I managed to miss the 2022 University Day Service Awards ceremony yesterday. Blame it on the midterm election. Today I received a thank-you ecard from Provost, Executive Vice President & Professor Mark R. Ginsberg:

I want to express my appreciation for all you have done for Mason and congratulate you on your recognition of service. Your talents, efforts and contributions have helped Mason’s success, and the entire Office of the Provost takes pride in your accomplishment and commitment to excellence.

There goes my decade of service at George Mason University.

I haven’t been following politics, which has been good for my mental health. I have grown wearied of both sides on many issues, particularly on gun control. Both parties have moved further to their side. There is no longer a middle ground. While I am with the conservative on ending affirmative action in education, I am still with the liberal on abortion.

With education, my kids can go to George Mason if they can’t go to Harvard. They still have their choices of college. With abortion, women don’t have a choice if Republicans have their way. Between a choice of education and a choice for women, I have to go with the latter. As a result, I voted blue.

That’s it. I have done my part on election day. I am now going back to blogging anything but politics.

I have acquired a used snowboard and a pair of boots for Xuân. We are working on some skills together based on SnowboardProCamp “20 Pre-Season Snowboarding Tricks:”

1. Heel edge (learn to brake)
2. Toe edge (learn to brake)
3. Moving weights from side to side (learn to turn)
4. Presses (side to side)
5. Ollies & nollies (press then jump)
6. Alternate presses (hopping back & forth like a walking penguin)
7. Shifty (90 degree jumps)
8. Jumps (straight jump up & down)
9. Jump 180 (both regular & switch)
10. Butter 180 (ollies & nollies combine with 180 jump)
11. Nose & tail presses (jump on the roller with ollies & nollies)
12. 50/50 (jump on the roller from front & back)
13. Front board & front lip slides (jump on the roller & turn 90 degree then rest the head or tail of the board on the roller. Do these front & back)
14. Front & back 180 (hop on the roller from the back then turn 180 to hop off)
15. Tripod

Hey Nate,

How’s heaven? Life is still stressful as fuck down here. It’s a struggle everyday and I miss you, bro. Last week, I came across a blue CD you burned for me. I fixated on the words you wrote in black permanent marker: “Cam’ron: Purple Haze.” The album brought back so many memories: “You ready? Roll that shit. Light that shit. Now smoke that shit.”

I wish I can turn back the hands of time when we were young, broke, and didn’t give a fuck. I have been relistening to the album every morning on my commute to work. “Get Down” takes me down the memory lane when Cam rhymed, “That’s my man, anytime I holler, holler with me / We shared chicken sandwiches—they were dollar-fifty.” I still remember like it was yesterday when we shared fried chickens and a 40 Olde E. I reminisce on our late-night cruising and blasting Purple Haze with the bass vibrating on our backs. We cracked up on Cam’s misogynistic lyricism: “Your budget on my neck, your spouse on my dick / Posters on the wall, posted on my balls.” It’s definitely cringe-worthy now, but it was hilarious in 2004. Back then, I didn’t pay much attention to Cam’s lyrical content. I was more interested in his infectious flow and his clear enunciation.

I wish you were still here, man. I am sorry for the fallout. I should have stayed connected. I wanted to get together to clear things up and rekindle our friendship, but I kept pushing it back. I thought we still had plenty of time. I was devastated when you unexpectedly left this world. I know you’re in a better place now. Save a space for me in heaven. I’ll see you when I get there.

Sitting by the fire and sipping Hibiki to keep us warm, the fathers were trying to convince me to become the kids’ leader. They said that I read voraciously, write persuasively, and play sports such as skiing and skating. The kids could learn something from me. I was flattered, but I had to be honest with them.

I am in it for the food and drinks, not the kids. I take my kids there so someone else better than me can teach them. I am definitely not a good role model. They don’t know what I had to go through to not have to deal with the pampering-ass kids. Nowadays I keep my distance from other peoples’ kids. I don’t interact with them. I don’t talk to them. I don’t play with them. I don’t want any drama. I definitely don’t want any trouble.

I am pretty sure the parents will never bring that topic up again. Of course Hibiki was doing the talking. In all seriousness, I thought I was good with kids until I had my own kids. Now it’s a struggle everyday being a parent. I thought that parenting would get easier as the kids get older. I didn’t realize that I have to deal with different issues. The older they get the more resistance I face. The more I talk, the less they listen. The more I care, the less they pay attention. The more I worry, the less they get it. Maybe I just back off and let all hell break loose.

We are the slow smoke that ascends
from a nonexistent fire:
neither dirt nor water can put us out.
The soul is irreducible as doubt.

Maurya Simon (An excerpt from “Maya”)

The Kohler Highline Classic toilet I installed in 2018 has minor issues here and there, particularly its canister flushing system. The latest issue was that the water kept running and would not stop. From searching YouTube, my initial fix was to replace the flush-valve seal from the canister. That didn’t resolve the problem.

When I opened up the cap on the adjustable fill valve, I suspected the fill-valve seal had worned out and it turned out to be the culprit. I replace the seal and the problem went away. The fill-valve seal was $4. I could have reused the old flush-valve seal and saved 8 bucks, but I just left the new one in.

I am not fond of the canister flushing system and thinking of replacing it, but I am starting to see how it works. It’s not bad.

True to his stage name, Fluffy is a heavy comedian with feathery materials. His jokes aren’t so vulgar that I could let my kids (thirteen and ten years old) watch him. Fluffy is a natural storyteller, but he goes on for almost two hours in his latest Netflix special. The sound effects and the voices he imitated are just too much to bear. The kids seem to enjoy it despite the cusses here and there. He’s just OK for me.

I held him together
as long as I could, she says.

He stopped working,
stopped coming upstairs.

He was like tissue paper
coming apart in water.

Like smoke in my hands.
It had nothing to do

with you, baby. You left
when you had to.

I met a woman once
who worked on pianos.

Said it was a hard job.
The tools, the leverage.

The required ear. I love it,
she said, but it’s brutal.

The second I step away
it’s already falling out of tune.

Edgar Kunz

after Franca Mancinelli

All water flows toward loneliness.
Loneliness is a black eye, a gleaming pit.
We have yet to split loneliness like an atom.
Loneliness arrives on a leash of scorpions.
In my skull, loneliness opens like a parachute.
It’s illegal to chain loneliness to a fence.
Flickers tunnel through loneliness to build nests.
I sprinkle a spoon of sugar over loneliness.
In some languages, loneliness is imperfect.
Antlers crown the bald head of loneliness.
Like rough trade, loneliness won’t kiss you.
Loneliness is crouched in a tree, afraid of dirt.
In the dark, loneliness ripens too quickly.
Beneath the roof of loneliness, my blood drifts.

Eduardo C. Corral