Tag: NoJoMo

Today was supposed to be free writing. I did do a bit, but really hadn’t finished.
When I started preparting to write this year, I started through my archives, looking for writing ideas.
I think I was looking for NoJoMo 2012, which was the next-to-last one I did on The Open Diary.
Yes, there was a 2013 there, too, but I think I’ve sampled from that one before.
I don’t know. I should have written my prompts ahead of time. Things were crazy in October, though, nad I’m just so spent by the end of the week, that I can’t bring myself to dedicate
So, stuff I’m recycling from 2012.
What has been your biggest accomplishment in your life so far?
1. What do you desire most in your life? What is holding you back from obtaining or achieving your heart’s desire?
2. What is your strangest tic or habit? For example feeling compelled to sniff your food before eating it or always counting steps when you go up or down stairs

Are you listed as an organ or bone marrow donor? Why or why not?
There will be more, but it’s been a very long day, and I’m having trouble focusing.

What an evil number.
I didn’t even have a minute to devote to hammering on this today. I don’t know what to think about that.
How do you handle someone being inappropriate?
It really depends on my relationship to the person who’s acting inappropriately.
Friend: Privately ask what’s going on.
Equal: If there’s someone I’m sure was offended by the inappropriate behavior, apologize privately to the offended, then ask the offender why he/she was acting that way.
Subordinate: Apologize privately to any offended, correct privately, and ask him/her to offer apology.
This stuff isn’t rocket surgery.
My head is kinda spinning, so I apologize.
Work
HRT Paratransit, and my troubles with it
My health issues
So, yeah, nothing really to say right now. Maybe that’s not good considering I’m planning a free write session on Wednesday….
But, for tomorrow, Favorite way to annoy/tease your significant other?
…
My incredulity tomorrow.

Have you ever had a strong belief completely disproven by facts and evidence?
Maybe it’s that I don’t have a lot of strong beliefs, but no.
Have there been things I’ve changed my conclusion on in light of new evidence?
Yes.
The list of things I’ve change my mind on is pretty lengthy.
I try to listen especially, to views that differ from mine.
Am I perfect in doing it? No.
Are there some arguments that I’ll reject out-of-hand? Sure.
If you use Chomsky as your backing evidence, I’m going to critique it incredibly harshly. I remember listening to a podcast once where this thirty-something wouldn’t answer a question because he wasn’t sure what Zinn had said about it. My neck is still sore from my head shakes months afterwards.
And I get sidetracked, stumbling on this.
There are things that aren’t worth debating; maybe the Flat Earth Society still exists. I don’t care to look.
For tomorrow: How do you handle someone being inappropriate?
I don’t think this prompt was written recently, but in light of Weinstein, Louis C.K., perhaps the right answer is to move the plant so it obscures the view more…

Ninety-nine years since the end of World War I.
Somewhere along the way, the Armistice was translated into “Veterans’ Day” in the US.  Given that our participation in that war was comparatively short, it is sort of understandable.
Also understandable is the desire to further obscure the lasting disasters on the world that stemmed from .
Look too unfavorably at the guy on Mt. Rushmore?  A good Democrat?  No.  Let’s not take a look at the fact that he was a racist, his Administration carried out raids on political opponents, he urged the sorts of racial purity measures that’d so disgust people coming out of Germany twenty years later.  NO.  Stop with that crazy talk.  He was a hero of enlightenment.
As I’m working through my backlog of Podcasts, yesterday I heard one discussing the Jones Act, and how it was hampering cleanup from the storms in Puerto Rico.
If you guessed that it was signed by the same guy who wrote the Treaty of Versailles, and employed A. Mitchell Palmer, you’d be absolutely right.
Anyway, World War I shaped a lot of what’s happened since it ended. A Fark headline recently mentioned the Battle of Jutland. I got an alert, because I still have my app set to alert on “Navy.” Go looking around for information on it, and there’s next to nothing.

Down
The
Memory
Hole
Just like the statues of Confederate Generals likely erected by Southern Democrats who thought Wilson was a hell of a guy.
As for the military, my father wanted to be an Army officer, just like his grandfather who’d sailed for Europe to back up the British and French in 1917. My dad bypassed an appointment to the US Merchant Marine Academy to go be an Army officer.
I don’t know the full stories, and everybody’s dead now, but I don’t know that my dad spoke to my Merchant Marine grandfather very much after that point. My grandfather isn’t in any of my parents’ wedding photos, if that says anything.
Both of my grandfathers were Navy during the period between WWII and Korea, but were exempt from going to Korea because they’d married and had kids.
My dad was in the Army for 24 years. He was commissioned just as Vietnam was coming to an end, but his unit was moved to Okinawa while he was in Infantry Officer Basic. He, along with many others, had been branch-loaned to Infantry as they were trying to fill out the front line units. He’d been commissioned into the Transportation Corps. He served as an Infantry officer until the late-70s, when he was pulled back to TC. He retired in 1997 as a Colonel shortly after I finished high school.
I was recruited heavily by the Navy and Air Force on account of my ASVAB score (94, if memory serves) I won an Air Force ROTC scholarship coming out of high school. My vision was starting to go, already, by that point, and they weren’t going to let me fly. They were also going to tell me what my college major was going to be. I was going to be on active duty for four years after I graduated, but they could keep me up to eight involuntarily. I would also have to do four years active reserve following my period of active duty.
I decided to go and do what my dad had done, and get into the Army. After a year of Army ROTC, it became apparent that I wasn’t going to be commissioned, and the solid B I was pulling in Military Science was hurting my GPA, so I dropped out. I started working in TV not long after, which led to radio, which led to actually getting paid for IT, and…
Looking at my friends on FB…
Navy
Air Force
Navy
Navy
Navy
Army
Navy
Air Force
Navy
Navy
Air Force
Air Force
Navy
Navy
Navy
Air Force
Army
Navy
Navy
Navy
Navy
Navy
Navy
Navy
Army
By no means is that definitive.
My FIL was a Navy “Mustang,” which is someone who’s commissioned while on active duty. My BIL was Navy.
This is different than many Americans.
I just wrote, and deleted, something rather unkind, so I’m going to stop. Thank you to all who have and do serve. You are appreciated.
For tomorrow: Have you ever had a strong belief completely disproven by facts and evidence?
In short, no, but I’ll elaborate more tomorrow.

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.

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.

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?

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.

Getting into the swing after a few days, or maybe my meds are kicking in. Who knows?
Would you read a controversial book, such as “Mein Kampf” or “The Communist Manifesto”?
I’ve read The Communist Manifesto a couple of times. The first was out of sheer curiosity. My dad had a copy in his book collection, dating back to his college studies. He’d taken Russian as a minor in college. Then he went to try and kill Commies for a living.
I read it again in college, and was even less enthused. I guess, maybe, I can see how someone might be intrigued by the ideas, but I never was. I do believe in freedom, and surrendering to an all-encompassing government that leads you to whatever never really appealed to me. What Is To Be Done I found more compelling.
It’s incredible that so many people subscribed to the idea of the eventuality of socialism. Many still do. I seem to remember one of Obama’s inspirations still, in the 21st Century, referencing Mao.
But, then, it wasn’t that long ago that Chomsky and Herman published Distortions at fourth hand.
Hitler, too, believed in the eventual triumph of Socialism. Lenin had drawn a distinction between agrarian Russia, and industrial Western Europe.
Hitler, of course, was also littered with bad early 20th Century pseudoscience, and anti-Semitism. I’d imagine his rant would be filled with the same if I cared enough to read it.
Maybe that’s a polite way to say, and this’ll get the Antifa kids amped, “FUCK HITLER.”
If I had the luxury of doing that sort of “work,” I might like to explore these things further. That said, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be accepted in modern academia. Next Saturday marks the 99th anniversary of the end of World War I, and I don’t think it gets the attention it deserves.
For tomorrow, since I’ve been asked about when I’m going to write about it…..
Something your significant other is into that you are not?

Today I wanted to free write. Sarah thinks that it’s a cop-out, but I was really tired yesterday.
I’m still tired, but the Tysabri infusion is starting to kick in.
Today’s accompaniment to writing The Fifth Column. They’re discussing Kmele’s soon-to-arrive daughter. Lots of birthdays, right around now, too.
*does the math*
Valentine’s Day.
But today is my grandfather, a few FB friends. Next week is my mother and brother.
Facebook’s been bouncing back and forth with college memories, since a former classmate is involved in a rather heated race for the Virginia House of Delegates. Mike and I had some political and philosophical differences back then, but I think he’s a good guy. Does it mean that if I lived in that district I’d vote for him? No, but that’s more about his partisan allegiance. But not because of a picture taken during a game of Beer Pong decades ago.
A lot of what I’m seeing from his party, though, is rank patronage. That their gubernatorial candidate is a VMI product illustrates that beautifully. With all the Kevin Spacey innuendo going around, his description of knocking the Citadel ring speaks to the boys’ network.
I’m not a part of that. My family is too poor, too Catholic, not white enough, etc..
But speaking of Byrd Organization products, I haven’t been back to read my entry from yesterday. I’m sure it’s disjointed, but that’s kind of my existence these days. The situation with health insurance is incredibly frustrating.
There’s a lot of choices that put me in this position, but so far as science can tell, nothing I did led to my physical condition. I had symptoms before I did any of the sorts of things that might be considered deleterious.
Maybe one of these crowd-sourcing pleas would be appropriate to pay for my health care.
I’ve tried, professionally, to take positions that’ll keep me cared-for. What do I have to show for it? The prospect of paying over $1,000 a month for health insurance next year.
With that, though, I can’t go up on the roof of my building with a glass of Scotch, and a cigar before it’s too cold.
Ummm….
Is there anything else I’d really like to write about? No, not really. The Saints are in first place, which probably surprises people. But, then, you might could attribute it to the Failcons doing what they do best.
I’m anxious to get back to OD to write.
But, much like the cigar and Scotch, will I have money to spend on it?
Tomorrow’s prompt: Would you read a controversial book, such as “Mein Kampf” or “The Communist Manifesto”?