Author: Michael Seidel

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.

Monday’s Theme Music

Mood: coffeesophical (when you’re just sipping coffee and thinking)

Monday, which is today, Jan. 15, 2024, which is also today, is weather ala carte. Got some fresh sunshine with sides of 38 F, fog, and blue sky. Mixing it up, you know?

I have a John Prine song in the head today, an impromptu addition to my thoughts supplied by The Neurons out of the blue. Well, kind of out of the blue. I was thinking about how easily we become insulated against others’ worries and needs, actually, how we become thoughtless about others’ existence. Things are taken for granted; minor matters gain weight because we have so little bothering us. Out of that came John Prine and a song called, “That’s the Way the World Goes Round” orbiting my morning mental music stream (Trademark done). Originally released in 1978, Prine sang it with Colbert back in 2016, and Cobert broadcast it when he learned that Prine was stricken with COVID-19 and on a ventilator. Well complications from that took Prine in 2020.

Pursue a positive attitude, buck up and be strong, and remain leaning forward with hope for a better existence for people. I’m talkin’ less violence, greed, and hate, you know? Coffee time is fully underway. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Floofpike

Floofpike (floofinition) – 1. A route or pathway established by or for animals for their regular use. Origins: Middle English, first use observed in 1678.

In Use: “The backyard floofpike was busy with a big dog following a little following a cat who was following a squirrel.”

In Use: “The cats have established a floofpike through the yard into the neighborhood’s yard through a hole in the fence. Other animals attempt to use it but the cats declare that it was made for cats’ private use.”

Recent Use: “The first big snowstorm of 2024 had people establishing a floofpike for housepets to go out and do their business.”

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Sunday’s Wandering Thoughts

My brain let slip to my stomach, “He brought a boatload of food home,” ‘he’ being me.

My stomach immediately began berating me to go eat things. “The Neurons told me you have dark chocolate coconut cups. Let’s eat a couple of those.”

“No.”

“They said there was a sandwich in there. Let’s eat that.”

“No.”

“What about the canteloupe?”

“No.”

“Come on, man, let us eat something. We’re starving here.”

“You’re not starving. You had a large breakfast. What’s the matter with you?”

My stomach groaned. “Fooooddd.”

Honestly, you’d think I haven’t eaten in a year, the way my stomach is going on.

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Sunnyday’s Theme Music

Mood: sunful

Today is Sunday, January 14, 2024. Spacious sunshine is floating bright and happy through our valley, though grim gray clouds hover here and there as if they’re waiting to strike. We wuz out on an early food shoptz (shopping blitz) and I rejoiced in all the sunshine. It’s 51 F, just a hair off today’s expected high of 52 F.

The cats are digging the sunshow, striking calendar-worthy poses in the bright light. Papi, being the high energy being he is, all light and fur, keeps going in and out, seeking escape from boredom. I play with him every time he comes back in but he bores of that, too. There’s just no pleasing some floofs.

Well, we’re fortunate here. North of us an hour as the car rolls, some houses are without power and experiencing temperatures in the twenties. Friends living in the suburbs of Portland are enduring no power with a temperature of 26 (which feels like 3). Ouch.

While on our shoptz, I heard “Need A Favor” by Jellyroll from 2022 on the radio. The Neurons just took it up and tucked it into the morning mental music stream (Trademark damned) where it remains this afternoon. TBH, its country sound has a definite rock sauce on it. But The Neurons were really taken by that line, “I only pray when I ain’t got a prayer.”

Stay strong, be pos, test negative and keep leaning forward. Hope you and yours are safe and comfortable wherever you are, whatever your weather. Cheers

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Floofpetition

Floofpetition (floofinition) Competing among animals to win favor, treats, or rewards. Origins: Unknown, first noted use in 21st century.

In Use: “The cat and dog got along but always indulged in floofpetition for their people’s attention. The cat always won because, although about five times larger than the cat, the dog had a much sweeter disposition.”

Recent Use: “Tough to say where the greatest floofpetition between the house floofs came — during Battle for the Lap, You Got Treats, or Game of Floofs.”

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Love This

The “Great Negotiator” Strikes Again

Trump — who didn’t build the great wall he claimed he would, who didn’t have a new healthcare plan even though he kept promising to reveal it in two weeks, who has a lengthy string of failed businesses behind him — well, you know who he is by now and his character — roiled the world with another pompous claim, this time that he could have negotiated a compromise — a deal — that would have avoided the American Civil War. Mind you, multiple deals had already been negotiated, but face it, keeping people as goods, and torturing and raping them was not sustainable in the emerging ethos of the period.

But this cartoon captures Trump’s mind at work on the issue better than anything I could write here.

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Surprised

I overheard two strangers chat a little in the coffee shop. One asked the other about the book he was reading. The other replied, “It’s Dostoevsky. It’s written as a series of letters.”

Poor Folk, I guess, sneaking a glance over. I’d read it, I remembered, wondering if that was the book he was reading. I took a minute to hunt down when I’d read it, remembering it was the summer of 1989, when I was living in Germany. I took summer college courses which addressed different Russian, Jewish, French, and American authors. Dosteovsky was one of three Russian writers.

Over thirty years ago, I suddenly realized with a mental thud. The race of time surprised me once again. I’ll be 68 years old this year. That just amazes me. It shouldn’t, I know, yet it does. It feels like just yesterday that I was thinking, wow, Dad is 68 this year. Gonna be seventy in a few.

And now it’s me.

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The Power of Coffee

I probably mentioned it before, but my first sip of coffee is actually two or three deep inhalations of the aroma. I’ve done this more or less since I began drinking coffee as a young adult, but the idea was solidified as a ritual when I read that coffee’s smell enhances focus, memory, and attention span. Figuring I needed whatever advantage I could dredge up, I embraced my ritual.

I imagine that some day, I’ll be older, and sharing that with strangers in coffee shops. But not today.

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