#if the bong is the issue say so like an adult I’m tired of this harassment

[vampireknitting]

I am not a protester or activist. Malicious compliance is harder than I’d like it to be.

If they harass me because I’m vaping in the smoking area I’m going to scream

[boatspeak]

Some of my favourite dramas from the past half a year, ranked: 

1. Because This is my First Life 

k-drama, 16 episodes, each 1 hour long

So sensitively and personally written. I was sucked into the storytelling and felt as though I was seeing these scenes through the eyes of the characters. Bravo to the scriptwriter; as I was watching it I felt, ah, she must have drawn from some intensely personal and important place. It was not a story anyone could have written. Because This is My First Life follows the stories of three BFFs as they experience, and grapple with, love and marriage. It does not shy away from the complicated sides of these issues - the societal, monetary and financial pressures that love and marriage cannot be separated from, the difficulties of communicating with others honestly yet sensitively. There are some frustratingly incorrigible people in the drama (like sexually harassing superiors), but most of the time the conflicts play out between good people who care for and support each other, yet inevitably butt heads because they have different - and equally valid - views of life. Is it wrong to want to marry and start a family? Is it wrong not to? It was painful at times, I think I cried for some of the characters. Not because they were pitiable, but because sometimes in life there is no right or wrong; you have to make tough choices and it hurts but you have to keep your eyes open and keep watching; keep walking. For the literature lovers out there, especially those who might be sick of gratuitous (often cheesy) quotes inserted randomly into dramas, well, good for you! Characters in Because This is My First Life read and are impacted by (real life) books, and you can see how the books they’ve read influence the way they think, act, and communicate with each other. It’s very realistic and mirrors the way you might consume and digest books in your own life outside of the drama. Oh, the PPL is also wonderfully done and actually contributes to character building.  8-9/10.

2. Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu (I’ll be serious in my next life)

j-drama, 12 episodes, each 1/2 an hour long

One woman, five sex friends. I know. I know it sounds messy and melodramatic and angsty. I hesitated for the same reasons as well. But when I finally got over it and watched the damn thing (very bingeable, totalling at only 6 hours), I regretted not watching it sooner. Raise wa Chanto Shimasu is a breath of fresh air. Most of the characters, whether hypersexual or asexual, are pretty unabashed about it, and I love their self-love. Want to have sex? Go for it, gurl. Don’t want to have sex? Also no problem. The title is an apt one and showcases this message of acceptance. We might have bones to pick with our current lifestyles, but welp, we’ll just be serious in our next lives. As one of the characters said at the end, “we all became independent, working adults, I think we should be proud of ourselves”.  Much needed affirmation in a world of moralising, slut-shaming, virgin-mocking, and expectations to get married and settle down.

Warning: one of the characters in a bi/gay relationship is pretty vocal in denying his sexuality even in front of his partner, and a trans woman was harrassed at one point. These were discomfiting for me. 

3. The Fiery Priest 

k-drama, 40 episodes, each 1/2 an hour long (or 20 hour-long episodes)

Action. Comedy. Kim Nam Gil, who won the Baeksang for this role. Honey Lee. Badass babe. Ahn Chang Hwan, who was so realistic at playing a Thai immigrant my friend who studied Korean for three years didn’t even realise he was Korean. Father Han. One reviewer said he was a literal angel, and I concur. Most dramas leave you with at most three or four characters you really like; this drama makes you fall in love with the whole gang. Everyone has a backstory, or some hidden side that you didn’t expect that just adds so much more dimension when revealed. Where some might find it hard to balance the weight of action and the levity of comedy, dipping too deeply into angst or farce at times, The Fiery Priest manages the tone really well even as the plot deepens and our characters have to deal with deep-seated traumas. I have nothing more to say to promote this drama except, how could you pass on Kim Nam Gil doing action plus comedy MINUS tragedy and the moustache? 

A final note: Technically, The Fiery Priest is a stronger drama than Raise and should deserve the no. 2 spot. The former deals with bigger issues like corruption, morality and forgiveness, while the latter is more light-hearted and deals almost entirely with personal choices. However, some issues Raise touched on were really important to me and came at a time when I really needed affirmation to believe in my beliefs, so it edged out The Fiery Priest in my heart. 

4. 传闻中的陈芊芊 (The Romance of Tiger and Rose) 

c-drama, 22 episodes, each about 45 minutes long

甜。This drama is just Sweet with a capital S. What a refreshing watch, especially for women. I loved not having tugging battles between two men. I loved the respect given to consent. I loved having so many smart and capable women who have conversations with each other that do not revolve around men. I love how the male lead wasn’t hung up on Male Ego and gave his wife space to be herself and make her own decisions and mistakes. A rare gem. I’m sure I will revisit this when I’m tired of the usual ドキドキ tactics involving possession and pulling around 

(If you can read Chinese, I suggest watching it on the 腾讯视频 app with 弹幕 on. I found it pretty hilarious, meaning I laugh-cried so hard in the middle of the night my neighbour knocked on my door to ask if I was ok.)   

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A quick rundown of the dramas and films I’ve watched so far in 2020 so you know the pool I picked these four from: 

Penguin Highway 

good watch. super cute. I cannot over-emphasise how cute the penguins were. It got me into a penguin phase and I’m not out of it even after 7 months...

ぼくは明日、昨日のきみとデートする (My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday) 

good watch. bittersweet.

わたしに××しなさい！(Watashi ni XX Shinasai/Missions of Love) movie and drama special

would pass on the movie (which cherry-picked from the manga but unfortunately left out a lot of important character developing scenes so the relationship didn’t make as much sense as it did in the manga)

but the drama special. Whew. I watched the drama special twice. It’s trashy good. Because it’s basically a spin-off to build hype for the movie, it doesn’t have to follow the plot of the manga, instead taking on the format of a (very cheesy) otome game. So you have all these ikemen saying clichéd toe-curling lines like “I am also a man you know” and getting stuck half-naked bReAthInG HeAviLy in cabinets together but instead of playing it seriously (as the movie would do because it’s supposed to make you feel like they are falling in love), the main character goes huh??? wtf are you saying?? at her otome game screen, which is so realistic and just cracks me up. definitely would rec. 

ごめんね青春！(Gomen ne Seishun/ Saving my Stupid Youth) 

hmmm. so-so? Leading lady Hikari Mitsushima is pretty, cool, and fits the bill of gap moe. Ryo Nishikido is also pretty believable (once you suspend your disbelief that somehow all his students think he looks dorky and are not gushing over his ikemen-ness). Unfortunately, relationship development between the otp happened too late and too suddenly. 

Он – драко́н (On Drakon/ He’s a Dragon/ I Am Dragon)

a pleasure to (re-)watch as always. Lovely visuals. 

Tokyo Ghoul: S

decent! Great performance from Shota Matsuda as the Gourmet. He’s definitely a draw-point for this movie - you can see him being featured heavily in the trailers. 

Strong Girl Do Bong Soon

great drama, would rec! 7-8/10. Points docked for all the digressing they did with monks and gangsters. I loved the otp’s dynamic, how healthy their relationship was. One line that struck me was, “Do you know how you’ve found the right person? When you see yourself in their eyes, you look happy”. It was a reminder that while these are obviously fictional characters, we can and should form relationships where our partners are as supportive of us (and us of them) as our dear otp, and not to settle for less. Also loved the fact that smol Bong Soon is so strong and no one can manhandle her >:-) 10/10 also to rookie actor Jang Mi Kwan, who was absolutely terrifying as the villain. How is he only a rookie??  

Because This is my First Life

see above

The Fiery Priest

see above

선덕여왕 (Great Queen Seon Deok)

hehe I watched it (again). As great as ever. Somehow cried more than I did the previous two times I watched it? Took me a week to get over one of the characters (even though I already went through all that heartbreak the first two times I watched this..) Sayang... Definitely has a special place in my heart. Available in full on youtube with subs. 

传闻中的陈芊芊 (Romance of Tiger and Rose)

see above

来世はちゃんとします (Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu) 

see above

覆面系ノイズ (Fukumenkei Noise/Anonymous Noise)

pretty good! Adapted from a manga but very film-like with its color-corrected shots, many cut-scenes to birds and crashing waves. Shison Jun was great in his intense scene, Ayami Nakajo has the most manga-looking face I’ve seen and Koseki Yuta is my bb as always hahaha he’s appeared in, like, four dramas on this list. 

博���弁の女の子はかわいいと思いませんか？(Don’t You Think Girls Who Talk in Hakata Dialect Are Cute?) 

YES!! I DO!! Wholesome drama packed to the brim with hometown (Hakata) pride). I also loved Okada Kenshi going around looking for Ramen shops hahaha. Now I want to see him host a food discovery show. 8/10. Would rec! 

帝一の國 (Teiichi no Kuni/Teiichi’s Country)

面白い 。Interesting watch! In which a bunch of high school boys in an elite school take their student council elections very seriously and attempts at political hijinks ensue. Suda Masaki and his pals somehow make over-the-top super seem natural. I don’t know how they do it, but it’s pretty good. Peppered with interesting reveals and counter-reveals along the way. 

男子高校生の日常 (Daily Lives of High School Boys)

I liked this! It delivers on what it’s supposed to. As a film, it is very film-like. The background is given a lot of weight in this film, and the director “shows, not tells”. The conversations of our characters are situated in the chatter of their schoolmates, you hear random snippets of conversations drift around, you see the school situated in the mountains, piles of decorations around the hall. This helps in conveying the “daily” nature of what happens in the film - not some life-changing adventure, but a warm high-school memory that is pretty like a paper star in a glass bottle. The boys are also very lovable and dorky in their high-school roles. 

ピーチガール (Peach Girl)

not bad. Typical shoujo manga adaptation storyline, even if the leading quartet do well in their roles. Nagano Mei was especially memorable for me out of the typical shoujo heroine roles I had previously seen her in. Inoo Kei also really looks like a boy from a manga. He has a lot of exaggerated actions, but he pulls them off really well. 

突然ですが明日結婚します (Totsuzen desu ga ashita kekkon shimasu/ It’s Sudden But Tomorrow We’re Getting Married/ Everyone’s Getting Married)

pretty decent. It’s not mind-blowing, but it’s definitely not bad. (Or you could flip it around and say it’s definitely not bad, but it’s not mind-blowing). 

ヲタクに恋は難しい  (Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku)

disappointing. I really wanted to like this film for Takahata Mitsuki and Yamazaki Kento, but there were too many useless musical scenes. 

同期の桜 (Doki no Sakura / Our Dearest Sakura)

Hmmmmmm. About colleagues who become inspired in their work and lives because of their colleague Sakura. I wanted more love but that’s not the main point of the drama so it’s not their fault. It got a bit repetitive towards the end, and I felt there wasn’t enough character development. Another drama I really wanted to like more than I did, because I was looking forward to seeing Takahata Mitsuki, Ryusei Ryo and Mackenyu work together. 

Tokyo Coin Laundry

A mishmash of lost souls meet at a coin laundry. A short drama about running away, making choices, and moving on. Katayose Ryota might have been cool in My Brother Loves Me Too Much, but this was where I first saw him and I prefer him in this. I enjoyed this a lot and even drew a postcard based on this. 7/10. 

兄に愛されすぎて困ってます (My Brother Loves Me Too Much) drama and movie

ok don’t judge; I watched this because my friend said it was pretty good. Katayose Ryota IS pretty cool in this, and Tsuchiya Tao brings to life the quintessential image of the Japanese girl, but if you’re watching this for “so cheesy it’s actually good” I would point you to the Watashi ni XX Shinasai drama special instead. If you do want to watch this though, you should watch the drama before the movie, because they are not standalone. 

Nodame Cantabile

What can I say? Classics are classics. 8/10, would rec. This is my first time seeing Ueno Juri acting, and she’s so believable as quirky Nodame I wondered if this was her actual personality. Straight out of a manga. There was potential for messy love-drama, but this drama took the high road and focused on proper character development instead. Thumbs up! They also did really well in “showing not telling” us the OTP’s relationship development. Rather than declarations of love, you can see it in the little caring gestures and almost subconscious smiles. I liked that too. Though maybe I’ll dock a point for how they treated gay expressions of love - “he’s a man you know” and icky faces - and how much casual manhandling there was against Nodame (exaggerated flying punches... maybe that’s how the manga wrote it?) 

[theracingengine]

September 14th

I was helping a mom and her kid out at work yesterday, and the kid immediately glommed onto me. He followed me around the store, trying to scare me with the occasional “boo,” he peppered me with questions, let me know he was sick and how awesome it was to be an older brother. And he made sure we all knew that later they’d be getting doughnuts and man was he fucking excited about it. He didn’t say fucking. But if he knew that word, he’d say it. I was fucking excited for him, I love the shit out of doughnuts too. He made sure he was always in my eyeline, or at least skittering around my legs, not trying to trip me up but doing it anyway. He didn’t know though that really what he was doing was keeping me present. I should have been grumpy, it was the end of the day, I hadn’t taken a break, I needed to leave for the tailor, I was tired, I was angry, and I was carrying a lot with me that I hope he doesn’t ever have to deal with (he likely will, that’s life). But he wasn’t about to let me mope, he didn’t even know what moping was. He wanted to jump off the stairs and do karate kicks, and I wasn’t about to get in the way of that. I snapped back when they left.

I watched a man die on Saturday. It’s the second I’ve seen, outside of people shaped sheets on the side of the road or being moved into ambulances. The first was a heart attack, where the man died laying in the grass he had just mowed. A couple neighbor kids tried to save him with CPR. Teenagers. Mostly it felt like life had happened, I could see the path of every choice, the naturalness of it all came together later as I processed it. Or I could at least make it up.

This weekend was a motorcycle accident. A man tried to pass a car on an s-curve as another car came around the corner. The whole thing stutters in my mind, frames here and there, fluid for the worst parts, the noise throbbing in my head. I’m afraid to describe it here, worried that somehow his family will see it I tried to cover Christina’s eyes, she kept trying to look, not having a choice in the matter.

We were about fifty yards away, four or five cars were closer, so I pulled over and called 911. I didn’t know what road we were on, I couldn’t tell the operator, and I apologized to her.

A young woman came running from the accident, telling me others were calling 911, asking for road flairs, letting me know “it’s probably fatal,” and running by. I remember being shocked by her excitement, but I understood, and it was comforting. The 911 operator pinpointed where I was, I told her that sounded right and she let me go. I said thank you.

A bicyclist came peddling in, I told him he didn’t want to go that way. We told him what happened and he swore a lot. He went by anyway, he said his wife was waiting for him.

A young man came sprinting by saying “I need to get the blanket.” He ran back towards the scene with it. Later I’d realize he only grabbed it to cover the body, his urgency spurred on by a need to feel like he wasn’t totally helpless. When he asked us how we were doing, we answered, he walked away then a few minutes later I regretted not asking him. I’m regretting it now.

There is more, but I feel like I’m just avoiding talking about this now. It was details, details I think I’ll always remember, just maybe not how they actually happened.

I watched a man die, I saw the entire thing.

And I am so angry, and so fucking sad.

The car he struck had five people in it, including a child. The kid threw up, might have had a concussion.

The way he died was unnatural, people are not supposed to move like that in real life. A car is not supposed to embrace a motorcycle. No one is supposed to see that. But I keep seeing it.

I’m so angry about it, I’m still so angry about it. And it feels stuck. It’s latched onto the back of my brain, causing pressure as it expands, swelled up with more emotion finding its way to that spot.

I’m so angry at him, and I’m fucking furious at the man he was riding alongside, who passed first on the curve. The dead man following. He was fifty, he should have known better. I’m angry at them both because the driver might think for a moment that they killed someone, or that the kid in the car might remember any of this, any of it. The driver was in his mid-sixties, I think he’ll spend the rest of his short life carrying that. The average life span of an American male is seventy-eight.

This guy died, and the responsibility of death is to those around, never to the dead. I’m angry because I found out he had kids.

I’m angry because I don’t get to tell him that I was sorry it happened to him.

We stayed until the fire trucks and ambulances arrived. We had been on our way to Oktoberfest, and so we kept on that way. It was that or home, which didn’t seem right.

I had told Christina when the motorcyclists passed us at high speeds “that man is going to get himself killed,” “or kill someone else” was her reply. “He’s a motorcycle, he’d be dead and everyone else would have to live with it,” I actually said that.

When we reached Oktoberfest it was hard to understand how everyone else wasn’t destroyed by what had just happened. They didn’t know of course, mostly they just knew traffic was diverted. On the parking lot tram, I looked up everything on my phone, there was another fatal accident in Vancouver. Someone else was going through this too. Nothing on what we saw yet.

Walking through the crowds was just us being present. Christina was experiencing what I was, absolute presence. We could hear everything, smell everything, taste everything. And we liked everyone. Even those people who stop in the middle of walkways to look at their phones, they were just trying to live. Beer was incredible. I looked at it a few times partially out of disbelief that I was drinking it. I still kept seeing him die. Even later when I watched a man in a polka band play a musical beer bong while his brother danced around in a cow costume. I laughed pretty hard, and I don’t feel bad for it.

This is all a mess. Because that’s where my head is. It’s going to take time. Let’s take a breath and try and clear it up just a little bit.

 One of the things we’ve touched on in therapy now is the fact that I’m an “Adult Child of Alcoholics.” This is important because it means a lot of my wiring got all funkied up and in growing as a person I’m having to reset the entire system. Part of it is that we (ACOAs, we have an acronym!) never really got a chance to process our own emotions, and we were never taught how to do it. What this ends up meaning is that a lot of the time in situations, I have no fucking clue how I’m “supposed” to feel, and I defer to others for how they are. This can be good, this can be bad. I only kinda sorta knew this before a week ago (this isn’t being a psychopath, I feel everything, just imagine second guessing your emotions all the time).

Being an ACOA and learning about it is massive, it’s a schematic for large portions of my brain and the firing neurons within. It points out experiences, reactions, fears, issues of fixing, and abandonment, the ability to experience extreme empathy at the peril of your own emotional core. Things that I did as a child clicked and made me feel dizzy for a second. I remembered old friends that exhibited similar behavior, or friends that preyed on it. Listen, it’s a lot, it’s a whole lot.

So now I’ve learned about this, I’ve researched it, I’ve sat on the bus reading books about it trying not to tear up next to a guy playing his Switch, because neither of us are ready for that. I’ve learned this…and then I see a man die.

The entire system sort, my system of…I’ve found that it’s capacity to feel is limitless. It is overwhelming, I am overwhelmed. But what the fuck would I have done if I hadn’t known that I am allowed to feel all of these things that I am feel. I get to be angry, and sad, and remorseful, and grateful. I didn’t judge myself for having fun later, I didn’t get mad that I had a few drinks and ate a corndog/bratwurst.

Fuck me, this is all colliding at once and it’s very difficult.

This will take time.

My therapist told me to tap my self gently every time I start to think about the accident. I used to self sooth as a child by blowing on my arms, so she thought maybe I should tap there. It’s to release the built up energy from each thought. It’s keeping it out of the back of my head for now. Writing, this is help too. It’ll help more when I can be clearer about it.

I’m angry, and I’m sad. Listen, just, fuck, let me be preachy for a second. If you’re reading this, and you have choices you haven’t made that would better your life, remember that it’s not just you in this. It’s NEVER just you. Your anger, your pain, your health, your choices, your whatever the hell it is, it shapes the world around you, it burns or builds the world around you. I’m betting the why of the things you do isn’t your fault at all, mine isn’t either. But it’s our bullshit responsibility to deal with it, it’s our bullshit responsibility to not pass it on. I hope you’ll be okay. You aren’t alone.

[kushflycom]

Meet Ness and Her Very Own Curated Strains

Neslihan “Ness” is our inventory manager and has been with us since the beginning. Without her, there wouldn’t be a Kushfly. We asked her about her favorite strains and if she could tell us a little about why she enjoys them. This is what we got:

Ness’ Super Sativas

Super Lemon Haze

Ness: “Greenhouse seeds really hit it out of the park with this one. Sure, the high is energetic and creative — it makes me feel giddy might be a better way of explaining it — but have you smelt this stuff? The lemon scent hits you up front and the earthy buttery tones that sneak up and tickle your throat is what does it for me. It reminds me of a lemon scone.”

Candyland

Ness: “Candyland, the bright pastel-colored kids game that even my grandparents played, has been corrupted and given a cannabis strain namesake! Candyland is like smoking a time-machine. It makes you feel the wonder and excitement of a kid and completely throws out the issues that come with being an adult. It smells so sweet that if I didn’t know how to smoke, I’d have eaten it whole. I will say, this strain actually makes playing the game more enjoyable — well tolerable.”

Ness’ Happy Hybrids

SFV OG

Ness: “Classic! SFV has been around longer than I have. It’s a mild hybrid that puts you in some sort of relaxation tunnel. I feel great and am super focused. I’ve done a “hippy speedball” — you know where you smoke weed and drink some coffee at the same time — and wow, it was a fun ride. I got so much stuff done and ended up in Santa Monica by the end of the day.”

Gorilla Glue #4

Ness: “Gorilla Glue #4 is a staple in my household. I use this when I have a particularly rough day at work, but still, have to clean and cook when I get home. It’s relaxing and makes me feel happy without being stuck on the couch, which is something I don’t always enjoy. I remember the first time I smoked this was also my first time smoking a bong. Long story short, I got way too high and thought I couldn’t swallow my chicken nuggets — it was special.”

Ness’ Incredible Indicas

Mandarin OG

Ness: “I chose Mandarin OG because it is a very unique strain among indicas. For me, when I smoke an indica, I get very tired and lazy. But, not in Mandarin. Don’t get me wrong, I get noodly and relaxed, but I get chatty! I love using mandarin when I have a few friends over for a bonfire at the beach! Typically, we’ll reserve a spot at Point Mugu State Park and bring a few different strains for different activities, with Mandarin OG being a constant for when we are sitting around the fire and talking or drinking. Please party responsibly.”

Black Zombie

Ness: “Oh my gosh, Black Zombie. I recently tried this strain for the first time and fell in love immediately. Did you know this strain has like, over 20 percent THC? That’s wild. I smoke Black Zombie when I don’t want to participate in society. I pretty much eat and stream shows on Hulu on my couch in my comfy clothes, and don’t talk to anyone. It’s my safe version of the upside-down. I’m there but I’m not, you know what I mean?”

So there’s Ness for you! The captain of the ship and the first in our staff curated list series. We hope you enjoyed getting to know Ness through her favorite strains and hope to see you for our next curated list! Now get out there and smoke.

  The post Meet Ness and Her Very Own Curated Strains appeared first on Kushfly Online Collective.

from Kushfly Online Collective https://kushfly.com/blog/meet-ness-and-her-very-own-curated-strains/

[sartorialatlantan]

When Traveling to Plattsburgh

This has to be said about Plattsburgh, New York. Unless you live close and I mean close, within a handful of hours tops, take a plane. This is not an easy town to get to. You cannot fly directly there. You have Montreal as an option; get your passport updated though. You can fly into Burlington, Vermont and take the ferry over. I think there's a ferry ride from Montreal too. I wouldn't know though. I drove. I drove with my wife and two daughters, 3 years old and 1-year-old from Atlanta, Georgia. Alpharetta to be exact, which is a touch north of the city. We left early, 5 in the morning, and started our two-day journey. My kids hadn't ever been in a car this long so this was definitely going to be interesting, an experiment in patience for us no doubt. We bought a Jeep Grand Cherokee a year prior for the occasion, something large and spacious to make the trip as comfortable as possible. It's no "land yacht" but it's big enough for two adults and two small children. We were scheduled to drive through several states on day one. We would make our way out of Georgia and into both the Carolinas and into West Virginia and not stop for food or real rest until we hit one of the many "burgs" of Virginia. To my surprise, the girls were doing quite well. It's amazing what a dual screen DVD player will do for your sanity. They had a regular rotation of their favorite movies and my oldest had mastered the art of interchanging the discs; only after the end credits, of course, she likes the music that plays while the words scroll up the screen.

Our first stop of any notable length was for lunch at southern roadside staple Cracker Barrel. I felt fried, eyes burning, stiff back, mild headache from too much caffeine and not enough sleep. You can go to bed as early as you like, it doesn't mean shit when your one-year-old is teething. When you've been driving for 7 hours and finally stop you're literally buzzing. We ate lunch with my wife's parents. They were on this trip with us riding in tandem from this point on. After the meal, I told my oldest daughter she could have something from the restaurant's general store. So naturally, we left with our bellies full and a pretend waffle maker. Waffles, butter, and syrup included. The plan from this point was to press on to Hagerstown, Maryland. There was no alternative, the town of Hager had to be our destination; our hotel reservations for the night were in said town. We would not arrive on time though. We weren't on the road ten minutes after leaving the Cracker Barrel parking lot when the tire pressure light came on. A little backstory on this tire…this damn tire. The low-pressure warning light had been coming on for weeks, maybe a month. My wife drives the Jeep and would routinely stop for air, only every time she'd stop and manually check it, the pressure would read normal. We figured maybe it's a bad sensor in the tire. Days before leaving, just to play it safe, we take it to the service center. They check it, do whatever it is they do and give it a clean bill. Must be a bad sensor… As it would turn out on the trip, there was a nail in the tire. Thanks to the Internet, and the scattered Jeep dealers up the east coast, we were only delayed one hour and back on the road, free of charge. It meant arriving well past dinnertime, but we made it.

The second day we covered all the New England ground. I guess it was NewEngland. It's all a highway blur at this point. From Maryland we were back into West Virginia then into New Jersey, then Pennsylvania, or was Pennsylvania first, then New Jersey? Then finally we crossed into the state of New York…with an eternity to go. I haven't checked this on the map but from what I can tell Plattsburgh is the farthest tip north on the right side of the state and we drove straight up the side. I feel bad for people from New York State because, well, the rest of us just assume if you say you're from New York, you mean the city. I'm here to tell you, New York State is huge and open and full of country. There are hillbillies in Plattsburgh that could be from deep South Georgia just based on looks alone. But I'll get into that later. After a nine-hour second day drive, we arrived. And here I thought I felt fried the day before.

The whole time leading up to this trip my mother-in-law had been warning me to brace for an ugly town. "It's not a pretty town, it's old and rundown, but the lake is nice". She was really selling it (he said with jest.) She wasn't wrong. The town is old and rundown, but there was a certain charm to it. The house we stayed in was on Lake Champlain; if it weren't for the islands in view you'd swear it's an ocean, and I'm told that it's not even as big as the Great Lakes. The house is on the same street my wife's father and his six siblings grew up on. This is their hometown, and what an interesting hometown to have. The lake is gorgeous, and with it still being early June at this point, it's still freezing cold. I swear there must've been an un-thawed layer of ice down deep out there still. Nevertheless, we got in, we meaning my three-year-old (a child who has no issue with freezing temperatures apparently), me, and my soon-to-be brother-in-law. My daughter didn't go every day, but I did. My future brother-in-law Drew and I would routinely do shots of tequila and then carry a plastic bag full of beers down to the water; it's a classy look. You can get day-buzzed all you want but when you go waist-deep into 58-degree water, you sober right up. These day drinking lake days gave way to a food run that can only be done in this town.

Clare and Carl's. You've never heard of it, and that makes sense. Clare and Carl's is a sinking hot dog shack. Well, from what I could tell it's made of white bricks, maybe cinder blocks, but it is literally sinking. The ass of the store is literally going into the ground. I didn't look but the lore around the bathroom is that the rim of the toilet bowl is now ground level, like something out of Eastern Europe. I'm sure whomever I heard that from was exaggerating… then again it is possible. Naturally I asked, "Why not fix it?" but apparently, the shack owners don't own the land and have to "play it where it lies" so to speak. Clare and Carl's is famous, at least with my in-laws who no longer live in the town, for their Michigan's. (Michigan Red Hots as they're known.) I cannot describe the bun, I have tried and the closest I can come is that it looks like a miniature bread loaf that's been hollowed out in the middle, only the edges resemble something closer to a piece of white bread folded in half. But that's not really accurate either. I don't know what that damn thing was, but it was good. The Red Hot is a hot dog, and it is RED. It did not look like any dog I'd had before. The standard Michigan comes with meat sauce on top with raw diced onions. If you want to sound like you know your shit you order them buried. I would routinely order a brown bag's worth of "buried" Michigans. The onions go underneath the dog, meat sauce on top. The meat sauce is close to a no-bean chili sauce; only the meat has been ground and pounded into almost a paste, like wet sand. Delicious wet sand. I cannot recall now, but I believe they're finished off with a stroke of yellow mustard. They're individually wrapped and rolled tight in wax paper and off you go. They're locally known as Michigans, I call ‘em Plattsburgh Heroin; I ate a lot of those. Beer-fueled and hungry we would venture there routinely, about mid-day, warming up after a lake plunge. I never went over my head, Drew, and cousin Ben, did, they even swam out over their heads. I chose to keep my heart above the water line. Did I mention how cold the water was? A Michigan Red Hot will warm you right up.

There is not a lot to do in this town, aside from drink, swim, and eat. I'm told the locals, more so in the old days, also fought. I think that's common in isolated places, particularly hockey towns. You eat, drink, play and fight. I've never been so bored that I wanted to fist fight a stranger, or a friend, but I could imagine in the dead of winter in a town like Plattsburgh, you do what you need to, to pass the time. The military used to have a big presence in the town. Two branches I believe. I heard stories of the blue collar locals giving the Air Force guys shit for one reason or another, routinely causing fights to break out. There's a SUNY college in the town, I think that's what keeps it going now. The literal town was usually lively and buzzing with young people out to eat and drink. I'm sure there is more to do than what I experienced though, I don't want to seem like I'm putting the town down. We were there for a wedding. In this family, weddings also function as an excuse for a full family reunion. It's never quite everyone, but this visit only left us short three cousins. This being a reunion of sorts for my Irish-Catholic family-in-law, there was drinking, usually by lunch, and dancing, and socializing and eating and also drinking, did I mention drinking? No one gets out of hand, there are too many small children to look after, but the beer and wine flows.  

Everyone in this family is unique. They've all got interesting lives, and do interesting things. Some more than others, but everyone's got a personality for sure. Everyone inevitably breaks off into groups for doing various activities. Drew and I routinely break away when we're in the same place. He and my sister-in-law live on the west coast. On one day, early into the trip, he and I decided to venture into town for liquor and cigars. The tequila was easy to come by, but we had to go into the old city for the cigar hunt. We first wandered into a smoke shop. Smoke shops, ironically, no longer specialize in smoke. It's just wall-to-wall vape accessories. The pipes and water bongs are on display in glass cases like relics from the past. Do you want to feel old? Get a conversation going with a young millennial about how they take in grass or nicotine. They're into some space-age tech. They don't even carry lighters. We quickly realized that this was not where we needed to be and proceeded down the street to a real cigar shop. We were not prepared for how real it would be. The buildings in this town are old, really old, and this cigar shop was the ground floor of one of the many old buildings. I don't know if they had a ventilation system for the air, but if they did it must've been broken. I like cigars, I like the smell of cigar smoke, but this…this was awful. You couldn't breathe. The air was brown. There were 4 or 5 old men sitting in a circle just puffing away, I guess they were used to not breathing. Our eyes instantly watered, I caught a buzz within seconds. I was taking short shallow breaths, trying my best not to cough and look like a total wimp. We quickly escaped to the humidor, the only smoke-free safe haven in the store. It was here where Drew said, "I don't think I want one anymore…" I was in agreement, but I knew both A. that I didn't want to leave empty-handed, tail between my legs and B. that I would want one at the wedding reception the next day. We made our selection, took a deep breath, then headed back into the store; we did our best to make little to no small talk at this point. That smell stayed with us and on us the rest of the day. You would have thought we rolled in tobacco leaves in a burning barn. Nevertheless, I smoked mine at the reception. We would later share the other near the end of the trip, late at night sipping tequila and whiskey, talking about David Foster Wallace with Ben and the advantages of Fresco wool in the summertime. (That last part was all me.)

When we weren't having a family hang at the rental house, we were out eating. One or two nights after the wedding a group of us, about 7 or 8, went to the famous Monopole dive bar. A place I'm told was home to many fights back in the day, the kind of bar where elbow room is a luxury no one can afford. On this particular night, it was dead. Some of us were buzzed, the rest were getting started and we were there to eat pizza and hot wings. The pizza was decent, a Sicilian-style pie, mostly bread with some sauce and cheese on it like an afterthought. But the wings, my god the wings! The sauce the majority of us agreed on was the Stoner Sauce. A spicy, honey mustard-based BBQ style sauce, holy lord was this good, so good that Drew and I ordered a second basket. They were so good, Drew and I returned the next night to get more, 40 or 50 more to take back for the group. There were too many family members who had not gone on the trip the first night, too many relatives who didn't know what they were missing. Even my father-in-law's brother Mike, who said he didn't like hot wings, ate and enjoyed them. Outside of my favorite wing establishments in Atlanta, these were the best wings I've had in a long time. I ate very many. I will again when we go back.

Another food-related highlight of the trip was the cold cheese pizza, again with Drew. Naturally, we assumed we were being pranked when cousin Mathieson told us to order a large pie with a side of cold cheese from Pizza Bono. It was 2 in the morning, and as drunken luck would have it, they were still taking delivery orders. Getting the order placed was a bit of a chore. I don't think the girl working the phones knew how to use one, or to talk to people, or take food orders. She damn near hung up on us before Drew even gave her the address. He said she seemed very confused when he asked for a side of cold cheese, (put off even) like she suspected we were pranking her, when in reality if this was a prank by Matt, she was a 3rd generation prank victim. We decided to wait out front for the driver, it was now past 2 a.m. and we didn't want to wake the whole house with a pizza delivery. There was an ongoing uncertainty as to whether or not this food would arrive. The way the order went, the suspicion that the whole thing was a joke, the time of night, the general deadness of the small town we were in. We hoped for pizza, but I think we were prepared to go to bed hungry. It was a very happy moment indeed when the driver pulled up, large pie in one hand and a take-out container filled with thick shredded fresh mozzarella cheese in the other. Turns out, this was no joke. You sprinkle a heaping pile of cold fresh mozzarella on your slices and go to town. It doesn't add anything noteworthy to the slice, but it's great. I recently had this confirmed by a native Upstate New Yorker who cuts my hair, that yes, cold cheese pizza is indeed a thing and it was no joke. You could probably get this anywhere; you just might get looked at funny. Try it though if you're ever in Upstate.

One of the first things that struck me in Plattsburgh is its overall lack of air conditioning. I'm southern, Atlanta southern, I hate humidity and heat and deal with it far too often. Plattsburgh, though, is lucky to get six weeks of summer before it's jacket weather again, so AC is not a priority. This was an issue for me. To keep from sweating I need a cool, dry 72 or below. Anything above that and I start to melt. Fortunately for me, our room had a spot cooler, so it stayed relatively cool in there. Everywhere else though…I was bordering on miserable. I was alone in this though, I usually am. The lack of AC made my trip to local grease trap, Homestead, interesting. The food there was superb. I just had to eat while simultaneously wiping my forehead. This was basically a Yankee Waffle House. The crowd though could've easily been transplanted from Griffin, Georgia. I saw teased-up bangs on a woman that I haven't seen since my late 80s childhood. It's a total head scratcher to see red necks with northern accents. I was with my father-in-law, who has always said they were from a red neck town, turns out he was being serious. We both ordered the corned beef hash and eggs. I don't love corned beef hash, I generally like it, but this hash blew my mind. It was so tightly minced and just about over-fried, crisp and connected on the outside and soft and delectable in the middle. That, with some buttered toast to dip into my sunny-up eggs, I was in heaven, sweating and ready to leave, but heaven all the same.

I have to apologize now to every in-law relative who didn't get mentioned. There was a lot more on this trip and I could go on for pages and pages, though there are some things best left out. This was my first trip to their hometown and while I didn't love the drive the destination was great. I'm not pushing people over to go back tomorrow, but I will go back, maybe when my kids are out of diapers and my pockets are deep enough to afford the airfare. Funny enough, some of the selling points for visiting didn't even happen. You're an hour from Montreal; you can day trip to another country for crying out loud! We didn't make the journey though, no passports for the kiddos. Then, there's all of Burlington, Vermont, the Ben and Jerry's factory too. We didn't do any of it, just talked about it and ultimately decided to relax on the porch instead and have another beer. So when visiting Plattsburgh, New York, take a plane and go on an empty stomach. If you find yourself desperate to do something to occupy your time, there's great food, great beer at Valcour Brewing, you can swim in Lake Champlain, even if it's cold, and I guess if it comes down to it, head to the Monopole and pick a fight with one of the many grizzled, pickle-nosed regulars. You'll probably lose the fight, but oh what a story you'd have.