Smorgasbord #49

Dreams, Gregory & Ray, Not 100%

Sep 20, 2024

Dreams

I’ve been sick all week and have been taking all the Mucinex I can take without withstanding too much damage to my liver. I also take a magnesium supplement to help me sleep, and on Wednesday night, this combination of molecules gave me some weird dreams. I dreamed I was on Kill Tony, a comedy show hosted by Tony Hinchcliffe where people sign up to do one minute of stand-up comedy, all their names get put in a bucket, and some of them get pulled from the bucket and called on stage. Well, around 2:30 in the morning, I woke up because, in my dream, someone was grabbing me by the shoulders and telling me they pulled my name and I needed to go on stage.

I went back to sleep, and now my dream was about me frantically writing one minute of jokes to say on stage. Earlier that night, I watched The History Channel’s show “Alone,” where contestants are dropped off in the wilderness and compete to see how long they can survive with the items in their packs. I thought this would be good material for jokes, somehow. I never made it on stage in my dream, but I woke up thinking about jokes, and these are the best I thought of; now I can work on this minute in case I ever find myself in Austin, sign up for Kill Tony, and my name gets pulled.

My son asked if he could have some coffee. I said yes. He said it tasted like dirt. I said, “Yeah, it was ground this morning.”
We have sea turtles, lions, and horses. Why not Zeabras?
You can say: “Like two whales in a pod,” and it still makes sense.
If I had a barbecue restaurant in New Mexico, I would call it ABQ BBQ.
NYC held a fat beach day, or how I like to call it, a beach day.
When people say, “Does the carpet match the drapes?” does that mean feet are the basement?
One of my favorite shows is “Alone.” Ten competitors are dropped off in the wilderness and whoever can survive the longest wins. I would like to pitch my idea for spin off. It’s still a survivalist show, but all the competitors are 20 and they need to complete different tasks, like opening a bank account, or fill out forms at a doctor’s office without their parents assistance. The final boss is a used car salesman.

There’s the possibility I’d bomb, but it would be a fun experience. This is a new variation of the dream I keep having where I’m in a play but don’t know what role I’m playing, my lines, or where my wardrobe is. If anybody knows how to interpret dreams, hit me up.

Gregory & Ray

We bought the tickets for this concert about six months ago. In fact, a couple of our friends did, and we paid them and made plans to double date with them. I felt bad because the two times we’ve gone out with them, we’ve been to places that aren’t conducive to conversations, and they’re fantastic conversationalists. Regardless of that, it was a good time. Diana and I arrived close to 7:00 PM when Erin Rae took the stage. She’s a pop-folk singer-songwriter from Nashville, TN, and her music was delightful.

Concert-going in my 40s is slightly different than in my previous decades. For example, I prepaid for parking in the garage across the street from the venue. No more walking “a few blocks” to save a few dollars for this guy. I didn’t drink, not because the concert was on a Sunday, but because I was not feeling great thanks to a cold—that I’m still trying to get rid of it. I guess next time, I should bring earplugs, just in case the volume inside the venue is too loud; we’ll see.

Gregory Alan Isakov took the stage next. I knew of him, but I wouldn’t consider myself a fan. However, he won me over after this concert. His voice and stage presence are amazing, and his musicians are incredibly talented. I was relaxed and energized at the same time. He closed his set with “The Stable Song,” which he described as his mega radio hit, which you’ve probably heard at the bank or the dentist. I can appreciate some self-deprecating humor. He also mentioned one of his songs becoming TikTok famous because a lady used it in a gardening video, reaching a whole new demographic. Good for him.

Then, it was Ray Lamontagne’s turn to take the stage. One of the first things Diana and I talked about the night we met was music; she mentioned Ray Lamontagne almost immediately. In nearly ten years of marriage, we’ve seen him live three times, and we consider “You Are the Best Thing” our song, although he hardly ever plays it in concert. He started playing around 9:30, and we had already asked the sitter to stay an extra hour, so we needed to leave by 10:30. We missed the last two songs of his setlist, but we were able to avoid traffic and got home at 11:00. A success overall if you ask me.

Not 100%

I’ve been dragging this week. I’m usually operating at 80% capacity because, let’s face it, I’m almost always tired; this week, I’ve been at 50% capacity. I haven’t worked out or slept great because my nose is clogged, which adds to an overall feeling of exhaustion.

I can’t remember the last time I got sick; it has been a while. I usually get sick around this time of year, probably because of the transition period into fall; who knows? All I know is that I’m out the longest when I get sick. I think I was trying to do the mind-over-body trick where I kept telling myself I was okay and that I wasn’t sick until my body was like, “Yeah, that’s not going to work anymore.”

Luckily, Diana takes excellent care of me. She keeps the Kleenex stocked and the Mucinex flowing, and she makes me ramen when it’s the only thing that brings me comfort. I’m not out of the woods yet, so please say a prayer I get back to normal sooner rather than later.

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Sobremesa

What’s your favorite TV show right now?
What’s your concert-going hack?
What’s your go-to cold home remedy?