Category: Uncategorized

  • Gotta Have Writing Goals

    I am still trying to make the best out of this pretty bad situation. Well, a shitty situation. I have no reservations with moving into the “stay at home parent” role, as that’s what the situation calls for. One day, I might return to work out of the home, but I’m trying not to plan too far ahead with anything. And at the same time, I have to have something to work on and move towards; a goal.

    I am working on two writing projects; this blog, and the novel.

    When it comes to blogs, this is, I think, my third or fourth attempt at one in the past fifteen years. This one, though I haven’t been the most frequent or dedicated blogger, is the only one that has stuck. Keeping everything short to just 250 words has provided a good structure to work within. It is teaching me to be concise and clear in my story telling.

    As for the novel, that does give me something long term to work on. This is the fourth novel that I have written, and by saying that, I have every intention of completing it. Publication is a different story, but for now, just having a goal of starting and finishing something seems to be the most important thing while living in this world of never ending Covid.

    What I find myself thinking about is what my grandmother used to say to me growing up; that you gotta have a goal, something to look forward too. Right now, I can see very clearly that grandma was right. She did grow up during the Depression, so I think she knew what she was talking about.

  • I Am Still in a Facebook Argument, And I am Ashamed

    I responded to the guy, and should not have, here is what I said:
    That’s twice now you have asked me what conservative news I read, and I must say that I don’t see the relevance of that information to this discussion. What if I read more conservative news than you; does that make my argument more valid and therefore correct? If you read more liberal news than me, does that now make your argument the right one? Besides, you just provided a list, not proof, that you read liberal publications. For all we know, you just googled a list and reprinted it. And I’m calling you out on this trick, as I have seen you do it other times to other people, to somehow prove that you are more well read. Come on, mate! Get some new material! Why don’t we just measure our hands to see whose is bigger? But to answer your question, my father helped found The National Review, and I spent summers with William F Buckley Jr. on the Cape sailing and discussing the need for a cohesive conservative political philosophy that is big tent, and also encourages individualism through free markets and personal responsibility.
    All joking aside, the tactic you are trying to use here is to keep the discussion as micro as possible (Any fraud in a systems renders that system invalid and must be discontinued as it no longer can be trusted), but when it comes to voting in the United States, it has to be a macro, context-based discussion. Such as, 749 cases of voter fraud is not a good thing, but if you compare 749 cases of voter fraud to the 500+ million votes cast in the United States since 1948, which is the date range the Heritage database used, then you are looking at way less than one percent, right? (I’m not the math guy, I’ll leave that to you.) It would seem to me that would be akin to saying that if one murder was committed in a city of 10 million, that you have to scrap all the homicide departments in the police force, because murder could be rampant. Now, I would view that as, wow, that police department is doing an amazing job!
    Also, in human history, when a political party is in power and it starts to try and limit access to people’s ability to vote, does that result in more or less enfranchisement?
    And that’s what leads me to believe that you are lacking an understanding of the history of the United States when it comes to voting rights. Here is a nice primer for you:
    Sadly, the language and argument of the possibility of voter fraud with mail-in ballots, which currently is being pushed hard by many conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation, are not new, and goes well back 150 years. I ask you to educate yourself on the Jim Crow south, the Red Summer of 1919, Operation Eagle Eye (and how it has continued to this day,) and the language used in the opposition to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Did you even take a moment and wonder why so many of these Republican voter laws came about after repeal of part of the Voting Rights Act in 2013? What part of the country are they focused? Who does these laws affect? Why did it only become a national issues after 2013?
    Dude, I know that I am not going to convince you of my position through a Facebook post, and you still wouldn’t believe me if I was right in front of you. But, I’m not asking you to believe in what I know, but I am asking you to question everything you think you know. Is that not the way we become more intelligent?

  • The Day Went Sideways

    I thought I had a plan for today.

    That was my first mistake.

    What I had set out to do today was help out my friends. They had rented a car, and to help save them some dollars, I offered to drive them to the rental place, which was in New Jersey. Not really a big deal, just across the George Washington Bridge.

    Well…

    Nothing is easy in New Jersey.

    It took over three hours to pick them up, drop them off and get home. They say New York City has emptied out… but not on the GWB.

    By the time I had got home, I had lost the time I had set aside to blog and work on the novel. (Clearly, I’m blogging now, but I’m doing it while the kid is running around the park. Not the most attentive parent today.) I am afraid that the novel won’t get any attention and that’s just the way it’s going to be.

    But that’s okay.

    I don’t want to beat myself up if I don’t work on every project, every day. It was a good thing that I helped out my friends and got to spend time with them. Things go sideways, that’s just life. I need to be more forgiving to myself, and be more confident that I am committed to following through on writing.

  • They Stopped Making Algot

    Another strange coronavirus effect affected us this weekend, and I am quite surprised by it.

    You see, as we have moved to working at home all the time now, and being that our incomes have been cut in half by me being laid off, we have undertaken a project of updating our living room, to make a learning space for our daughter, and updating the home office. To complete this project, we were using items from the Algot system from Ikea. We had used Algot years ago for our living room to create book shelves, and a standing desk. Now, we wanted to repurpose those shelves, while leaving the original brackets in the wall. We had been planning this transition for two months, ordered the supplies from Ikea, and were ready to execute this weekend.

    On Saturday, when we went to switch out the shelves in the living room, to install them in the office, the brackets in the living room gave way, and became loose from the wall, to the point that we no longer felt safe that the shelves could hold any weight. With a quick look online, we found what could solve this problem which was a support rail, but oddly there were only three rails left in all of the Tri-State area. We quickly got in the car and raced to the local Ikea to get the rails, only to learn two details; one, they were sold out, and two is that Ikea had discontinued the Algot system.

    I cannot put into words how absolutely disappointed we felt. Our entire plan had gone to shit, and if we wanted to continue, we would have to use a new shelving system because nothing at Ikea was compatible with Algot. It was like every setback we had ever experienced in our entire life was wrapped up in this one situation, and we just felt like giving up on life. Sunday was a full-on mope festival of just not caring about anything.

    And at the same time, I can fully admit that out reaction to this is, also, fully stupid.

    The wife and I have had real tragedy and real setbacks in our life together. We know what honest disappointment is, and logically, this isn’t one of them.

    But why were we feeling this way?

    It was because we wanted to have control of just one little thing in our life, right now. Just one tiny thing, like, putting shelves together, and making a learning station for the kid, and making the office functional. To conceive a plan, execute it, and check it off the list, all the while, enjoying that feeling of accomplishment by completing a task.

    Because in the coronavirus world, we have nothing; no control, no ability to change out comes, no way to steer the ship in a direction we want. It’s not irrational to have the reaction that we did. I know full well that in the next day, we will come up with some idea that will accomplish the goals we want for the apartment. But, I was just so taken aback by the feeling of disappointment, in losing the last shred of control in my life that I thought I had.

    (Say, don’t forget to like this post, or share it, or leave a comment. I got bills to pay, you know.)

  • Coronavirus: Return

    And that is the word we kick around here, “Return.”

    Such as, “When we return to normal,” or “When we return to riding the subway,” or “When we returning to eating out…” When it’s late at night, and I can’t sleep, that’s when I start thinking about the things, and how we might not “return” to a lot of stuff quickly. Moving back to New York, I was ready to return back to the puppeteering world, but I don’t know when theatres will be opened again.

    The other thing I get asked, is what do you want to do outside of your apartment when things open up?

    See, there isn’t one thing I want to do, or go to.

    What I miss is coming home. That it’s the end of the day, I am returning to my safe space. The place I spend with my wife and kid. I miss the joy of coming home, and choosing not to leave.

    It’s so much work to be outside of the home in New York City, and that was the good old days. You can’t get anywhere quickly, and you are around people when you want to be alone and introspective.

    Got off the rails here…

    Anyway, one day we will return to something.