Pinky promise
by Anton Zuiker on September 12, 2024
I spent the day at Duke University Hospital while Erin had her finger fixed by a hand surgeon, which meant my trip to Chicago is delayed a day, which means I’m not at the Salt Shed with my cousins Jeff and Jenny for the Evening with Goose. I hope to jam with them another night.
I’m back to blogging daily, a goal and a promise to myself. A morning flight will be a good time to write a few longer posts, and a return to DeKalb should provide memories and insights.
Short passes
by Anton Zuiker on September 11, 2024
I am back from the Wednesday evening pick-up soccer game in Pittsboro.
It’s an important, fun, active, social activity that I thoroughly enjoy. I’ve been playing with this group for one year now; I’m so grateful for this group of men and women. Same, too, for the Sunday morning pick-up soccer that I’ve been playing in for more than eight years in Durham—and now in Chapel Hill while our dilapidated Durham field finally is getting renovated.
Tomorrow is an irregular day: in the afternoon, a flight to Chicago for me. I’m meeting up with cousins for a concert, a college buddy for dinner, a high school friend at his DeKalb distillery, and more family in my home town.
There will be much to chronicle in the days ahead.
Debate night
by Anton Zuiker on September 10, 2024
I’m sitting on the porch listening to the presidential debate between Kamala Harris and the former guy. In the last election, I told myself that my vote for Biden-Harris was a vote for a President Harris since I didn’t trust the health of Joe Biden but I’m glad he’s still alive and well and leading our nation, and I’m eager now to vote for Kamala Harris to lead.
Anyway, out in the woods, a trio of barred owls are engaged in a debate of their own, hootin it up.
The only thing I know to do
by Anton Zuiker on September 9, 2024
Schoolkids Records is closing its Chapel Hill store soon. I’ve been in there a few times in the last year—I bought Chronicles of a Diamond, by the Black Pumas, and maybe a Peter Gabriel album. I stopped in recently to see what was left in the stacks, and only took out I Am Easy to Find by the National.
Then, in the other room, I noticed the used CDs, so I flipped through a few rows looking for any that I might not already have in the crowded bin out in the garage. I took U2’s The Unforgettable Fire, and Josh Ritter’s The Animal Years. Our eight-year-old van has a CD player, and I’ve been playing both on my drive to and from work, some days listening only to U2’s Bad and Ritter’s Girl in the War, then finishing the commute in silence.
Ritter: Peter and Paul, Laurel and Hardy, ‘pretend the dove from above is a dragon, and your feet are on fire.’
Mesmerizing storytelling and deep meaning, though I haven’t looked hard. I just feel soothed, anointed, challenged.
Some days, I hit repeat and listen again.
No rest
by Anton Zuiker on September 8, 2024
I did it again, spent the full Sunday going without a stop—played soccer this morning (scored a goal, blocked a lot of shots with my body, made a few good passes, messed up and missed, too), went with Sid back to Rougemont to pick up the wood that Avery at Wild Edge Woodcraft had dried and flattened (one step closer to the return of the Long Table initiative, with a longer post about Wild Edge soon), cooked another batch of homemade hot sauce (I used the new Duxtop induction cooktop in the garage for a quicker, cleaner process), and cleaned the kitchen, twice.
My goodness, I am tired.
Today was a perfect fall day, sunny and cool and still and peaceful. A perfect day to have rested.
Dodge ball
by Anton Zuiker on September 7, 2024
Erin, Oliver, and I were invited to a dinner party today with a promise of dodge ball and an Indian meal. We didn’t have plans so we said yes, and the night was an unexpected load of fun—adults and kids played five rounds of dodge ball in the back yard, then went inside for a delicious meal, lots of conversation, and word games.
We just got home. As we we pulled up to the house, Erin spotted a grey fox near our garage. A rabid red fox was caught in nearby Carrboro earlier this week, but the foxes we’ve seen on our property this week seem healthy and appropriately cautious of us. We’ll dodge them nonetheless.
See Lola Run
by Anton Zuiker on September 6, 2024
The NYTimes asked readers about the best movies of 1999. Erin and I were in Vanuatu so didn’t get to see any of them in the theater—except one. We took a break from our volunteer work on Paama to visit New Zealand, and during our first few days in Auckland, we went to see Run Lola Run.. I loved it.
Over the next couple of years, we watched many of the other hits from 1999, mostly on VHS in our apartments but maybe a few in Cleveland theatres.
Of course, the movie from that year that I’ve seen the most is The Matrix. Love that one, too.