Let’s do this thing (again).

After a few years and a global pandemic (not really sure when/if writing that phrase will start to feel normal) it feels like life needs more comedic writing about things of real value like old episodes of The Nanny. At least that’s where I’m at after what could probably be described as one of the toughest years of my life. To recap:

In the pandemic I:

• Didn’t see people really (not entirely bad)
• Changed jobs
• Moved twice and sold/gave away about half of our possessions
• Now live in the woods with pets and some chickens, looking to find land to build a forever home on which is basically the worst timing ever given the real estate market
• Decided to get pregnant and then had a miscarriage which was pretty shitty
• Watched the entire run of Wings in 3 days as part of grieving process

On the plus side:

• Everyone in my family is healthy and most are now vaccinated
• We got through the winter
• Homesteading has been hard and rewarding and a validation of fairly radical life changes

So it’s been a whole thing. Cabin life means a return to my rural upbringing, watching the sun rise over the lake, and other good-for-your-soul type stuff.

And chickens. Chickens are fun.

But what about TV, you say? Around these parts most media from the outside world is delivered via satellite dish. As a result we’ve largely eschewed streaming services (gotta save the ‘width for work stuff) and instead returned to the nostalgia of good old fashioned cable.

Satellite cable, that is. Which is basically TV as you remember it – lotsa channels, real commercials, and an abundance of syndicated sitcoms to half-watch. I ask you, is there anything more nostalgic than those Frasier title cards? No, there isn’t. It’s why this still rings so true:

I thought really, really hard about making a parody version of this depression meme based on the pandemic. It was going to involve lysoling amazon packages, sending pleading emails to elderly parents to practice social distancing, opening up the instacart app repeatedly, searching google news for ‘Covid’ every single morning… But then I decided it was easier to just actually be depressed.

Lest you worry, I’m really okay. Considering everything that’s happened – in terms of both global mortal terror as well as crappy personal tragedies – things could be a lot worse. It sucks but I’m still here. And like most people, I’m playing a waiting game. Waiting for spring, waiting for things to improve, waiting to see where we’ll live, waiting to see what the world will look like.

And that’s basically why I’m starting up this abandoned little blog again (getting to read unmoderated, years-old hatemail about my post criticizing Blade Runner is just an added bonus). It seems these kinds of hobbies work especially well during periods of utter life chaos, the same way you come up with the best jokes when you’re the most down and out. So, while we all wait out the rest of whatever this pandemic has in store for us, I’ll be reviewing/recapping some classic TV from this here little cabin on the prairie.