This year, May felt like two different months. The first half dealt with wrapping up the end of the school year. This second half saw me restart my long-lapsed (almost two years) exercise regimen and begin work on cleaning and organizing our home and yard in anticipation for my daughter and her family coming to live with us. The change between them was stark. Personally, I like that May didn't seem to fly by for me like most of the months of this year have. If possible, I would like to better relish every month that comes. Here are some of the highlights from this month:

-Janelle and I (and Rowen) finished watching The Crown. We are in agreement that we are happy to not have that level of fame.
-Rowen turned 14.
-I dressed up as a Jedi for a "future career."
-I attended a variety of events celebrating the accomplishments of our wonderful graduating class of 2024.
-We watched and enjoyed the first season of Fallout.
-Katrina also had a birthday.
-Connor now has a job at Fred Meyers
-I had my marathon of the more recent Planet of the Apes movies. I think that I like them more every time that I see them. Rowen and I watched and enjoyed the newest one, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, at the theater.
-Janelle and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary.
-I decided to forgo "no-mow-May" and am attempting to keep our lawn more trimmed now that it has mostly filled out since our septic replacement several years ago.
-Rowen and I have been making progress around the house, garage, and yard. In compensation, we've been paying Rowen for his efforts. I feel that we've been making substantial improvements in a relatively short amount of time.
-I cruised through Project Hail Mary and highly recommend the book.
-We recently finished the first season of The 3 Body Problem. I liked the first half of the season more than the second.
-The younger boys and I watched Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga at the theater and enjoyed it. I like the story more than Fury Road, but I feel that there was entirely too much "telling" in this new movie by comparison. I still recommend it for fans of science fiction dystopian stories. 
-I just came back from my friend's birthday celebration where we watched Dune: Part 2. He's still on house arrest (for over a year) as the judge is continuing to review his appeal that the case be thrown out due to a lack of evidence, a falsified transcript, and a massive misrepresentation of information and omission of pertinent details to the grand jury. 

​June has several large events coming up. May it be a month full of joy and good news.

Assuming that there is still a future and that humanity exists in it and that they still have records of American history, Donald Trump will certainly be in those histories. Today, he added another historic element to his list of historical firsts as he became the first person to have held the office of President and also have been convicted of a felony. I believe that the correct description for Trump's historical presence is "infamous." I remember writing a post years ago about how Trump was not the worst person to serve as President, but I have certainly been proven wrong time and again on that count.

Right now, I am concerned for the jury members and court workers that were a part of this trial. Trump has already proven that he has followers who would attack our Capitol in a show of support for him; I worry about what might happen as he seeks his revenge on the people behind his conviction, especially now that he is no longer bound by a gag order (which he kept trying to find ways to work around). I've already seen some disturbing vitriolic rhetoric on Trump-supporting posts and "news" agencies since the verdict came out.

I don't have a great deal of faith in our criminal justice system at the moment for a variety of reasons (including some clear ethical issues with members of the Supreme Court), so I do not have any predictions about what will happen next in this conviction. Certainly, it will be appealed, but I'm not certain that there are grounds for such an appeal that will hold up in any but the most Trump-devoted viewpoint. As he has managed to postpone all of the other criminal proceedings against him until probably after the election, this conviction will continue to have America's attention for the next few months as that appeals process goes on (and as he does everything to try to delay that too).

In short, it was another historic occasion concerning Trump, but it will likely not be the last.

I've had several people heavily recommend the 2021 novel by Andrew Weir this past year. I deeply enjoyed The Martian which is probably his most famous book at this time, but I have such a catalog of books still to read that I put off the idea. One of my friends (well, almost the entire family) insisted enough that they loaned me the book. I decided to put it next in my queue after the latest in the Mistborn series: The Lost Metal (which was fine). As I finished that book on Monday, I decided to start Project Hail Mary on Monday--I finished it this morning. I honestly had difficulty putting it down.  

It's main draw is that it is comprised of a variety of mysteries within mysteries like a Russian nesting doll. Each answer provides another mystery to drive the story forward. Meanwhile, each reveal also provides a sense of satisfaction as nearly impossible challenges are met and overcome. Weir also seems to know what mysteries not to answer, allowing his readers to come to their own conclusions--further engaging their imaginations. 

I don't know where it falls for me in comparison with The Martian. It's main character was nearly an exact duplicate of the protagonist from The Martian with the same scientific style of thinking, methodology, and humor--but I liked that character, so it wasn't a problem for me. The story is certainly a less believable concept with a few plot holes throughout (I particularly felt that one of the main reveals was a twist just for the sake of being a twist rather than being believable). However, I think that I liked the themes quite a bit better. A major message throughout the book is the power of cooperation--that greater things can be accomplished when we work with one another. In truth, it might be almost too optimistic, but tend to feed on optimistic visions of the future, so it worked fine for me. 

Apparently, Hollywood is making a movie about the book with Ryan Gosling signed up to be the main character--whose initials happen to be the same. I certainly enjoyed the movie version of The Martian (even if the book was better--except for the very end). Thus, I am looking forward to how this book translates to the big screen--and to see how many people decide to pick up the book as a result. Personally, I recommend that people pick the book up now so that I have more excuses to talk about it.

With clear skies this morning, Rowen and I worked on clearing more trees and brush. We have multiple tons of it to do. There are dozens and dozens of trees that are down either due to my cutting, the work of the service hired by our electrical company, or the high winds that have blown through--especially the storm that knocked out our power for a couple of days. Meanwhile, there are still dozens of trees that have been killed off by the beetles in this past year that still need to come, and that doesn't even count the living trees that are showing signs that the beetles are doing their work.

Today, Rowen focused on consolidating some of our brush piles; we have several scattered around our yard. While he did that, I was working on cleaning up one of the trees that I took down after we installed Starlink a year and a half ago. The tree was a massive one that was still living, but was well within striking distance of the house and was one of half a dozen that was showing up on Starlink's obstructions map.

I cut it so that it would fall into our driveway, falling between our house and our garden. It landed almost perfectly--which would not be the case for all of the trees that I cut down over the course of those few days. It was that November when we had so much snow that we hired someone to dig us out, so after I cut up the tree, we just tossed the logs and brush back near its stump, as it was too difficult to trudge back to our brush pile. That's where it's stayed since then, until today.

The other trees were smaller and have just stayed where they landed, so they are next on my list. Then, I want to clear our a couple that I felled and one that fell naturally on the sled hill. Following that, there's the mess to clean up near Janelle's raised garden beds. After that, I want to clean up the area near the front of our driveway. Once that's done, I can start dealing with the massive destruction in the heavily wooded section of our yard.

By the way, anyone who wants some wood is welcome to come and get it. There's even more available if you want to cut it up yourself.

As we've been out of school for over a week, it feels like Memorial Day is super late this year. Considering that Janelle and Connor had to work today, we did our traditional grilling on Saturday and Sunday, and ate the leftovers today. Otherwise, my day followed my regular pattern for the break.

As it was raining this morning, Rowen and I dealt with organizing the garage for several hours today. This past weekend, Janelle and I purchased a storage unit for our tools, so Rowen and I spent most of our time rummaging through the many boxes and kits to organize and condense what we had into a more manageable space. We also moved more boxes which contain my collectables [read: old toys] that have been stored in the garage into the unheated storage unit.

The change is substantial. We still have a great deal of organizing and "pruning" to do, but it was nice to make progress that can be easily recognized. Not all such efforts have such visually pleasing results. 

The Trinity is weird. I've heard the concept explained in a variety of ways: the Trinity is like an element that can exist in different states (gas, liquid, solid), but is still the same element; it's like warm cherry pie cut into three slices, but the filling still runs throughout; and today, it's like light which can be observed as either a particle or a wave, yet it's both. All of them make some amount of sense yet still seem to be missing something.

God the Father is vast enough to contain the entire universe/multiverse and can still know each grain of sand on every beach in the multitude of worlds He created. God the Son was born into our world at a set point in time, making His mark from that moment on. God the Holy Spirit, often seen as a fire or a dove, has spoken to prophets and guided people throughout the ages. Still, they are all fully one God.

God is thus our Father who made us, our Brother who saved us, and the Spirit that flows within us. 

A great deal of my lawn has still not awakened from its winter dormancy, but patches of it, especially in the dog yard, were already started to thicken up due to our weather pattern of alternating sun and rain. I've decided to go with a three inch trim this year in an attempt to make mowing more manageable than the past couple of years when I was cutting at four inches. I'm also trying to take more advantage of the sunlight when we have it. The past couple of years had rain so frequently that it was difficult to get mowing done. 

Because there was not much to cut, I also took this opportunity to mow the area below the powerlines into our yard. It's been a few years since I last mowed it which isn't much of an issue since it is mostly moss. However, I wanted to keep back the volunteer bushes that had started to pop up under the line. It looks a lot nicer now; if I keep it like this, it should be a smooth run for sledding this winter.

Another advantage to getting to the lawn earlier is that I was not as attacked by insects as is usually the case. Perhaps they are not out in force just yet. Still, it was a nice change to not get eaten up while I was getting in my steps.

I've passed the 15 minute stall-out mark that I set for myself. Ironically, one of the main ideas I was thinking about was just writing a series of random thoughts that have been on my mind. I guess that means that topic won out after all. Here are some of the items on my mind:

-I hate how long it takes to get back into an exercise habit, how painful the process is (I hurt all over), and how slow the results come (if at all).
-Dr. Strange the Multiverse of Madness would have been significantly better if there had been one added scene after Strange visits Wanda in her "orchard." In it, they could have shown Wanda with the Darkhold, perhaps in front of a mirror, having a conversation with the book or perhaps her own reflection--demonstrating how the Darkhold is corrupting her with false promises.
-Most American's believe that the economy is worse now than it was under Trump (before COVID), yet nearly every metric used to measure the economy is higher. Unemployment is at a 60 year low, the major exchanges are at record highs, inflation has been coming down from the COVID supply restriction highs, and wages are outpacing inflation. 
-The rain patterns seem to be determined to keep me from burning my brush pile.
-I sold both of the previous houses that I've owned at a loss (if a slight one) compared to what I bought them for. I have no reference of what to do taxwise when someone sells a house for more than they bought it for--like it looks like Katrina and Peter will be able to do.
-I'm being stubborn about get a "100%" completion on Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth; it's keeping me from playing other games. That said, I kind of don't want the game to end either.

Yeah, I really didn't have the energy to draw any of those out into a full post.

Does anyone have $1.7 million that they're willing to give me, or preferably Katrina and Peter? That's the current asking price for St. Theresa's Lakeside Resort. Rowen had a youth group day there today, and the place is absolutely gorgeous. At present, there 20+ acres of lakeside property include a relatively new house larger than our current residence, five fully furnished cabins that are rented out in the summer, one fully furnished cabin that can be rented out year round, a massive commercial kitchen with a dining area that can seat 30 people, five RV hookup spots, a shower/laundry house, a building with storage freezers, a large pavilion, a sandy beach, and at least half a dozen other cabins and storage buildings (a few of them need work done). It used to be a camp run by the local diocese until a couple of decades ago when it was sold to a couple from our parish who run it as a resort.

Janelle and I have talked about resort ownership in the past. We've known other people who do this sort of thing, working hectically for four or five months in the summer season and having the rest of the year to do updates, repairs, and vacationing. Walking those grounds today, I could clearly see the appeal of it again. It certainly helps that every cabin had a clear view of the lake, and I could make out the tops of the Kenai Range the tree line on the other side. 

Some of the other parents who were there to gather their children expressed a similar desire. There was talk of winning the lottery or pooling resources and living in a kind of commune. It reminded me of past discussions when we talked about buying or building a compound with friends to make a writers/artists/musicians commune. It's not something that I would start on my own at this point in my life, but with Katrina and Peter moving up here, it seems like the type of business that they could run with help from Janelle and myself. 

It was nice to think about.

I've already started up a couple of summer routines for the workweek in the effort to be more productive (as I need to be) this summer. All of this depends on having an open day. I have to make changes to accommodate appointments, errands, and other tasks. 

-I wake up at 6 AM (which is sleeping in 45 minutes from my school year work week). Janelle still wakes up at 5:30 for her morning, so this gets me into the bathroom after her rather than before. 
​-Breakfast, video call with Katrina (mostly for Janelle), morning Duolingo
-Sometime after 7 AM, I call my parents for our daily chat.
-Once Janelle heads off to work (about 7:40), I then use the bathroom again and change into my exercise clothes.
-I try to exercise for around half an hour including warm up and cool down. Note: I am quite sore today as this has only been my second day of exercise in quite a while.
-If it is not raining, I put on outdoor work clothes to get some of the outdoor chores done. I try not to use an loud equipment (lawnmower, chainsaw, etc.) until after 9 AM. Today, I was cutting up some of the trees I felled over a year ago and setting up a brush pile to burn tomorrow. Rowen has wanted to earn some money, so I'm paying him for the time that he helps me with this kind of work. Once I'm done, I then take a shower and change into more relaxing clothes.
-If it is too wet to work outside, I shower and change into more relaxing clothes and then work on tasks in the house or the garage.
-Rowen and I usually watch a show or two while having lunch.
-The time after lunch depends on my energy levels. I would like to use it to play video games or read. I sometimes will need to continue earlier tasks. I fear that I will often end up napping.
-Janelle gets home after 5 PM.
-We usually have dinner and watch a show around 6 or 7. 
-Evening Duolingo
-By 8:30, Janelle usually starts getting ready for the next day's work, and I work on my blog.
-We try to get to sleep between 9 and 10.

In writing this, I see some inefficiencies, but I figure that I've earned the some amount of a break too.

This feels like one of the big milestones to me, and I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s the symbolism around the number three that makes thirty seem more significant than, say, forty—even though forty years will be quite an accomplishment as well [note my optimism]. Apparently, the traditional gift is a pearl (or set of pearls) as they are rare items that take time to grow. With all of that in mind, I felt that a basic timeline of those thirty years (plus a couple more) would be an appropriate way to reflect on this event.

However, it turns out that a lot can happen in thirty years, even with a large portion edited out. The document that I wrote for what I thought would be today’s blog is about five pages long. Thus, I've put the rest behind a read more break.

I enjoyed getting to watch the newer movies in the Planet of the Apes series today. I should note that I have not seen the original series and the 2001 reboot, nor do I plan to ever do so. These movies, however, have really pulled me in. 

One issue that I have with them is that they have all seemed to be titled incorrectly. The first movie really should have been titled Dawn (of the Planet of the Apes) rather than Rise. The second should have been War, and the third one Rise. I don't know what the newest one (which Rowen and I watched in the theater today) should have been called, but Kingdom just didn't work for me considering that we never really saw a kingdom (at best, an ocean-side work camp) during the movie (despite the apes continually referring to it as a  kingdom). 

I was surprised to find that I never saw the conclusion to Caesar's trilogy (War of the Planet of the Apes) until today. I thought that I had seen it, but it was clear as I watched the movie today that I had not. It's a great movie regarding revenge and progressing the reasons why humans will become more primitive like in the original Planet of the Apes movies; however, there wasn't really a war--definitely less than there was in the second movie. It was an excellent conclusion to Caesar's story, and Bad Ape was an absolute scene-stealer.

The newest movie, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, felt like a fantasy-adventure movie with super-intelligent apes as the main characters. In fact, I kept hoping that more characters were going to join Noa's (the main character's) adventure party. The story takes some interesting turns that set up future movies, but still provided a solid arc for Noa that Rowen and I deeply enjoyed. 

These might not be absolute masterpieces, but they have all been really good. There are plot holes that bother me, but a little suspension of disbelief took me a long way. I suppose that the best indicator is that I would happily watch them again. 

I think that the Holy Spirit being represented as both a bird and as fire is one of the reasons that the image of a phoenix is so compelling for me. Well, it's that and the fact that the phoenix was one of my favorite pieces to play in the old school Archon video game that I played on the Apple II+. One way or the other, the idea that we are filled with fire as the Holy Spirit breathes into us is a powerful concept.

The Holy Spirit is the ultimate muse, literally inspiring us. It is the source of the righteous fire that burns within us as we try to right injustices or spread the message of God. Unfortunately, the metaphor sometimes goes to far, and people take it upon themselves to use their beliefs as a reason to burn down anyone who opposes them. 

I think this might be one of the reasons why a portion of St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians was placed as today's second reading. In it, Paul talks about there being different spiritual gifts that come from the same Spirit. He specifically states that every person has something different to bring to the Church. Our different paths and positions are all necessary for the larger Church ... for the world, too. 

There is definitely something out and about that is causing some level of allergic reaction in me. My nose has been stuffy and my eyes watery for the past couple of days. It's clearly led to my snoring more loudly than normal as I have clear memories of getting woken up twice last night by Janelle giving me not-so-gentle shoves. I didn't even have to ask why as my mouth was dry and wide open in both cases.

Considering that nearly everything is pollinating right now, I have a wide choice of culprits. However, my money is on the birch trees who have recently greened up. They're already starting to leave a fine coating of pollen everywhere.

The good news is that I traditionally don't deal with these symptoms for long. I hope that still holds true. I'd like to actually be able to breathe easier now that I have the time to breathe easier.