Unintentionally Absent

I’ve been meaning to write something all week - somehow each time I sit down at the computer, something happens to either distract or divert me. Never mind. I’m here now. Better late than never. I’m slowly getting better after the lung infection that floored me for several weeks. The cough has pretty much gone - I’m just tired now. It doesn’t help that I’m still trying to burn the candle at both ends - working all day, doing chores whenever I stop for a “break”, and then working all evening on content creation for YouTube. I went out for dinner with coworkers last week, and the subject somehow turned around to the YouTube channel - with several of them asking how it was going. The looks on some of their faces when I told them how many subscribers I have was amusing. I often get the feeling - whenever I’m asked about the YouTube escapade - that there’s an element of jealousy in the air. I guess there will always be people that want the end result, but don’t want the work it takes to get there. I can’t help feeling it’s related to a trend - perhaps most commonly among millennials - to try and invent businesses that scrape from other businesses in some way - it really annoys me. I’m always a bit defensive about the YouTube channel - I don’t know why. I’ve never thought of content creation as a “proper job” that can be aspired to. I suppose a lot of that is seated in my own prejudices. I’ll never understand the legions of content creators cranking out “reactions”, “pranks”, and “virtue flexing” videos - polluting the internet with increasingly deplorable detritus. By far the worst trend I have seen in recent months is a trope where people “find” a kitten or a puppy in the wild in dreadful condition, and dramatise the rescue story. The animals have obviously been either drugged or abused before being planted to be found for the scripted “discovery and rescue”. It’s monstrous. Don’t even get me started about the continual need some people seem to have to be seen as the “funniest person in the room” - passing comment on anything and everything with as much sarcasm as possible, and yet never creating anything original or substantive of their own. Deep breaths. Anyway. It’s the weekend! It’s my other half’s birthday tomorrow, so I imagine we’ll be wandering into town for a drink or three, and something to eat. We live in a very affluent area, so the high-street is filled with wonderful pubs, restaurants and cafés that I’ve rarely if ever visited. Maybe a drink in each place - purely in the interests of research? A birthday is a good excuse, isn’t it. Perhaps a long lunch and wander around town? Her presents are wrapped, and tucked under the desk behind me. She knows what she’s getting - she chose - I paid. It’s easier that way. The in-laws are arriving on Sunday to go out for a meal too. Out-out two days in a row! I suppose I should go clear the table ready for dinner. I can almost guarantee my daughters will have filled the table with sports bags, coats, and junk mail - because of course we don’t have anywhere else that any of that stuff could go. I swear - it wouldn’t take much in the way of detective skills to reconstruct any of my daughter’s days - all you need to do is walk through the house, picking things up - the story writes itself. (an hour passes while we eat dinner together) I was just thinking (always dangerous, I know) - that if the kids take anything away from their early years, I hope it’s the whole thing about sitting at the table together at dinner time - sharing the story of our day with each other. My eldest daughter arrived home just as we were finishing dinner - her journey home is sometimes long. She got to choose a pizza from dominos, and strangely didn’t feel bad about that at all. I don’t think I would have either, to be honest. I might have added myself some ice cream to the Dominos order. p.s. I’ve finally turned on the various monetary options in the blog - meaning that if I ever choose to, I can put posts behind a pay-wall. I’m not quite sure what I might hide behind a pay-wall, but you never know.