim when it’s only in the 60s. In fact, she had a fire the other day, but then she wasn’t feeling well.

Speaking of The Mrs, she got some very good news the other day. She was offered and accepted a permanent position at the Brighton location. This means she will no longer have to get her assignment the night before and no more driving to different clinics 30 to 45 minutes away. Granted she won’t be getting the float bonus anymore, but I think what she will save on gas will balance that out nicely.

I’ve been on a bunch of calls lately. I’ve been talking to someone who works with our financial advisor about the possibility of lowering our insurance costs. I was also on an investor call this afternoon with the Horror Section where Eli Roth talked about the upcoming Ice Cream Man and a couple of other upcoming releases.

Despite the fact that it is over a month away, we have already made plans for my birthday—the Edgar Allan Poe Speakeasy in Detroit!

Listening To: The Faceless Thing We Adore by Hester Steel. This book was nominated for Superior Achievement in a First Novel and I can see why. I’m enjoying this blend of cult and folk horror with a touch of cosmic horror on the side.

Currently Reading: The Calamities by Chuck Wendig.

Current Obsession: Trying to get to the point when I can see the bottom of the pool and worrying about the dogs.

Finn had his neutering surgery yesterday and is currently resting with no apparent ill affects <furiously knocks on wood>. He doesn’t appear to be in any pain and thus far has been leaving the surgical site alone. In fact, we have not had to put on the cone, although I do have one for each of them, just in case. Quinn has her appointment tomorrow morning. We’ll have to see how they will be once they have both been taken care of. Right now the biggest problem has been trying to slow him down.

Yeah, the calmatives they provided don’t seem to have knocked him out at all.

Editing and formatting continues for our next two releases. The red pencil has been busy!

The audience had a great time watching Weng Weng outwit the members of The Syndicate in For Y’ur Height Only last Saturday. Next month will be a little different. Horror maestro Dr. David Hayes will not be available for the introduction, so we will have someone else standing in for him—some weirdo named Michael Cieslak. It’s only fitting as July’s film is a special request for my birthday month: Dagon. Come to the Historic Howell Theater on 25 July at 9pm to see the film and see me babble about Lovecraftian horror, Stuart Gordon, Brian Yuzna, and who knows what all else.

We are a week and a half out from our next big show. Bring the kids, bring your wallets, and head out to Port Huron for Frankenfest.

I know that it is extremely early to be talking about my birthday (which is at the end of July), but it has been on my mind for a bit, so I thought I would write about how I have come to accept it.

For a long time, I absolutely hated my birthday. Not because I dreaded growing old, but because I did not like the attention that went along with it. Part of this was an ingrained feeling that I did not deserve any special attention. After all, I was nothing special, why should anyone take time out of their lives to recognize me? Another issue was that I never felt like I had accomplished anything. I know that a lot of people deal with these feelings around New Year’s Day. They look back on the year and review everything that they did or did not accomplish. For decades I’ve avoided this by having the same New Year’s Resolution—Not to wear purple polyester pants in public. I always say that at midnight on 31 December, no matter what else has happened during the year, I can always say with pride that I kept my resolution.

For me this bit of introspection always happened around my birthday. I took a good look at myself and always found myself lacking. This inevitably put me in an extremely foul mood. I was not a nice person to be around. In order to not take this out on anyone, I dealt with it by taking my not-so-happy-ass out into the woods and set up a tent. It’s pretty hard to be a jerk to anyone when there is no one around to be a jerk to.

On the plus side, this allowed me time to recenter in nature, the whole “go touch some grass” thing. Also, after spending the better part of a week sweating in the summer heat and fighting mosquitoes (and occasionally getting injured on a hike or burning myself cooking over a campfire), I would come back with a better appreciation for things like indoor plumbing and air conditioning.

It’s been a while since I went camping. One of the downsides to sleeping with a CPAP is that it’s kind of hard to plug it in out in the wilderness. I still try to keep things exceptionally low key, rarely doing anything other than spending time with The Mrs and the dogs. Of course, The Mrs usually has her own ideas regarding how the day should play out. She, for some weird reason, seems to be really happy that I was born. She’s planned a number of very cool things over the years including a murder mystery party, a get together at a local pool hall, and even an afternoon on horseback.

This year she wanted to surprise me with the Poe thing that I mentioned above. I had already looked into it and was wondering how to ask her if she would be willing to be a designated driver.

Aside: one of the downsides to living out in Brighton is that ride-share service is spotty at best. I guess that there are not a lot of people wanting to go places from Brighton, so getting someone to drive me home isn’t always easy.

It was a happy accident that we were both thinking about doing the same thing. I’m looking forward to listening to Poe historians talk about the writer and share some of his works while drinking specially made craft cocktails. The fact that she has arranged for other people to join us will make it even more special.

And I’m going to do my best not to be a jerk.

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