The Bad
While I intended to do way more (all the things!), every opportunity seemed to have a gray cloud above it (almost literally):
- The year started with losing a relative; while losing someone is never good, in this case he was up in years, had major health issues and was finally free of pain. At funeral #1, it was also noticeable that the amount of family, which used to fill the little banquet hall, has dwindled down to just a few tables.
- Hit major storms on nearly every road trip I took, including visiting my cousins where a microburst/possible tornado took out multiple power poles in their area, and knocked out their power for most of the weekend. Thankfully we were still able to get to kayak Mallows Bay, and made the best of it.
- Getting devastating news that I lost a cousin while at Vegas; it really hit me hard, and little did I know, that was the year just getting warmed up. The shining light was putting on my poker face and attending the party of the conference, where I met some awesome people who agreed to go with me to Meow Wolf. That really helped and got my mind off of things for a bit.
- Losing my favorite breakfast joint. I have to call this out, as one would think “no big deal it’s life”. That place, to me, was one of my last “places of comfort”. Waking up on a Sunday, and driving the 10 mins there to get a mediocre cup of coffee, but always decent breakfast, no matter what I picked, was often a highlight of my week. Always the same waitresses trying their best, cracking jokes and greeting you by name. It’s odd to say that I was truly upset when they announced their building was sold and they were shutting down; surely a dump of a greasy spoon is no big loss, right? There’s tons of them around.
Little did I realize again, this was just the year getting warmed up. It seems that while I do enjoy going out to eat, restaurant food and service in general really has taken a substantial hit this year. I’m not sure if it’s a staffing thing, or perhaps just continued fallout from the pandemic. It doesn’t matter how much you pay or where you go, it seemed that many meals not just lacked in quality, but NOTICEABLY lacked, and it’s amazing just thinking back, my favorite greasy spoon was the bar. The breakfasts were nearly always good, even with low expectations and cheap prices.
Over the year I’ve tried a number of new places, some better than others, but none that truly replace my spot. One big takeaway was that it didn’t matter how “nice” the place was; even brand new places and others freshly remodeled had bad food and service.
The place I went today, 5 minutes from my house, was an example though; an omelette was thin as could be, using cheap cheese, and barely warm. An English muffin that you can tell was put into the toaster frozen; it was rubber, and potatoes that were about the same. It just seemed a fitting end to this year. My thoughts for 2024, are to enjoy making breakfasts at home again and get some practice cooking.
