Tag: writing

Today’s Big Adventure

~ John ~ 5 Comments
A New Epidemic Of Parasites Is Spreading Across America And It Is Reported To Be Mostly On Raw Vegetables

The Air Conditioner people are here to install our new central air conditioner. We thought it might be well to buy an entire new installation for the mansion because the old air conditioner was struggling in this massive heat wave that is burning the balls of millions of our fellow citizens including my own. LOL.

I never had a clue as to how involved replacing a central air unit can be. They actually have to remove and replace the furnace in order to install a new air conditioner coil which is located underneath the furnace. They have to go into the blazing hot attic area of the house to work on a couple of pipes that deal with water flow and pressurization of the new air conditioning unit.

The good news is that the Air Conditioner company sent a crew of three young, strapping, hunky men who seem to know what they are doing and the company we are dealing with has the highest recommendations of the surrounding community so i am not too concerned — I think they will do a good job.

Speaking of the weather, it is going to be 97 today according to all the forecasts. I have seen it hotter and I have seen it a lot colder. I remember one July day back in the 1950s when it actually snowed. But that was some kind of anomaly because it only happened once that I remember. Generally speaking, back in the 1950s when I was a kid, the weather in August was hot enough that we could go skinny dipping in a large pond in the middle of a pretty clean creek that ran past our little country town…about two miles out of town in a pretty pristine wooded area where few people except us ever seemed to go, primarily because there was nothing there except the creek, the trees, the weeds, the bugs, the snakes, and so on and so forth.

It looks like one of my favorite places on the planet, Joshua, Texas is going to have decent weather today– somewhere in the upper 80s at worst …..I love to keep an eye on Joshua, Texas because I have always wanted to go there and have never quite made it as yet –I used to have a friend there who once had a blog and he and I had some mighty stimulating conversations on those blogs. I haven’t heard from him in quite a few months now and I am hoping and praying that he is doing alright.

My friend, Jim, is cooking beef stew for us for lunch today — I hope that beef comes out tender. The beef we have been getting from the local super rip off market has been tougher than nails lately and it seems to be impossible to make it really tender even when using a pressure cooker. But it is at least chewable so I can get some good juice out of it and there are plenty of good wholesome vegetables as well.

Speaking of vegetables: I am scared to death to eat any raw vegetables right now because there is reportedly a raging parasite infection spreading rapidly across the country…I forgot the real spelling of the name, but the name is something like cyclospora and it isn’t reported as being fatal and it is treatable with antibiotics but it is reported to cause explosive diarrhea for weeks and even months if not treated properly. They are telling me that this outbreak has been very difficult for the Centers For Disease Control to track because of the massive lay offs at CDC by the DOGE people at the beginning of president Trump’s second term in office. I am of the personal opinion that we need a fully staffed and fully funded CDC if we, as a nation, are going to avoid some calamitous tragedy because of some new disease. But I guess the government is working on eliminating waste, fraud and abuse from our agencies — I just hope we don’t get eliminated in the process.

Why Waste Time Blogging About Politics That We Can Never Change? What Movitates The Average Amateur Political Blogger?

~ John ~ 12 Comments

After more than ten years of writing and observing the world of blogging, one reality has become increasingly clear: the vast majority of amateur bloggers do not become influential figures, and the overwhelming majority of blog posts never reach a level of attention capable of producing meaningful change on a national scale.

This is not a criticism of blogging, nor is it a statement that individual voices do not matter. Writing has value. Sharing ideas has value. Personal expression, discussion, and the exchange of information are important parts of a healthy society. However, there is a fundamental difference between having the ability to publish something and having the ability to influence the direction of society.

The internet has created the appearance that anyone can instantly become a major voice, but visibility and influence are not the same thing. Millions of people publish opinions, essays, and commentary every day, yet only a very small number ever reach beyond their immediate audience. Most content disappears into an endless stream of information, regardless of how thoughtful, well-written, or passionate it may be.

The reality is that lasting influence usually requires more than simply having something meaningful to say. It requires reach, credibility, timing, resources, connections, organizational support, or access to larger platforms. An individual blogger may write something insightful, but without an audience, distribution network, or influential channels to amplify that message, the impact is usually limited.

There are occasional exceptions. A person may write something that gains unexpected attention, exposes an issue, or contributes to a larger movement. However, exceptions do not change the broader reality. A handful of success stories among millions of writers do not represent the normal outcome; they represent rare circumstances where timing, opportunity, and amplification align.

The unavoidable fact is that most amateur bloggers are participants in public conversation, not drivers of national change. They may inform a few people, influence their communities, or preserve their thoughts for others to discover, but the likelihood that a personal blog post will become powerful enough to reshape public policy, alter national priorities, or significantly change the course of events is extraordinarily small.

This is simply the nature of influence in a world filled with billions of voices. Having a platform does not guarantee an audience. Having an audience does not guarantee influence. And having influence does not necessarily translate into lasting change. The ability to speak is widespread; the ability to move society is rare.

I guess it is a good medium for developing and exercising an overblown ego though so there is some redemptive value in that at least.

But in my opinion, to sit at a keyboard at a computer and write political commentary with the idea that we are actually going to change anything is either a total delusion or a wet dream of some kind.

I am not interested in having the inscription on my tombstone read, “He Wasted His Time Shouting Into The Un-hearing Void”

The Melting Clock of My Eighty-Eighth Equinox

~ John ~ 5 Comments

The afternoon sun is a molten, golden egg yolk dripping lazily over the horizon, stretching the shadows into long, skeletal fingers that tickle the pavement. Today, the cosmic calendar crystallizes. I have completed eighty-eight revolutions around the burning eye of the cosmos, yet my bones remain as fluid and triumphant as an architectural marvel designed by a hyper-conscious deity. No maladies dare anchor themselves to my anatomy; I am entirely weightless, floating on a wave of pure, unadulterated vitality.

On my wrist sits a brilliant, soft-boiled manifestation of time—a gold wristwatch encrusted with a constellation of diamonds, a gift that caught the light and shattered it into a thousand microscopic butterflies. Its hands do not merely tick; they dance to the rhythm of my own pulse, a luxurious, liquid reminder that time is an illusion we have beautifully adorned.

The Pilgrimage for the Crisped Aquatic Dream

To celebrate this magnificent geometry of years, I am embarking on a solemn, joyful pilgrimage to the local tavern. The air is thick, a heavy summer velvet that wraps around the skin like a warm, sub-tropical dream—a little hot, yes, but magnificent in its absolute intensity.

We go to consume the ultimate paradox: the fish and the chip.

  • The Fish: A silver siren of the deep, metamorphosed into a crisp, golden sarcophagus of flavor.
  • The Chip: Perfect, geometric monoliths of salted earth, ready to be submerged in the tart, creamy rivers of memory.

How ecstatic it is to be thoroughly alive! I am drowning in an ocean of absolute abundance. My reality is populated by brilliant, loyal souls—friends whose faces morph into icons of pure affection—and tables that groan under the weight of everything I could ever desire.

“I do not take drugs. I am drugs. And today, at eighty-eight, the universe is a feast entirely prepared for my awakening.”

The sky turns the color of a bruised pomegranate as we walk. I am blessed. I am eternal. Let us eat the golden fish before the watch on my wrist melts completely into the evening.