^H

So, yes, this is the last post of this writing streak.
My mother came down yesterday with presents/wishes/etc.. After showing her the rooftop party area of our building, we went to Doumar’s for dinner. I think I’d like to go to Waffle House, so my wife and I may go tonight or tomorrow.
And, before you ask, smothered, usually covered, and sometimes chunked.
So, scorecard on this session.
Adherence: B+ I’ve not missed a day after the initial disruption. I did make up for the two days I missed along the way.
Content: C+ I’ve really been writing off-the-cuff. Yes, I’ve used some short prompts in many entries, but I’ve not devoted full entries to most of the prompts. Previously, I’d sampled heavily from from previous writing months. With the disruptions in my life, I didn’t really have time to prepare as I normally would.
The last week, of course, has been influenced by the things in Charlottesville, plus whatever was coming out of Washington.
Unlike those with hard-line political allegiances, I’m disgusted with “both sides'” responses. Despite Terry McAuliffe’s impassioned statements, you’re not either with the Antifa thugs, or the Neo-Nazis and Confederates. To me, you’re with freedom, or you aren’t. When groups like the ACLU ruin the hastily-assembled political narrative, it’s an endless stream of derision over social
and broadcast media. That makes you different and better than the President how, exactly?
Distribution: C I originally gave myself a C-, but why would be I giving myself pluses and minuses on all these? I did get things working well enough on this oh-so-broken VM to get the content up, and posted it faithfully to PB. Between Oracle’s destruction of MySQL, and Debian’s disaster with systemd, I’ve got a mess I really haven’t had the time or energy to address. If I had good income, still, I’d be building a virtualization host where I could set something up with an operating system I actually enjoy using to get this out. Part of that speaks to what I’ve been targeting in many areas of life — starting from zero.
I know I’ve made mistakes, and my physical problems really limit where I could go. But the physical problems, ultimately, are less limiting than some other things. I want to get as close to the bare minimum as I can, where I can start rebuilding. If I come out of this without a cent to my name, but my wife by my side, that’s good for me.
So, yeah, I’m stopping there. Tomorrow, I’ll inch closer to being a man. The Sun will dim, and I’ll keep digging for something new.
And so it goes.

Winding down to the end, here.
Tomorrow will be free-write, so I’ll use one of my last remaining prompts. The unused ones, including the list I can’t seem to concentrate on to write.
Do you believe that some people are born lucky, while some are born unlucky?
I don’t know. I do think there’s a lot of benefits you get from your parentage, and where you went to school.
Even if you’re basically worthless, if you attended a private high school, and a prestigious university, you “start on third base.” I think back to being in the field with a bunch of ROTC cadets from William and Mary. They were discussing which boarding schools they attended for high school. I didn’t offer, “I went to Menchville.” *flash gang sign*
Bernie Sanders will rattle on and on about free college. The Democrat nominee for governor sets his sights even lower, offering opportunities for trade school or internships.
One of the few things I found fascinating about the Trump cabinet is the incredible background diversity. It’s not like the last few presidents, packed with Ivy League products. Indiana. Michigan. Georgia. Even Texas A&M.
Part of that might have been my military upbringing; it doesn’t really matter where you came from, if you can do the job, you’re successful. I suppose I should have seen that that only goes so far. My dad attended the Army War College. I went to high school with the kids of a bunch of the names that’d be in the news during the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns. Even some of the finest officers didn’t end up pinning on a bunch of stars.
Back to the VMI ring-knocker who’s the Democratic nominee — how far would he have gotten if he wasn’t wearing that big class ring? The most famous alumnus from CNU draws a web comic with stick figures.
There’s things that could be done to remedy some of this, but I doubt it’ll ever be seriously attempted. Someone gets where he/she is based almost entirely on patronage, and that’s okay. If you’re not born into a high position, you can just stay in your place.

As the morning progresses, I get to spend the day dealing with the Virginia Employment Commission who’ve, for whatever reason, frozen my account with them. Probably going to have to make a trip to the office in near-triple-digit heat.
It’s frustrating.
And this is where I start retelling something I’d already bitched about.
Only one NFL preseason game tonight. I don’t know if I can see it here in my involuntarily-imposed regular TV-free environment.
**UPDATE**
That’s sorta straightened-out now, and I don’t have to go out in the heat.
Guilty food pleasure
I don’t really know?
Even though I’m not nauseated all the time these days, there’s nothing I really want to ever gorge myself on. I can’t imagine eating more than about a scoop of ice cream.
I really don’t want a huge overcooked piece of meat. Give me a smaller one that’s well-seasoned, and properly-cooked.
I really appreciate quality over quantity.
Nice cocktail to start, amazing food with wine for the meal, and maybe a beer with desert.
Doing those things, though, is really affected by my health and finances. Even if I was feeling up to going out to get something good to eat, I don’t have the money to do it.
So, go work in the restaurant industry?
Yeah, I don’t have the stamina or dexterity to do that, either.
All that said, even hitting the more-affordable options so often results in better finds.
When I was working for the company at the behest of the criminal GS-14, my wife and I took a trip. When we got into town, I was pretty exhausted. Instead of going out to eat somewhere, we ordered delivery to the hotel.
We ended up ordering from some middle-eastern place. I think the whole order ran us about $25, but it was way more food than we could eat. And the food was amazing.
</ Bachelor/Bachelorette>

I really can’t get motivated to write one of my prompts, so today is free write.
Made some progress yesterday in the employment hunt.  Today’s nearly $700 after-tax payment for health insurance shows why companies are so bent on doing the contract-to-hire bit.
This one recruiter I spoke with yesterday was unwilling to tell me the work location of a job, or the company unless he could call me on FaceTime.  I only got one of the answers before I realized that I wasn’t interested (because the job was in BFE Virginia Beach, and they were firm that there’d be no wiggle room on the C2H time).  I don’t remember which company it was;  the unwillingness to work on the C2H bit made it unworkable.
I still have so many irons in the fire, I’m losing track, honestly.
It’s incredible how little focus I have today.  Coffee time?
My coffee consumption seems to be a bit like when it’s good to eat oysters;  months with an “r.”
If I was going to a Waffle House to watch the eclipse, it might be a different story.

I was tempted to start with a very long prompt, but realized that I really don’t have the motivation.
Maybe tomorrow. Maybe not.
Two longtime friends have a birthday today.
We’re well in to the form-babby-at-thanksgiving time.
Going through friends/acquaintances….
August 16th: Two
August 17th: None
August 18th: One.
August 19th: At least one, but maybe more.
August 20th: At least one, but maybe more.
August 21st: Uhm….
August 22nd: At least one, but I don’t remember who right now.
I think there was one on the 23rd, too, but, again, memories in my scarred brain are very fuzzy.
Have you ever questioned whether you were correct while everyone else seemed to think you were overreacting?
I don’t know. I don’t think people think I overreact that often. My emotional lability is something I have to watch, but I normally can control. (Yes, that is an MS symptom.)
I think that sometimes people think that I concentrate on inconsequential things.
I was looking for the scene from the epic Pod People about “Burning Rubber Tires.” The only thing I could find on YouTube was a version that was played at like double speed. Well, that, and the MST3K parody of it.
I do tend to key on things, sometimes. Those things are often things that others might find unimportant. Often, though, I focus on them because I notice something with them that might end up being a problem later.
My deteriorating eyesight, however, does make me miss some things most others might notice.
I keep getting distracted while writing this. My phone is blowing up.
No, some dude from Miami, I’m not interested in this health insurance policy you’re trying to sell. No, technical recruiter, I’m really not all that interested in a six-month contract-to-hire so your client can avoid paying benefits.
And, see, I’m so scatter-brained this morning that I chuckled thinking about this:

The only thing that shocks me here is just how much Jay Cutler and Florida are made for each other pic.twitter.com/DnyAOAIqfi

— Florida Man (@_FloridaMan) August 8, 2017