Down to the wire. I have seen a couple of posts where people say things like, waiting for this election feels like waiting for biopsy results. That’s pretty good, though I’ve waited for biopsy results before and I am more anxious about the malignancy gripping Trumpers than my own test results.
Another metaphor I’ve heard a fair amount is that voting is like taking a bus. Are you going to get on the bus that goes close to your destination or one headed in a completely different direction? We have a two-party system. That isn’t going to change with this election.
When I see people declaring they aren’t voting, or worse, they’re voting for quadrennial grifter Jill Stein, I want to throttle them. We all know today’s Democrats are equivalent to center-right parties in other countries. But this has been a decades-long shift ever rightward, with the MAGA takeover of the Republican party completing their slide into fascism. We don’t recover from that by throwing in the towel because you don’t like the choices.
So here’s my metaphor. We are in a tug of war. The GOP has billionaires and literal Nazis grabbing on the end of their rope and that flag that used to be in the middle has been yanked so far to the right. We need everyone grabbing on to the end of our rope to pull it back to the center. If the lefties let go and walk away, we will lose. If they help us get the flag back to the middle, then we can keep pulling and drag the Dems further to the left. That’s the only way we can get there.
If you are not on social media much, or your algorithm isn’t like mine, you might not be aware that Michael Stipe has been pretty busy lately. A couple of weeks ago he was with Jason Isbell in Pittsburgh for a GOTV rally with Doug Emhoff. Earlier today he was in Atlanta with Jon Bon Jovi at a Harris/Walz event, where you could see Tim Walz and Doug Emhoff in the audience, living their best lives.
The last time I watched a presidential debate was probably in 2008. Maybe I watched one of the Obama v. Romney debates but I don’t think I did. Debates for a primary could be worth it but the format is awful and everyone would be better served by just going to the candidates websites and reading their policy positions. So I had no intention of watching the first debate between Biden and Trump this year. I didn’t (still haven’t) see the train wreck performance that sent everyone panicking. What made me panic was everyone calling for Biden to step down. I was fearful that there’d be a messy and damaging scramble to head up the ticket. I worried that Trump’s people would challenge the validity of whoever ended up as the candidate if Biden dropped out. I felt like the only person who could legitimately take over at that late stage was Kamala Harris, who at least would be able to continue to use the money that had been donated to the campaign since her name was already on the ballot. But I was not confident that the people pushing for Joe to leave were coming to that same conclusion. I had the impression they wanted some kind of open convention and it scared the crap out of me.
Michael was one of those people calling for Biden to get out of the race. He was posting stuff on Instagram and I was increasingly anxious about it. One day he put out a poll asking if people thought Joe should bow out. I was quite sure he wouldn’t see my reply but I felt compelled to respond and I said, Kamala is the only one who can take over, do you realize that, and do you really think that counties in swing states that wouldn’t vote for Hillary will vote for a Black woman? Really?
Needless to say, he didn’t reply. I think any celebrity on social media must get flooded with so many messages that they probably have DMs turned off. I watched the chorus grow louder and louder for Biden to get out of the way and I got more and more anxious. Not that I wanted Biden to be the candidate, I just wished he had said he wasn’t running months earlier. He was too old, Gaza was a nightmare, and people did not want to rehash 2020. But replacing him felt so risky.
When the news broke that he not only dropped out but also endorsed Kamala, I thought, ok, let’s see if that carries enough weight to make the Ezra Kleins and George Clooneys step back. I did not expect the speed and force with which she took control of the situation and got all of the delegates that had pledged to support Biden, to throw their votes behind her. The difference in the campaign, the energy and enthusiasm, it is night and day. I can’t begin to imagine where we all would be right now… I don’t even want to think about it. I can admit that the people begging Joe to pass the torch were right and I thank them for being brave enough to say so.
It turns out that Michael had met Kamala and Doug at a restaurant in 2018. She came over to him and introduced herself by way of explaining that her husband was a big fan. If you haven’t seen any of the clips from any of these events where Michael has appeared, it is so obvious that Doug is still star struck. And now he’s got Tim Walz beside him, also just pinching himself. No shame, Tim. None at all.
We are still in the fight of our lives. It makes me insane that the whole country, the world, is at the mercy of a few hundred thousand people across seven states. All of us are so scarred from 2016. But a condensed campaign (can all campaigns just be three-months long, please!), that is smart, sharp, and leaves it all on the field, is giving me hope despite the times.
No one blogs anymore. Today I got an emailed newsletter from a woman whose blog I used to read all the time. She had stopped writing a number of years ago and switched to podcasting instead. Then she hung up her headphones and switched to a once a month Substack column. I still enjoy reading what she has to say but it’s different.
In the email, she announced that she is sunsetting her blog. Pulling the plug. Not that I often visited it to read entries from years ago, but every now and then I might think about something she’d written about and search for it and be reminded of the details. In a week, it will all be gone.
That I should receive this news on November 1, when I usually rouse myself out of my blogging hibernation, made me wonder if it was a sign. And if so, was it a sign that I should just go back into my cave, or was it a challenge and I should get fired up?
I had an idea for this year’s NaBloPoMo. I started thinking about some entries and then pretty quickly got sidetracked by election anxiety. A common problem. Plus the usual feeling that with everything going on, what the fuck am I doing prattling on about music and whatever. This is sure an easier exercise in the odd years.
But I am not quite ready to call it quits and I still like to go back and look at what I wrote in previous years. For now, I will carry on. Peace. ✌️
I bought myself a new phone on the way home from work today. Very uncharacteristically, I only spent an hour or so of research time before buying this phone. Usually I spend way too much time agonizing over the various options and then I just find the result kind of mediocre anyway.
Partly this is because I have always had an Android phone. I got my first smartphone (it sounds so weird to call them that now) when we were building a mobile site at work (another dated relic) and I didn’t have a phone to test it out on. My coworker had an iPhone so I figured it would be good to be able to cover both platforms, and work would pay for it. In all of these years, I think I had two phones that I really liked, the others have all been fine but nothing to get excited about.
Starting next year, though, I am porting my number out of the work account so I need a new phone, and for once I am not bound by the options that the corporate account deems acceptable. This means I am also going to be paying for it, which I haven’t had to do, so I am sticking with Android.
My current phone is a Samsung, some recent but not top of the line model, and it’s fine. The thing I like best about it is that it still has a headphone jack. I don’t have airpods, I don’t want airpods, and I want to be able to use the aux cord in my car and charge my phone at the same time. Finding phones that still have headphone jacks really limits your choices.
To cut to the chase, I bought a OnePlus Nord N30. A bunch of my friends in Sweden adore their OnePlus phones and work would only let me choose between the big flagships. It’s unlocked so I can use it with any carrier, and it was on a big Black Friday sale. I won’t have it function as a phone yet but I went ahead and transferred over all the apps and have been playing around with it. So far, it seems pretty nice. I haven’t tested out the camera yet, which used to be the thing I cared most about, but it does have a headphone jack! I decided that I am never really going to get great pictures at shows and I do use the headphone jack all the time so I may be sacrificing on photo quality a little but I will still be able to play music in the car and talk with my headphones.
I got so wrapped up in going through all the apps that I totally lost track of time and almost didn’t remember, the last day of NaBloPoMo! I did it! All 30 days! Thank you all for following along. Perhaps in my empty nest life, I will be able to make a post now and then outside of this November marathon. Here’s hoping!
"Some kids move because their parents take new jobs Some kids move ‘cause of napalm"
I am not a heaven and hell believing person but man, I would like to think Henry Kissinger is reaping in death what he sowed in life. Eternal torment, pain, and horror, motherfucker!
I was scrolling through my Shazam tracks playlist and came across a song by Las Robertas. I needed something more to jog my memory so I clicked over to their artist page and was reminded that they are from Costa Rica. I listened to a couple of other songs from this album and have made a mental note to listen to the whole thing when I am next driving up to the office.
I was talking to my best friend this morning and she was telling me about this typewriter store in Philadelphia. They repair, restore, and sell typewriters, and have tons of typewriters of all ages. It sounded so cool. Against my wishes, my husband has started collecting typewriters. I am a fan of typewriters and I think some of them are so beautiful, but we don’t have space for three or four typewriters, let alone more. I wouldn’t mind going to check out this store though! I was looking at some of the pictures and smiling, remembering the spinning ball era of electric typewriters. Click on over to check out Philly Typewriter.
Thanksgiving break is over. I dropped my son off at his college and made my way into the office for the afternoon. That first day back from a holiday is always kind of a shock to the system but today was a little extra.
So it was nice to get home and have it be quiet. It was lovely having my son home and seeing my daughter over the break but it is not like they are far away or I haven’t seen them in months. I like talking with them and hearing about their jobs and classes, friends, etc., but I also like quiet.
I know people who really struggled to find their place once their kids went off to college. That empty nest hit them hard. I think partly because I was not home during after school hours for their whole lives, and as teenagers they would be busy in the evenings with friends, clubs, or homework, I didn’t feel like I was suddenly missing something. Also, after all of those years of working all day, driving for over an hour, then getting home and having to fix dinner and attend to whatever things the kids’ needed in those few remaining hours, I am glad that I no longer need to be constantly on. I can sit quietly and just read a book, or watch something, zone out, whatever I feel like doing. It’s not bad.
I feel like this fall has seen a lot of transitions for my family: son off to college, daughter starting a job, my husband also got a part time gig, so things were shifting around for all of us. I think the new year will be when it all starts to fall into place a bit, fingers crossed.
I am about half way through Patrick Stewart’s memoir. As someone who first became aware of him through watching reruns of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I am learning a lot about his early life. I am also learning about life in Yorkshire in the mid-20th century and am really pleased to see his humble roots make him a proud union supporter and hater of Margaret Thatcher and the havoc she wrought on unions and the arts. That reminded me of the Gang of Four, hailing from Leeds, very near Patrick Stewart’s hometown.
Back when I was watching those reruns in the early 90s, it felt like a real guilty pleasure. Once I found out Patrick Stewart had already had a successful career as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, I felt a little less guilty about it. I’d had an interview for a job at the Folger Shakespeare Library and was imagining being able to meet all of these famous actors when they would come through DC for some reason. The job wasn’t going to pay me enough though so I didn’t end up living that dream. In truth there probably would have been very few of those kind of chance encounters.
But I was smitten. I got the CD of his one-man performance of A Christmas Carol, which gave me a whole new appreciation for the book. Then my real moment of glory, for Christmas one year my Brooklyn sister and her husband took me to see him play Prospero in The Tempest on Broadway. We were so close, the second row I think, and he was fabulous.
When I think about it, I really have not seen much of his work. I think I will probably start chipping away at that once I finish the book.
Somehow it is already Saturday. I wouldn’t say I’ve done nothing during the last two days but I didn’t do much. I’ve been mostly running errands for/with my son so that he has what he needs for the last couple of weeks of the semester. Tomorrow will be spent making sure he is packed up to go back.
Today also means it is just one month until Christmas. I have a lot going on that isn’t even holiday related, plus all of the shopping to do, and now there are only four weeks to go. Oof. Everything will get done, it is just a little daunting to think about.
I am not a list-maker. Many people I know are in love with to-do lists of various kinds. They derive great satisfaction out of having an ordered list and then checking things off. I might make a list to go to the grocery store but that’s about it. Sometimes I think maybe I should make a list of all the things I need to do, but I pretty easily talk myself out of it because the whole thing sounds more, instead of less, stressful. That kind of visual reminder is rarely something I want to see, and I don’t get any kind of joy or thrill from crossing things out so why take the time to write it down? If I’ve finished whatever task I had to do then it’s out of my hair and I don’t need to think about it anymore. That is good enough.
However, packing up might be a good time to make a list. I will admit that I forgot to take the meat thermometer with us up to my daughter’s for Thanksgiving and maybe if I’d had a list, I wouldn’t have forgotten it. We didn’t really need it though since I just got one of those turkey breasts that cooks in the bag and you kind of can’t screw it up. It was a low stakes situation. What I am eager to avoid is having to swing by my son’s college “on the way” home from work one day because he needs something he forgot. It is not on the way, and I sure don’t need that added to that list I won’t make of things I need to do.
Not sure what it is about this song that has me hitting the repeat button. It’s closing in on seven minutes long, when I usually find that to be much too long.
It’s been nice having my son home but it means I am staying up later than I want to and unlike him, I can no longer sleep all that late in the morning. So this is all you get today.
Noisy Cats 