Kristine Joy, Writer

To Whom It May Concern and FWIW,*

• I need for the The Weather Channel App to suggest that I BE A FORCE OF NATURE when I open the app. I’ll do my best 🫡 short of being a force of nature that causes destruction to myself or anyone else.

• I need for my Dad needing help hanging deck lights (overhead), and carrying and spreading bag after bag of mulch to not immediately follow a morning 💪 day push workout. 🥵 
  • And for the air quality during our outdoor work to not be severely compromised by the wildfires in Canada.
    • More importantly, I need for Canada, for Canada, not to be having wildfires.

• I need for my daughter and her boyfriend to offer to go to the grocery store, pick up ingredients for a chicken and rice dinner, cook the aforementioned dinner, eat dinner with us, and then clean up dishes.
  • I need to know if there is also change in our air that differs from the change in our air caused by wildfires?!?

• I need a schedule to follow for posting content on this website. So….Let’s Make It Happening (thank you Tony Beets):
  • Monday Morning Coach – I need to create the Coach part of this website before this can happen.
  • Idealist Tuesday – Weekly The Idealist post (like this one).
  • Wednesday Wellness – Weekly blog post highlighting my pursuit of well-being.
  • Inspiration Thursday?
  • Freaky Friday – The last Friday of each month, I will post a K.J. Off the Record short story.

• I needed to get asked if I was of age to drink IN MEXICO at age 44 while carrying cans of tonic water.
  • In his defense, he thought I was carrying Pacifico (see slider) AND it’s not that much of a stretch between my 20 year old and 44 year old self….IF YOU SMOOTH SOME OF THE WRINKLES.

• I needed to see only 1 CAR and 1 PERSON on a 5 mile run before 7 AM. #peaceful
  • I needed for that one person to not be the husband of a friend out half walking the dog and wholly consumed by their phone at 6:12 AM on a Sunday morning. #maybeshadyGrady (<– name changed to protect his identity and because Grady rhymes with maybe and shady and his name doesn’t)
    • I need to mind my own business.

• I need for my husband to ask me, “Why does our Tupperware drawer seem to reproduce? It’s already a math puzzle,” because he made me laugh, but not because he made me realize that I need to add Declutter the Tupperware Drawer to my To Do List.

• I need for pug Scout to not protest me being gone by shi++ing in the house. To anyone and everyone who has ever helped to watch our dogs and/or house, I promise that he is house trained and need to apologize that we/he left/leaves the little sh!t/sh!t behind.

• Per childhood superstition, I still feel a need to hold my breath when driving by cemeteries for actual fear that I’ll end up in a cemetery if I don’t hold my breath?!?
  • When I was 12, I needed for my best friend’s Dad to not create havoc by pulling into the main entrance of a cemetery as my best friend and I were attempting to hold our breath until we were safely past the cemetery. When/if I die an early death, I blame Bill.

• I need for the average height of the shower head in hotels to not be progressing upward. I need to know if anyone else has noticed this?
  • At 5’3.75”, I have found myself needing to balance on the sides of the tubs in order to change the shower head flow setting and/or be close enough to the shower head for the water to actually wash shampoo and conditioner out of my hair and I doubt that this is what the hotel legal team had in mind when deciding to raise their shower heads to accommodate their apparently frequent sleepers that are of NBA height.

• I needed for my daughter’s response to a situation to lead to this response from my husband, “Good thinking Kris Jr.” And we needed for my daughter to not have heard his comment because she surely would have been offended despite the fact that it was 100% a compliment for her to have acted as I would have in said situation.

• I needed to come across this video years ago, of Jeff Gordon undercover test driving a Camaro, because it has made me laugh quite a few times since.

I appreciate your readership. I need the validation as writer; if there is a like or heart icon for you to depress, I’d most appreciate the support!

Sincerely,

K.J. Sculling

* The content is presented as “needs”, and some of them may front a harsh reality that evoke strong emotions. Others are expressed in pure jest to entertain myself (and maybe you?!?). Ultimately, the notion that we all live in a more idyllic world is at the core and not actual need. Life can be tough; regardless of your own circumstances, please keep up the fight because life can also be grand! The idea of ‘I Need…’ stemmed from my thought process while sitting at a red light listening to the song, Alright by Darius Rucker, on the radio (you can read the original ‘Idealist’ post here and all ‘Idealist’ posts here). If you’re inspired to submit your own ‘Idealist’ “needs” for future reader write-in posts, I’d love to hear from you via this form.