In blog we trust

> In about five and a half months, if things go according > to plan, she and I will have relocated 8,500 miles away. > > I've lived in this city for about twenty of my 70+ > years, and she's lived here for about 30 of her 60+ years, > and we're ready to move on.

Sounds like a rather healthy reset.

> Given the immediacy of communications provided by the > Internet these days, half-way around the world really > isn't that far away. And five and a half months will be > here soon.

<pauses to blink an eye>

Confirmed!

> I got the tank top I ordered in the mail today. A cool, > moisture-wicking, striped, North Face number. Super > comfortable. I like it a lot. Maybe now the tattoos on my > bicep and shoulder can get some sun and fade even more? > Haha. I really need to consider covering those up, anyway.

Brace yourself: your covering ups (queue an old Carpenters song) have only just begun.... ;–)

> Now, people just pause their social media use to > acknowledge, to a limited amount, the humanity around them, > only to resume the scroll-fest that occupies the rest of > their day. It’s relentless. And completely illogical.

I can feel that way about this place at times, given the way I prefer participating. I'll get busy with life and/or work, come back, and suddenly have over a thousand lines to at least skim in search of something resonant. I can imagine it being much easier to just be private-journal-ish about this place.

But, that would severely dilute what seems funnest about being here, so....

> And I’d hate myself for it. But my partner told me from > the beginning he’d resent me if I ever got pregnant > and decided to keep it. And he’s told me that he knows > an abortion would be hard on me. This is true. So there > are two things I’m never telling him regardless if they > happen or not.

Well... maybe find some less selfish seed?

> Right now, I am without a car and a bachelor’s > degree. Both of those together make my life unideal if I > were to be homeless suddenly. I’d hate myself more if > I were pregnant without a place to call my own and jobless.

Well, okay, maybe I typed a bit too quickly, above....

> I don’t really have anyone to run to to talk about this > with candidly. > > So here we are.

Indeed, hence my one point nine nine nine repeating cents worth.

> This is an important thing to remember when I do > (inevitably) begin to feel the NATURAL, HUMAN, NECESSARY > feeling of boredom. I not trying to neuro-hack my brain > into no longer feeling this way. I DO something with it. We > all need to.

To me “bored” is insecurity of mind, and “unbored” is mind pleasantly absent.

> I am sitting here thinking about how in 2023 it will be the > 30th (three friggin decades!) Anniversary of the “Best > Thanksgiving Ever” that I had with my family in a small > studio apartment in Kokomo, Indiana.

Yo, I spent a weekend there, once! And not far from the hotel was a Sonic, something I'd dreamed of visiting for years, at the time, do to there being none where I'd spent a decade or so.

Short story: I'd still rather have a McDonald's sausage egg McMuffin....

> Found an index for the most popular programming languages > as of today, it is called the TIOBE Index. If you have an > interest in software development, you might want to check > it out. If you want to get into software development, > then this index can tell you what programming languages > to learn right now.

I think there might have been a time when I was concerned about learning programming languages. And maybe that makes more sense in the context of potential employment. But at nearly age 59, programming languages has become far more about reducing tedium, and Lua has been doing that for me in spades the last several years – something that once upon a time I thought Perl was going to solve for me forever.

Javascript (i.e. node.js run via the “node” command) works too, and provokes some pleasantly C-ish reminiscings. But when I really want to address mounting tedium, Lua's my cure.

> Salmon River, south of Mt Hood. 2016.

OMG, how beautiful!!!

> I walked down to the pond > I called into the woods > A spruce > in the dark! > Topped with an owl > Who flew into the distance

Reminds me of a pair of doves I saw warming on the neighbor's roof this afternoon....

> Here's the second illustration I did:

Love it!

> Looks like the highest-visited blog post on this blog > (tmo) is the “/now and about” post with 504 views :) > That's kinda cool.

My gosh, as far as I know nothing I've written has made it to 60.

<mental note to give up this unfruitful blogging nonsense someday>

> Oh to be outside of description, fiction, contradiction > and fire Glow, big sounds

ell ess dee ???