Random Thoughts #42

 

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How many of my fellow bookworms out there struggle to quit a book they're not enjoying? Do you feel compelled to finish what you started? I know I do.

When I go to the library I usually take out 2-3 books with the idea that I will read roughly one per week. On my last trip I took out two books I had on my To-Read List. I started one and found it wasn't what I had hoped. I kept reading. It never improved. The story dragged. It wasn't compelling. The main character wasn't likeable. When I had time to read I found myself doing anything else: mucking around on Facebook, watching YouTube videos, housecleaning, taking a walk. If I am enjoying a book, I will take any moment I have to read. 

Today my three weeks were up and I was halfway through the dull book and the other one was untouched. Should I renew the books and keep trying, or give up and return it? It was a harder decision than I expected to be. I wanted to read that book prior to my actually trying to read it. I felt as if I had failed it. 

Fate intervened and I was denied a renewal of the book and had to return it anyway. The bad news is I couldn't renew the other one that I hadn't touched (and might have enjoyed more).

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For all my MAGA friends and acquaintances or any other MAGA readers who might stumble onto this blog, I have this to say. In a year or two when your life isn't automatically better, when housing is still costly, when giant food retailers are still price gouging you, when your suburban assault vehicle is still costing you a fortune in gas, you can't blame the other side anymore. You have all three branches of government. You have a cabinet full of you-know-who's (I refuse to even type his name anymore let alone say it or say it with the title in front of it) cronies. It won't be Biden's fault or Obama's fault or the fault of any Democrat you choose to pick on. Your people are in charge. My side washes its hands of you.

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Speaking of food prices, if you want to see consistent food pricing, you need to shop the old fashioned way. Don't buy online. Pay in cash. When you buy online your purchases are recorded. Some retailers are using AI to tailor pricing specifically to you because their systems learn how much you are willing to spend on certain items. If you go to the store and pay in cash, nobody is watching what purchases go on your account(although I suppose my preferred shoppers cards kind of does that anyway). More shoppers need to do this.

I take it step further and buy as much as possible at the farm market so I am buying direct from the producers instead of through the middleman of the grocery stores. Yes, my groceries are more expensive (or they used to be) but they are consistently expensive. I never notice a dramatic rise in the cost of eggs because I always paid that much for eggs. 

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If you asked me to name some of the best aspects of marriage, one of them would be always having someone to cook for.

But sometimes the weight of that responsibility gets to me. I cook for someone nearly every day. Someone’s sustenance relies on my efforts. I have to provide something edible for another human being so he can live another day.

I say this about feeding a full grown adult who is fully capable of procuring his own meals even though he can’t (or maybe I should say won't) cook. He has the choice and the ability to order a pizza if I don’t make dinner or he doesn’t like what I offer. He also would never want to have home-cooked meals at the expense of my mental health. Yet I am compelled to cook something for him, and cook something he likes, for fear he will be hungry and unhappy.

And people wonder why I don’t have kids.

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Another thought about MAGA.

One of his appeals is supposedly his support of unlimited gun access. The libertarian view is  Americans are entitled to have guns in case the government becomes tyrannical and citizens have the means to overthrow the tyrant. 

They want to cut public education, creating an illiterate populace incapable of critical thinking and thus unable to truly question authority. They want to suppress criticism and revoke media licenses, taking away the one institution that tries to hold them accountable.

Do you really think they will allow you to have the physical means to overthrow them? Kiss your guns goodbye, MAGA. 

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Number 42 is appropriately the last Random Thoughts blog post. I occasionally question if Shipwrecked & Comatose is the best platform for microblogs and quick quips, and if I should sign up for a feed type of platform, but I didn't want to give Elon Musk my time, nor do I want to give more of my time to Mark Zuckerberg. 

I solved the problem by signing up for Blue Sky. I will be microblogging there. I intend to keep my political content as well as my random observances on that site. Facebook will be more of a personal/fun share site (not that there won't be any crossover). Hope to see you over there. Shipwrecked & Comatose and The Essential Rhubarb Pie will remain as my long-form blogging sites and I will link new posts on both social media platforms.