Category: Uncategorized

• Mini-Vacations, V Day, and New Obsessions – Thoughts from February 16, 2025

  

  Patti and I are back from our mini-vacation and we’re still working on the house. We’re down to painting and fixing some of the trim. It’s going to feel weird when we finish everything. The first day I don’t have to set the alarm to get up on my days off is going to be…

  Brian Kirwan

  December 16, 2025

  Uncategorized

  2025, anime action figure, baseball cap, Benihana, cabinets, carpet, cats, concierge level, giant bowl of a drink, giant trash bag filled with stuffed animals, Grand Californian, jam-packed with people, kitchen, leaking water heater, lounge, mini vacation, My Hero Academia, my obsession with the show, Patti, Pixar Place Hotel, rain, rain kept people away, rainy day, renovated, seats by the bar, set the alarm to get up, shopping for Disney stuff, stuff we got on vacation, thoughts, tiling, Valentine's Day, waiting in line, working on the house, yard work

• New Years, Old Jobs, and The Wedding Song – Thoughts from December 29, 2024 to January 26, 2025

  

  December 29, 2024 The year is ending in two days. There are several things I’m looking forward to in 2025. My last loan payment will be at the end of February. In March, I’ll have been at Disney for 20 years. That will mean my vacation and sick time earned will go up. When I…

  Brian Kirwan

  December 9, 2025

  Uncategorized

  2024, 2025, all we need is time, allergies, allergy to wheat, artificial intelligence, artificial singers, backup singers, being busy, building the shed, cats, consequences, creating a harmony, Disney for 20 years, disposing old shed, electric guitar, extended deadline, fixing the house, food allergies, four cats, future note, general scratchy feeling in my throat, giant chocolate chip cookie, June 14 1997, lifetime pass to Disneyland, looking forward, lyrics, married, meatball sandwiches, mobile home, my AI voice could sing, no downtime, no more wheat, Patti, reality, recorded main voice, retirement, retiring, singing, strangers around the house, The Wedding Song, thoughts, Thoughts paper, throat problems, tired, wedding march, working on song

• Out with the Old Shed, In with the New – Thoughts from December 27, 2024

  

  This entry was not actually written on the 27th, but let’s pretend that it was. Patti and I had been working on the outside of the house and now it was time to put in the new shed in the backyard. Step one of putting in the new shed was deconstructing the old shed. Some…

  Brian Kirwan

  December 2, 2025

  Uncategorized

  2024, backyard, base for the shed, baseboards, blowing down in the wind, brought out the leveler, chainsaw, deconstructing, falling apart, fighting wind, flat in all directions, flimsy material, flimsy plastic panels, floppy wall panels, large and solid, let’s pretend, little wooden house, new shed, not flat, old shed, Patti, pieces of the shed, pile of wood, proper floor, proper shed, roots of a tree, screw the flooring to the base, sweat, thoughts, trash days, various sizes of poop, windiness, wood base, working on house

• Christmas, Cats, and a New Cat Tree – Thoughts from December 25, 2024

  

  Just as Christmas Eve was mainly about our niece and nephew’s new baby, Christmas Day was about Scout and her three kittens. Actually, it’s about Scout and her only slightly younger than her adult cats. Until next July, Scout is four and Beatrix, Luna, and Willow are three. Beatrix is about the same size as…

  Brian Kirwan

  November 25, 2025

  Uncategorized

  2024, Beatrix, big cats, Blaze, boxes, building cat tree, can’t handle their own weight, cat dad, cats, cats had destroyed it, Christmas Day, covered in sweat, custom Funko Pop!, disassembly, followed instructions step by step, four cats in one house, Funko, Funko characters, House of Cat, Luna, new cat tree, old cat tree, other pets, Patti, piles of stuff, pink cat tree, pink house, presents, Quest, regulate cats food, Scout, Scout’s boys, season for cat trees, Slash, sturdiness, supervising cats, thoughts, time to get used to, toys, Willow, wish list, wrapping paper

• Things Not Said, No Shoes, and Happy Holidays – Thoughts from December 24, 2024

  

  For Christmas Eve, Patti and I went to our niece and nephew’s house. Patti’s sister, three of her sister’s sons, and an assortment of other people like me were there. Patti’s grandniece (a term I had to look up) was there, which I only mention because she was the adoptive parent of one of Scout’s…

  Brian Kirwan

  November 18, 2025

  Uncategorized

  2024, age ranges, caring about each other, Christianity, Christmas Eve, Christmas time, conservative, Conservatives, fectional story, generations, getting together with family and friends, grandniece, Happy Holidays, issues, Judaism, liberal, liberals, Merry Christmas, modern world, nativity scenes, new baby, no drama, no shoes, no shoes inside, non-believers, non-religious, old nerd, other ways of thinking, out of touch with reality, Patti, political subjects, politics, provoke believers, religion, religious decorations, religious traditions, Santa Claus, Scout, shoes or slippers, six kittens, socks only, socks with no holes, technology, things not said, thoughts, uncomfortable silences

• Downness, Home Repairs, and New Computers – Thoughts from December 18, 2024

  

  As usual, I haven’t been writing my Thoughts papers recently and I’ve been feeling down recently. Part of my “downness” stems from a document from our mobile home park detailing what is wrong with the outside of our house. The main and most difficult parts have to do with how run-down the paint is on…

  Brian Kirwan

  November 11, 2025

  Uncategorized

  2024, avoiding sunset at 5:00 pm, Christmas holiday, consequences, evaluating the house, I work best alone, It warms my nerdy heart, Microsoft Surface Pro, mobile home park, money for supplies, need a new shed, nerdiness, new computer, official end date, old computer, painting the house, reassessing the house, recommended replacement date, repairs, replacing heavy panels on the house, setting up programs, thoughts, Thoughts papers, transferring files, trimming large tree, Windows 10, Windows 11, working nights

• Cheating, Unhappy Wives, and Eating Together – Thoughts from November 25 and December 2, 2024

  

  November 25, 2024 I’ve never cheated on Patti, and I never will. I’m sure I’ve had opportunities, but I’ve probably missed them by being clueless to such things. If someone was willing to cheat on Patti with me, I wouldn’t want to be with them anyway. My flirting game is virtually nonexistent. I never really…

  Brian Kirwan

  November 4, 2025

  Uncategorized

  2024, characters in the songs, cheating, cheating at work, cheating on his wife, Cher’ autobiography, compromise, cutting my hair, disturbing image, early song, eating at the dinner table regularly, eating at the same time, feeling guilty, finding a better person, flirting game, glad not to be an adult, going to a prostitute, good hair day, Goodby to My Soul, haircut, hanging out, low life expectancy, mullet hair, my walk, never dated, non-romantic, non-working oven, Patti, picturing myself with a wife, posture, putting up with crap, smoker’s laugh, song wife, songwriting days, surrounded by cheaters, Thanksgiving, therapy, thoughts, traditional dates, unhappy wives, wife passes away

• Horrible People, Gravelly Throats, and Autobiographies – Thoughts from November 9 to 23, 2024

  

  November 9, 2024 I need to write now more than ever, but I’m afraid of what I’m going to say. When Patti and I took our trip along Route 66, there were Trump signs almost every mile as we drove. We knew there was a huge section of America that ignored every horrible thing Trump…

  Brian Kirwan

  October 28, 2025

  Uncategorized

  2024, acid reducer, addictions, avoiding family members, being abused, Brian Wilson autobiography, comedy autobiographies, conceptual and performance artist, dietary restrictions, documentary, get it lasered off, gravelly voice, hateful renaissance, HBO, Laughlin, Marina Abramović, medication, medication helping?, mental health issues, misinformation and hate, miss singing in the car, music-making, musical process, negative influence, Patti, people rewarded for horrible behavior, prescription, prescription strength, progress, Republicans, Route 66, stomach pain, Thanksgiving, The Artist is Present, The Beach Boys, thoughts, throat doctor, torture herself for art, Trump signs, vocal cord polyp, worst of the worst people, worst President in history

• First Surgeries, Allergies, and Pleasant Eating – Thoughts from November 2, 2024

  

  Before I left for work today, I got a call from Kaiser to schedule the appointment to treat my throat and plan the removal of the polyp on my vocal cord. Honestly, I didn’t know if I was going to be scheduling the procedure itself. I wasn’t. This is the checkup before the procedure. It…

  Brian Kirwan

  October 21, 2025

  Uncategorized

  2024, alcoholics, all the milks, almond milk, beef, beer, checkup, coconut, dairy, eggs, future note, hair analyzed for allergies, high reactivity, Kaiser, minor surgery, moderate reactivity, mustard, my first surgery, no broken bones, no major health problems, no reactivity, Oranges lemons and duck, pecans, pleasurable eating, reactivity test, remove the polyp on my vocal cord, restrictions on my diet, satisfied, smokers, taking health seriously, thoughts, throat problems, tomatoes, unpleasant surprise, veal, vegan diet, wheat, wheat is a major ingredient, work

• Memories of Route 66, Anxieties, and Word Choices – Thoughts from October 12 and 20, 2024

  

  October 12, 2024 I haven’t written a Thoughts paper in a while. Actually, that’s not true. Why am I lying to you? Because I can. I should say I haven’t written anything unplanned. Patti and I took a Route 66 trip that I wrote about, but I didn’t write the entries on the date I…

  Brian Kirwan

  October 14, 2025

  Uncategorized

  2024, a picture is worth a thousand words, airports, anxiety, anxious thoughts, arbitrary word choices, awkward, Couples Sans Souci, damaged emotions, dash cam, dash cam footage, easily triggered anxiety, electric bill, emotions, financial crisis, flying in a plane, heat of summer, images lead to memories, Jamaica, knowledge always wins over belief, only flying first class, Patti, Petrified Forest, realizing my error, Route 66 trip, snobbish rule, taking pictures, taking pictures throughout the day, thoughts, Thoughts paper, visual thinking, Wordscapes, wounded emotions, writing