Guess what? To the shock and awe of absolutely no one, Henry caved and agreed to go see The Home Team in Columbus with me! I know what you’re thinking: “Erin go by yourself you’re a big girl” or “Erin just ask a friend.”

Well, I don’t want to drive at night because I have the eyes of an octogenarian looking through a kaleidoscope.

And…who would say yes to that, LOL.

But I kept pouting and begging and finally Henry was like, “Oh for god’s sake, fine.”

Here is why he was really horrified when I first asked, may I present to you a very professional calendar page of our concerts this September:

I know, it doesn’t look all that bad! Like, there are so many empty boxes with no obligations! But the reason Henry is proactively exhausted is because three of those are out of town, one is a three day festival, and one is a one day festival (it’s actually two days but I spared him and only bought tickets for one day, I am the most considerate!).

9/11: BIGBANG in New Jersey! (I’m the most amped for this one CLEARLY)

9/16: The Home Team in Columbus (a week night, no less!)

9/18-9/20: Riot Fest in Chicago (+ driving Thursday and Monday)

9/24: The Black Queen (in Pgh, calm down Henry!)

9/26: Four Chord (also in Pgh but it’s all day long and he’s annoyed about that)

So basically what this calendar is telling me is that I need to fill it up with more local shows, probably ones I’ll be attending alone!

Oh and at some point we have to go to Philly to help Chooch move into his new apartment.

I’m so excited for Riot Fest and also Four Chord to a lesser extent but I will tell you one thing: nothing has ever been able to fill the void left in my heart by Warped Tour. Oh I know “it still happens!” blah blah. But that is NOT Warped Tour. Not the one I used to know and love.  When we were out over the weekend, I got REALLY sentimental and choked up talking about how it just hasn’t been the same since Warped Tour as AN ACTUAL SUMMER TOURING FESTIVAL hung up the towel. I never had a bad experience at Warped Tour. We never fought at Warped Tour. It was always the best day of the year for me, 100% my Christmas in July. I would go to bed on Warped Tour Eve so fucking giddy and barely able to sleep, then wake up positively rearin’ to go.

I just know that if I went to one of these “new” Warped Tours, it would break my heart. I mean, Hoobastank was at the one this year, and that feels wrong on so many levels.

But anyway, The Home Team reminds me of the stuff I used to go so fucking apeshit over at Warped Tour. It makes me feel kind of young again and excited, GENUINELY EXCITED, for a non-Kpop concert. And I think Henry gets that, because he knows me better than anyone.

OK I have to go. because I’m genuinely crying again, thinking about Warped Tour and how special it was to me. (You know, in case some stranger just came here after thinking to themselves, “I wonder if that Oh Honestly bitch I used to hate read ever grew up” and then landed on this post, the answer is NO, SHE HAS NOT. Emotionally still 15, block me.)

Shifting back to cafes from breweries was such a good move. There is just something that’s so much more fulfilling about stopping into a cafe for a drink and a sweet treat, and then walking around the neighborhood. And Sunday was the perfect day for this – the heatwave had finally broken and it was so perfectly summer. I was able to walk full blocks without my face glazing over with a protective oil sheath.

We initially planned on only going to Sidecar in Oakland. It was a good pick – the barista was so friendly and even though the place was kind of crowded (this usually deters me, I’m so averse to crowds in small spaces, I mean, what sane person wouldn’t be) but he made me feel relaxed and not rushed. I got an iced maple latte and it was perfecto, but the scene stealer of the day was the slice of vinegar pie that Henry and I shared.

Holy shit, why didn’t we each get our own slice?! Ugh, it was so good but I wanted it all for myself. The top crust was so sweet and crispy, like a brittle.

I took one with my phone too because I wanted to have a back-up in case the Charmera version was shit. (It’s hard to tell in the little screen!)

After I ordered this for us, I noticed that there was an entire case of other baked goods and pies that we could have chosen from UGH. Oh well, just another reason to go back!

I don’t know why he looks at me like this—he’s the one who bought me this camera! HE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN IT WOULD BE JUST ANOTHER ANNOYING ACCESSORY TO MY ALREADY ANNOYING PERSON.

The Charmera is very fickle. You have to take the picture and then hold the camera still for an additional second or else you get the above result. I know this too but when I’m taking pictures that have people in it, I get into super stealth mode by default and end up rushing it.

Another comparison between iPhone and the Charmera. The Charmera is definitely not for perfectionists! You have to go into this understanding that the shots you get are going to look like you used a webcam from 1995.

Afterward, we walked around a little while I, FULL DISCLOSURE, cried and whined about wanting to see The Home Team but the problem is that when their tour lands in Pittsburgh, we will be in Chicago for Riot Fest. At first, I was mature about it and said to myself, “Erin, it’s OK. You’re an adult. This is not something to be upset over. You can see them another time.”

LOL yeah right.

Instead, I ended up making myself go from “casual fan” to “SUPER FUCKING SASAENG” (OK, we’re not quite at sasaeng levels, I only know the name of the singer and nothing else!) which turned into coming up with the genius solution of just picking a different tour date to see them. I settled on Columbus, which is smack in the middle of the week in September, right after we come back from seeing BIGBANG in New Jersey, and right before we leave for Chicago for Riot Fest.

Henry was like, “Yeah, that’s going to be a big fat no. Sorry.”

But was he sorry? Was he really?

Anyway, then we drove to Shadyside because I wanted to go to Kawaii Gifts for stationary stuff for my journal lol.

Pissed that this came out blurry but it’s Henry surrounded by Kpop albums at Kawaii Gifts. Two things here:

• they were doing a V8 (Vernon + The 8 from Seventeen!) pop-up event on 7/3 and 7/5 but completely sold out on 7/3 and I was sad because I had planned on going on Sunday since my Friday in the boiling tundra of downtown left me completely zapped of energy!
• now I can’t remember what the second thing was going to be.

Then we went to Kards Unlimited – Henry’s suggestion, probably because he was stalling the inevitable chores that awaited him at home. Walking around Walnut Street brought back a surge of bad memories though, out of nowhere, totally kapchugi, about the time way back in probably 2002 or 2003 when I thought I was positively rolling in the dough with those tightwads at Weiss Meats gave me a Christmas bonus. It was probably like $150, maybe $200 and I stupidly thought this was good. Anyway, I remember going to Walnut Street with Henry that December so I could get my friends “nice presents.” I got my ex-friend Keri some really nice soap and lotion from L’Occitane–it was $$$ for a measly office manager in the early 2000s—and her response was to comment on how she didn’t like how it smelled.

Anyway, L’Occitane is still there as a brick and mortar and obviously people like it because everything is still $$$ so fuck off.

< insert more pouty lips and whining about wanting to see The Home Team in Columbus >

Oh, yeah. Kards Unlimited. Great store as always but there was a group of the most annoying young 20s people (I can’t keep up with the generation names) in there acting like it was their fucking house and they were the only motherfuckers in the joint. I was extremely annoyed. By this point, we had been out in public for over 2 hours and my threshold is usually less than that. I turned down another aisle and there were more loud assholes screaming like banshees at each other even though they were standing RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER and by this point, I was morphing into one of those middle-aged hags that mutters obscenities and threats toward people who are within earshot. Finally I was like, just get me out of here.

Later, we passed BOTH GROUPS on the sidewalk–they had reconvened outside of the store to merge into one large dominating glob of ignorance and I said loudly to Henry, “Oh, I should have GUESSED they were all together.” My inner curmudgeon comes out if I’m not kept well hydrated and fed. I should have had my own slice of pie.

Since we were there, we stopped into Heat Check, which is affiliated sort of with one of the cafes I went to on Friday (The Boredom Set). It’s a vintage + local artisan shop that also has their own cafe powered by The Boredom Set.

“Be prepared to feel out of place and surrounded by Blakes,” I told Henry as we walked up the steps to the second floor. This means nothing to you but the only way I could explain The Boredom Set to Henry was that, after perusing their Insta and seeing the guy who runs it, it just seemed like it was made for the “Blake demographic.” Like, hipster adjacents who wear Carhartt and like sad boi music. I can’t explain it and I’m getting worse at generalizing and categorizing people as I age, I have noticed. But when we walked in, Henry was like, “Oh.” And I think that meant he understood.

All of their denim jackets were like $90 but I wanted one, ugh.

Henry seemed not too annoyed by this place, and then some REALLY LAME OLD PEOPLE came in and suddenly we weren’t the outliers like I had anticipated.

LOL L’Occitane!

I got a cold brew with cornbread cold foam and Henry got the iced banana milk latte. I tried his and can confirm that the matcha version I had on Friday was much more delectable. Banana and matcha just somehow really works.

We looked to see if they had any vintage Seahawks shirts for Chooch with no success.

Then we walked to Jitters because Henry wanted a snickerdoodle but they were all out so he turned and left without asking me if I wanted a cookie?! I mean, there were other cookies in the case! I actually didn’t need a cookie but it felt like a prime opportunity to transform my already pouty attitude into a full-blown tantrum. Then it started raining on us as we walked back to the car so that was very apropos.

(J/K, I didn’t really fully tantrum but I was definitely getting hangry and needed real food not more sugar.)

I did cry about The Home Team the whole way home, though.

But bro, seriously, this song broke me:

Overall, a good Sunday!

Here’s a photo of one of my Buddys from over the weekend. My current favorite thing lately is how Penelope and Buddy will eat “together” in the mornings – Buddy sits on the windowsill eating his walnuts and I put Penelope’s food on the clown buffet, where she can be found most mornings protecting the house from the birds. Anyway, it’s the sweetest thing and it’s actually encouraging her to eat more too, when she sees Buddy eating.

Today, Buddy was impatiently trying to get my attention because he needed a refill so he was climbing up on the window screen and hanging there, looking in the house for me. Penelope sniffed his foot through the screen!

Anyway. This is one of the little joys I have in life right now.

Also #TeamBelgium!!

Once again, hard to celebrate Independence Day when America is so unhinged and being run into the ground. No cookouts or fireworks for us (I literally don’t know anyone who even has cookouts for us to be invited to anyway) but there was one thing I wanted to do, no exceptions: I wanted to get some motherfucking ice cream because it was 95 degrees out.

I had recently watched some Pittsburgh ice cream video on WQED’s YouTube channel and one of the places I had never heard of: Cookie Cookie in McKees Rocks. I really liked the interview they did with the owner and the fact that they make their own cookies as well so you can make your own ice cream sandwich. Then I went to their Instagram and saw this:

!!! This is a safe space.

And then the owner immediately began chatting with me about my cat tattoos and told me that she was watching some video recently about people who had near death experiences and how they all said that they saw their pets when they crossed over and that she fully believes we’ll all be reunited with our pets when our day comes and I realized that my eyes were welling up hardcore, especially when I was showing her my Bambi tattoo, how her name was really Drew but then Chooch started calling her Bambi and it just stuck, and then yep, there’s that familiar stinging sensation on the ol’ eyeballs.

Oof.

This woman, though — you know how sometimes you meet someone and it just feels very comfortable and natural, like you can talk about anything and it just feels so warm and safe? That’s how I felt there. And for the rest of the day, I kept talking about how much I loved it there.

Anyway! We got the immigrant taco and an ice cream sandwich made with Snickerdoodles and stracciatella ice cream. YEAH BOI, this was exactly what I needed after being beaten down all week by 90+ degree weather and stifling wet humidity. Goddammit, it was so satisfying. The ice cream sandwich only got more delicious as the ice cream soaked into the cookies (this was actually one of the shop’s suggested pairings called Afternoon in Naples, BTW – they have a bunch of ice cream sandwich flavors that you can choose from in case you’re too overwhelmed to concoct your own). If we hadn’t also gotten that taco, I really feel like I could have beasted this entire sandwich on my own, no contest.

They also have non-dairy and GF options, btw!

That sandwich was so fucking good that I actually thought there was no way the taco could top it. Taco was like hold my marg.

I can’t explain it, but this was so decadent and refreshing at the same time. The coconut mango ice cream was tangy and bright, but then the ube whipped topping was super rich and creamy, and then the spices kick in and almost cleanse your palate in a way that you are desperate to take another bite. The combination was perfect, and what a great tribute to the immigrants and the flavors they brought to America. Imagine how bland it would be here without them, and this is all stuff that MAGA feels entitled to enjoy while simultaneously demanding the deportation of the people behind these ethnic flavors. I honestly can’t stand it.

So yeah, while some of the country was out there being blatant white supremacists and worshipping their Dear Leader, we opted to not partake in any 250 birthday celebrations. The only thing I was ready to celebrate yesterday was HIS DEATH but that motherfucker JUST WON’T DIE, WHY WON’T HE DIE.

Anyway, if you live in Pgh, go to Cookie Cookie for amazing ice cream and cookies and chats with good people. This is a safe space. I mean, please just read their mission statement!

Cookie Cookie Ice Cream isn’t just an ice cream store – it’s the answer to a question over five years in the asking. When Connie’s daughter Hannah was in high school, she wanted to work in food service, but there was no restaurant anywhere near her high school that would work with special needs transition students. Now, two years after her graduation, she created Cookie Cookie Ice Cream to be what they couldn’t find before. Cookie Cookie Ice Cream works with the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation to train students from area schools to make and sell cookies, coffee, and ice cream.

Cookie Cookie Ice Cream is dedicated to providing the community with satisfyingly sweet treats while creating fulfilling, meaningful work to teens and adults with disabilities. 70% of our supported staff is neuro-diverse. Our store promotes self-advocacy, community, and dignity for a population that is frequently denied these opportunities. Everyone who enters our shop leaves with a sense of comfort, inclusion, and usually a cookie or six. 

I got an early start to my downtown solo day on Friday because Penelope woke me up during her witching hour and I never went back to bed. So I was basically killing time all morning before leaving at the reasonable hour of 8:15AM. It was basically like leaving for work but without the stress. And let me tell you, I would have been PISSED if I really was going downtown for work because it was already in the high 80s with humidity you could choke on. Honestly, it was choking a bitch out and I was that bitch.

Ugh, that brought back traumatic memories of walking into the office looking like a fucking swamp monster, face slick with a layer of oily sweat.

Now I was just walking into cafes looking at that, like a fucking greasy rat.

But…at least I got to cool off a bit on the T which was blessedly nearly empty thanks to most office people having the day off.

Anyway, I was excited to be on my own with my Charmera and a book. I usually just stay home when I have the day off and Henry has to work, so I’m glad that I committed to this plan because it turned out to be a pretty memorable day (BUT HOT AF).

Some Liberty Avenue snaps. Anthrocon was starting so downtown was actually pretty lively with furries arriving in droves. Most of them were no fursuited up though, and just had their lanyards on. But I did catch a handful of tails and ears! This is one of the things I miss most about not working from the office anymore. We used to get so collectively stoked for the furries. Most of the businesses down there do too, which is just so heartwarming—Pittsburgh can be so inclusive and welcoming when it wants to be.

And….segue to the killer killer killer graffiti lol. I appreciate that it looks like someone was practicing their cursive.

The fire station in the Strip has been putting out this sign for as long as I can remember. It’s so Pittsburgh.

This bar isn’t open anymore. It’s really crazy how much things in the Strip have changed since I used to work downtown. I walked down there quite often and now there are giant empty lots where buildings have been torn down and I can’t even remember what used to be there.

I do think it’s an actual crime that there is no music venue in this area anymore. (Well, the City Winery I guess but I mean a legit local venue like Metropol, Rosebud and Altar Bar. So weird to me.

Anyway! My first stop was Novaria. It’s a Syrian cafe and I was excited to get something, anything, iced. In fact, just skip the cup and dump that ice right down my shirt, please.

I got the “back home latte” which had date paste and cardamom. It was really good but the best part was the little chat I had with the barista whose name I later learned was Russell when some tech bro with a booming voice was jawing his ear off and bellowed, “Don’t take this the wrong way but you look like a Russell. Historically—” and then he went off some tangent about famous Russells but I couldn’t hear the rest because the two fucking obnoxious “we’re the main characters here” Gen Y ballet bun bitches started cackling over whatever basic conversation they were having.

All of this is to say that this place–or at least, the timing–was not conducive to getting any reading done. Especially not once Tech Bro sat at the table in front of me and then immediately proceeded to take a Very Important Business Call.

But back to Russell! We had a nice chat about physical media because he asked me what else I was planning to do on my “My House Has No A/C So I Don’t Want To Sit There All Day on My Day Off” adventure and I mentioned the possibility of browsing the records at Eide’s. He said he and his roommates just started a CD collection, and that he bought his boyfriend Miss Congeniality on VHS which I thought was cute. (Not the movie, but the gesture, I hate Sandra Bullock a lot.)

I told him about Chooch starting a DVD collection and my mom unhauling several boxes of them on him, and how these younger generations are really fighting back against digital media which I think is really admirable honestly. Also unexpected because these young kids seem, in general, so detached and incapable of caring about preserving ownership.

But yeah, speaking of! I went to Eide’s after that. They don’t have the greatest selection of vinyl but I was at the mercy of my own two feet and had to pretty much stick with the area the trolley dumped me off in. (I don’t do buses.)

I used to come here A LOT when I worked downtown and the same guy who was always on the vinyl floor then was there on this day too. It’s so wild to me because I definitely used to go there way more than Henry, but Henry is the one who is occasionally saying, “Hey it’s the guy from Eide’s” when we’re out and about. I felt like he just said this recently too but I couldn’t remember at the time.

So, he was there talking to someone who seemed like he was a regular customer, about Trump’s slush fund. I mean, they were like SCREAMING about it in disgust and while typically angry men would make me tense up, I instead felt like, “OK, this is a safe space.” Anytime I overhear strangers ranting about Trump, it’s like, “Good, these are my people. Let me have a go, too.”

Then their convo segued into one of them talking about their older female cat not eating that much and going from being chubby to skinny, and it was so bizarre because it could have been me saying those exact words about Penelope.

These were all the things I overheard while browsing the new vinyl section.

The one guy ended up leaving so the guy working there started watching MSNBC videos and again, I felt safe.

Eventually, I took my three picks up to the counter.

“Gunship!!! Great pick. You have excellent taste,” he said, obviously happy about this. “You know who else you might like, and I think we have it here—-” he started to say as he flipped to the next record in the stack I handed him. “Yep, you know!” he said, smiling and shaking his head as he held up The Midnight’s new record.

You guys!!! We had the lengthiest conversation about synth wave and he said he was at the Midnight show AND THAT IS WHERE HENRY SAID HE THOUGHT HE SAW HIM! He just kept shaking his head in surprise every time I knew of a band he was referencing and I felt so seen. When I say no one gives a shit about the music I like, I truly mean that. So to have this record store man validating me, I actually wish I had a video of it to rewatch every night before bed.

The conversation naturally segued into him talking about how he is normally into industrial and how his record label puts out these really compilations to benefit cancer research. He pointed to a display on the counter that showed the logo and said I could go to the website to learn more and I did a double take.

“That actually looks really familiar, like I was just on this website—-you’re not selling tickets to The Black Queen show, are you?” I asked, squinted at the display.

“Yes! I booked that show!” he exclaimed. I told him I bought tickets and he high-fived me! So then we talked about The Black Queen and I was like THIS IS THE BEST DAY I HAVE HAD IN A LONG TIME! Just the whole social connection aspect of it. Working from home—well, you know. I’m starved for these kinds of real life interactions. I hate “chatting” on Teams. I want to TALK for real. And not about work!! I feel like people ask me how my weekend was, etc and I just give vague wrap-ups because I know no one is genuinely going to give a shit about how we went to see Dance Gavin Dance and ran into our Sugarspell Scoops friend or how Henry was standing next to Danny Lohner during one of the opening bands for the The Black Queen. (Literally tried to excitedly tell someone and they were like “Sorry, I don’t know how that is.” Ugh. I am LONELY, lol.)

Anyway, we formally introduced ourselves —his name is Jim, I can stop calling him the Eide’s guy now!— and he even showed me some formatting issues he’s dealing with on his website and, I don’t know! It was just a really moment in my little “Erin Spreads Her Wings and Flies” day. I am so glad I decided to go out by myself. When I am by myself, I can small talk like I’m 1998 Erin again. I can’t explain it.

I left Eide’s with my new records in a paper bag which I had to tuck under my arm because it didn’t have a handle and it soaked up my sweat REAL QUICK. It was disgusting. The air was disgusting. I was disgusting. But I still one more stop on my list so I navigated through the hordes of furries (things were really start to rev up down there!) and made my way to Market Square. But first, I waved to my work. Hi, law firm!

The Boredom Set was my last stop. It was definitely not there when I used to work downtown – we had very little options back then outside of Starbucks. We used to have Crazy Mocha which was a local chain and I LOVED THAT PLACE but it got ran into the ground. That’s neither here nor there!

I was DOUBLY SWEATY by the time I made it here, as the temps were definitely well into the 90s at this point, so me and my Krispy Creme complexion crashed through the entrance of this…very un-Burgh-like cafe. The interior was cute at a glance but then I quickly began to scrutinize the furniture positioning and the fact that there is a huge goldenrod curtain that runs down the middle of the space—what are they hiding back there. I don’t know, it was an oddly designed space and that made me uncomfortable not to mention the barista had NO PERSONALITY and high-key made me feel like I was a nuisance for giving her work to do.

“Just so you know there is oat milk and whole milk in this,” she monotoned in the style of THAT GENERATION after I ordered the banana milk matcha latte, no eye contact, yes annoyance. I just said yes, because I know, banana milk is milk.

I was obsessing over her rudeness for a good portion of the day, and clearly into the next day.

It was good but that’s probably because of the banana milk, who knows if the matcha itself was any good, but judging by their Instagram, they seem SUPER INTO BEING COFFEE SHOP PROS so I’m going to assume it was OK even though I didn’t clock what matcha they use there.

I sat next to a table of four furries. They weren’t in full-fur but one of them did have his head on the table.

One of the tables was RIGHT in front of the door to t he restroom which seemed incredibly awkward. Please read an article on Feng shui and fix this, I don’t know, the whole seating arrangement just felt so off to me.

BUT! Other than that, it was somehow quite comfortable vibe-wise. I was actually able to read some chapters AND journal AND send Chooch pictures of my vinyl haul in between eavesdropping on the barista talking to some older man about friend drama she was going through, which softened me to her because a lot of what she was saying was HASHTAG RELATABLE GIRL, I FELT THAT.

I was looking at their Instagram today because I do want to go back (they have another location in a clothes shop in Shadyside so maybe that one…) and try just their drip coffee since they seem to really do a lot of flexing on how INTO THE SCIENCE OF COFFEE they are. Anyway, in my Insta travels, I found the barista who is engaged to the owner, so that tracks. It’s not like she’s going to get fired.

It was around noon by this point and Henry was leaving work, so I walked around the area a little bit to get some more pictures before catching the T back home.

Half-furry.

As mentioned, downtown businesses REALLY lean into Anthrocon and I have always loved that. Unlike the stupid draft, they probably do benefit from this crowd! I mean, furries gotta eat.

And then I was pretty much down for the count for the rest of the day. Exhausted. My body felt like melted rubber. I was COOKED.

Next time I do this, hopefully it won’t be during a heatwave, lol.

This is so pathetic but I logged off work today and felt so excited because I have the day off tomorrow and Henry doesn’t so you know what I decided to do?? I’m taking myself on a solo date downtown tomorrow! We’re going to two cafes, taking some pics with the Charmeras (YES PLURAL BECAUSE I HAVE TWO NOW REMEMBER), reading a book, maybe journaling!? I’ll bring it just in case. I am so obsessed with my journal but also very particular about what goes in it.

For instance, I didn’t have any ephemera from Kennywood last week so I was going to just not do a page for that but then I was like NO I WILL DRAW A GOLDEN NUGGET CONE:

Bro, I’m so obsessed with my journal that I even brought it to therapy to show my only friend I mean my therapist. (I am trying to 86 the self-deprecation but this was bred into me so you’ll understand that I am having a hard time kicking the habit. Quitting cigarettes was easier.)

I think I spent so much of my life thinking that I needed BIG EVENTS to look forward to, like big vacations or whatever, but in my older age I am really leaning into the small things and it is really helping to mellow me out I think. I’m stoked to just go see a movie now.

And in that same vein, I’ve been having fun finding fun things to fill my calendar with! For instance, Henry and I are going back to Glitterbox on Tuesday to see some clown from Philly? I don’t really know what it is but I saw “clown” and bought tickets.

We also have two concerts next week: the Summer School tour with HONEY REVENGE (so amped to see them again!) and then the next night is Armor For Sleep! I haven’t seen them since they did their 10 year anniversary tour for What To Do When You Are Dead (I saw that in Philly – two Philly mentions, one post! – with Terri. Really miss her). I had tickets to see them in 2020 and it was canceled obviously and then I couldn’t go to the rescheduled show so I am DUE to see them.

So far in August, we only have one concert (Royal Coda) but September is stacked with BIGBANG, Riot Fest, Four Chord, and OH YEAH THE BLACK QUEEN IS DOING A SECOND HALF OF THEIR FEVER DAYDREAM TOUR AND PITTSBURGH WAS INCLUDED! So, had to do it!

I’m excited to get a second chance to see them where I can be more calm and relaxed!!

But back to this un-holiday weekend, I don’t know what else is planned other than I NEED TO GET ICE CREAM AT SOME POINT. Just a casual reminder that it’s been in the high 90s this week and we don’t have central air in our shanty. Thank god for the A/C in the bedrooms but second casual reminder that I work from the dining room which is basically like sitting in front of an open oven turned on high.

I’m trying to get Henry to build an inground swimming pool for the squirrels. If he doesn’t then I’m just going to use one of his mixing bowls or something from his overflowing kitchen supplies as an above-ground pool for them.

They were like “dafuq this bitch up to NOW” when I popped out the front door aiming my Charmera at them.

OH! Speaking of Charmera, I watched a video on modding them with phone lenses and I am about to order a lens kit and do that shit! FUCK I love these idiot bitch cameras.

Can’t stand Kelly Clarkson (has nothing to do with her singing but I HATE THE WAY SHE INTERVIEWS PEOPLE AND FUCKING CUTS THEM OFF CONSTANTLY LIKE SHUT YOUR FUCKING BORING ASS MOUTH FOR A SECOND, GOOD LORD) but this ATEEZ performance is SO GOOD. I really love this comeback a lot.

In other Kpop news, someone on Threads mentioned that there is a V8 pop-up in Pgh tomorrow and I was like HELLO WHERE so hopefully they answer me because I want to go. I miss Seventeen so much.

Also, Anthrocon is happening this weekend so hopefully I have some pure run-ins with some furries during my walk tomorrow! I don’t ALWAYS miss working in the office but I do miss being downtown for this every year. Sometimes Pittsburgh is pretty cool.

Well guys, my you could bake muffins on my skin right now, I am radiating so much heat just by sitting here. So, I’m going to go lay in my air-conditioned room and stare at the ceiling until I pass out.  Anyway, let’s all collectively put our best most positive thoughts in the PLEASE LET 4TH OF THE JULY BE THE DAY OF THE GREATEST OBITUARY pot. I will fucking hang up an American flag outside my house for the first time ever.

It’s been two years today since Drew died. JFC I really miss her so much. Time is not doing too much to make this hurt less.

Saturday was a whirlwind. I stupidly scheduled an appointment at Quest in Mt. Lebanon because Nourish was paying for me to get updated panels. (Side note: if you’re interested in getting your diet and nutrition in check but need a real person to talk to in order to hold yourself accountable, I highly recommend looking into the Nourish app. Most insurance will fully cover it—mine does, surprisingly–and you can choose a real dietician to schedule check-in calls with. I love mine—Amanda—with my whole heart and I think it’s incredible that Nourish pays for labwork.)

Anyway! I had originally planned on just walking there but then it was raining so Henry drove me. I ended up getting a guy phlebotomist and he was nice enough (saw my Bambi and Marcy tattoos and commented that I was the second “cat arm” he had in a row so that was nice small talk but literally nothing helps me in these situations because I hate hate hate getting blood drawn so much) but he put the rubber band thing on so fucking tight and it ended up being one of the most painful (and longest!!!) blood draws of my life, yet he left NO BRUISE and I barely bled afterward?! I was so fucking confused. I was expecting my arm crook to be FUCKED after that. You couldn’t even see where the needle ruthlessly penetrated me, though!

Of course, I didn’t know this at first because I kept the cotton ball and tape on it for as long as it lasted.

I guess the dude could tell that I was wrecked because he asked if I needed to sit for a while and I said no because I just wanted to go home and eat breakfast so bad. It’s hilarious because I had been fasting and 1. I never eat at night; 2. I don’t usually eat breakfast until 9am-9:30am and it wasn’t even 9am yet, so I don’t know why I was acting like I had just emerged from a fortnight in the desert. But you know me, should have gone into theater they always said.

As soon as I got in the car, Henry attempted to start it and IT WOULDN’T TURN ON. We never have issues with the car so it was super unexpected. And of course, it happened a day after we started actively talking about trading it in (for another Kona, though! We love our Kona and just want a new one because we put MILES on our cute little Jinki.). While Henry was messing with AAA, I said I was just going to walk home, and slid out of the car.

I was walking with a drunken gait, gauze on my arm (the tape was now half un-stuck and flapping in the breeze), looking like a regular local druggie. So of course I would have THREE small-talk moments with other pedestrians. One guy was SUPER chatty, the living embodiment of a bitch with pep in their step, and crossed the street with me, matching my stride, yapping about the weather while I was swaying from blood loss.

“I didn’t realize it was going to rain so much!” he said, and I mumbled something moderately comprehendible about “it’s supposed to be like this all day.”

“Oh no, I hope not! We’re going to downtown tonight!” Cool. Bye.

Then I passed another guy who had just stood up from tying his shoe. We made eye contact so I slurred, “Good morning” and he said, “Good morning, babe!” And then we performed a mutual horrified doubletake as he realized what he said. It was actually really funny, the way it just slipped out like that and I didn’t mind because it’s been a minute since I was called babe by someone that wasn’t Henry being sarcastic.

I made it to our block and then passed one of my Brookline walker friends while I was on the phone with Henry and of course he was like WHO WAS THAT when he heard me say hi to someone. God, calm down, master. Anyway, it turned out it was the battery so that was a fun way to hemorrhage $250 first thing in the morning. Speaking of hemorrhaging, my perimenopause periods have been so demonic lately that I had bled through an ULTRA tampon (thankfully I was wearing black jeans!!!) and didn’t realize it until I had been sitting on the bed while changing clothes and stood up to see THAT I BLED ALL OVER THE BARE MATTRESS because Henry had JUST stripped the bed that morning. I lost my mind and started sobbing and called Henry to tell him and he was like, “It’s OK, I’ll take care of it!” and he came home and cleaned up my Carrie’s prom scene recreation and not that I needed a reason to be reminded that he is amazing, but come on. He literally cleaned up my blood while I sat on the couch, eating my toast and crying.

Talk about a morning of bloodletting. If it hadn’t been for that pesky daylight, I’d have been a beacon for neighborhood vampires.

I guess this is my payback because I had always had super regular and normal periods and now it’s a Greek tragedy.

Speaking of Greek! Later that afternoon, we met Jess and Shawn in Oakmont for some Greek church’s food festival! Luckily, I did not bleed out while there.

But first, I had to take this picture to send to Chooch because Henry was really excited to show off the new shirt he bought himself that is actually nice and not just some oversized T-shirt in a hue that falls somewhere between dirt and puke on the color wheel.

I was excited to take my new Charmera with me! This is part of the Millenium collection. The first thing I did when I saw Jess and Shawn was shove it in their faces and yell LOOK I GOT A NEW ONE I HAVE TWO NOW!

Greek church bathroom selfie!

Post-bloodletting.

And then the Charmera version! Selfies are challenging to take with this tiny babe of a camera.

Mini photoshoot while waiting for Shawn and Jess, lol.

Once Jess and Shawn arrived, we immediately began procuring food. I was so excited! I haven’t had Greek food in a minute and I was READY. Mostly for the baklava and other honey-laden sweet treats.

This was part of Jess and Shawn’s meat haul.

Henry and I got dolmas, spanakopita and a REALLY DELICIOUS rice pudding to share. I was in heaven.

Henry and Shawn both got this deluxe assortment of Greek cookies and baked goods, and Henry and I also had a baklava sundae (made with Glen’s frozen custard!) to share. It was so satisfying.

We occupied this table for so long that we probably toed the line of squatting. But we always have so much to talk about! Jess suggested that we find an amusement park to road trip to and I almost lost my mind in excitement! Ever since Laura moved out west, I haven’t been able to get anyone hyped to join us even just at Kennywood, so this suggestion made my whole day.

A pensive pose.

We learned that “vespers” means “prayers.” We did not join in.

We eventually parted ways around 5PM because it was POURING* so our plan of going for a walk at a neighboring park was definitely drowned out. That was a bummer, but we still had such a great time hanging out and beasting a buffet of Greek goods. I can’t wait until the next hang (which is up to me to plan this time so I gotta start researching interesting things to do around here this summer)!

*(Is it weird that I immediately thought of the guy I crossed the street and hoped that his evening downtown wasn’t ruined?)

On the way home, we stopped at Old Thunder so I could get a stamp in my idiot book. I had a 1/2 pour of some kind of Czech lager and it was nice.  I took pictures until my Kodak died (Henry rejoiced).

The bartenders were really nice and the beer was good but GOOD LORD were there a lot of children there! Like, really young, screaming brat children. I absolutely hated it. Also, watching parents drink multiple beers knowing that they’re (probably!?) going to get behind the wheel and drive home with their children in the car is just baffling and scary.

Here’s my Charmera video with the Cure playing in the background, good luck hearing it!

Aside from the car and my traumatic double-blood loss, it was a really excellent day!

We went to see Backrooms yesterday finally! I took some pictures with my 1987 Charmera and I think it really fit the vibe.

We went to an early showing of it because if there is one thing that I have been reminded of since reentering the world of cinema it’s that I absolutely hate being in a theater with other people. There was only a family of 4 in front of us and three other people so it wasn’t bad at all. The family in front of us actually didn’t piss me off once although I was bracing myself for it.

I would never probably see this movie anyway but the trailer for Supergirl FUCKED ME UP. It showed me enough to deter me from ever watching it—the whole plot revolves her saving her dog?! It upset me so much that I was weeping openly and thank god I had a napkin in my purse because I was a freaking mess. Henry was like, “….”

But — Drew. It made me think of her so bad and I just lost my mind. I cried so hard during that one trailer that hours later I still had that post-sobbing stuffiness in my face like I had been crying all day. Wednesday will be 2 years since she died and I am still not OK.

Backrooms was excellent, though! Liminal space is something I definitely have had nightmares about so this had me clenched the whole time. There were some scenes that actually did look straight out of my nightmares and I loved it. Definitely glad we saw this in the theater and didn’t wait to stream it.

The rest of Sunday was spent working on our record player cabinet. It’s really coming along!

The doors are proving to be the hardest part so Henry hasn’t started that yet but today, he got a roll of artificial grass for the top. I like when we work on these little projects together, especially since I’m the project manager and he’s my subordinate.

Oh! Also, we took a break later in the afternoon to walk to Dunkin’ for iced coffee and WE SAW THE NEIGHBOR’S EX-GIRLFRIEND! I didn’t see her at first but she and Henry made eye contact–she was standing across the street from us, talking to some guy. Then on the way back, she was still on that side of the street, standing in a parking lot talking on the phone and I really wanted to go over there and say something. I don’t know what. Like, “Hey, I saw everything that day, I saw him push you, so if you ever need me to say something….” but my luck, she’d be like, “WE’RE BACK TOGETHER MIND YOUR FUCKNG BUSINESS, HO.”

No, she’d call me a fat ho, probably.

Or ugly ho. :(

These are the scenes that play out in my head everyday when I assume someone is making fun of me or thinks I’m lame or some old white Karen.

So, that was that. Ended the weekend with an episode of From. Nothing like recapping Sunday before Saturday!

We had planned to go to Kennywood after work on Thursday and ALMOST changed our minds because it was supposed to rain. I’m so glad we stuck with the original plans because—although it DID rain briefly—we had such a glorious evening!

I feel like no matter how many times we got to Kennywood, there is always a need for a recap. But first, look at these rainbow snaps! It did rain briefly while we were there, bringing out a rainbow and then the rest of the evening was rain-free and beautiful.

Can you see it behind Phantom’s supports?

Over Musik Express.

The whole reason for our visit! A dipped cone from Golden Nugget is a must on every visit but the last time we were there, they were doing some sweet potato thing and I got a sweet potato sundae instead which was fine, no regertz I guess, but Golden Nugget is the GOAT when it comes to Kennywood sweet treats.

My Gemini shirt was just collecting compliments from the Kennywood employees left and right (and by that I mean 2 people were like GEMINI! NICE SHIRT! to which I responded both times with a thank you like Gemini is a child that I made or something).

I have new Kodak Charmera – this one is part of the Millennium collection which isn’t too different, just different designs and some new filters but I never use the filters unless it’s by accident, like below (LOL):

OK, here is a bulletpoint collection of things I want to remember from the evening (it was only three hours that we were there so you’d have to hope I don’t have much to say):

• literal walk-on for Steel Curtain. I do like this coaster but it’s just not something I would marathon. Henry thinks it’s rough—I mean, it does shake, but not to the point that it distracts me from enjoying the ride. I still hate that it’s Steelers-themed, though. And I hate the slow AF ops and the slow AF lift hill. But you can’t beat the views if you sit on the right side.

• rain ride on Phantom!!! I haven’t had a raid ride on that in years and it slapped (literally, cold and wet slaps). I was so excited because the ride attendants let us stay on for another ride but then there was some weirdness at the front where some kids were standing on the platform arguing about where to sit (someone wanted to sit with their cousin, I don’t even know what was happening) and NO ONE WAS TELLING THEM TO SIT DOWN OR LEAVE THE LOADING PLATFORM. I couldn’t believe it, like what kind of amateur ops was this?! You don’t let people mill about on the platform like that. Anyway, by the time they got their shit settled, the person in the operating booth got the dreaded PHONE CALL saying they had to shut it down because of storms. I WAS SO FUCKING PISSED OFF AT THOSE KIDS.

The iconic collection of hair ties under the Phantom queue line.

• It was all good though because from there, we ran through the rain to Exterminator – ANOTHER WALK-ON. For some reason, this was one of the best rides I had ever had on this! I was cracking up so hard that it felt like I broke a rib. It just felt like the first time riding it, if that makes any sense. I LOVE EXTERMINATOR and will die on the “It’s the second best coaster in the park” hill. Fucking fight me over it, I don’t care.

• From there, possibly had the WORST ride ever on Musik Express. The ride ops were so anti-fun and serious and the music could barely be heard. Also, they assigned seats. They never fucking assign seats on the Musik Express!! I always like to pick one of the seats that’s at the top inside the “tunnel” portion, but they made us sit in one right by the entrance. It was so lame and weak. Even exiting the ride, one of the attendants was waving everyone to SLOW DOWN as we walked through the exit. It reminded me of my  helicopter Aunt Sharon saying CHEW CHEW CHEW to my brother when he was a baby.

• As mentioned above, the actual longest, most excruciating wait for a Golden Nugget. There was NO LINE. Two people working. Yet it took us probably 7 minutes to get our cones. They were just working at a snails pace, I couldn’t believe it, like we were being punked. Especially toward the end, when the one worker finally made it to the end of the process which requires a few maraschino cherries to be speared on a toothpick for the cone topper, and she realized that the toothpicks were in a brand new package that hadn’t yet been opened so we had to watch in anguish as she slowly and calmly worked the plastic with her fingernails while staring absentmindedly into the distance. I wanted to snap my fingers and yell, “FOCUS, HONEY, FOCUS” but I can’t snap. In the end, of course it was worth it BUT SHEESH.

It’s almost impossible to hear but one of my favorite songs (and greatest songs ever written) was playing while we were eating our cones faster than they were made: JACKIE BLUE.

https://www.ohhonestlyerin.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/MOVI0033.avi

• We had 30 minutes before the park was closing to run back over to Phantom (“I’m not running, you’ll be riding by yourself if you don’t slow down,” Henry said). All that speed-walking was for naught because a family got to the entrance right before us AND WALKED THE SLOWEST WALK IN THE WORLD the entire length of the queue line. If you have never been here, just know that even if there is no one in the park, there is no fast way to get to the station of the Phantom – you have to walk the whole length of the queue. These people were clearly not thoosies by any means–they were STROLLING. I was so close to the back of the mom that there is no way she couldn’t feel my HOT-HEADED BREATH ON HER NECK. I was fuming!! I kept doing a little “temper tantrum stamp” with my fists clenched. I was making dramatic “MOVE” motions with my arms and at one point, the daughter turned around to say something to her and caught me LOL. MOM WAS TOO BUSY SAVORING HER VAPE TO BE BOTHERED TO PICK UP THE PACE and I was ready to stroke out. I AM ALWAYS IN A HURRY, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT’S ROLLER COASTER RELATED.

• Aside from that, we had the BEST RIDES ON PHANTOM!! Back row, and they let us stay on three times in a row. Henry was trying to get out after the second ride but I wouldn’t move. “I don’t want to ride again, I have a headache!” he cried, and I was like, “Bitch, tell that to your mom because I DO NOT CARE.” So he had to ride again, LOL. Plus, we were sitting behind two Kennywood worker who were done for the night and they were so much fun! WE ALMOST GOT TO STAY ON A FOURTH TIME but I gave Henry a reprieve and got off since the park was essentially closed at that point anyway. (It was 8PM.) I will never stop singing about how much I love the Phantom, though. IT’S SO GOOD.  

• I finally got good Phantom merch!! For YEARS I have been waiting for a good Phantom shirt design and they finally have one. I also got a keychain <3

I mean, that was a pretty great way to spend a random Thursday evening, if you ask me. I love Kennywood.

The other day, the rumor that Fun Spot America is closing was confirmed as true. I have been quietly sitting with my feelings on this one. We had such a fun time visiting this place three summers ago to ride ArieForce One and I am so worried about what will happen to this coaster now. Please please please let someone buy it and relocate it — this coaster is too majestic, too elite, TOO YOUNG to be scrapped.

We were just out with our friends Jess and Shawn and I was telling them about this because their nephew has recently gotten into coasters. I was like, “TELL HIS PARENTS THAT THEY NEED TO GET HIM HERE BEFORE AUGUST 3RD!!” I realized while talking about it that I had a lump in my throat. I think I’m starting to really comprehend that it’s not fully about the roller coasters, it’s about the fact that this has been something that me, Henry and Chooch have bonded over for the last 10+ years. We have had so much fun and made so many memories traveling the world for coaster credits and this one coaster was so highly ranked by all of us.

Ugh. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t so emotionally connected to every little fucking thing!

Anyway, I’m bringing this old blog post back in honor of FunSpot and ArieForce One. If you’ve ridden it, you get it.

July 2023

I know sometimes it sounds like my brilliant ideas are born from late nights rolling in a kiddy pool of cocaine, but I swear to BETTY FUCKING WHITE that my “It’s so easy” plan of driving a billion miles from Pgh to Atlanta to ride one goddamn rollercoaster actually ended up being something that was enjoyed in equal parts by ALL.

(OK, maybe more like 50% me, 25% each to Henry and Chooch – they don’t get excited about shit.)

By now, you know (and still don’t care) that my favorite roller coaster manufacturer is ROCKY MOUNTAIN CONSTRUCTION (RMC). When it was announced that they were building a brand new ground-up coaster (they are mostly renown for taking already-standing wooden coasters and making them insane feats of engineering) at this tiny family entertainment center outside of Atlanta called Fun Spot America, the coaster community went wild with confusion, speculation, and of course excitement falling in clumps out of cargo-pockets.

In America, RMCs generally only go to the big name parks, the Cedar Fairs, the Six Flags. This particular Fun Spot (there are two others in Florida) is essentially an arcade with some go-kart tracks and flat rides in an old, repurposed parking lot. The only coasters they already had was a janky jumble of track called Hurricane (the kind of coaster you’d expect to see in a traveling parking lot carnival, actually) and a standard kiddy coaster.

And now, a fucking beast of an RMC called ArieForce One, which just opened last March. I know we’re going on this big trip in a month, but I was like, “HENRY WE HAVE TO RIDE THIS THING BEFORE THE TRIP BECAUSE ALL THOSE THOOSIES ARE GOING TO TALK ABOUT IT AND I WANT TO BE IN THE KNOW!!!” Henry tried to talk me out of it, but in the end, I won.

Oh, and “Arie” is not a typo. It’s an homage to the surname of the family that bought this park several years ago, Arie. LEGEND HAS IT (it’s not a legend, it’s right there on FunSpot’s website), the patriarch of the Arie family was/is very into airplanes or whatever. Love it or hate it, RMC built a BEAUTIFUL ride to go along with the theme of flight and when you see this bad boy looming along the side of the road before the full park comes into view, how do you NOT gasp?? I mean, I imagine even if I wasn’t an enthusiast, if I knew NOTHING about this hunk of red and blue track, I would at least be inspired to look up WTF it was and probably start nagging Henry to pull over so we could ride it.

Obviously, we went straight to ArieForce One upon arrival. IT WAS A STATION WAIT. Actually, it could have been a walk-on if we weren’t trying to get either the front or back row, and even then, we barely had to wait because they were running two trains and we were next!

AHHHH!!!!

Chooch was like, “Oh boy, here we go with the station selfies. I am so excited. Yay me.” I ended up ditching Chooch and running up to the front to ride with Henry because otherwise, we’d have had to wait more cycle. So Chooch ended up riding with the single rider / enthusiast that was in front of us in the backrow.

Dude. I don’t know what to say other than IS THIS MY NEW FAVORITE RMC?!?! Holy shit, the things this coaster does seems illegal, honestly. There is this one part where you do a zero G roll / barrel roll over the arcade and it nearly gave me whiplash every time. It was my favorite moment but holy shit, the way you twirl between the structures, talk about head/limbs/everything chopper. Hoo boy!

DO YOU SEE HOW EMPTY THIS TRAIN IS?? It was like this all night! Walking onto an RMC is unheard of at any other park. I mean, for Christ’s sake, we’re lucky if we can get ONE RIDE on Steel Vengeance every time we go to Cedar Point because the line is usually consistently at 90+ minutes. (When it’s not breaking down.)

But on this day, it was us, maybe about 5 or 6 thoosies, and a handful of GP who caught on to the sheer majesty of this ride and knew that it was worth the multiple re-rides. The ride attendants were so great too!! The one guy asked us at one point how many rides we had gotten in so far and I honestly had lost count. I mean, we would ride 3-4x in a row, walk around and do some other things, and then go right back.

I will say that this coaster is tough to marathon though because the very ending has a quadruple double-down that is VIOLENT. And then it just slams you into the breakrun. Parts of my thighs had red marks on them from the sheer force of the restraints crushing into me every single time we reached that element. VERY EXTREME. I think this could be a one and done for the casual rider. You have to be a psycho to beg the attendants to let you stay on when you come back to the station and see no one is waiting for the row you’re sitting in. They allowed it every time!!

We got really lucky too because the weather forecast was calling for storms all evening. And actually, after we had gotten in our first two rides (front and back –  I think I actually preferred the front because it hurt less, lol), we had pissed around a but, checked out the arcade, rode some other rides, when we overheard the ride attendant for the janky coaster, Hurricane, get a call that said some of the rides needed to stop operations because lightning was spotted.

I was literally screaming, “Nooooooo!!!” thinking that we were only going to get those 2 rides on Arie, and were probably going to have to leave the park altogether if it started storming. This was only about an hour after we arrived too! I was big sad.

But then I was like, “Well, let’s just walk toward Arie just in case, you never know,” and right as we were walking that way, we passed someone who looked like he was In Charge as he was telling another park employee, “All clear of lightning” so then I was like “LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOO!!” and yep, just as we ran up the steps to the Arie station, they were just about to start sending trains again!

On one of our many rides, Chooch told me, “As we go over the hill, don’t look down, just look straight ahead. It makes it better,” and I thought this was just some dumb thing he had made up to see if I’d fall for it, but I did it and it made the butterfly sensation amplified by a lot, which made me crack up uncontrollably and then spit all over myself. So, then I was laughing even harder, which resulted in me being in tears by the time we careened into the brake run.

At one point, Henry and Chooch wanted to ride go-karts and I said, “OK, I guess I will just go walk around while you’re doing that” and walk around is exactly what I did – straight to ArieForce One!! I rode in the back by myself and one of the loner thoosies was in front of me, so we started talking on the brake run (ops were kind of slow so every time a train came back, it would idle on the brake run for a few minutes while the train in the station was loading). He was really cool but I’m not used to talking to people who actually care about this stuff so WORDS WERE JUST SOMERSAULTING out of my mouth at a pace which made me gasp for breath like an asthmatic. Honestly, I need to come up with a way to tap out of conversations, like putting a paper grocery bag over my head, askin a bee to sting my tongue, or just you know, saying, “Excuse me bye” and walking away.

As it was, we somehow ended up walking out of the station together, super awkwardly, and when he asked what my favorite park is, I BLANKED AND THEN SAID CEDAR POINT??? Cedar Point is NOT my favorite park!??! I feel like if I hadn’t been short-circuiting, I probably would have said Universal / Islands of Adventure or Busch Gardens Williamsburg?!?! And then I was telling him that Kennywood is my homepark and he said he had never heard of it so I was like, “Yeah, you should go sometime and ride Phantoms Revenge, it’s amazing” and he goes, “Who is the manufacturer?” and this is the part that you won’t care about if you don’t like coasters, but I was now in the position where I said to say, “Arrow….and then it was reworked by Morgan” and I could hear myself saying these words while watching the look of skepticism befall his face.

“Oh, OK,” he said.

“Yeah….you should look it up. Well, enjoy the rest of your night!” and then it’s a wonder I didn’t trip and fall into a garbage can in my haste to exit this conversation.

(Arrow is notorious in the coaster community for making pretty shitty, rough coasters and is now defunct. And Morgan is just whatever. So to try and sell the merits of a coaster manufactured by these two companies is pretty insane, but Phantom’s Revenge is the exception, ISTG. LOOK IT UP – COASTER ENTHUSIASTS COME TO KENNYWOOD FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD TO RIDE IT. IT’S CONSIDERED AN ELITE COASTER AND MOST THOOSIES HAVE IT IN THEIR TOP 25-50 LISTS. SO THERE.)

The night rides on this were masterful. CHEF’S KISS, BITCHES.

That ride attendant there in the front was my favorite!!! He never stapled us, he let us pull down the restraints ourselves and then only (GENTLY) pushed until the light on the screen turned green. Bless your heart, sir.

CAUGHT A CHOOCH SMILE. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT.

I love that you can see the ferris wheel from the back of the station!

That other ride attendant over there on the other side of the track is the one who kept permitting us to stay on for re-rides. I loved everyone associated with this ride, you guys. It was an EXCEPTIONAL experience.

Family selfie that only I will forever cherish!

Anyway, I will do a full FunSpot recap another time, but we all were in agreement that as usual, I have the best ideas and that this was 100% worth the 11 hour drive.

I think this was Chooch’s and my 11th RMC, and Henry’s 10th?

1. Lightning Rod
2. Storm Chaser
3. Steel Vengeance
4. Twister Timber
5. Outlaw Run (the one Henry doesn’t have because his back hurt, but we still made him drive us to Missouri lol)
6. Wicked Cyclone
7. Twisted Cyclone
8. Iron Gwazi (ugh this one MIGHT still be my fave??)
9. Goliath
10. Jersey Devil
11. ArieForce One

There are two more that we will potentially add to this list this year: Wildfire in Sweden next month, and hopefully at some point before the end of the year, I’d like to make it back out to Hershey to ride the brand new Wildcat’s Revenge but we’ll see how destitute we are upon return from this August trip hahaha ugh.

Present Day Erin here with an updated RMC list!

1. Lightning Rod
2. Storm Chaser
3. Steel Vengeance
4. Twister Timber
5. Outlaw Run (Henry now has this credit since we went back to Silver Dollar City last summer)
6. Wicked Cyclone
7. Twisted Cyclone
8. Iron Gwazi (ugh this one MIGHT still be my fave??)
9. Goliath
10. Jersey Devil
11. ArieForce One
12. Wildfire
13. Wildcat’s Revenge (Chooch’s fave)
14. Fire Runner

Bro when I say that I feel like a brand new person straight out of an isolation chamber ever since I got BIGBANG tickets….I mean, it’s really pathetic that concert-goers need to feel this level of anxiety when a band they love (especially if it’s Kpop) announces a tour. It just shouldn’t be like this, we have enough stress on a daily basis thanks to this fucking orange rapist and his gang of degenerates putting us in the crosshairs and obliterating basic human rights, let us at the very least have a normal, non-panic-inducing experience when purchasing tickets to a concert that we deserve to attend in order to restore our sanity and give us a small moment of joy before we head back into the reality of this corrupt world.

YOU KNOW WHAT I’M SAYING?

Here are some more little moments of joy that I have curated over the last week or so.

For the last year or so, I’ve used this photo app called Minutiae where you get a notification at a different time each day and you only have 5 seconds to open the app and snap a picture of what’s in front of you. Most of the time, I miss the notification. Most of the times when I DON’T miss it, I’m sitting at my work desk so my pictures are always of my house, depending on how fast I swivel to capture a new corner, lol. It happened when I was at DGD last week so I was really excited to have a picture that illustrated me actually having a life outside of the house.

ANYWAY!! While Chooch was home last week, I got a notification right as he walked out the front door to go see his friends. I screamed CHOOCH WAIT and took this through the screen door, lol.

Also, if you read my Waldameer post, the lady who was forcing her kid to ride Chaos WAS WEARING THIS SAME SHIRT which inspired Chooch to wear his the next day. I can’t believe he still wears it. He got it in some dorky gamer subscription box years ago, I think!?

Earlier that day, I made Chooch go for a walk around Brookline with me because I was bored. Here are some pictures I took with my Charmera, much to Chooch’s chagrin:

Lemonade we bought from two siblings on the corner of our street (I don’t know where they came from). The brother was the one we made the transaction with and there was not a lick of enthusiasm to be found on him.

It was $1 each so Chooch slid him a dollar bill and 4 quarters (we had to go back into the house to get cash when we saw the stand right at the start of our walk, and the two kids stood shoulder to shoulder, holding their lemonade sign, glowering at us like the Shining twins as we walked back down the sidewalk to get the money, it was scary).

“I don’t have change,” the kid said dourly, scooping out the lemonade with a ladle.

“Uh…that’s OK we don’t need it,” Chooch said, like BOY DO BETTER AT MATH CLASS. Sheesh.

“Do you want ice?” he asked in a monotone.

We did not.

The lemonade was actually pretty bad but we still sipped on it as we walked away. “That was an interesting serving technique,” Chooch laughed and I mean, really! It took him forever to scoop two small cups’ worth of liquid out of the pitcher.

I couldn’t believe how many people were actually PULLING OVER to support this local business. I’ll tell you why – BECAUSE THEY WERE WHITE KIDS.

The Teen Center’s lemonade was so much better (and the operation was diverse!).

This also made me think about how shocking it is in hindsight that Chooch never got into the lemonade slinging trade, but that’s probably because he was too busy diabolically banning people on the Minecraft servers he was in charge of.

The Moonlite Cafe redid its facade and it’s super cute. I have lived in Brookline since 1999 (!!!) and somehow have only eaten here twice and have no recollection of liking it or not.

Back on our block, the kids were still doing the lemonade thing. “Hi again,” the boy said to us like we were regulars.

I haven’t mentioned this much because the process has been so slow since we haven’t been home much for Henry to work on it, but we’ve reached the “accoutrements” portion of the record player buffet that we’ve (“we” lol) been refurbing. It’s exactly the same style cabinet as the one we clownified for the living room, but this one is purple and green. The doors will (hopefully) be a mosaic made from CD shards, with halved toy dinosaurs attached. The sides, which is what we’re currently working on, will be made from old cassettes and 8-tracks. (The theme here is prehistoric media, if you haven’t noticed.)

I’ve had these 8-tracks in a box in the basement for over 20 years. Freaking JOE gave them to me back when I worked at Weiss’s. I don’t even know why I took them, I did not have an 8-track player nor did I have any intention of purchasing one on eBay in order to listen to Lawrence Welk and Elvis albums. But, because Henry tends to just push things into the dark recesses of the basement, he found them a few weeks ago when he was looking for something else, and said, “Hey, can you think of anything to use those old 8-tracks for?” Well, it turns out, just using the cassettes won’t work, dimension-wise, but alternating between cassettes AND 8-tracks makes for a better fit on the sides of the cabinet!

So, here is a picture of Henry cleaning them the other night while we watched FROM.

Also, it’s super annoying because they wrote “WEISS” on a bunch of them like a mom tagging her kids’ underroos, so some of them can’t be used. (Sorry, it’s already bad enough that I have tangible evidence of this family’s existence in my house, I don’t need to see their names as well — this cabinet is already going to be haunted since we’re using these!)

Here’s the journal page from Father’s Day in Philly. Henry was not pleased with my depiction of him (mostly because I was using a picture of him as reference and he was insulted that I can’t draw him from memory, like bro calm down, I can barely draw a stick figure from memory anymore).

I fucking love my journal so much!!

All of these things have been keeping me afloat lately. Once I finally admitted that my life needed to shift, even if just the slightest, everything sort of fell into place and every day gets a little better. It’s not perfect, I still have sad days (ok, sad moments every day), I am still stressed, I’m still worried about Penelope constantly, I still have panic attacks reading the news. But these little things are my liferaft!

(+ HOLY SHIT I’M GOING TO SEE BIGBANG, BREATHE ERIN.)

Imagine Chooch’s excitement when I produced my Charmera from my purse as soon as we walked into Waldameer :) At least Zakk was a good sport!

Obviously, this camera isn’t meant to take award-winning photographs so you have to expect extremely low-quality, but I learned on this day that the Charmera doesn’t seem to like sunny days.

Entrance of the Whacky Shack!

This babe.

Comet is such a cute and smooth woodie. This is the perfect first coaster for little kids, honestly.

He’s smiling genuinely here because he didn’t know I was taking his picture WITH MY TINY BABY CHARMERA.

In case you were wondering, I engaged in no hand gesture activity because my hands will white knuckling the safety bar the whole time. Ravine Flyer was HAULING ASS.

And here’s an ear-splitting video:

You’re welcome.

We’re not going to talk about how fried my nerves are right now but the important part is that I am going to FINALLY see BIGBANG and I didn’t get Ticketmaster-scammed during the presale like I did last year with the G-Dragon concert!

I am going to cry my fucking face off seeing Lies performed in real life, holy shit.