Second Thursday in Book Six: Trying to Hold On 2019

Well, how’s this for a work day.

My professional calendar is empty.
My personal calendar is empty.
Anything that I could plan for today has been accomplished.
Everything that I had planned for today has been completed.
All that remains on my calendar at all is an attempt to update my Driver’s License this evening and swing by the Shopko, as our location is closing and so the store is selling everything at 50% off (including fixtures and pieces of the business itself). We may not buy anything, but a discount that deep… you have to at least look to see if there’s anything you could use.

But as there is nothing on my schedule, I currently have 18 Internet Tabs Open… and will get through those within the first hour no question. So today may, in some ways, be a bit of a struggle.

Last night was… interesting. I arrived home expecting to see my In Laws, hoping to see them really as I wanted to profusely thank my Father In Law for helping get all the furniture to the basement. But they had already left. Wife and I went downstairs and she was beaming about the sectional being precisely where we wanted it. Her happiness, the presence of a large cushiony piece of furniture, and the fact that my vision was becoming a reality… I got semi-erect, I will confess. Then she said, “All right. Lets get changed for working out.” This shook my mind a bit. Granted, Wednesday is one of our days to workout… but fighting the couch on Tuesday, and her fighting the couch that morning, not to mention expecting her parents to be there that evening… I had removed “working out tonight” from my brain. So I had to put it back in my brain and we went to workout. NOT being mentally prepared for a workout… I pushed too hard for too little gain. And I am super feeling it today.

And now, I shall share a dirty joke that I may have heard somewhere but as far as my memory recalls… I wrote this. NO IDEA if that’s true which is why my creative endeavors rarely make it past my own mind. Would hate to take credit for someone else’s work, even by accident.

“I was recently working in a Med Tech lab where we were doing experiments on various human fluids. We needed a large quantity of human sperm; so I called up a sperm bank to see how much they had. The receptionist told me they’ve got loads.”

EH? Weak? Decent? Stupid?

Random Item

A republican described this week’s oval office address in the following manner and I have to SOMEWHAT credit him. He’s not 100% correct, but the characterization is not that far off. He said, “The Oval Office Address has often been used by Presidents to calm a fearful nation. This President has chosen his first address to frighten a calm nation.

Here’s a phone call that just came in to the office… I don’t mind it, I just object to it. “How does one qualify for being represented by the County Attorney?” One does not, sir. “No, but like… what kind of income bracket do I need to be in before you’ll represent me?” Sir, that is not what our office does. “You’re the County Attorney’s Office so you’ve got to represent the people that need it.” No, sir. We represent the Government. We don’t take individual cases; we prosecute cases that come to us through Sheriff, Police, FBI, and State Troopers. IF we involve ourselves in Civil Matters, it is on behalf of the government in either a Plaintiff or Defense function. We do not represent individuals. “Okay, then which County Attorney should I call?” Head:Desk. I know I’m a snob when it comes to brain power sometimes. I embrace that. But even the homeless have access to Google these days. Google “What does a County Attorney do?” Or if you aren’t going to do that… have the decency to listen when someone is talking.

Here’s some more “honesty from the heart”… I don’t want to write about politics and the division in America. The fact that every source contradicts Trump’s claims during his speech means nothing to my MAGA Cousin and that doesn’t even surprise me. I don’t want to live in that backwards, intentional ignorance, praise the Least Intelligent kind of society. What I want to do is binge watch Buffy and Angel; writing a blog about the differences between when I saw it the first time (when it aired) and how I feel about it now, taking the time to explain how things back then make the whole thing a different experience on every level. Like… people are always ragging on Xander for being “just the worst version of every awful guy”… but at the time, folks? That was an incredibly relatable character for guys like me. He wasn’t “awful” he was “young.” He wasn’t “sexist” he was trying to be a good friend. TIMES have CHANGED. So to, I want to detail the behind the scenes items that people may not be aware of. For instance, “Earshot” was an episode dealing with violence on campus. The WB refused to air it when it is was scheduled to be released on Tuesday, April 20, 1999. For those not well-versed in your history, look that date up. So an episode involving a gun on campus was filmed months/weeks in advance and scheduled months in advance. And it just so happens that it airs the day of Columbine? I don’t blame The WB for refusing to air it for several weeks!

I want to write about that. I do. But… (1) can’t binge watch TV at work; (2) can’t turn a blind eye to a Neon Problem. I want, so badly, to go back to a Political Age where adults were in charge. People that, perhaps we couldn’t trust them to make the right decision, but we could trust them to make an intelligent decision. Maybe you didn’t agree with previous Presidents. But no President has ever been so boastful about “embracing chaos”… about “befriending dictators” and “alienating allies.” No President in recent memory has been so terrified of a criminal inquest that, while the Government is shut down, he’s hired 17 more attorneys tasked specifically with “protecting (him) from Mueller.” In short, Trump is an expert at making logical, intelligent, well-informed, diplomatic individuals tired and worried. In one corner, you have billions of facts. Conservatives can grab the ones that support their position, Liberals can grab the ones that support their position, and we discuss. But we don’t live in that world. We live in a world where the Corner of Facts is ignored by half of the room because “Facts are not facts” and the President literally says whatever he wants to say whether there is any evidence or factual reality to support those statements.

So that’s why I write so much about politics these days. Not because I want to. I really don’t. But because the issues, the problems, the insanity… needs to be dealt with. And as exhausting as the whole thing is… I’d rather do what I can to say “This is unacceptable” as opposed to laying back and watching everything burn down.

Well, damn. Went through my Prosebox.... went through my Facebook… went through my BBC News.... went through my CNN News.... went through my NHK News… … went through my News & Guts… went through my New York Times… went through my Washington Post… went through my USA Today… went through my Cracked.com.... went through my Supreme Court/Appeals Court Recent Rulings… went through my G Mail… went through my Yahoo Mail… went through my Hotmail… went through my Work E-Mail… went through my Cheezcake Twitter Memes… walked around helping people in the office if they needed it… and it’s only just lunch time

Some of you know how I bitch about being in Iowa’s Senate District 4 because of Steve “White Power” King. A New York Times Article on the man: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/us/politics/steve-king-trump-immigration-wall.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR1cmwVnq3SQgHbBBidAjpDcYPs3Pe1Zk-CRn85tyyK7qpsp1dlZGqh7PhA

Bunker Theory:

So I was thinking again about why I’m so… myopically focused on getting the final pieces finished for my Primary Basement Room. I should correct any factual misunderstandings. My basement is entirely finished. Finished before we moved in. We have walls, ceiling, carpets, shelves… the room I’m talking about even has a built in office desk, sink, full wet bar, and mini fridge. So “finishing the basement” is (1) getting furniture down there; (2) setting up the electronics; (3) putting things away so that the surfaces aren’t just filled with boxes; and (4) maybe setting up the mini kitchen area. So… it isn’t like installing Dry Wall… just making it as livable as possible.

Having cleared that up, why am I so myopically focused on getting the final pieces finished for my Primary Basement Room? I think there’s a lot of history to this. First and foremost, I spent a lot of time in basements growing up. Not even because of tornadoes, either, though those did pop up from time to time. But in my parents’ home, my SNES was in the basement, the desktop computer was in the basement, and don’t forget that for at least 5 summers, I lived in the basement while my mother’s father lived in my bedroom. So I have an affinity for subterranean dwelling already. Add that to the two friends whose houses I remember best? Rich Elementary School Friend: Everything we did was in the basement. Air Hockey, Sleep Overs, Movie Nights, Computer Games… all in the basement. Rich High School Friend: Everything we did was in the basement. Billiards, Video Games, Movie Nights, Pizza Parties… all in the basement. Then there is the inclusion of my Grandparents’. Holiday Dinners were upstairs, the kids watched cartoons upstairs… but if we stayed the night, we slept in the Kids Basement Guest Room. And all the adult fun times were in the basement (like watching football, and having cocktails, and saunas). Ever since I’ve been out on my own, I’ve wanted a basement. It has been maybe a decade and a half since I’ve had a basement. So now that I have one? I think that’s why I’m focused. Because I get a basement. AND it gets to be what I want. I’ve been designing dream houses in my head for years and years and years and years! While I never really assumed I’d get to do anything from those dreams and designs… this basement lets me get close. This basement lets me get damned close. And I’m excited about that. I’m excited to have a Friend Space that I can occupy solo. I’m excited to have a place to go watch Anime and Movies and play video games. I’m super excited!

Last updated January 10, 2019