1. Last Night in Brooklyn by Xóchitl González

Basically a retelling of the Great Gatsby. It was mid.

2. Nothing Tastes as Good by Luke Dumas

YES. 4 stars. Compelling, engaging, funny, horrific.

I’ve wanted a jelly donut ever since.

3. Caller Unknown by Gillian McAllister

It was OK.

4. Hot Girl Murder Club by Ashley Winstead

Oh, sit tf down, Ashley Winstead. You are writing too many books, too fast, and they are getting worse and worse. In My Dreams I Held a Knife was clearly a one-off because everything that has been churned out since then has been mid at best. I’m actually disgusted, lol.

5. The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell 

Oh, I really enjoyed this! Creepy, atmospheric, engaging. Well-written gothic horror, give it to me. This gave me chills in broad daylight.

6. With Friends Like You by Amy Chozick

This was a 5-star in the beginning when the protagonist was searching for her long-lost college best friend. It got demoted to 4 stars by the end because I reached a point where I wasn’t as excited to pick it up but it was still good over all and I REALLY liked Chozick’s writing style. Also, there was an Alanis Morissette reference right after I saw Alanis Morissette. Loved that for me.

7. Summerland Cove by Ellen Baker

Three stars. There wasn’t anything “bad” about it but none of the characters really made an impact on me. Basically, the patriarch of a family goes missing on the day of his 50th birthday party and chaos ensues, secrets are spilled, etc. It was OK. I kept reading because I wanted to know WTF happened to the dad and then the reveal was like “….huh?”

8. The Dahlia Suite: A Novel by Carinn Jade

1 star. Awful. Waste of time. Highly do not recommend.

9. Last Night Was Killer by Mary Pauline Lowry

OK! A cute and cozy murder mystery with a frazzled single mom at the center of it all while also trying to learn pole dancing. It is QUIRKY and was a really fun read. I’d go as far as to say it was a DELIGHT.

10. Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher

I like T. Kingfisher but this wasn’t for me. I still gave it 3 stars though because this isn’t a knock on the author’s writing at all, it’s just me not caring much for fantasy but still taking a chance on this. It has a 4.11 average rating on Goodreads so do not listen to me. If you like humor, fantasy, elves, and goblins – then this could be your jam!

Now I’m worried though because I have had Legends and Lattes (different author) on my TBR for years and what if I don’t like it???

OK that’s all – September was super busy for me and I did not have much reading time!

Quick hauntie house interlude! We met my sister Amy and bro-in-law Dick at Hundred Acres Manor last Friday — usually I try to avoid going to this one in general, let alone on a Friday, BUT Cinderlands has a pop-up scream bar there so it was something for me, something for them. Look at me, being all flexible and accomodating!

We did have coupons though – I’m the girl who throws away the circulars without letting Henry see all the supermarket sales, but I will send him far and wide to procure haunted house coupons. I mean, he only had to go to GetGo to get them.

“Diehls had even more of a discount on their coupons but I was NOT going to a car dealership for that!” Henry declared. OK, calm down, nobody asked.

I bought Henry a surprise Greet Death hat and it had just arrived that day so he wore it and I was so happy!

We got there when it opened and still stood in line for over 2 hours. I am just stunned that this place is like, Pittsburgh’s “premiere” haunted attraction and has yet to get on board with virtual queues or assigning group numbers. They have all this space, an entire “midway” with games, etc. where people could be chilling AND SPENDING MORE MONEY but instead they’re imprisoned within a slow-moving cluster fuck of a line.

I will say, at least on the night we were there, they were cracking DOWN on line jumping. It even made Amy cheer and thank the security guy at one point.

I look like one of the ghouls working there, honestly. It was raining off and on – leave my frizz alone! (OK, no excuse for my cooked face though.)

They don’t give out real tickets anymore, just a receipt with a QR code – lame. Of course, I still wanted it for my haunted house journal so I had to ask the ticket lady after it looked like she wasn’t going to give it back.

She nodded and then scanned it, I guess so it couldn’t be used again, and said, “I love a scrapbooker,” as handed it back to me. Oh, the smugness I felt! Henry muttered, “Happy now?” Yes, actually. I would have been even happier had Chooch been there to witness my glory.

As usual, the meat of the haunted house review is in my journal but it was actually really good this year and I was cheesin’ the whole way through—it was so funny and entertaining, and even though we got pushed through a bunch of other groups, I still got jump-scared.

THEY NEED TO WORK ON THEIR LINE SITCH THOUGH!!! And also the VIP upgrades need to go. I’m so sick of VIP upgrades everywhere. Did you know even at some concerts, you can buy a “fast pass” to get inside the venue faster?? I legitimately am so exhausted of this grotesque cash-grabbing from every facet of the entertainment industry. It’s bad enough at amusement parks. But now it feels like it’s EVERYWHERE.

My other complaint about Hundred Acres Manor, and I want to believe there is a legit safety/legal/security reason for this, but they used to have a maze at the end that was the best part. It’s where the chainsaw guys skulked about and it would sincerely make me nearly pee my pants. Years ago, they removed it. Then they brought it back AS AN UPCHARGE.

No, I refuse to pay extra. Haunted houses should be ONE GODDAMN PRICE. I’m sure some Karen complained about it being too scary (hopefully it was something lame like that and not because of an actual injury) so it got ruined for everyone.

It just makes me crave the haunted houses from the 90s — the haunted schools, the YMCAs, the Tri-City Jaycees (whatever the hell they are, I never did know but their haunt in Arnold was so fun). I like the small haunted houses with HEART.

Anyway! Enough of my annoying haunted house rants. I’m a broken (Spooky Halloween Sounds) record. We all agreed that it was genuinely well-done aside from the annoying standing-in-line part. It was Amy and Dick’s first time there and Amy was super impressed so I was relieved. I will say—it’s a pretty long walk-through. They say it’s about a mile long. So at least you’re in there for a while!

EW lol.

The post-haunt Scream Bar portion of the night was really fun too! I hated my beer though (it was a pumpkin sour) but luckily Henry ordered my back-up choice (just some German thing) so I made him swap with me.

I don’t know what/who I am looking at. Also I just realized how tan my sister is!!

Yeah boi, that was a really fun night. We were there until closing too, which I don’t think I have ever done at a haunted house (getting there when it opens and staying until it closes, god do I have to spell everything out for you!?).

Also!! This was the first entry in my new haunted house journal, yay!

I’m back in that familiar PTO crunch time zone, where I have a bunch of unused time to USE IT OR LOSE IT so I’m taking off random days where I have nothing planned and you know I can’t handle staycations. I NEED to be doing something, going somewhere, not being home alone. I am home alone every day!!

I had last Thursday off and decided that I would take the T downtown and…I dunno, find SOMETHING to do. There was ONE THING I had my heart set on though: a black and white smoothie at James Cafe in the Strip. (Tahini and dates, yes please!) I figured I would I’d get off at Wood Street and go from there. We all know I’m a walker.

Part 2 of my plan was that Henry would meet me down there after work and we’d go to Church Brew Works so I could get a stamp in my stupid book that I am determined to complete even though one brewery is now shuttered (and I don’t have the stamp!!) and new ones have been added since I bought the physical copy. Why am I like this?? I was on a “no beer” kick and then the siren call of that stupid brewery passport lured me back in. Just call me Oh Hypocrite Erin from now on.

I left the house around 11:30 I think? Brought a book with me and headphones so I could also listen to an audiobook too which was dumb because I literally cannot walk around downtown without full senses activated.

I hadn’t even made it to the T station yet when my first ordeal occurred. I had stopped briefly, in tandem with a bow-tied man, to look into the windows of a COMING SOON ice cream shop.  He noticed me also nebbing and made some comment about “I’ve been waiting so long for it to open” to which I was like, “I know, right” which is one of several factory-programmed default canned responses when you pull my string, along with “Oh, really?” and “Wow.”

Maybe I should flip the dial to another language to change shit up. “Majayo. Jjinja??? Wa.”

That was Korean. I don’t know any others. LOL.

Anyway, brother bowtie ended up chatting with me for a solid 15 minutes. We had to move over so that we weren’t blocking the sidewalk from other pedestrians, THAT’S HOW DEEP IT WAS. Well, actually, it was only him talking. I just stood there and nodded, spat out some filler words which is where I excel, and asked a few follow-up questions because sometimes it’s like I’m using uncomfortable small talk as penance.

Truly though, this couldn’t even be classified as small talk because I learned that he used to sell cookies in Maine while wearing a three piece suit and a Cookie monster head and this was how his bowtie collection started because a local tie company started trading him bowties for cookies, he has over 300+ ties in his closet, he is from Akron but moved to Pittsburgh for college, then ended up going to college in NC where he met THE DEMON who looked like Pink but with silver hair and within two days they were engaged and then somehow married for 8 years, 20 years ago when he went for a spinal tap which would result in an MS diagnosis :( she started a huge fight with him over a book he was writing about all of the kisses he’s had and he ended up going back to work afterward because it was less uncomfortable than being at home with her but don’t worry because he’s married to someone much nicer now.

That is a summarization of our convo–I learned all of this and then some and all he learned about me was my name.

And he told me some jokes too. He sells jokes for 25 cents (or 3 for a dollar but most people don’t get that joke) at various street fairs around the city and he gave me his business card with his number that I can text for more jokes.

Truly a nice guy. Very sweet. Probably spectrum-y. I wasn’t running on a fixed schedule so it didn’t really bother me to stop and talk but it gave me a lot to think about when I eventually made it on the T (AFTER FAILING TO SCAN THE STUPID BARCODE ON THE APP WITHOUT THE AID OF A YOUNG GUY BECAUSE I AM SO USED TO THE OLD CONNECT CARDS AND APPARENTLY IN THE SEASON OF LIFE WHERE ANY CHANGE IN TECHNOLOGY KNOCKS ME OFF MY AXIS). Like, how I cannot sustain small talk. This was fine because bro wasn’t giving me any space at all to contribute but in situations where there should be a casual back and forth, I usually word-vomit a chunk of stutters or sentence fragments and then proceed to spend the next 4 days replaying it over and over in my head until it starts to sound like a backward record but instead of something cool and Satanic it’s more like, “YOU WILL DIE FRIENDLESS” and “YOU ARE SO FUCKING PATHETICALLY AWKWARD.”

We are working on this in therapy lol. Apparently, I have “parts” that are trying to protect me. Like when I recently ran into someone from the past and was nearly shot out of a chair cannon at the sound of their laugh and thought, “Shit, I forgot about that laugh” and realized that my brain had blocked it out in order to protect me, which is a really nice thing when you think about it.

A N Y W A Y.

I tried to read some of my book on the T but then the man behind me chose that exact moment to take a phone call.

Got downtown. Went to this cute shop I’ve been following for years on Instagram called Silly Goose – the OG location is in Jim Thorpe, PA which looks like the coziest town and I want to go there, but now we have a location in Pittsburgh! That shop is dangerous for someone like me. I got some journaling things and Jenny Lemons (my fave!) hair clips. I also hit the tip option when checking out because I’m so used to tipping the merch guys at concerts and servers at restaurants BUT EXCUSE ME why is the tip screen coming up at retail places now!?!? UGH. I mean, the cashier was cute but she did not nothing to warrant a 15% tip for fuck’s sake.

So I was mad about that but whatever. I walked it off.

Went to the new-ish area called Arts Landing and tried to read my book there but there were TOURISTs skulking about and then the CAPA kids across the street were on the roof of their school screaming bloody murder, like maybe they were rehearsing from epic slasher school musical but hello, why are teenagers running around on a rooftop, seems dangerous!?

I checked the time and it was nearly 2PM. James Cafe closes at 3PM (or 4PM?) so I figured I would start walking there to be safe. The walk was pretty uneventful which is a good thing in that area.

I got to James Cafe and ordered the black and white smoothie with my full chest only for the barista to be like, “SRY KITCHEN CLOSED” and of course I looked up and saw that I was standing right in front of the KITCHEN IS CLOSED sign.

COOL.

That was going to be MY LUNCH but sure, just give me a matcha.

While he was making that, I saw that there was a cranberry orange scone in the bakery case so I asked for it. Well silly me I guess that was just for show because he was like LET ME SEE WHAT WE STILL HAVE and started flipping open these giant bakery boxes from Mediterra and said they only had cinnamon buns and almond croissants so I was like, “I WILL TAKE A CROISSANT” because I was starting to feel shaky. He gave it to me in a box so I was like COOL I GUESS I WON’T BE EATING THIS IN HERE THEN THANKS” even though there were two young women literally sprawled out on a banquette with their laptops so I KNOW THEY WEREN’T CLOSING.

I know, I could have still just sat down in there and ate it but now I was just angry and indignant and reading way more into this than any normal person would have (“I GUESS I AM NOT WELCOME HERE”) when in reality, the guy was actually very nice—it wasn’t a bad interaction by any means but I was IN A MOOD and NOT GETTING WHAT I WANTED.

WAH.

I went outside and decided to just sit at one of the sidewalk tables and eat the croissant but it was MESSY and I didn’t want to go back inside for a napkin so I called Henry in a huff and told him, “JUST COME GET ME NOW.”

Then I sat back in the chair to try to read my book AND I BROKE THE FUCKING BACK OF THE CHAIR. It was all rusted and I didn’t realize it and nearly broke all of the way off so I had to sit leaning forward. Still tried to read my book but there two MEN sitting at the next table, not even all that close to me, stinking up the sidewalk with their mansplaining that all I could focus on at that point was how men ruin everything.

Then dumbo Henry arrived. I asked him if I looked pissed when he saw me sitting there and he said, after thinking about it for a beat, “No…just dejected.”

LOL yes, that is how I felt.

So now I was mad because it wasn’t even 3PM yet and Church Brew Works didn’t open until 4PM plus I WAS FUCKING HUNGRY AND NEEDED FOOD. Trust that I made the next 15 minutes of Henry’s life very volatile and difficult with my “nothing is what I want” attitude.

Hello everyone, it’s Stubborn Suggestion Rejection time!

Finally, I agreed to Coughlin’s because:

1. they were open
2. it was close-ish
3. I could get a stamp

And it was a great choice because even though the food was mid, I had a pumpkin ale that I actually REALLY super deluxe enjoyed. I mean, the cinnamon rim probably helped a lot.  I thought the day was picking up BUT THEN I GOT KETCHUP ON MY SLEEVE!!!!!!!!

At least I didn’t have any of the veggie pizza that Henry ordered which came with a complimentary chunk of ham.

Well,  that was my day off. Better than staying home and sitting in front of the computer, I guess.

(I did end up finishing that book though and it was such a five-star read which wasn’t shocking considering that it was written by GEOFF RICKLY from Thursday.)

A while back, Kara posted to her IG story about wanting someone to go with her to this breakfast place and I was like, “ME, PICK ME!” I texted her last week to see if she still wanted to make this happen and she was like YES so we settled on last Sunday morning.

Then she texted me Saturday night and was like, “….which Nook are we going to?”

I know she must have posted the full name of the place but I latched on to just part of it: Nook. So when I had asked her if she still wanted to go, I ONLY referred to the place as the Nook.

Well, Kara was talking about Jenny Lee’s Breakfast Nook and I was talking about the Nook. Two completely different places on opposite ends of town. Literally one isn’t even in Pittsburgh. I am so freaking glad she texted me because I was fully prepared to fight the brunch bitches in Lawrenceville instead of enjoying  a very calm and relaxing NO CROWD atmosphere at Jenny Lee’s in Moon.

PHEW.

Kara and I both got the special: pumpkin pie French toast. Bro, worth the confused texting flurry the night before (there was FURTHER confusion when there was misleading information online about Jenny Lee’s hours and for a while we thought they weren’t open on Sundays and were going to go to the other Nook after all (which I truly didn’t want to do now that I knew there was an opportunity to avoid Lawrenceville). I think it was after 11PM by the time we finalized plans once and for all.

(Sorry I made this such a cluster, LOL!)

As a bonus, they have a band that plays on Sundays called Accordions Likely! Their manager walked around passing out business cards and said that they also take requests. I so badly wanted to see if they could play SECRET AGENT MAN since the idiot local cover band at the church carnival across the street didn’t play it this year and I guess I am subconsciously craving it because it was literally the first song I thought of when I heard the magic word “request.”

Anyway, it was a great start to Sunday and had even stopped raining by the time we left (it was POURING on the way there)! I think this might be a new record for Kara&Erin hang outs: TWICE IN ONE WEEK!

Later that night, Henry and I went to Demon House which OF COURSE I will save the details for my haunted house journal but here are some photos!

Waiting for the shuttle.

On the shuttle.

Freddy V. Jason was playing on the outdoor movie screen – this is one of my favorite things about Demon House (well, perhaps my only favorite thing because this haunt is usually not that great BUT they always have Groupons so that’s the only reason we still go).

Now please enjoy a series I call, “Bought the Charmera in May, Still Don’t Know Where to Aim for Selfies, OK?”:

Luckily, I took one with my phone just in case LOL:

Well, that’s all I got for that. Except that I used Kara in my emotional manipulation of Chooch! I forgot about that. So, I have been trying for mths to get him to listen to the latest Hayley Williams album but he is being such a bitch about it because it has to be something he wants to do organically, on his own, without being told. So I was like, “I told Kara that you won’t listen to it and she was like ‘Wow, I thought he had good taste in music but I guess I was wrong’ and I was like ‘Yeah I know right, he’s so lame now’.”

All he said to that was, “Wow. I’m not in the mood to listen to Haley [sic] William” and I feel like he PURPOSELY SPELLED HER NAME WRONG TO PISS ME OFF FURTHER!!!!

Last Saturday, we went to our favorite place—Glitterbox!—for a Halloween comedy show. We knew nothing about it except that there would be a drag performance by a clown and Halloween-themed vendors. Sold!

The City Paper said about it: You’re in for spine-tingling sketches, doomed drag performances with Borfungus, ill-fated improv with Ready or Not and N’at 20, and conniving clowns led by the shocking Sara Kantner at Let’s Laugh At Halloween. Our surrealist “horror” comedy variety show is certain to be a wild and wacky onstage adventure. 

As usual, we walked into chaos which is part of what I love about this place. You always end up feeling like you’re a part of the show, even before it starts, lol. We went back outside to sit and give them space but then one of the performers who was playing double duty as box office gal was walking by to go back inside and told us that we could 1000% go inside and that she wasn’t going to let us sit in the rain. She was so amazing (AND DRESSED AS THE LOG LADY). She also ended up being one of my favorite performers of the night too. Her name is Sara(h?), in case I ever need to know this in the future.

Before the show started, we ran into our old friend Patty and her friend Alayna who, and I didn’t say this out loud because I have a way of making the most innocuous comments sound laced with date rape, has the prettiest hair and skin. SEE? Imagine me saying that to a near-stranger in a community theater marked as a SAFE SPACE. She was also wearing this beautiful and subtle green eye shadow that looked amazing on her when it would have been garish AF on me.

Also, I bought the cutest bookmark and keychain from one of the vendors  (Seawitch Wares) who posted this video before the event started and you can see me chatting with Patty and Henry sitting alone being completely unbothered.

We ended up moving to the front row to sit with Patty and Alayna. Per Alayna’s pro tip, I also bought a few 25 cent tiny zines from one of the vendors in order to snag a free pumpkin cookie (it was the slice and bake kind which I love, so nostalgic!).

OK, the show was fucking funny from start to finish. It was all improv and brilliant.

There were different improv groups that came out several times to do different audience participation skits and it always amazed me how fast their minds have to work. I can write (when pressed—I know what you’re thinking, “but your blog is….not funny??” WELL, IT USED TO BE!!) but no way could I react that snappily to crowd-supplied prompts. My favorite was one of their skits, they asked the audience to give them a creepy location and IMMEDIATELY someone in the back shouted, “FAKE BURGER KING!!!” which had us a DYING. If you’re not from Pittsburgh and thinking, ‘tf is a fake Burger King??” it’s a whole fucking local lore that will be passed on for generations to come.

My favorite Log Lady <3 Not only was she so sweet us at the door but she also has impeccable comedic timing. Loved her role in this D&D-inspired skit! Also, guy on the right (also hilarious) was wearing a Hakugei t-shirt and if you don’t know (because why would you) that is an RMC roller coaster in Japan and on my bucketlist even though I have been strongly considering turning in my thoosie card what with the state of theme parks in general PLUS this past week’s Six Flags tragedy. I think I’m over it, you guys. But I was still excited to see this shirt out in the wild and anyone wearing a Japanse roller coaster t-shirt has got to be a thoosie. I wanted to talk to him but then I remembered that my social interactions generally bomb so I did not.

OMG we had an Agent Dale Cooper MC for the evening and she was so deadpan and hilarious. She spent the whole. night looking for her pants and it was a whole thing BUT YOU HAD TO BE. THERE.

“Hungry Like the Wolf” drag performance by Borfungus! (Azizzy is still my favorite though and I wish. they had been there! BUT they are likely busy preparing for their upcoming role in Speed the Musical and yes, we have tickets LOL, fear not.)

Intermission cherry pie!

More Borfungus!

OK this was hands down my favorite part of the night. Sara Kantner (who also teaches clown classes!) led a performance called the Bone Yard and…and….there are no words. I laughed so hard that I legit was wiping away tears!

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It was one of those things that I immediately wanted to scream about the rooftops but knew I could never come up with the words to do it justice. It was the most absurd, chaotic, and off-the-wall clowning/improv bit I have ever seen and it was perfectly tailored for people like me. It felt like someone was pulling this straight out of my brain. I WAS SO INTO IT. It was also Henry’s favorite part of the night!

And then this whole local news skit was so funny too!

Random bone on the floor, lol.

Anyway, it was another hilarious and wonderfully weird evening hosted by GBX. It’s always a good time there!

Is October sincerely half-way over already?! I’m in tears. “Time’s flying by,” said Henry, who is sat across from me making serial killer cards while we listen to the Greet Death record that he dedicated a half hour of everyone’s time to getting signed. Ugh. But this album is so fucking good.

Anyway!! Here is a backlog of pictures from my Charmera, which has really gotten around this month so far, starting with Rich’s Fright Farm on October 1.

This is the long walk to the entrance. Once, Chooch and I hid from Janna behind those trees on the right and she would have peed her pants if she hadn’t already peed in a porta-potty.

They have a machine that blows out smoke-filled bubbles and popping them is almost as fun for me as pounding on beach balls at music festivals.

They have this cool lighting package on their stage which is negated by the fact that they play the shittiest West Virginia firehall wedding reception music which then causes people to dance like they’re at a West Virginia firehall wedding reception.

THE HOUSE.

THE EXIT.

Groove Coffee with Wendy! This place had a really cool vibe. My matcha was OK but I would definitely go back and try something else out.

Later that night, we went to Portals of Fear and I got this spooky cookie. It was OK.

The cutie salt and pepper shaker holder at Fredo’s where we had lunch that Sunday.

This cookie at Kinder Being was better than the Portals of Fear cookie plus it was vegan!

Smashing Pumpkins crowd!

Lolev last Friday!

GREET DEATH!!!!

GREET DEATH!!! Ugh this show was so good I can’t stress it enough. Please go listen to them.

AJJ from the back of Spirit while eating pizza.

The pizza!

Dumbo Henry at Spirit.

Last Saturday, we went to Tambellini’s for lunch. They opened a sandwich shop recently on the Blvd where the old Greek restaurant was. I got butterfly pea lemonade and it was SO REFRESHING.

Probably trying to figure out one of my many witty retorts that soar over his head.

Cute little place with AMAZING SANDWICHES. I legit was in love with my Banker’s Sandwich and the eggplant cutlet on Henry’s sandwich was chef’s kiss. It’s not often that I get all worked up over a sandwich but I have been thinking about this all week and need to go back soon.

I have  more to say about last weekend! I’m off again tomorrow so perhaps I will finally get myself caught up with blogging and journaling and everything else that has been slacking in my life, ugh. I am caught up with my haunted house journal though and actually will be starting a brand new one after we go to one tomorrow night! MY LIFE IS SO EXCITING CAN YOU STAND IT.

Ahhh, last Friday night was so good. SO GOOD.

One of the highlights from Riot Fest for us both was Greet Death. It was our first time seeing them and we both (!!!) fell for them hard. Well, Henry probably wouldn’t phrase it the same way as me. He’d probably say, “I saw them. I liked them.”

So when we saw that they were coming to Pittsburgh, opening for AJJ, I was adamant on going. This was a non-negotiable item on the October agenda.

A few days beforehand, Henry casually asked, “Hey, before the show on Friday, do you want to go to Lolev—-”

“YES!” I cried before his question had a chance to finish pushing its way past the bristles of his moustache. Lolev is MY FAVORITE and I will never say NO.

Lolev is one of the only places I will get a Big Boy beer because I know I will like it.

I love this little table!!

After a cozy hour at Lolev with no annoyances, we walked to Spirit and got there right as doors were opening. This is kind of a new scene for us so I immediately clocked the crowd and noted that they were probably median late 20s to mid 30s so as usual I was still on the older side, UGH. Also, I didn’t get the memo that the color of the night was BROWN and OLIVE and TAN.

I never fit in anywhere I go but that’s OK. At least I’m not Henry and being mistaken for security at every show.

Seriously. Also, I bring him so he can carry my merch.

Greet Death was 10/10, better inside than outside at Riot Fest (and they were INCREDIBLE at Riot Fest!), moody, electric, shoe-gazey, flawless and haunting vocals that got under my skin. I think Henry will agree with all of this and that they’re our current obsession.

Also, the crowd was into it while still being chill. I liked the crowd. Usually there is that ONE PERSON but not on this night.

Originally, we were going to just stick around for a few minutes of AJJ but honestly, the vibes were so good overall that we stayed for the whole show and it was the right choice. Spirit is such a good venue with amazing pizza, so after Greet Death, we moved all the way to the back by the bar and ate some pizza at a standing table.

We like each other these days. It’s nice, lol.

Henry was like, “YAY! WE CAN STAND IN THE BACK! LET’S GOOOO!” Usually I will go into shows saying, “I don’t need to be close, we can chill in the back” but then I get there and I’m like “barricade or GTFO.” But I was happy to be close for Greet Death and then let the AJJ fans take my spot near the stage.

It’s been a while since I went to a show where I was only moderately familiar with the headliner so it was nice to enjoy the music while people-watching for once.

AND DID I MENTION THE PIZZA. Yes, I know I did, and now I’m mentioning it again because Spirit really nails it on the pizza front.

Then I basically spent the rest of the night taking pictures of the disco ball and observing the couple in front of us who were super PDA and then suddenly started fighting and the woman portion of the duo went and sulked against a wall. I literally could NOT imagine what initiated this because they were totally in love one second, and then she got excited when AJJ announced that they were singing the third song in a love song trilogy about wanting to be a dog and she was like “yay” and started singing it and then looked at him and he didn’t do something or DID do something, I don’t know, but her faced IMMEDIATELY morphed into a dark and scowling landscape and then he took two giant steps away from her?? And then he turned and walked FULLY away from her?

I kind of wish I was the type of blatant Nebby Debby that has the audacity to pry into a stranger’s life. You know, just sidle up next to some rando’ like, “‘sup, I couldn’t help but notice….” Speaking of Debby, my actual friend Debby would probably have no problem whatsoever doing that.

Also speaking of, this reminds me of a Reel I just saw where some lady was recalling her recent BAD HAIRCUT where she went to a new stylist and they were making small talk and the stylist asked her what she was doing later that night and she was like, “My husband is making dinner for me” and the stylist was like, “Oh that’s nice” so she asked the stylist if she has a partner, just trying to keep the small talk going, and the stylist was like, ‘No I’m divorced actually” and the lady was like, “Oh OK how long have you been divorced?” and the stylist snapped, “I don’t think that’s any of your business” and then proceeded to give her a shitty haircut and then BEFORE SHE COULD FIX IT she said, “Actually, I don’t think I can finish this and I think you should leave.”

WHAT THE ACTUAL…

It was such a wild ride.

But yeah, I feel like that’s what would happen to me if I tried to make small talk.

A N Y W A Y.

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After the show, we waited for the crowd to clear out and then we got in line for more merch. I wanted to buy one of their records along with a t-shirt when we first got there but PAPA H was like, “JUST GET THE SHIRT NOW, I AM NOT CARRYING A RECORD AROUND ALL NIGHT.” Ugh.

So, we buy the record and I felt inspired to tell the drummer / merch guy that we had just seen them at Riot Fest and of course I stuttered when saying it even though I rehearsed it in my head while in line, because my nervous adrenaline turns my tongue into a fucking mattress company balloon guy.

He was super nice though and matched my nervous energy, honestly. We started to leave and Henry was like, “YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED THEM TO SIGN IT” because one of the singers was also in the room talking to someone. I considered it and then decided against it. I wasn’t in a talky mood and that takes ENERGY from me.

Henry got super crazy about it though and grabbed the record from me. “I’LL DO IT THEN!” he said, marching back to the merch table. This is what happens when Henry and I now share a band, I guess.

The drummer (Jim) was super nice and brought out a silver Sharpie. I was satisfied with just the one signature but then Henry goes, “THE OTHER GUY WAS JUST HERE,” and Jim goes, “Oh he’ll be back! He went to get some t-shirt boxes.”

THE OTHER GUY?!!? He was referring to the guitarist, Eric. It was just a Henry thing to say though.

We just stood there awkwardly and one of the security ladies was like, “DO YOU GUYS NEED SOMETHING???” because she CLEARLY wanted everyone out so she could leave. Henry was like, “WE ARE WAITING FOR SOMEONE” like we’re fucking VIPs or something, but I got super nervous about this and hissed, “I’M LEAVING!” to him. I don’t know, there was a vibe shift and I felt super uncomfortable standing there.

On my way out, one of the singers, Harper, was coming in with her suitcase so I was like, “Oh great, Henry is going to accost her next,” so I hurried up and left.

I was outside in the cold for about 10 minutes, imagining so many scenarios of Henry being in the way, saying weird things, etc. when HE CAME OUT WITH HARPER. He looked at me, smiled, and motioned for me to follow them.

“Are you with him? I’m Harper!” she said, and Henry looked SO SMUG. She was taking us on a wild goose chase to find the remaining two members of her band so Henry could get AUTOGRAPH COMPLETION.

HE IS ACTUALLY SO EMBARRASSING.

Harper—still rolling her suitcase with her!!!—led us into the lower level of Spirit, where Logan and Seth were finishing up their drinks at a booth in the restaurant. She told them we saw them at Riot Fest and that we were trying to get everyone to sign the record, then she realized she left the Sharpie upstairs at the merch table and left us to stand there awkwardly with them and I wanted to die. I don’t know what my problem is—all of these years doing this shit and I still have the hardest time conversing with bands. I know, I know, they’re just people! I’m people! He’s people! She’s people! We’re people! But I just turn into this basic cardboard cut-out of myself and say the most obvious things.

We did talk about Riot Fest a little bit at least so there was that.

Then Harper returned (oh btw Henry was excited to tell me that when they introduced themselves, she said, “Oh! We’re the Hs!” So he probably wrote about that in his secret diary later that night—OH SNAP THIS WOULD HAVE MADE SUCH A GREAT MEHOOVER LIVEJOURNAL POST!!) with the Sharpie, we collected the last 2 signatures, I apologized for the hassle (of course they said, ‘Oh no, no hassle!’ but bro, I hate bothering people especially when some of them are trying to enjoy a post-show drink and others are literally dragging a suitcase around preparing to leave for the next destination.

Super appreciative that they were all so kind and I really love their music SO MUCH so even though Henry made this such an ordeal, I guess I’m glad he wearing his Ambitious pants that night because now this record is that much more special.

Oh! And Harper talked to us about the Penguins because she was watching the game and said we lost in a shootout which I didn’t even know because I deleted the app to make room on my phone, and she also said her girlfriend is an Avalanche fan and I feel like I will now associate the Avalanche with Greet Death forever because that is how my brain works.

Hopefully Chooch cherishes this one day when he inherits it.

Yeah, go listen to Greet Death, you guys! I can’t wait to see them again (and NOT hassle them!).

Ahhh, guess what?? Last week, I got to be a stand-in for Kara’s husband Chris at the Smashing Pumpkins concert! I was so excited when she asked me if I wanted to use his ticket because I had been going back and forth for mths on whether to buy a ticket. 

Henry dropped me off and was happy to go home and have a night off from me dragging him all around. Who even knows what he did—watched something dumb probably. Read the circulars (after digging them out of the garbage because I always pitch them immediately LOL).

My hair being unruly as usual. 

So, the show itself was fantastic. Love to see legends up there killing it. The last time I saw the Pumpkins, it was essentially just Billy Corgan as the only OG member. Actually, I can’t even remember what the deal was now but I saw them at the Carnegie Music Hall in Homestead, which is a small theater—why was that a small theater tour?!

I think this was 2014 or 2015. 

 P.S. Also obsessed with Kiki Wong now, she was doing the LORD’S WORK up there, good goddamn.

Before the show started, Kara and I were chatting about how terrible concert etiquette has become, primarily with the CHATTY CATHY takeover that seems to be ubiquitous at nearly every show now. And we totally jinxed ourselves because the three GROWN ASS MEN in front of us proceeded to talk (and I mean TALK) during the entire first set of the show. There was not ONE song that they didn’t talk through! And if they weren’t talking, they were texting / Facebooking / scrolling with FULL BRIGHTNESS LEVEL screens. 

Kara became obsessed with trying to figure out their relationship with each other because one guy was quite a bit older than the other two who looked like they were late 40s. My guess was that they were co-workers who should have either stayed home and watch Smashing Pumpkins videos on YouTube or just gone to a fucking bar, I don’t know. Have you ever tried to talk to the person next to you at a concert? It’s not easy! You have to shout! This is why I just save my comments for afterward, and, you know, also because I paid money to hear a band perform and not the sound of my own voice??

There was a 20 minute intermission between sets (there was no opening band – just the Smashing Pumpkins from 8pm until 11pm, it was GLORIOUS!) during which the three Yinzer bros stood up and continued the coffee klatch. This was fine by us, talk it up, get it all out of your systems! We did have a few loud comments though about how obnoxious it is to talk during a concert and the ringleader (ofc he had on a Steelers hat) glanced back at us so I thought maybe he had taken the hint.

Nope! The second set started and they sat down but continued their conversation at a LOUDER volume. They weren’t even talking ABOUT THE CONCERT. They were talking about NASCAR at one point!

A few songs into the second set, Kara leaned forward and – in a polite tone BECAUSE YOU CAN NEVER BE TOO CAREFUL WHEN DEALING WITH FRAGILE MEN – said, “You know, some of us are here to actually hear the band, not your conversation” and the RINGLEADER sputtered (literally, I have never had a use for that word until now), “Oh yeah? Really! Yeah well…I paid to be here too!” 

I was on high alert now because this could have easily spiraled out and made him ramp up the yapping to an exaggerated degree, but instead, HE SULKED. Literally, he sunk back lower in his seat with his arms crossed. The guy to the right didn’t even appear to know anything had happened, but the older man in front of me actually turned his body slightly away from the ringleader and focused on the concert for the rest of the time. 

Also in our favor was the fact that they did not appear to be drinking, at least.

Kara said she told her kids, “I’m about to say something to these dorks so if they start a fight with me, record it.” LOL.  

“Big man!” Kara kept saying in a cry-baby voice after his super important and sensitive feelings got BIG HURT by the MEAN WOMAN at the Smashing Pumpkins concert, and I was dying! Props to Kara for saying something. Confrontation is so scary these days, especially for women, and I was quietly cracking my knuckles in case there was retaliation. The worst concert experience I ever had was when Chooch was younger and I took him to see The Summer Set at some small venue in Columbus that was full of fuck ass OSU bitches who were pushing us so hard (we were standing AT THE SIDE OF THE STAGE) and I tried to nicely say, “Hey I have a kid here can you please don’t push us?” and it just made it worse until the guys they were with stepped in and made them stop. But this was after it went on for nearly the whole set. And yes, I know—college guys actually being decent?! Anomaly. It was such a shitty experience though, like, please don’t make me get in a physical altercation in front of my elementary school-aged son, thanks. 

Anyway, the men (I kept imagining that it was the Impractical Jokers in front of us, they were that level of dork) ended up leaving before the end of the show and we just started cracking up so hard as they slithered past us, like a buncha boys who were scolded by their mom.

I know that sounds like it probably ruined the night but it really didn’t—I was so happy to get to be there with Kara and her kids, hearing a bunch of nostalgic and iconic songs that made me feel like I was back in high school riding around with Lisa in her parents’ minivan with the radio tuned to the Revolution and me acting like I didn’t like it because I was in my R&B and gangsta rap phase while secretly clocking certain songs. All these years later and “Today” is still my favorite. I don’t care how stereotypical that is, it’s such a comfort jam for me, and I still remember being a kid and seeing the music video for the first time and thinking it was so cool. 

But yeah, can we all just stop treating concerts like they’re a porch hangout? Save all the talking for post-show drinks! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. 

I mentioned this at some point I’m sure but Chooch’s current co-op is with Penn’s football department – I guess since Drexel doesn’t have a football team, they let Penn use their students for some things? I don’t know so please do not ask me for details. I just know that when Chooch saw it listed as a co-op option, he applied and then put his blinders on to all other options so thank the fucking lord he got it. (He did apply to some others but this was the only one he had eyes for.)

Last weekend, Chooch got to travel with the team to Dartmouth and did…chain things or something for that game. 

Yesterday was a home game against Howard and this time we were prepared to watch it. Thank god as soon Henry put it on, I spotted Chooch immediately, screamed in excitement, snapped some pics, posted to Instagram and then immediately lost interest in the game LOL.

I love my kid but not enough to watch a full football game. 

“Chooch should have done what that kid did,” Henry said, pointing to another non-player on the sidelines. “He put ILU on his sign, must be for his mom. ‘I love you,'” Henry dad-splained like yes, I know what “ILU” means but also….?

“That says IVY, you idiot. All of them say IVY!” I cried in disgust at his usual stupidity. 

I told Chooch about it and he goes, “He’s so dumb and also those are vests, not signs.”

Wow.

This has been a Chooch update. (Oh, P.S. one of my old blog friends / current Instagram friends commented on IG and it was so precious that it actually made me tear up – she said, “There’s our boy!” and then asked if it was OK that she called him that, and that she feels like she has known him his whole life which is 100% true and also 100% fine by me that she called him our boy, and then she said “he has lots of Internet aunties!” and another Internet friend replied and said she was one too and it just filled me so. much happiness. I do often feel like he turned out so well because I had so much support and love from the friends I made through blogging and that’s just pretty special, you know? <3

It was still raining by the time we reached the end of the line but my spirits were still high. I was full from pretzels and Octoberfest beer, so I was feeling quite unbothered. The only thing that I was truly bummed about was that one of the earlier bands cut from the modified lineup was Daisy Grenade. I mean, it would have been our 4th time seeing them in less than a year and a half so it’s not like I had my heart set on this BUT I was truly bummed for the band because they were so stoked to not only be playing Riot Fest but also the same stage that Alanis would be headlining that night. :(

While in line, a guy in front of us turned around and asked who I was looking forward to seeing that day, and then we ended up chatting for the entire time we were in line (maybe 25 minutes? Security is really on point at Riot Fest so that line cruises once gates open). He was probably early 30s and there with his mom who flew in from Southern California for her birthday. She was most anticipating Elvis Costello.

We got on the subject of ICP (I think because he said he wanted to check them out just for curiosity’s sake and I was so excited to get to tell my FAVORITE ICP STORY to strangers in the wild:

 It was during the spring of my senior year of high school, 1997. I was tooling around town with my friends Jon and Justin, killing time before meeting up with the rest of our motley crew later that night.  Justin came to a realization.

“Shit! ICP is playing at Laga tonight. We should go.”

Being a yo-girl at heart, I had no objections to his spontaneous suggestion, until our previous engagements crept into mind.

“But we’re supposed to go over Melissa’s tonight and watch movies with her and Lisa, remember?” A far cry from the havoc we could potentially wreak at a concert, but an obligation nonetheless.

“We’ll just get everyone to meet us at Laga instead.” Jon’s solution seemed so simple, but he was forgetting something very important.

“Lisa’s not going to go for that,” I sighed. The aforementioned Lisa was, and still is, a Christian who just could not get down with the likes of ICP. Becoming a juggalo was not something Jesus would do. (Maybe not her Jesus. My Jesus would have helped pen some of their rhymes.)

 “I have a plan,” Justin said. He dialed Lisa’s number and confidently urged her to put movie night on hold in favor of what could potentially go down in the annals of Very Special High School Moments.

“What is an ICP?” Lisa asked suspiciously.

“They’re a band. It stands for…Intensely Christian…Punks.” Lisa, having a soft spot for non-secular punk bands, called everyone else and informed them of the changed plans.

There were six of us that night, all sardined into Jon’s car. Half of us were giddy to be going to a concert; the other half were giddy because we got away with a lie in order to go to the concert in the first place.

As soon as ICP took the stage, Lisa was chagrinned. “They don’t look like punks…?” she yelled above the crowd of undulating and rioting juggalos. Once they started rapping and she heard their lyrics, she edged back from the stage. Once they started spraying the crowd with Faygo, accompanied by lewd and suggestive gestures, she migrated back some more until a wall prevented her from retreating further. She probably had quite a few dialogues with God that evening.

When the show was over, we all tiptoed over the puddles of Faygo left to coagulate into sugary stains. Lisa, the bottom of her Vans slick with the liquid, slipped and fell down the steps.

Best night ever.

They were both like, “….ha.” A good reminder that my humor is not universal, lol.

Anyway, we made it inside in time for Sincere Engineer and the field was slick with mud as expected, but I was not prepared for the alarming about of earthworms that had risen to the surface. It was actually really sad. :( It was definitely one of the more viral moments of the weekend–I saw so many WTF worm posts on Insta after that.

The grass was still intact in some parts—for now.

Sincere Engineer was fantastic! I actually had them down as an option a few weeks before Riot Fest when I was looking for some local shows to fill the calendar. I don’t remember what we ended up doing instead, but I’m glad that I eventually got to see them here!

Arm’s Length was on the main stage right after, so we tiptoed over there. Honestly, there wasn’t anything that was a MUST SEE for me until Alanis later that night, so we were keeping a slow pace and just trying not to succumb to any mud pits.

Henry said he talked to one of the people at the Goose Island beer garden and she said that the whole area in front of the main stages was a giant lake and that Riot Fest literally had to get people to PUMP THE WATER OUT. So then Henry felt bad for saying WOW IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE THEY DID ANYTHING! when apparently it was much worse before they were able to let people in. Good job, Henry.

I sent this picture to my sister and she was like, “Tell Henry while he’s standing there doing nothing to find somewhere for us to go when we hang out next.” LOL.

OH!!! One thing that I need to document is that for the first time ever, Henry opted in for crowd participation during Arm’s Length!!! They asked who was seeing them for the first time and he ACTUALLY PUT A FIST IN THE AIR AND WOO’D.

WHO IS THIS MAN.

After this, we bought Chooch a hat from Local Menace as a gift for coming home to spend time with his sister Penelope while his parents were off being irresponsible Empty Nesters. I was annoyed because I sent him a picture of a certain t-shirt that I thought for sure he would like but his response, “bottom left corner, hat.” Oh. He wears hats now apparently.

THEN IT WAS MEET STOP TIME!! I was NOT leaving Riot Fest without getting vegan food from that stand again. We got the nachos to share this time and when I tell you I am still thinking about those, UGH. The worst part is that this place isn’t a brick-and-mortar restaurant, they only do catering and events like Riot Fest so it’s not like we can roll up next time we’re in Chicago. Honestly though this place was 5 fucking stars. I was watching some surly old guy’s Riot Fest vlog (no, not Henry, some other surly old guy) and he was like, “I’m not vegan but I got a cheesesteak here and it was the best thing I ate all weekend.”

I’M SAYIN’!!!!!

After this, we pretty much just stayed planted at the Rebel Stage for the rest of the day until it was time for Alanis, because this stage was next to the area where they had plastic tiles laid down, and it was also not muddy near the stage (yet).

I was excited to see Pretty Girls Make Graves because there was a moment in my 20s when I really liked them. This was my favorite song of theirs back in the day:

It was their first time at Riot Fest!

Then it was time for Jejune, and as someone who went through a heavy “real” emo phase decades ago, they were a must-see for me. (Jejune is also one of my favorite words, in case you were thinking of making me an embroidery or something.)

I don’t think Henry enjoyed them much, but I did.

Arabelle is iconic.

It was really starting to rain more heavily around this time so Henry had to stuff me in my Grimace poncho.

This is Lorelai was next and I’m going to be real: not for me. This was actually the only dud of the entire weekend and if the park hadn’t been so ripe for mud wrestling, I would have 100% wandered over to a different stage. But we were kind of stuck there since after this was William Shatner’s metal band debut.

I just truly did not rock with this AT ALL. In fact, I was leery of the people around me who were dancing maniacally during their set—what was I missing??? I did not feel inspired to move even my pinky finger. It was so incredibly boring like one long song sung in monotone.

I’m not including a YouTube video. I only promote stuff I can put my seal of approval on and THIS AIN’T IT, BOI.

The sun had gone down at this point and I was freezing. My body actually ached so hard the next day from all the muscle-clenching that I had done all evening, ugh.

Then it was time for William Shatner. It was so funny because during This Is Lorelai, the line of photographers was the longest we had seen all weekend—-everyone was flexing their press pass for this one, lol

After a lengthy intro video by GWAR, William Shatner finally came out with his band, The Fuckers, LOL. It was incredibly ridiculous yet iconic, as you can imagine. One of those things where you HAD to be there.

We stayed for Crazy Train and then “ran” (see also: slurped and sloshed) our way over to the second main stage where Alanis had already started.

We were so far back—intentionally—that we had to rely on the screens to see anything but goddamn did she sound ethereal. I was admittedly not an Alanis fan in the 90s—I was fully in my gangsta rap phase during her rise to fame—but I did grow to really appreciate her music later on in my 20s and she is the reason I fucking despise RYAN REYNOLDS.

I guess I just really didn’t expect to cry at all though so when I legitimately burst into tears during the opening piano notes of Uninvited, I even startled myself. I openly wept through that whole song and it felt so cleansing.

Alanis is so joyful to watch perform and it was inspiring to hear so many people singing along in the cold drizzle, while we were actually sinking in the mud. I’m not kidding—if you stood for more than 30 seconds without shifting from side-to-side, you would start to sink. That mud was like quicksand and it was also very slick in spots so we were seeing people wipe out left and right. I almost did once but thankfully caught myself. I was OK with being wet from rain and muddy to my ankles, but sprawling out in that stinky sludge would have been one of the few things that could have actually ruined my night.

We went to Canada’s Wonderland a few years ago and they were playing this song!! It was super hard to hear where we were standing but my super-sonic hearing picked up on it and I yelled, HARK IS THAT UNINVITED to which Henry and Chooch said variations of HOW CAN YOU HEAR THAT.

And then my babies, Pierce the Veil! They have come so far!! Ten years ago, we saw them on a smaller stage at Riot Fest and now here they are, headlining day three. Incredible. They deserve this!!!

This was BY FAR the farthest I have ever been from the stage at a PTV show but look friends, look at that fucking mud. I found a good spot to stand where no one was too close to us, we were like an island, and it was far enough back that after the show, we wouldn’t have to dredge too far to the exit. Because did I mention how dark it is there at night? It is so hard to navigate even on dry land, now turn it into worm stew. That ARTAX, NOOOOO meme has never gotten more use than it did that day on Riot Fest Threads.

Henry took this, ugh, so gross!!

But yeah, PTV was so great, I just stood there, slowly sinking, crying and singing my favorite parts and smiling and shivering and realizing I couldn’t feel my toes but oh well. I was exactly where I wanted to be. And you know, also, I knew I would see them again in a week so I was making the best of this. I could hear them, I could see them on the screens, and I was just having the best time seeing so many people with their Mexico flags and wedding dresses.

Seeing them at a skate park in Buffalo in 2008 to headlining Riot Fest in 2026 is wild. They deserve this and so much more!

And that’ll do it for Riot Fest 2026! It really awakened something in me and I told Henry that I think I want to commit to going every year like we used to. He looked at me very sternly and said, “OK BUT THEN YOU CAN’T BUY TICKETS FOR ANYTHING ELSE NEXT SEPTEMBER!!!”

I mean, I can’t make that promise this far in advance.

Here’s a little collection of my video clips from day 3!

Some quick life updates!

1. I used to be really into jump roping like, almost 20 years ago and then my beloved jump rope broke because I used it to so much, thus sending me into a Goldilocks spiral where NO OTHER JUMP ROPE WAS GOOD ENOUGH. I can’t even remember the exact kind of jump rope I had, at this point. Anyway, recently I was inundated with jump rope adds on IG and took the plunge on one of the beaded ones. I hated it without even trying it. It felt so cheap and chintzy! So, I returned it and then got one from Switzerland. I think it’s OK. I have been playing around with it a bit this week, trying to ease my way into a routine with this freaking CRUNCHED back of mine. My dietician in our last call was like, “There is a girl who does jump rope dance tutorials on YouTube! I’ll send it to you!” She has not sent it yet and I will not be reminding her either, because I can barely dance with just my two feet, let alone adding the obstacle of a whipping rope.
   1. Anyway, I think my jump rope needs a name so we’re going with Ropert. Ropert is purple, in case you wanted to know.
2. Our neighbors moved out last week. I wasn’t attached to them by any means but they were very quiet and kept to themselves, WHICH I APPRECIATED. Some might even say, ADORED. Anyway, while one of them was in the process of putting stuff into her car, some man stopped and began asking her all of these questions about the space and even asked if he could move in (???). She was like, “Uh…you need to talk to the landlord about that, I’m not sure….” The other evening, I was in the middle of the exercising, had JUST stood back up from plank, when I saw the same man standing on my porch!!!!!! I went out to talk to him and he was still asking about the next door unit. I was like, “Bro, you gotta call the dude that owns it, I have no idea” and then Henry was running around trying to find something on which to write down the landlord’s number for the dude while I was small-talking with him. He was asking about the background (LOL, what backyard, you mean the wildlife preserve?) and said he needed somewhere for his kids to play. I asked how many kids he has and he said, “Four or five.” ??? Anyway, I have seen him walking him past two days in a row after this too and I hope it’s just genuinely on his way to and fro and he’s not casing the place for  signs of a new tenant. I mean, he seemed like a nice guy, very nice to chat with, and super serious about moving in next door so who knows how this will play out.
3. Today, I was on my lunch break walk and saw this young guy getting tacos at Las Palmas, in a Dance Gavin Dance shirt from their spring/summer US tour. Without slowing down, I pointed at his shirt and called out, “I was at that show!” He looked caught off guard at first and then smiled and said something confirmatory, so I said, “So good!” and he was like, “Yeah, it was!” and then for the rest of my walk, I replayed my dumb words in my head over and over until it sounded like I was trying to swim away from them underwater. “I was at that show!” “so good!” “at that show!” “good!” “so good!” “that show!” “at!” “good show!” “glurg glurg glurg.”
   1. I mean, it was a good show but it was also the least-best DGD show I’ve gone to and I disliked the broads next to me so I don’t know why I shouted “SO GOOD!” with my whole chest.
4. We’re going to see Greet Death at Spirit! I’m so stoked. We just saw them at Riot Fest but I was already dying to see them again, in a small venue.
5. A year ago, we were in Romania and the place we stayed in Cluj-Napoca had a gigantic massage chair with all the bells and whistles that I think about longingly every single day like it’s a long lost lover that I’m waiting to come home.

Sunday morning started out all normal-like. Henry went to Paris Baguette to get us coffee and breakfast pastries, and then we set off for the Riot Fest parking lot. We got there around 10:30 and then started our mile walk to Douglass Park. Literally right as we made it to the block where the line usually forms, we noticed people walking back toward us.

“WHY ARE PEOPLE WALKING THIS WAY??” Henry asked the universe with trepidation. I opened up Instagram and there it was at the top of my feed: GATE OPENING DELAY. The announcement said that due to the overnight rain, they needed to “remediate the moistness” in the park and this because the new slogan for Riot Fest 2026. REMEDIATE THE MOISTNESS. They said that gates had been pushed back to 2PM – this is the exact same thing that happened when we went for one day in 2023 – our friend Vicki had JUST dropped us off after we had breakfast with her, and as she drove away into the horizon, people were doubling back from the gates, acting as Riot Fest Town Criers: “DELAYED GATES! PUSHED BACK TO 2PM!”

So we were in the exact same situation as then, where we were kind of stranded there, not having a back-up plan. So we walked to the nearest train station, took the pink line to actually the SAME neighborhood we went to when this happened in 2023, and found a bar to chill at while it poured down rain outside.

I don’t know if it’s therapy, older age, or just being in a good place right now but I was completely unbothered by this. I just blindly followed Henry without getting all Type A about it and having to be in control, and even though the place we ended up (Vintage) was basically understaffed and out of nearly everything on the menu*,  I was like, “I don’t care, I’m in Chicago, Pierce the Veil is tonight, I’m content.”

*(The first pizza we ordered was out of whatever the main ingredient was, so we opted for just the white pizza and then we saw Reeve leave the bar, cross the street, and enter some Italian market across the street. Then she came back and told us, “OK we’re also out of mozzarella. I even tried to get some over at the market across the street but they’re out too.” WTF? And then she made some disparaging comment about how they’re always out of everything and it’s so annoying. She was so real for that. We ended up getting the pretzel and it was fine, but then when another table ordered it, she said they were out so I guess we got the last one?? THEN it turned into, “WE DON’T HAVE FOOD, JUST DRINKS.” It was actually crazy, especially because it was really starting to fill up for the dumb Bears game. I felt awful for her because this was clearly the manager’s fault, not hers, so I hope she wasn’t getting shit for it!!)

Also? Serving beer in Mason jars is a choice. It was kind of awkward to drink out of without a straw??? I don’t even know what I had—I think it was a Leinenkugel Oktoberfest or something because OFC they didn’t have my first choice, LOL.

At one point, I needed to go to the bathroom and for absolutely no reason, I thought I was supposed to walk through a door that had a huge lock on it. I mean, it opened!

….into some electrical closet.

The actual bathroom was downstairs and down a maze of hallways. So, just as creepy, actually, especially when some random man was sitting inside a photo booth with the curtain pulled open, looking at his phone. Just…a really strange bar basement is all I’m saying.

I came back up to our table and told Henry about the not-bathroom door. Later, he also went to use the bathroom and when he came back, he cried, “WHY WOULD YOU THINK THAT WAS THE BATHROOM?” after getting an up-close look at it. I DUNNO, BECAUSE I HAD DOWNED ONE WHOLE ENTIRE BEER AND SAW A DOOR THAT I WANTED TO BE FOR THE BATHROOM?!

After killing as much time as possible (and pretending to tolerate the football game) we asked for our check.

“I’d want the check, too!” Reeve called over her shoulder as she retreated to get our check. It was so funny, she was so cute. I made Henry leave her a big tip and wrote “Reeve out here holding it down!” on the check. I know you guys probably think I’m so bitchy and live for moments when I can Karen-Hulk out, but I am actually the polar opposite and love to leave glowing and positive reviews when it’s deserved! And while that bar itself needs a major upper management adjustment, Reeve was seriously doing the work of 4 people and doing it with such good humor, that someone like me COULD NEVER. I’d have quit within 30 minutes of my shift and that’s being generous.

Waiting for the pink line to take us back to Douglass Park with a shit ton of other Riot Festers. Is that…wait….yes, it is. It’s a picture of HENRY SMILING! I’m not kidding, we sincerely had such a great time the ENTIRE weekend. If we were going to fight at all at Riot Fest, this would have been the day because it was actually so miserable weather-wise but nope. We knew it was going to be gross and wet and muddy but we made the most of it and I think this could be me growing up? A different version of me would have thrown 87 fits before even walking through the gates of Riot Fest that day and probably would have screamed, “JUST FORGET IT LET’S JUST GO HOME” at least 50 times before even leaving the hotel that morning.

Do you know what I think some of it is? The panic of running out of time. I am hyper-aware of being older, of Henry being older, of time passing so quickly, that I am doing extra behavioral maintenance on myself these days. I don’t want to waste even a single minute of any day being a brat. And you know, to a certain extent, we can control our minds and emotions if we try hard enough. It’s exhausting but it can be done! I definitely still let myself have “MOMENTS” but these days I am mostly treating every day like it’s so precious and I just want to make good memories. It is working, as long as I also allow myself to have the REAL MOMENTS too where I am like, “LOOK I FEEL LIKE SHIT AND DON’T WANT TO DO THAT NOW, GET OUT OF MY FACE, I’M HAVING FEELINGS.”

It also helps that Henry seems to actually enjoy doing all of this stuff now where in the past, he would have maybe been more stick-in-the-muddy about it, which is funny to bring mud into it since mud was going to be the strong theme of our third day in Douglass Park, LOL.

On that note! Actual Riot Fest Day 3 recap forthcoming!

(Thank you for letting me psychoanalyze myself at the end here, I sort of spiraled out, oh well, that’s what I do.)

Somehow I never posted my Charmera snaps from Four Chord a few weeks ago so here they are!

Henry’s like, “why am I at another music festival….”

Heading North!

Don’t Panic!

Patent Pending! (This band, Heading North, and obv. Pierce the Veil were my favorites that day.)

Eternal Boy’s singer is the founder of Four Chord, FYI!

I loved that downtown Pgh was the backdrop for this festival, and that also Pgh has a pop punk music festival to begin with! When I first went to this thing, it was in its second year and held in a now-defunct club with a 600 person capacity.

Hit the Lights were pretty good.  I have never been a fan per se but they were enjoyable. Luckily there were a ton of legit fans in the crowd because the mic quit working right when the last song started and the crowd carried it. I for one did NOT know the words, LOL.

Driveways had some Michael Myers footage going on in the background. I also thought that it was interesting that they’re from Boston and YOU CAN TELL – the singer does NOT  lose his accent in song. Also, they mocked us because their dumb team beat our dumb team and I was like “Well, joke’s on you because I don’t care for ANY team.” (Football can suck it.)

Meanwhile, later that night, Boys Like Girls said that they were also from Boston, mocked us similarly, but displayed nary an accent. JUST INTERESTING IS ALL.

I was attempting to catch Henry in the act of awkwardly sitting down – it was a slow and painful descent for him each time LOL. I shouldn’t laugh, my back still feels busted from carrying the entire month of September on it. (But was it worth it? OF FUCKING COURSE.)

EW, lol.

One of my beloved beachballs in the sunset.

What a great day, honestly.

…and it was an excellent one!

We kicked it off on Thursday by going to Rich’s Fright Farm. AS YOU MIGHT KNOW, I have been super psycho about getting this one done as early into the season as possible because I wanted to be able to complete the Fright Farm Quad of tickets in the back of my haunted house journal! TWO REASONS:

• I’m nearly done with my current HH journal and wanted to get it in there before moving on to the next one;
• Last year we went the last week in October and as all my TRUE FRENZ know, we weren’t given a paper ticket that time! I panicked about it through the entire haunt until deciding that I would revisit the ticket booth on my way out and ask them DIRECTLY what was up with the NO TICKETS GIVEN situation. They told me they didn’t have enough and were running out so they stopped using them altogether. AND THEN THE LADY ASKED IF I WANTED ONE OF THE EXTRA ONES. What a damn angel. OFC I wanted one! So this year I wanted to get there early in case that happened again!

Anyway, I was happy to get my hands on one last year without having to ask for the manager (totally wouldn’t have done that but probably would have cried about it on Reddit until someone offered to just give me their 2025 ticket). Happy to report that this year’s ticket was procured much more easily and I got to put that final piece in the back of my haunted house journal. I was literally saving room for it because LOOK AT HOW PERFECTLY THE FRIGHT FARM TICKETS FIT TOGETHER.

And I’m almost ready to start a new haunted house journal. I love the feeling of starting a new journal! I have the perfect one waiting in the wings.

LOL we were sitting facing the bonfire and Henry was slowly expiring.

AS USUAL, I will spare you the details of this haunt since I keep that in THE JOURNAL, but I did want to mention that there was this woman I was talking to for a while at the Armor For Sleep show last summer and I am PRETTY sure she was sitting across from us with her son at another picnic table at Rich’s when we were waiting for our group # to be called.

I also want to add that we listened to Hayley Williams and The Black Queen the whole way there. What you listen to on the way to the haunted house matters.

PEENLOP!!!!

She is eating much better, btw, thank you for asking. Definitely has gained some weight back and doesn’t look or feel skeletal anymore, I’m so relieved. She had us so worried for a while there and it was so much trial and error trying to find food that she will actually eat now.

Saturday morning, we met Wendy at Groove Coffee out her way. I hadn’t seen Wendy (in real life, virtual meetings don’t count!) since LAST DECEMBER when we were in the office for the holiday party. That is just ridiculous.

Anyway, I had been wanting to come to this cafe for a while now and then they announced their October horror movie-inspired line of seasonal drinks. I was eyeing up the FREAKY NIKKI because it was pumpkin tiramisu but then I was swayed by the matcha homage to Michael Myers called the Boogeyman. It was just OK but I appreciated that the toasted marshmallow was  speared with a butcher knife-capped toothpick!

(Also, it was peach-flavored which was a choice considering this is a fall drink menu.)

There was a photo booth so I made Henry hulk and lurk around the super busy counter to ask for change because it only took $5 bills lol. (Literally, we got there right when it opened and a huge line formed almost IMMEDIATELY behind us and was steady staying out of the door the whole time we were there. Crazy!

Wendy wasn’t ready for the second snap and didn’t like herself in that one so I pumpkin’d her out of respect. I can be a good person sometimes.

We stopped at a pet store on the way home to get Princess Peenlop more food (speaking of pumpkins, she’s obsessed with foods that have that in it currently and I super hope it’s not a seasonal thing for cat food to have that as an ingredient) and we got her this cutie Pusheen Halloween bowl too. <3

Saturday night, we went to Portals of Fear in West Mifflin — we went to this one when it was new, sometime when Chooch was in high school and still (mostly) going to haunted houses with us. It was a charity-run haunt in a church back then and so not TOO pricy, but then I saw last year that it was bumped up to $30!! IN THIS ECONOMY??? I couldn’t believe it. We did NOT go but then this year curiosity got the best of me so we gave it a shot. Well, it’s not a charity-run haunt anymore, and now it’s super high-quality, three floors, sacrilegious, all of the things I love! It was pretty damn good, honestly.

But even better is that they had a DJ outside playing actual haunted house / Halloween apropos jams – A/K/A GOTH DANCE HITS. I was so into it. That fucking Fright Farm pisses me off with their Cotton Eye Joe, Cupid Shuffle and Benson Boone bullshit making me feel like I’m at a firehall wedding reception (no hate but YOU KNOW WEDDING DJs CAN BE BASIC AF!!!!). There are HOCO DJs probably spinning better shit than that.

Plus, that whole parking lot area has vendors (food/beer/crafts/etc) so there is something to do while you’re waiting in the virtual queue (yes, they have a virtual queue and we love to see it!). We chilled with a Back Alley Festbier to share, a cookie each, and super nostalgic Darkchat Greatest Hits. It was such a vibe.

Sunday afternoon, we went to Kinder Being for a cafe break for three reasons:

1. this is easily one of my favorite cafes in the city – great people, great coffee, great atmosphere all around;
2. they have an ube latte that I wanted!!
3. SANDY LOAF just made them that caterpillar on the wall up there! SANDY LOAF + KINDER BEING COLLAB? Let’s fucking gooooo.

Too bad this wasn’t where we were meeting Wendy, LOL. She is hands down the biggest clown hater I know and wants NO PART of our newfound GBX shenanigans.

My favorite version of Henry is “Rolled Up Flannel Sleeves Henry,” in case you were wondering.

“Take a picture of me with my cookie.”

“Take a picture of me writing in my haunted house journal.”

I AM ACTUALLY 8 YEARS OLD IN MY HEAD.

NOT PICTURED (although I do have Charmera snaps!) is our late lunch at Fredo’s afterward. Then I basically spent the rest of Sunday recapping Riot Fest Day 2 so that someday in 13 years, I can look it up on her to remember whet shirt I was wearing, who even knows, why do I keep blogging after all these years?!?! It’s so dumb but I can’t find a way to stop.

Anyway, it was seriously such a great weekend and now it’s Monday and I’m sad but I’m looking forward to NEXT weekend which is shaping up to be equally as good (I hope??).

OH P.S. not weekend-specific but Girl Buddy had babies in our porch roof and they are slowly making their way out to the porch, At first, I thought there were two, but yesterday I realized that there ARE AT LEAST 5 and it sounds like they’re a little furry construction company up there, hammering away. It’s so cute because when I go out to talk to their mom, one or two will poke their heads out of the spout hole thing, and then another one will try to force their head through too like, “MOM, WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO???” <3