Frienday’s Theme Music

Mood: full

Happy Frienday.

It’s actually Friday, 11/24/23, which I find fun to type. The Frienday thingy was pure accident. My computer, an HP Envy 17, has been in use for about six years, which is downright geriatric for computers. It’s given to being a little wonky at times, leaping up from where I’m typing to another place on the page, as well as skipping letters that I type. I know it’s the machine and not me because I don’t have these problems on other machines, like my wife’s Apple. Anyway, by unblemished serendipity, the wonkiness spelled out Frienday. As I celebrated Friendsgiving yesterday, keeping it as Frienday was a respectably cool coincidence.

Had a little cold weather last night, as 25 F was our overnight low. Took me by surprise because weather info suppliers were telling us, 31 would be the low. Anyway, that cold weather kept Papi in for most of the night. The one outing somewhere around 3:30 lasted less than ten minutes, and then he stayed in until 6 AM, when his soft pleas to be released re-commenced. Now the sunshine has pulled the mercury up to 44 F in Ashlandia, where all the trees are brown (except for the firs and pines) and the sky is blue. 52 F will be today’s high, if the weather whisperers are to be trusted.

As for me, blood pressure is 130 over 73, and my SpO2 is 99. So, things are going pretty well.

Today’s theme music was inspired by The Falcon and the Snowman, itself an adaptation of the book, The Falcon and the Snowman. The song is the 1985 song, “This Is Not America” by Pat Metheny and David Bowie, words which one of the people in the book said. The Neurons planted it in the morning mental music stream (Trademark dropped) this morning after catching up on the news, and the GOP’s shift away from democracy toward a dictatorship where Donald Trump is their dear leader. Such moves, along with the GOP’s gerrymandering and other actions undermining others’ rights, including the right to vote, has me shaking my head and declaring, “This is not America.” But, to judge by polls and GOP behavior, this is their vision of a fascist America, and they’re pretty happy with their cancel culture attacks, book banning, and tearing down the wall between the church and state.

Stay pos, be strong, and lean forward. Oh, and you may not have heard, but from what I’ve seen in my email, today is Black Friday, a good time to stay away from stores and shopping centers, because they’ll be busy, busy places.

Got my coffee; here’s the video. Cheers

November 24, 2023 3

Our Friendsgiving Contribution

Our contribution to the Friendsgiving gathering, as assigned to us by the host, are appetizers. Here’s this year’s offering.

The photo makes it look yellower than it actually is. There are five cheeses on it, deviled eggs, three kinds of crackers, and some puff cheese pastries, along with smoked mesquit almonds, carrots, celery, and cauliflower.

We also provided a vegetable platter with spinach artichoke dip. The food from both trays were delicious.

November 24, 2023 3

Friday’s Wandering Thought

The way that Thanksgiving and Christmas seem to be getting blended together, may as well just call it Thanksmas and get it over with, unfortunately for the other holidays being celebrated during this this period. Egged on by Black Friday deals that start any day of the week and a month before ‘Black Friday’, people and businesses are putting up their X-mas stuff before Thanksgiving (even Halloween, in some cases).

I guess I’m just not in the spirit of these things.

November 24, 2023 0

Thursday’s Theme Music

Mood: popping

Foggy this morning in Ashlandia, where the atmosphere is holiday bright. Was 48 F but that chill fog kept it, well, chilly. Now we’re nearing our day’s high temp, 52 F, but the sun has cleared off the fog and presented us with a clear blue sky, which looks sweet over mid-autumn’s colors.

Yes, it’s Thanksgiving, so my mind is rich with memories of Thanksgivings from childhood at my grandparent’s house to later Thanksgiving with Mom and family, to various military Thanksgiving scenarios. One which stands tall is Thanksgiving in the Philippines. I was married but on an unaccompanied tour, so my wife was back in the US, living with her family. I was part of a three-man command and control team, and my shift lead, Sal, invited me to his home in base housing for the holiday. Good friends, good day.

Since I’ve been out of the military and living with my wife on the west coast, we do Friendsgiving. Herb and Debra hosts a number of people from 12 to 20. Don’t know how many will be attending this year, our tenth year of going to their home in the country outside of Talent, Oregon. It’s always a good time, though, and I’m looking forward to being there.

Of course, no memories supplant the ones with Mom back in her home, with my sisters. Mom would start cooking the night before, worrying about the turkey being big enough, starting to roast it dark o’clock in the morning, basting it and fretting it would turn out dry. Never did. She made everything from scratch herself in those days, and you know we had pie and all the traditional fixin’s.

For music on this holiday, The Neurons inundated the morning mental music stream (Trademark wishful) with Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow with “INDUSTRY BABY” from 2020. It’s mostly the chorus going through the MMMS:

I told you long ago on the road
I got what they waiting for
I don’t run from nothing, dog
Get your soldiers, tell ’em I ain’t layin’ low
You was never really rooting for me anyway
When I’m back up at the top, I wanna hear you say
He don’t run from nothin’, dog
Get your soldiers, tell ’em that the break is over

h/t Genius.com

It’s an interesting video for several reasons, and I hope you enjoy it.

Hope your day is excellent, wherever you are, regardless of whether it’s a holiday for you or not. Be strong, stay positive, and lean forward to better times. Coffee is been consumed; other matters await. Here’s the video. Cheers

November 23, 2023 0

Just. Don’t. Stop.

Inspirational Quote # 4909

November 23, 2023 0

A Fine List

Thankfulness A-Z

Jill made a great list of things which she is thankful for. I didn’t change it, but I’d add some personal names under the letters: Keri, Dee, Frank, Lisa, Gina, Pat, Amy, Sharon, Debby, Jonathan, Jessica, Cynthia, David, Andrea, Michael, Barb, Jon, Becky, Brenden, Landon, Colten, Lauren, Audrey, Rhea, Matt, Vince, and many other nieces and nephews. Beer was added under B, and wine is found under W. Knowledge is added to k, and L is amended with learning.

Oh, yeah, you’ll find pizza and pie under P. Can’t forget them, along with writing. You know where it goes.

Happy Thanksgiving.

November 23, 2023 1

November 22, 2023 0

Wednesday’s Wandering Thought

I haven’t been employed for about seven years, and today I find myself nostalgic for that old corporate work routine when I worked from home from 2005 to 2015. I think it’s because I was alone in the house, on my computer, and it was quiet and rainy.

Good times.

November 22, 2023 0

Wednesday’s Theme Music

Mood: uncertain

Man, it started out as a gray, dry, cold morning, on this Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving in Ashlandia, where the people’s mood seems calm. The temperature has climbed from the mid 30s to the mid 40s and the sky has morphed from flat gray to ashy charcoal streaks with blue hints. Gonna get up to 54 F, we’re told but tonight will see lows in the upper 20s. We hear whispers, “Winter is coming again,” and we’re like, “Yeah, that’s how the seasons work here, like clockwork. Where have you been?”

It’s November 22, 2023, from which I can infer that, barring a collapse of time-keeping, November doesn’t have much time left. Then December will crash into us and we’ll slide through the holidays bang into 2024. And what a year that will be! From elections and trials and sports and economics, we hear so much already about 2024 that it seems like it’ll be a mighty, mighty year, or we’ll squeeze through it with a whimper, bang or bust, right?

Which has fueled today’s music, meaning clock, time, and the calendar. Reading news like the rise of Trump’s overtly anti-democratic rhetoric, I think, we’ll see. We’ll see with time whether Trump’s dreams of being re-elected as POTUS in 2024 will be realized. And we’ll see with time if he escapes conviction in the four trials focused on his behavior and evidence that he was breaking the law. Time will tell us if Trump will be able to complete his new vision of building camps for anyone who doesn’t support him, people he calls ‘vermin’, like many dictators do in their quest to suppress their opposition. Time will tell.

Time will tell if Trump then imprisons political prisoners and ends the dream of U.S. democracy as the founders laid out over two hundred years ago. That’s what he wants, and that’s what his supporters agree to, as long as they end up on top as part of the privileged. Demonstrating remarkably pathetic vision of how things work, the people supporting Trump then think life will be great for them, not realizing, or maybe not caring, what their Trump dreams will lead to. Like, how will all of this play with our current allies and trading partners?

Time will tell if Trump and the Republicans follow through on the plan to fire all Federal employees and then hire back loyalists. Time will tell, if they do, how well the government would then work, and what will happen to revenue if all new people are installed in the IRS to manage the tax code and tax returns. Time will tell how the VA hospitals will do with all new inexperienced administrations, or the FAA, FBI, CIA, NSA, and DHS.

Yes, time will tell if any of these ‘dreams’ are being taken seriously by anyone, and if they are being taken seriously, whether they’ll drive support up or down for Trump and the GOP.

With all that thinking about what ‘time will tell’, is it any surprise that The Neurons cranked up Asia’s 1982 song, “Only Time Will Tell” into the morning mental music stream (Trademark drifting)? I’m on the page with them with this one. With all the crises, wars, problems (like climate change) and divided, polarized opinions about what to do about anything, only time will tell how we, our planet, etc., will end up. Of course, that’s always been the case, but in this hyper information age with bad actors and bots pouring out misinformation, waiting for time to tell keeps many of us anxious, stressed, or even depressed. Guess time will tell what we’ll be like on the other side of 2024.

Stay pos, be strong, and lean into a brighter future. I’ve had coffee, thanks, but wouldn’t mind a warmer, s’il vous plait. Here’s the music. Cheers