John Cole Presents “This Fucking Old House”

I just fucking can’t with Sinema anymore. I just don’t give a shit. I am completely over all these narcissistic, power hungry, amoral and immoral, money-grubbing shitastic human beings who all seem to live to be 100 fucking years old. They’re just so fucking exhausting and suck the life out of you, and they are everywhere. We all deal with Sinemas on a daily basis in our own lives, and having to deal with one on the national level is just one insult too much for me to take right now. Just fuck off and die, lady.

I’d wish them all rectal cancer, but honestly, rectal cancer never did anything to me.

Speaking of cancers, what the fuck exactly has to happen before Trump goes to jail. I saw in passing that they found more fucking documents. What does it take to put down this rabid dog? How are his lawyers not in jail?

And why the fuck would any right minded person want documents like this other than for nefarious reasons. The last fucking thing I want when I leave any organization, especially one in which they said “We’re over you get the fuck out” is any reason for them to ever contact me again. Fucking psychotic freak.

Before you ask, I am doing as well as can be. It’s freakish and alarming how many times a day I bookmark something, reach for the phone to call or text, think to myself “tammy would like those shoes” or “I need to tell her to watch this documentary” or “oh she’d love this recipe” or something like that. She’s been such a big part of my life that I tried to remember what it was like before I knew her, and it was so long ago I was still in the military. Fully half my life.

I’ve been filling my time trying to help her husband, and it is just heartbreaking. She was his everything, and he hers. I went through my message history with her on my iphone, and it is just filled with elaborate, perfectly decorated meals she had made for him, from start to scratch. A picture of the ingredients, the mise en place, halfway through the cooking process, coming out of the oven, the plating, and then the leftovers “LOOK HOW MUCH HE ATE HE LOVED IT.” It’s all so sweet, and now so sad.

I worry he will never recover, and am just trying to help in any way I can. If any of you have any idea how to unlock her social media accounts for him, or to access his phone, please let me know.

I went to the Golden Pig again today, the second time this week. It’s a delightful Korean restaurant in the middle of nowhere in Cecil Township, PA, founded decades ago by Korean immigrants. It’s not an elaborate five star restaurant, but the food is five star. It’s the kind of place that Anthony Bourdain would have gone, and all the cooks and chefs and people “in the know” from Pittsburgh eat there. That kind of joint.

It’s got pigs everywhere!

I used to go every couple of months, usually just to grab a bite and grab a container of kimchi, but I was just fiending it on Wednesday and went and man did it hit the spot. The Korean lady who owns it was so excited I was in my striped overalls and raced to my side of the counter to show me her porcelain pig in a matching hat- “It’s you! TWINS!”:

We had a funny chat today while I was waiting. Apparently she shops for the restaurant at the strip district, and often goes to costco afterwards. I mentioned I love it but I always come home with a bunch of stuff I did not intend to buy. Normally, she said, she arrives at noon, and she is so hungry that she feasts on samples, but then feels guilty, so buys a package of whatever she was sampling, but because she doesn’t eat at home, ends up giving it to her college aged son. So now she can not go to Costco unless she has had lunch.

I got 64 ounces of kimchi to go. I think it is the ultimate comfort food for me right now, and I think it is because to make kimchi right, it takes a lot of love. The exact proprotions, everything has to be cleaned just right, each leaf has to be loved and rubbed, and then you have to age it properly. And you are benefitting from the collective knowledge of thousands of years of women preserving the food for their loved ones. It’s just the best.

That’s it for me. Here’s a bonus picture of Steve doing his sultry pose.

Greetings From One of the Circles of HellPost + Comments (91)

Just wanted to thank you all for the kind words, which are not helping AT ALL but at the same time mean everything to me, so thank you. And please spare some thoughts for her husband, who is just completely torn apart. She was the love of his life and I honestly don’t know what to say or do because there is nothing.

I saw this in the kitchen and it made me start crying again:

Tammy had OCD and would get furious me when I would not put things away immediately after using them. I, on the other hand, have a touch of adhd, and had issues with object permanence, so wouldn’t always put things in the right drawers of the kitchen (if they even made it to the drawers). So I had this sign made by a carpenter friend, a play on the What Would Jesus Do, but with Tammy instead of Jesus, and it hangs over the counter in my kitchen.

I miss her so much already. I’ve tried instinctively to call her twice already to tell her how sad I am… about her, because she was the one I shared everything with and there is just this gaping hole where once there was the most perfect person in the world.

Little ThingsPost + Comments (101)

Annual Beard Selfie:

Beard is growing in well and I intend to go two more months without touching it and go full mountain man. I hate that I look like a Trump voter (the car selfie in shades does not help), but I think I might just get a big pride pin for my overalls to offset it and stay THE FUCK AWAY from red hats. Not that they make hats in that size.

I told you all what my drill sergeant said in basic training, right? “Holy Cow Private Cole- your head is so big if you was a cowboy you’d need a twelve gallon hat.”

Drill Sergeants are the funniest human beings on the planet.

*** UPDATE ***

IT LOOKS EVEN FUCKING BIGGER INDOORS

I guess because there are no trees or mountains to fucking distort people’s perception of scale. Also why do I look like I am on pcp?

Open ThreadPost + Comments (84)

Small gathering at the Cole household (Annie could not make it), and there were no injuries today other than I pulled a calf muscle stepping out of the shower and slipping a touch before catching myself. Everyone was happy with the food, although I personally though the gravy was too salty, and I made WAY too much stuffing and mashed potatoes. So another Thanksgiving has passed.

I was wiped out and just left after dinner and said “split up whatever you want and just throw the trays on my front porch I don’t want anything left over” and then went to the park to watch the deer and cool off. I had been hot all day and sitting in the park making some phone calls was a good time to cool down.

In other news, mom and dad gave all of us these plates we all made as kids and they held on to forever. I remember eating off it for YEARS as a kid. Here was mine:

Some sort of critter between my legs, lots of flowers and an infatuation with birds, so it tracks. You’ll note I spelled my name backwards (I was called JG because my dad is also named John), and I have no idea why I wrote Eloc instead of Cole. Perhaps artistic license, but my mother said that for years they were concerned I was not very bright because in kindergarten I was screwing up JG Cole and my classmates were having no problem with theresa provenzao and kevin castellini and thaddaeus, etc.

I figured it out eventually.

My kitchen looks like a superfund site and I don’t give a shit I’ll deal with it tomorrow.

Operation Turkey Was a SuccessPost + Comments (41)

Took Steve to the groomers today:

A good time WAS NOT had by all. I’ll try to get some after pics later on. If I am alive.

The Semi-Annual Breaking of the Circle of TrustPost + Comments (65)

The ladies were very busy overnight!

You don’t need to buy fancy Halloween decorations if you stop pouring fucking poison on every square inch of your yard and just embrace everything that is going on and stay out of its way.

In other news, Thurston is being the goodest boy. He spent six years wanting to be an only dog and he is rising to the occasion. He follows me everywhere, and if I stop short he runs into the back of my leg. He never ever sat on my lap, preferring to sit on the couch when we were both downstairs (even when Lily was upstairs), but now I can barely get situated in the chair and he is up there embracing the constant attention. Needy bastard.

Dad will be released from his rehab joint on Saturday and is coming home, and I didn’t tell you all this because of the Lily news on Saturday, but he contracted covid there and tested positive on Saturday, as well. The fuckers even tried to blame him for bringing it to the facility because they had taken him to the hospital for updated X-Rays on Thursday. The nervy fucking bastards. His General Practioner is a great guy and pitched a fucking unholy fit, just absolutely fucking livid that they let this happen, and dad was on the anti-retro virals immediately and felt better by Monday. So that is good. He’s really going crazy in there because he is absolutely not mentally built to be in a situation where he is not in control. Neither is my mom, for that matter. I, on the other hand, am a much more “jeebus take the wheel” kind of guy, and I don’t know where I got it. Maybe the army taught me how to realize how to just roll with the punches, or maybe it was the numerous encounters with psychedelics when I majored in street pharmacology as a youth that allowed me to just sit back and see where shit takes me. But, whatever.

Finally, and I know I have a track record of being wrong on a lot of things, but I just don’t think things are going to be as bad as a lot of people do. I’m not gonna engage in speculation about the polls or any of that unskewing the polls bit, but it just does not FEEL like the energy is there from Republicans. I’m not seeing the signs, or the anger, or the general mania I felt in 2016 and 2018 and 2020. Maybe I am so isolated and in a cocoon that I am going to be shocked, but I am just not feeling it. Regardless, there is nothing I can do about it but vote. So we will see.

Hope you all are well.

All In One Open ThreadPost + Comments (46)