Monthly Archives: January 2024

Like art and pornography…

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I really didn’t know what to expect when I cut down the blog from something I posted every night to just two days a week. I’d been five-a-week for so long it represented a surprisingly significant change in my evening. One thing I didn’t expect though, is how much of an embarrassment of riches it would yield in terms of how many things I had the option to write about in any given week. 

This week, for instance, I thought about taking on the federal government’s continued fumbling of border security, the Iranian backed attack on US troops in Jordan, my MAGA-led county government’s ongoing efforts to gut the local school system, and some additional thoughts on my ongoing efforts to be vaguely less unhealthy. Any number of those topics could stand alone as a single post, or even as a series of posts. Each and every one of them is its own particular brand of shitshow. 

I assume that’s why, when it came time to sit down and start writing, that I couldn’t get past the first sentence or two. They’re all big issues in their own way, but damn am I tired of picking apart all the great foibles of the 21st century. I’m even more tired of spending my free time pondering the vagaries of health and diet.

With all that said, I decided I didn’t have it in me to write one of those posts just in the name of it being Monday. Being an election year, there will be ample opportunities to delve into the absurdities of contemporary American politics. The Middle East seems determined to go hot again at any moment, so there will be plenty of time to go through that meatgrinder. I’ve got a few doctors appoints stacked up over the back half of the winter. I’m sure that will be the topic of at least a few posts after the fact. 

I’m feeling a need to branch out a bit, although I’m not sure in my own head exactly what that means. In any case, I need some fresh topics to get my hands – and head – around. As for what form that might take or even what those issues are, I don’t have the foggiest idea. Like art and pornography, I suppose it’s just something I’ll know when I see it. 

Getting to know you…

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I don’t suppose it will come as a surprise to anyone that I’m not especially adept at dating. I don’t know what the cool kids like doing in their free time… and mostly I don’t care. Apparently, though, I’m even worse when it’s time to engage in the getting to know you small talk that’s the true bane of social interaction. 

Let me give you a for instance. I was talking to someone last week, laying out our likes and dislikes, when she mentioned enjoying “house parties.”

My eyes lit up and I opined extensively on the late-Victorian and Edwardian era’s parties thrown at the great houses across England and their flair for not particularly subtle opulence. I even offered a couple of good book recommendations on the topic as I’d recently read several that covered some of the legendary parties at Chatsworth and Blenheim. 

As it turns out she meant she liked going to a friend or associate’s house where someone may or may not have brought a keg or some $3 wine… and not studying the habits and trends of the 19th and early 20thcentury British aristocracy.

House party. Same words, two entirely different meanings. 

About one a year I go through a phase where I decide to put myself “out there.” It’s becoming increasingly clear that I honestly shouldn’t be allowed to talk to people without the whole thing being heavily scripted.

It’s safe to say I’m not surprised we haven’t had any further conversations.

New whip…

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After a great deal of consideration and a lot of shopping, I traded off both the Tundra and the Wrangler in favor of bringing home a shiny new Land Rover Defender. 

As a young man, it’s a one of those vehicles I saw in magazines and occasionally on television or movies and thought, if I ever make it, that’s the kind of car I want to drive. As the years passed, I made the rounds – sedans, coupes, sports cars with great growling V8s, pickup trucks, and 4×4’s. I’ve never been particularly brand loyal. At various times, I’ve owned Fords, Chevys, Pontiacs, Toyotas, and Jeeps depending on what caught my fancy at the time. But putting one of the great British overlanders in the garage was always a dream, even if it was one that felt unlikely.

Given the state of the automotive industry, with its ongoing emphasis on transitioning to hybrids or all electrics, it finally felt like the time was right. If I didn’t do it now, I might never have the chance to own a proper petrol-powered Land Rover. It was a now or never moment before the motor car transforms forever from internal combustion to whatever comes next.

So here I am, with what’s sure to be a quirky, expensive to maintain, premium fuel guzzling, British (by way of Slovakia) import.

All the forums question the reliability of these new model Defenders. I got the same warnings every time I bought another Jeep and had two remarkably reliable vehicles. Ask me in four or five years how I feel about it, but for now I absolutely adore my Pangea green, white roofed, old fashioned steel wheeled throwback.

Whatever else it is, it’s a very pretty thing that I’m dearly glad to have.

And we’re back…

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After Christmas I took a little break. I was feeling legitimately good for the first time in months, there was a lot going on. Honestly, I just didn’t have the normal burning desire to sit down and get anything off my chest.

Today, however, I spent my first day back at work working in the actual office. Rest assured after eight hours as a standard office drone, I’m cured of not having anything to say. I won’t say it’s a great routine, but it is a routine and I appreciate it for that if nothing else.

Somewhere along the way, I think we’ve all been led to believe that the purpose of vacation is to enjoy some downtime and come back rejuvenated. Maybe I’m doing it wrong, as I don’t think I’ve ever come back from a vacation re-energized and excited to be back to work. At this stage it’s safe to say that’s just not who I’m ever going to be as a person.

But back I am. Because the animals are expensive and I’d well and truly suck at living under a bridge or sleeping on the nearest park bench. There are, if nothing else, standards to be maintained.

I won’t say the day was entirely unproductive, though. I did spend an unreasonable amount of time today plugging in all the federal holidays for 2024 into Outlook and starting to plot how to maximize my days off for this new year. So I’ve got that going for me.