50

Fishmans, "Go Go Around This World!" live

I turned 50 today.  To very roughly paraphrase David Lee Roth, "I don't feel tardy."

It's been a hell of a year so far, since the passing of my Dad last November at 94.  I've been working part-time but actually had to recently give that up since I realized I was working for a truly horrible company.  My next job starts in late August, so I've got a few weeks to relax and enjoy the torrid summer.

I've gotten back into Maryland.  There are some things I love about the place, and maybe just a few I don't.  But I see a lot of my family, and that's great.  I'm walking 45 minutes almost every day, which in this weather is not always easy.  My shelter cats are healthy, and one remains a bit of a terror.  I'm obsessed with a Japanese 90's indie-rock band called Fishmans.  As far as I can tell, they did indeed do all their promotional photography either fishing or wearing ridiculous fisherman smocks.  The Orioles may or may not fall apart before the season is over.  Me and my nephew are reading Hemingway's The Nick Adams Stories together, and I'm probably convincing him I'm a death-obsessed weirdo.

Possible!

But in general, I've got a lot and I can only try to appreciate it all as much as possible.

Varsity Tutors Is A Horrible Company And You Should Not Work For Them

I've lined up full time employment for the first time since my Dad passed away last November.  Good for me!  It was tougher than I thought it would be, but Frederick, Maryland is a very competitive place in no small part because there aren't many big employers here beyond the county and city itself.  (My understanding is that the largest employer in Frederick County is -- wait for it -- Frederick County.)

At one point I took a part time tutor job with Varsity Tutors.  It was decent, but also very scammy.  I remember asking if I should contact the parents of one student who wasn't showing up for Zoom sessions and was basically laughed at.

Long story short, I applied for a position which required a Sexual Abuse background check for any jobs in my past ten years involving minors.  A good policy and not a problem!

Well, Varsity simply refused to sign off on this form.  I understand that I was a contractor, but they still wouldn't lift a finger to help me out.  Not to mention, if you have a situation like this there is no HR department.  They will simply give you a dummy email address, and they won't respond to your issue(s) unless you are very, very lucky and/or raise enough of a stink.

I understand people want to boost their kids' chances, but you're better off finding a local company that will provide you with at the very least a phone number and email to talk to a real person.

But it's over, and soon enough I'll update you folks on my new job.

Do You Remember The Summer of 24?

I'll come clean -- I thought Joe should just stick it out.  But it's clear the decline is real, and as I know from first-hand experience with taking care of my dad, old age creeps up on you then attacks like a tiger.

The good news is that the Dems are lining up behind Kamala, and there won't be a messy convention spectacle (to the great disappointment of the New York Times and Washington Post.)

The election was always going to be close.  And frankly, Harris is now the underdog, albeit a much younger and energetic and coherent one.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden should and will go down as one of our greatest presidents.

Let's do this!

LOL Nothing Matters

Of course a Trump appointed judge follows the Supreme Court's Trump appointed judges paving the way for a literally lawless presidency.

Maryland Horse Trials 2024

My nephew (above) participated in the Maryland Horse Trials this past weekend.  It was blazing hot, but a lot of fun.  And he did a great job!

Patrick the horse, who happens to be a very good boy.

Summertime

I'm doing some summer reading with my nephew.  First up is Candide, which I haven't read for ages.  It's easy to forget just how hilarious it is (Byronesque) but turns on a heel to analyzing the moral bankruptcy of Enlightenment Europe.

Lots of Moral Bankruptcy going around.

Anyhow, long walks and literature and still looking for full-time employment, although the tutoring is going well.

Yawn

I didn't watch the debate.  I'm genuinely terrified of another Trump administration, but I also can't spend my mental health on this stuff any longer.

To paraphrase, people get the government they want in a Democracy, and they get it good and hard.

I can say with authority none of this spectacle stuff matters on election day.  Register, vote.

Was I The Karen?

This afternoon there was a knock on my door, and a young man in a polo shirt and wearing a lanyard told me he was from my electric company and wanted to put insulation on my water heater.

This was weird on many levels.

My electric company never contacted me.  A water heater seems more like a gas company thing.  It's 2024 -- my phone number and email are pretty easy to find, why not contact me ahead of time?

Anyhow, I called my electric company and was told there would be a 45 minute wait.

I went back to my front door and asked him about his car -- a white Jeep, civilian -- not a work car by any means.  Then his partner arrived, and he showed me a canvas bag that seemed to be filled with light bulbs, and that I'd already paid various surcharges for what was supposed to be an eco-upgrade to my fixtures, or something like that.

Quite honestly I snapped at that moment, told them both to fuck off, and told them I was calling the police.  Before I did that though I told them I was going to take a picture of their car and license plates.  Nothing ensued, but I got a snarky comment along the lines of "I guess you don't read your electric bill."

No, sir, I don't.  Have never read an Apple customer agreement license either.  I live dangerously.

Anyhow the guys drove off and I filed a police report through the non-emergency line (Frederick, Maryland).  To their tepid credit, my electric company also called back and I filed another report with (I think) customer service.  The guy I spoke with said he had no knowledge of any sub-contracted, non appointment work going on in the area.

So I feel like garbage if I overreacted, but how the hell do you expect to enter a house these days without some sort of an appointment being made through the company involved?

The more I dwell on it, the more I think they were trying to pull off a "green" sales pitch but instead of just asking for me to buy shit, they wanted an "in" by getting into my house and pointing out how old and decrepit my light fixtures are.  (They aren't.)

Who knows.  I hate to yell.  I certainly hate to be an a-hole.   But these guys set off a lot of alarms.

Weird.  Be careful!

The Apaches Are Coming!

"We talked to the screen too.  When feather headdresses loomed over a horizon in the Munich cinema, we would warn the settlers in their covered wagons: 'Watch out, the Apaches are coming!'  Then in one of the Dr. Fu Manchu films, I noticed something the others hadn't seen.  In an exchange between goodies and baddies, one egregious villain on Dr. Fu Manchu's side was picked off on a rock.  He tumbled down into the depths, turning over and over.  Twenty minutes later, something peculiar happened: in another fight, we saw all kinds -- good and bad -- meet their ends.  A few had taken refuge in a gulch between rocks, and I saw the same villain plummeting to his doom.  It was maybe done a little quicker and took only a couple of seconds this time, but the man took off into the air in exactly the same way, with one foot out.  No one else saw it, but I was convinced it was the same shot.  For me, that was the moment I understood there were shots and cuts in a film.  From that time on, I watched differently.  How was a story told, how was suspense created, how was a film constructed?  To this day, I can learn only from bad films.  The good ones I watch in the same spirit in which I watched when I was a kid.  The great ones, even when I see them many times, are just an enigma."

--Werner Herzog, Every Man For Himself And God Against All

Summer In Baltimore

Of course the Orioles having an amazing season coincides with the Yankees having an even better one.

Furiosa: What I Thunk

Furiosa (let's be honest, FURIOSA) is great.  Performances are excellent with the exception of Liam Hemsworth who isn't terrible, but who never can decide if he's Chaotic Evil or Chaotic Good.  And the script is very polished, with actual character development and everything that kind of lacked in FURY ROAD.  At 79, George Miller can make whatever the hell movies he wants from now on (BABE 3?).

But I can't shake the feeling -- FURY ROAD is a better move, even though FURIOSA is terrific as well.