The wildfire smoke was back with a vengeance this morning, which made for a miserable day. I masked up in a futile attempt to not end up with itchy lungs, which is the worst, but to no avail. I had to drive into the Big City after lunch and ended up pulling over on the way back to puke my guts out into my car's garbage bag. Doesn't get more fun than that.

After stopping by home to brush my teeth, I went back to work and felt like dying for two hours. Then I drove home and have felt like dying for four more hours.

The good news is that the Air Quality Index dropped from a hazardous 294 to a slightly less hazardous 257.

The bad news is that it will probably still be smokey enough to make me sick tomorrow.

Also the bad news... more misinformation bullshit has been unleashed upon an unsuspecting world... vaccines AND Tylenol causes autism now?!? God. I suppose not even the fact that the World Health Organization has declared there's no evidence of any of this will make no difference. Just throw it on the ever-growing pile of idiocy that's going to fuck over humanity. I mean, if people believe the earth is flat, they'll believe anything.

Meanwhile, I'm off to bed way too early in the hopes that I can somehow fall asleep so my lungs can clear out and not feel fuzzy and itchy any more. Where's my Tylenol PM?

I somehow forgot the reason why I didn't pre-order Fantastic Four: First Steps. Namely, they're charging $30 for it.

So when I got home and saw an ad that it was released, I actually got excited for a second. Then I saw $30 and was puzzled all over again. I will happily pay $20 for a movie I am dying to see. Might pay $25, if it's something special (like this one). But thirty fucking dollars?!?? No thanks. To rent the thing is $25, but I refuse to pay that much money for something I can't watch again whenever I want...

What's really weird is that Marvel is pricing the film like it was some box office smash that people can't wait to see (or see again). Sure it made a half-billion dollars... but it can't touch the nearly three billion that Avengers: Endgame hauled in. Seriously... thirty dollars?!??

I'm honestly trying to think if there's any movie I would pay that amount for. And I honestly don't think there is.

Oh well. I'm sure it will be on sale fairly soon.

Today's internet rabbit hole brought to you by... THE END OF DAYS!

It's supposed to happen, yet again, sometime tonight or tomorrow, assumably depending on which time zone you're in. This latest date for the Rapture is courtesy of a South African pastor who said that Jesus Christ told him directly when it was happening back in June.

And despite the fact that these things never come true, people are totally believing the guy.

I've watched a lot of their TikToks. All of the video creators claiming to be devout Christians.

Which I highly doubt, because if they had read their Bible they would have seen Matthew 24:36, which addresses the time for End of Days thusly...

"But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

Which is to say that the odds of God telling some pastor somewhere when the Rapture is coming before Jesus even knows he's coming back is laughably crazy.

Let's continue with Matthew 24:37-39, shall we?

"As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

How the fuck is that in ANY way unclear? God is not dropping by with a warning about the return of Jesus. To anybody. According to the Bible, you'll be out living your life and... BLAM! Heeeeeeeere's Jesus!

But anyway...

If you never hear from me again, it's because I've been Raptured and am chillin' in heaven at the Supper of the Lamb with JC.

I'm sure I'll be forgiven for not believing yet another random person claiming to have been told when the world was ending.

It's a cold, dreary, and wet day, so I'm guessing Fall must be here, but I won't be wasting time mourning the end of Summer... because an all new ALL FOOD & EATING Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Food Talk! I fell down another rabbit hole on the internet... this time with a podcast called Lunchbox Envy. The episodes are like potato chips in that you can't watch just one. There's also a clips channel with short videos that have interesting food facts...

Food is always interesting because it reflects the culture and environment of the people eating it. But there's something to be said about discussing interesting things about the food you eatmin your own culture.

   
• Plum Sweet! I could watch bats eating all day long...

Bats are adorable in all the right ways. But bats eating is next level.

   
• Taters! I've had all these dishes because I love potatoes so much, and have tried well over 100 recipes for them...

I'm a little sad that the Japanese croquet included meat, because when I was traveling to Japan, the way they make them without meat is amazing because of how they're seasoned. The most interesting option here is the Turkish baked potato, which I had without the hot dog. It seems a weird combination of toppings, but it really works... and I need to make one soon, because I haven't had it in at least a decade. And I can make it with a veggie dog!

   
• We'll Be Having Eggs! Chef José Andrés broke the internet when he unveiled his secret for an amazing omelette in less than a minute (on Rogan, of all places). It's just and egg with mayonnaise mixed in. I had one this morning and can verify that it is indeed very delicious and very easy to make...

I have been buying microwaveable frozen omelettes because I don't eat a lot of eggs any more, and don't want them expiring. I am very curious to know if the José Andrés omelettes can be frozen and still taste good, because that would be a lot cheaper.

   
• Sliced! Slicing bread is not an overwhelming task. You pull out a serrated knife and you start sawing it. But when you make a lot of bread, a tool like this looks pretty fantastic, just because it looks like it makes perfectly even slices...

But the problem with stuff like this? You then have to clean it. Which doesn't look fun at all.

   
• Food Map! D gets me Southern Italy, India, China, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, a good chunk of Greece, Japan, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Turkey, a nice chunk of the Middle East, the Philippines, and more? Sign me up...

I would badly miss Mexican and African cuisine... and I'd be missing most of the European dishes I wouldn't get... but, yeah, D... second choice G. They have the best variety of what I most love to eat.

   
• UtiliBread! I have a sourdough starter that I use for absolutely everything bread-related. From loaves to pizza crust to hamburger buns... it's good for anything I could want. Then I found this interesting no-knead dough that I very much want to try sometime...

Because you can never have too much bread!

   
• Umami Whammy! It's bizarre to me how MSG is in so many foods, yet people treat it like some kind of toxic chemical or something (seriously, look at the ingredients on a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos and get back to me). The misinformation campaign started as a way of discrediting foreign foods (MSG is a staple of Asian cooking), and became urban legend so people think it causes headaches or whatever. And yet most people are eating it without knowing and don't seem to complain? Well, I love the stuff. It only takes a small amount, and I put it in many foods that I make (it makes potato salad and vegetarian meat-substitutes sing). This guy does a test which compares common foods with and without MSG, and it's a pretty great video which mirrors my experience...

So... if you want to add some mouthwatering appeal to your cooking and ignore the misinformation that plagues it, try just a small amount of MSG and find out if it makes a difference to you.

   
• Cost of Living? Can anybody tell me to get those cheaper groceries that were promised on "Day One?" Because I just paid an astronomical sum for a very small amount of groceries. The only thing that seems to be down in price are eggs (which makes sense because the chicken population is being restored after so many were killed because of the Avian flu). Alas, I don't eat many eggs... so that means I'm paying more for everything I'm buying. Price indexes say we're paying 29% more than 2020, but that actually seems an understatement, because the size of products is decreasing as prices are increasing. And the prices are only going to get worse... likely far worse... because tariffs, deportations of agriculture workers, and climate change are driving up prices with no end in sight. Just like economists said would happen before the election. I don't understand how somebody who prioritizes personal gain and funneling money to his wealthy corporate donors while knowing nothing about how tariffs work was ever going to be a solution to high prices. The guy bankrupted a casino... A CASINO! And where is all that tariff money going? Tax breaks for billionaires, I'm guessing.

   
I should probably go out and start pulling all my dying plants for compost, but it's not at all pleasant outside so I guess I'm holding off on that. Instead I think I'll cook something because I'm hungry all of a sudden.

I have completely given up trying to manage my cats.

They do whatever they want and I don't even bother trying to restrict their behavior because now that they're old and cranky (like me) they just don't care. About anything. Fortunately, there are some rules that have been in place since they were small so they don't misbehave because it's engrained into them. Things like scratching furniture or jumping up on the kitchen counters. Sometimes they "forget," but it's rare because they still remember aluminum foil covering the countertops and sticky tape on the furniture legs.

But then there's the dining table.

For whatever reason, they categorically refuse to stop jumping on top of it. No matter how many times I shoo them off, they will hop back on... sometimes minutes after they've been removed. No idea why this is one of those things that they're so intent on doing, but nothing seems to work that keeps them off.

So now I just put a towel on the table and that's that...

If I ever need to actually use the table, I still scrub it down with anti-bacterial scrub... but the fact that Jake and Jenny always stay on the towel when they're on the table is enough to keep me from losing my mind.

So I'm chalking this up as a win.

Even though everybody knows I'm taking the L here.

My comfort level, as of late, is dependent on the wind.

If the wildfire smoke is blowing out of the valley, I'm able to have a (relatively) normal day. But if the wind direction is blowing it into the valley, I prepare myself to have a miserable day.

The good news is that my body is tolerating the allergy pills better now that I've been taking them for a couple weeks, so at least I don't have to worry about not being able to keep food down (and, consequently, throwing my back into spasm from vomiting). I also don't have to worry quite so much about itchy lungs, which is the absolute worst. Nothing quite like an itch there's no way to scratch because it's inside of you, and gets worse with each breath.

So, yeah, with the exception of insomnia (which is as bad as it's ever been), everything is peachy-keen.

Half my kingdom for an off switch.

The last thing I remember seeing Robert Redford in is Avengers: Endgame. Turns out other than a voiceover and an uncredited cameo appearance in a television show he produced, that was his last real role. I actually think that's kind of cool, but also quite sad, so it's tough to know where my head is at. On one hand, he went out in one of the biggest movies of all time and was awesome in it. On the other, it was a comic book movie, and his acting talent was so beautifully nuanced that I can't help but feel his last film should have been something else.

But anyway... Redford was Alexander Pierce in the Marvel comic book movies, and was absolutely wonderful in the role. Captain America: The Winter Soldier remains one of the best super-hero movies ever made, and that's due in part to his performance.

But the film which he will forever be remembered for by me is, of course, Sneakers.

I love that movie so much, and was thrilled that Redford's character was so flawlessly cast...

But then again, they were all flawlessly cast.

I think the first thing I ever saw Redford in was The Natural. But it might have been a VHS rental of All the President's Men, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Candidate, Three Days of he Condor, or perhaps The Sting.

But the thing I will always remember him for most are Sneakers, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Up Close & Personal, Indecent Proposal, and... Legal Eagles?!?

This Redford flick co-starred Debra Winger and Daryl Hannah... and was not great. Nor was it particularly memorable. I just remember it because I saw it on a date that didn't go particularly well.

And so... I'm going to work my way through the Redford movies I loved starting this weekend. Maybe a new favorite will emerge, but it's pretty tough to think that any of his movies could ever top Sneakers.

But who knows? I've never seen The Way We Were, Barefoot in the Park, or Out of Africa because they definitely don't seem like my kind of movie... but maybe if I'm adventurous enough, I'll find out

If you're fascinated by my adventures with growing tiny tomatoes... AND WHY WOULDN'T YOU BE?... you'll be sad to know that my tomato yields have been dropping quickly. There's still a good-sized tomato & feta salad left on the vine, but they're not ripening evenly. So I only get a small handful at a time.

Which means my salads can no longer be main courses. All I've left are side salads...

Still incredibly delicious though. It will be very hard to go back to store-bought after having home-grown, which can't even begin to compare.

I guess we'll all have to wait and see if anything else will ripen enough to be useable. Fingers crossed.

Despite the fact that I'm a vegetarian, I've been wildly adventurous with experiencing world cuisine. So long as there wasn't any meat or mushrooms in it, I would try just about anything. I've had some incredibly spicy curries and questionable preparation of various foods... but my stomach is like cast iron, and I've never been worse for wear. And that's been the case for as long as I can remember.

What I am very easily affected by are medications. Which is the reason that I try to take as few of them as I can.

But sometimes it's unavoidable if I want to... you know... live, and stuff. Or, at the very least, live comfortably.

The latest I'm having to take came with a list of side-effects. And high up on that list is diarrhea. Which is to say that I'm 100% guaranteed to get it. Which is fine, because Imodium exists. But it's not like I am dying to take that because sometimes it causes more problems than diarrhea does.

Like I said, medications are problematic.

So it's a gambling game.

Is the gurgling in my intestines going to end up being bad enough that I should take the Imodium? Or will it be a minor event and I can proceed safely through my day without it?

As you can imagine, guessing wrong can have very dire consequences indeed.

So as I get older, I find myself less and less willing to chance a diarrhea incident gone terribly wrong. Which is why I'm seriously thinking about buying stock in the company that makes Imodium.

Sure it's insider trading, but who doesn't listen to their bowels when considering investments?

After recovering all weekend by staying out of the wildfire smoke, it was back outside to go to work today.

Somehow I survived.

Though it doesn't really feel like it, because if not for the smoke I would have been out and about over the weekend. Summer days are growing short, and it would be nice to take advantage of that. Not that I can complain too much, because I did some more things framed and hung up... and was able to clean a good chunk of my house now that my back spasms are mostly gone.

Not that I was feeling well enough to scrub the bathrooms... but I did vacuum. And that counts.