Is It Really Bad News?

I shaved my head today.

Ok, I am not completely bald but it would be hard to make my hair any shorter than it is and I am ok with it.

Were it not for the protestation of my kids I would have just done it and worked on my Mr. Clean look, but for now it will have to wait.

One week post dislocated finger the swelling is mostly gone but there are occasional bolts of pain that remind me recovery is still underway.

A Measured Response

I lost my temper with someone on Facebook today and wrote a scathing response to the idiocy they offered the world.

They never read it and will never know how I felt because I deleted what I wrote.

Deleted it because I realized the news I got before it had set me off and decided that the vicious response I crafted wasn’t needed.

It wasn’t measured but it was chock full of fact and logic, things that were devoid from their attack upon me.

Silence worked better here because when I took a breath I realized that a lack of response would be better because they would go crazy knowing I hadn’t acknowledged them.

So I went dark.

Musical Intermission

Last 7 songs on iTunes

Maybe I Am Amazed- Paul McCartney
Surrender- Cheap Trick
Southern Cross- Crosby, Stills & Nash
El Dorado- Iron Maiden
Black Dog- Led Zeppelin
Get Up Offa That Thing- James Brown
Have A Little Faith In Me- Joe Cocker

Movies & Movie Theaters

I love going to the movies and I have become especially fond of a movie theater that is close to my home called Moviehouse.

They have overstuffed chairs that recline and serve full meals (booze too) at your seats.

Since they are relatively new they are working on marketing themselves to the locals which led to my obtaining a pretty nice deal.

I signed up for a program that provides free tickets, free popcorn and free meals.

Now you can’t combine the coupons but that is ok with me because every time I go I get something for less than I would have paid had I not taken advantage of the promotion.

And since most of the time I go alone it won’t be hard to make this last for a good long while.

Anyhoo, the tickets don’t expire until 12/31/17 so I have ample time to use them how I please.

Given the current situation and my need to find ways to decompress the movies work just fine.

A Masquerade Party

Sometimes I look at some of the people around me and I wonder if they ever stop to think about the world around them or if they think I am just another guy at a masquerade party.

Do I wear a mask?

The answer is yes and no.

If you are among the few I choose to talk to I am pretty open and have relatively few secrets.

But if you are not among the circle, well you might accuse me of wearing a mask but the reason you think so is because I just don’t share anything of import with you.

And unless you ask, well you probably won’t and I am unlikely to volunteer.

****

I don’t think I have ever been to one of those fancy masquerade parties and until recently I don’t think I had much interest.

Can’t say what changed or why, but I am sort of interested in attending one.

Is It Really Bad News?

Someone asked me to sum up my feelings about the president and I said I wonder what he’ll do after he burns through that box of Crayolas he is using to write those executive orders.

They smiled and told me they were frightened about how much damage he can do in four years.

I told them I understood and we talked what the Post Trump world might look like and how long it will be before we get there.

“I can’t understand how people voted for him or why they are blind to what he is doing.”

When I didn’t answer they said they couldn’t understand my silence.

I told them I had plenty to say and that I wasn’t ignoring them, I was thinking for a moment about all that has happened.

“Whenever I get news about something that bothers me I try to make a point to take a deep breath and ask myself if it is really bad news or if it is not as bad as I think it is.”

The answer came fast and furious, “This is worse than you think it is, much, much, much worse.”

I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders, not because I had nothing to say but because I really had nothing more to say to them.

And because I had other news that was rattling around inside my head and that was really where my focus was because that is the kind that could have an immediate impact.

It might not and I hope it won’t, but when you aren’t sure how to measure or respond to some things it makes it much harder to ask and answer whether it really is bad news.