Pour Me A Story, Vol. 53
feat. back-to-back parental guests, an end of an era, and more
greetings pals, and welcome to another edition of Pour Me A Story. I hope the past week has treated you well.
we’ve had nice enough weather here in Denver for the past week or so that the snow that’s accumulated since Thanksgiving finally receded almost all the way, leaving the streets and sidewalks dry and mostly danger-free for the first time in three months.
and you know what that means? your boy’s getting back out there pounding the pavement and trying to build up some running momentum again. I’ve managed to put about…eight total miles on my feet over the past three weeks, with life commitments and bodily discomfort slowing me down.
it snowed again yesterday and put four or five inches of powder back on every flat surface in town, so my chance to get out there again might not be for another week, but last week I managed to clock a handy 1.67 miles without a walk break which was both surprising and encouraging. these old bones might just have some distance left in them.
Anyway, We Have Company
because this newsletter is nothing if not ethical, it’s in the interests of balanced journalism that I asked my mother to join us as this week’s special guest after you all heard from my dad last week.
she was nervous that she would “embarrass me” with her responses but honestly, I’ve written far too much embarrassing shit on the internet under my own name over the past 20 years that it would be virtually impossible to do that. so without further ado, here’s Joanne Crawford!
(a reminder: you, too, can be a weekly guest, and it won’t take a half-hour out of your day. hit this link, fill out the form and that’s all you gotta do!)
AC: What was your reaction to finding out you were going to be a grandmother?
JC: My first reaction to being told I’m going to be a grandmother was utter joy, people would asked me when was it my turn to be a grandmother my answer was always “I’m too young for that”! We were a world apart when your beautiful girl was born & I was unable to travel to meet her because the whole planet was in turmoil, a sadness crept in with not being able to hold her & be a part of the excitement that a new life brings. Not to bore your readers but a work colleague had a little girl 2 weeks after M was born & I was given the privilege of having a cuddle of her bub just after she was born, it was quite an emotional moment for me.
AC: What has been your proudest moment as a parent?
JC: My proudest moment as a parent…wow I only get to choose one. Watching both my children now as adults become amazing parents to their beautiful children. My hope is that some of the values instilled in you as children will be repeated in my grandchildren.
AC: How did you feel about me leaving for the other side of the world, and was there an adjustment period?
JC: After the initial shock of hearing your plans to move half way around the world & asking a thousand questions that needed answers to, I remember being supportive & excited for you. I remember at around the same time I was planning my own move interstate to Tasmania & it seemed we experienced a short period of parallel lives with both of us adjusting to our new surroundings.
AC: Have you ever seriously considered moving here to be closer to the baby?
JC: After visiting my Denver family last year & having time to immerse myself into your daily lives, having to say goodbye was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. If there comes a time in the future when I don’t have any binding commitments, I seriously would consider spending half the year in Denver & the other half in Brisbane Australia being a grandmother to my gorgeous grandchildren.
AC: What do you see are the biggest cultural differences between Australia and the U.S.?
JC: Cultural differences….for starters you all drive on the wrong side of the street.
Seriously though, I have visited a number of places in the USA & I have noticed the enormous patriotism that each State has for their Country. I was also touched by the respect & recognition the Military personnel are shown on the domestic airlines.
Visiting from a country where all costs are up front, I find it hard to get my head around adding tax & tips to the price on the bill, I always feel awkward about how much to tip or not leaving enough of a tip.
AC: Changing directions, can you please rank your top 5 favorite biscuits?
JC: Hmmm my top 5 are:
Double dipped chocolate Tim Tam
White chocolate Tim Tam
Salted Caramel Tim Tam …are you seeing a pattern lol
Mint Slice
Iced VoVo (editor’s note: this should’ve been number 1)
AC: The special guest gets to choose the song of the week. Is there a tune that you've had on repeat lately or that has special significance for you?
JC: Last week we went to see Ross Wilson in concert. This old rocker has been around for 52 years & he can still get the audience dancing in the aisles. The song is Cool World by Mondo Rock.
AC: The second special guest privilege is the Free Plug -- you can promote something meaningful or important to you or something infinitely less consequential. Sky's the limit!
JC: My personal plug is Organ Donation and Blood Donation.
We can decide to be an organ donor, but not all of us will get the chance to be one.
Everyone can donate blood or blood products and know that this special gift will be used to save lives on a daily basis. There may come a day when your nearest or dearest will need this service & you will be grateful that some stranger has rolled up their sleeve to donate to their cause.
Love to all!
The Last Pour
earlier this week I awoke to a text from a high school friend of mine who now lives in California. it contained a link to a story from the news outlet I used to work for back home, which was mostly startling because he’s famously avoided paying attention to the news for the past 15 years.
what was more startling was the headline: Brisbane pub The Victory Hotel to close after long history in CBD. the picture accompanying the story was positively glamorous compared to the way The Vic, as it’s so fondly known, appears in my beer-soaked memories of almost two decades (!) prior.
years after I stopped frequenting this iconic old pub, I used to tell people (always on nights out) that I dropped out of college to pursue a Bachelor of Karaoke at The Vic. this dumbass line was always met with laughter, even though it’s somewhat embellished — I did graduate college, and The Vic didn’t offer any kind of tertiary qualifications. but to say my buddies and I hung out there frequently was a deep, deep understatement.
its downtown location and sheer size meant we weren’t quite regulars the way you can be at a smaller, local venue, but the Thursday-and-Saturday-night karaoke staff definitely knew us on the first name basis. on “Student Night” Thursdays you could get two-for-one drinks, three-for-one in the upstairs bar, and a pitcher (!) of draft (!!) rum and Coke (!!!) for $11 (Australian dollars) in the early 2000s which, thanks to some scratchy currency conversion and inflation sums, comes out to about $11 USD in 2023 prices. it’s a wonder any of us made it out alive.
once we had all moved on from university and into varying degrees of adulthood, trips to The Vic became less frequent, but we always felt like 10 pounds of shit stuffed into a 5-pound bag the next day. it was also the site of the first, and only, time I’ve ever been punched in the face, but that’s a story for another edition.
during the summer of 2008, a couple of weeks into my first ever trip to the U.S., The Vic caught fire and took some serious damage, but was rebuilt to its former, uh, glory. we all joked that it should’ve burned for days with all the spilled liquor on the floors, and that when they reopened it they re-laid the same beer-soaked carpets.
as I reflected on all the time we spent at The Vic in the early- to mid-2000s and beyond, I mistakenly thought my last visit was during my trip home in 2016, when three high school buddies and I lined up for a half-hour to get in. when we got to the front of the line, the bouncer scanned our IDs and waved us through…straight to a table where a hostess was collecting a $5 cover charge.
a cover charge? for THIS dump we’ve spent so much time in? no thanks, we’re good. we walked across the street and went to the free-to-enter Stock Exchange Hotel and commiserated about how the times had changed.
I guess they’re still changing, and it appears someone’s emerged to take over management of the venue. in any case, a belated R.I.P. to The Victory. Brisbane’s 18-year-olds will never know what they missed out on.
Worthy Consumables
I think I mentioned a couple weeks back that I made an Extreme Dad Purchase and shelled out for a snowblower this winter. In related news, living in a house may be the thing that finally knocks the shine off of snowfall for me.
I’ve been captivated by snowfall ever since I moved out here, simply because I didn’t get to experience it as a child, but now that I have to take care of my own snow removal (rather than having the apartment building manager do it), it definitely feels more like a chore than it ever has.
but I digress — or perhaps I don’t, because this is the ultimate point. when I decided to open my wallet, I briefly explored the idea of electric snow shovels to make the process of clearing the driveway and sidewalk easier. but then once I hit the SnowJoe website to investigate my options, I swiftly fell down a rabbit hole of more heavy-duty gear.
the one I settled on is a 22-inch walk-behind bad boy, and I think the only mistake I made was to buy a corded one rather than a battery-operated wireless blower. I reasoned that I might not be able to complete the job on one charge, which would be very annoying, but it probably wouldn’t be as frustrating as me dragging a 100-foot extension cord. live and learn, I guess!
anyway if you happen to be in the market for a piece of equipment that’ll save your spine from some hard work, I would definitely recommend SnowJoe. it’s on Amazon for less than 200 bones right now, which is far cheaper than I paid. go get you one!
Parting Note
holy shit this song is four years older than I am. anyway, here’s Mondo Rock!
thanks again for joining me in Part Deux of The Parent Trap Interviews, it’s been a blast! see you all next week for more pouring of stories. until then!
— adrian ✌🏻