Hello and welcome back to JackJams, the only parent-ish, music-sorta newsletter posted on a bi-weekly, tri-monthly, only-when-mercury-is-rising schedule (unless I’m just not feeling it).

Truth is, I write when something feels like it’s worth writing about. Being a “writer by trade” for like 15 years means I often don’t have the luxury of writing when I feel like it. Thus, our current non-existent schedule. Bad for raking in subscribers, but good in the sense that I don’t feel like I’m clogging inboxes for the sake of it.

As always (always? who knows at this point), here’s our playlist in its current form.

In today’s issue

-Don’t let me make any important decisions

-Some rapid-fire TV recommendations

-Selling yourself

“The Thong Song” is a love song.

One thing I wonder about working from home is how it will affect our children’s view of “going to the office.” Jack, for instance, found our rusty old home laptop and has declared it his work computer. Some mornings, we have to tell him it’s too early to work or it’s the weekend and we don’t work. He understands a meeting as something where Mommy or Daddy might need to put on headphones. As far as he is concerned, all of our coworkers live in the computer. When his mother goes to the city one day of the week to keep up appearances and tick a box, we’re pretty sure he only thinks she is traveling to bring him back a treat.

That being said, the only thing Jack ever does on his computer is watch Reagan and I’s wedding slide show. It’s a completely normal slideshow in pretty much every way. There are baby pics, awkward teenage pics, lots of long-dead animals, a bunch of brown carpets, pics of Reagan and I on trips/at restaurants/being silly/being skinny/having fun, and oh yeah, there’s “The Thong Song.”

Dear readers, I don’t have to tell you that weddings come with a lot of decisions. And I also don’t have to tell you that I was not allowed to make many of them (not because of outdated gender dynamics, but just because I am a deeply unserious person who is incapable of just “doing something”).

But one thing I did get to decide, amazingly, was the music for our slideshow. Reagan’s section was set to “Sorry” by Justin Bieber. A great song, and I believe it has one of the best music videos of the last decade.

Strange, maybe, but not offensive (like my Reagan). Then, it was my baby section. And I did the only thing I knew I could do in my heart, and chose Sisqo’s “The Thong Song,” an ode to the power of women and their butts. Picture me on a tricycle and this in the background. (Don’t skip the skit at the beginning, fyi.)

Yes, all 3 of my living grandparents were there. Yes, people were crying AND shaking their heads. No, Jack hasn’t asked what a thong is yet despite hearing this song approximately 500 times.

But I had one more decision to make. What to play when it was the Reagan AND Blake section. The choice, to me and only me, was clear: “Just the Two of Us” by Will Smith. By the title alone, you would think I did the heroic thing and picked a normal love song. Oh no.

This is a love song to Will Smith’s son, Jaden. The opening lyrics are: “From the first time the doctor placed you in my arms / I knew I’d meet death before I let you meet harm.” It was very fun for me to watch the realization dawn on our the audience’s faces that this was not the Bill Withers love song, and instead a completely bananas re-imagining about a dad trying to figure out how to put his kid in a car seat.

Looking back it’s sort of fitting because we ended up having a son, but at the time I think people were ready to move on to the evening’s next phase. I tell this story not only to highlight my stupidity, but also to show the different ways that love manifests. Reagan let me do this because she knew how happy it would make me. My friends and family tolerated it because they’ve been doing so my whole life. It was incredibly special to be in an environment where two different men could sing love songs to butts and their offspring and everyone was just like, “Ok, cool.” There aren’t many moments where you know you’re lucky in real time. That night was one of those instances, and now that Jack watches this weekly, I get to feel that love all over again. At least until Jack asks to buy his first thong.

TV time.

Been a hot minute so here’s what we’ve been watching.

1.) Bad Monkey on AppleTV+: Vince Vaughn, the Florida Keys, a one-armed bandit, and an ugly yellow house. It’s a crime show from the guy who made Scrubs and it feels exactly like that.

2.) Only Murders in the Building on Hulu: Hard to do this for four seasons, but they make it look easy. Got some actors playing “versions” of themselves which is always fun and Kumail Nanjiani as a Christmas-themed fitness influencer who hates Christmas.

3.) The Perfect Couple on Netflix: Would watch this again for the title sequence alone. We’re clearly on a crime/murder show spree, but this one in Nantucket with Nicole Kidman and a very sexy Liev Schreiber is so silly and pretty to watch.

4.) Agatha All Along on Disney+: Only two episodes in but I think I’ll stick with it. Kathryn Hahn plays this 400 year old witch timelessly and the new characters are very well cast. Love a little light horror this time of year.

Let’s talk about me.

As mentioned in an earlier issue, I’m unfortunately about to be back on the job market. That means I’ve started interviewing. It’s probably one of the most love/hate things we ever have to do. It’s exhilarating and exhausting, fun and incredibly tedious, cool and so embarrassing.

If you also find yourself in this position, remember that you ultimately have the power of choice. It feels like it’s in the other person’s hands, but their perception of you is up to, well, you. Go in there and tell your story. Double down on the things that make you unique. Don’t censor yourself because of what you think they want to hear.

They offer you the job, but you have to accept it. More than that, you have to WANT it. And if my little wedding slideshow story has taught me anything, finding and sticking with the people who want to know the real you will always be a good decision.

See you next week (but probably not).

BLAKE