Man that hits hard. Finding out the whole thing was basically a performance for our own guilt is such a gut punch.

Holy crap, 4 hours?! That wind would've made me toss my trowel.

Man I was exactly the same way, forward tilt felt natural so I never questioned it. Went years chasing that perfect stream and wondering why my castings had so many inclusions. Then one old timer grabbed my wrist and rotated it sideways mid pour, said watch the surface first. Changed everything, now I skim the top off every single time before the main pour starts. Its one of those things that seems backwards until you see the results side by side. Still kick myself for all those scrapped parts from something that simple.

Found $12 on an old STM card last month and felt like I won the lottery. Then I realized that's barely half a sandwich downtown, so basically I found a sad croissant. Transit cards are the only place where getting money back feels like a scam, like oh cool, I can finally afford one ride to somewhere I didn't even need to go. Still, $14 is better than the lint I usually find in my pockets, so nice score.

Man, that image of you standing there covered in dirt while she's laughing before she even sees you is too real. I had a similar moment with a hanging basket of pothos at a market once, the wire hook gave out and the whole thing swung into a guy's cooler of drinks. I spent the next ten minutes picking wet leaves off of cans of soda, and the dirt was still in the bottom of my tote for weeks. At least you got a trowel and a beer out of it, that's a win in my book.