Cheese-enhanced dreams

Drank too much and ate too much cheese in the evenings. I dreamt I was married to another woman and that was  - I was realising - a big mistake. I dreamt heavy smokers started turning into orcs in the street (just outside of Bentalls, as they do) , and I intimidated a cheeky person smaller than me because I could. God...

I did drink too much though. I need descaling. Joan, Jacqui's mum, left us today. She'd been staying with us since Thursday. It was nice to have her in the house. It sometimes feels like me and her versus them.

Being the outsider (Jacqui's second husband) to Jacqui and the kids is a, well, it's a different situation to being the father. It hasn't all been plain sailing. Everyone has their way of doing things, and routines, the hours they keep and so on. Anyone who's ever parachuted into a family will know what I'm talking about. I can be quite cranky but I'm pretty good to live with: I'm tidy and stuff. I try to do my best. Try to help the kids where I can - it makes me feel good to do something dad-like for them now and again. Less so these days as they're all adults (technically).

Why am I talking about this?

I guess I'm quite different to J & R in certain ways, and it comes to a head sometimes, and I can find myself in a minority of 1. It's nice to have J's mum here to put a different perspective on things. To see things from another point of view. None of us are necessarily wrong - the world isn't binary - just different, with different priorities and motivations. Sometimes we can't see the wood for the trees, and our minor differences can become big bones of contention. We take umbrage at perceived motivations or untidiness (my bugbear) but it's almost always benign. No one's doing anything deliberately evil.

Or maybe that's what they want me to think?

My friend Mark is coming on Wednesday to stay for a couple of days, which will be good. He is the funniest person I know. He also likes beer. I am conscious of the fact I'm drinking too much at the moment. Doesn't help with frontal-lobe anger management issues. Neither does it help with waistlines. After drinking some pretty weak beer yesterday afternoon I had a stronger beer in the evening, then a limoncello, then a Baileys. Pretty weird combo. At least they weren't in the same glass.

We're going to play some D&D with 2 neighbours on Thursday afternoon. Should be a good one.

I hope it goes well with Mark as I know I can be very quiet and solitary for long periods these days, which is possibly/probably quite disconcerting for other people. I hope it's not too boring for him.

Things I am watching on YouTube at the moment:

1. Rugby league videos of Andrew Johns and Adrian Morley, although there is not enough footage of these guys.
2. Abba
3. Zappa - especially reactions to Inca Roads - my all-time favourite piece of music
4. The Time Team -  I was considering becoming a field archaeologist before I retrained as a stonemason, as a result of watching The Time Team's first series. Funny how both of these professions deal with historical structures and also pay fuck all. One of my favourite programmes of all time.
5. Bullshido: Bullshit martial arts. No-touch knockouts using Ki. Check it out. Hilarious. Less so for them when in their delusion they challenge mixed-martial arts (MMA) fighters. 
6. Dungeon Dudes - best D&D discussion/break-down channel
7. Dr Todd Grande -  psychiatrist speculates and hypothesises on a variety of people and subjects from a scientific standpoint. Wryly humorous and brilliantly insightful.

That'll do.