9 January 2025

There’s been inconsistency in my blog lately, I don’t want people to think it’s not a priority. Doing the podcast alone means each week I need to write a script at least four pages long. If I were do blog on all cylinders then I’d be writing about 10 pages of new material every week. I’m all for that proposition, but while caring for a 4 month old baby it’s an unrealistic expectation. This week an Army buddy was visiting for the holidays, he drives for Uber and worked through the calender holidays leaving this as our time. The date doesn’t matter, we both agree that if there is time we can get together, we should take it. That leaves me disorganized and behind schedule this week for my normal work. As I write I put the baby down for a nap minutes ago, let the dog out while I heated up some food only to be woken by his barking that cleaners are here. A lot I talked about with my Army friend was how I didn’t plan for any of what I have, at the time didn’t even imagine it was possible for me. Recently the Queen mentioned applying for some new jobs, the same job with warmer climates. One of the houses she showed that could be a future home was on 50 acres, I told my friend once I had that I’d have to look for 500 acres to keep myself busy. Each time we raise to the next level then normalize and raise again. I talk about hubris and God a lot, I need to stay humble with these sorts of thoughts, that I’m merely following the path laid out for me and not in control of any of it. My duty is to remain fit, capable of handling the opportunities given me.

Wrecking and Rapping ep 46

In this episode of Reckoning Rappin, host King Cooper explores various themes including the beauty of Shakespeare’s sonnets, the intricacies of modern rap, personal anecdotes about hiccups, reflections on Stoic philosophy, historical events, biblical wisdom, and philosophical concepts. The conversation also delves into personal goals for the upcoming year and the limits of human understanding, culminating in a call for self-improvement and change.

31 December 2024

My last blog post of the year, I wanted to make sure to write today despite being tired. The little princess might have a little cold and last night she hardly slept which means the queen and I didn’t sleep. Having the elder princess home from daycare has been tiring, but rewarding. She made a lot of progress on potty training and lately when I put her to sleep she says, “I love you dad”, what better way to end the day. This was a big year for us, from moving to having a new baby, I started the podcast this year and last week passed 5,000 subscribers on Youtube. 2025 has a lot of adventures in store and I can’t wait to see my world develop. The trees I plant begin to change the landscape and view in as little as two years. Adding a greenhouse would be a big change and I look forward to having a greenhouse again. One of my favorite photos is from my old greenhouse. In the Spring I have a great repotting of plants planned and having a nursery for them would be useful. When I moved away from the old greenhouse my work changed from house plants to landscaping trees, a lot of the house plants have out grown the pots they’ve been stuck in for a couple years. The prospect of settling down again is exciting, we’ve been in a growth phase for awhile since it makes sense to get these big changes out of the way as early as possible. At the same time, last week the queen mentioned a house that has 50 acres and that would be a lot of fun. All in due time, we’ll see what happens. I hope everyone has a happy new year, stay safe.

Wrecking and Rapping ep 45

In this festive episode, King Cooper explores various themes surrounding Christmas, including holiday traditions, the significance of the 12 days of Christmas, Shakespeare’s perspective on the holiday, reflections on stoicism, and philosophical discussions on identity and logic. The conversation is interspersed with humor, personal anecdotes, and readings from classic Christmas literature, culminating in a celebration of the holiday spirit.

Wrecking and Rapping ep 44

King Cooper explores various themes ranging from the challenges of time management to the intricacies of Shakespeare’s sonnets, personal experiences with family and health, historical events like the Boston Tea Party, and philosophical discussions including the Turing Test. The dialogue is rich with insights on character development, health awareness, and the importance of critical thinking.

18 December 2024

It’s official, the little princess is growing up. Up until now she’s been a baby and babies sleep all the time, the routine was something like one hour awake and then go down for a nap. Now that she’s all grown up things are changing, her wake window is extending to one and a half hours at a time, every time she wakes up I have to entertain for another half hour. Currently the elder princess only takes one nap a day, so it’s nothing new. I do remember it being a learning curve the first time around and having a baby sleep all the time will be missed. The nice part of longer wake windows is actually being able to do activities with her. With a one hour window, there’s basically only time to change a diaper and feed. Everyday I try to read outloud the readings I have prepared for the podcast and now the little princess can join me on some readings. There’s also time to walk around the woods, anytime I would go on walks when she was younger she would quickly fall asleep. I played some piano with her earlier as I’m trying to get back into piano. Since my office is upstairs and the piano is down, it’s not as convenient of a location anymore. My plan is to move the electric piano to the office, but since the elder princess was playing piano on her own recently, I don’t want to remove it entirely. I’ve wanted to get a real piano for a couple years now and this could be a good opportunity. There will be a lot of research that goes into that purchase, but before I do the big purchase I’m currently focused on is a greenhouse. My plan is to visit the store I know of before the end of the month in hopes they’ve got a deal, then on to 2025 plans.

16 December 2024

While winding down last night my queen reminded me of how good our elder princess sounded playing piano. The princess was told no to something then went into that room to pout, after a minute she started playing piano on her own. I rarely look back on the day to think about everything we’ve done and that got me started. First thing in the morning alongside with breakfast the girls did their nails in red and green for Christmas. That got the princess in the mood to paint so she pulled out a wooden Christmas tree she had already painted and added some more to it. Then there was a ceramic plate for painting we hadn’t opened and she painted on that too. Later in the afternoon she wanted to do some water color painting, I keep the supplies in the coffee table. There was also some cooking to be done because a weekend in December needs Christmas cookies, they turned out delicious. We even managed to squeeze in a bath before naptime, the princess is always asking for baths, she even asked for one this morning before daycare, but there wasn’t time. She won’t go to sleep before she’s read at least three book, even then she’ll usually ask for more. In the afternoon the whole family went on a walk around the property and the elder princess did some jumping on the trampoline. We then went to the play room where there was some imaginary cooking of wooden food and gems. Before bed we have to read all the books again. I’m glad we recapped the day because recently I was thinking we aren’t active enough, when it becomes the norm it isn’t noticed. At the end of the day I’m always beat, but yesterday I felt good remembering why I was so tired.

Wrecking and Rapping episode 43

In this episode, host King Cooper explores various themes ranging from the implications of the Elf on the Shelf tradition to the depths of Shakespeare’s sonnets. He discusses the educational value of rap, family dynamics, and the philosophical inquiries into justice and existence. The conversation also touches on biblical reflections, the infinite nature of life, and the subjective experience of consciousness, culminating in a humorous yet profound exploration of human understanding and perspective.

10 December 2024

Most of yesterday was spent dealing with the podcast drama. I’m still pretty sick and not doing much, one bright thing is that it’s been raining almost non stop. I like the rain and so does my elder princess. After requesting for awhile to go outside, despite not having pants on, we got dressed for the wet and cold then went out side. There was a long puddle along the driveway in the dirt/mud, she spent kept running back and forth through the puddle, stirring up the mud. Eventually the mud had gotten so thick that she became stuck in it. I pulled her out and loved the whole situation. Even after that and after the queen returned home, the princess still wanted to walk around more. We went to the pole barn where her favorite puddle can usually be found, except this time of year it was full of fallen leaves. That reminds me of an adventure we went on over the weekend. My riding mower is in the pole barn and it had been awhile since I ran it, so I wanted to go for a little ride to make sure it’s still working. When I sat in the mower, the princess was adamant that she should be the one to drive. She physically doesn’t weigh enough for it to turn on with her in the seat. After I started the mower without her, she was upset and I beckoned her to hop aboard. I couldn’t get out of the seat or put on the brakes without the engine turning off, so we had a fun time getting her to climb up the deck while I helped and tried to keep things still. We then drove around the parameter of the property before I parked it back in the pole barn. Despite plenty of time sitting in the mower, she had never been in it while running, after we finished she seemed a little in shock by the whole adventure, but quickly cheered up.

9 December 2024

Rough weekend, I’ve been getting sick the last couple days and this morning my cats knocked the Christmas tree down. Everything seems to be ok with the tree, there was a lot of ornaments scattered that I’ll have to rehang later. Before the tree fell both cats had been batting around an ornament ball that had either fallen or they knocked it down earlier, then they started wrestling underneath it when it fell. I’ll be spooking them away from the tree now whenever I see them near it. There was also some family drama that led to podcast drama and me almost calling it quits. All of my social media is to support the podcast, so if that stops I’ll shut everything down and go back to being the hermit in the woods that I am. Then I wouldn’t have to speak to anyone for a long time. Now back to the current moment, I don’t have much of anything planned since I’m sick and too much time is spent in my head being angry when I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong or hurt anyone. Of course that’s how people always feel, but all of my interactions with people are documented either through text or video, so anyone can go back and see exactly what I said to show me where I went wrong. That has yet to happen, so I’m mad at being treated in a way I think is unfairly and want to go on a yelling spree at everyone. Writing this is better than hurting others though. Though if my buttons keep getting pushed I’ll break everything, I don’t know why people test me, my patience is a nicety because my training is in death and destruction; that’s what I’m best at.