It’s the sax hook of this song that gets stuck in my head. Other than that, I think this is a good song, because WHAM! was fun, damn it!
Because in the 80’s, there were a ton of sexy saxophones out there.
Remember this guy?
And sexy Rob Lowe with his sax; St. Elmo’s Fire style!
My computer is not dead yet, but it’s getting close. It’s a 2014 MacBook Air 11” and it has served me well. I have written just about everything on it, used it for work, used it to produce a play, edited videos on it, and who knows what else. I have had it repaired twice, and honestly; the little machine has been solid the whole time.
But as with all things in life, it is old and just can’t keep up anymore. Pages take a while to load, that “pinwheel of death” shows up all the time now, and it lags. It lags so much. It’s past its prime, and we both know that it’s time to go to pasture.
Though I know it’s just a machine, I can’t help but feel bad for the little guy. Sure, I put a whole lotta personification on this computer. I feel like it has been there for me whenever I needed it. Been my friend, gave me access to the world, helped me stay on track, and also helped me procrastinate more times than I should admit.
What I want is to keep my 11” MacBook Air, because they don’t make them anymore. All MacBooks are 13” or larger now, and, well, all the MacBooks look the same. At least the 11” stood out; it was different, unique, and slightly odd. For a company that was all about thinking different, it sure wants everyone to look the same.
So why am I going back for a MacBook Air? Because I had it for 12 years and it worked solid. And the MacBook Pro I had before that lasted 11 years. I’m not a huge fan of Apple, but I can’t deny that their laptops are worth the money.
I guess I need to sell some more material if I want to get a new one this year.
I know that January is over half way over, but in my little world, the wife and I are still trying to figure out what our 2026 is going to look like. This is more than “New Year’s Resolutions” which are I feel are doomed to fail. No, this planning is more like setting out birthday and holiday budgets, if and where do we want to travel, do we remodel the kid’s bedroom this year. Stuff like that. You know, planning.
And then there are goals. Paying down debt is high on the list, and it would be nice to drop ten pounds. I think that 2026 is the year that I need to start earning an income. A few dollars here and there from writing has been cool, but it isn’t enough to actually make a dent in the family’s finances. I’m not sure/confident that 2026 will be the year that writing starts bringing dollars, or if I will need to go out and get a traditional job. And if I go out and get a job, do I return to my former career of arts admin, do I try something different, or do I go after a part-time gig to keep my stay-at-home-dad creds current?
Now, 2025 didn’t actually work out the way we planned, but I do know that God got a good laugh outta it; per normal. Yet, 2025 wasn’t a bad year. We made progress as a family, and the kid is good and happy, which is our paramount concern day in and day out. But, I have to take responsibility that I didn’t complete the number of stories that I had set as my goal, and I did fall one story shout on my publication/acceptance goal for the year. And I did drop ten pounds, but put it back on during the Holidays, so that was a wash.
But as I look at 2026, and even with all the shit that is flying around in this country and in the world (I’m still doom-scrolling in the morning) I haven’t given up yet. I hope that one day I will get to rest and relax, but I know life is struggle and I don’t see that changing. Struggle for a better day, a better world for my kid and yours, too.
(Three is a magic number…)
Fractions suck. They have sucked since I was first introduced to them back in 5th grade, and to this day, they are still sucking away. I know that their suckage has continued because my daughter came home with math homework that was nothing but stupid word problem fraction questions. “It takes 1 3/4 cups of flour to make a batch of cookies. Dave wants to make 4 1/8 batches of cookies. If Dave has 8 2/3 cups of flour, how much flour will he have left over after he bakes his cookies?” Honestly, who gives a shit. Why aren’t they teaching kids to convert the fractions to decimals, because the world runs on decimals. Lucky for the kid, she didn’t inherit her father’s useless mathematical mind, and at least can handle it better that I did.
This morning, as I was waking up the kid, and getting breakfast started, a memory shock-shot into my head. I returned to being four or five years old, sitting at the kitchen table eating Franken Berry cereal, watching my mother in her old yellow robe whisk and glide around the kitchen make school lunches for my brothers. There was a radio on top of the refrigerator that was playing “Fun, Fun, Fun.” I was trying to follow the lyric, but was confused. “What’s a T-bird?” I asked my mom. “It’s a car,” she said. “Why does the dad take it away?” “She got in trouble.” This was all confusing to me.
I’m addicted to my phone, and it’s becoming a problem. Sure, a little of it has to do with doom scrolling because of all the news of late. Yet, I know that I am spending too much time on my phone. I lost a half hour just now, looking a videos of people signing about how awful musical theatre is. Like, I need to wrap up my writing this morning, and get to my chores… but I had to see if there were any new ICE videos. Now I feel like I am behind, and the day is slipping away. I have to put it down. I have to stop. I have to do better and more constructive things with my time. Like come up with a good button to end this piece…
