Blog

  • Sleep

    I never said I was smart, but I have always hoped I would be one day.

    With all the changes that have come my way in the past year, I have noticed two major developments:

    1. I don’t sleep well
    2. I have put on 20 lbs.

    There are other things that have changed, and not necessarily for the better, but I have these two are the most important, should be addressed relatively soon, and interconnected.

    My sleep problems have become more severe over the year, I am up later, and I find my self mindlessly eating. (Ice cream and chips are my biggest weakness.) If I were to sleep better, then I wouldn’t be eating at 2am, right? That seems simple. I should be able to address this easily.

    And you can figure out that I haven’t been able to get my arms around this.

    I had been thinking that I don’t have enough time to get all the things done that I desire to do. I even said that to myself the other day as I ate chocolate ice cream and watched “Drunk History.”

    That’s when it started to dawn on me; it’s not the lack of time, it’s the bad management of time.

    There is a psychological factor here. Planning out my sleep, and all the other things in my life doesn’t feel fun, or spontaneous.

    But is being out of shape and having no energy, and watching my life pass me by fun and spontaneous?

    This will be a long slow process of getting my life back on track. I will have lots of setbacks, and screw ups, but when I woke up today, I had to admit that the way I am living now isn’t making me happy.

  • New Star Wars Trailer

    My kid is crazy into Star Wars right now. I hope it lasts the rest of her life, but I will take the enjoyment that we are both getting out of the movies. And books. And cartoons. And TV shows. And all of the other things that Disney wants to release.

    Just as it happens, last night I was watching a documentary on the making of the original trilogy, so seeing he new trailer this morning just made everything come full circle. And here I am, watching this new trailer that seems to be an attempt to tie all 9 movies together as one giant narrative. Regardless of how the last movie is, and it doesn’t really matter – we will all go and see it – there are now nine movies telling a story that everyone can’t seem to get enough of.

    Why do I keep coming back to Star Wars? Empire Strikes Back was the first movie I ever saw in the theatre at five years old. I can still remember the excitement and fear, and thrill of sitting in a packed theatre with my dad and brothers, sharing that experience of witnessing that movie. What I took away from that movie, and still take away from it, is that you always go to bat for your friends, and you have to face your fears.

    Loyalty and courage.

    And here is the new Star Wars trailer…

  • There Goes That Joke

    First, I acknowledge that with everything going on in the world, this is not a big deal.

    But

    Using the word “nasty” has been ruined.

    My wife and I are of the age when “Miss Jackson if you’re nasty!” was, and is, cool as shit. As a couple, it is used playfully, silly way. Such as, we are flipping channels and the wife comments that she hates that show, which I say, don’t be nasty, and you can guess what her response is, Miss Jackson if you’re nasty.

    And Trump has ruined it.

    We have both caught ourselves about to use the work jokingly with each other, and then we pull back. We don’t want to even use the same words as him, even if we both clearly recognize that the other is joking.

    I mean, we didn’t have this issue with, “binders full of women.”

    And I know that it will be coming in the news, because it is when any woman stands up to Trump, and clearly points out how stupid he is, that’s when the “nasty” word is rolled out. Like clock work.

    What I feel is that I don’t want to use “nasty” in any context now. To do so feels like I am empowering Trump’s use of the word against women.

    I also know this is a little silly, but it is the game with language; who can get to a word first and redefine it to their own purposes.

    Just sucks

  • Again

    I avoided the news, but I couldn’t escape it when the second shooting happened.

    There is no more avoiding. It is inescapable now. Nowhere is safe anymore. Being shot at is now the most American thing that we do. 40,000 American’s a year die in gun related deaths. We are so far ahead of the rest of the world in this statistic, that it looks like we are fighting a war. Compare that to the 58,000 that dies in 10 years of fighting in Vietnam.

    This is a crisis.

    And though mass shootings steal the headlines, it is suicides that are driving these high numbers. Mental illness and access to guns.

    And yet we let this happen.

    We let people tell us that the right to a gun is all encompassing, and that this is what freedom looks like. I am free to be shot at. I am free to not be safe. I am free to go to vigils after massacres. I am free to get in line to donate blood for help victims.

    We let people tell us that sick individuals perpetrate these acts, but we don’t do anything to help people get the care they need. They are on their own.

    And the hate… All the hate that comes up again, and again from these white supremacists as the post manifestos and go out and kill.

    And here we are again.

    The only thing that gave me hope, the only one was the crowd in Dayton shouting at the governor to, “Do Something!”

  • When It’s All Said and Done

    The second night of the debates are over, and now we all know that people will start to drop out soon.

    I would hope that we get down to 10 Democratic candidates by October, but I still think that might be too optimistic.

    And what does all of this mean?

    I admit that I am an “Anyone Who Can Beat Trump” voter. I would even take another Republican.

    I will also admit that I think Democrats have apologized for far too long that they are liberal and have grand ideas. Those days must come to an end.

    In my lifetime, it has felt like my choices have been either the party that sticks up for the rich guy, or the party that is sorry if sticking up for the poor guy offends you.

    On another note, there seemed to be some hub-bub from pundits about the candidates attacking each other, and how that will be detrimental later in the campaign against Trump. Two things on that. First, since when did Trump need facts or help attacking rival politicians? Like Trump is taking notes or thinking through his attacks for maximum impact. Second, I think most pundits are thinking about the 2020 election as if they were fighting in 2012. They are bringing the wrong tools to the gun fight, and most them are walking into it with wet spaghetti. Reagan’s 11th Commandment doesn’t exist anymore, and voters who pay attention to these debates have come to expect politicians to attack.

    When this is all said and done, the majority of voters are really looking for a candidate who will validate their feels. Then they will worry about details.