Science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writer. Singer (sorry, no shows) & nudist (in my home). Beer, cat, cheese, coffee, pie and wine friend. Left IBM and Silicon Valley for the southern Oregon life but I miss the ocean. We're too far inland. Gotta move.
Weird one, where I had myself and another me. We were identical in every aspect, from age and size to clothes being worn. But, we were in two different locations.
We were much younger, like in our late twenties. Wearing off-white cargo shorts with a light blue button-down shirt. Brown hair military short.
‘I’ was supposed to be doing something to pave the way for the other me to arrive. But, panic in dream land! I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing. Wasn’t there something about pressing buttons and changing settings and selections? Yes, I was half-sure that was right, but what was I supposed to be setting? Was it the printer, television, home computer network?
None of that sounded correct and time was running out. Looking out across time and space, I saw my other self entering the room where he was supposed to be. Oh, no, but I’d not done anything yet. What was going to happen?
I awoke looking for the answers in the room. But this wasn’t the right room? What was this room?
Why, it was my bedroom. But was that where I was supposed to be? I didn’t think that was right. I was supposed to be doing something, setting things up for my other self…
As anxiety unspooled and seeped out, I calmed and remembered, oh, that was just a dream. A very real feeling friggin’ dream.
Autumn covered us this morning with a familiar old comforter. Sunshine on changing leaves, cloudy, hazy blue sky, crisp weather ranging from the upper forties (Fahrenheit) at night to today’s high in the low to mid 70s.
Today is Sunday, September 29, 2024.
It’s National Coffee Day in the United States! Like many holidays, its provenance is a little iffy. Coffee is a staple in the United States. Lot of coffee drinkers like me swear by a daily brew or two. The only thing I drink more than coffee is water, and the only drink I enjoy more than coffee is beer. But coffee has less calories and is fat free! Woo hoo! While it has some potential benefits, it comes with potential risks. IMO, the coffee person relationship is more individualized. Either your body works well with coffee or it doesn’t. Think I’ll celebrate as I do every other day, with a cuppa coffee.
BTW, since there’s a coffee-inspired holiday, there are coffee-inspired deals available. USA Today provides a list.
Yeah, baby, year, real debate, not vibes. Real debate as Trump and his surrogate, J.D. Vance, spread acknowledged lies about Haitians eating pets in Ohio. Let’s debate that, Roberts.
Will Trump debate the ‘stolen election’ claims he continues to make, even after admitting that he lost the election? The stolen election claims that were thrown out of court over and over again? The efforts to overturn the election that he’s been indicted for?
Let’s have a debate over Trump’s healthcare plan. The one he installed when he was POTUS. *Chortle – yeah, that didn’t happen.* Vaporware has more substance than Trump’s current ‘concept of a plan’.
Let’s debate Trump’s declaration that he’d protect women after the fucking disaster of the Trump-stacked Dobbs decision and its afterbirth on women, their rights, their bodies, and their health. You know, the women who he refers to as ‘bimbos’. The ones he’d grab by the pussy, and Jean Carroll.
Donald Trump: You know and I moved on her actually. You know she was down on Palm Beach.
Unknown: She used to be great. She’s still very beautiful.
Trump: I moved on her and I failed. I’ll admit it. I did try and f*** her. She was married.
What respect he shows! Such a protector! (Yes, that last was late-morning, coffee-fueled snark.)
Yes, let’s have a debate between Trump and Vice President Harris, Roberts! Oh, we can’t because Trump refuses to debate Harris again because she trounced him the last time so badly that Trump’s feelings remain hurt.
Moving on.
Today’s music was inspired by another’s blog post. Tom MacInnes mentioned April Wine in his fabulous series about rock music. I’ve only featured April Wine here once, six years ago. But after today’s post, The Neurons were stirred to drop “Roller” from 1979 into the morning mental music stream (Trademark limited). I had a Canadian friend serving in the U.S. Air Force with me on Okinawa. April Wine was one of his basic “we’re going to play their music” groups. If you were at his house listening to music, you would hear April Wine sooner or later.
Funny, but thinking on that, several such connections exist through my years of friendships. With Jeff, it was Culture Club. Randy could be depended on to bring out Van Halen, although Boston also came out at his place. Rich in Germany was a Chris Rea advocate while Bobby was apt to crank up Cream. Gene, being more old school, frequently invoked the Grateful Dead. Robert was always bringing in Rush. Such a group of characters. Of course, I was likely to turn up a piece out of Pink Floyd’s catalog.
Stay positive, test negative, remain strong, and lean forward. While you’re at it, could you also vote blue in 2024.
Floofpes (floofinition)– Internet slang. Literally, ‘floof tropes’, overused cliches and outmoded themes about animals. Origins: Worldwide Web, early twenty-first century.
In Use: “One floofpes children often heard as they grew up was that they were ‘fighting like cats and dogs’, which many of them doubt as they see videos or personally witness dogs and cats getting along very well.”
Slept in, and the overfloofs allowed it. Rising ticks after 8:30, I found a comfy autumn day hunkering in. Blue sky like we’ve seen thousands of time, but is still wondrous. A full sun was encroaching, driving up the mid 50s temperature. We’re due to make a final stop in the mid 80s before the sun finishes business.
This is Saturday, September 28, 2024.
Today’s theme music overtook me from a song’s line. Yeah, unusual, right? Yes, that was snark.
I was reading Things the MAGAs Claim. A wearying trope. Turning off from that, I mentally countered, “Well, you got your reasons and lies.” As the standard morning activities continued on semi-auto-pilot, The Neurons introduced a vocalist singing “Well, you got your reasons, and you got your lies” in the morning mental music stream (Trademark streaming). Wasn’t until coffee blessed my throat that I was like, oh, hey, that’s that Tonic song. What’s that Tonic song? More coffee and I remembered, “If You Could Only See” from 1997.
I figured, oh, I had to have used that before. So, I sat and searched. Yep, December of 2020, I posted this:
I ended up with a political spin on a love song today. The song, from 1997, is “If You Could Only See” by Tonic. It came to me as I read some interview with another Republican insisting that the election is a fraud and everything must be tossed out. They don’t want a do-over, mind you: they just want Trump declared the winner. Never mind any facts that say anything about the election’s validity. Some nefarious, shadowy and powerful individual allowed Trump to be elected four years ago, let him run the country, but now said, “Oh, but enough. We will rig the election so he loses.”
Such bizarre reasoning always prompts wonder in me. Why do they so love Trump? Why do they put so much faith in unproven conspiracies? Why do they believe statements shown to be lies and fabrication?
Yeah, we have theories about it all. It brought some lines from Tonic’s song into my mental stream this AM.
Well you got your reasons. And you got your lies. And you got your manipulations.
That sums it up for me. Strange reasoning, reinforced by lies and manipulation. Truly, this song from 1997 is proper for this era in 2020.
Funny that the song fit my mood as Trump lost the 2020 election and declare it had been stolen from him, and now, as he runs for office again, with the GOP doing their best to steal it for him by hampering voting.
Stay positive, be strong, lean forward, and vote blue. Here we, Saturday is underway. Cheers
Neofloofthic(floofinition)– Belonging to a previous animal and now outmoded. Origins: 1865, Sir John Floofbock.
In Use: “She thought that the dog’s toys were neofloofthic relics of another era when she began taking care of her daughter’s cat for two weeks but on the first day, the cat was attacking everything that the dog used to play with.”
Nan shares Mary Trump’s take on Uncle Donald’s latest grift. I was thinking about D.J.T. and his grifts and thought it wouldn’t be surprising if he put out a set of ‘commemorative Presidential Seal watches’. Sure, it’s illegal to use the the seal, and subject to fine. But with the SCOTUS ruling about Trump’s immunity, I’m sure oddsmakers believe there’s a good chance that Trump will do just that.
Walking along Ashlandia’s Hunters Park, I encountered two middle-aged women. As I nodded hello and passed them, I swung back to one. “Hey, I like your shirt.”
Her shirt said, “Kamala Harris for President” in an interesting rainbow offering on black.
“Thanks.” She widely grinned. “I bought it online.”
“Do you remember the site? My wife is interested in buying another Harris shirt.”
The woman pulled out her phone. “Here, I can tell you. Yes, Teepublic.com.”
“Cool, thanks. Have a good one.”
“Go, Kamala,” her companion shouted with a big grin and strong fist bump.
Michael Seidel, writer 