A Month-Long Polar Vortex

Hi guys.

This month was COLD. 

For weeks, temperatures didn't hit 20 degrees, with every night dipping into the negative and then often times only reaching single-digit highs. Twice we had schools called off for 'Cold Days,' when the Real Feel (with wind chill) was around -20 degrees, and thus we didn't spend a whole hell of a lot of time outside doing anything. This month was pretty chill, all things considered.

That being said, we did have a few highlights. Abby performed at Regionals with the Midland High Varsity Pom team, and later spent a weekend up in Marquette with Ella. Kris and I performed at a random Game Show venue down in Grand Rapids with the DeBoers, then checked out a Broadway show down at Michigan State (one of her Christmas presents this year, if you'll recall.) Yours Truly had more of his sleeve filled in at Brass Cat Tattoo (in a grueling, eight and a half hour session that nearly killed me) and reunited with some old college heroes to launch an online, DnD campaign. And Alayna. . . well, she's still doing college classes and working at Taco Bell. 

Aside from these highlights - many of which have been previously mentioned in earlier posts - it was more or less the same around here. The Holidays are over and done with, their trappings packed away in storage totes for the next eleven months, and the house has gone back to normal. Everyone is doing the work/school thing full time. Weekends have been quiet as folks are busy with winter sports schedules with their own kids and consequently there's been a lot of TV-watching going on (under blankets, of course, since it's basically Hoth outside right now.)

So yeah - not much to report this time around, so I'll just let the pics and videos do the talking.

Here's our January, Internet - enjoy. . .

The DeBoers invited us down to Grand Rapids one afternoon for Sam's Birthday, where the main activity was a one-hour session at this Game Show venue that had recently opened up. The session had a group break off into two-person teams, designated by a colored podium (Kris and I were the Black team), competing in a series of various mini-games based on existing game shows (Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Squid Games - shown here, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, etc.) 

One challenge was drawing Mickey Mouse by memory (here's Sam's attempt.) I ended up tying for the high score, so mine was judged alongside one of Sam's friends by the other players and their drawing got more votes than mine (because she was a girl, so 'chivalry' and all that - my drawing was better.)

Preparing to buzz in for a trivia question (I'm pretty awesome at trivia, folks.)

A family of five got lumped in with our group, but they were dog shit and easily destroyed.

We did awesome for the first few games, then fell a couple places in some of the later challenges. In the end the DeBoers ended up winning, which was appropriate seeing how it was Sam's Birthday and everything.

The assembled group, featuring us, the DeBoers, three of their friend couples (two of which were BP's close friends from college that I remembered and their wives), and the aforementioned family of losers.

When we got back to Midland, I poured the last of my Twelve Milkshakes of Christmas stouts (which was just okay, I've had far better.)

Samson spends a lot of his free time napping on various people's beds these days. He's not as depressed as he was about a month ago, but he's still not 100% recovered from his brother's passing.

We lost power one evening due to ice and wind damaging the power lines, so Alayna broke out a strand of her battery-powered lights to illuminate the living room. I had zero interest in hanging out in the dark like an Amish person, so I just went to the gym (which fortunately still had power.)

Kris doing her evening stretches. BP recommended this Bend app that walks you through various stretches with a timer and tutorials, and customizes your routine based on your needs and how much time you want to spend. Kris and I did the full-body, 15-minute session for awhile, but I took a break from it when I had my tattoo done 'cause during the healing process I couldn't stretch my arms too much 'cause it would disrupt the scabbing, thus damaging the ink.

A creepy, AI image of Kris and I from New Year's Eve. Kris looks halfway normal, but I look like some kinda British drunk who gets rowdy at pubs.

Here's another AI image done by Google Gemini, based on my existing Google Photos library. It took all the pictures of me from my album and generated an all-encompassing snapshot of what it thinks my life is all about. Kinda interesting to see the stuff it zeroed in on: rollercoasters (and Sleeping Beauty's castle), based on Disney and Cedar Point trips, a dog (since I live with them), a tent (due to camping), a boat on a lake (due to Eight Point), records and beer (duh), and an arcade game (which is weird 'cause while I do play video games from time to time, it's not something I have a lot of pictures of.) The wardrobe choice is weird because this was only worn on one occasion, Christmas Eve of 2024. What's up with the hair and facial hair, though? I've never once had a man bun, and only had long hair for about a year - kinda weird it went that route.

Abby and some classmates, dancing at school (who knows why, I just pull pics and video of her Google Photos, I don't ask for explanation.)

Abby and this kid, who I've seen in her pics but don't know who it is.

Brooklyn and Abby at school.

Ella took a selfie with Kris when she popped in to Kris' work for a teeth cleaning towards the beginning of the month.

I went in on January 9th to have the lower part of my arm sleeved. I spent a couple years fine-tuning my idea, which I wanted to tie in thematically with my existing tattoos, and shared a dozen images that I had found online with my artist, Brenton. I wanted old Saxon art and mythology done, as the Hough family traces its origin to Saxon nobility during that period that saw the unification of England and the expulsion of the Vikings before they were finally brought down by the Norman invaders in 1066. Saxon art is similar to Celtic and Nordic art, with intricate interwoven line work, but unlike the other two they work in heroic figures that are almost cartoony in nature. Brenton and I thought it'd be awesome to have a Saxon warrior on horseback fighting a Viking warrior mounted on a dragon, and he based the Saxon's look on the famous Sutton Ho funeral mask that archaeologists found that's the quintessential example of Saxon art.

We took a short break after he had finished outlining the first figure, before going in with all the details. This part of the arm didn't hurt at all, which I didn't expect 'cause my nephew Blake assured me it was going to hurt like hell. I must be a hell of lot tougher than my nephew.

We had the extended version of The Fellowship of the Ring on in the background as we kicked off our post-break session. He had told me it was going to take five hours to do the entire design, but it ended up taking eight and a half hours. As usual, he only charged me for the five hours he had initially told me it would take, which is incredibly generous, but I tipped him for the full time he spent working - I always make sure to tip generously, since his work is phenomenal.

The purple ink you see in some of these pics is the stencil he applies so that he has a roadmap of sorts from which to trace.

The finished product, eight and a half hours later. He was going to fill in more of the negative space, but he wants it to fully heal so we can get a better idea of how to handle the negative space, and to see if would look better with some blank spaces here and there (for balance.) I imagine I'll go back in and get more filled in, though - there's more space to fill in on the inside of my arm around the bicep and upper forearm, and I still have four hours of credit on my account that I can either apply to this or a couple designs I have in mind on my other arm (which is blank except for the inside of my right forearm.) I'll keep you guys posted.

When I got home, Kris had a few of the wives over in our basement, hanging out and drinking and doing nails or whatever the hell it is our wives do when they're all hanging out together. I stayed upstairs and watched a movie in the living room, giving them space, but at one point Abby, Ella and Jackson came over (they were hanging out somewhere else for the evening) and hung out in the basement with them for a bit (where they took this pic.)

Abby took this pic. . . for some reason. Not sure why.

The next morning, Courtney drove Abby and Ella to Mt. Pleasant so they could get some Crumble Cookie. Those girls are beyond spoiled.

There weren't ANY good sales on vinyl this last Holiday season, which sucks 'cause the past few years I've always been able to score a dozen or so double-LPs (usually pressed on colored vinyl) for next to nothing. Disappointed, I splurged and purchased the newly-released editions of The Lord of the Rings soundtracks, pressed on 180-gram, clear vinyl, for about $35-$40 a piece. Had to buy them off of Discogs 'cause they were already up to $80 on Amazon, but these are a rare find and I felt it was high time to treat myself. They sound incredible, the pressings were stellar.

The following day, Mitch had the dads over to his house to watch one of the playoff games. As usual, there was an over-abundance of food on hand.

Bacon wrapped venison, in a couple different flavors.

Only in this group would pizza serve as a 'side dish.'

I sat on this couch, working on my Dungeons and Dragons character's stat sheet ('cause football isn't my cup of tea) while Lonnie and Erik fought to stay awake.

Kris recently purchased a few items from a company that sells pro-Palestine merch (and whose proceeds benefit the oppressed Palestinian people.) We're a solidly anti-Israel family. F*** Zionists.

Alayna seems thrilled.

Sophie, who is homeschooled, gets dropped off some days to work on schoolwork with Alayna, who doesn't have to go to school until like noon or so, and spends her mornings working on college homework. They've been doing this for a couple months, and both seem to thrive on having someone else next to them slugging away in the trenches.

Out at Qdoba with the Johnsons. Again.

Alayna enjoys taking pics of her mom doing stretches.

This is the sort of crap we find in Abby's Google Photos. I assume for Snapgram.

Abby and that one kid she's always taking selfies with.

Pumped for another pom practice (she has them like six days a week right now, seeing how it's Competition Season and everything.)

The second Sunday of the month, Kris and I drove down to MSU to the Wharton Center for the Broadway play I bought Kris for Christmas. There were only a handful throughout the state that met my criteria - on a weekend, a musical (which Kris prefers), something that was critically acclaimed, something that was once on Broadway, etc. Ended up pulling the trigger on the musical adaptation of Back to the Future, which got great reviews for its musical and special effects (which were insane.)

The show was great (even though I hate musicals), so I imagine we'll probably be going to more of these in the future. 'Cause, you know, 'happy wife, happy life' and all that.

Abby took this pic of Alayna getting her hair colored over at Danielle's (something she does every couple months in order to stay on top of her existing two-tone thing she has going on.)

Driving back from school with Ella one afternoon (Ella can drive now, and her and her mom share a car.) Definitely takes a lot of our plate, not having to shuttle Abby to and from pom practices and school and what not.

Abby and Ella headed over to Aldi one day to buy groceries for themselves, which seems stupid 'cause God knows their parents already buy groceries for them. Whatever.

Abby's been playing her cello recreationally a lot lately, playing themes from movies and stuff. Seems to help her decompress after a long day of class and pom. 

One of the girls took this pic of Samson eating for some reason. Not sure what's so impressive about this.

I had to help one of my coworkers navigate this 90-degree turn on campus on my way to my car after work one day. She had forgotten her phone in her classroom at the end of the day and had decided that she didn't want to walk all the way back to our 8th grade building to get it, so she drove up the sidewalk. . . and got stuck. You can't make this shit up, folks.

Abby wearing some kinda brain hat in class. Again, not sure what the backstory to this is.

For their States competition next month, the pommers have to do this flip over a teammate, and as you can see here, it's a work in progress.

Sticking the landing.

Alayna touched up the bleached section of her hair 'cause it was a too yellow for her liking, so she hit it with a purple toner (which I used to do back when I had white hair back in college.) She overdid it, though, and her hair had a slight purple-ish tint for a couple days before it faded. She was pretty amused by it.

Samson, napping on the couch. As usual.

Abby's boyfriend, Logan, came over one weekend to hang out in the basement with Abby, and while they were down there they decided to break out the karaoke for a spell. . .

Kris' ever-present trusty companion.

Another aspect of the pom routine the team is preparing for (Abby is the one on all fours.) These girls are straight-up beasts.

Abby and Ella, tailing some random car (I hope they know who the driver is, otherwise this would be weird.)

Kris took this pic of Ella taking selfies in her car while waiting for Abby to come out for another pom practice. These girls and their damned selfies. . .

Kris and I went out for dinner to The Boulevard the last Friday of the month, sans kids (which is always nice.) We bought a couple meals to go for the girls, who then didn't eat them 'cause 'they weren't hungry.' Kids are awesome.

Not sure if I disclosed this earlier or not - I'm pretty sure I did - but my Grandpa Chinery passed earlier this month. He was 94 and we all knew it was coming soon, so his death wasn't shocking, but it was still a somber thing because he was the last part of that generation on my mom's side of the family. As my mom continues to clean out his house, she keeps dropping stuff off to me and my siblings. She recently dropped off Grandpa's record collection for me to go through and take what I wanted, and I offered to look everything up on Discogs to make sure we weren't ultimately giving away anything of value (which is doubtful, 'cause most of the stuff he had was the usual grandparent fare.) Lots of Hank Snow, Jimmy Reaves, Christian music, old country western, and all that easy listening crap (101 Living Strings, Roger Whittaker, etc.)

Kris sat in the room with me while I looked up Grandpa's records on Discogs (and some of the etchings on the runout grooves were hair thin, so it was a pain in the ass.) 

Kris invited the Johnsons over for some country music listening (we were spinning Grandpa's records while I was sorting through them.) She took this pic to entice them into coming over.

Seems kinda dark for an album cover, but whatever. . .

I've only scratched the surface of Grandpa's collection - after a couple hours I only go through one and half bags or so - and have only taken like two LPs and three boxes sets to keep. I'm going to have the girls look through it as well and see if there's anything they want out of there, too - Abby will definitely take some of it, Alayna probably won't.

Managed to squeeze in a second DnD session with the college crew the last weekend of the month, this time for about four and a half hours. Now that we had all our screens and apps primed and ready to roll the gameplay was smooth and flawless. I spent the majority of the afternoon down in the Captain's Quarters playing with these old compatriots, and if felt like five minutes.

Another selfie 

Found this gem in Abby's camera roll. Google Photos asks you from time to time for clarification in ID'ing people in your pics, but never before have I ever been confused with a f***ing wookie. I feel attacked.

After four hours or so we had to stop so Russell could focus on creating additional maps for the next stage of our campaign; the entirety of our time in this session was spent escaping from the dungeons that were introduced in our last session, with all of our characters narrowly avoiding a grisly death at the hands of our captors. Can't wait for the next time we get to do this, Russell's story is soooo good.

Some terrifying filter Abby applied to one of her selfies. This is straight-up nightmare fuel.

Kris and Alicia went out to see the Blue Man Group at the Midland Center for the Arts the last Saturday of the month (I had zero interest in going, obviously.) She thoroughly enjoyed it, but the double serving of white wine might have had a part to play in that.

- Brian