2025: abril
Image and photo by Nick M.W. (WBN)
You could put some joy upon my face.
April is the appetizer month of the year. Spring has settled and is now stretching its legs and making its allergy inducing presence felt. The weather in my corner of the So Cal suburban sprawl, dances between pleasantly warm and unseasonably chill. Winter’s cold grasp doesn’t quite want to let go, but the hope of warmer days ahead can be felt. Soon, the showers give way to flowers and then the flowers wilt under the oppressive summer heat. At least that’s how it goes out here. April is the gateway to better days ahead. Maybe.
In sports, another NBA season and another season in the NHL wrapped this month. Each of their league’s playoffs started, and all signs point to a first-round sayonara for my Lakers. Although the second half of the season felt like the team was playing with house money (thank you, Nico!), there was a glimmer of hope that they could do some damage in the playoffs as the third seed in an intensely competitive Western Conference. However, they are down 3-1 in their best-of-seven against Minnesota as of this blog’s publication, and I doubt they’ll be able to win three games in a row to advance. That’s a tough task for a team playing in synchronicity, and the Lakers’ game has been too inconsistent to rely on. Better luck next year, fam. The future looks much brighter now than it did a year ago with Anthony Davis still in the mix.
Speaking of Anthony Davis, the Dodgers are 21-10 and in first place in their division despite not playing their best baseball and in spite of Tyler Glasnow doing his best impression of Anthony Davis. Sorry, AD. I don’t mean to bang on you like that. You were responsible for this epic Lakers moment.
However, both AD and Tyler Glasnow seem to spend more time in street clothes that suited up for work. It’s frustrating all around. As long as my guy is healthy for the playoffs, that’s what matters most. I want to see him dominate in October.
It’s been a fun start to the 2025 MLB season. It looks like I might have been way off with my pre-season picks, but there’s still a long way go to the finish line.
Ocho
Our little guy turned right at the beginning of the month. Celebrating him is always a fun way to kick off April. As the cliché goes, it’s hard to believe that he’s eight. His birthday also means that the school year will soon come to an end, which is another hard to swallow pill. The kids keep growing up, as it should be, and we keep getting older.
We hit up Disneyland for little guy’s birthday, which has delivered nothing but great memories for the family. This last time was no different even though I lost one of our daughter’s little plush Disney toys on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. It was a porg from the infamous Star Wars movie The Last Jedi. See it here in this photo.
Photo by Nick M.W. (WBN)
That was the new one I bought her after the one that we walked into the park with, one that she bought herself last year during a visit, bobbled off my shoulder on that damn froggy ride. She warned me not to get on the ride with it on my shoulder. I told her it would be fine, but it wasn’t. I guess she knew what she was talking about. You really bend those corners with Mr. Toad.
Pro tip: if you lose an item on an attraction at Disneyland, report it to their Lost & Found via your Disneyland app. I did, and they found it a week later. It was mailed back to us, and now our daughter has two porgs, and I don’t look like an idiot.
Standard Anxiety
This is about me because I’m not an anxious person, but society here in the US these days has been simmering in anxiety. I’m not a MAGA guy. Don’t much like President Trump, but I was hoping that he would actually pull us out of a recession and help bring our cost of living down across the board.
How’s that going so far?
Not. Good. President Trump insists that his tariffs will encourage consumers here in the US to purchase American-made products. He expects his tariffs to also increase the amount of tax dollars raised here, which would lead to high (or “Uge”) levels of investment. Seems like a plan, but how long do we have to wait to reap the benefits of these tariffs. I’m forty-old, with a meager 401K that’s been whittled down and a big ass chip of cynicism on my shoulder. We’ve been through a lot in the last quarter century. At this point in time, I just want my hard-earned dollars to do the most they can for me NOW. There is no “later on”. Tomorrow isn’t promised.
Saturday Night Special
Yeah, I’m still doing this. There’s no purpose for it to exist, which is probably why no one bothers to watch it, but I have fun doing it. One day, it’ll mean something, damnit!
