After falling asleep listen to a classic rock station, I woke up when The Wings “Band On The Run” was playing.
Much to my surprise I was wearing bell bottom jeans and a polyester shirt festooned with Hot Air Balloons. My first thought was “I wonder what year it is?”
I guessed my clothes put me in the early 70’s.
Nineteen seventies that is. You never know, I know a lot of wise asses.
Apparently I had no control of the fashion choices when I awoke from a virtual reality dream.
Did the fact that I was listening to a classic rock song from the seventies condemned me to waking up in any fashion from that year?
It certainly appeared so.
1970s fashion was not considered good. To be honest it stunk. Hundreds of years from now they will look at archive pictures and think we didn’t have the necessary tools to create anything that looked better. The bell bottoms were not a bad fashion choice, the polyester balloon festooned shirt made up for that. It could have been worse , leisure suits were also in vogue at the time. To be honest they never really should have been.
I don’t know why this happens , yes it’s happened more than once. Perhaps I get a bit lost in the nastalgia of the time. Either way its one of the dangers I face when listening to the music of my youth which is why I avoid it when I can. Perhaps Im worried of waking up in a powder blue leisure suit, don’t ask.
It could be that I made too many mistakes in the past, including owning a leisure suit and I don’t need to be reminded of them. That is a possibility but I’m not admitting to anything. Does this sound too fantastic to be believed? Well I’m getting older and closer to making up shit. Perhaps I’m already there.
The “Anti” Culture (Old Guy Ranting Against Old Guys Ranting)
You have now re-entered Jr High School. Welcome to the anti movement. All of your relationships and “coping” mechanisms have now been replaced by those of 13-17 year olds.
WTH? It’s as if the entire country has regressed to junior high school and playing out the same old juvenile tropes of yesterday.
We’ve become anti science, anti love and anti social period.
It’s like the jocks picking on the geeks and the popular kids are left to decide which side they fall on.
Never have so many people proudly declared they are
anti all good things..
I’m not sure they care what exactly they are against just so long as they are against something positive. Every once in a while they wake up and realize that what they are against are their own interests. That kind of epiphany is rare and often occurs without any witnesses. If no one saw them wake up are they really awake or are they still sleeping?
Wake up? Woke? Anti-Woke. Yes they are now against sudden revelations that point out that people were being asshats, assclowns or some other form of derrière and that it would probably be good to start working on a little self improvement. How dare people wake up to the reality that they have been ass ______(fill-in-the-blank).
The term “woke” is now being uttered derisively to illustrate that they are not part of a movement who gives a crap about whatever the woke folks are giving a crap about. This sounds perfectly understandable. Understandable that is if you are in Jr. High School.
Just make sure you sit with the proper group at lunch time.
Sometimes Its Just a Letter
This is America and we are a melting pot.
As such we are home to a multitude of beliefs systems.
Personal beliefs systems sometimes befuddle me.
I am intrigued by them and as long as no one is getting hurt, I try to respect them. When it comes to conspiracy theories however they set off my bogus alarm. Yours should go off also.
I am reminded of a conversation the conspiracy boys had about a past effort to create a conspiracy based on a letter. I believe it was a conspiracy to boost the number of words that begin with the letter Q.
Something fun and relatively harmless.
We join our boys in mid conspiracy discussion.
“The letter q doesn’t get the respect it deserves. It’s a versatile and powerful letter unduly hampered by and tied to the letter “u”. Heck even the pronunciation contains the letter “u”,” stated the bearded one.
“So what do you propose we do about it?”, asked Mr. Panama.
“We come up with new words beginning with q but not supported by an adjacent u”, replied the bearded one.
“Just like that?,” uttered the bar tender.
“Sure, new words are added to the dictionary every day so why not?”, asked the bearded one.
“Yes but the words added to a dictionary are words or terms that have been in use by a large number of people for some time,” offered Mr Panama.
“That’s true but I don’t expect immediate gratification and I think it could keep a lot of people occupied and out of trouble,” replied the bearded one.
“In fact people that do this can be called “querons”, added the bartender.
“Um, we’ll think about that one replied the bearded one.”
You may wonder what became of that little conspiracy, or you may not its just a letter.
According to the Bearded one ,“We realized we would have to involve a lot more people to get new words adopted. In addition the amount of time to do that would be prohibitive.”
We couldn’t see tens of thousands of people wasting much of their time for the sake of a letter.”
Yea, definitely a complete waste of time. I’ve got a paper clip collection that I need to get started.
Where it all began…
Brewing The Perfect Conspiracy Theory
Notes of Future Past (writers block)
I’ve decided that I need to be more regular in updating my blog and as such I am harvesting some ideas from older notes for a few of my latest blog posts.
My current dilemma is what most people call writers block but I tend to be a bit dramatic so I like to refer to it as “the proverbial brick wall.” It has a nice combination of legend and pain.
One would think that a pandemic in which you are forced to restrict all physical contact with everyone would be perfect for getting some writing done. One could think this but one would be wrong.
Writing during a pandemic has been near impossible for me to do without being affected by any emotion associated with the pandemic.
Consider the cliche and somewhat comedic, “It was a dark and stormy night.” During a pandemic a “dark and stormy night” is a walk in the park and does not achieve what the writer intended to create , a foreboding atmosphere. To truly capture the feeling of impending doom, the cliche would have to be modified such that the walk in the park turned into a dark and stormy walk in central park, during a recession. Maybe I’ve seen “The Warriors” too many times.
For me, an extended visit to writers block land can usually be broken up by a trip to Vegas. In Vegas there are way too many “What the hell did I just see?” moments to not have any ideas to write about.
In the middle of a pandemic a trip to Vegas doesn’t strike me as a good idea. Don’t give me any “cancel culture” bull. I have a compromised immune system and Ive been a science geek all of my life. If you find yourself using the term cancel culture regularly you might want to retrace your steps back to Jr. High School and find out where you lost your common sense.
In lieu of a trip to Vegas the internet is a good place to break through the proverbial brick wall. Just don’t believe everything you read.
Which is a great way to get writing ideas. Prefacing anything you read with the phrase “what if this were true” is a great way to generate story ideas. Of course if it is true you may be just sewing seeds for disinformation and conspiracy theories. If you can’t tell the difference between fact and fiction and you have performed exhaustive searches through “snopes.com”, “factcheck.org” and “politifact.com” then you should move on to something that is obviously as true as “the world is round”. If you have doubts even about that then for god sake stay off of the internet.
Playing for Pharmaceuticals
In the back offices of “Win a Medical Procedure”, the network accountant, Ted Minutia was working on more budget driven changes to the popular game show when the show’s host Wink Atyalawya strolled in with confidence befitting a, well befitting a game show host.
“You seem to be working feverishly Ted. What changes are brewing,” asked Wink.
“Well I’m trying to incorporate pharmaceuticals into our game show prizes but it’s like trying to hit a moving target.”
“I told you that was a fast path to a sanitarium visit.”
“Yea, I took that as a challenge. I mean how bad could a sanitarium visit be?”
“I have no clue but after the last two and a half years it sounds inviting. Maybe we should look into offering one in our prize packages. I am certainly not the only person needing one to be sure. “
“That’s a good idea sir. I may have to go on a fact finding mission to one soon.”
“Well complete the changes you’re working on first. In case you find facts you like and decide not to come back.”
“Yea , um , ok.”
“Have you come up with a workable solution to fit pharmaceuticals into our budget?”
“Workable is a very subjective term. We would either have to sign up 40 more sponsors or five or six really benevolent ones.”
“You mean a few that think we are a charitable organization?”
“Yes. That’s about right.”
“For the moment let’s just assume that is not possible, let alone legal. What about the additional 40 sponsors. Is that manageable?”
“Manageable is another subjective term. Is it manageable to cut down the current 23 minutes of show into 15 minutes so we could squeeze the additional commercials into the show?”
“Manageable yes, reasonable no. We are already rushing to award two winners in the allotted time. We could only award one and be a fraction into the second before having to break for the day.”
“Well it could be a cliff hanger.”
“Hmm and with medical care on the line that would really be riveting.”
“Since the weeks shows are all filmed in a day back to back it would only seem life threatening to the viewer. “
“That’s right so no additional risk. Sweet.”
“But will the viewer tune in for a shortened show?”
“Oh I think they will be just as entertained finding out the side affects for various pharmaceuticals if not more than the show.”
“Brilliant! Lets do it,” declared Wink.
Win A Medical Procedure
In an office near the studios of the game show “Win Your Medical Procedures” the network accountant enters the office of host Wink Atyolawyer.
“Wink, we’ve had some changes to our budget that is going to affect our prizes.”
“How so?”
“We can’t give away organ transplants anymore.”
“That’s Ok, we weren’t giving too many of those away anyway.”
“There is another change.?”
“Ok and that is?”
“We have to cut down on the number of MRI’s we give away.
We need to remove them from 60% of our prize packages.
The cost for those are edging into the stratosphere.”
“Thats not good, contestants were counting on those.”
“Well we are working on a replacement option involving cheap plane tickets.”
“To the Mayo Clinic?”
“Oh no, we couldn’t afford that but the destination doesn’t matter. What matters is that they go through the latest security scanners at the airport. We’re working with TSA to capture the data and send it to a doctor we’ll contract for review.”
“But medical costs are always increasing. How do we sustain the show?”
“Well with these changes we can make it to the end of the year but for next year we are going to have to pickup a few more sponsors.”
“How many is a few? “
“Twenty Five.”
“How many do we have now?”
Looking at his watch the account said “At this moment, 50.”
“Geez, we have to increase by 50%. Can we find that many?”
“That’s a good question. We already have all of the major health insurance carriers on board.”
“I hate to be captain obvious here but shouldn’t the insurance carriers not spend that money and pass on the savings to the insured?”
“You mean lower their bills?”
“Yes.”
“LOL, Good one sir.”
Mother’s Day
Amidst the chaos and doom and gloom of the last couple of years my mother has been her usual indomitable self. She continues to refuse to let the world get to her. She still strives to be compassionate to her fellow man. To me this is nothing short of saint like.
This may come as a surprise to many of you, alright probably none of you but my outlook on mankind is a bit cynical. I look at the world and see it as half empty with the other half being full of greedy self centered morons. If I had a lawn I would be outside right now yelling at people to get off of it. My mother on the other hand sees the world as being half full with the other half being the potential for the goodness of man.
No matter how disappointed and disillusioned I’ve become I am motivated to emulate her example It’s difficult but what choice do I have. If she can continue to be optimistic amidst the modern strife and chaos that surrounds us then there is no excuse for me to continue to be as cynical as I am.
Thank you again Mom for showing me how a life should be lived.
Happy Mother’s Day.
Two Roads Diverged in A Yellow Wood and I took Both*
Traveling through the woods on a cold winters night I came to a fork in the road and I pondered which to take. The left was bare and devoid of growth while the right was overgrown with everything that is green. The right would be slow going but looked more inviting. Before choosing, the sounds of one man grumbling ambled along the left road.
When the man appeared around the bend I blinked several times and rubbed my eyes. He looked like me. So much so that he could be more than a doppelgänger and close to an exact copy. Without a mirror I could not say what was different other than the clothes and perhaps a few years. He noticed me and he stopped, barely did a double take and stated “Well I’d avoid this road if I were you.”
“Why is that? Lions and Tigers and Bears?”
“Cute. No, it can change a person. Not all people but it certainly changed me and you are probably susceptible.”
“Did you grow a third nipple?”
“Ha, yea I like that 3rd nipple bit also but no it was more on a personality level. It was as if Machiavelli possessed me.“
“How so?”
“I took life way too seriously. I sought power in many parts of my life. At some point I decided I had as much power as people thought I had.”
“And that is a bad thing?”
“It is if it transforms you into something you’re not.”
“So you became an ass!^#%”
“Well this blog is for the general population so no I became an ass-hat.”
“What about ass-clown?”
“No, ass-clown is not as serious. It implies some levity and accidental “assery.””
“Nice alliteration, could be a band name.”
The man didn’t blink.
“Definitely sounds machiavellian. Did it work?” I asked.
“Yes but not without consequences.”
“What were those?”
“People began to call me an ass-hat behind my back.”
“Why was that?
“Because that was what I had become.”
“So what brings you here.”
“I decided I needed to change my ways and a relocation will cement that thought into my psyche.”
“Good luck,” I said as the man headed down the road to the right.”
“Thank you son , choose wisely,” he shouted over his shoulder.
I pondered his parting words but I had already chosen.
His cautionary tail had rang true and I turned to the right.
*My apologies to Robert Frost.
Happy Birthday Dad
Dad has been gone for 26 years but it seems like yesterday. Today was his birthday. I still miss him. This is one of my favorite blog posts about him.
Mean People Suck (Don’t Be an Asshat)
I had a brand new post about reading literacy and the dumbing down of the US. As I was polishing it up I realized it came across as elitist. The one goal in my life that I continue to pursue is the goal of not being an assHat. In the spirit of that I have set that post aside for rewriting and posting at a later time. It seems appropriate at this time that I repost a previous entry about not being an assHat. Enjoy