A Splintered Mind

I've been dealing with a lot of Depression lately. Oh, I dunno. Maybe it has something to do with the divorce and being lonely and having unsteady employment. It could be because my teeth are too yellow & spaced to attract anything other than an ivory collector. Most likely it has more to do with a lack of focus in my life and a need for a BIG GOAL. Or maybe I'm depressed just because. That is the nature of the beast, isn't it? Wait, no. It's the lack of money. Gotta have more of that stuff. Last week I was hit deeply with a funk, like it had landed on my head from above and came in the form of a very obese walrus. I just lay on my living room floor, totaled by Depression's blubbery arrival and looking up at the fan. Fortunately for me ADHD always comes to the rescue. There is only so much fan twirling I can take in before my mind begins demanding I do ANYTHING else to relieve the boredom. Another fortunate thing for me was that the Elf was home and could watch...

I refer to my thirteen year old affectionately as the Leprechaun. It's a name based more on her Irish impish disposition than her luck. In fact, she's been anything but lucky lately as her head has become a magnet for impact damage. It seems that if there is anything around her that is capable of konking her on the noggin, not only will she be in its path, but it will fail to miss. The downside is that since she got her first concussion when walking into the Beast's chair on stage as Belle last month, she has not healed. Headaches and occasional blackouts have kept us worried. So there we were in the night time pediatrics unit awaiting her prognosis. There was the waiting and the waiting and the CT scan and the waiting and the waiting. During all this time I played with my iPhone while she texted on hers. Then our phones died and we were forced to talk to each other. All in all, not a bad Daddy/daughter date. She appreciated me helping her out even though it wasn...

Weather in the South West is a hodgepodge during the spring. As March peeks its head out of the bleary Winter ground, we are often treated to a split personality of temperatures. Hot. Cold. Spring. Snow. That variance can run all the way into April. Even May some years. Tuesday was no exception. I saw the sun was out and my iPhone Notifications screen told me it was over 50°F outside. "Spring!" I thought. I made plans for a bike ride to the library. I was looking forward to writing my novel in the back of the library at the secret table everybody ignores. Unfortunately, the temperature had dropped to 43°F by 4:30pm, and I had a feeling riding my bike would be a bad idea. Soon there was snow. Then there was lots of snow. Then there was a storm of it. I am so glad I didn't head out on my bike in nothing but a Spring jacket. The snow continued to fall all night—so much so that each time I ran an errand I'd have to unbury my minivan before driving away. As I head...

Yesterday I glibly responded to something blogger, Erica Joy ,  posted about Netflix . Perhaps I should have taken time to give a more thoughtful response. People online weren't simply demanding Rush Limbaugh apologize—they were demanding he be silenced and removed from the airwaves. They cheered as advertisers fell one by one. I don't believe anybody's speech should be silenced, even if you disagree with them. Period. I was also troubled by the double standard since Rush isn't the only man who has used those terms on air. Those terms are used all the time in the entertainment world, and there are other misogynistic messages out there as well, especially in movies found on Netflix. A simple search came up with movies like Teeth and Sizzle Beach, USA (starring Kevin Costner) where women are reduced to sexual objects for men's gratification. These are only the tip of the gratuitous nudity iceberg found on that service. Yet Netflix is cheered instead when they anno...