Agent of Change

What I am thinking about today: 5/24

-I did 13 and a half hours at the group home job Sunday, over half of it was alone. Everyone was quiet and happy to watch TV, snooze, or having me read to them (A chapter of a Travis McGee story, since they don’t quite grasp the story, just like the attention and time). I even made green beans that people wanted to eat, which is a feat in and of itself. I got home and just zoned out until I went to bed due to being spent.

-I have not seen the new George Carlin documentary yet, but anyone who knows stand up knows he was amazing. He constantly reinvented himself, never relied on old material once he had a new set., and invented a number of comedic styles. The only time I saw a bad set from him was his last HBO special where his anger and cynicism overtook the comedy, and for a long time comedian, that’s a great track record. A few “smart” comedians I used to like became angry old men, yelling at kids, or disappeared up their won ass as they moved into the later years of their career.

-I don’t think I have ever been as disappointed as when I saw Dennis Miller in 1998. Mitch Hedberg opened for him, and he was shook by how good Hedberg was, mentioning it as he started his set…and he did what a lot of comedian do when they get shook, fell back on tried and true material. The problem was that Miller’s act was based on current events, so he was making jokes about events from 3 to 8 years before, and he rushed through the set as if he was double parked. He must have done that a LOT, since he fell out of the Theater tours.

-One of his writers said he looked at his options as his gigs quit selling out, and the most lucrative one was the casino route, but he would have to appeal to the over 60 crowd, so he turned hard right with his humor. It cost him his HBO series, but he got a radio talk show and a Fox News gig, so less touring and he could let go of his writers to save money.

-And if you didn’t know stand ups have writers, boy, have you got a lot to learn. I even did some ghost writing for comedians in the 90’s. My NDAs mean I can’t say who, but you wouldn’t know them anyway.

-How many of you folks remember the Weekly News Update parody email I did from 1996 – 2006? Yeah, that’s where they bought the jokes from.

-I watched part of a USFL game this weekend and they didn’t have fans in the stands, but they did pipe in crowd sounds. Even the AAF and XFL had fans in the stands. However, unlike both of those spring football leagues, this one looks like it will finish its first season. The next version of the XFL just announced a huge deal with Fox, and with The Rock behind it, I have a feeling that it will do OK, since he’s smart enough to find smart people to run things.

-I read an article about how, since the pandemic, offices have stopped doing the “mandatory fun” stuff like happy hours, team building exercises, and the like. As an introvert, I couldn’t be happier. I just want to show up, do my job, and go home. And, with working from home, I LOVE that I don’t have to take part in group activities. My personal life is my personal life. ANY time I have forgotten that and allowed myself to blur the lines between work life and personal life, it’s not been pleasant. I work to pay for my personal life.

Be kind, be courageous, and be cool. Much love to friends old and new.

What I am thinking about today 5/16/2022

-I got called in for a sleeping overnight Saturday night at the group home. Then, since I had to be at another house at 7 am, I left at 6 am, and when I got to the other house I was called back to the first house due to a staff now showing. Then, I worked until 6 pm instead of 3 pm due to staff not showing. So, 21 hours in three houses overall. I was home less than 5 minutes before I was called and asked if I could come back. I turned it down because I was pretty much exhausted.

-Reports are the Marvel is losing the Conan license for new books (but will keep doing reprints) and the current rights holder wants to create the comics. While I have loved the work Marvel has done on Conan, the sames haven’t been great. The books, which used to be a must stock in book stores, seem to have faded as well. Even the books by modern authors faded by the mid 90’s. Much like Tarzan, IMHO.

-Many of these long running characters have moved to niche products with small press books and the like. In many ways I don’t think “Why aren’t they more popular” so much as “I’m happy we get anything at all.” Even the 70’s Men’s Adventure” pulps like The Executioner, Blade (the book series), The Death Merchant, Able Team, and the like have faded to the point where nothing new is coming out with them.

-Most of my wrestling friends have talked about Tammy Sytch, the former Sunny, and her ongoing legal issues and criminal charges. She’s been putting people in danger with her drunk driving for years and finally caused the death of a man in a crash. Hopefully, this finally locks her up so everyone around her is safe. She’s been given endless chances and times in rehab, and none of it has worked. And, when she is finally locked up, I hope never to hear about her again because we only hear about her when she’s done something illegal.

-I read a DEEP dive in to Republican Madison Cawthorn on Politico, and it just made me shake my head. He was never qualified for office, has been a weasel for as far back as there are records about him, the Republican party is firing at him with everything they can find and he’s still leading in the polls. I swear if you have an R by your name in some places, they’d elect you from jail.

OH WAIT, THEY DID: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/indiana-man-charged-murder-death-wife-wins-republican-primary-jail-rcna27638

Stay Classy, Indiana.

-One this I miss about the height of the COVID lockdown was not hearing about a new mass shooting every day. I wonder if most people in the US know that other countries now don’t recommend their citizens come here for tourism due to the prevalence of mass shootings and police brutality.

-Kind of a downer today. I’m tired and a bit down myself and should have avoided the news like the plague this weekend. I also lost most of the time I set aside for taking care of things in the house, so I feel like I didn’t get a real break over the weekend.

Be kind, be courageous, and be cool. Much love to friends old and new.

What I am thinking about today: 5/6/2022

It’s perfectly ok to be angry. We are told by people all the time that anger is a negative emotion. Emotions, on their own, as neutral. It’s how we react and what we do with them that makes the negative or positive. Anger can be a catalyst for change is channeled properly.

We have a person we support at the group home with Covid. She’s young, vaccinated and boosted. She doesn’t understand why she’s sick or why she’s restricted to her room, but is sick enough she doesn’t want to pace and wander like she normally does. The staff at that house are back in full PPE, but it looks like she will make a full recovery.

We do have a person I support on hospice care in the house I work at most often. He has been on hospice care since late last year, and a lot of his medications were removed, which in many ways improved how he was reacting to the world around him. Hospice changes how people are cared for in that everything moves from recovery to comfort. This was a hard mindset for me to get into when I started in group homes for DD adults. It’s still not an easy mindset, but I do try to do all I can to let the person do and have things they enjoy.

I am taking the weekend off from the group home for Free Comic Book day and still making sure I still have a complete day for relaxing and doing things around the house. I even have tonight off from the group home and I literally can’t remember my last Friday Night off.

I am almost done with the second Terry Brooks book in the Prequel trilogy for the Shanarra books, and a few things have struck me. First, his prose is easy to read. It’s simple, descriptive and moves the story along. None of the pretentiousness that puts me off fantasy novels. Second, after the first book being filled with lore, world building, and subplots, this one is focused on a single plot and it is a vast improvement. Third, the “mystery” is painfully obvious. Fourth, we have a lead character who has magic and never uses it. The author tries to handwave away why it isn’t being used, but the truth is that if she used it, the story would be 20 pages long. If it’s hard to put your powerful character in danger, MAYBE DON’T MAKE THEM POWERFUL.

“Cory!!, why are you so hard on novels that are clearly meant to be light entertainment?” Because when I am editing my own work, I am ruthless at attacking plot holes. Anything that can throw the reader out of the story and feels like writing is a pet peeve of mine.

Two episodes left for me to watch in this season’s Star Trek Discovery, and I have generally enjoyed the season. The bridge crew still is under developed, the seasons are too short and too focused on the overarching story (I’d like a few episodes of exploration) but overall I like New Trek. I know some people don’t. Plus ca change Plus c’est la meme chose.

Be kind, be courageous, and be cool.