Good times, bad times

The week that was

I started this morning as I have lived most of this week, my eyes watery and my brain wondering why it has to think. Okay, that last bit has been true the past few weeks, even more this one. I have just been too tired to get anything finished, and even less started. It has been peaceful, but I was saved from disaster by a continuance on a court case. Life has been peaceful, until I start thinking of what I meant to do, wanted to do, and still have not even started! About all I have done is to read some of my emails, forward some, and then decide to just delete batches. If anyone feels neglected by my lack of communication, I apologize. 

Driving down to Indianapolis to fetch CC back from her rehab left me exhausted. I do not find driving at night at all enjoyable. The feeling continued throughout Sunday, and even now I do not have much in the way of pep.

It has been another week where Trump and company have lurched from one destructive act to another. Greenland does not seem impressed by the possibility of American citizenship - I wonder why.

  It is hard to tell from Middle America who Putin means to make the bigger chump - Trump or Zelenskyy. I found out yesterday my the date for my Social Security payment was changed from the end of the month to the beginning; that I did so when I went to the bank to get my rent payment was not good timing and means I am pretty much broke until April 3; and had me reading It's official - DOGE imposes mandatory change to maintain social security benefits - and this is how it affects you with dread. No visit to Kokomo or Anderson on April 1.

CC went to court on Thursday and then to jail. We had talked earlier in the week, her probation officer suggested she might be put on a GPS anklet bracelet. I suspect the last time we will ever see one another was last Saturday.

Friday was group therapy. I took a test. Kindness is my number one character trait. There were more that I will save you from at this time. I need to run them by KH.

More rejections came in this week:

Thank you for submitting "Lessons Learned From A Green Meadow" to PodCastle. Unfortunately, this story wasn't quite right for us and we have decided not to accept it for publication.

Best of luck with your work.

Kind regards,

Tierney Bailey

PodCastle

http://podcastle.org

***

Thank you so much for letting us consider your work "Problem Solving" for Volume 74. We regret to inform you that your piece was not selected for publication, but we hope that you'll submit again in the future. We receive hundreds of submissions every month, and only have so much room in our print issue. Sometimes our decisions are based on aesthetic need and are no reflection on the quality of one's work.

We wish you luck in placing your work and thank you for your interest in Grub Street.

Sincerely,

The Editors 

***

 Problem Solving 

Thank you so much for entrusting New Orleans Review with your work, and we apologize for taking so long to get back to you. Unfortunately, we won't be publishing your submission. We appreciate your interest in our magazine, and we hope you'll submit to us again in the future!

Sincerely,

The Editors

New Orleans Review 

I did keep notes of items for this blog, but since I am short of time, I am just releasing them to you as-is.

Rugby, Politics, UFOs, GOT, The Monkees, Chess metaphors

Democrats: Send in the Shadow Cabinet! (The New Republic) Michael Tomasky should be scared that he and I are thinking alike. I proposed something like this to the Indiana Democrats last year, and got a pat on my head. It still seems like a good idea. The Republicans have been gaming the Electoral College like a European parliamentarian party trying to get a minority government, so why not borrow another European idea: the shadow

Sheila Kennedy explains why Trump's tariffs will not be good for Indiana - Red State Blues. Yet, Indiana voted for him. Are Indiana Republicans masochists?

Sheila Kennedy also explains the further dangers of MAGA: What The Fire Hose Obscures…

While in prison, I read some more Jack London. That included The iron heel (Project Gutenberg), of which impressed me with its ideas and how unimpressed I was by his prose. I got to wondering about translating it to today - another project I will never get at.

My cousin Paul got me interested in rugby, but I know only a little about it. Ball State Daily News reported that there is now a rugby club at BSU.

Far Out: Why Don't We Believe in UFOs? (JSTOR Daily). I never thought of human exceptionalism as a reason not to believe in UFOs; for me, I cannot understand why aliens would be interested in a backwater like Earth,

Confession: I am a sucker for lost treasure stores. I guess you can blame Robert Louis Stevenson for that.

$160 Million Gold Treasure Found After 50 Years Hidden Underground

And I am a Games of Throne fan - 3 Game of Thrones Plot Holes That Are Still Super Confusing (ComicBook.com)

‘It was not a boyband!’ Micky Dolenz on the madness of being in the Monkees (The Guardian) - watched the show when I was a kid; must watch Head someday.

Chess metaphors explained: Stalemate: the art of the draw (The Article)

Still the most important band:

To do today:

laundry

dishes

cleaning

The quotidian stuff, now that I have gotten the blog somewhat caught up and cleaned up.

sch