Blue-Footed Musings

Today was a big day in U.S. history, because it was the first day of public hearings in the impeachment of Donald Trump. I had to work today, but I was able to listen to parts of the broadcast because my husband was watching it on television downstairs. That was good enough for me. I don’t need to see or hear all of it, or even any of it. I already know that Donald Trump is unfit to be president. He’s a lying, cheating, egomaniacal, bigoted, bullying, uneducated, emotionally stunted and unstable traitor. He damages our democracy every day. He harms our people every day. That’s enough to impeach him for. I don’t need any additional evidence, because I’ve seen all of it with my own eyes. He’s also probably a money launderer, rapist, and extortionist. I expect that those crimes will all be proven in time, but the details are irrelevant to me. All that matters is that our lawmakers remove him from the presidency before it’s too late.

Today I had parent-teacher conferences with my kids’ teachers. The teachers were all nice. The kids are both doing well in school. That makes me happy.

I had some blood work done recently. The test results came in the mail today. My vitamin D level is bad (again), so I’m going to have to take megadoses for 8 weeks. But it’s hard to be upset about that when my other levels are so good, including my cholesterol. My numbers are higher than recommended on the good stuff and lower than recommended on the bad stuff. Hooray! That means I can continue my potato chip diet. 😉

It’s cold and windy today. We even got a little snow earlier. My husband said he’d heard that the entire country would dip below freezing tonight. I said, “Even Hawaii?” He replied, “Well, the Lower 48.” So I said, “But won’t Alaska be freezing, too?” Ha-ha. I’m such a pain sometimes, but the funny thing is, it’s warmer in Juneau right now than it is here, and the difference will only get greater as the temperature here continues to drop. Overnight we’ll probably hit a record low temperature for this time of year. If the temperature doesn’t reach at least 37 degrees tomorrow, that will also set a new record (the lowest maximum temperature for this time of year, set back in 1911). Brrr!

Today I wrote a list of things that I hate about Twitter and then deleted it. There was no need to bore you with it, especially not when the gist was so simple. What it boiled down to was that Twitter brings out the worst in me while also negating some of my greatest strengths and taking up too much of my time. The same thing was true of Facebook, so I gave it up, except for the occasional check-ins to keep up with our local school community. It’s time to give up Twitter, too, or at least restrict my usage. I want to take what’s good about Twitter with me, though, and here are some thoughts on that matter.

• I like knowing what’s going on in the world, but I can get most of my news from the newspaper.
• I’ll miss having an easy way to stay in touch with friends, but I’d rather talk face-to-face or on the phone with my friends and family more often and make new friends in the real world.
• Twitter has broadened my perspective. I like listening to voices that are unlike my own and hearing stories that teach me about other cultures and ways of looking at life. Some of voices I’ve enjoyed the most on Twitter are from people whose work is published elsewhere. I will listen for their voices outside of Twitter.
• I am an opinionated person, and I like to write about my opinions. If I’m going to spend my time that way, I might as well do it right and either post my thoughts here or submit my writing for publication. Sure, actual publication would offer a scary number of opportunities for making an ass of myself, but most of the good things in life come with risk. At least in publication I’d have an editor, and if I ever got myself into hot water, I could blame them. That’s what they’re for 😉

If no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor.

Neil Simon

I recently read the opening chapter of a science fiction novel in high spirits. It was all about a crazy fictional author, and I couldn’t wait to read about his wild adventures. Only I realized by the end of the “chapter” that it was actually an introduction written by somebody else, and the “crazy fictional author” was actually the real author of the rest of the book. I didn’t even want to read the rest of the book after that, but I forced myself to give the first few paragraphs a try. They were awful by comparison. Such disappointment I have not felt in a long time, and I returned the book to the library unread. On the bright side, the guy who wrote the introduction is also an author, so I can add his name to my list of authors to read someday.