I’m staying with Mom in Pennsylvania but I feel like the time for going home is at hand. So I’m looking into return flights for next week.
Checking on one flight segment, from Seattle, WA, to Medford, OR — my final leg — causes some reservation to make the final click.
Seems the flight is 66% on time. That’s the only number provided. For ‘% Late 30 + min” and for ‘% Cancelled’, their little chart says 0%.
So I’m confused. If it’s only on time 66% of the time, and it’s never late or cancelled, what’s happening to the flight? Is it just disappearing?
Then I need to consider, is your flight disappearing that bad?
I mean, I’ve never heard any complaints about it. Depends on where you go and what happens when your flight disappears I suppose. Is it a Stephen King situation or someone else?
Rolling Stone rolled out a story about a new film that features Donald Trump. The article begins,
After the film The Apprentice debuted at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday, the Trump Campaign threatened to sue over the controversial depiction of the ex-president during his early days in real estate and his marriage to his first wife, Ivana.
Among scenes of Trump taking amphetamine pills and getting liposuction, Variety reported that the movie included a disturbing scene of the former president throwing Ivana to the floor and having nonconsensual sex with her. The outlet said a female attendee at the premiere referred to it as “rape,” while another agreed and said it was a disturbing sexual assault.
That beginning seized my attention. Reading on is where it became so Alanis Morrisette ironic:
“We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers. This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked. As with the illegal Biden Trials, this is election interference by Hollywood elites, who know that President Trump will retake the White House and beat their candidate of choice because nothing they have done has worked,” Trump campaign’s communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement to Rolling Stone.
Whoa, whoa, whoa – the Trump campaign is upset about blatantly false assertions?Garbage that’s been thoroughly debunked?
Gosh, we’re with you on that! Would that include assertions which have been thoroughly debunked like that the 2024 election was stolen, an assertion without any facts supporting it whatsoever? That the kind of assertions which have you upset, Mr Trump Campaign?
What about blatantly false assertions that have been thoroughly debunked like the US economy did so much better under DJ Trump?
Are you saying, Mr Trump’s Campaign, that you don’t like it when thoroughly debunked bullshit is substituted for truth?
Then you know how the rest of us feel about you and your campaign at this point. You must surely know how sick and tired we are of hearing about these debunked lies that you keep spouting as truths.
And just as you want these ‘thoroughly debunked assertions’ stopped, so…do…we.
I’ve been writing. Now I pull my head out of the morass of story and look around.
The burst of activity which took over the coffee shop like a late spring storm has faded. Regulars have come in. Parked at tables as I’ve done, they pursue their personal agendas in a public forum.
One of them is a woman. I have no idea what she’s doing. I wonder, but, shrug. I try to give everyone the same privacy I seek.
Today, though, I see that her toenails are bright mango. They match her shirt.
I haven’t noticed these things before but now I’m thinking, did she select a shirt and paint her toenails to match it, as is this a coincidence?
Now, I know, I’ll need to see her again and make a note to look for her toenails. Yes, it seems weird to me, too.
It’s 65 F. That’s the low for Penn Hills in the Churchill Valley today. The house’s east side is being sunblasted. Clouds? Yes, some particles are stringing together thin white cloud structures. The thermometer is supposed to stop up by 90 F today. It’s Tuesday, May 21, 2024.
Mom’s energy was strong yesterday, a change from the usual. See, there was a birthday celebration on Sunday. Mom was there for about five hours. Normally, such outings deplete her energy stores, so the day after leaves her listless.
But not yesterday. She was spirited and energetic, good to witness. Did her exercises and was quite engaged. Holding my breath on today, but I hope we’re seeing a new trend’s beginning.
I was thinking about my brother-in-law. Married to my oldest younger sisters, he and I have known one another for fifty years, since we were seventeen. Long time to know another who isn’t related or married to you. Sad for me, he swung toward the right wing over thirty years ago and is now a full-blown MAGAr. That limits our conversation and introduces some awkwardness. We’ve tried talking around it, but he often introduces racist or sexist comments, and has that MAGA habit of ignoring one set of facts while adhering to another. Yet, I’m looking forward to being a guest at his house his weekend for a Memorial Day cook-out.
My family is big into gathering for holidays and eating food. Memorial Day cookouts are the standard, even though the starting lineup has changed, and new players have been added through marriages, divorces, deaths, and births.
The Neurons have introduced “Tin Man” to the morning mental music stream (Trademark well-done). I don’t know why. The 1974 song by America has no discernible links to my dreams IMO. Nor are there conversation or activity links. For that matter, the mellow, comfortable song has silly lyrics. Lots of hooks and easy to sing with, but little deep to it.
That’s okay. Maybe The Neurons are ordering me to chill.
BTW, today is birthday boy’s actual birthday. So happy sixteenth, Michael. May your days be as complete and fulfilling as you dream them.
Michael Seidel, writer 