Oh, the Huge Manatees

Today is National Manatee Appreciation Day. Photo by Ray Aucott on Unsplash

 

It’s Wednesday, and I’m still looking for two, smaller-sized Moleskine notebooks.

They are, as they say, around here somewhere.

One has random notes in it from the past two years. One is blank.

I bought them to carry with me when I’m out walking, working at the park, or just in general not where I want to make notes in the phone or carry another device.

They fit nicely in my pants pocket.

Well, they did.

I am convinced that they are somewhere here in my office. In a logical place where I thought to stack them

Mug Shots

together. But their location escapes me for the moment.

Maybe for lots of moments.

I have initial thoughts of, once again, doing an overhaul of the office. Tentative plans are to do that after the older son moves back to Atlanta in the late spring and the younger one moves on campus at Randolph Macon this fall.

We will be pseudo empty nesters…’cause at least one of them will definitely be back home.

That does nothing to help me with my need for a notebook this summer as I return to work at the park.

I’ll figure it out, even if I have to buy yet another.

I should probably do that and just keep the receipts because no doubt spending more money will magically make the others reappear.

I’ve lost things before. That’s always unfortunate.

The frustration here is that I’ve not exactly lost them. I’ve put them in an undisclosed location.

Perhaps I’m becoming like our old Labrador who would take his bone to the living room carpet and “hide” it there. A few hours, sometimes days, later he would see it an think “Oh look! A bone!” As if it were a new discovery.

He was like that with the cat for a while. But that’s another story. I mean, he didn’t try to hide the cat, as far as we know.  It’s just that every time he walked into a different room for a while, “Oh look! There’s a cat!”

There’s some irony here. The one book that I’ve used has writing prompts and ideas.

I had no idea what to write about today. I mean, I can only get so far with manatees.

Speaking of which, I don’t know that I’ve mentioned yet that we’re going to the beach next week. But I don’t expect to see manatees. I’m not even sure if any live at the aquarium there.

We’re going for Spring Break this year as opposed to later in the summer. We did that because I’m planning a trip with a college friend later in the year. And also because we got an amazing deal on a house.

Not to worry, dear reader(s), I have plans for next week.

Fortunately, they’re not in one of the missing notebooks.

Canadian singer-songwriter, Celine Dion, was born on this day in 1968.


THINGS YOU SHOULD READ

‘THIS IS MR. MAGOO AS PRESIDENT’: Watch Ted Cruz Torch Biden for Gaffes
Sean Hannity
Watch.

Biden Calls For Raising Taxes On Oil Drillers Amid Energy Crisis
Daily Caller
“This budget is basically a $45 billion tax increase on the oil and gas industry,” Mike Palicz, the federal affairs manager at Americans for Tax Reform, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “This is more targeting oil and gas for provisions that are just good tax policy that any industry should be able to take advantage of.”
Read More.

Florida’s registered Republican voters outnumber Democrats by over 100K for first time
FoxNews
Now, Republicans in Florida outnumber Democrats for the first time by over 100,000 voters, in both new registrants and party switches, according to internal numbers from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ re-election campaign exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital. Read More.

Anton Chekhov’s Beloved Summer Home in Ukraine is Under Threat
Literary Hub
On the scale of things, it is only one small summer house with a few precious artefacts donated by the writer’s sister or widow: his medical instruments, a pince-nez, the portrait his brother Nikolay painted of him, a gardening hat worn by his sister Masha. Read More.

Amy Schumer Horrified To Learn You Can Now Get Slapped For Bad Jokes
The Babylon Bee
After an eventful Oscars ceremony in which Will Smith assaulted Chris Rock over a quip about his wife’s hair, comedienne Amy Schumer became horrified by the realization you can now get slapped in the face for telling a bad joke. Read More.

ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY

1746 – Francisco Goya, Spanish-French painter and sculptor (d. 1828)
1853 – Vincent van Gogh, Dutch-French painter and illustrator (d. 1890)
1934 – Paul Crouch, American broadcaster, co-founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network (d. 2013)
1937 – Warren Beatty, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1965 – Piers Morgan, English journalist and talk show host

BENEDICTION


 

 

Slapstick Comedy

I did not watch the Academy Awards.

I also did not feel the need to announce on social media that I was not watching.

I get all of the criticisms about Hollywood. Much, if not most, of it is true. Probably more than we know.

Still, I do like me a good movie…and some popcorn when our microwave isn’t out of commission due to a small, in-house, fire.

NOTE: The temporary replacement microwave will arrive later this week.

In contrast to most years I’ve actually seen seven of the ten Best Picture nominees.

Available at The Write Side Shop
(click the pic)

The Best Picture winner, CODA, was also my favorite of those I’ve seen. Although I greatly appreciated Spielberg’s retelling of West Side Story…and when Rita Moreno sang…

Where was I?

Right, I didn’t watch, so I didn’t see the whole Will Smith/Chris Rock episode.

I’ve seen the clip.

I am skeptical enough to think that perhaps the entire episode was staged. I mean, I don’t trust most people these days, so why would I believe that.

I have friends who assured me it was not.

My opinion? If it was not staged, it was way out of line. On both their parts.

That’s where my opinion starts and stops.

But not on social media.

Suddenly everyone went from being immunologists to military strategists to experts on human relations.

Suddenly people were experts about alopecia.

Suddenly people were experts about Hollywood and comedy.

Suddenly people were experts about Will and Jada Smith’s marital life.

Heaven help us if we try to be a voice of reason.

I had one friend asked why comedians host awards shows anyway.

I have never watched the Academy Awards when it wasn’t hosted by a comedian, and that goes all the way back to Bob Hope and Johnny Carson.

Perhaps it’s that our views of what is and is not acceptable comedy have changed.

But yesterday, well starting with Sunday night, that slap, staged or not, grabbed the world’s attention.

It’s sad really that we get all het up about it and forget that our dear leader is pushing us toward World War III.

Maybe we get so easily distracted because it’s scarier to deal with reality.

Last evening I saw that Smith had offered what appeared to be a sincere apology to Chris Rock, to the Williams family, and to the cast and crew of King Richard.

That should settle it. I think we all know that it won’t.

And that, my friends, says more about us than it does about Smith.

Greek keyboard player and songwriter, and Academy Award winner, Vangelis, was born on this day in 1943.


 

THINGS YOU SHOULD READ

CNN Analyst Pulls Trump Into Will Smith, Chris Rock Oscars Fray
NewsMax
Rangappa decided the cinematic crowd remained seated after Smith’s assault because of Trump. Read More.

How To Live, Eat, and Drink Like Your Favorite Writers
Literary Hub
“I like my human experience served up with a little silence and restraint.” Read More.

Sunday Firesides: Relationships Over Willpower
The Art of Manliness
The people we’re surrounded by limit or expand our sense of what is possible; shift our perception of what is normal and acceptable; raise or lower our sights. Read More.

 

BORN ON THIS DAY

1790 – John Tyler, American lawyer and politician, 10th President of the United States (d. 1862)
1867 – Cy Young, American baseball player and manager (d. 1955)
1918 – Pearl Bailey, American actress and singer (d. 1990)
1943 – Eric Idle, English actor and comedian
1943 – John Major, English banker and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1955 – Brendan Gleeson, Irish actor

BENEDICTION

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26

 

Cross-posted to Bearing Drift.