Read the entire post at my Substack.
On This Day of Thanksgiving
Writing
I wrote this!
I hope you enjoy this very short story of mine.
Update: I somehow managed to delete the original post of my short short story. I have since managed to get it posted.
Because I Am Anal
Can we all agree it’s “Eat your cake and have it too” and not “Have your cake and eat it too.” The latter is a proper and correct order. Of course, you can have your cake and eat it. If you don’t have the cake first, you obviously can’t eat it.
It’s the former that insinuates greed. Once you eat your cake, how can you then have it? You can’t. It’s gone!!!! So, clearly, “Eat your cake and have it too” is the right and proper saying.
Those of you that think otherwise, you’re mistaken. Just eat some cake and deal with it.
Handwriting vs Typing
It turns out there is an app that allows for writing into text boxes! In fact, I am writing by hand what you are reading. Well, I wrote what you are reading. It would be nice if I kept my tenses straight. In case you are wondering. It is just another keyboard. That is, it’s one selection out of several for keyboards. It provides an interface on my iPad that allows for writing with my Apple Pencil. It then converts the handwriting into text. I haven’t fully explored all of its functionality, but I’ve figured out enough so that I can write on my iPad like it is a piece of paper. It allows for spell checking on the fly, with a timer, so you have time to review. It gives each word a drop-down box to select the correct spelling and punctuation.
It has a learning curve, but I found it not too steep.
It works in conjunction with other apps. I have been able to write into word documents. And, of course, this was written into the WordPress interface. The app is called Handwriting which is available through the App Store.
Good Morning Blogstonia!
Spring Semester is coming to a close. I’ve finished one of my classes. It was a Journalism class about how social media has drastically changed the news industry. My other class, an intro to art, also had a module about the possibility of social media engaging in behavioral modification and the art community’s protests against the commodification of personal data used for that supposed modification.
I’m not a big believer in Behavioral Psychology, which is the basis for some people’s fear of social media. Despite the claims of its founder and the researchers who followed, Behavioral Modification has never achieved its promises. So, I’m not particularly worried about “Big Other” replacing “Big Brother” as the new, scary monster. Facebook and Twitter are showing cracks. Impermanence is ever showing it is the only thing permanent in existence.
Anyway, I’ve decided it’s time for me to make an effort to resume blogging. I know it’s been a hell of a draught. Until the breakfast post of the other day, I’ve not put out anything for months. I’m not going to make any promises of newfound motivation. Hell, this might be the last post for months to come. Still, I’ve got a feeling Blogging will find its way back from the brink of obscurity.
Kevin Drum is Back!
Kevin Drum is my Blog Father. He was the first political blog I ever read. He even once visited my first blog “Rook’s Rant’ which has long been retired from service, and left a comment or two. Anyway, after having blogged on his own back in the early 2000s, he became the blogger of two magazine sites……
You know what? I’ll let him explain:
I started blogging in 2002 at my own site. In 2004 I got hired by the Washington Monthly and then moved to Mother Jones in 2008, where I blogged and wrote for the print magazine for 12 years. Finally, in 2021, I came full circle, leaving MoJo to once again blog at my own site.
https://jabberwocking.com/
An Eclectic Post
So, I decided to attempt one today because it has been such an incredibly long time since my last post. However, my mind is blank. Nothing is pressing upon which I wish to write. I have no struggles needing to talk out to get a different perspective. Hell, I can’t even come up with a title for this post at the moment. No doubt, one will bubble up from this low expectation stream of conscious chatter.
Sigh. I guess I can recap.
Obviously, I’ve not written about any exercise. A while back, I switched from running to using Nordic Walking Sticks. However, my back continues to be bothersome. I decided to take a break. My last activity was on September 20th. I managed a long walk, but it paid hell on my back. Hence the break. However, I plan to attempt a walk or run today. I haven’t yet decided which.
Another area of my life upon which I have not written is education. I ended up dropping out of two semesters in a row. I just didn’t have the mental capacity to stay focused. I was quickly overwhelmed and found myself unable to muster the motivation to work on assignments. Well, that seems to have changed. I once again signed up for classes. Two, as usual, for the six-credit minimum to qualify for loans and scholarships. I find I can muster up the motivation to get my work completed on time. I also find I can get through assignments with relative ease. The prior semesters saw me struggling to comprehend class expectations.
Meanwhile, I have been moving through three different jobs over the past two years. The one job I lost due to, well, being fed up with the incompetent leadership. I finally decided to stand up to the mistreatment and was fired for “insubordination.” That’s corporate-speak for not being willing to put up with being mentally and emotionally abused. The following job found me working for a company that had no leadership at all. The owner, who titled themself as “Program Director,” showed up for all of three or four hours a week. And when they did show up, it was to proclaim edicts that would leave us unsupported. When the mandates didn’t deal with our situation, they would apologize and state they should have probably gone with what we wanted. When another problem arose, they would repeat the cycle. I have now found a new job. Suffice it to say; I don’t usually post about current employment. However, I will make a small exception and say I am happy with my job. And that’s all I have to say about that.
Wait. Was that a feather that just floated past?
Okay, let me backtrack a bit. I forgot to mention during my expounding on education that I received high praise from one of my instructors. They informed me I was a “powerful writer.” I would pat myself on the back, but my stiff and sore body does not allow for such actions. Oh, and I figured out a title for this post.
Pushing Keys
Yeah, uh……. not sure what I am going to write. I honestly have no point I want to make. I’ve no grip. Not a bitch to voice at all. So, you’ve got to be wondering what the hell I’m going on about? I just had a hankering to post something on my blog. It has been a while. Some people manage two, three, or even ten posts a day. I’m lucky if I have the gumption to create two posts in a week. Most of them are about running. Sometimes they are about our cats. On occasion, I voice some political or social opinion. However, they tend to be loosely formed and without specific evidence to support them. It’s not that the evidence doesn’t exist; it’s that I’m too damn lazy to research, instead just surfing the headlines of the major news outlets.
Oh! There it is. I heard it. Did you? The collective gasp as people clutch their pearls because I dare to surf the headlines and not dig deeper. Whatever. I don’t dig deeper because most headlines are misleading; the stories focus on generating fear to suck the readers deeper and increase clicks or drive up ratings. If I’m going to post a political or social opinion, I want it guided by facts. I’ll scour a few stories to see what facts are consistent across the media landscape.
However, I avoid religious sites. They are notorious for cherry-picking only those facts that support their ideology and denigrate all other doctrines. Once upon a time, the Christian Science Monitor was a great news magazine. They had enough faith in their beliefs that exposure to other facts did not threaten them. But that was a different time before planes hit buildings and the nation collectively shit its pants. Faith that all is part of a bigger plan got lost. Suddenly, the Children of Creation started pointing their fingers, denying each other that status. We all are of Creation. We are all part of the Whole. The belief that all are belonging to the whole weakened.
And that’s the problem today. Many peoples’ beliefs are weak. They do not have enough faith in what they believe, afraid of any information which counters what they desperately cling to in a vain effort to avoid the perception that their religion, ideology, or doctrines are false. But these constructs are not fact-based. Metaphysics is about accepting we have very little knowledge about life and the universe. Ultimately, it’s about our lack of facts. Scientific methods work towards changing how we understand life because of the realization we lack facts. Religions, ideology, and doctrines also need to be about dealing with and accepting change. Change for which we have no understanding. To embrace change without facts showing how and why it is needed is not only reasonable; it is necessary. Those people desperately clinging to their way of thinking without allowance for change seem always to be the same who are afraid and angry.
Permanence is an illusion. Impermanence is the foundation of life. The only permanence in life is that it changes. Grasp the paradox that life changes is permanence, and we all might find the peace we seem to have lost.
Well, would you look at that. Seems I found a point.
I Am So Bored I Changed The Blog
As you can see, a new theme has been employed at this here old blog. I hope you enjoy the new look. If you don’t, what do I care. Like your opinion matters to me?
Really, it doesn’t.
No. Really.
Just keep it to yourself. Okay?
Whatever. Bite me.
Goodnight Blogstonia
Sleep well. Watch out for those creepy bed bugs. Don’t get caught up in any nightmare conspiracy theories. But do have nice dreams. Well behaved dreams.
Wait.
Nevermind.
I forget who I am talking to. The fact that you read my blog is the first hint that you’re incapable of behaving, let alone have well behaved dreams.
Anyway, good night.
Oh, and don’t tell anyone that tomorrow’s Monday.