Agent of Change

What I am thinking about today: 6/9/2022

1986 wasn’t a half bad year for me. I had recovered from my nervous breakdown and had completed therapy with new tools to take care of myself, moved out on my own, had three part-time jobs, a cool girlfriend, was doing college radio, and comics were REALLY good both mainstream and indy books. If I was forced to go back in time and relive a year, I could do much worse, and I wouldn’t have screwed things up as much.

Oddly enough, I was working at a college top 40 station and it was when I completely gave up on pop music since it wasn’t for me any more. My show was popular enough that they let me play and do whatever I wanted. And by popular enough, we would get two to three calls an hour, which was two to three calls more than anyone else. We did comedy bits, had conversations about current events, brought in characters and the like. I loved doing it but talking to people in radio, I knew that:

1) I wouldn’t be able to do that kind of thing

2) A local DJ I had befriended had told me the horror stories of being fired over and over until he was just working weekends on the radio and had a full time job selling computers.

Thank goodness for podcasting so I can kind fo go back to those days.

MJF did not show up, nor was he mentioned on All Elite Wrestling last night. I have to admit, I like the fact that I have no idea what will be happening with him, whether it is a shoot or a work.

I am putting together all the stuff for the latter half of the year, which seems so strange. I am setting up appointments, planning days off, and seeing if I can get away a couple of times. Hopefully down to Illinois to visit family in Late September. I’d like to take a winter vacation of being in a isolated cabin to just read, watch movies, and hit the gym with a fireplace where I read, but I always feel that is a waste of money since I can do that at home. Except for the fireplace.

I also see that Minnesota is giving front line workers a “thank you” payment of between $750 and $1500 for working during the pandemic. I will try not to waste it on comic books and….oh, who am I kidding, I will waste it on comics books.

Tonight is the first public hearing on former President Agolf Twitler’s attempted coup and the Republicans who were appalled by it (and then said it was no big deal) and in full panic distraction mode. I wonder why. It couldn’t be that it was an attempted coup with plans that had been put in place long before it happened, could it?

The incredible indifference I see about this attempt to install a dictator here in the US by the general public tells me even more that we are looking at the end of what was founded back in 1789 by our Constitution. Not a bad run for a representative democracy.

Be kind, be courageous, and be cool.

Much love to friends old and new.

What I am thinking about today: 6/3/2022

Just a reminder, if you leave my life without a chat to tell me why first, that door is closed. My therapist told me ages ago that if someone thinks the worst things said about you without asking for your side, they were never a friend and shouldn’t be allowed to be a part of your life any more.

My work laptop wouldn’t boot up yesterday, so I had to drive in to get a new one. When I got there, I gave it to the tech guy, and he said that my battery was bulging. And, to be honest, after a two year lockdown, aren’t we all?

When I worked in group homes for juvenile justice in the 90’s, they all had rules against Dungeons and Dragons as a hangover from the “Satanic Panic” in the 80’s. When I was asked about it, I let my supervisors know that D&D wasn’t about demons, it was math. Lots and lots of math. Endless amounts of math. And the teenagers we would get would not be nerdy enough to play the game. Since a lot of them were fundamentalist Christians, they didn’t believe me, since I was the token Heathen.

Still. Math. Maybe they were all just scared of figuring out percentages to hit.

It looks like the last drive in of the Twin Cities, the Vali-Hi drive in, has closed up. They had the “now hiring” notice on their sign, then took it down and haven’t opened yet. Their phone is disconnected and aren’t answering any questions from customers or reporters. When I moved here in 1987, there were 6 drive ins, and it was always a great time to take The Boy when he was young so we could have a cheap night at the movies. I went to Vali-Hi a couple of times a year until the pandemic, when I just didn’t have the time. They were always packed, but like the other 5 in the Twin Cities, eventually the land became worth more than the business.

I missed the “golden age” of drive ins, and always wished they would have had special events like “dusk til down” shows like in the glory days.

The Big Storm that had the local news going nuts a few weeks ago? No damages and not even a chair moved around by the winds. A quick storm rushes through Tuesday morning without a single warning from any of my devices, tree limbs down and blocking the car in the driveway. I am betting they were damaged in the Big Storm and this quick little squall was the last straw. But still.

Anytime I hear about Ron DeSantis, I have the same impression: A competent Trump. Florida seems like a right wing dream, where everyone is given a gun, gay people are being told to get out of the state, teachers are to become Marc Bolan: The Executioner, companies must bow and scrape or get financially punished, and women are to become Handmaidens. Sadly, much like Minnesota’s time having a Republican governor, the economy gets destroyed and the next governor has to clean up the mess. And he’s going to be the Republican Nominee in 2024 if he wins the Governorship again in Florida.

Be kind, be courageous, and be cool.

Much love to friends old and new.