Today was my big neighborhood event, a cleanup of the streets around Cherrywood Park. It has been bugging me for years that leaves and dirt and everything else just piles up on the street, decomposes, congeals, and grows. I was originally going to go out with a bucket and a spade and spend 30 minutes every Saturday for the next 2 years until it was done, but then I went to a neighborhood Garden Club meeting.

I mentioned to the association leader that I had this idea for a project and he was like, great, can you organize it all? Yeah … I can. So I set out figuring out what to do. First I contacted the city, and that turned into a ton of conference calls. Just to pick up dirt. But I got our congressperson involved with his office, Code Compliance, and Parks and Rec. They have a tool borrowing program, so I got 5 shovels, 5 rakes, 5 brooms, 5 trash pickers, 100 bags, 15 gloves, and a leaf blower delivered to my house on Friday.

We advertised it through the neighborhood association and garden club and about 30 people showed up this morning from 9-11. I thought it would take us much longer, but people really worked hard and scraped up every bit of dirt on the street. They even met with the homeowner whose house we were essentially cleaning and got permissions to trim her shrubs back so you could actually walk on the sidewalk. Am I really the head of the Dallas Walkability Council now?!

It was a lot to put together, but honestly, it wasn’t that bad. Daniel asked me last night as we were going to bed if I was nervous, and I laughed and said YES. Why do I keep doing these kinds of things? Why do I put myself in these situations? And he said, “Because you couldn’t keep your fucking mouth shut at your fucking garden club meeting.” And you just have to admit, he’s totally right. So we’ll see what I end up planning next! Stay tuned!

On Wednesday, September 23, 2026, Daniel’s father, Paul passed away. He had been sick and was in hospice care, but all the same it was unexpected. Paul had moved up to Bellingham to live with his wife, both for better climate and for a little assistance.

Daniel planned a trip to go see him and spend some quality time. They had made reservations at different fancy restaurants for every night of the week. But when he got there, he quickly realized that probably wasn’t happening. The situation was rapidly declining, so he extended his trip and I bought a plane ticket to join him Friday after work so I could help out. Unfortunately, he succumbed to his illness sooner than expected. I changed my ticket to the earliest flight the next day and headed up.

Any way you slice it, it’s about a full day to get up to Seattle and then up to Bellingham. When I landed, I checked the big board for my gate information for my connecting flight only to see the word, “CANCELED.” Not delayed. Just canceled. I was really trying not to be a burden but I was like wtf do I do. His mom will typically not fly between cities, but take a bus charter instead. I got the details for the bus, bought a ticket immediately even if it wasn’t going to work, and then set out trying to figure out where to go. You would think the website would have some instructions, but no. I called the number and this nice man stayed on the line as he walked me through where to go. The bus was waiting and I got on board and not 15 minutes later, we were set out for our 2 hour drive up to Bellingham.

I got there by like 8pm. Daniel met me at the Sheraton 4-Points hotel. We said hi to his mom standing in the rain and then went to our fancy hotel. Everything in Bellingham pretty much shuts down at 9pm, so we had to rush to the restaurant next door, and apologize to the wait staff because we were the last ones there past closing, but they were very nice about it. My goal was to just be a fly on the wall, provide emotional support, and help out in any way I could while the family sorted out the most immediate concerns.

Really, I thought we could have short stints of a nice little weekend, and we did. Bellingham is a cute town, although way far left of my comfort zone – and that’s saying a lot! Our hotel was really nice, overlooking the water, far from the train tracks, and quiet. One morning, we ran into Lucien Laviscount, who played Alfie in Emily in Paris, that godawful TV show. I didn’t recognize him immediately, just said good morning as we passed on the elevator, but then I paused thinking, do I know him? I turned to Daniel and his jaw was on the ground. Rumor is that Tyler Perry was in town filming a movie with John Cena and Michael Buble. We even saw a helicopter over the water performing what looked to be repeated fake rescue operations surrounded by boats potentially housing cameras? When the next Tyler Perry movie comes out we’re going to go see it and if it doesn’t have Lucien in a water rescue scene we’re gonna feel like idiots.

We had some good meals, a few cries, and provided some useful help to his mother. Daniel is the first from our generation to lose a parent, and it was a reminder that we are entering that chapter of our lives. Paul will be deeply missed but always remembered.

Last night we attended a charity gala. I wouldn’t say we’re exactly gallerinas, but this one was pretty fun. We got some “free” tickets because my dad had made a donation in honor of his late brother, so there was some obligation to go. Plus this is one of the charities I’ve worked with in my side gig and I know the founder well, so … we put on suit jackets despite the 100+ temperatures and set out for a warehouse venue near the Galleria.

What was funny is that it was on some random street we’ve never heard of or seen, and yet just the night before we were like 3 doors down. We went and saw a traveling exhibit of the Trump Epstein Files Reading Room. They printed out all 3 million pages of redacted released files, and put them into volumes on rows and rows of book cases. We promptly started pulling books out and leafing through them looking for a previously unnoticed gold nugget. Some dude came up and said, “I don’t think you’re actually supposed to touch the books.” Which then made us paranoid so we stopped. But it was called “reading room” so I don’t get what the hell else you were supposed to do there. It ended up taking like 10 minutes to get thru and then we went to dinner.

Anyway, the gala was fun. It was very inspiring to be in a room full of people who care about other people when that seems to be in low supply these days. Some of the residents of the homeless shelter program even took the mic and spoke about their experiences, which was moving. I got a little emotional when one by one they said how terrible things had gotten that they googled for help and found this organization #1 in the list, because I’m the one that got that all set up and working. So that was cool to remember that things you’ve done previously can continue to have a ripple effect.

Great meal, good conversations, made a little donation in excess of what we do monthly (and doubled it using my employer), so all in all I’d say it was a wonderful evening.

I don’t often take requests, but this one was just far too precious to ignore. I was out at the club last night, having some drinkie drinkies, when I run into Leslie (don’t worry, she’s okay). We got to talking and she was telling me how she didn’t want me to think she’s psychotic since I really don’t know her, but that she really does read my website every morning. I’m like a low fat vanilla soy latte. So anyway, I told her I would mention her again since she got so giddy the first time.

So I woke up this morning at James’s apartment. Motherfucker did not drive home last night. I went over to Dustin and Trey’s to try and find a way back to my car. Dustin ran me over there (yeah, it would have been faster to drive). So I picked up my car (I’m pretty strong) and came home. And now I’m about to hop in the shower (which is so dangerous). I’ll see you bitches later. Costume par-tay tomorrow whooo.

Oh yeah, and just as a footnote … any of you who were jealous of me for paying off my credit cards in full last month can have the last laugh now that my account is overdrawn nearly $750. Whoopsadaisy.

Is it worth it? Lemme work it. I put my thing down flip it and reverse it. OMG I’m so obsessed with this song. I can’t get enough of it. If you haven’t downloaded it yet, friggin download it now and get into it. In honor of Missy Misdemeanor Elliiott gracing my life with this new JAM … I recorded myself singing part of her song. If you’d like to hear me, you can click here to download it. Its a .wav file but I made it the lowest resolution I could so the file isn’t too big.

I’ve made a lot of progress on my party belt. I went and bought the speakers and a studded belt at Hot Topic and have been putting the two together ever since. The speakers are now firmly mounted and i’m working on running the wires and concealing the mp3 player. Have I said too much? Now you all should be able to figure out what a party belt it. As soon as its done I’ll get a picture of it up here for you sluts.

Man I went on a shopping SPREE yesterday. I don’t know what got into me. I needed new jeans and my mom said she would pay for them since Structure was having a sale. So I went and they were “buy one get the second for 20 dollars” which is a really good deal. So I found two pairs I liked, both priced around $45. Then I went to check out and they told me that belts were 10 dollars off. I wanted a structure belt for so long so I decided to get one. Then they inform me that I’m 6 dollars away from spending 100 bucks, if I go over 100 I get 50 bucks in fast cash. So I bought 3 pairs of badass socks. Then I ran away. Then I bought a beanie at PacSun, and that belt and speakers for my party belt. Then I bought a grey hooded sweatshirt and a pleather jacket, cause they were both cheap and I wanted them. It was awful. Oh well. Worse things have happened. Thats what credit is for, right?

Tonight I’m planning on going out and getting all liquored up. I haven’t done that in a while what with going home this weekend. So maybe I’ll see you all there. Go out to northgate if you have a chance. Peace out.