An Educated Populace and Freedom of the Press!

It's 2026 and major news outlets (even the so-called liberal ones!) still breathlessly report Trump statements as if they were facts and / or factual.

It's almost charming at this point.

The Big Move

It's been two and a half years since my Dad passed.  Believe it or not, we're still dealing with some paperwork issues regarding his finances.  This is a good thing, actually, since he had his money in trust that kept most of it quite safe beyond expected taxes.

So lo and behold, here's me at 51 having my own trust written up.  So much adulting, it hurts.  But it would be crazy now to die without one.

So that's probably my primary task right now, along with some related things.  I'm moving from Maryland to North Carolina, likely in early Fall.  I guess it's best to sell your house in the summer?  Like I said, this is all new to me.  I'm getting things done on my house now (needed a new water heater, a Level Two EV charger, a leaky toilet that's hopefully easy to fix) to get it ready.  In addition to much lower taxes in North Carolina (I know, I know, nice things require tax dollars, usually) I'm basically going to be "flipping" my own house (does that make sense?).  Housing prices are much cheaper down there, and what's a modest three bedroom in Maryland can buy a lot more down south.  And really, I'm only looking for a two or three bedroom with a small yard.  Point is, even with modest expectations of sale price I'll be making a decent amount of money moving into roughly the same type and size of house.

I've got my nephew's graduation coming up, then some pet-sitting in July, and in August I think I'll make my physical trip to North Carolina to choose a place.  (It's amazing how much you can do online these days, of course).

I'm excited!  I wish the wheels were turning a bit faster but in the meantime I've been writing and looking into what it would take to start a tutoring business in my new home state.  I'm qualified to substitute teach down there (like here in Frederick, the standards are quite low) so I'll probably do some of that to get a start.

I'm reading Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series, and it's nuts.  I'm looking up two or three words every page due to what must have been his deep knowledge of Latin and Greek.  I'm in book three now, and things are clicking into place -- this series is insane.  It's starts off gritty dark fantasy and then, transforms.  The main character is a torturer and executioner with a philosophical streak and a sex addiction.  Not a bad way to spend the spring and early summer!

Sleepytime Chingu

Even this magnificent beast needs his beauty rest.

Moms Are The Best. Dads Too, Usually.

I had an unexpectedly great Mother's Day, believe it or not.  My sister (herself a great mom) had a brunch at home with some of her amazing female mom friends.  It was all very pleasant.  I drank one beer.  I got to watch the Orioles actually win a game.

My own mom died when I seventeen, of cancer.  It was the month before I graduated from high school.  It was 32 years ago.

I look at that number "32" and I swear someone must be trying to play a trick on me.

Anyhow, best wishes to all the moms, and dads, and kids, and orphans out there.

Heads I Win, Tails You Lose

Republicans are allowed to gerrymander as they please.  Democrats are not.

Any Democrat worth his or her salt must now realize a) there is no "going back" to the way things were before Trump and b) to follow rules that the GOP no longer abides by is to capitulate and appease.

"more troublesome than the act itself"

"The aftermath is often more troublesome than the act itself. As soon as the head has been exhibited to the crowd, it can be dropped back into the basket. But the headless body (which remains capable of losing a good deal of blood for a long time after the action of the heart has ceased) must be taken away in a manner dignified yet dishonorable. Furthermore, it must be not just taken 'away,' but taken to some specific spot where it will be safe from molestation. An exultant can, by custom, be laid across the saddle of his own destrier, and his remains are surrendered to his family at once. Persons of lesser rank, however, must be provided with some resting place secure from the eaters of the dead; and at least until they are safely out of sight, they must be dragged. The executioner cannot perform this procedure because he is already burdened with the head and with his weapon, and it is rare for anyone else involved -- soldiers, officers of the course, and so on -- to be willing to do so.  (At the Citadel it was done by two journeyman and thus presented no difficulty.)"

-- Gene Wolfe, Shadow of the Torturer

Saturday Caturday!

Mandu and Chingu, living it up.

Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Frederick Maryland

This is the grave of Francis Scott Key, a Maryland born guy who went on to compose the most difficult-to-sing national anthem of all time.

Even cooler to my mind, in the same cemetery this is the grave of a cranky old German lady named Barbara Fritchie.  In 1862 when the Confederates captured Frederick (led by Stonewall Jackson no less) Ms. Fritchie waved the U.S. flag and basically told the secessionists to go fuck themselves.  James Greenleaf Whittier wrote a horrible poem about it.

Anyhow, now that I'm leaving Maryland in a few months I actually do have a bit of a bucket list.  Frederick is pretty damn boring, but the location isn't bad.  In any event, I'd say Mt. Olivet Cemetery is a definite must-visit if you ever come by this way.