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What’s Good in Tater Town 8/11/19

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It was not the best of weeks. Way too much stuff stressing me out. You can read my rant about some of it here. Let’s see how much good I can find.

  1. I went to two different branches on Tuesday afternoon to see friends. I was seeing them because they are leaving, but it was still good to get to see them and other friends.
  2. I had a meeting near one of those branches Wednesday afternoon so I walked over after and had leftover dessert from the party.
  3. A storm delayed my departure so I got to spend a little more time talking to friends I no longer see every day.
  4. We went to food truck night Thursday night. I love food truck night.
  5. I went to see Once Upon A Time in Hollywood Friday morning and had $5 off food from AMC to use while I was there.
  6. I stopped at 7-11 on the way home to get my free Slurpee I had on the app.
  7. The meme I made for social media at work was somewhat successful yesterday.

I think that’s all the good I can find this week. It was more than I expected.

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They are All in a Snow Globe

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This one came up in my memories today. There is news now that they want to crossover the new FBI franchise with SVU even though they are on different networks. That will add another TV universe to the snow globe.

The World's Common Tater

I saw an article yesterday that a character from the canceled Chicago Justice television show will move to Law and Order SVU. I knew that the Chicago Fire universe had already crossed over in to the Law and Order universe. This was just a reminder and made me think about how many shows are now connected.

Chicago Fire, PD and Med are all obviously connected, so that means they are all in the same universe as the Law and Order shows. Law and Order is connected to Homicide Life on the Streets via the character of John Munch.  When Homicide ended, the character moved over to the Law and Order universe. So, now we have connected the Chicago shows to Law and Order and Homicide. Munch ties them in to a lot of other shows. He was everywhere. He appeared in one episode of the X-Files, an episode of The…

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My Week in Books, Movies and TV 8/9/19

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It was back to a somewhat normal week. My daughter came home on Friday. My wife came home on Sunday. I finished a couple of books, but they were books I had already started. Other events of the week did not make for a calm enough mind to sit and read. I did watch a lot though.

Movies – I watched one of the four movies I had from the library. My son came home Sunday specifically to watch Shazam with us. We all really liked the movie. It was nice to have a light, funny DC movie for a change. They did a good job with it. Zachary Levi was great as Shazam. Mark Strong was a good villain. Jack Dylan Grazer was really good as the best friend of the kid who became Shazam. A good cast and a good script make for a good movie.

TV – We watched the second season of Derry Girls last weekend. It is a very funny show. If you haven’t watched it yet, do it this weekend. It’s easy to binge. Two six-episode seasons and each episode is only 25 minutes or so. You can watch the entire run without a break. It’s one of the funniest shows I’ve watched in a long time. While my daughter was at a wedding I started watching Friday Night Lights.  I knew it was supposed to be a good show, but I never got to it while it was on Netflix. It is on Prime, so I decided to give it a shot. I watched six episodes while she was gone. I have not watched more mainly because I haven’t had the time home alone. I did really like it, but there are a lot of episodes and the new fall season is starting soon, so it might take me a while to get to the rest. If you have the time and like football/high school drama I would recommend it.

Books – I finished four books this week.

Neon Prey by John Sandford – I started listening to it because the CD was at the library where I work. I hated the reader. I stopped at my local library to pick up a movie and the had a print copy available in their 7-day collection(I love this idea. New releases available for a one-week checkout with no holds). I then alternated between the audio and the print. I generally like the Lucas Davenport books. This one was OK, but not my favorite. I’m not sure if it was the story or the reader that made me like it less than the others.

All the Days Past, All the Days to Come by Mildred Taylor – This is the last book in the Logan family series that started with Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry. The Logan kids are now adults. The story covers WWII to the early 60’s with the now adult Logan kids moving north and still dealing with racism. I enjoyed it. It is a very good look at historic civil rights events through the eyes of the Logans. It was a little long and a lot of time was spent on Cassie’s first love story. I felt like that could have been trimmed down quite a bit. I would recommend it though.

Short and Skinny by Mark Tatulli – a middle-grade graphic memoir about the author’s time as a short and skinny middle schooler. It was a nice, quick read and perfect for upper elementary and middle schoolers.

I Was Their American Dream by Malaka Gharib –  A memoir about growing up the daughter of a mother from the Philippines and a dad from Egypt and figuring out who you are. I probably would have liked it a lot more if I had not read it when I was stressed out and angry. It’s probably not a good idea to try to read a book in that mood. I should read it again.

On Deck – At some point this weekend I will watch Detective Pikachu with my kids. We might force my daughter to watch Top Gun tonight since she’s never seen it. I plan to go see Once Upon a Time in Hollywood this morning. I will watch BH90210 this afternoon while others are out shopping. We need to finish watching Flash and Deadly Class before my daughter goes back to school soon. I’m reading Raised in Captivity by Chuck Klosterman and then I need to get to reading my books for my work and personal book clubs.

 

Life After Rant

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It’s only been a day or so since I posted my rant so, obviously, there has not been a major change. Assholes are still assholes doing asshole things. It felt good to get the rant down and I meant it when I said I’m done. Post-rant, though, is hard.

I can say I’m calling people out regardless of consequences, but when those consequences affect other people I can’t be so cavalier in how I deal with the issues. It’s also hard when you know the people causing the issues don’t care and also the people who could and so something about the issues don’t care. It’s easy to get back to that point where you think “What’s the point. No one cares anyway” I’m going to keep working on avoiding that mindset. Change takes action and courage. I’m working on that.

I did unfriend someone else on Facebook who posts after every mass shooting that it is a false flag operation. I can’t be associated with someone who is so obsessed with keeping their guns that they refuse to admit mass shootings actually happen. I’m sure there are some people I unfollowed, but didn’t unfriend, who are posting horrible stuff. I can’t bring myself to look.

In general, after the rant, I am still stressed, angry and depressed. It’s hard to sit down and read, write or do anything else that takes much focus. It’s been hard to not just want to hide from the world instead of standing up to the bullies and narcissists. I’m a work in progress. Hopefully, I will get there.

I’m Done: A Tater Rant

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I had a nice long rant in my head in my car today. It won’t be nearly as good now that I’ve had time to decompress. I still feel the need for the rant.

There will be profanity so I will start there. I’m sick and fucking tired of people clutching their pearls over the language people use. Kids are in cages, people are being killed on a daily basis, things are terrible and people are worried about the people saying fuck? The worst case of this? When Marco Rubio tweeted about how terrible it was that they didn’t bleep the word fuck on TV in a story about a mass shooting. Apparently, using the word fuck is more of a sign of the loss of decency than mass murder. Gotcha. If this offends you then go the fuck away. I’m fucking done with pretending I’m not going to say fuck. A lot.

I’m also done with self-centered assholes who are either oblivious or apathetic to how their actions affect other people. I’m tired of pretending it’s not a problem and dealing with the fallout. I’m done with the pretending and being miserable. If you are an asshole and doing asshole things that make life hard on others I will call you out. I don’t care about the consequences. I’m done with letting the fucking assholes rule the world. I would rather suffer whatever consequences there are than stand quietly by while people walk all over others.

I’m done with people who post racist shit on Facebook and get mad when people don’t like it. I’ve already unfriended a few people and that will continue. I don’t care who you are. I’m not going to be connected to you if you are a racist asshole. I’m especially done with the people who alternate between the “I’m such a good Christian” posts and “Racist shit” posts. You can’t be both. It doesn’t work that way. At least not the way I read it in the Bible. The sad thing is that these racists probably think they are a better person than me because I used the word fuck multiple times. See above re Marco Rubio.

I’m tired of mass shooting after mass shooting followed by assholes who care more about guns than they do about people crying about the 2nd amendment. Amazingly, many of these same people claim to be pro-life. Apparently, that only applies until you are born and then no one cares anymore. Once you are born your life is less important than gun ownership. It’s also less important than people’s hate for people who don’t look like them. Pro-life is not really pro-life. It’s pro-birth and then you are on your own. I’m fucking done with people like this.

I’m done with people who say they are Christians and fully support a president who foments hate against others. A president who has cheated on wives multiple times. A president who bragged about sexual assault. A president who encourages racism because it excites his base. You might worship power, not God.

I’m done with pretending to be something I’m not because it’s easier than dealing with how people feel about the real me. If you can’t deal with this leave now. Unfriend me on Facebook. Unfollow me on Twitter. Stay away from me in real life. Brace yourselves. Tater’s mad and he’s not going to take it anymore.

Unsettled

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I’ve had a series of unsettling dreams lately making for mornings with an unsettled mind. Most of the time, I forget the details of the dream before I am coherent enough to make note of what the dream was about. A couple I do remember:

A Pet Sematary inspired dream where all the people around me had changed into Pet Sematary type people.

Me promising to resign from my job because they won’t let me hire the person I want for my vacant position and realizing they probably wanted that to happen.

The rest I can’t remember at all. I just remember waking up and feeling stressed and unsettled. Some ideas on what is causing the stress:

The first person I hired as a new supervisor resigned and moved to Florida. I lost a friend and employee, work is harder because we are short-staffed and I will have to hire someone new soon. As you can see from the above dream I seem to be more concerned about being allowed to hire who I want.

I have applied to two different jobs. One a promotion at my current place of employment and one a position at a different place. I think the stress of possible upcoming interviews has started seeping in.

A paranoid thought yesterday brought on by an email that made me think that perhaps I can’t trust people I thought I could trust.

My daughter going back to school soon leaving me once again with hours alone to fill.

My son getting close to starting his first real job after college and considering where to go to grad school.

A lot of little things adding up to my mind obviously being unsettled and affecting my dreams.

Monday Morning in the Shadow of Hate

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I’m watching The Today Show until it is time to get ready to go to work. I’m watching the coverage of the shootings while contemplating what to write. Most of my thoughts are about the shootings, the response, and the coverage. I’m not sure what else I can say and if anything I say will matter. What do I write after 24 hours of hate-filled violence?  I don’t feel like it would be honest to just ignore it and write some other random post since the shootings and the response are what is occupying my mind. So, here are a couple of thoughts I’ve had this morning.

I saw the tweets from Trump this morning in response. He does say that it is time for legislation but then follows it up by saying they should marry it with immigration reform. So, our president’s response to a bunch of hate-filled white guys killing people is to say that we should change our immigration laws? How the fuck will immigration laws fix white nationalist terrorism? Does he think the fix is to reduce the number of brown people so the white nationalists will be happier and, thus, stop killing people?  Is he just using the deaths of these people as a tool to get his agenda passed? I will give you the needed gun control if you give me my immigration reform? I guess that isn’t a shock. That’s politics as usual. No one in Washington cares about anything but their agenda and their reelection.

I’ve also heard several people on TV and one post on Facebook blaming video games, movies, and rap music.  This is also nothing new. People said some of the music I listened to in high school was evil and leading to moral decay. I would go to my church in small-town Kentucky and hear guest speakers talk about the Satanic influences in rock music. I’ve seen people pick something new in every generation that is the cause of the bad things in the world/ Somehow, they still can’t bring themselves to blame guns for gun violence.  Everything else is at fault – music, movies, video games, no formal prayer in school, etc. – but don’t you dare blame easy access to instruments of war. That’s just crazy talk.

So, today I head out to my job in a public building, my daughter heads out to her job in a public building and my wife goes out to a shopping center on her day off with the hope that we all make it home safely. The fear that we will be shot while doing these things should not be the norm.

What’s Good in Tater Town 8/4/19

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In the wake of two mass shootings in 24 hours, I thought about skipping what’s good this week. I thought about skipping it and writing my thoughts on more mass shootings, but, unfortunately, I’ve written about it too many times here, here, here, here and probably more I can’t even remember right now. What more can I say? Will it even matter? Even if more than 20 people read this would anyone care? It’s obvious that the people that matter don’t care about the lives that are lost in these events.  So, I decided that maybe the best thing to do is to go ahead with a what’s good post. I could use some good this morning.

It was a different week than I expected to have. We found out Saturday that my MIL was in the hospital. Sunday morning my wife and daughter decided to head to Kentucky to be with her. I ended up with another week alone and rarely left the house after work. I guess the lack of interaction with the world can be a good thing.

  1. I had brunch with friends Sunday morning. The brunch was a goodbye brunch, so it was sad as well, but it was good to go out and have fun with friends. Also, there was a bottomless mimosa bar.
  2. My wife and daughter made it to Kentucky safely.
  3. I had a nice note and a gift on my desk on Tuesday morning.
  4. My MIL was released from the hospital on Thursday.
  5. My daughter made it home safely on Friday.
  6. I am getting a second full-time employee at work. That will make my life easier.
  7. I had a full weekend off this weekend.
  8. We spent the day yesterday watching all 6 episodes of Season 2 of Derry Girls.
  9. It was “donate water and get a free sandwich” day yesterday at Firehouse Subs.
  10. The Braves lead is still 7 games in the NL East.

Hopefully, we are back to a regular week this week with no one in the hospital and everyone home.

Exploring Career Options

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Another Saturday rerun. This one is from a year ago today. Still contemplating these careers.

The World's Common Tater

I am contemplating my next step in life and exploring career options. Below are some careers where I think I might at least get a call back for an interview. It’s still iffy as I don’t seem to have marketable skills.

  1. The guy who scoops up roadkill – Bonuses: Outside work, multiple interesting lunch options, always a need for the position.
  2. Shoveling elephant poop at the zoo – Circus is no longer an option as they have retired the elephants. Too bad. I always wanted to run away with the circus. I might have if it wasn’t for all the damn clowns.
  3. Flagger Force – Outside work, but too much responsibility. Daydream too much and you might cause an accident. I’m not ready for that level of accountability.
  4. Spinning ad signs on the side of the road – Too clumsy and no rhythm. I would fail at this job.
  5. Putting…

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My Week in Books, Movies and TV 8/2/19

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I can’t believe that date I just typed is an August date. What happened to summer? I did not read nearly as much this summer as I usually do.

The week as a different week than expected. We got a call Saturday that my MIL was in the hospital. My wife and daughter headed to Kentucky Sunday morning and have been gone all week. You would think that would increase my reading and watching, but all it did was increase my time sleeping on the couch. Here’s what I did manage to read and watch.

Movies – I did get lucky with this one. My family told me they would not watch Pet Sematary with me. It came in while they were away so I watched it last night. I had to fight falling asleep during the movie. I have not slept well when I’m actually supposed to be sleeping this week. I managed to stay awake and thought that it was one of the better Stephen King adaptations. I don’t remember the original movie, so I can’t say how it compares. I like that it was nice and short and they didn’t try to add a lot to the story to stretch it out. I like that there was no Hollywood contrived happy ending. I would recommend it.

TV – It was a very bad TV week. I watched the Lifetime adaptation of VC Andrew’s Heaven Sunday night. I loved the books when I was younger. My expectations were low for a Lifetime movie. They should have been ower. It was bad. Real bad. I will still watch the next in the series. I was looking for a funny show to watch Monday night. I asked friends on Facebook for recommendations and then ignored them all and watched a random show. It was Catastrophe on Amazon. The premise is a guy has a one week stand with a woman he meets while on business in London. She calls after he’s home to tell him she’s pregnant. He moves to London to be with her. It was funny. I liked it. I’m not sure if  I will watch more. I can’t say why. I just never feel the need to start it up again. I watched Beat Shazam and played along as always. This time I actually did well and beat all of the teams except the one that won. I was very proud of myself. I watched(and dozed during) the two nights of debates. I think it’s time for all but around six of the candidates to drop out.

Books – I finally finished Wanderers by Chuck Wendig. It is almost 800 pages long. It starts with a young girl who starts sleepwalking away from her house, Her sister can’t ae her up. She keeps walking and is soon joined by others. The book is about the CDC trying to figure out why while a white supremacist group decides to use them as a tool to spread a message of hate. You actually find out the why halfway through the book. I liked the writing. I liked the characters. The story was compelling, I liked it up to the end. I hated the ending. It’s a bummer to read almost 800 pages, like most of what you’ve read and then hate the ending. I should sue!

On Deck – I still have Shazam. I’m not sure how we are going to watch it with everyone in different places and getting home at different times. I might need to get my son to come home Sunday to watch with me and then have my wife watch alone after she returns from Kentucky. I have more movies(Alita: Battle Angel, Missing Link, Cell) but I’m not sure I will get a chance to watch them. Dear White People and Derry Girls both have new seasons on Netflix today I know what I will be watching on TV this week. I should finish reading Neon Prey by John Sandford and All the Days Past, All the Days to Come by Mildred Taylor this week.