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.

You Shall Not Pass!

 

Chingu and Mandu on guard duty.

Optimism?

Recent polls don't look good for Biden!  Then again, we all know 2024 is going to be close no matter what.

Here's two reasons I'm still optimistic that Biden will prevail though:

1) Trump taking over the RNC as his own piggy bank is going to really hurt GOP candidates all down the ballot, including himself.  That money is going to pay off bills, not buy advertising.

2) It's somewhat clear that Trump never expected to win in 2016, and maybe didn't want to.  Standard disclaimer -- we all have to vote, donate, and do our part.  That said, if I was Trump and now staring down the debt incurred with losing multiple lawsuits (not to mention paying lawyers), what would be better than losing closely this November, then spending yet another four years fund-raising off of that for a 2028 run?

Totally hypothetical I realize.  But to put it another way -- Trump makes a lot more money out of the White House than he does inside of it.

Who knows.

Poll Judge!

Last Tuesday I spent the day (6 am to 9:30 pm) as a poll judge for the Maryland primary election.  It was a great experience that I obviously can't say too much about, other than to say that the full-time elections board folks I was trained by and worked with are really dedicated public officials.  The idea that they would try and cheat any election is risible.

That said, there's a lot going into the security protocols to make sure every ballot cast is counted properly.  There's simply no easy way to count the vote of hundreds of thousands of people either perfectly or quickly.  Working as a very small cog in the machine made this beyond clear.

And yes, I was paid.  And I'd like to do it again depending on how my schedule shakes out for this November.

RIP Steve Albini

I'm late to the game, but a great musician and -- provocateur?  theorist?  righteous asshole? -- of creative independence is now gone.

To have worked on The Pixies' Surfer Rosa, PJ Harvey's Rid of Me, Songs: Ohia Magnolia Electric Company and, I don't know, Nirvana's In Utero is incredible, and just the tip of the iceberg really.

He's also a guy who managed to grow up a bit and reflect on past mistakes, and that's something we should all strive for even if we manage to never buy a Taylor Swift record.

Damascus, Maryland

 

Never Alone

Frederick has some charms that I'm discovering as they come.  The downtown area is swell, and the west side of town where I live, while not much to look at, has some good restaurants and shopping (H-Mart!).

I'm still looking for a full-time job.  It's tough.  Being a bedroom community for both DC and Baltimore, there are a lot of smart, well-educated cookies out here.  As far as I can tell, Frederick County is the largest employer in Frederick County.  Now, as a Biden-loving liberal, I'm all for taxation and quality government services.  But it sure would be nice if some more private companies moved into here.  (It's highly reminiscent of Bellingham, actually.)  I've interviewed for some good things though, but just haven't managed to seal the deal yet.

So I've been doing online tutoring, which could be worse.  Next week I'll be a poll judge for the Maryland primary, which should be fun as well (and it pays!).  And we're making good progress on my Dad's estate -- almost done, actually.  He took the time to set his finances up meticulously and safely, so that's another thing to be grateful for.

And here I was trying to write an upbeat post.

So things are fine as we enter summer.  The Orioles are playing brilliantly.  I'm killing lots of dandelions.  I have incredibly vivid, mostly good dreams about both my mom and dad.  I talk to them sometimes, if I'm being honest.

My cats remain the goofiest sentient beings on the East Coast.

I'll take Kendrick over Drake any day.