Author Archives: momdude

It was chaotic, it was over full, it was stressful. But at least there was a plan.

Then things changed. And now, it’s chaotic, it’s hectic, it’s stressful. But there’s no plan at the moment.

It will be fine. I’m not the one who is having issues. No one’s dying. At least, not today and not anyone I know. It’s just a bit…disorienting.

EGBOK! Everything’s Gonna Be OK! And it will.

But for the moment it’s one step at a time. Literally.

When I was a kid and we lived in the Kansas City area our house had a fairly steep in half of our back yard. There was a chain link fence at the bottom, to keep me and my siblings in I suspect, not to keep others out. My dad worked with computer drum drives on mainframes and would occasionally bring home one of the shipping containers they were transported in. They were cylindrical, heavy, thick cardboard, about four feet long, about three feet in diameter, a little bigger than a trash can.

We would cram three of us in there, sort of like tennis balls in a can, then roll it down that hill. It would pick up some pretty good speed, then slam into that fence. We would tumble out, always dizzy as hell, sometimes bruised, always giggling and laughing and trying to run back up the hill to do it again.

Today feels a bit like that, trying to run back up that hill while super dizzy and a bit bruised and banged up.

There’s less giggling and laughing, but I’m trying to keep my sense of humor about it all. So far, so good.

But I really would prefer not to do it again.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Welcome, 2022!

No resolutions – it’s a lousy way of making changes in your life that you want. If you need to eat better and drop ten (or forty) pounds, you’ll do it when it’s worth it to you enough to make the changes. If you want to start training for that marathon, you’ll do it when you want it enough to find a program and stick to it. If you want to start learning a foreign language or writing that novel or taking flying lessons or whatever else it is that you’re longing for, you’ll do it when you’re ready. Like, really, Really, REALLY ready. Not because someone else is telling you to.

Been there. Done that.

FYI and TMI, I dropped that weight years ago, wouldn’t hurt to drop a bit more. Ran those marathons, would sort of like to run a faster one. The point being that I speak from experience. Until your “Come to JESUS!” moment comes, you’re just raising your blood pressure.

You know what changes are needed. You probably know why you want to make the changes. If it’s because society tells you to, you’ll either realize that society’s right and you’ll do it, or you’ll realize that society is an asshole and you’ll tell it to take a long hike off of a short pier.

But that’s you.

I hope that in 2022 you get some clarity and find the strength and courage to do what you need to do. It’s hard. It’s worth it.

Remember the Litany Against Fear from “Dune.” This shit is scary. But you’re far stronger than you think you are.

Balance.

On the one hand, it is all up to you. It’s up to you to overcome the fear, get started, get back up when you get knocked down, and get to the finish line.

On the other hand, there is always help out there when you need it. We’re all just too scared to ask for it or take it when offered. More stupid fear. We think we’re alone, but we’re not.

Good luck. You can do it.

Well, here we are, the last 90 minutes of 2021, at least on the West Coast.

Proving that 2021 is still trying to rack up points to win the award for Worst Year EVER, on top of COVID and all of its variants, and the GOP, and the brush fires, and the climate change, and on and on and on, we got the news that Betty White, beloved actress and comedienne supreme, died just seventeen days short of her 100th birthday.

This year is going to need to be strangled hard and have a stake driven through its heart.

On the other hand, as my SIL said, “What did she know about 2022 that we don’t?” Yeah…

Looking for some light in that tunnel, specifically some starlight and Christmas lights, I figured out tonight how to get my annual picture of Orion over the house with the house lit up with Christmas lights. It used to be easy with Orion high in the south and the house facing north:

From 2007. But that was the old house, and the “new” house (coming up on three years!) faces west. So I had to change the angle a bit, go stand in the middle of the street for a few minutes (what a stupid way to end up in ICU that would be on New Year’s Eve!), and end up with a huge freakin’ telephone pole in the way (nothing a chain saw wouldn’t solve).

A 1/2 second exposure. The urban forest with utility poles, streetlights, and wires everywhere.

A one-second exposure. It might not be art, but it is what we have.

To top it all off, I yoinked some muscle in my back this evening doing nothing more strenuous than sneezing. It’s a good thing that the alternative is worse, because this getting old crap is a pain in the ass.

With all of that said – Happy New Year to you all! I hope that you are all safe as 2021 ends and 2022 begins. I beg you all to continue to be careful, both with politics, our changing world, and especially the diseases threatening us. We still have a way to go and every indication is that the next few months (the “fifth wave”) will be brutal.

Be kind.

Be smart.

Take care of yourself.

Take care of others.

We’ll get through this together.

Happy New Year!