Just a reminder you may not see hardly if any posts next week since I’ll be vacationing with the kids. But who know, maybe I’ll at least post some pics. There’s suppose to be a lot of travelers this weekend, and airlines have a challenge on their hands. I’ve prepared myself emotionally should their be a delay or cancellation.
I called the Ritz-Carlton in DC to verify our booking and get some answers to a few lingering questions. The person who took my call grew up in an adjacent city, Coppell. Small, not so small world. I may or may not have gotten a free upgrade.
I spent a lot of time planning what activities to do on what days next week. Even though I don’t want to reconcile, I couldn’t help but think how much fun my ex and I would have had planning such a thing together. Some tours have to be scheduled ahead of time, and what we want to see is scattered all around the DC area, so it was a bunch of, “Well, since we’re here at this time for this tour, such-and-such is nearby, so we should take advantage of that.” But, this is a family vacation and well, she no longer is family. But as I said before, I’ve been planning this trip for at least three years now with her in mind.
A woman reached out to me on one a dating app. Her profile stated she was 6’9″. I don’t have any problems dating a taller woman, but I was curious if it was a typo. I couldn’t tell anything from the profile pics, so, I thought I’d ask her, but clarify height didn’t concern me. It must be a sore spot, she unmatched/unfriended me.
I wonder if LiberallyLean would be willing to answer this question on his blog – What’s the point of a Supreme Court dissenting opinion? I’ve always viewed as just a means for allowing those who lost some solace in allowing to be heard. Can they be used regarding future opinions? Are they essentially useless and ultimately pointless?
I think everyday day this work week, someone I haven’t heard from in a long time has reached out to me. All are friends I made because of this blog. The latest is a soldier who found this blog randomly passing the time while on duty in South Korea and he’s been reading from around 2007. He thanked me for my transparency because it helped him relate and overcome some like obstacles. We actually spoke on the phone for over an hour. It was actually our first verbal conversation, and it was as if we’ve been friends for decades.
I’m going to be transparent and admit some ignorance or lack of exposure to great American writing and film. I’ve never seen or read The Grapes of Wrath. That’s right, I wasn’t exposed to either in high school or college. That’s not to say I didn’t know a thing about either of them. I knew it was written by John Steinbeck, set during the Great Depression, and followed a farming family moving from Oklahoma to California. Yesterday, I did a lot of research on it because it was referenced on a Reddit thread about the painting below. For those of you who haven’t read the 1939 novel or seen the 1940 movie, well, uh, spoiler warning, don’t read on. But upon first glance, the painting took me aback. I’m sure it will make you uncomfortable, and in some ways, I hope it does. But this is how the painting was described: “This painting of a woman breastfeeding an old man in a prison cell was sold for €30 million. A man was sentenced to “death by starvation” for stealing a loaf of bread. His daughter breastfed him on daily visits as she was searched. He survived 4 months and was pardoned.” Apparently, the story has been depicted quite a bit in the art world.
Embrace the Cringe – We all have “cringe-worthy” moments in life. Should talk about them more?
Embracing the cringe—for example, by sharing stories with friends of your biggest relationship failures or gaffes, or your worst professional moments—is a gift to your fellow humans. It sends a message that despite all of the imperfections and mortifications of the human condition, we survive. We’re flawed, and still worthy of care, love, consideration and attention. This is a more humane, and humanist, way to think about personal failure than to try to spin it, suppress it, or otherwise protect the “brand” that is a life. After all, how do young people learn that it really isn’t the “end of the world” when you embarrass yourself or get ditched?
Posted inPersonal|Comments Off on Bag of Randomness for Friday, July 1, 2022
Even though my LiveJournal account has been defunct for a very long time, I received an email from them congratulating me on having an account for 18 years. That means I’ve been blogging for 18 years total. I believe my first post on BoN was on 08/15/2005. So, yes, I was blogging even before there was a BagOfNothing.com.
I know of one person for sure who found that first blog and read through every entry as well as what’s on BoN. I regret some of the things I’ve written over the years and my views and opinions have evolved.
I’m surprised former President Trump doesn’t utilize his iconic jet and helicopter, even if he’s living in Florida.
The precursor to Monopoly was The Landlord’s Game, which was created by Elizabeth Magie and her plan backfired.
The game was created to be a “practical demonstration of the present system of land grabbing with all its usual outcomes and consequences”. She based the game on the economic principles of Georgism, a system proposed by Henry George, with the object of demonstrating how rents enrich property owners and impoverish tenants. She knew that some people could find it hard to understand why this happened and what might be done about it, and she thought that if Georgist ideas were put into the concrete form of a game, they might be easier to demonstrate. Magie also hoped that when played by children the game would provoke their natural suspicion of unfairness, and that they might carry this awareness into adulthood.
I received confirmation for our tour of the Pentagon next week. Don’t expect to see any pictures on this blog, as this easily stood out in our confirmation:
I’ve never seen square or rectangular waves before. In this YouTube video, you can see how the offshore island is causing this effect as the swell wraps around it and setting the incoming waves at right angles to each other.
I had an interesting date last night. She wants to go out again, so I guess it was successful. I’m just happy to make another friend and work on my social skills. This woman is pretty accomplished and taller than I am. She has three master’s degrees and a PhD ABD. She did most of the talking, so I guess she thinks I’m a good listener. I’m not sure if she will make me feel like I am a, not the, priority, which was severely lacking in my previous relationship. What I do like is our common interests. We both are progressives and she wore a “Chewey is my co-pilot” shirt and definitely knew her Star Wars. She asked to exchange numbers, but I wasn’t ready for that quite yet.
Our date was at a coffee shop in Colleyville. GoogleMaps had me drive by some residential neighborhoods. I had no idea Colleyville was that uppity.
I’ve received some real encourging emails from several of you as of late. One person didn’t realize I was actively posting again and stated they stayed up to 3:00 AM catching up. Stuff like that means a lot to me. Another reader stated he just got served divorce papers and the mother is alienating his children and now understands what I was going through. Hang in there, brutha.
One thing which upsets me about the article, and I find journalists doing this sort of thing often, is they leave out how the expected cost of a new school. Give the reader an idea of how much the donation will contribute. Will it cover the entire cost, a third, a half? I don’t know how much elementary schools cost for a small town, but offhand, I’d guess they would cover the entire cost.
I read a quote yesterday, “Stop analyzing life and start living it.” That spoke to me. I just wish I knew how to do both the former and the latter. Perhaps if I can master one I will master the other.
I saw an orthopedic yesterday about an ongoing knee problem. I’ll be fine. The exam room I waited in had two televisions, both showing medical ads. That felt weird. But, upon further inspection, one of the screens was interactive and allowed me to look up diagrams of the knee and different conditions and remedies. It was actually kinda cool. When the doctor came in, he used the larger screen to display my x-rays, which was also cool.
Matthew 6:6 has always meant a lot to me. It says, per the NIV, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” It’s one reason I’m uncomfortable with that coach who prayed on the field and recently had a Supreme Court go in his favor. To sound like an old man, when I played football in junior high and high school, we always prayed in the locker room, in private, and didn’t make a spectacle about it. If praying on the field is the best way for you to evangelize, then you have bigger issues.
I was reading about Robert Wadlow, the tallest person in recorded history for whom there is irrefutable evidence. Wadlow’s height was 8 ft 11 in while his weight reached 439 lb at his death at age 22. I was curious what he sounded like and was lucky to find this recorded voice interview. In it, he talks about playing basketball. While he wasn’t a good at shooting the ball, he said he was good at getting close to the basket and literally dropping it in.
My older brother of seven years was a great high school football running back. I attended all his games. Before every Friday night home game, a local pastor would say a prayer either before or after the national anthem was played. I remember asking Dad how to pray when I hear someone lead us in prayer, should I repeat all the words in my head and also make it an additional prayer, or should I just listen and let his one prayer represent all of us?
Just writing about that brings back lots of memories, and right now I can remember the special aroma of a Friday night in Miller Stadium.
I haven’t spoken or heard from my brother since our mother’s death back in 2006. The last thing he ever communicated to me was a comment on this blog which ended with, “You’re dead to me.” As far as I know, he and my adopted sister still haven’t spoken to each other either. I think Dad wouldn’t be surprised at this, but I think my mother would weep, though she saw it all coming.
