Lizard Brain: Nah, too early, too tired, catch a few more Zzzz’s
Semi-conscious Brain: Get up, don’t be a lazy bastard.
Lizard Brain: Listen, you stayed up too late. Drank champagne. You’re too tired. Go back to sleep.
Semi-conscious Brain: All that is true, but another 15 minutes of sleep isn’t gonna help anything…
Lizard Brain: Yeah, but now it’s already been a couple minutes. You’re gonna get out of the house late… It’ll stress you out and ruin your whole day.
Semi-conscious Brain: You’ve got a good point there…
Lizard Brain: Of course I do… Listen, you can always go to the gym tomorrow to make up for today. Go back to sleep.
Semi-conscious Brain: Wait! You sneaky SOB, putting off until tomorrow is what got me into this mess! STFU.
Lizard Brain: … … …
Next thing I know, I’m in my gym gear and brushing my teeth. Yes, I DID in fact get out the door 5 minutes late. Yes, my morning routine was rushed and a bit stressful. However, I knew I’d regret missing a workout MORE than I’d appreciate the extra sleep.
I think I’ve finally turned a corner. Turns out the hardest battles are often in your own head. Sometimes you’ve got tell that comforting, excuse making voice in your head to shut up, and push yourself to do what you know is best… Procrastination is one of my absolute worst habits and hard as hell to break, but the payoff feels great. I highly recommend it.
The day started well…up at 5am, out the door to the gym by 5:15… Good workout, healthy smoothie for breakfast…then I made the mistake of reading the news and saw this:
WASHINGTON—The Democratic-controlled Senate passed a $95.3 billion package backed by President Biden that contains a fresh round of aid for Ukraine and also funds for Israel and Taiwan, overcoming the objections of many Republicans who opposed spending so much money abroad.
So that’s swell… Our “representatives” push this crap through in the middle of the night and announce it like they did something great for America. Nothing about the tens of thousands of homeless on our streets, the importation of hundreds of thousands of vagrants from all over the globe…
The majority of people in this country are getting CRUSHED by runaway inflation, businesses are closing left and right, and our infrastructure is crumbling, but hey, why not PRINT another 95 BILLION DOLLARS that we don’t have and can’t afford? And then give it away to other countries…right before “tax season”. Sounds like a solid plan. I’m 1000% sure this super genius plan will “save our democracy” and we’ll all live happily ever after. Right?!?!
We are so screwed. The lunatics are most definitely running the asylum, and there is no end in sight. At this point, any hope of a correction is going to take GENERATIONS, with a lot of hard decisions and agony along the way.
I love my country, or I should say I love the founding principles of my country, but I LOATHE my country’s government. Parasites and charlatans, the whole lot of ’em!
Food, water, shelter, energy and a means of self defense. Mental and physical fitness. These are the things I feel I must focus on, and frankly I think we all should.
Think about how crazy 2024 has been so far, and we’re only 7 weeks in! Buckle up friends, we’re in for the ride of our lives this year…
Exceptionally busy at the moment and I feel like my brain is just grinding gears right now…
If I could form a coherent thought I might write something, but things are a bit too scrambled…
That being said, here are some memes to give you a little insight into a tiny fraction of what’s cookin’ in the ol’ brain stew. Just the part I can share publicly, of course.
Enjoy your days. Heck, your nights too! I’ll be back soon.
Here we go again, ANOTHER bout of illness that I simply cannot seem to shake.
I’ve been ill more in the last 2 years than in the previous decade, easily. Maybe even longer.
I haven’t seen (or even have!) a “primary care” doc for I don’t know how long. I’ve got insurance, that isn’t the issue. I just haven’t needed one for so long that I didn’t bother jumping through all the necessary hoops to find a new doc when my insurance changed 6 years ago.
I started this current job in February ’18 and I believe I got sick once between then and 2020 with some stomach issue that kept me down for a day or two.
Then “the Plague” happened in early 2020, and I held out on the jab as I didn’t trust it. As I’ve mentioned before, my job is “Healthcare Adjacent” and I was in and around several waves of C-19 throughout the year and well into 2021.
Finally, on July 22, 2021 I succumbed to the pressure and got the jab in the face of certain employment termination. Company policy, don’tcha know!?!
Then, after two YEARS of being neck-deep in Plague infested facilities, I got C-19 myself in January ’22. Weird, right?
I’ve never been so sick in my life, I seriously thought it was the end for me. At that point I’d been struck with suspicion. How was it even possible that I worked for 2 years around all these sick folks as we ramped up precautions and EVERYONE was masked and gloved and distanced and the entire world was turned on its head to “stop the spread” and NEVER got sick? But then less than 6 months AFTER INOCULATION I get the WORST sickness of my entire life?!?!
Fast forward two years, I have now had 3 confirmed cases of the Plague, I’ve had two really terrible bouts of flu, and I’m currently on day 7 of some new illness that just whooped me, and badly. It still isn’t over. I’m back to work but suffering a serious “brain fog”.
I was so bad this time I went to an Urgent Care clinic, only to discover (not having been to a doctor for ages) that my blood pressure is dangerously high, I put on considerably more weight than I realized (figured I needed to drop about 20-25#, but in reality it’s closer to 50!) AND I’ve got a nice start on arthritis in my left shoulder. Yay.
Keep in mind I had NONE of these ailments the last time I’d had a check up. I was in great health. Before the jab I was at the gym 4-5 days a week, eating (relatively) healthy, and the future was looking pretty rosy.
So I decided, maybe it’s time to relent and go see a western med doc, get myself a new primary care physician. Maybe have my heart checked out, get some bloodwork done, you know, actual Boring Old Man stuff… After a grueling time on the phone getting passed from one operator to the next, to the next, I finally got passed to the right person. I told her, no preference on docs, just please give me the FIRST AVAILABLE appointment for a new patient, and a couple minutes later I had it set… for JULY 31st!!!
Yeah, you read that correctly. July thirty-first. Six and a half months from now until the first available appointment for a new patient.
WTAF?!?!
So for now it’s back to the Chinese Medicine doc I’ve been seeing the last couple years in hopes she’s got some potion that will help lower the BP, or at least hold it steady while I shed some pounds, change up the diet and attempt to avoid any further crud getting in my system.
A lot of people were saying ’24 is going to be a doozy, and now I’m starting to agree… Lifestyle changes are generally not fun even when it is necessary to continue life.
If I could go back to July ’21, I’d let ’em fire me… I think in the long run I’d have been better off. Should have trusted my gut.
This and 24hrs were enough to conquer ANYTHING!
Thanks for stopping by my personal dark cloud today… Beware the snake oil salesmen. Stay safe out there!
Here we are, on the cusp of a New Year and I for one am more than ready to kick 2023 to the curb!
Not that I have great expectations for 2024, mind you. Quite the contrary.
I’m not one for predictions so you won’t get those here. (Although esteemed writer James Kunstler made a great – if terrifying – list of predictions for next year that sadly I can’t find much to disagree with… https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/do-you-dare-even-look-forecast-2024/) Also, I’m not exactly a “resolutions” guy, but I do look at every New Year as a milestone, a lookout, a place to stop and assess, make corrections and sort of a “clean slate”.
All that being said, I do not expect 2024 to be a fun year. I have a lot of work to do in the “personal growth” arena. Bottom line, I let a lot of things slide this year. And not in a good way. My physical fitness went downhill. My financial well being essentially evaporated. My home is currently a disorganized mess. My worklife (read: job) is hanging be a thread, as I have lost (almost) all motivation. In short, I’m exhausted and exasperated. And beating myself up on the daily.
So my “goal” if you will, for 2024, is to stop being lazy. I’m not quite at “picking up the pieces”, things aren’t THAT bad, but I can see that being the case if I don’t change course with a quickness.
I’ll be vacating my studio at the end of the month which brings a tinge of sadness, but it hasn’t been the haven for creativity I thought it would be and the expense is bleeding me dry. That ironically should help me out – one less thing to worry about, one less (large) monthly bill to pay, and an excuse to work on something new musically that has been needling at me for the last few months.
I’ll be back to the gym on Sunday and then (health permitting) back on the 3x/week schedule – minimum – as we start ’24.
Some other things I plan to be better about this year… more time in the water (for physical AND mental health), more range time (I don’t know about you, but I expect things to get weird in ’24, and I’m SERIOUSLY out of practice on the self defense end of the spectrum) and getting out in nature way more often. Less screen time, more time with my nose buried in books. Less dreaming and more doing!
I do plan to keep up on the ol’ blog here as well. I’ve got tickets for a number of shows already, and I’m sure at some point I’ll be delving into the sewer that is our nation’s politics (Ewww!), I’ve got a stack of books to read and so on. So lots of things to write about!
I want to thank all of you for spending any of your precious time here reading my stuff. I know there are a lot of better, and certainly more prolific writers out there to spend your time with, but it means a great deal to me that anyone comes here of their own volition and “lends me their ears”. My readership numbers are small, tiny even, but they are growing slowly but surely and I greatly appreciate that! So again, thank you!
I wish you all a happy and healthy 2024. Stay safe out there!
I’ll be honest, I’ve been having a real struggle trying to get myself into the Christmas Spirit this year. I fully recognize that my life is pretty darn good generally speaking, but that doesn’t alleviate the worry/concern/incredulity that has been running non-stop through my head since early 2020 and has frankly, just been getting worse – seemingly by the hour – for the last 18 months. And I know I’m not the only one feeling this way.
Nevertheless, there is more than likely someone you know, maybe someone right in your inner-circle, that is having a rougher time than you. Keep that in mind, and try to keep kindness in your heart. I’m not saying you need to go out of your way to make their lives better or take on some other burden to get it off their shoulders…just don’t make things worse for ’em. Sometimes the smallest gesture can make the biggest change in a person’s day.
Ok. I’ll get off my soapbox now.
Wishing you all the best, and please know that I appreciate y’all.
As a lifelong Californian I am no stranger to living amongst the homeless. For a number of years I lived in both Downtown San Jose and East San Jose, both areas habitually populated by the down and out, going back to the early 1980’s. Quite possibly longer, but that is when I personally became aware of it…
When I lived downtown I had a 10 block walk to work. Every day I was accosted by transients asking for money. Every. Single. Day. It was exhausting. I was poor, very poor, at the time. Like 5 people in a 2 bedroom apartment poor, no insurance – health or otherwise – poor. I looked at these folks as in desperate need and tried not to have my heart hardened towards them. I took to carrying food in my pack and when I was asked for money, I would say no and then offer them whatever food I was carrying – maybe a granola bar or a little bag of chips or whatever…simple grab and munch stuff. More often than not the offer of food was refused. That told me a lot about these people. It was an eye opener to say the least.
Fast forward 35 years or so, and the problem is 100x times worse. San Jose has shanty towns (aka “encampments”) all over the place now. Events they used to have, like the annual Music in the Park events, went down the tubes because they were becoming overrun by the derelict mob. San Francisco, a mere hour north of San Jose is infinitely worse. It is a sad state of affairs State-wide.
Year after year we’re told we need to spend MORE money to combat homelessness, despite having spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the last 20 years on the problem and the problem getting bigger and more pronounced everywhere you go in “The Golden State”.
As if the whole situation weren’t enough to make your blood boil, then you come across stories like this…
Our glorious “leaders” devise this super-genius plan to spend EIGHTEEN MILLION TAXPAYER DOLLARS to supply between 175 and 200 “tiny homes” for the homeless as “transitional” housing.
$18,000,000 ÷ 200 = $90,000
If you click the link and see the pics, you’ll note that these “tiny homes” are essentially garden sheds that cost between $2-3k each at your local Home Depot or Lowes… Add some insulation and an AC unit, you might spend 5 grand. So where does the other $85k per unit go?
Most of the $17.7 million grant will go to operations and administration: Up to $14.6 million is slated for First Step Communities, which will operate the site, and $842,000 will go to county administrative services. The county is also paying WellSpace $2.2 million for a three-year lease of the lot.
I’m sorry, but this is simply disgraceful. They’d be better off putting $85k in a trust for each of the 200 people and pay a single trust administrator to dole it out responsibly. That could get a person into actual housing. Get them into a treatment center. Allow them to find a job… But no, instead we’ll spend millions to “help” and NOTHING will change for the better. In fact, I’d bet hard money that within 3 years our homeless population will be double what it is now, we’ll be “on the hook” for ever more taxes and our quality of life will be further degraded. For starters.
The most current estimate I could find puts the Californian homeless population at just under 172,000. Extrapolate the math above – 172,000 x $90,000 each for “help” and you’ve got a price tag of 15.48 BILLION DOLLARS. Putting it into a different perspective, that $18 million “investment” in Sacramento will impact less than 0.12% of our CURRENT homeless population in the state.
I expect there are going to be a lot of people getting big paychecks over this, and subsequently more than a few politicians getting some really juicy donations to their reelection coffers, but for the taxpayers, we’ll just keep getting the shaft and the homeless will get more lip service and empty promises.
This is a hopeless situation given the current crop of bureaucrats. Don’t get your hopes up for clean streets and safe neighborhoods. So long as the grift carries on like this, things are only going to get worse. After all, our “ruling class” has a ton of money to make off our collective misery!
We’re gonna need a lot of tar and feathers, folks!
Sorry for the crabby rant, but thanks for stopping by!
So Guvner Gruesome has repeatedly said that he is NOT running for prez. Since anyone that knows anything about him knows he’s a pathological liar, his constant denials have put many of us on edge. And now this in today’s news:
“President Biden told a group of world leaders that California Gov. Gavin Newsom “could have the job I’m looking for” if he wanted, amid a low approval rating and discontent within his own party.
“I want to talk about Governor Newsom. I want to thank him. He’s been one hell of a governor, man,” Biden said Wednesday during a welcome reception for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders in San Francisco. “Matter of fact, he could be anything he wants. He could have the job I’m looking for.”
I think old slow Joe got his sentence jumbled up again – it should have been ” Life’s been hell with him as governor, man”
Good grief. Let me just say, as a life-long Californian and former Democrat, as bad as Joe has been, and let’s face it, NOTHING has been getting better since his (s)election, Gruesome would be 100x WORSE.
He is the epitome of the entitled, self righteous, “connected” class. He DOES. NOT. CARE. ABOUT. YOU. OR. OUR. COUNTRY. His concerns are money, power, and control for him and his cronies. PERIOD. He and his ilk are a cancer on this country.
You’ve been warned. Don’t fall for his greasy grift. He lies, lies about lying and lies some more. Unless you’re a donor of course, then I’m sure he’s a swell guy…
My apologies for ranting. I simply loathe this guy and I seriously fear for our country with him at the helm.
It is my most sincere wish that the rest of the country sees through his tired shtick and sends him packing. Seriously, for the love of all that is holy, do NOT let this tyrant anywhere near the Oval Office.
Our nation is in horrible shape, and headed down a very dangerous path. We are divided as a people more now than any time in our history and we need someone that can mend fences and bring some brightness back to our lands. A ham-fisted charlatan with illusions of grandeur is absolutely the last thing we need.
Ok, I’m going to take a walk now and try to get the old blood pressure to recede…
It is personally shocking that we’re already in September. They say time moves faster as you age, and I can attest to that!
Nonetheless, September happens to be “National Preparedness Month”, so here I am again to implore any and all readers to embrace preparedness and set aside a little time this month to work on your personal and/or family plan.
I know ” prepping” and “preppers” get a bad rap, and if you only look at the fringe elements I can see why. But honestly, it’s just a little common sense, mixed with a touch of planning ahead. It doesn’t have to be anything off the wall crazy, it doesn’t need to become your lifestyle, but there is really no downside. Think of it as an insurance policy or a savings account. Worst case scenario, you save a little money buying food you were going to eat anyway because you bought it before inflation devalued our dollars just that much more. Best case scenario, it could in fact save your life. Or at least make post-disaster a little more bearable while you put your life back together.
Let’s face it, in an emergency the LAST people you want to rely on is The Government. Nobody is going to care about you and your family as much as you are. So do something about it while you can. Even a little something is better than nothing.
I’m not going to go into all the details of what you should do – there are countless other resources for that. But for this month, just worry about the basics: food, water, shelter, first aid/medical needs, hygiene…and don’t forget to include your pets in the planning. They rely on you too!
If the whole pandemic thing taught us anything (aside from the fact that you can’t believe anything the media or the government says!) it’s that disruption can happen quickly and once something is no longer available, that’s it. It doesn’t matter how much you need it or want it or how much you’d be willing to pay. If it’s not there, you’re outta luck. That something may come back, it may not. Maybe in a month, maybe in a year. Maybe never.
There is already a lot of chatter about new “variants”, mask mandates and lockdowns. The war is eastern Europe is not going well for anyone and the house of cards in D.C. seems to be on the verge of tipping. China is having financial problems, and “activists” are turning into arsonists to show us how bad climate change is… Not to mention the usual suspects of earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and all the other stuff Mother Nature does from time to time to remind us who’s boss.
Look, I know. This stuff isn’t fun. It isn’t sexy or exciting. In fact if you think about it too much, it can give you anxiety and stress you out. The “what if’s” you discover when you start going down that rabbit hole can shake you to your core – ask me how I know. People that do emergency stuff for a living look at people two ways in an disaster situation, you are either an asset or a liability. If you are squared away to take care of you and yours for a week with no outside input, that puts you in the asset column.
That’s a good place to start- put back enough that you can get by without assistance for a week…enough food and water to survive, a way to charge your phone or laptop, some basic first aid stuff and meds if you require them. A way to see and cook if there is a power outage. Simple stuff.
I feel by now if you’re seeing this message and you’re not already doing at least a little something, you’re never going to. That the people that understand are already doing it and I don’t need to keep harping on the subject. That I’m preaching to the choir. That’s OK. I gave up trying to convert people to this way of thinking a number of years ago. Prepare or don’t, makes no difference to me. After all, the emergency response people will need liabilities to deal with, lest they get bored!
But seriously, I look at self reliance in an emergency as a civic minded thing too. If more of us looked after ourselves and our neighbors, there would be even less need for Uncle Sugar and all his beauracracies.
The Boring Old Man 