The sounds at night are wonderful.

End of the month. The first real month. April was all about moving in and then leaving to go back “home” and do things that needed to be done, or, more likely, be reminded of things I hadn’t done, but had, or would, or did, but incorrectly, and so on. It was a miserable expanse. It seems like a long time ago. This month, May, was prow-to-stern Life at the Fred, and it has passed briskly. It seems as if I’ve been here for at least three months.

The inconsistency of perceived time is always a surprise, and it always shapes up in retrospect into discrete month-shaped chunks that appear uniform.

End of the month: convert all the Bleats into pdfs, combine, distribute among the backup locations. Combine all the little video snippets into a single movie, back up. Nearly every video snippet from every day has a hallway, and the dog. The hallway of the Fred. The hallway of Zork Storage. A few sunset shots from the balcony. One shot made me wince, because I know exactly what I was going through: morning walk, Birch tugging everywhere, loamy ground strewn with sticks and wrecked bark and dead rushes and such, and Birch stopped to chew a stick and would go no more. I sat down in the dirt, frustrated and lonely and hating the new life, and felt like dissolving. That, in retrospect, was the nadir. All better now!

And then I think “Nadir” reminds me of “Nidal,” the last name of the tennis resort where we went, and I’ll never go there again and GOT-DAMN I want my old life back, and will I be stupid enough to text a picture of some cheese and wine on Friday, as I did last week, reminding her of the tradtion I started to signal the end of her work week, a tradition I started after getting my walking pages?

Tune in Monday.

Let’s see what pretentious items failed to capture the Edina imagination, and ended up in the half-price cart.

Surprised to see a Truff in there.

The "Dry Wit" wine is non-alcoholic. About $30 a bottle, from what I can tell on the website.

Another item for the Fragile-American Community:

		E.U.B. Mango Passionfruit is a functional sparkling beverage that supports the body's chemical messengers ("neurotransmitters") to boost mood and motivation. Featuring Organic Lion's Mane Mushroom, L-Tyrosine, L-Theanine, 50mg Organic Green Tea Caffeine, Vitamin B5 & B6, and Magnesium.

That’s just what I want: a sparkling beverage that’s functional. You can buy it on the website, except you can’t: every flavor is “sold out” and I somehow doubt that’s because of wild unexpected demand. Bevnews:

A LinkedIn post from Emotional Utility Beverage’s CEO announcing the brand was “winding down” — and then quickly deleting it — has raised new questions about the future of the functional drink startup. Emotional Utility Beverage, formerly known as Confidence, built its identity around “liquid confidence” and later rebranded as a “Sparkling Mood Boosting Beverage” featuring nootropics, adaptogens and B vitamins.

		There is nothing as sad as a leftover Mom cupcake
		As for the gummies: VEGOBEARS are USDA organic, vegan gummies crafted for today’s snackers—stylish, clean, and full of joy. With no artificial anything and flavors that actually deliver, we make candy that looks as good as it tastes. Vegobears isn’t just candy—it’s a vibe.

Oh begone clanker copywriter.

What?

They’re microwavable heat pillows. I don’t remember ever seeing them in the store. I’ve no idea where they would have been stocked.

These pretentious overpriced precious iterations of perfectly good things we have already - I don’t know why they make me sneer, but they do. It's aimed at the people who are always trying to LEVEL UP THEIR WAFFLES, and pay twice as much for half the mix.

Out: juice boxes. In: cans containing 3 billion probiotics

TIMTAMTUMMY! Kill me now.

This is what you get on every link to buy the stuff:

The websites for these mod fancy products are all the same. Colorful, "fun," aimed at faddish moms. Not available at Amazon anymore. The website, by the way, is Timtamtummyforkids.com because TimTam is already an Australian candy, and it seems someone had already bought timtamtummy.

So that's this month's round-up of failures and poor purchase decisions. The Spongebob microwavable pillows seem to be the winner, if that's what you'd call it.

If it's the end of the month, it's "blow all the remaining AI video credits day." I was working on giving the old Lutheran Brotherhood building a sunset look.

Nnnnaaah. It gets completely dark before anyone turns on the lights?

Somewhat better.

Sigh. I don't know why I do this to myself.

You recall this from last week, right?

It's the Casablanca bar. The building still stands, and it's still a bar, the 90s. (Gay bar. Get it?) I had some credits to blow off, and I have exterior images, so. (Larger version here if you want the full effect.) It starts silent and takes a few seconds.

If only someone would write a novel about it!

(Hint: coming soon, a new bookstore.)