Squalls out on the gulf stream, big storm’s coming soon
I passed out in my hammock… and God, I slept till way past noon
Stood up and tried to focus, I hoped I wouldn’t have to look far
I knew I could use a Bloody Mary, so I stumbled next door to the bar

~Jimmy Buffett: Tryin to Reason with Hurricane Season, 1974

Here’s where I’m supposed to write a really funny story or two with a really sad life lesson that I learned long ago and have waited until this moment to share. Well, somebody’s gonna have to fix it in post because I ain’t gots nuthin. I’m eating candy corn while the dog steals snotty kleenexes from the nightstand and shreds them in the middle of the bed (This is how the Plague started, I’m sure. The candy corn, they didn’t have kleenex)

There’s something about this Sunday, it’s a most peculiar gray
Strollin’ down the avenue that’s known as A1A
Feelin’ tired then I got inspired, I knew that it wouldn’t last long
So all alone I walked back home sat on my beach and then I made up this song

Relationships are hard, yo. If they last longer than a season of The Bachelor then that just increases the difficulty level. Get married and add kids into the family and blam, some next level shit. Now extend things out through time. Ten years, fifteen, twenty. Twenty five. More. Imagine that.

25 years ago (give or take a week or so), Apple introduced its first laptop, the 16 pound Macbook Anchor. 25 years ago, Jerry Jones purchased the Dallas Cowboys and unceremoniously fired one of the greatest coaches the league will ever know. 25 years ago the Jackson 5 officially disbanded, and Michael was named the ‘King of Pop.’

(I just deleted a paragraph comparing the original Apple laptop to marriage, cuz aw hell naw it was heading nowhere good and fast)

So what I’m saying is it’s hard to make things work, to build each other up, to carry on in the face of bullshit, to keep smiling. I heartily applaud people who have done this, against the odds, against the world really. There are times when the world seems to want things to turn out badly, almost like cheering for the villain at a movie (Vader is still one of the most popular and recognized SW characters in spite of the whole genocide psychopath galaxy domination thing he had going for him).

I had a chance encounter with an old friend almost four years ago (on Facebook, of course) that very quickly turned badly for me, initially and then through me, bad for my family. Primary reason is I am a dumbass who never deserved to get to the point of even having such a wonderful family and I was too easily swayed by pretty words and dirty jokes; however the other person clearly followed their own agenda and was taking me down for how much I hurt them many years before. So after more than a year of truly messed-up mind-fuckery the shit sort of floats to the top and I awake to realize just how badly I was being played and decided it was time to step away from the shitstorm and focus on myself for a while, focus on getting my strength back and determining where to put my time and energy. I deserve a razzie for how craptastic the previous sentence turned out.

Oh, but life isn’t quite done, it keeps throwing everything from spitballs to lightning bolts my direction. Many irons in the fire. Nothing is certain. And the other person isn’t finished, they stop by and read here several times daily to see just how far down my life will go, probably doing a little dance every time I lower myself to ranting like this. I mean, you paid for the horror movie, might as well watch it to the end, right? Y’all wave, they deserve a Hee-Haw type of “Salute!”

And now I must confess, I could use some rest
I can’t run at this pace very long
Yes, it’s quite insane, I think it hurts my brain
But it cleans me out, and then I can go on.
Yes it cleans me out, and then I can go on.