Making It Up As I Go Along #682

Watched the James Comey stuff on TV today… well… for a while.  CNN will go non stop covering it for the next three days.  And all the while they’ll show clips titled “moments ago”.  Or “breaking news”.

And some Einstein decided to put Wolf Blitzer outdoors to discuss it.  Meaning we have a gathering of the masses in the background.  People getting on their cell phones and grinning while they wave to the camera.  Or that one teenager who would shift around for the best spot before pumping his fist or giving a peace sign.  And really, why do people even want to do this?  Tops, you’re giving fifty friends and family a bit of a kick… “Oh look, there’s Billy on CNN!”  But if there’s five million people watching this worldwide, maybe half of them don’t even notice you.  And maybe half a million think you’re being cute.  That leaves two million people, around the world, who think you’re a twit.  Bravo teenage fist pumper… bravo.

As a society, the western world is drawn towards cameras.  Any chance to get seen on TV can not be passed up.  Be it at sporting events or simple news programming, people will stop everything they’re doing and make a fool of themselves in order to stand out for a camera (or they’ll call everyone they know to tell them they're currently on TV).  No wonder Donald Trump is president of the United States.  He’s very much a sign of the times.

I’m not sure if my deadbeat neighbour is throwing away his electric lawn mower or if he’s just… well… being a deadbeat.  But last Sunday he mowed his dandelion patch and, when done, left his mower on the lawn next to the end of his driveway.

My first thought was he left it where he ended his ‘work’ and would move it out of the way later.  Though this is the guy that left an empty oil bottle on his lawn for a month and a jack-o-lantern on his front step for four months.

Anyway, the lawn mower still sits there, four days later.  I guess it’ll be a permanent fixture to his property… or at least until the dandelions reclaim the space.  That electric lawn mower will likely become as an Aztec ruin, buried in the jungle for centuries to come.

Jungle Mower
Ancient artifact
Hidden amongst the Dandelions
What happened here?
What story has the millennia forgotten?

Your society's destruction must have been swift
To leave you here
Alone in the wilderness
Perhaps an earthquake
Or maybe volcano
Leaving you alone
One last remnant
Of a forgotten time

Making It Up As I Go Along #681

Had a nice visit with the folks in town for a while.  Took dad to Louis’ for pizza supper.  Mom did a load of home cooking for my freezer.  And their condo is getting closer with flooring, counters and cabinets all picked out.

The car gave me some issues.  Three times (April 20, May 16 and May 17) the battery died.  The last time it was so dead that the electric entry wouldn't even work.  All this happened when it was time to bring mom and dad to the airport as well.  So a quick cab call and me trying to figure out how to get in the car in order to boost it and get to work on time meant the visit with the parents ended very chaotically.  Took the car to the dealer today and they say it was a cracked battery cell.  So new battery in now and we’ll see.

Politicians can not help themselves.  The ISIS attack in Manchester shows more of the political talking points.  Thoughts and prayers… cowardly terrorists.  I know there isn’t much more one can say other than “thoughts and prayers” but really, there’s no need for us to hear from the leader of the opposition on such a matter.  And it always strikes me as wrong, somehow, to see news agencies quoting the politician via their twitter account.  Do we really need to see a screenshot of a tweet in a time of terror attacks?  And, honestly, there’s just no need for a politician to call those attacks “cowardly”. What are you trying to do, annoy ISIS?  Would you say the attack is “brave” if it’s carried out with guns against a military instalment?  By all means say the attack is immoral or evil… but it has nothing to do with cowardice.  In fact, you have a better argument to say the western world is more cowardly in a time of war than ISIS is.  Drone strikes and long range missiles hardly need an element of bravery to be carried out.

But what it all boils down to is that ISIS is a repressive organization that the world would be better off without and I have no idea how you go about destroying such an organization. And, by in large, we’d be better off not hearing from every politician via twitter.  Oh… and Donald Trump can’t help but look like a moron.  His sophisticated take… they’re “evil losers”.  I swear Trump has a twenty word vocabulary.

After writing the above, I end up not posting but going back to work again.  My blog timing is all out of whack right now.  I got through what was written above and then just got distracted by baseball on TV and lawn care and groceries and trips to car dealers… and things just never finished.

As for the car… a cracked battery cell caused the problem of needing three boosts in five weeks.  It’s been replaced and working fine (fingers crossed) now.

After working another block I was largely stuck on working the lawn during my days off.  Dandelions had overtaken my front yard and I spent several hours pulling them, mowing, and reseeding.  Then, a few days later, I went back for another round (those dandelions grow like a weed!).  On to the backyard for more of the same and now both my yards look quite respectable.  I also flushed out a toad in the backyard while I mowed.  He hopped off the lawn, onto my patio stones, and clambered under my storage box.  Good ol’ lawn toad.

And the wasp problem has become greatly reduced.  I don’t know if it was my spraying a few weeks ago or if someone else in the neighbourhood did something, but where there was a constant six or seven making rounds in my yard and around the house/BBQ, today there’s only a couple that pop by.

Silent Storm
As bed beckons
I step through the darkness
Towards my window
For a last look
Into the night sky.

In the still
Stars glisten atop the black
Until the peace is broken
As jagged Frankenstein bolts
Illuminate great cumulus clouds.

It is silent lightning
Flashing again and again
Five seconds between blasts
A distant reminder of Mordor
As I watch from under stars