My dream was very busy and energetic. Going on a trip. Taking my wife. Packing, organizing, making arrangements. Very excited. Looking forward to it. On top of everything. All was going smoothly.
I sat back to wait for the journey to begin, pleased that I was ready.
Then –
Awakening, I bolted upright. Looked frantically around. OMG, what time is it?
I didn’t set the alarm!
What time am I supposed to leave?
Whoa, whoa, slow down, buttercup. That was a dream.
Thin white clouds marble a bright blue sky. 56 now, a high of 78 F is expected. Sunshine washes the greenery with bright, warm light. Papi says, “This is perfect weather. Don’t change it.”
The jobs report for April came out. I wasn’t surprised that more jobs than expected were added.
Healthcare added nearly 54,000 jobs. Again, not a surprise, because healthcare laid off 108k in January. Hospitals are closing in rural areas, and rebalancing is underway as the healthcare industry copes with Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance changes.
May will be an interesting month for the jobs report, and travel, hospitality, and tourism industries. Gas prices are up over 50% since Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! initiated war in Iran in February 2024. The national average is now around $4.53 per gallon.
Trump may not care but Americans who aren’t wealthy are worried. “The University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index dropped to a record low of 48.2 in early May 2026, missing market expectations of 49.5 and falling below April’s 49.8.”
Sure, Trump doesn’t care. Make a promise — “No new wars” — break a promise.
That’s him. Just like Trump’s Epstein ballroom. ‘Americans won’t pay anything for it.’ Sure. Now, we’ll just pay a $1,000,000,000. Or more.
We’re feeling the economy in my region. Southern Oregon University (SOU) is in a slow collapse; Assante is in decline, taking the regional healthcare system down; the City of Ashland is mired in financial struggles.
With SOU cutting back, music programs and activities are in danger of disappearing. Parks and Rec has been forced to cut back. Meanwhile, we’re holding our breath to see what happens with tourism, OSF, wildfires, and drought — along with rising gas, energy, and insurance prices.
What’s of more interest to me at this point: is how many other regions in the US are being affected in like ways?
Today’s music is brought to you by The Kinks. The song is “He’s Evil”. I first heard it when I was in high school.
It’s in the morning mental music stream today because, Trump.
Lyrics:
He comes on smooth, cool, and kind But he wants your body, not your mind He’s got style, personality But he’s the devil in reality He’ll make you laugh, make you smile And make you feel good for a while Wicked smile, decadent grin He likes school girls, nuns, and virgins
His skin is soft but his mind is hard He’ll lead you on and then he’ll tear you apart He’ll treat you rough and he will make you cry And you will kiss sweet innocence goodbye And once you’re in, there’ll be no getting out So look out, look out, look out Look out, look out, look out
I just want to see her book, a small paperback. She flips through it, pen in hand, underlining passages.
I’m horrified and fascinated. Writing in books? I know others do this and it’s permitted under certain circumstances, but it’s something against my personal coda. Unless…is it a puzzle book?
What is this book she’s defiling? If only she’d put it down so that I can see it.
She left while I was busy writing. I never saw the book.
It’s tougher for me this year. A year ago, Mom and Frank, her live-in partner, were residing together at Mom’s house. All of that has changed.
I bought Mom flowers on line a few days ago and scheduled their delivery. Bought her a card, wrote a note, and mailed it. Provided her with a gift card to help with her expenses.
I was thinking, though, how very difficult the time is for my younger sisters. They live not far from Mom. Mothers themselves, it used to be their practice to take Mom to a local restaurant for a Mother’s Day buffet brunch.
Mom loved those times out, raving to me about the food and how nice it was to be with her daughters and their families, to be out at a restaurant with everyone, to see other people.
Change is change. We all do what we can to mitigate its impact. Some things remain out of reach.
Sorry, don’t mean to be a downer. I know that I follow in the steps of many others who have walked this path. In the end, my family has many good memories of this holiday. There are others who never managed to find that level of joy and happiness.
Bottom line for myself: accept the blessings. Reflect on the past.
But let go.
I hope you can balance your memories and changes with the day. If you’re fortunate enough that you and your mom are together and can celebrate the day, I hope you build something wonderful to remember.
Trump reminded everyone we’re at war but also said he’s not going to use the word war because that would need approval. Also, the war that wasn’t a war stopped with the ceasefire in April, even though there’s shooting going on.
At the same time, Trump also told Axios there was “nothing left” to bomb in Iran. Trump also said, “Any time I want it to end, it will end.”
Trump later told supporters at a Kentucky rally that same day that Washington “won” in Iran and the conflict was “over.”
You follow that? We were at war, we were never at war, it’s a mini-war, the war is over, and it’ll be over whenever Trump says it’s over.
Fine, fine pretzel logic.
“We have a war right now, and we’re to what, six weeks? They said, ‘What’s taking so long!’ We were in Vietnam 19 years.” Donald Trump, April 21, 2026.
Technically, the US can’t blockade Iran because that’s an act of war and we’re not at war, although we might be in a ‘mini-war‘.
Lindsey Graham is getting into Trump’s pretzel logic: “If we can take back control of the Strait of Hormuz, it is checkmate. This thing is over.”
George Conway “Interesting. This must be a new kind of chess where you compete to put the pieces back where they were before you smacked them off the board.”
Not everyone is in the stock market. And even if corporations are making profits, not all employees will see much more money, except for in the C suite. People who aren’t in the stock market or a corporate exec paying $4.46 per gallon of gas in the US might not agree that the economy is booming.
Thunder is talking to us outside. It’s almost a three-D reproduction of yesterday: 56 F now, moving toward upper 70s. Cloudy, thin sunshine, thunderstorms.
Two headlines grabbed my attention today. One said that Delta airlines will stop serving food and beverages on flights under some mileage. I sort of shrugged at that, considering it, 1) part of the general enshittification trend of airline travel.
The other headline was about Trump’s Epstein Ballroom. Originally seized as an idea under Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL!, private donors were supposed to be paying for the ballroom. But NOTUS had this headline:
Remember when the ballroom was going to cost $300 million? Ah, good times. Prices are going up so fast these days.
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
Trump made these statements when he accepted the GOP nomination. It was part of his ‘law and order’ speech. Now he puts his personal agenda before the national good, leads an incompetent government, and fails We the People all the time.
I’m not surprised. That’s what I fully expected from Trump: failing upward, as he did all his life, by covering his mistakes with different personal variations of Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL!
Today’s song is by Steely Dan. I was thinking about pretzel logic. That happens to be the name of a Steely Dan album. I started thinking about that album, and Les Neurons brought “Any Major Dude” into the morning mental music stream.
Don’t know exactly where I was but I was younger – middle-aged.
In a building, I could look out windows and see a large body of pale blue water. I seemed to be in a white building, like a lab.
A man was treating another man. I could hear the conversation but really see them. The man treating the other was saying, “I’m injecting him with this.” There was more blah blah which I couldn’t follow.
I kept getting distracted, turning around, looking to see what else was going on, looking out the window. Sunny out there. Inviting.
The man said, “What I’m doing will replace his bones.”
I saw him now, tall, black receding hair, thick black beard, white lab coat. Oh, I realized. He’s injecting the other man with something that will replace his bones with steel. The ‘something’ seemed like a thick green fluid. Well, that could be useful, I thought. If they’re in the military, for example.
Then I realized I was the one being injected. Oh, they’re turning my bones into steel with this fluid. How does it work? How long does it take?
“Not long,” the man replied, as if I’d asked the questions. “We’re almost done.”
My wife and I were in this big indoor shopping area. Had a tidy flea market vibe to it. She worked for someone, managing several different venues. I was helping by collecting cash and paying out.
We came to the day’s end. I was due to turn in the cash and had a huge amount. But I realized that the business cash and my personal cash had become mixed together. I needed to separate it.
To do that, I started going around, looking for a private place to count the money and organize it. The first place I tried, the wind was blowing, threatening to blow the money out of my hands.
Finding a church like building, I went in there. But people watching me knew me and started calling out jokes, disrupting my concentration.
Going off, I found another, small, dark room, but people I knew were also in there.
Exasperated, I left and ran into my wife. She was anxious to finish the day and wanted to know what was going on with the money. I explained the situation and reassured her, I’d get it done soon.
She and I then headed back to the main shop. As I reached there, I found that I’d folded my money with a note, and it was intact, embedded in the larger wad of cash. Problem solved.
With that done, I decided I’d help clean up. I went around with a spray and rag, vigorously wiping things down. My wife’s boss, the owner, a white woman with brown hair, came over and said, “It’s good to see you.” Going on to thank me for my help, she said, “You need to take care of your L energy.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
Pointing to a space on top of my head, she repeated, “Your L energy is right here.”
She got distracted and I moved away.
Later, as I finished cleaning and everyone else finished, the boss/owner made a little speech, thanking everyone for their work, calling out my wife in particular. Then she said to me, “And don’t forget to take care of your L energy.”
Michael Seidel, writer 