Hey.

It’s 72 degrees and mildly cloudy in Queens.

I went to sleep last night and the Mets were up. When I woke up this morning I checked and learned they had lost 13-10 to the Braves. Not a great start to my day but I turned it around. They should beat the Pirates tonight.

I played hooky from work. My family is upstate and I’m impatiently waiting for them to return home. I had a nice cup of coffee this morning while I listened to my friends horror movie podcast, HHES, while doodling in a drawing pad. I walked and got a haircut, did my little jailhouse workout routine, cleaned dishes, did two loads of laundry and now I’ll sit at my desk and listen to music, Dissection ‘s Storm Of The Light’s Bane, and work on my manuscript.

My family visited a farm while upstate. Here’s a photo of my daughter, Aoife, feeding a pony a carrot. I’m jealous I wasn’t there with them and wished we lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere.

On Wednesday, when I picked my children up from school with my wife the sky was a burning orange. The air quality index was 400 and change, registering as very unhealthy. limiting outdoor activity was advised. I went to work anyway, doing a double shift from 10:00 Wednesday night to 2:00 Thursday afternoon. I felt exhausted and honestly, a little shitty, which is why I called out this morning.

My phone was overflowing with pictures of apocalyptic skies. Here is one of my own from my work yard in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Looks like something straight out of Dune.

Where are all of the pictures of Canadian wildfires? Did they extinguish all the forest fires? Is that why there is a pretty sky overhead now. Of course, not. After everything that has gone on the last few years it’s difficult for me not to question anything that the news tells me. It’s hard to take anything at face value.

Anyway. Have a great day and I’ll be here writing and waiting to be abducted by aliens.

-SG