I don’t remember where I picked this up, but props to whoever posted this on the socials. Excellent food for thought here.
Raymond wishes you a happy Caturday.
I was supposed to fly into Reagan National in March for a work function. I was immensely relieved to cancel my trip after my nonprofit employer pulled back on travel for budgetary reasons.
My team (the Padres) is annoying me, but baseball remains a soothing balm for me. Running YouTube videos of Ichiro Suzuki highlights and full games (the 2007 All-Star Game and the Japan-Korea WBC final from 2009) while I work.
The Atlantic reports on an extremist “army of God” movement that has picked up steam among Christians and helped Trump win the presidency twice: “At this point, tens of millions of believers—about 40 percent of American Christians, including Catholics, according to a recent Denison University survey—are embracing an alluring, charismatic movement that has little use for religious pluralism, individual rights, or constitutional democracy.”
Says a Denison political scientist: “They are taking on these extreme beliefs that give them a sense of power—they believe they have the power to change the nature of the Earth. The adoption of these sort of beliefs is happening incredibly fast.”
It was a two-Klondike bar work day. And yet the work day isn’t over yet. 😑
Note to self.
Spending my afternoon avoiding news and reading this graphic novelized biography of artist Yayoi Kusama. Fascinating figure in the pop art movement of the late 20th century who faced mental illness and moved into a psychiatric hospital in the 1970s to do her work. At 95, she’s still there today.
A Padres fan can’t even go out to pick up sushi without being tormented.
I never had a TikTok account, so I don’t feel any sense of loss personally with this ban thing. The stuff I saw creep onto other platforms seemed so vapid that I felt no need to go there.
But I understand some people actually made a living off it, and I do feel bad for them.
Lower abdominal cramping kept me away from my usual coffeehouse writing time this afternoon. Getting a frappe from McD’s on the way home seemed to help. Maybe it’s a hydration thing.
I threw a “Twin Peaks” party when I was working at my first newspaper job in Fresno back in 1990. I was proud to host as the Viking hostess from Episode 5, though it took forever to find a Viking helmet in those pre-Amazon days.
It may be time to introduce my teenager to “Twin Peaks.”
So, when ICE converges on Chicago, are they going to cast a wide net, or will they ignore the white European immigrants who are here illegally?
To be clear, I’m not advocating this sweep no matter who is targeted. But I strongly suspect that it’s going to be rather selective.
Between the inauguration and my team officially losing again to That Team, this time in the Sasaki sweepstakes, I have a lot of mental health work ahead of me this weekend.
Now that it appears my team has been dumped from the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes, fake game podcasts may be the extent of my baseball world for a while.
Can’t help but think the late owner’s widow suing over the ownership situation really f’ed up the Padres’ chances of nabbing possibly a generational talent. Postmortem money battles are the worst.
Officially logged out of work till Tuesday. I had hoped to be logged out sooner, but shit happens. Glad to be done with that part of my life for a few days.
I’m addicted to changing my social media handle. Went from Dylan to dystopian within an hour. Sticking with dystopian through next week, though that’s been my vibe since late last year.
Based on my experience today slogging through my work day in a foggy stupor, I’m destined to be an early sleeper for as long as I have to continue working. I guess my night owl life is officially over until I retire or win the lottery. 😐
Will Leitch on R.E.M.: “There is something very Generation X about this most Generation X of bands refusing to take a payday just for the sake of reminiscence.” (Washington Post [gift link])
Going to bed at 2:30 a.m. is not helping my productivity any. But I still got plenty done this morning, so I’m rewarding myself with a 1976 radio broadcast of a Mets-Padres game in San Diego (via YouTube). It’s soothing to listen to Jerry Coleman calling a pitching matchup between Tom Seaver and Randy Jones.
Winding down a late night – my first late night spent with work stuff since last week. The 2009 World Baseball Classic final between Japan and South Korea keeps me company on YouTube. It relaxes me.
Twenty-five days till pitchers and catchers report to spring training.
Yeah. This.
Happiness is a dog that snores.
Always a good sign for me when the homilist quotes Thomas Merton. Highly unlikely in the trad parish I’m still marginally a part of.