Blog

  • Women’s World Cup: Day 1

    It’s been a long time coming, but here we are; The First Day of the Women’s World Cup 2023. I have been looking forward to this, and I am flying solo for the time being, on the Group Stage of the Tournament anyway, as my daughter is off at camp. She’ll be back for the Knock Out stage, and I am looking forward to watching matches with her, but I just need to be patient for that.

    In the meantime, there’s a lot of football to be played!

    And the Tournament has started off with some excitement! New Zealand defeated Norway in an upset. This gave New Zealand their first ever win in the Cup, which is cool and fun. They still have a tough road ahead of them, but hey, enjoy the moment.

    As for the other match of the day, Australia defeated Ireland, which wasn’t a big surprise. Australia is ranked #10 in the world, and they are playing at home for the Tournament, so I’m keeping an eye on them.

    Clearly, I am here supporting Team USA, as they go for their third Cup in a row. Odds are pretty good that they will do it, but I will add that this Cup is the most competitive that I have even seen. England is looking especially good, but I wouldn’t count out Germany or Sweden to have a strong run. Canada is my dark horse pick, and my gut tells me that Japan might surprise people.

    Not that I know anything about football, because if you have read this blog and my football related posts, I’m wrong a good amount of time. Not that it stops me from make more predictions, nor from having a crap ton of fun watching matches!

  • Short Story Review: “Colorin Colorado” by Camille Bordas

    (The short story “Colorin Colorado” by Camille Bordas appeared in the July 10 & 17, 2023 issue of The New Yorker.)

    (SPOLIERS AHEAD!)

    Photograph by Ryan Frigillana for The New Yorker

    I loved it.

    It was much better than The Lottery.

    I going to read it, again and again.

  • Inability to Relax

    I should be relaxing. Taking it easy. Kicking back. Not thinking about anything.

    See, this kid is gone to sleep away camp, which means half of my work load is gone. The wife still has to work, and there are things that I want to do, like projects around the house and stuff. But my wife keeps telling me that I should take, you know, relax, and allow myself to enjoy not having as many responsibilities this week.

    Except, I am having trouble doing that.

    First of all, I am having a little anxiety with the kid going to camp. And it’s separation anxiety on my part. It will be gone in a day or two, as the kid leaving is rather recent. (This is a blog for another day.) Suffice to say, I’m excited that she went to camp as I know this will help build her independence giving her an experience that is all her own, and in the end, that’s what I want for her.

    No, what I am talking about is that if I sit around and do nothing; watch tv all day, sleep in, play video games – I end up feeling like crap. Reading is okay, that feels like a worthwhile activity, but sometimes also feels like work. No, I can’t sit and do nothing. I have to accomplish something. Even an easy win like taking out the garbage. I have to goal, and check off that box.

    I didn’t used to be this way. I used to waste days left and right, without a care in the world. Waking up at noon, going to bed at dawn. The coming and going of days like an endless cycle that I seemed to float above.

    Now I am in the grind. If the day goes by and I don’t have something to hang my name on, then I become the most useless man in the history of the known universe.

    Yet another thing to work at.

  • Gone Fishin’

    Be back tomorrow

  • ODDS and ENDS: UNION!, American Folklore, and Ice Cream

    (Casey Jones you better watch your speed!)

    Oh, shit! The actors joined the strike! Yup, SAG-AFTRA is on the picket line with the WGA, and now no one gets pretty new movies and shows this Fall! I hope you’re happy Studios! Both sides will make their case over the next few weeks, seeing who can build up the bigger public support, and then the real negotiations will begin. The truth of the matter is that the delivery of entertainment has changed. The traditional way for studios to earn income (movie theatres, cable, and ad tv) has declined and streaming hasn’t closed the gap, though that’s how everyone wants to get their entertainment. But I will also point out there are only five media corporations in the US, and it’s been that way for a very long time, so if they aren’t making money, that’s on them. It’s not like there is a ton competition out in the market. Media is an oligopoly so they are in control for how it all works. The studios could solve this tomorrow; stop paying your C-Suite hundreds of millions of dollars. Sorry, but CEO’s can only have two mansions, one Learjet, and one yacht from here on out. We all will have to make sacrifices to survive.

    And when was the last time you thought about American Folklore? Like, Casey Jones, Paul Bunyan, and John Henry. They don’t teach that stuff in school anymore. I asked my daughter about it, and she has no idea what I was talking about. I can’t prove this, but I have this weird feeling that schools were teaching American Folklore as a form of propaganda, to get us kids to believe that there was a mythology to American development and enguiniety, instead of teaching us that our past was a whole lot more about exploitation and exclusion. I can’t prove it, but these people who pushed the Folklore might have been the same people that killed teaching us kids the metric system.

    Ice cream really is the best. Doesn’t matter the season, ice cream is perfect.