What They Need to Do

Writing about not reading leans a bit in the direction of irony.  Hypocrisy might be a little more accurate.  Both would be completely true if what's written is always intended to be read.  It's not, though.

Sometimes sanity demands certain phrases be recorded with no requirement they ever be read.  Maybe they make sense; maybe they don't.  Doesn't matter; they do what they need to do.

Morning Memorial and Hammer-On Heroism

Coffee drinking ongoing.  Been up and stirring for a few hours.  A little book-keeping action, but nothing really constructive being accomplished.

Cricket plays on the telly.  Obscure sports are entertaining in a passive kind of way.  The USFL's Birmingham Stallions extended their streak to 7-0, yesterday, on the same TV.

Unlike most American sports, Cricket has multiple, significant variations in game length.  Sure, there are differences between high school, college and professional sports in the USA, but Cricket can vary between an hour long game, and multiple days for a test match.

Probably should be watching something more 'Merican on Memorial Day.  

...

Just put on some rock-n-roll.  That'll do.

The Melvins do everything better.  Until they don't.  Makes me feel heroic.

Reading Time to Forget

The older I get, the sooner things fade from my memory.  It should probably be a concerning sign that my memory is getting bad.  In some ways, though, it promises to be a relief.

I can't remember the last book I finished reading.  After high speed internet allowed for streaming, all manner of subjects could be fed to my mind with little effort.  Books began to fall off the radar.  

In spite of this, several books managed to grab these old eyes in the last few years.  I don't believe I've finished one in at least five, though.  One will avail itself, on occasion, with a bookmark tucked somewhere near the middle, sometimes near the start.  

Books aren't my issue.  They've just been a way for me to avoid thinking about things that bother me.  Reading used to help with that.

Clearing your head becomes so much easier when time does it for you.  I'm in trouble, now.  They haven't made enough time.

Two Windows

Another cup of coffee seems in order.  This one threatens to be gone, soon, and not enough remains to sate.  Even slow-motion sipping can't stretch it out enough.

Every once in a while, curiosity about what's out there reaches fever.  Too much sitting at home, alone, with access to the internet's window on everything else, makes here and now seem too familiar.  When the world calms down, again, which it always does, wanderlust might win.

Yeah, I'm watching the world light up through the window, while video of the other side of the globe glows on the TV.  I'm grateful to have both views.  It's always possible to walk outside and touch what's here, though.

Out in the Heat

Inside feels cool.  Maybe outside isn't as hot as it was, earlier.  If a breeze was blowing, it felt nice... but mostly it was just blazing hot.  

Sunshine warms for a while.  Soon, though, it burns.  You can't hide from the light forever, but get too much and you'll find yourself in pain.

I See a Line of Cars...

I got behind a funeral procession on my way home from work, today.  There was a line of cars in the left lane as I pulled out onto the highway.  When I looked over, I noticed the lead vehicle was a hearse, followed by dozens of vehicles with their flashers on.  I pulled over on the right shoulder to let the procession pass and wound up behind it.  What a fitting way to end the week.

Make Time for Other Things

It's always later than you think.  Friday begins, soon.  I think it's for real, this time.

Not like the weekend's going to mean anything.  There's too much to do.  A lot remains to be caught up.  

Gotta make time for other things.

Pie and Goodnight

Power flickers as a storm rages.  Finish this post up ASAP, or it may have to wait.  Spectrum has a way of staying off all night, if you lose it.

Buttermilk pie sits on the ottoman...

Several bites later...

Okay, that's the last distraction. 

*takes another bite*

Lightning flashes in the window.  Several seconds later, thunder rolls.  I take another bite of pie.

Well, I guess it's goodnight, then.

How to Hide in Plain Sight

Code creeps into everything when the realization takes hold that everything contains sets of instructions.  Three dimensions hold the present and tangible.  Pasted onto the fourth, other code stretches as far as time can find passage.  

My mind lives in a Potemkin Village.  Yours flies in an airplane built by a cargo cult.  My level of sophistication lies in the briny deep, where pallet-planes will eventually find themselves.

Laugh as much as you can.  Mock the fates while you've the chance; they're going to get the best of all of us.  Slap 'em around while you have the strength.

Intuit what you want to believe.  Make that voice in your head say what you want it to say.  Celebrate alone, inside.

Against All Odds

The odds against you being where you are right now are astronomical.  It's about infinity:1.  Still, here you are.

Worry about being anywhere else on this little blue spot wastes precious time.  If you enjoy where you are, or have ever enjoyed where you've been, you've already won.  Even the chances you'd be born were almost nil.  Unless your life has been nothing but torture, you've beaten the odds.

Give In a Little

People who have it all figured out are confounding.  Even if it's not a conundrum, it causes one.  Live and learn.  

Anyway, there'll be more.  Except that more isn't always more.  Sometimes more is less.

Finite Music

Outside makes its own music.  Creatures, wind and distant activities of the unseen write their own score.  Invisible sheet music fills staff and bar with notes.

This stuff only exists because of air.  No air, no music.  Where the air ends, so do sound waves, as does music.  Most of the universe is, therefore, silent.  

That's depressing.

Here on Earth, though, everything makes noise. Strange sounds fill the air everywhere.  It's music to someone or something.  

The world will end, at some point.  There may never be music anywhere, ever again.  Enjoy it before it's gone.

Unnecessary

Necessities, they call them.  Food and shelter.  That's pretty much all you need.

Everything else is icing.  Maybe not frivolous, but, by definition, unnecessary.  You'll live without them.

Getting the necessities once required a steeper toll.  Times change, and prices with them.  Now, although basic food and shelter are almost free, we unnecessarily perform self-flagellation to satisfy the ritual requirement. 

Up Yonder

Flipped on the TV for a second to find something boring enough to fall asleep watching.  I'm now watching the second attempt at launching a 'Starliner' by Boeing.  Well, it's technically the second launch, but attempting the first successful rendezvous of the ship with the ISS.  

I seem to remember watching a previous attempt spin out of control.

The idea of space travel is so cool.  Practically, it's not that easy.  If things go wrong, survivability is nonexistent.  Still, breaking out of the grasp of terrestrial Earth is an amazing concept.

Hard Rock

Epic waves work their way into sunny shores.  Sand shifts and new coasts are drawn.  Rains come and wash debris out to sea.

Even the hardest rocks erode under the sands of time, anyway.  That's lame.  They should've been harder.

Good Earworms

Music in your head isn't always a bad thing.  When the cuckoo clocks get their gears in a bind and start squawking all the time, you can just crank up the volume of the mental music to drown it all out.  Sometimes it sounds like Donald Fagen, other times it's Phil Anselmo.  Either way, it's a good thing when you need it.

Ear Pyre

The Doors just started singing in my head.  Sleep deprivation can do that.  I think it earwormed its way in... something about lighting fires.  You know the words.  So does the disembodied Jim Morrison voice caterwauling in my brain.

Grumpy Head

My biorhythm must be in the cellar.  The world seems to be a little angry with me, this morning.  That's okay, I'll pretend it still loves me, anyway.  You only hurt the ones you love, right?

Sound Wave Therapy

Gotta have some music, soon.  Crazy brains jump around, trying to simulate the sensation.  Prerecorded isn't the same.

Honestly, it doesn't matter what kind.  It just has to be live and played with these hands.  Uncertain frustrations need to be alleviated.

Playlist

Playlists change.  They evolve.  Even favorites fall off.  

New lists find new sounds.  Over and over they do it.  Then, they become old lists. 

Finally, the old favorites make a comeback.

War is Inevitable with Government

Governments are evil.  They're an evil we allow to exist for our mutual protection.   Checks and balances are necessary to keep government from overpowering those it's designed to protect.  When those limitations fail, a government will inevitably kill it's own constituents.

These are not new facts; they've been known for centuries, at the very least.  Still, there are those for whom these facts are a brand new concept.  Every generation must learn this through education, or learn it the hard way.  If it's the hard way, centuries of knowledge may be lost.

Night Owling

For the better part of 40 years I was a night-owl.  Somewhere around my mid-forties, 5am told me it was time to get up, and 8pm started to tell me it was time for bed.  Having to stay up and do things became "nostalgic."

For several years, in my late teens and early twenties, I worked the graveyard shift at a radio station.  Every night... 7 nights a week, 52 weeks a year, I was there.  I loved it.  Not so much for the pay... that wasn't so lovable.  There's something about working in the night air, peace and quiet, that made the time seem to pass more quickly.

That was 30 years ago.  Ouch.  Still like doing stuff at night, even though my body doesn't like staying up as much as it once did.  "Like" might be too strong a word... Don't mind once in a while... If I have to do it.

In the Weeds

Romania and Malta played a cricket match, earlier today.  Watching the replay, for absolutely no good reason, I was reminded of playing baseball as a kid.  When the first ball was knocked out for 6 (basically the equivalent of knocking one out of the park in baseball) the fielder had to go out in the weeds to retrieve the ball.

I laughed out loud.  He had to wade out there and look for the ball.  It wasn't a bad looking place.  As a matter of fact, the weeds almost looked cultivated on the exclusive Malta field.  Still, it was brown, dead-looking weeds that an international athlete had to wade through to get a ball to put it back in play.

Just after that happened, another ball was hit into the country club parking lot.  No one flinched.  Hope everyone has their Ferrari insured.

Rough Road

Stop listening to me.  Oh... you already have.  That's good.

The road in front of my house has recently been scraped in preparation for resurfacing.  Instead of asphalt, it's now a rough, slag surface.  Doing the 65mph speed limit vibrates your teeth.

Westbound lanes have already been resurfaced with brand-new, black asphalt.  Coming home is a smooth ride.  Heading eastbound almost sounds like a record needle run to the center.  It feels like the vehicle is a record needle run to the end of the record, too, skipping back to the continuous loop of static.

Delivery

DoorDash delivers to my house, now.  They'll get food, and stop by the store and pick up any items you need on the way.  I never have to leave home for anything other than going to work.  

Okay, that's an exaggeration.  There's plenty of other things I need to leave the house to do...  Right?  I also have to take the garbage to the dump, and get gas for the mower and lawn implements...

That's pretty much it, though.  Hmm.  The world may never see me again.

Pretty Out

Outside is nice...  Too nice.  It makes it hard to come up with reasons to be indoors.  It makes it difficult to defend the idea that staying sequestered inside is acceptable.

Routine is comfortable, but kills.  Go outside and take a deep breath, even if it makes you sneeze.  Do something outside.  Work up a sweat and feel the breeze on your skin.

Fate doesn't know how to make anyone happy.  To change it necessarily means fighting.  So what if a little pollen attacks?  Fight back.  You'll win.

Today is Mother's Day.  Look at some flowers.  Smell them.  Take control and enjoy yourself.

Blackberries are Back

No, not the wireless gadget... the plump, juicy berries.  Dozens of blackberry briars fell victim to the blade, today...  The rotating one on my mower, that is. It's probably painted with berry slurry.

They're everywhere.  Maybe the mild winter brought them on.  All along the edge of the yard and woods they reach out with their thorny vines to claw at passersby. 

They've even wound their way up into the hedges in front of the house.  A large berry greeted me, earlier this week, when I peeked out the front window.  It was hanging right at eye level.  

They're plotting something.

Critter on the Roof

Something was dancing in the rain on the roof of my house, this morning.  It was bounding around.  I could hear it.  That kind of thing would seem a bit creepy to some folks.  

Yeah, it was a bit creepy.  

Rain was pouring so hard that I didn't go look.  I opened the back door, thinking it might've been the cat on the roof.  If he's ever up there, he'll jump down when he hears the door open and run in the house.

Nothing climbed down.  That was a bit unsettling.  There was no way I was going out in the rain to look.

Even more unsettling was the fact I could hear it following me around the house.  When nothing came to the door, I realized that it wasn't the cat.  Then, I could hear it follow me back to my bedroom.  

When I went to the kitchen, it loped along, tha-thump, tha-thump, tha-thump, right above my head.

It was so loud, I began to wonder if something was in the attic.  The attic access was closed.  Still, I opened the heater closet door and looked up.  Having heard it run over to where I was now standing, looking up, I fully expected to see a cat or something looking down.

I almost wish something had been looking back at me, even if it was an unidentified creature.  I shined a light up there and saw nothing.  A reflection off of something would've made me feel better.

As I readied for work, I stopped paying attention to the thumping on the roof.  By the time I left the house, I'd forgotten.  I didn't even remember it was Friday.

Beautiful Air

A/C is underrated.  Yeah, I know, we didn't have it all the time back in the day.  Yeah, I know we remember surviving that.  

We don't have to suffer that now, though.  Give me air.  It's awesome to be able to sit on the couch in the cool.

Just got back from visiting with my 86 year old dad.  He keeps his house a bit warmer.  Someday, I will probably do the same.  Not today.

Power Meter Wanted

People need visible power meters.  Maybe not for everyone to see, but to tell, at a glance, how much energy you have in reserve...  Like the ones in video games.  That way, you're not just rolling along and suddenly, without any warning, crash.

It would then be possible to observe the things in life which drain you quickest.  You'd be able to discern how much time you could spend in certain situations or company and still have enough left for the rest of the day.  Before you get involved in something, you could shoot a look at your meter and say, "Nope, not enough left for that, today."

Too bad we don't have something like that.  We're left with vague feelings.  As it stands, crashing on the couch under a comfortable blanket will have to suffice.

What's Up?

Something's up.  There's a lot of news.  I trust none of it.  

The violent riots back in 2020, the lockdowns, the obvious disregard for public opinion... Slavs invading slavs... all these things lead to the conclusion of something being amiss.  Distraction after distraction pile up to disturbing obfuscations. 

It's no coincidence that impressionable kids have been plied with utopian socialist ideals.  They've worn shirts depicting bloody petty tyrants like 'Che'.  They drool over anything adorned with old communist symbols like the hammer and sickle.  None of this is accidental.

I don't see the angle, but there's just too much coincidence for there to be nothing.  Where smoke emanates, there's usually a heat source.  What that is isn't immediately apparent.  There's something there, though, no doubt.

Honeysuckle

Honeysuckle aroma overpowers my nose.  It smells so good, but my nose burns a little.  I know I'll pay for the pleasure.

I got a random offer to buy my property in north Dallas County in the mail, today.  At the last place I filled my truck up the guy filling up beside me offered to buy my truck.  While cutting my grass last, I got an offer to buy that place on Westwood Drive. 

Springtime must inspire the buying bug.  People keep wanting to give me money.  Maybe it's the honeysuckle.

The Need for The

Recent turmoil in Eastern Europe, specifically the Ukraine, has people talking about countries most of us don't normally mention.  An oddity I've noticed is that the definite article is often used, ie. THE Ukraine.  Some only say 'Ukraine', but many add the article.

The United States, the UK, and the United Arab Emirates are obvious.  Those nations are a conglomeration of regions or governments.  The Netherlands, the Czech Republic and the Sudan are pretty much the same, although they're smaller.

Using that argument, you'd think Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia would've been given articles, as well, when they existed.  I've seen the Czech Republic referred to as Czechia, so maybe the 'ia' suffix is akin to 'the' among eastern european languages.  If that were true, though, you'd expect the Ukraine to be 'Ukrainia'.  

The Philippines have it, but Japan doesn't, although both are island archipelagos.  Formerly Senegambia, you now have the nations of Senegal and the Gambia.  Adding 'The' to most nations feels like saying 'The' Ohio State University... unnatural and weird.  The Russia... The Germany... The France... The Spain... just odd.

Why this is, I don't know.  I'm not going to 'google' it.  There's probably an obscure linguistic reason that will make me regret it, anyway.

Cold Coffee and Allergens Rant #5150

An almost untouched mug of cold coffee decorated the coffee table, this morning.  It was good, last night.  Sleep overpowered it, though.  

On a weekday night, touching coffee after 10AM means a tough time getting to sleep.  Weekends, however, possess a characteristic that means trying to coffee up to stay up seems to have the opposite of the desired effect. Instead of being wired, the warm liquid seems to calm and sedate. 

There's something wrong with that.

There's also something wrong with the fact that it rained, yesterday, and simply opening the door lets in enough aromatic pollen to burn the nostrils.  Why didn't the rain wash away the allergens?  That's just not right.