The weekend was finally here. What a goddamn relief that was, because I almost wasn’t sure that I would be able to make it another day. Such an expensive week that I’m going to have a lot of fun paying for when all the bills finally collide with me.
That Saturday morning, the baby girl was leaving us to be with her other grandmother. I told Yvette that sometimes we have to share. She called me a smart ass. I must say that it is very weird around the house without her pitter-patter.
Meanwhile, Teegan had a dance to attend, and he wanted to get ready with friends. It’s what we call the Tri-Hi-Y dance, where the boys are asked out by the girls. It’s honestly sort of a big deal for us young men in high school. I remember one year I didn’t get asked out and all my close friends did. I felt like a loser on that long, lonely night.
We spent the day running around town — groceries, gas, and bullshit that we didn’t need. During the course of our adventures across town, I kept running into my in-laws. I found it rather funny that each time Yvette and I got separated at the store, there they were. They never once saw Yvette and me together. What a laugh.
Eventually, the night rolled in, and we had the house to ourselves. It was time for a romantic evening. I cooked. We put on a movie — Inside Llewyn Davis, a Coen Brothers film starring Oscar Isaac that came out twelve years ago. Crazy that I hadn’t seen it. It was a nice evening of quiet, alone time.
Sunday was all about sleeping in, which doesn’t happen with the baby around. When I finally got up, I made a fantastic pizza, some wings, and a salad. I had been needing to do yard work, and since the weekend was finally cooperative, I got after it. Damn if it wasn’t fucking hot. Crazy how much the weather can change in just a week.
While I was outside, I was reminded of something I want to share with you all reading this: three big dogs are too many damn dogs. That morning, they tried their damnedest to keep us from sleeping in, and when I finally did put them outside, they seemed hell-bent on trying to wake up the entire neighborhood. I was over them. Now, it’s not fair for me to blame them all that morning. Rosco was the guilty culprit. He’s usually quiet, but that weekend he was not.
The amount of dog poop that I had to pick up that Sunday was my own neglect, but it doesn’t change the fact that these animals are pooping machines. One eats acorns all fucking day while the other is a baby-wipe muncher. I don’t know how their digestive systems endure so much trauma. It was disgusting.
Honestly, my feelings about three dogs being too many dogs had been building for a little while and came to a head during the ice storm we recently had. Being cooped up with them when it was too cold to put them outside broke the straw. They were stir-crazy. We all were stir-crazy. Being followed by three dogs into every room of the house for four straight days was maddening.
I love them, but good lord. What a pain in the ass. One dog is perfect. Two is great, but three is too much. Never again.
Sunday wasn’t just any Sunday — it was Super Bowl Sunday. I had no stakes in the game. We went over to my in-laws, and they made fajitas. We had the joy of bringing a bunch of desserts that I cannot even fucking eat. Bummer for me.
The game was shit. I mean, I didn’t care for any of the teams, but I really didn’t want the fucking Patriots to win. SPOILER: They didn’t. It was so slow and nothing exciting happened. A total snooze fest. I might have watched a total of thirty minutes while the rest of my time was spent eating and visiting.
Anyway, the Super Bowl is often about halftime shows and commercials. I saw some good commercials and movie trailers. I’m really excited about The Adventures of Cliff Booth, a follow-up to a character played by Brad Pitt in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. This sequel is directed by David Fincher. Budweiser and Michelob Ultra once again had funny commercials. Beer commercials almost always are the best. The Xfinity ad featuring the original cast of Jurassic Park was also a highlight. I swear, some people just watch the game for the commercials.
And then there’s the halftime show — the other reason people watch the Super Bowl.
The halftime show had controversy. Bad Bunny. I honestly had not heard of Bad Bunny because I’m not up on the times, but he has the MAGA crowd all up in arms. The snowflakes. I think they just need a safe place to cry because it is getting ridiculous. It was so bad this year that they decided they would have their own halftime show with Kid Rock — a guy who talks about affairs with underage girls as mandatory. That is the family-friendly, good Christian alternative halftime show. Of course it is. These people support their Dear Leader. It’s fucking sad when we are so little that we have to make our own halftime show. Pathetic. And telling.
Why the outrage now? A Puerto Rican singing the halftime show in Spanish — a language other than English. This country never had a singular native tongue. Why the outrage now? Why not when Dear Leader posted a racist video on the internet? Silence. When ICE agents shot and killed United States citizens? Silence. The Epstein Files? Silence.
MAGA was triggered by the halftime show.
I mean, think about it. What did these halftime shows accidentally reveal? Bad Bunny had a spectacle built around joy, love, and inclusion — a celebration of culture, community, and the radical idea that people who don’t look or sound like you still count. Kid Rock had a performance defined almost entirely by who it was not for. Angry. Nostalgic. “Remember when things were better for a very specific group of people.”
I think the cultural divide today is really between people who understand that culture is fluid, dynamic, and constantly evolving — and those who want to restrict it, control it, and shrink it to fit their own fears and nostalgia. One side sees culture as something we all build together over time. The other treats it like a museum piece that has to be locked behind fucking glass and protected from change.
Really fucking scary, but that is where we are. The left, for all its flaws, generally argues about how to extend rights and dignity to more people — different races, different religions, different languages. The goal, at least in theory, is everyone. The right increasingly seems to argue about how to protect a shrinking definition of “us” — same look, same beliefs, same culture. Everyone else can wait outside.
One side is arguing over how big the tent should be. The other is arguing over who gets kicked out.
So anyway, how was the show itself? I didn’t understand most of it, but the music was good, and that is all that matters. I thought it was pretty amazing that he sang the entire show in Spanish. Good for him. I always listen to music in other languages, so that didn’t bother me. Sometimes knowing the lyrics can be distracting to the music.
The message was clear. America is not just red, white, and blue. America is many flags, most of which do not speak English as a native language. Together, we are America. The United States too often thinks of itself as America alone. That is not true — it’s many nations.
The only thing more powerful than hate is love. The message that caused so much outrage — who can argue with that? We as a people would be better off living that mantra.
Lots of meaning can be made from his show, but even more can be taken away by the outrage and the MAGA crowd deciding to have a halftime show for themselves. I had no idea that I would deep dive into a Super Bowl halftime show like I did, but the reaction speaks loud words. That’s how disturbing one group deciding to have their own show was to me.
Anyway, rant over. It was a good weekend.
Monday I woke up feeling rested and ready for the week — much higher spirits than the prior week. Fuck that week. Work had me on campus, which was great. The weather was fine for it, if not a little damn hot. I had a good day. I can’t say the same for Yvette. Her day was riddled with meetings and an after-work dinner. Poor girl.
Tuesday I had to call our natural gas provider to try to set up a payment plan for the hot water issue we had. Oh, the joy. Because it would also affect next month’s bill, they recommended that we wait until that cycle ends, assuring me they would not cut off our gas due to late payments. This water leak is going to be an expensive problem for a while, I fear.
The day itself was rather nice and gloomy. It sprinkled a little, but the temperatures were still mild enough for me to enjoy. The sun eventually came out, and it felt like fucking spring outside, not February. What a wild ride we have been having with the weather this year.
That evening were the service awards. I was honored with my ten years of service. I opted out of the dinner because that’s not my thing. I didn’t want to be recognized and paraded in front of everyone for a photo op with the president. Yvette would have liked to attend, but I just couldn’t bring myself to go. I guess I should feel honored, but it’s a lie — I’ve actually been on campus going on 15 years. They didn’t count my first few years because I wasn’t technically full-time. Somehow that detail made the recognition feel a little hollow, like a reminder of how long I’ve been grinding away more than anything worth celebrating.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were all just a blur, which felt fitting for the kind of week it had been. Nothing exciting happened for me. I was busy all across campus and managed to catch up with a lot of people, but it was the kind of busy that leaves you tired without feeling accomplished.
By the time Friday finally arrived, I felt relieved more than anything. My brother came into town, so I met him and a few friends for a quick drink. It was Valentine’s Day Eve. Since I fucked up reservations for Valentine’s Day, Yvette and I went to BIGA on Friday night instead — the same place we celebrated the year before. The atmosphere was just as beautiful, and after the kind of week I’d had, simply sitting there together felt like enough.
Jalapeño.
Saturday was a date night. I made a Japanese steak with a sweet soy reduction, sticky rices with chili crisp shrimp and a veggie medley with zucchini, onions and mushrooms.
En Fuego 