10

Do you think you can ever trust a politician’s word?
When it’s preceded by a subtle ring knock on the nearest table, absolutely.
Yes, this isn’t what I was planning to finish today.  Well, that along with getting this virtualization host up.
Unfortunately, both are giving me fits, and my eyes aren’t cooperating at this point.
So, a bunch of podcasts, and not much to show for it.
I should also do this thing for a job opportunity, but there’s just no motivation there.
We’ll see if I can string together a bit more tomorrow, the 99th anniversary of the Armistice.
Tomorrow is free-write about “The War To End All Wars.”  Also, about the enduring failure that is the Wilson Administration.

11.9.17

Is there someone you know who likes to beat a dead horse? 
Yes, very much so.  I don’t think a day has gone by since the presidential election where I haven’t had to listen to how Trump is going to destroy the world.  It is so bad at this point that this person is starting to sever family ties because those people are Trump supporters.
I find it funny though, because this person does exactly what they claim the other person does, they are just doing it for a different team.  Somehow, that makes it okay.  No, ignorance is ignorance, it doesn’t matter what side you are on.  I can’t say anything remotely against the Democrats, because then I am supporting Trump (Funny, I didn’t vote for him and I don’t like or respect him).
It just gets to a point where you have to stop and ask yourself how to handle the situation, because they are completely brainwashed and you don’t want to sink to that level.
But, damn that is hard to do!
Until tomorrow…

9

The subject for this email is “Number Nine.”
Paul is dead.
Or not.
The two most-talented Beatles are, though.
Some will take that as something other than the truth, and think that me saying that is a conspiracy against them, individually.
Do you take things too personally?
No, not really. I have never gone out of my way to intentionally fuck with someone else, so I just assume that most people are like me.
Have there been times where I’ve done something discourteous?
Absolutely.
Did I ever do it just to be discourteous?
No.
Maybe I’m wrong to think that other people really don’t give a flying fuck about me. But, at the same time, I’ve never gone out of my way to intentionally make someone else’s life difficult.
If you have, you are the problem, okay?
I do understand that that’s partially a generational issue.
One of the common bits on one of the podcasts I listen to involves a theme of “It’s all about you.”
No, you self-centered twat, it’s not. Get the fuck over yourself.
Maybe that’s one of the things I don’t sample from the Millenials and Boomers.
Yes, you are unique, but that doesn’t mean that you’re special.
I know, minds blown.
You matter to people who love you. People who don’t love you couldn’t give two shits unless you’re bothering them.
*shrug*


Yeah, the above is kinda what I’d cobbled together earlier. I’m not sure how coherent it is. Maybe I’ll revisit it sometime later.
So for tomorrow: List 100 things that make you happy, no matter how small
So, yeah, I’m going to attempt that one since I’ll be home.

11.8.17

Have you ever had someone who had a big effect on your life die unexpectedly?
Yes, I have.  He was my English teacher from eleventh grade, Mr. Najara (I have no idea if I’m spelling his name right, it has been so long).  I found out he died through a friend on Facebook about two years after I graduated.  What upset me was that another friend was still in school and knew how important he was to me, but couldn’t be bothered to tell me about it.
I was so upset I called my boyfriend (future husband) at 3 am to tell him, and I was sobbing and could barely breathe.
Mr. Najara was just one of those crazy people who can keep you motivated.  His projects for the class were interesting and he would always tell us the corniest jokes and would always talk about how much spending time with his family meant.  It made him endearing and I was so excited to see him at graduation that he is the only teacher I hugged.
I still have papers of mine he graded, just because of the comments he wrote on them.  And I still miss him and wish I had kept in touch with him when I had the chance.
Until tomorrow…

8

Are you happy with the person you’ve become
I don’t know that I could have been anything else?
Do I have regrets about how I’ve acted in certain situations? Sure; who doesn’t?
Have I ever done anything that’s going to bother me until I die? No.
And I was going to wander into an Edie Brickell break, there, which leads to Beavis’s cogent observation that she stole that from Popeye….
I really don’t have a ton to talk about today. More political disappointment, and still lots of uncertainty about what will be happening as the year rolls over.
The cheapest plan from healthcare.gov that covers my medication is nearly $1,000/mo.. My company hasn’t come out with its offerings for next year, but I don’t have any idea what my treatment would cost on it. I also don’t know how much it’ll cost every month, or through COBRA when/if my job ends.
Yet the pols who won yesterday are the ones responsible for this situation.
I don’t even know what to say.
It actually did get better after I wrote that. My representative in Congress sent out an email blast about registering for coverage next year.
As is so often the case, I am way out of the target demographic.
Namely, I’m not poor, so I don’t get free care through Medicaid.
I did have some trouble, today, finally getting around to finishing this up. I’m tired.
For tomorrow: Do you take things too personally?
I think I know, too, what I’m going to tackle for Friday. Saturday, I’m going to write about the 99th anniversary of the armistice that ended “the war to end all wars.”

11.7.16

With the elections coming up, what is the most disturbing thing you’ve ever seen from a politician? 
This is a hard one because there have been many disturbing things that have come out about politicians.  Some are stupid (Crystal Ball’s “nose” from a Christmas party or Mike Mullin’s beer pong photo (I really wished I lived in Newport News so I could vote against his opponent, just for putting that out there, since it has nothing to do with anything she claims in the add), some are just wow, I can’t believe you can reach this level of stupid (look at Trump’s Twitter (actually don’t, the media has that one covered for you), or Howard Dean’s infamous scream).
The most disturbing to me though, came through fact checking an ad against Mark Herring.  Article from the Associated Press talks about how the Department of Justice showed how Herring and his staff could get around their rules to reallocate money.  Here is the link, in case you are interested:
https://apnews.com/409e612ad32a4e6aaa37adfdefbc270b?utm_campaign=website&utm_source=sg&utm_medium=email
So, you can probably safely assume Mr. Herring did not get my vote.
Until tomorrow…

7

Long day is long. I did make it through, though, and voted against the patronage candidate for governor. Much as they like to tout that they’re totes different these days, they nominate someone who’d be very much at home in the Byrd Organization.
I think, though, the literature peddler outside the polling place was surprised that I didn’t want his sample ballot…..
On to the prompt.
Have you ever felt that you were singled out even though someone else was actually breaking the rules but you weren’t
This is one of the areas where my dad really comes out in me. One of his favorite phrases was, “what says that/where’s that written?”
Between that, my own Army training, and my law school prep, doing things completely free-form is totally foreign to me.
Much to Boomers’ chagrin, I don’t have my own style.
Yes, there’s room for creativity in how you choose to comply with published rules, but that doesn’t mean you just ignore that they exist.
In fact, worrying about how to comply with rules can actually improve your solution. I’m hammering this out after dealing with a work problem that just by approaching the problem differntly, it is possible to do things more efficiently, and follow the published rules.
I know, unpossible, right?
Been doing this a long time
At least, now, I’m away from the pittance I was making before. But the situation still sucks.
For tomorrow, where I’ll have more time to write as I’ll be away from home, again…..
Are you happy with the person you’ve become?

11.6.17

Do you work better on a schedule or freelancing your time? 
I work better on a schedule or at least if I have a to-do list.  Otherwise, I end up getting off track and doing stuff that isn’t what I needed to get done.  Sometimes I am just lazy and don’t feel like doing stuff.  This is even more prevalent when my husband is home from being gone for work all week.  I want to spend time with him, not mopping the floors or cleaning the dishes.  Also, as Daylight Savings Time has hit this past weekend, I have yet to get used to it being dark at 5 o’clock. I am not a fan of DST and think we need to get rid of it.  As it is darker and colder (at some point I’m guessing it will start to be colder), I will have less and less desire to get out of bed I’m sure.
Even now, I am writing a NoJoMo entry instead of washing my dishes.  I better get to that.
Until tomorrow…

6

Things are very disjointed today. I actually forgot about trying to write during the day. Amazingly, though, I wasn’t incredibly sleepy during the day. This is a big change for me. That I fell asleep during the Sunday night football game last night, plus missed Saturday Night Live the night before probably didn’t hurt.
I’m craving a Negroni after some searhces yesterday morning, and discussions in the office today.
A brunch visit might be in order….
Something your significant other is into that you are not?
She’s looking for me to say, “anime.” Yes, certainly. I can’t seem to pay close attention to it. Certainly my poor vision makes watching things with subtitles a non-starter, but even the stuff that’s dubbed in English I can’t stick to. To me, TV is really a passive thing. My time in radio probably hasn’t helped, there, either.
Do I dislike it? No. Just not something I can easily follow.
She also watches a lot of things about the British monarchy. I care even less about that than I do Japanese cartoons. There’s things about the British system of government that are admirable, and they’d be just fine without a king or queen. I do respect a parliamentary form of government. It, of course, is the basis of the Commonwealth forms of governments present in four US states.
I kinda like that local governments can’t do anything unless the central government explictly delegates the authority. In Virginia, as we’ve got an election tomorrow, I’m dismayed that the candidates for office don’t seem to give any sort of deference to the General Assembly.
For tomorrow: Have you ever felt that you were singled out even though someone else was actually breaking the rules but you weren’t
Going to tackle this one, because I get singled-out for breaking unwritten “rules.” I did something wrong? Okay. Please show me what rule I broke. I’ll be here waiting for your citation.

11.5.17

What do you feel about banned books?
I find them stupid.  It is just another way of brainwashing people into thinking how you want them to think.  Many of them are banned for what I think are dumb reasons.  A few examples:
“The Diary of Anne Frank” banned because she talks about female anatomy.
“To Kill a Mockingbird” banned for racist topics.
I think many of the banned books show ways that people thought in the past, and I believe we need to remember the consequences of thinking in certain ways, or the past will repeat itself.  It’s 2017, and we still have KKK rallies.  Why?  People don’t take the time to understand the history, they are just ready to revolt against anything they don’t agree with.  How does that progress anyone?  It doesn’t.
I can understand how certain language can be very offensive to people, which is the reason many of Mark Twain’s books are banned, but those bans come from the connotations that certain words bring up.  At the same time, I think we need to be aware of this language and its effect on people, because I can guarantee that uses it in modern society will solicit an unpleasant reaction, as it should, no matter what race you are.
Until tomorrow…