The run-up to the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup was utterly dispiriting to me.

However, the games have begun, and things are feeling normal again, even in the face of... everything.

Okay so hey, in the glorious randomness that is my life, I went to a Dr Pepper Knockoff tasting last weekend. It has been 20 years since the last Dr Pepper Knockoff tasting that I attended, so it was time.

NOTE: Dr Pepper dropped the "." after Dr in the 50s. 

INTEL: Dr Pepper was invented by a pharmacist in Waco Texas who wanted a drink that tasted like the pharmacy smelled. 

May 30th, 2026 Bethesda, Maryland Dr Pepper & Knockoffs tasting results:

TOP CHOICES: 

• DR PEPPER - tried and true. Best mouthfeel, best tasting
• MR P!BB - deserves a PHD. Like Dr Pepper + splash of cherry

NOT TOO SHABBY

• DR TOPPER - very respectable clone. Hint of bitters?  Would work well as a mixer for an alcoholic bev. 
• DR. PERKY - best name. Not bad actually. Solid but not stellar.

OKAY

• DR. POP - very vanilla. Almost but not as good as Perky.
• DR THUNDER - Tried and ok. Not a loser, but not a winner. 

ONLY IF YOU HAVE TO

• DR BOB - bland, watery, better the second sip but still not good. Malpractice comes to mind

JUST DONT: 

• DR. POPZ prebiotic soda from Aldi (?) - Maybe shouldn’t have been invited, more kombucha than soda. Medicinal, artificial, thin. Suggested use: drain cleaning.

THIS IS REALLY A DIFFERENT THING ALTOGETHER

• Cheerwine. This one is not even trying to be a Dr. Pepper knockoff. Not sure how it slipped into the tasting. Good, but not in the DP family,.

Before his death from lung cancer at age 42 in 1978, John Cazale acted in five motion pictures, each of which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.  How many can you name?

Goal 2026.2 - Read the following books

SUMMARY - Of the 13 books:

• 3 Finished (Camus, Kafka, Bronte)
• 3 Started/Partially finished (Melville, Hesse, Cao Xueqqin)
• 3 Have text, not started (Cervantes, Akutagawa, Dostoyevsky)
• 4 Still needing to aquire the text (Yi Sang, Goethe, Dante, Homer)

1. Yi Sang - The Wings + Crow's Eye View << this one is still proving hard to source. I might have to settle for something else by him
2. Johann Wolfgang Goethe - Faust, a tragedy in two parts. Have a version in German, but that doesn't actually help. Will acquire it eventually. 
3. Miguel de Cervantes - The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha. Acquired but have not started. 
4. Ryunosuke Akutagawa - Hell Screen. Acquired but have not started. 
5. Albert Camus - The Stranger. DONE. I listened to it as an audiobook while driving and while crafting my dragon.
6. Cao Xueqin - Dream of the Red Chamber (also known as Story of the Stone). I have realized the version I'm attempting to read is 4 VOLUMES long. I've put a pin in it 75% through volume 1. 
7. Emily Bronte - Wuthering Heights. DONE. I read half then listened to the rest as an audiobook while driving and while crafting my dragon.
8. Herman Melville - Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. I've been starting and not finishing this book for years. It's my white whale, so to speak. So 45% done, again. Maybe this is the year.
9. Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Crime and Punishment. Acquired but have not started. 
10. Dante Alighieri - The Divine Comedy. Neither acquired nor started part 1: Inferno. I did read it as a teen many years ago. I did acquire (err, find in the museum that is my house) a version of part 2: Purgatorio. Also don't have part 3:  Paradiso
11. Hermann Hesse - Demian, the Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth 3/8th done. This is my current active read. Listening it as I drive, or do housework.
12. Homer - The Odyssey. Have not started. I have like 7 versions of this on my shelf, but not actually the translation I wish to read.
13. Franz Kafka - Metamorphosis. DONE (in 2025)

PS: I also recently read the 3-BODY PROBLEM by Liu Cixin. And MONK & ROBOT by Becky Chambers. Both recomended. 

Dito Van Reigersberg is no longer with us. 

This is definitely the worst timeline. 
Victor Fiorillo announced his passing on Facebook earlier today. I didn't know him personally, but anyone who has met him can tell you that simply being in the same room with him made you feel as though you were lighter and brighter. 
I saw him perform in Hedwig and The Angry Inch and several Pig Iron shows.

Dude. We are living in the dumbest timeline. 

(Image above is unrelated - just a crop of some artwork I recently did which will be showing up on my art blog soon...)

Most hotels these days have laundry facilities for their guests. Especially those designed for longer stays (ie - they have kitchenettes). It is remarkable how frequently most or all of the machines do not work.

Buuut, I'm staying in a brand new hotel. You can still smell the newness of the carpets in the room. THAT new. So I really didn't forsee a problem.

* I go to the laundry. See the signs that say the card readers aren't working (there don't seem to be any present) and that you have to use quarters. No problem - I have cash. It will take $5 to wash and dry one load (all I have for clothes - partly for this reason).

* I go to the front desk. She doesn't have quarters.

* Go to the minimart next door. They can only sell me $3 in quarters.

* Go to the Wendy's next to that. They sell me $2 more.

* Return to the hotel. Load the machine. Start putting in quarters and the coin slot jams. You have to be fucking kidding me. Load laundry into a different machine and use almost all of my remaining quarters to get it started. I can try to air dry? Maybe? Before my crazy early flight tomorrow? (I have visions of running through the San Jose airport in wet clothes. Lovely.)

* Talk to the front desk girl again. She manages to get the cleaning folks and maintenance folks to gather together their quarters to reimburse me for the lost quarters because they can't get into the machines - the manager has the key (of course they do).

So I'm good. Laundry is in the dryer now.

I would have made it work regardless. I've washed laundry in my bathroom sink and air dried it in the past. One advantage to keeping my AC on pretty much constantly is that my rooms never have any humidity in the air.

But really? I'm just annoyed that hotels offer a service, but then both allow shit to not work (they just pass the buck "it's a different company that offers... yadda yadda" AND then don't provide something so simple as quarters to utilize that service.

I know - first world problems. Also, why, Matt, didn't you just drive to do laundry elsewhere?

Because I don't have a car at the moment. So I could have jumped in a Lyft, but that's one expensive load of laundry!

In related news - I love the decor to this hotel (which is near Silicon Valley):

And lastly, one from my room (which I really like):

What monster attacked King Hrothgar's mead hall for twelve years?

Kenesaw Mountain Landis was the first person to hold what title of office?

What Italian physicist won a Nobel in 1938 and created the Chicago Pile-1 nuclear reactor?

What name is missing from this list:  Miller, Moceanu, Dawes, Chow, Phelps, Borden, _____?

Pots to the People - Check! Fun and we raised just over $1000

Big Ink printmaking -  Check! 3 large prints are now drying in my office and I'm trying to figure out how best to get them framed. I am so very very proud of myself!

DRAGON - THE LAST PROJECT TO RULE THEM ALL. (or at least last project standing) Working in it! If JoAnns was still in business, or if I could find my sewing supplies, I'd be much further along in making the dragon body. Instead I wait for amazon to drop off a new rolly cutter, and piece together scrap fabric for the body as I wait. And also designed some 3D printed feet for the dragon which will take forever to print and will not fit the first time. But that's how I roll.

No photos yet of Dragon, but soon, Soooon my pretties, sooon.

14 days ago I went glamping/camping/crafting at an event called Figment Alpha. There I ran the first test of my lifesized Tsuro "Game of Dragons" game. And started making 2 more papercrafted/paper mache dragon heads. The game test informed some improvements. The heads are still a work in progress. (also while there I finally learned how to progress from a chain to the next step in crochet. That step took both 20 minutes and 50 years to learn.)

TOMORROW I have a fundraiser at the local beer garden. It's called Pots to the People, where we offer $35 handmade pottery items that come with a complementary drink ticket. We have 67 "pots" of various shapes & sizes. Funds raised support my non-profit Dover art league. I'm anxious but we're ready to rock it. I have 4 volunteers to help man the station! Also, the league is so fortunate to have on staff someone who translates my sketches/ideas to fabulous fliers. Check out this fab "power to the people" riff

The DAY AFTER TOMORROW I will be at the Delaware Contemporary Museum to print my first woodcarved block. Before then I need to sand and brush the board, but everytime I go to do that I start carving a bit more. I'm pretty sure the border isn't carved deep enough, but we shall find out Sunday! My ex is looking after my kid as I spend the day printing. I can't think of a better way to spend mother's day!

Loaner cat for scale. Also, shag carpet is great for hiding wood carving curls & scraps.

12 Days(ish) from now I go camping with 1200 of my best hippie friends. This is where we will play Human Sized Tsuro for real - I have it on the schedule for 1 or 2 hours every day. For that I am making a 10+ foot long dragon as decoration. It is SO NOT DONE. I so want to be spending all my time working on it but (see above) this weekend is already spoken for. Next Tuesday I'm working an election from 6AM-9PM. Today, and next Friday and Saturday I work my museum job. Arrrrgh, I just want to focus on Dragon! It is so not done that I don't even have photos. Le sigh, art life is stressful. But also wonderful and it keeps me busy,