Winter Slips Away

JWise Life

Caroline Wise and John Wise in Phoenix, Arizona on a cold day

Winter slips away too fast when you live in the desert. We have two seasons here, summer and not-summer, and it is this not-summer that acts as our winter. By December and January, the desert sees some cold days that could be considered seriously chilly, but these are rare, and then before we know it, the days of February march ever closer into April, and while it may not yet be summer, we know it is around the corner.

Somewhere in December, it happens that one morning, we get to collect our scarves, gloves, beanies, and even a shell, but within days, we see them sitting near the door and wonder if we shouldn’t just put them back into storage.

Then, in January, it happens: the forecast predicts a cold front with the promise of temperatures in the 30s. A simultaneous shiver goes up, as does the joy that we’ll be able to bundle up for a day or two. But here comes February, and those warm clothes by the door begin to gather dust, and we lament that summer is inching closer. And then it happens again, and in mid-February, the temperature dips below 40 degrees. While we have grown accustomed to the colder days of the season, the air is dryer than usual, which means that as we doff the multiple layers, we are building life-threatening static charges that produce sparks when we touch one another or ground ourselves. But we love our version of winter and enjoy these opportunities to wear long pants, wool, and thick socks.

During the evening, our bed is covered with a down comforter that, no matter the chill in our place (we keep the heater turned off as much as possible), always keeps us comfy and cozy within its snuggly embrace. The seat heaters in our car get a good workout these days, too, with butts the first thing warmed as we leave for the morning. If only the seats and steering wheel were cooled as the 110-degree days of summer soon take over.

Whoah, was that a teenager walking to the bus stop in shorts? Yep, winter is certainly slipping away.

Are You Serious?

JWise Rant

Stupid Billboard in Phoenix, Arizona

I suppose when you know that an advertisement found on a billboard is meant to attract idiots, you might as well go low and pander to the lowest common denominator of stupid. This billboard down the street from us required an extra stop to capture just how dumb the public obviously is because who goes to Newport Beach, California, and gets on a boat to watch football?

I go to the ocean to be at the sea; we do not spend that kind of money to go watch TV; then again, we are the odd ones out, and we know it. Also odd, the model on the right was waving to someone in the original photo; you can see the incredibly poor Photoshopping of her arm, plus she’s looking to the right. [She also has kid’s legs but seems otherwise to be of comparable size to everyone else – Caroline] The guy in front of her is looking straight ahead, not at the TV, and the woman in front of him is looking left of the TV. I don’t believe any of the food was in the original image because who has a bowl of salad with three rolls on top of it placed in a position where tan sweater-man’s arm, should he let it down, would be resting in that salad? The TV is not casting a shadow from the sun that’s out in front of everyone; at least there are shadows from the models. What a crap composite, but I suppose driving by, nobody will concern themselves with those details. Heck, I didn’t see all that until I took the photo.

Hey marketing dolts, here’s an idea for you: advertise vacations in Hawaii featuring people acting like moles burrowing into the earth. This is free for whoever wants to take inspiration from my great idea; I claim no copyright to the brilliant concept.

Sunn O))) – Druid Metal

JWise Photo of the Day

Brinn Aaron and Caroline Wise in Tucson, Arizona

Music has brought us to southern Arizona, Tucson specifically, as the band performing this evening is not playing closer to Phoenix this year. But first, once we collected Brinn on our way down the road, we were merrily traveling the interstate nervous as always that we’d be late. That perpetual anxiety of being late is likely what has had us arriving early nearly everywhere we go. Anyway, we were in Tucson earlier than expected, and so the opportunity to visit Charro Steak & Del Rey easily entered the realm of possibility because our concert venue is just around the corner.

Caroline and I had been here barely two weeks ago and enjoyed it very much, hence our desire to return, and now we have a convert found in Brinn. I thought we’d get drinks for them, coffee for me, and split a tableside guacamole, but Brinn’s eyeball fell on the Scallops Agua Chile and it did the trick and lured him into planning his own return visit.

Sunn O))) performing in Tucson, Arizona

We lingered at the restaurant, under the impression that Shoshin (初心) Duo was opening the show. Nope, it turned out that Sunn O))) was starting at 9:00 and not Shoshin (初心) Duo which actually is the name of the tour. I guess this kind of knowledge is a no-brainer for those who follow bands they enjoy closer than we obviously do. No matter, the show had just begun and only a strum or two of the guitars had been played prior to our entering the Rialto Theater proper. We could also tell the show had just gotten underway because the place wasn’t filled with fog yet. Seeing only two musicians on stage wasn’t what I had expected when we saw Sunn O))) in late 2019 they were a 5-piece and now the Duo part of the tour name starts to make sense.

Sunn O))) performing in Tucson, Arizona

The high priests of sonic bewilderment this evening are the core members of the band, Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson. While there are three fewer people featured on stage, I’m not sure I can tell if there is less sonic bombardment than what we experienced last time. I am relatively confident however that the acoustics between the cavernous Rialto and the Mesa Center of the Arts are quite different because the show a few years ago featured far more girth of distortion wrapping itself around us. We were enveloped in a much deeper sound that penetrated our bone marrow to alter how red blood cells form. Regardless, there was enough alchemical mischief of Sunn O))) present this evening to bring us into an altered state of consciousness, as much as that’s possible considering that no illicit drugs are involved.

Sunn O))) performing in Tucson, Arizona

One does not clap for Sunn O))), we raise our hands in awe. Our ears are now defeated after the pummeling of being in the presence of such enormous fields of distortion and feedback, and mere claps would fail to be recognized above the maelstrom. Plus, how else should the cosmic energy of the druid overlords feed those present other than through our hands raised in obeisance while we pull into our souls the trembling remains of vibrational decay signifying the end of the ceremony?