For my day of advancing calendars…

My Week

Hello all. I don’t really have anything to share this week earth-shaking, but I thought I’d tell you about my week and a couple of my coworkers. I think we get so caught up in the waking nightmare that we see on the news each day that we forget to look at the life that just keeps on going on.

First, we have young Anthony. Anthony (Never “Tony”!) came to us recently out of prison. He had nothing but a string of disappointments and a fervent hope to somehow restart his life. He was so proud of each of his accomplishments that I was grinning like his daddy all proud for him! Of course, the first thing he got himself was a baby.

I shook my head wondering how he could manage to dig his hole deeper, but he loves that baby so much. In time, he bought a car that wasn’t worth the cost of the license plate, but he was walking with a pushed out chest – until it quite literally fell apart on him. But he bought a truck, and he looked upon life like a mountain climber, grinning at each up-hill stride – until his grandfather died this week and this grown man-child cried in my arms.

Then we have Zack. Zack had gotten himself mixed in with someone I’d wished he hadn’t. Despite being a young 18-year old, I couldn’t tell him what to do. He’d need to learn these lessons like we all do, one heart-ache at a time, and that has come true for him.

He finally realized that particular someone that he put so much faith in and followed around like a puppy was not the person he made people believe him to be: he wasn’t particularly cool, wasn’t hip, wasn’t wise, – just mostly a middle-aged negative minded overgrown juvenile delinquent – and Zack finally saw who was behind the image. Now he eats his lunch alone and works his machine with his head down. I can see he’s lonely, so I check in on him a couple times a day, sad that he’s feeling that pain but proud that he’s realized the truth.

Too many times I’ve focused on those things that went wrong, losing myself in criticism and frustration. I’d miss these little moments in some misguided hope that I could bring perfection to the shift, to the business, and somehow it would all be right in the end.

But life is messy and so much of that mess is my own. People fail, frustratingly so, but they also succeed. I wish I was wise enough to focus solely on those good moments and walk through the dark valleys with that sunshine in my eyes. Those two young men had their own share of mistakes this week, one of them quite costly, but I had an opportunity today to see a peek behind the curtains and the life not always for public consumption and it reminded me that there is a whole lot to life.

Did drumpf just threaten someone for using their 1st Amendment?

Trump bashed the Boss — once known as the “embodiment of rock & roll” — due to Springsteen’s criticism of the drumpf administration.

“I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States,” Trump wrote. “Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he’s not a talented guy.”

Trump went on to accuse Springsteen of being a “pushy, obnoxious JERK” and “dumb as a rock” for having previously supported President Joe Biden, before attacking Springsteen’s appearance.

“This dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country,” the president wrote, adding, “Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!”

That, to me, sounded like a threat! It sounded like the President of the United States just threatened a citizen because he exercised his 1st Amendment Right to Free Speech. I mean, I’m surprised he didn’t say “Nice guitar you gots there. Shame should somthin’ happen to it”.

Hey! Isn’t that Illegal?

Management at a Kid Rock-themed restaurant and bar in Nashville reportedly rushed non-citizen employees off the premises during the weekend over fears of an impending ICE raid.

Hey, isn’t it illegal to hire people who you know are not legal to work in the United States? Why, that’s a crime!

During the busy Saturday service, non-citizen employees at three restaurants owned by Nashville businessman Steve Smith were told to leave, including Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse.

Hey, didn’t someone just arrest a judge for not turning over non-citizens to ICE?

“We were already understaffed because of the ICE raids throughout the weekend,” an employee at one restaurant told the outlet. “Then, around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, our manager came back and told anyone without legal status to go home.”

I mean, it’s almost like they don’t mind breaking the law whenever it suits them. Who would ever have thought it?

Did you ever get the feeling that this whole immigration issue is nothing more than a bullshit issue used to divide us? Asking for a friend.

Some Memes Special to Me.

Hope you enjoy these for your own reasons. Hugs. Randy

Restrained Emotions

Good Evening, Playtime Folks! I’ve been a bit over-busy these past many days and out of town on the days I wasn’t busy. Makes for a difficult time writing. But, I’d like to share some thoughts with you, if you don’t mind. See, I try to have a positive outlook, but I also try to be a realist, and sometimes I just feel like ‘what’s the damn point’. I just try to keep it to myself for a bit, go one with the day, and so I’m often slow with a response to a news item. Other times I realize, despite my unwillingness to open myself to the wrongness of the event, I have to speak on it if for no more reason than to keep myself sane – ish.

I love music. There have been times in my life where all I had was the comfort that a favorite song could bring me. I’ve never been much for making music. I can’t sing, and you truly don’t want me to prove that, but when no one can hear me I try to let out the hurt, the loneliness, to feel the sunshine and the aural hug. To hear the sorrow, the joy, the heart-bared vulnerability and intimacy that music can share and can bring out of us occasionally overwhelms me.

When dummkopf drumpf made himself chair of the Kennedy Center, when he turned an organization dedicated to performances of art and poetry, of creation and majesty, he did more than tarnish, he cheapened it. The Kennedy Honors are meant to magnify great devotion to craft, to exemplify great performances, to be about the best things of us as a species – and now it is cheapened. That has made me sadder than I know how to express.

The Fall

Growing up, my father had a number of sayings that I did not always appreciate. One that sticks with me to this day is when he saw me waxing my first car. Admittedly, it wasn’t a great car, but it was mine!, and I was proud to have it. So there I was, rubbing away at it like a bum on the beach caressing a dented lamp hoping a Genie would pop out and make it a Mustang or something, and I saw him, leaning against the wall watching me use up his good wax and I grinned at him. “You know, son, there’s only so much you can polish a turd,” he said, then walked away as my grin fell.

Value is subjective, determined by the amount of life we deem it to be worthy. One of the most dangerous things you can do is stand between a man and what he believes worth everything for he will destroy anything to protect it.

The second most dangerous thing one can do is to overvalue something, for you will willingly destroy yourself and everything you love less in the pursuit of that item. This is the fall of Mike Lindell, Michael Cohen, Rudi Giuliani, and so many others. Obsessed with a conman and addicted to the koolaid, they laid prostrate upon the dark alter of Trump and sacrificed their wealth, career, future, loved ones, and perhaps their very soul for that which is objectively corrupt, offensive and untrue.

It is interesting to me to watch the fall of another who thought he could ride the corrupt lies to greatness only to find them as corrosive to ‘friend’ as to ‘foe’. Elon, once the wealthiest of businessmen, began his downfall by attempting to stifle the decency within Twitter in service to his Lord drumpf. He then used his platform to lie and cheat for a conman, buying his presidency and drinking the koolaid as fast as drumpf could make it.

I couldn’t understand why this man, wealthier than many countries, would put all he was and could be on the line like that. A man known for his advances in science and conservation placed himself within the nuclear blast zone of someone who denies science, flaunts his own ideas over those of experts, who embraces ignorance and self aggrandizement, and who denies conservation care for the environment. What drives people like these to destroy themselves? What hold does that Svengali have on them?

In all fairness, I don’t think I need to shed a tear for Elon. He is a big boy and will just have to suffer the consequences of his self-immolation. It is the curiosity of seeing it happen live, to see the startling half-realization that hate has consequences and seeking the shiney value, the loud and obnoxious clown above all that has real value, has begun his destruction. I can’t help but to wonder where he will wash up.

Hate is a Horrible Word

Good-Day Playtime folks!! Not sure how I felt about being back to work today. I often do enjoy my job. I enjoy finding the solution to problems, working with people that are, quite frankly, smarter than I and coming to an understanding of an issue and seeking a solution. I enjoy the creative process of fabrication. What begins a draft on paper ending as a usable and well made product is often magical, in my mind. Ok, I’m a cheap date, I get it.

Many of the people I work with are very much drumpf lovers. I am well known to be not so enamored. In fact, if you asked me, I’d say I hate the guy…. but no, that’s not a fair word. I hate what he’s done. I hate what we’ve become because of this one …. person. Other presidents spoke on Hope and Change, a Shining City on a Hill, Camelot, A Thousand Shining Lights. Drumpf told me I would get to the point where I was tired of winning. I’m there! I lost Camelot. I can’t see the Shining City. Camelot is gone. I am hoping for a change…. But, I don’t hate the man. I was raised better…. ironically by people who are now enamored with the guy. Nonetheless, I don’t hate because I’m better than that. Still, I so hate what he’s done to us.

As I write this I am reminded of a person we had working at the shop who was my senior. He talked a great game, seemed able to manipulate people with ease, was divisive, derisive, abusive even. Somehow I thought he was good for the company despite his faults, despite the internal red flags waving so hard that I just talked myself out of recognizing for what they, for what HE was! In the end, he cost us two big customers, our reputation, and millions of dollars (remember, small business!) We are rebuilding, hoping we survive the cost of his devastating sabotage. I feel foolish for believing this guy. I feel foolish because I KNEW he was a snake, and I FELL FOR IT! I cannot tell you how embarrassed and hurt I am from this asshole.

Remember who you are and please Hold On To Hope as we weather this particular shit storm for this too shall pass and we – as a country, as communities, as families and as individuals – we will have quite the mess to clean up. We will need strong, mature and smart people who can not only speak in complete sentences but who are invested in rebuilding and success. And, just like that snake that I once worked with, we will need to learn from this and NEVER let it happen again. Hugs. Randy