Good Things — May 1, 2025 – John Agliata

🧩 Today’s Puzzle Pieces 🧩
Bowling/Buffet🎳
Mad World🎶
Squid Game🦑

THE DAILY UPDATE

I’ve had enough struggles in life to have a deep appreciation for things that are wonderfully, simply good. Yesterday, I experienced one of those good things.

Matthew is something of another son to me. I have known him since he was a baby, and he’s now on the verge of his college graduation. His family and mine were neighbors back in our Ohio days, and he came into this world shortly after Boy The Elder was born. Those two became fast friends while they still were in diapers, and that friendship has held through many years and our many moves around the country.

Matthew’s mother remains Wifey Poo’s enduring and endearing best friend. The two are bonded over the shared grief of losing a child shortly after birth, but their relationship is one of joy and honest affection. I consider Lisa the sister I wish I had, and I would take a bullet for either her or her son.

Matthew attends college about a half-hour from our humble country home. That he, after all these years and all our moves, has ended up in such close proximity to not only Wifey Poo and I but BTE as well is a blessing. Matthew has become a regular fixture in our lives once again, and now his very serious girlfriend has too.

As the years went by, Matthew would come to stay with us for various lengths of time to hang with BTE … days, sometimes weeks. Somehow — and no one really remembers exactly how — I started a tradition that, whenever Matthew would visit, I would take him and BTE to go bowling and then a Chinese buffet. Occasionally, the order would flip-flop, but nothing works up an appetite for mass-produced, highly questionable Chinese food like throwing a ball down a lane a couple dozen times.

I have various photos through the years of BTE and Matthew side-by-side with heaping plates of steaming food in front of them, and as Matthew’s college graduation approached, I wanted to share in that tradition one more time.

Last night, BTE, Matthew, and I met at the local Bowlero. While technically cleared to fling a ball in the wake of my November neck surgery, I’m still not feeling 100% confident in how I might feel the next day, so I sat out and watched my son and alternate son do their thing. And all the while, the thought I had was, “This is good.”

They bowled three games. BTE is and always has been highly competitive. After dropping the first game, he won the next two, and the two friends joked about that competitiveness, because Matthew knows. That’s one of the beautiful things about their relationship. Because it has existed nearly since they’ve existed, they know each other … really, really know each other.

From there, we went to the best-reviewed Chinese buffet in the area, which is to say it almost reached four stars on Google. No Chinese buffet ever would be considered for a Michelin star, but Chinese buffets in the wake of COVID are especially rough. The goal was not for culinary delight. It was to keep a tradition going while hopefully not ending up with food poisoning. It’s been roughly 13 hours since we ate, and we’re good on the second front so far.

The conversations during these outings has changed over the years. Gone are the talks about Bakugans and Webkins and what dinosaur they would be if they could be a dinosaur. Here are discussions about jobs and significant others and cars that break down at inconvenient times.

We ate. A lot. We talked. A lot. And again, I found myself repetitively thinking, “This is good.”

I’m not sure we’ll ever do the bowling/buffet tradition again. There’s a chance we will. Matthew and his girlfriend both just got jobs in the area and will be living about 20 minutes from us, less than 10 from BTE. The opportunities will be there, and my thought is that, if things keep progressing as they are with Matthew and his girlfriend, there will be a chance to run things back just before a wedding. What makes me really, really happy is how willing both boys are to indulge my nostalgia and respect the importance I place on traditions. I think they feel it too.

There aren’t many things in my life that have the wonderful simplicity of being good without any baggage. The bowling/buffet tradition is one of the good things. And for as long as I can, I think I’ll do whatever it takes to hold onto it and enjoy it.

Something I’m grateful for today: An unexpected email praising my work.

Something I’ve (ghost)written: AI and Insurance Underwriting: How to avoid a Squid Game tug-of-war

Song In My Head When I Woke Up: Rock Superstar, by Cypress Hill

Meaningful Lyric From SIMHWIWU:

Its a fun job, but its still a job
There’s gonna be another cat comin’ out
Looking like me, sounding like me next year

Song of the Day: Mad World, by Gary Jules

Meaningful lyric from the S.O.T.D.:

And I find it kinda funny, I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had

Something good from today/yesterday: The Good Thing.

Something I’m looking forward to in the next seven days: Boy The Elder turns 23, Boy The Younger sings in a choir concert. Fun times.

Fat-Ass Update:

Starting weight: 230.6 on 2/12/25
Goal weight (for now): 199.9
Today’s weight 221.7 (-8.9)
Fat-ass burn-off remaining: 21.8 fat-ass pounds

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Good Things — May 1, 2025

THE DAILY UPDATE

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