Lost in the Tax Swamplands

It's full on here.

Two weeks and a day to go, but what a two weeks and a day!

The brain space for columns and creativity is being soaked up by the balancing of numbers, the searching of forms and information, the divining of hieroglyphically composed trails, the triage decisions of what can be completed and what can't.

Exciting times.

Well, not really,  But there are times when it makes it difficult to think creatively.

And somehow I have to get my lines to the play I'm in (Dearly Beloved - it's going to be great - watch this space for details) by next Monday.  Oy!

And I need to get in gear to help plan the Studio part of the Steve Bean Arts Festival.  Oy Oy!

And I have neighbors who are going to start looking at my lawn, wondering how long I can go without doing something.  Oy Oy Oy!

And I'm sitting on a completed manuscript, and another novel  (or more precisely, a collection of short stories) that is about two thirds done.

Meanwhile, Indiana has gone mad.  I am trying to gather enough thoughts about that to make a coherent column.

And I'm still trying to get over that fish I ate Sunday.  I am so not a fish eater.  Oh, well. I tried.  I will have to get my good cholesterol some other way.

Oh, Good Lord.  I'm already out of time.  Time to make the 1040s.

go...Go...GO Spartys!...and Other Monday Musings

#7 seed Michigan State Spartans celebrate their victory over Louisville, and their trip to the Final Four!

Oh, yeah!  Sparty's in the Final Four!  The only seed left that is not a Number One!  Coach Izzo sure knows how to get his team to peak at the right time!

It's true I'm a Wolverine, born and bred, an alumni yes indeed.  But I when it comes to Spartan basketball, I can't help but be a fan.  And it's not just because it's another home state team.

It's my Dad.

It's the one sport and team he kept watching.  He watched them faithfully, whenever he could, even more than he did the Detroit Tigers those last few years.  When I think of the Spartans I think of my Dad, and our phone conversations where we discussed the team and how it had been doing.  I kept up with them, with great joy in my heart, loving to share their exploits with him.

 I wish I could call him about this.  I wish I could share it with him.  I know that he would love it.

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We took a short road trip to Douglas Saturday.  It was nice to get out of town for a few hours.  I don't get out of town much this time of year. 

It was not so nice to get a speeding ticket on my way there.  I just wasn't paying attention, not looking at my speed at all.  I wasn't passing cars or gaining on cars, and was not looking at the speedometer.  Apparently, though, there was a policeman who was.  I get a ticket about once every ten to twelve years, and I guess it was time.

They have an excellent bakery there, called Holt's, and I overindulged there...twice...and brought even more home.  Consequently, this weekend was a weight loss disaster.  Oh, well.  Back to the drawing board.

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Recent health wellness tests showed that both Alison and myself are deficient in what they call "good cholesterol" .  They recommended we eat more fish.

Fish.  Neither Alison and I are fish eaters.  But once in a while, as about as often as I get a speeding ticket, we give fish a valiant try.

So we got some wild caught cod from Kroger.  Alison cooked it last night, using a light breading and some Chesapeake Bay Seasoning.  This was about the most mild fish you could get.

Eating it at the time, the major impression I got was that the seasoning was too hot and spicy.  About an hour later came the horrible after taste, heartburn, nausea, and awful burps.  These have persisted through this morning.  I just want to wash the taste the away with a giant sausage and cheese biscuit.  

Alison feels the same way.  Sigh.  We are just not fish eaters, no matter how hard we try.  Benjamin, on the other hand, thought it tasted great and went for seconds and thirds.  Poor Benjamin.  Not many fish eating opportunities in our family.

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I attended our first Writer's Workshop for an hour or so.  It was sponsored by our Writer's Guild.  I had to leave early, but what I saw was interesting.  I used caution  because I have very thin skin and direct criticism can sting, but I know I have to do what I can to be open.

I think it's one of the reasons, even though I have a completed novel, that I just sit on it.  I know what I'm in for if I try to shop it.  The conceit is that tax season is interfering with polishing and promotion, but I guess we'll see if that's true in another two and a half weeks.

Until next time,

T. M. Strait

War without Justification: Saturday Political Sop Box 105

Sorry.  Sorry. Sorry.

Usually don't start with memes from the internet.  But this one engendered such a reaction on The Facebook Machine when I posted it, I felt I needed to make some important points about it.

Some thought I was just being amusing attacking the great and mighty Bush/Cheney.  I guess they still thought the Iraq War was a great and glorious and justified action.

Some thought the war was simply poorly executed and that we should have just gone harder, longer and with greater, I don't know...viciousness.

Some blamed Democrats as well, for this and other foreign policy/military failures.  A pox on both their houses!  As if these people had just appeared by magic and the American Electorate had nothing to do with it.

Let me first clarify where I am coming from.  I am not a pacifist.  I am not an isolationist.  And despite what many may think, I am not a Democrat (I am a Warren/Sanders progressive).

I am an internationalist who believes in the careful and judicious use of force used only when necessary.  I believe in diplomacy first, second and third.  But there are times, when in the interest of humanity (genocides and invasions) or in defense of the best strategic interests of the United States, that some military involvement may be necessary.

When 9/11 happened, as much as I despised Bush II, I thought maybe he would get the job done.  He wasn't a great thinker, but he was often single minded in what he wanted done.  He had just pursed drastic tax cuts to the wealthy, shifting his logic constantly to fit changing economic circumstances, like a dog with a bone that he would not let go of until his buddies who helped got him elected were rewarded.  I thought, well, at least he would use that same focused vigor to get Bin Laden and Al Queda.

I was wrong.

After an intense start, that I did not entirely disagree with, it suddenly shifted for the worst when we had Bin Laden cornered at Tora Bora in December of 2001, and we inexplicably stopped and let him go.  I was stunned.  It was not at all what I expected from Bush II.

Further surprises were in store, as he stated it wasn't all that important to him as to whether we got Bin Laden or not.  Suddenly, the conversation shifted to Iraq and Saddam Hussein, who was far from a saint, but who had nothing to do with 9/11.  He may have had weapons of destruction.  How do we know this?  Because Cheney told us so.  The fact that he was LYING to us was apparently something we were supposed to just overlook.

The cold fact is that the Iraq invasion was chosen to further the interests of OIL and corporations.  There were some neocon thought that Iraq could be turned into a laboratory to prove the value of extreme right wing economic philosophy, imposing corporate control disguised as free market capitalism.  The attempted imposition of this was one of the biggest failures in American history.

9/11 was not the reason we went into the Iraq War.  It was the cover.  It was the excuse used by Cheney and Rumsfeld to do something that they had wanted to do anyways.  The Iraq War did not begin with 9/11.  It began with a secret meeting of Cheney and energy industry insiders, plotting out the course of new oil pipelines.

Our soldiers fought bravely, valiantly.  They deserve all the credit and praise in the world.  The National Guard was used in a way that was never intended ( and Bush II should know that - it's where he hid out to avoid the Vietnam War).  The vets that have come back needed our support, our kindness, and yes, lots of resources and help.  Both parties have failed to live up to taking care of them.

Foreign policy is not a zero sum game.  The globe's inter-connectivity is increasing exponentially, and isolationism is no longer a valid response.  Every action we take has consequences that lead to other things.  Even well-intentioned actions can lead to negative consequences down the road.  But inaction leads to negative results as well.  We have to act, particularly diplomatically.

Our leaders have tough decisions to make.  We can pray that we do the right thing, and that when their actions are reasonable and just, we support them.

Have Democrats done the wrong things sometimes?  Sure.  Yes, it's true.  Both sides have.  But nothing that equals the strategic and immoral blunder of the Iraq War.  That is in a class by itself.   There have been individual atrocities and manipulations before, but I still rank this one the tops.  We will be paying for it for decades to come.

Yes, let's get involved.

But let's do it for humanitarian reasons.  Let's do it to defend this country and our NATIONAL interests.

Let's never do it again to promote CORPORATE interests.  Let's never be LIED into a war again.  Let's never do it to promote some half baked neocon theory about free market capitalism.

And let's put Cheney and his lying cronies where they belong....

...in prison.

Rock of Days

Yes, the days slowly rock on forward towards the end of another tax season.

The changes will not be too remarkable, but I will get my Fridays back.  And hopefully, my ability to fictionate will return.  Woohoo!

But there are still about twenty days left.  Right now, the light at the end of the tunnel is just the distant flicker of a tiny match.  Oh, well.  At least that is better than the seemingly endless pitch black.

But what do I have to look forward until then?

Constant reminders of this:

Spring break belly flop.  Sorry for the blur - trying to enlarge it enough to see.  I may replace it if I get time later.  Then if I leave this note on here, it won't make any sense.

Oh, yeah!  It's Spring Break, baby!  something that I will be reminded of AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN , OVER and OVER and OVER again, constantly in person and in social media.

And do you know what?

THERE IS NO SPRING BREAK IN ACCOUNTING!!!

Especially in CPA firms that do taxes.

So I have to constantly see people sharing their joyous chunks of time off, as I sit in my office that feels increasingly like a prison, and realize that I am not a part of it, and may never be until I am fully retired from accounting.

Both Alison and Benjamin have the next week off.  I would love to be at home with them, go on little excursions with them, read the dozens of books I have waited to read, write a storm, watch all the latest movies (except Do You Believe? - please, don't get me started).  Heck, just sit on our screened in porch, drinking java with Alison.

But none of that is to be.

But do not despair, T. M.!

Fridays - they be coming back soon!

Goodness gracious!  Great piles of fiction!

It's almost enough to get me through the Spring Break pictures!

A Fifth for a Fifth: Wednesday Wanderings

One fifth of tax season remains.  It sounds pretty good, but I am ready for a fifth of my own.  A fifth of ....Scotchy?  Bourbon?  Wine cooler?  Sorry....my knowledge of alcohol is limited.

It is hard to always stay upbeat with these things.  We all have our things, both big and small, that hang over our personalities an/or health, both physical and mental.  I tend to fall into slight valleys of depression and pessimism.  Now is one of those times.

There is often no rhyme or reason for it.  It's just a thing.  Sometimes caused by events, sometimes merely cyclical.

I get discouraged sometimes, living surrounded by people who seem nice and kind, but whose political and cultural and religious beliefs are tearing this nation and planet apart.

Calling homosexuality a sin is causing more harm and unchristian behavior than the opposite would.

Calling global warming a hoax is destroying any chance at a future for our children and grandchildren.

Attacking Obamacare without giving a damn who is covered or not covered, without any thought of any caring, Christian plan to take it's place, is unconscionable, and I'm tired of mollycoddling those who object to it in blind, unreasoning hatred.

I have always been kind of a short term pessimist and a long term optimist.  My faith tells me we are headed for a better world, that more and more will see the Way, and that tolerance and love will light a path forward.

But sometimes, when you are in the darkest part of the tunnel, it is hard to believe that the light will ever emerge again.

I meant to wander more, but I have already runned out of time.  I have play practices now, and I have to leave work earlier than I should, so to make up I need to get there earlier.  Contributions to the blog may be a little more ragged that next three weeks, but I will do my best to keep up.

That aso means I may notd have as much time to ebit.  Sorry

Sleeping on the Remote and other Monday Musings

Ellie finds nothing on worth losing sleep over.

Ah, yes!  Another weekend has slipped by.  One less tax season weekend!  Only three more weekends remain, and presently there is less than a quarter of the season left.  I do have to emphasize that my job and much accompanying stress is year round, but the number of hours that I work are less once April 15 passes.

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I had a wellness test Friday, and the results were not bad.  They were not quite what I had hoped, but not bad.  My weight is down, but they didn't have last year's records with them, so they really couldn't tell the progress I had made.  They just knew from the BMI chart I would have to lose another 56 pounds to get to the normal BMI range.  Not happening, folks.  Very discouraging.  My blood pressure was good, but not quite as low as the readings I had been getting on my own machine.  Again, they had no comparison point from last year.  And apparently I should eat more fish.  Well, any fish, since I really don't eat any.

I don't eat fish because it tastes fishy.  Even the fish fish lovers recommend to me as the ones not being 'fishy', still taste fishy to me.  I could eat Long John Silvers, but that's because deep fried or something, with a heavy coating of crunchy breading, which I shellac with malt vinegar, which is probably sky high in sodium.

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Benjamin has been accepted into Robot Camp at Georgia Tech!  That will be two weeks in Atlanta, which he should be able to stay with his big brother Doug, and alternating parental unit between me and Alison.  These camps aren't free, but lodging with Doug will save money, and be good for brother bonding.

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March Madness has proven to be disappointing, EXCEPT for Michigan State.  They are in the Sweet Sixteen as a Number 7 seed!  Woohoo!  They have mastered the fine art of peaking at the right time.  But if you love having underdogs in the Sweet Sixteen, it is a very sad year.  My underdog heavy bracket is in utter shambles.  Oh, well.

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I meant to write fiction this weekend, specifically the next Crowley story.  I only got a paragraph in.  As tax season wears on, fiction writing becomes more and more elusive.

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We have discovered that Joy, our foster dog, does have some teeth.  They have just been greatly filed down.  We think that she was either used, or had been planned on being used, as bait dog - a dog whose only function is to be used as fodder for dogs being trained for dogfights.  Yes, it's absolutely horrifying.  There be monsters among us.

Until next time,

T. M. Strait

The Great Unanswered Question of the American 2010s: Saturday Political Soap Box 104

So, Tom, you have my curiosity up.  What is the great unanswered question of the American 2010s?

Why, interesting you should ask that.

It is a question that I have been asking since the decade started, and have not gotten one coherent answer.

It is this:

ATTENTION CONSERVATIVES AND OBAMA DERIDERS!

What plan do you have to replace Obamacare that will insure as many or more people?

Do you understand?  I don't care that you want to repeal Obamacare.  I don't care how much you foam at the mouth at it, or our President.  I want to know what you're going to replace it with.

I don't care when you say you're not a politician and you don't have to come up with an alternative.  You just know by God what you hate, and you want it gone.  Well, too bad so sad.  If you're going to strip MILLIONS from access to decent health care, you're not going to leave those people vulnerable.  You've got to demonstrate how your plan takes care of those people and MORE.

I mean, surely, you don't intend for things to go back to the way they were.  Do you want more bankruptcies?  Do you want more people denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions?  Do you want people to be solely dependent on the whims of their employer for decent health care?  Do you want young people to be kicked off their parent's plan too soon and not be able to get coverage on their own?  Do you not like that the arc of cost for health care and insurance has finally started to slow?  Do you not like the fact that Obamacare is reducing the deficit and not increasing it?

It's true that Obamacare has added a layer of complication to an already complicated income tax process.  As a CPA, I can tell you it has been a real pain in the posterior region.  Add it to the list of the strange, quirky things our tax code does.

It's anecdotally  true that some people's health insurance costs have gone up, a few dramatically.  Some had plans that were inadequate, offering little protection, and had to replace them with more comprehensive plans - surprise! - they cost more!  Some private insurance companies steered their insurers to more expensive plans, blamed it on Obamacare, without the insured checking out the exchanges or other options to find if there was a better deal.  Some were hurt by regional price variations in the exchanges - which I feel is the very worst part of Obamacare.

The flaw in Obamacare isn't the government (although far from perfect, it technically can be controlled by a vigilant press and an active, informed, voting citizenry), it's the private insurers and medical providers.  They're in it to maximize profits, even if it's at your expense.

So, for me, the alternative is easy.  Join the rest of the civilized world with a comprehensive universal health care system.  NO ONE SHOULD BE LEFT OUT!  As a CPA and numbers person, I know this is the most fiscally sound way to do it - spread the costs over everyone and minimize the vulturous middlemen.  As a Christian person with a moral conscience, I see it as the only way,

So for me, the alternative to Obamacare is easy.  We already have the system in place.  We just need to expand it - Medicare for All!  Yes, this may mean the contribution rate may have to increase but realize this - NO OTHER INSURANCE COSTS!

But, of course, my conservative friends, if you thought the overly privatized, Republican inspired version of Romneycare, the Affordable Care Act referred to as Obamacare, if you thought that was socialized medicine, I can't imagine what you think of Medicare for All.

So, again, I've been asking this question for FOUR YEARS with zero coherent response....


What plan do you have to replace Obamacare that will insure as many or more people?

Allowing across state competition will only gravitate plans to those states with the least amount of regulation and the worst coverage.  Eliminating medical malpractice will only diminish your rights and worsen medical standards -  I do not believe that studies show that eliminating malpractice suits reduces cost or expands coverage.

And let me blunt about this.  If your philosophy is that you just DON'T CARE who is insured or uninsured, and is only centered on your PERSONAL costs, then I am not interested in your opinion.  If civic and religious reasons are not enough to compel you to care about other people, than you fall outside the realm of this discussion.  You're not a conservative or a Republican.  You are a heartless, Ayn Randian self-centered monster, and I hate to think that it is your type of opinion that is driving the health care debate.


So one more time, my conservative friends....


What plan do you have to replace Obamacare that will insure as many or more people?

I will keep the light on for you.

Making the Time

Bridgeport High School's premiere actress and myself, performing my Junior year in the play David and Lisa, about teenagers in a mental asylum.  Lisa, in a child like state is threatening to touch David, an OCD neurotic who doesn't like to be touched.

Barb Bloomfield provided quite the inspiration to me when I was in high school.  She was the consummate actress, but that was only the beginning of her talents and abilities.  She was an oboe player in the school band, one of it's leading and most accomplished musicians on a band that won nation wide competitions.  She was an all A student, at or near the top of her class.  And she was the girl next door, actually in the house right across the street from me.

She was a crush and an inspiration.  My grades in my Freshman year were abysmal, but I figured if she could get good grades, I could get them, too. I looked across the street at her room, and could see that see her light was on, as she was up late studying.  Well, I could do that, too.

My grades improved, but it was a real chore.  I liked TV.  I liked reading.  I liked distractions.  But I struggled to keep up, in the desperate hope that it would make an impression on her.

Finally, the frustration and exhaustion of trying to keep pace got to me.  I asked her, "How do you find the time to do all the things you do?"

I'll never forget her answer.  She looked at me with a kind of cold anger and said, "I don't find the time.  I make it."

We only went out twice.  One time to see a Barbara Streisand movie (she adored her, and Barb's singing style was very similar to her), and the other to see Barefoot In the Park, which was in preparation for our both being in a high school production of it.  She didn't go out with me anymore.  She decided that she couldn't get past the fact that I was a "playmate' of her younger brother, Randy.  C'est la vie.

But I couldn't forget the answer she gave.  I couldn't forget it, because it angered me so.  I felt like it was such an arrogant answer given in such an angry, self-servient tone.  We all have the same hours available to us.  We don't "make" time.

And now, year later, I find myself having second thoughts.  I get questions all the time about how I find the time to do the writing and acting that I do, given that I am a CPA, particularly when it's tax season.  It's tempting to come out swinging and say "I don't find the time, I make the time."

In a way, I do.  I discipline myself to write every morning, even if it means getting up at 5:20 AM to do it.  I organize the time I have to do things that are most important to me, and to my family.  It's not always easy, but I can't imagine facing life without getting the chance to do those things.

My job is probably not quite what you think it is.  I am not the entrepreneur, and the time that I am required to work is limited.  With my 10% retirement I started a year or so ago, I work roughly 36 hours a week when it's not tax season, and about 50 hours a week when it is.  Many of you have jobs that work many more hours than that.

I love my hobbies, including writing and acting, reading and watching TV/movies, and it's not so much that I "make the time".  But I do arrange things so that I can keep up with those interests.  

My belated apologies, Barb.  I still may not completely agree, but at least now I have a better understanding of what you were trying to say.

We can't all be like Barb.  Many of us just don't have the stamina or drive.  But even if you can't "make time", do look at your schedule and try to carve out a piece of it for the things you love to do, and the people you love to be with.

Put On a Happy Tuesday Tidbit

So many things to be happy for this Tuesday morning.

I walked around the lake near our home this weekend, and absorbed some of the beauty of where we live.

I got cast in a good part in an upcoming play, acting opposite a talented actress whom I've always wanted to perform with.

A good friend in Michigan received a copy of my book yesterday.  Thanks to the sometimes heavily criticized Facebook, she and others are people  I've reconnected to, people whom I never would have otherwise.

Tax season is not over by any means, but it is starting to approach it's final stretch.  Accounting may  be something I don't want to do anymore, but my co-workers are pleasant to me, and the clients helpful and respectful.

I have good health, and the DASH diet has helped me lose at least twenty pounds, and has brought my blood pressure down to normal levels.

I have a loving family...a beautiful and wonderful soul-mate, three amazing sons, and pets who are always overjoyed to see me (well, maybe not the cat).

I have the best Christian home and family you can possibly have in Grace Episcopal Church.

I have all this and so much more.  I feel truly blessed.

And yet....

I have friends that are in serious pain.  Whether it be through losses of their own loved ones, or their own physical or mental conditions, or the unreasoning hatred and prejudice they experience from an unkind and intolerant world, they suffer.  And it causes me sadness and grief as well.

Some people think if your own world is in order, you shouldn't care about anything else.  I've never been that way, and I don't think I ever can be.  What happens to others I know, what happens to the community and world at large, matter deeply to me, and always will.

It pains me to know there are people who deny global warming is occurring, even as the signs of its destruction are everywhere.  Meanwhile, the very future of our children and grandchildren is melting away, as we elect people who think because it snowed  a lot in Boston, the whole thing is a hoax.

It hurts me to the core that so many here consider homosexuality a sin in and of itself.  Meanwhile, I've seen up close the pain and suffering this unreasoning intolerance has caused.  The culture is changing, but not fast enough.  Not fast enough.

We're turning our backs on science.  We're vilifying the poor.  We learn nothing from the past, and almost always turn to violence as the first answer to solve problems at home and abroad. We're dismantling the foundations of American democracy - our public schools, our voting rights, flooding the political stage with big money and powerful lobbyists to promote the interests of large corporations and the wealthy.

And yet....

I am taught by my faith that love is stronger than hate.  That, like Anne Frank says, “In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”   She said that, and look at what she faced.

I just have to pray that people will see the light in the darkness, and that righteous anger will lead them to what is good and right and needed, and that the world will become a better place.

I love my life.  I love my family and friends.  But like Johnny Cash's Man in Black, there are some outfits that are hard to take off when there is so much suffering and pain in the world.

May we all care.  May we all find the light.  And do what we can to make this a better world for all.

Travels in the One Acre Woods

I figured it  was the last day that I could do it.  Before the gnats completely took over the Earth.  It was early Saturday.  The temperatures had not yet soared.  The days when even the mornings are super hot were looming.

We have lived near the lake (glorified pond, actually) for a couple years now, and I had never taken the time to walk around its entirety.  There is a path connecting to the other side of the lake, but to start it, you need to go on someone's property to get to it.  Saturday I saw that the people who owned the property you would have to go through were not home.  Now the people that own the property are people Alison knows, and are good people.  They would not mind us going.  Nevertheless, Mr. Shy Guy preferred to take advantage of this time that they were not there.

So I started the path that would lead me around the lake. 

The first thing I hear is a water rushing sound, as if a giant bathtub was being filled up.  And I see in the lake what is pictured above.  Right or wrong, the first thought that came to me was....Redneck Waterfall.  This caged open pit represents some kind of drainage for the lake.  I should be grateful.  It probably reduces the flooding chances for our neighborhood.  But the sight of it was entertaining, nonetheless.

The path that leads deep, deep into the One Hundred Acre Woods.  Okay, more like an acre.  Well, maybe more like a half.  Never mind,  It's a woods, ain't it?  You can see the light from the clearing near the end of it.

This is a view of the lake from the path.  It looks pretty impressive.  Like a real lake. like a real natural wilderness.  I should have brought a backpack.  Or a snack,  A backpack filled with snacks.  I would pick up the trash, of course.  I am not a litter bug.

I am also not a fisherman.  So I would not have brought a pole.  The country club on the other side of the lake keeps it stocked with fish.  I thin you have to pay a fee to fish it.  No worries.  Like I said, I don't fish.

When the path through the One Acre Woods ended,  I found myself on a public golf course.  I kept trying to stick to the golf course paths, but they kept disappearing.  I didn't know where to walk.  I don't golf.  I hoped by crossing some holes I wasn't violating some unknown etiquette rule that would get me into trouble.

Looking out on the lake, I saw two people in a small boat fishing in the middle of the lake.  I wondered if they had to pay the country club for the privilege.  I got a picture of them, but it didn't work because I couldn't get the zoom right.

One of the homes that fronted the lake had an artificial sandy beach.  I thought that was pretty clever.  My picture of that didn't work out, either.

Jutting out from the Country club is what I call Duck Point.  They are very pretty.  They also make a lot of noise.

I did not take pictures of the rest of my trip, leaving the country club and coming to a residential area, because the gnats woke up and I was too busy swatting the rest of the way home.

I really love walking.  I really hate gnats.

Sigh.

Ripping Good Yarns: Five Favorites On Right Now

With more and more limited series (Seasons of 13 or fewer episodes), what is on TV doesn't just shift in the fall.  The kaleidoscope of programs available are constantly shifting.

Below are my five favorite programs I'm watching right now:

5) Justified (FX, Tuesdays at 10).  If you want to watch a redneck crime noir, this is the one.  Sometimes the bad guys are sneeringly brilliant, and at other times crushingly stupid, but they are always massively entertaining.  Timothy Olyphant is charming and zinger filled, but also a Clint Eastwood level threat.  Walter Goggins as Boyd Crowder, is his chief menace and is menacingly evil, but in an odd folksy way.  This show is near the end of it's run, and if you haven't seen it, is definitely worth streaming.

4) Better Call Saul  (AMC, Mondays at 10).  Wanna great follow up to Breaking Bad?  Here you go, and thank you very much!  Slightly funnier and more charming than Breaking Bad, it is just as poignant and effective as you get under the skin of it's characters.  You see Bob Odenkirk as Jimmy 'Saul' McGill struggling with his desire to be a great and straight lawyer, compete with his ability to be the consummate con man.  One of the best spin off series ever.

3)  The Americans (FX, Wednesdays at 10).  I recently started streaming this series from the beginning, and have now started watching Season 3 episodes.  Very evocative of that eighties era, and the last gasps of the Cold War.  Keri Russell (perhaps the most beautiful woman on television) and Matthew Rhys play the Jennings, an embedded pair of Russian spies acting as Americans, having been here for a couple decades and even starting a family.  This as close as I come to binge watching, having caught up with Seasons One and Two in the last couple of months.

2)  Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC, Tuesdays at 9).  If you're watching NCIS or something else instead of this show, you are making me very, very sad.  This is quite simply broadcast television at it's best.  And, the only broadcast series on this list.  Watch it.  Please.

1) The Walking Dead (AMC, Sundays at 10).  I've said it here and other places a hundred times.  This so much more than a show about zombies.  It is one of the greatest character driven shows in the history of television.  The level of adversity these people face really strips humanity to its core, both the good and the bad.  

And with TV's incredible variety nowadays, check back with me in a month or two, and this list may be completely different.

Except for Agents of SHIELD.  That's always there.  Well, at least September through May.  Or when the brilliant Agent Carter is taking it's place.

OK, so this list will always be changing.

Viva la TV variety!

I Stand Alone

I Stand Alone

By T. M. Strait

I stand alone

Alone against the crashing waves

Great white flecked blue rumbles

Rumbles and slaps across my back

But I hold steady

Steady against the periodic pressure

I am far away

Far away from the Maddening Thong

She stands on the shore

The shore of the sandy beach

Her long golden hair glistens

Glistens in the bright sunlight

Her golden delicious apples ready

Ready to nibble and bite

Her legs are tanned and endless

Toes buried in the white sand

Behind her are umbrellas and vendors

Vendors selling ice cream and fruity drinks

Lawn chairs and beach blankets and Bingo

Bingo...yes that is the dog's name-o

He comes to her, speeding

Speeding towards her, arms open

He is the new beau

The new beau I call American Speedo

American Speedo is chiseled and tall

Tall and confident in his glorious manhood

Manhood that is abundantly apparent to all

American Speedo grabs the Maddening Thong and takes her

He takes her in his arms and holds her tight

Tight enough to make apple sauce

And then they begin to kiss

A kiss that enflames my hopeless jealousy

Jealousy so hot it melts the water around me

I never hear it

Not until it is too late to stand

Stand against the tsunamic  crest

It knocks me down

Down and under

Under the ocean blue

Blue I turn in panic

I rise and my head is up

Up and gasping for air

I no longer stand on the ocean floor

No floor to find my footing

I turn out to look at the infinite ocean and see the many fins

The many fins approaching me

Like a horde of langoliers

Langoliers ready to devour my reality

Closer and closer they approach

Approach as I hear the Speilbergian theme

I turn and swiftly dog paddle

Dog paddle to the shore

The shore that is no longer sandy

Sandy is gone

Gone  is she and he and everyone else

Everyone else and everything else is gone

American Speedo is gone

Gone is the Maddening Thong

Gone are the vendors and umbrellas and lawn chairs

Gone are the beach blankets and even Bingo

Instead there is an empty beach

An empty beach of pristine pebbles and rocks

Rocks jagged and sharp

Sharp enough they cut my feet

But what can I do?

I do the only thing I can

I walk out of the water and onto the shore

The unfamiliar shore that cuts at my feet

I stand alone

Alone, behind me a trail of jagged rocks

Rocks now streaked with red, and once again I stand

I stand alone

Deceptive Wednesday Wanderings

The above picture has absolutely nothing to do with this blog post.

It is a deception to get you to take a look at it.

This is not a too uncommon trick used with comic book covers, also with books and magazines.  It's a way to entice readers in.

That aside, is that a cute dog or what?

I guess in the contest of size, the Pomeranian half won.  Not so with our Cocoa Bear.  She is a Dachshund/Spaniel mix that size wise is much more on the Spaniel side.  But she is a very beautiful dog.

Here's a picture of Cocoa Bear and Benjamin from a few years ago.  Benjamin is bigger now.  Cocoa Bear is about the same.

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Tried out for a play Monday night.  I know.  Tax season isn't over, but I'm tired of being benched.  Next to writing, it's my favorite hobby.  At it's best, it's like getting in the zone runners talk about.  I love being onstage in that zone.

I probably won't know anything until closer to the weekend.  My success rate is pretty high, getting into plays, but I am getting older, and there are fewer and fewer parts that are age appropriate for me.  Ironically, from my very first play as a freshman in high school, I have generally played the oldest part in a play.  Now I just require less makeup.

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Clearly, 47 Senators should be convicted of sabotage and treason.  Injecting themselves into the Iranian nuclear discussions in such a way that it damages and disrupts the President's efforts, and makes war more likely that will make Iraq and Afghanistan look pretty minor in comparison, if that isn't criminal, I don't know what is.  I would love to see the remaining 53 carry on the business of the Senate, perhaps with Elizabeth Warren as Senate Majority Leader.  Too bad the House Republican crazies didn't sign it, too.

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We had a Writer's Guild meeting last night.  It is a great group, and I always be grateful to Steve Bean for encouraging me to start it.  I particularly love Ms. Grace Lee, our 87 (86?) year old writer, whose vibrant writing and personality light up any room.  She is a true treasure and is one of the very best things about our Guild.

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It is rough doing business with the Okefenokee Heritage Center.  The memories still linger, and it is hard to concentrate.  But as hard as it is, I don't want to run from his memory.  I want to do everything I can for the organizations he so loved and cherished, both the Heritage Center and Grace Episcopal.

Until the next time, I wander on a Wednesday,

T. M. Strait

The Steve Bean Youth Art Exhibit

Yesterday's event at the Okefenokee Heritage Center was renamed the Steve Bean Youth Art Exhibit, after my good friend and Center Director, Steve Bean.  Included in the picture is Rob's good friend, Robert Stewart, and Steve's nephew, Cody Goode.

Youth, parents and friends gathered to hear the names of the Art contest winners.  This was a well intended event.  Steve would have loved.  He did a great deal to promote youth and the arts at the Heritage Center, including Arts Camps in the summer.

Helping bring a more complete definition to the word "Arts", I read the story The Scribe by Jackson Bowman, who was the First Place story winner in our writing contest held in October.

Grand Prize winner Elizabeth Bagley standing in front of her prize winning entry.

Two of the Youth Art prize winners standing in front of the sign showing that this is the Steve Bean Youth Art Exhibit.

Stay tuned, because there will be another event in Steve Bean's honor, an Arts Guild Festival on May 9th, involving all the Guilds and all the activities Steve helped sponsor and grow at the Heritage Center.  I will keep you updated as this fantastic event gets closer!

Spring Into Speculatron: Saturday Political Soap Box 103

It's a been a difficult time.  Losing a close friend.  Struggling to concentrate on the most difficult weeks of tax season.  Reaching my fill mark listening to the nattering negative nabobs dissing the progress this country has made, and deriding the most successful American President in my life time.

I've had it with dismissals of  global warming every time the ever changing increasingly unstable weather pattern brings a little chill.  To clear it up, we who believe, we need to stop using global warming and climate change as if they're interchangeable.  They're not.  Climate change is an EFFECT of global warming, not something independent of it.  Global temperatures are clearly rising, and yes, the cause is MAN MADE, and yes, it may be too late to do more than try to mitigate it, but that does not mean we shouldn't try.  I don't want to explain to my grandchildren and great grandchildren that we didn't even try.  Enough, Ozstriches, enough!

Speculatron on Global Warming:  It's real, it's rapidly becoming irreversible, and we will soon be confronted with getting out of our partisan boxes and dealing with it in a united and communitarian fashion, or descend into bitter, horrible resource wars that will rip civilization apart..

I've had it with attacks on Obamacare.  Yes, it's not perfect.  And you don't know how aggravating it is until you've tried to do a bunch of tax returns.  BUT all the solutions lie to the LEFT of the Affordable Care Act, not to the right.  I've had it up to HERE with all the people who complain and whine and don't seem to give two shakes about the uninsured, the under-insured, and those who will be left out and vulnerable if we go back to before.  And make no mistake.  The Republicans have NO solutions, and we plunge back into the abyss, worse than before.

Speculatron on Obamacare:  Soon, some states somewhere will move to what we really need...single payer universal health care.  It may be California.  It may be Vermont.  I pray that it happens soon.  And if the Supreme Court sides with the most without merit case they've ever been presented with, and destroy the foundations of the Affordable Care Act. then it will be the last major victory the right wing extremists ever have.  The backlash will create solid progressive majorities by 2020.  We will junk the remnants of Obamacare and adopt what every other civilized, industrialized nation on the face of the Earth has - universal health care.  Medicaid for all, forever and ever, AMEN!

I'm sick and tired of all the attacks on Civil Rights - whether it's pitifully moronic cries of reverse racism, treating gays as if they were sinners, chipping away more and more at basic voting rights, our double standered policing and justice system, and so much more.  I have seen up close and personal of what damage and harm limiting the rights of loving gay couples can do.  And as a devoted Christian, I firmly believe with all my heart and soul that it is now more anti-Christian and damaging to stand against gays (and the whole LGBT community) than it is to embrace it.  Can gays be sinners?  Like all of us, yes.  But being gay does NOT make you a sinner.  It...just...makes...you....gay.

Speculatron on Civil Rights:  You're losing this, my resistant, narrow-minded friends.  America is a melting pot, and it will soon melt all your bigotry away,  And if not, you will look more and more out of touch.  And for those clinging to homosexuality as a sin - reread the scriptures.  Stop looking at the TREES and look at the whole FOREST.  If you think the main theme of the Bible is hatred and exclusion and abominations and a whole bunch of arbitrary rules that make about as much sense as not stepping on cracks to avoid breaking your mother's back, than you really need to improve your reading skills.

Well, I could go on and on, but I will set aside all the feelings of exhaustion and slamming against the brick walls around here, and move onto what all the speculatrons get to, which is who will be the next President of the United States.

Speculatron Presidential Over-card:

Well, here it is.

Clinton vs. Bush

Sigh.

Good thing we rejected all that royalty stuff, eh?

A double dip of Clinton, or a triple dip of Bush.

All the big money is consolidating behind these two.  And in these post Citizen United days, money talks and democracy walks.  It is not what is inevitable, but it is what is most probable.

Events may effect this one way or another, but I think the odds favor Hilary Clinton.  We are way overdue for a female President, and she is pragmatic and qualified.

Their Veeps?  Hilary - closing my eyes and taking a stab I would say Virginia's Jim Webb, or Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown.  Jeb - oh, hell.  I don't know.  Republicans are...well, not always sane.  Push me to the wall, and I would guess Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin.


Speculatron Presidential Under-card:

Republicans are actually easier, for some reason.  My under-card is Ohio Governor John Kasich as the Presidential nominee and New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte as Vice President.  I'll explain why in more detail in another post, but just remember, you heard it here first.

I'm less sure of what the Democrats will do if they do not run Hilary.  Joe Biden is by far the most qualified person on the planet to be President (with the possible exception of Al Gore), but he will not be the nominee.  So I'm just, for right now, gonna go for who I want most to be President of the United States.  And that's Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren.  I'm not sure who she would pick as Vice President.  Sherrod Brown and Jim Webb come to mind again.

There is a great possibility, under both over and under-card scenarios, that one or more factions will break away and run as third and even fourth parties.  That could be the Libertarians (led by Rand Paul and his Ayn Rand crazies), The Christian Dominionists (led by Huckabee and/or Ted Cruz), and less likely, my own club, the True Progressives (led by Bernie Sanders).

Sooo...

Kasich vs. Warren vs.  ???


So thanks for your patience.  I would like to say this helped and was a good cathartic release for me.

But I don't know.

I just don't know.

Ask me again in 2020.

Literary is the New Forensics

The great Literary team of Pierce County High School, finishing first in their region, besting eight other schools.

Back a long time ago, in a state far way from here, we also had Literary.  But we didn't call it that.  We called it Forensics,

And no, it is not related to it's more familiar definition,  It's not about CSIs and criminal investigations conducted in a scientific manner.  Gus Grissom of CSU, or Leroy Gibbs in NCIS,  It is rooted in the Greek, referring to forum, and is about speaking contests the Greeks organized in order to develop public speaking skills.  Because they believed that good public peaking was key to a well developed democracy.

I attended a high school where Forensics was a strong and vibrant program.  I competed in it all four years I was in high school, going to the State Tournament twice.  We had an excellent coach, and he helped us perform our best.  I did something called Declaration the first year, which was a category for Freshman to give an oral presentation on a short speech of their own, advocating a cause or "declaring" an important point or issue.  The other years I competed in Humorous Interpretation.  That may seem not as sophisticated a skill as some of the other contests, but it served me well in learning how to charm audiences and stay interesting, and helped prepare me for my lifelong participation in community theater.

Sometimes, it feels like a lot of school is focused on athletics.  There is a lot of hoopla and community support centered around the achievements of athletic teams, particularly on high school football.  This can be a very good thing.  Community bonding is an important part of teaching student to take pride in where they live, and develop a sense of civic pride and responsibility.  The Straits come from a long line of non-athletes, having little coordination and zero natural ability, and my youngest son, Benjamin, is no exception.  But his participation in Middle School Pep Band has given him a way to plug into the sport experience in school, and become a part of  it all.  That may be on e of the great parts of athletic events in public schools, particularly football, as it allows for so many ways for those who are not on the athletic field to feel like they are part of it.

Study after study has shown the tremendous, disproportionate value of extra curriculars in public schools.  Those who participate in them do better in school, and in life.  They learn more, engage more, take more pride in themselves, and their community, their country, and the entire planet. I know for myself, I struggle to remember much form any particular classroom, but I remember well those Forensics contests, the plays and musicals, the Student Council, the feel and spirit of the sporting events.

And yet.

And yet there are those who look at cutting school budgets, and the first place they look at is the non-athletic extra-curriculars, as if they were the most unnecessary and disposable part of going to school, instead of the very core of it.  The first and foremost responsibility of public education is not to be a tech school training for a specific job, or a place to warehouse kids to keep them off the streets.   The major function of public schools in civic, to teach young people to be knowledgeable, functioning participants in the greatest experiment in democracy in the history of mankind. When we shove aside these extra-curriculars, we are shoving aside democracy itself.  Whether it's called Forensics or Literary, the idea of developing better and more confident public speakers, is not just a fun little aside to occupy the students,  It represents the very core of why we have public schools,

Congratulations to the Pierce County High School Literary team and their extraordinary achievement in Region, and thank you to The Blackshear Times for making it a front page story,  It is a great relief considering some of the recent headlines, necessary as they may have been, to know that ultimately, it really is about our students and what they are achieving.

Enchant Yourself With Cinderella!

If you want like to spend an evening of "enchanted" entertainment, make plans now to see WACT's production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "CINDERELLA". Show dates are March 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14 at 8:00 p.m. nightly and March 8 and 15 at 2:30 p.m. All tickets are $10. Reservations may be made by calling the box office at 283-2161. Don't miss this outstanding musical production!!!


The above is directly from WACT's site, and it is a show you will not want to miss!  A great family production.  Based on the cast and crew I know that are in it, it is going to be an outstanding show, and I can't wait to see them perform!

Taking a huge jaunt in the Wayback Machine, Cinderella was the first performance I saw at the Ritz.  It was back in 1997 I believe, and it got me hooked.  It was the last play performed there before the roof collapse.  Steel Magnolias, the next play, had to be moved to the Academy next door.    I was able to be in a number of plays at the Academy, starting with the first time I did A Christmas Carol.


When the Ritz was restored, I was in the first play back onstage, M*A*S*H, brilliantly directed by one of the theater's all time greats, Bill Westhead.


Please come out and see local community theater at it's finest.  Make plans to see Cinderella today!  The reservation line is open!En

Writing Through the Clouds

It's a struggle right now.

Coming up with new topics, writing about something new or interesting, coming up with fresh thoughts in the predawn hours, especially when your mind is clouded by the thickest part of tax season.  And when you're dealing with the loss of a close friend.  Topics and thoughts are too scattered to form the necessary frame.

Politics is difficult.  My emotions and feelings are too volatile to adequately coordinate a response in the time I have to do it.  Some things require more analysis and referencing than I have time for.  Others my passions run too high.  There are some topics right now where I have grown weary of the opposition and little patience anymore for their arguments (or bigotry, or ignorance).

More autobiographical stories would be nice.  But that requires me downloading more pictures and thinking about my past, when right now it is hard for me to remember the basics, like have I combed my hair this morning?  Did I have breakfast yet?  Is the car going to run out of gas because I keep forgetting to fill it up?  But maybe soon I can take the time to get some pictures on, and let it give me inspiration.

My father's reminiscences stand unrecorded.  It has been a long time since I put one on.  I really want to get back to it, but that also requires a decent block of time.

I have  failed to maintain Ripping Good Yarns, the group site on Facebook.  It requires a lot of effort, and sometimes with little reward or payoff to maintain it at the level I had hoped it would be.  I was looking for a safe haven for people to discuss their favorite shows, movies and books in an environment where people weren't dissing you for watching TV and movies, or for reading books.  But the way Facebook works nowadays, if people don't visit something in the group frequently,  they see it lass and less.  So the group is still there, but I've kind of had to let it go.  Reluctantly.

Fiction has been beaten out of me for right now.  It's almost always a casualty during tax season.  It actuality requires the highest level of attention and focus.  I am particularly disappointed that I have failed to focus on giving my book a final editing, and then begin marketing it.  I'm looking at something where the odds may be no better than a lottery ticket, but nevertheless is there if I choose to try, and I inexplicably sit on it.  You can't publish if you don't submit.

But for good or ill, The Strait Line is not disappearing.  I will manage through.  Even if sometimes you get a meandering, introspective blog entry like this one.


Peace out,

T. M. Strait