Punked? in A small but passable life.

“The Throat” by Peter Straub was the 28th book read in 2017. I read 22 books in 2016 and 33 in 2015. So maybe slow reading is now the new normal. Or maybe I’m just not able to find books to line up on the “To Read” list.

So far this year I’ve read “Nomadland” by Jessica Bruder and “The Whispering Room” by Dean Koontz.

Nomadland was a good read. I was kind of disappointed that she just stuck with the traditional definition of the genre. Her focus was on the not quite old enough to officially retire folks who’ve through one circumstance or another has ended up living a non-conventional lifestyle, living in vehicles and traveling from one temporary job to another. She completely sidestepped the new social phenomena of much younger people deliberately choosing the non-traditional nomadic lifestyle and not only not working traditional jobs but thriving on “revenue streams”. I guess she’s never watched much youtube. Or maybe she’ll explore it in a future book.

And I’ve got a biography I found in the Goodwill store to read next. It is a nice fat paperback perfect for reading at the pool. Which is where I may end up today as it may warm up to 77 degrees.

I bought two 32GB microSD cards, one for the new smartphone and one for the tablet. I removed the 16GB from the tablet. I loaded the 11.8GB of my music collection, maybe almost 300 CD’s worth? onto each card. It worked just fine for the tablet just like the smaller card did. But in the phone it did something weird. The music is there with all artists and albums in alphabetical order but when I call up an album the songs within are also in alphabetical order. Odd and annoying. Very annoying. Also I can’t seem to find out how to access the additional storage on the tablet. It still says it is out of memory.

I guess it doesn’t matter. I can still listen to my music. The new Bluetooth Anker SoundCore Mini works great. And sounds great. I put the AM/FM weather radio away and use the radio function on the old flip-phone through a cable to the speaker to listen to my radio shows now. Downsizing. That phone and speaker can both be charged with the new Anker 21W portable solar panel.

It’s been 13 days of the new year and I still haven’t went for a walk. I know I should, but I haven’t found the motivation to do anything other than what I always do. Which is mostly sit right here. Unless Mom thinks of something she needs/wants to do and needs me to drive.

I don’t go past the headlines on the news sites any longer. I figure that if the DPRK has been vaporized it will be on the first page.

I think the whole deal, the Insane Clown President and the gutless, spineless republican party, are an elaborate practical joke on the world. Like we were punked. But who’s doing the punking. And why?

A reality show for some alien species?

That would be as good an explanation as any other.

Doesn’t this president make the United States the premier shithole nation on the planet?