Category: NoJoMo

Of which libations do you partake? When were you last drunk? What’s in your glass now?  What will be later?

Libations? I’d say the most common is Gin & Tonic followed by beer. Occasionally I’ll do the Swabbie Special of Red Bull and Jagermeister. If I’m feeling ambitious, I’ll make a good gin martini. I need to finish of my Cachaca, but I’m kinda pissed off at Brazil after they put Lula back in. (Maybe that’s more reason to empty that bottle…)

What’s in my glass right now? Barq’s Root Beer. I’m traveling, so I’m not drinking. I had a couple of G&Ts on the train ride down, but nothing since.

Slightly tempted to order some Coor’s Light for football. It’s probably been twenty years since I had any. Back then, it tasted vaguely of apple juice. I’m not expecting much, but….

I failed in my mission in finding a 40oz of O.E.800 to ship to my brother today as a birthday present.

He, and our wives, all didn’t get the reference I was going for on my 40th birthday….

Oh well.

Gifts sent. It’s the morning, so time to get about the day.

Debating whether I should roust up something for election night, but I’m leaning against it.

Write about someone you’ve recently lost (Flashback to 2016; this would have been just after my uncle had died)

I don’t know that I’ve got a good answer for this one. I’m listening to The Fifth Column where they’re talking about the crazy person who broke into the Pelosi house a few days ago.

He was crazy. The situation I’m dealing with isn’t that, but it is someone who’s very close who’s clearly “not there” anymore.

Gone, but not really yet.

The flashback to my uncle was my dad’s youngest brother. My dad’s younger brother had died a couple of years earlier. His wife, my aunt, is also my mother’s cousin. My dad was always worried that my mother, with her short-lived genealogy obsession would find that they were related. Thankfully, no, but my first cousins are also my fifth cousins.

So, yeah, I’m not going to elaborate too much on what I’m doing, but these things are top of mind.

Happy birthday to my grandpa. I’ll see him on tomorrow. 93 years old. I’m not even halfway there, but am not at all convinced that I’ll get anywhere close.

Describe your year to date. (Form 2014, but it’ll be something I can really sink my teeth into while I’m on the train.)

January

Well, Shmoocon was delayed, so it was mostly watching Football, and working.

February

Looking back, it looks like the war in Ukraine and football were the things most on my mind. As far as the war goes, I kind of feel like one of the followers of Miller, and the Great Disappointment. (And this is really leading me down a path….). The Rams won the Super Bowl. I was really not that upset this way or the other. I don’t really like the Rams’ schema; — 3-4 Defense, West Coast offense, etc., but I’m still happy they[re back in LA/

March

Obviously, biggest thing was Shmoocon.

I had a good time, but I’m really not up to do that sort of thing anymore. I’m happy that the unanimity of thought that was there, say, 2009-ish.

Do the math, and show your fucking work. When someone reviews it years later, if it shows to be complete nonsense, that should be a point for self-reflection. Apologies; I’m distracted by the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel speech before the pandemic.

I guess I’m really bothered by certitude.

April

More stupidity from the new LP overlords. Preparation for medical tests. Lots of work. Following the start to the saga of my mother moving back to her hometown. (As I write this in November, I’m actually on the train headed down there again…)

May

Medical exam…clean. Good for three more years.

June

Some work certitude until February, so breathe a little easier. The only thing I wrote about what following the shitshow with the Libertarian National Convention. My initial reactions have proved correct, and I’ve withdrawn further.

July

I gave in to the compulsion to write ian the moth before my birthday. I felt like I had a few things to say. I was also minaking my first trip to deal with the mess surrounding my mother’s situation. And pick up the dog.

August

Lots of work, new dog adjustments, birthday. The steaks my wife cooked for my birthday were amazing. A coupon of notables — very long survey that I think was from about 1999. My original answers are in, with my updated ones.

September

Reading, now that I’m in the hotel room (please see back later when I give more details about the shit show that’s happened so far….)

October

Thirteenth wedding anniversary. Four-day weekend as a bachelor with my wife and dog down visiting her parents. It’s incredible the feelings I have my wife; I didn’t think that sort of thing was at all possible.

November

I’m out of town. I tried to write this before en route to my destination. I’m in a hotel room, which was not the plan, but it’s adjusting on the fly.

Write about preparing

This one is because I’m preparing to head on my trip.

I need to stuff some clothes in the suitcase, but I think I’m pretty close. Weather is sitll supposed to pop into the eighties while I’m there. Comfortable nights.

(An aside, this predictive text stuff that’s in Edge now; I think Safari does it, too, is annoying as hell. Yes, I often type not looking at the screen, but seeing the word it thinks I should type is bothersome. You think you know what I’m going to say, but you have no idea; okay, Computer? Might be the same in Chrome, but, aside from the email where I’ve paid them not to spy on me, I still tend to eschew products from that totes-used-to-care-about-not-doing-evil company)

But more on preparations other than just travel, I’m trying to work through what I might need to figure out:

• Absentee ballot completion, mailing
• What I need to do immediately on the house
• What I need to retrieve from it
• How I should approach long-term relocation/storage
• Paying my protection racket for the sheet of paper that lets me keep working
• What to do when I stop working
• Medical stuff for the rest of the year (Neurologists want three MRIs later this month instead of the routine one; I should ask for some something that’ll keep me from twitching; make me sleep)
• Life insurance (I think I can keep paying on the supplemental policy I have with work after I leave…the primary one goes away, but the extra stuff I can keep paying on)

Still, I’m not obsessing about preparing. Everything’s going to work okay. I’m not going to die. I’m not going to go broke.

I don’t know, but maybe I owe a lot of my approach to many things to Bob Zubrin/The Case For Mars.

(Aside: The search results on the book yielded this video. I’ve never done any psychedelics, but I wonder if that’s what it’d be like…)

In that situation, people might well die. With what I’m doing, almost certainly not.

Just Do it. Git ‘er done. Whatever your chosen catchphrase….

Similar idea about writing every day in a month.

What I’m going to write about next month.

1. Intro/Background, etc.
2. Write about preparing
3. Describe your year to date. (Form 2014, but it’ll be something I can really sink my teeth into while I’m on the train.)
4. Write about someone you’ve recently lost (Flashback to 2016; this would have been just after my uncle had died)
5. Of which libations do you partake? When were you last drunk? What’s in your glass now?  What will be later?
6. Write about your writing tools. (Flashback to 2004 post about the switch away from MovableType)
7. Write about when you were tarted unfairly. (Flashback to writing from 11/7/2013 where I was writing about what happened at the four-letter company)
8. Plans for Election Day
9. Election Day Reax
10. Free Write
11. What are some qualities of bad bosses? What would you not do if you were supervising others? (Reachback to 2015)
12. Veterans’ Day
13. Travel Recap
14. 2022 Football So Far
15. Halfway
16. Health Update (After l0oking at my entry from 11/16/2016)
17. Write about an experience that changed a long held belief you had (Flashback to 2013)
18. Callback to prompts from 11/18/2012
19. Tube Cruise
20. What opportunities that you’ve passed up do you regret passing? (Flashback to 2015)
21. Thanksgiving plan
22. Dates that will live in Infamy
23. Radio Reminiscence (From September 23, 2004 about Air America)
24. Thanksgiving
25. Free Write
26. Small Business Saturday/Christmas Shopping
27. Describe what you’re doing for the rest of this year. (Flashback to 2014)
28. Is there someone you were close to at one point in time, that you can no longer stand to be around? (From 2020…)
29. What are you most proud of this year? (Flashback to 2015)
30. Wrap Up

I have a few minutes to hit this first-thing-in-the-morning today.

More recycling form 2015

---

It’s the final Tuesday of the month. Do you care?

Not really, no. All it means, really, is that next Tuesday will be the first day I haven’t written in a month.

Although there’s still a few days left, I think I’ve proven to myself that I can still keep a commitment to something sometimes tedious.

By the same token, though, the fourteen months I’ve spent in this horrible, very bad job indicate teh same thing.

I’ve endured a lot in my life. Some of it deserved. Some of it undeserved. But all of it flavors my values, who I am.

I can endure a lot; the question is why do I keep doing it? When will I get to do something that I really enjoy professionally again? I’ve considered a lot lately, mainly to get out of my current situation, but should I go do something else I really won’t enjoy, for very little money?

Hmmmm…..

But one day of work left. I’m ready for a break.

---

I miscalculated that when I was putting together my prompts. The last Tuesday in the month is actually tomorrow, the 30^th.

But, in keeping with the general tenor of the original entry, I think I’ll still feel like things are completed. Will I care that tomorrow is the last Tuesday? Not particularly. Will I care that it’s the last day in the pay period? A slight amount, I guess. I’m actually burning a little leave this pay period, so that’s a change from normal.

I was such a stick-in-the-mud when it came to a benefit I’d end up not being able to use very much. Thank you, The Science. (Why do I feel like Dave Smith’s pronouncements Saturday make him akin to the Dr. Fauci of the LP? Except Fauci’s been sucking at the public teet almost as long as Dave’s been breathing….)

But back to the prompt. Do I care that November is kind of over? A little. The weather is really outside my knowledge at this point given how rarely I go outside. I do sort of miss the days of when cold air would invade my lungs first thing as I step outside in the morning. (And, for several years, before warm tobacco smoke replaced it…)

though I’m physically closer to the point where I’d be able to enjoy that, it’s been taken from me for other reasons; thanks, The Science.

I could wax nostalgic about it, but I don’t really have that many good memories. I guess the closest would be some of the things in my youth in Europe. Or a couple of times freezing with my girlfriend (now wife) in DC.

Is there something that I can do? I don’t know.

One more day. Completion.

Thumbing through pars years to see if there was a prompt I can steal for this year.

Nope. Nothing. But there was one with a link to totes-didn’t-used-to-do-evil Co.’s clip of Mike Gundy’s exasperated rant of I’m A Man. I’m 40!

But I guess the biggest message of today is one of completion.

I am excited to continue through to the end of my charge

How long can I keep going one that’s finished?

I don’t know, and, to be honest, I really don’t think about it much.

I’m listening to this in the background, and wondering if the guest has ever spoken at Shmoocon.

I guess I’m somewhat-impressed with how well some of these tools work. I don’t know if it’s a chicken-or-the-egg situation, however. I suppose retrofitting some of the nifty features is easier than securing something that’s an open sore.

But I think the only reason that that’s having to happen is because the big players, who portrayed themselves as paragons of virtue, out only to make the world a better place.

Maybe this reaction from Fargo is a good description of how I feel about it.

They’ve buddied-up with the thugs with guns. Maybe I should be more worried about irking them, but, well, I am the one who’s seeing a psychologist.

But I’ve finished it. Completion.

And I don’t care, and I feel like there’s something wrong with that.

Whatever.

All that said, it’s now afternoon, I’m almost out of coffee, so I’m going to stop for the day.

Tomorrow I’ll go find a flu shot, since there isn’t really a lot of interesting football with the Saints having lost on Thanksgiving, and the For(mer)skins playing Monday night.

–snip–

I had a resigned aside there about finishing writing so I could go do some work.

Instead of saving and finishing, Completion, I decided to go do the work I’d planned on doing.

An hour an a half later, I can get back to this.

But I really don’t have anything more to add, actually.

So that’s it.

Three more, and completion.

Thanksgiving went pretty well. Good food. Enjoyed spending time with my wife just the two of us.

Football, on the other hand, wasn’t great, especially if you were rooting for one of the home teams.

The Saints were destroyed. On one of the other networks’ pregame shows, they said the Saints have fourteen players out of the game due to an injury.

Starting quarterback, Starting halfback, Reserve halfback, top wide receiver, etc. etc.

They’ll be partying some nights in the Quarter, certainly. It won’t be because of the Saints.

It happens

So, what did I want to write about today?

It’s “Black Friday,” so I guess Christmas shopping is top of mind.

My brother is pretty straightforward. My wife enjoys worrying about her family, etc.. Still not sure what to do for my mother — there’s lots that needs to happen with regards to her relocation.

I don’t know what to get my wife, but I will figure it out.

I would like to send a card to the nurses who took care of my at Georgetown over the past couple of years.

I wish there was a good way to do that doesn’t involve me worrying about the disaster that is the US Postal Service.

My grandfather is pretty straightforward, too.

I’ve been rethinking a bit my leaving-behind of the Space Cowboy, and his shipping Borg.

But I’m trying to enjoy the not working part.

How am I doing? Debatable.

I really don’t know that I have a chance to really go do something just for me. With B.1.1529, which is not Elon Musk’s illegitimate son, is sealing things up again.

So it goes.

Three more days.

Thanksgiving

That’s today, isn’t it?

It’s just me and my wife. She’s finishing up some cooking things, and watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I’ll go join her after I write. And get some coffee, maybe a bit to nibble on to try and extend until the late afternoon meal.

The Saints are playing tonight. I’m wondering how bad a game it can be. The Bills are in NOLA, but both teams are really collapsing toward the end of the season.

Other stuff….

I watched Bombshell yesterday. I guess it was okay. I worked in professional media for, what, early a decade, and I never saw anything even remotely resembling that sort of thing.

Occasionally you’d get a couple of employees hooking up, but I attribute that more to it being an environment where you’re surrounded by somewhat-attractive young people; they hook up. They drink. They take drugs. They get upset about seemingly-inconsequential things. This isn’t news.

I listened to an interview with Joanne Nosuchinsky where she touched on her departure from FOX News while all of this was breaking. She was pretty adamant that nothing had happened to her, and she was unaware that really anything was going on.

Speaking of Joanne, I’m curious about what she and Bill Schultz are doing with their streaming TV show.

At the same time, it’s really tough for me to justify paying money for yet another TV service that I won’t watch much of.

There’s only so many hours in the day, and my eyes only are useful for so long.

I’m going to go drink coffee, watch the parade, and enjoy Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving to anyone who’s reading my blather.

I don’t know where this one ran off to yesterday….

i was going to go through and finish something I’d started a couple of years ago, but never got around to finishing.

My brain is still swimming around with to do with this next project.

I think I might try to write an record an ep this weekend to see how it goes.

I’m listening to Adam Carolla talk about family Thanksgiving.

As a kid, we were overseas so often I only got a couple of those. The last one I really have memories of was riding down I-95 next to a very excited Golden Retriever puppy who would get carsick.

This.

Yeah, there’s not much I can identify with that.

We were so spread out across the world that it didn’t happen all that often.

There were a few times where we went to the mess hall so my dad could eat with the people he was commanding.

There was often one or more bachelor officers and soldiers who were invited guests to eat with us.

Nobody would have ever even considered bitching about the Mac & Cheese.

I just realized that maybe part of the reason I’m partial to the Lions’ game is because it was playing in the evening in Germany.

But I think the idea of traditional Thanksgiving might be part of what’s got me on the try-all-the-things-people-used-to-rave-about kick.

I realized a few months ago that I’d never actually had Maxwell House coffee.

Part of that could have been the period where I got out of drinking coffee for a while, but my parents were always Folger’s people….until there were other things coming in at the Commissary, and they got a Braun coffee grinder.

My mom, on one of her antique store trips, found a cookbook from the White House. The calculations take a lot of time to cut the recipes down to a consumable size, but these things were saved for a reason — by and large, they were really fucking good!

These things take time to prepare, but I think the payoff is worth it.

I would like to do some things, myself, but it’s not an issue I’m excited to debate.

I’ve written enough, now, I think. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.

Almost finished.