HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KAT!!
Today is Kat’s 39th birthday so that’s by far the most important thing you need to know about today. Of course, we celebrated with her on Sunday. Yesterday, Brandon took her to the rifle range and she shot her AR15 for the first time. The Marine training kicked in and she put in some impressively tight groupings. She wants to fine-tune the front sight a bit, but other than that it’s ready for might justify its use. She also tried out her dad’s Sig p250 compact, which she may carry with her in certain situations. Bottom line: think twice before messing with her, but by all means wish her a happy birthday!
How was my day yesterday? What do you think? It rained. And rained. And it’s still raining. There was no comfort, no rest, and no breaks in the action. I’m not sure there are enough pain meds on the planet to deal with where we’re at currently. On a scale of ten, we’re at 50. There’s nothing we can do, though, but deal with it and that’s what we’re doing, trying to minimize movement and avoid wrestling with the dogs.
Of course, on days like this, nothing goes quite as planned. I have been out of ice tea mix for a while and finally found it in stock leading me to order it and a few other things. Not a huge order, just enough to fill some gaps. When they finally showed up more than two hours later, the shopper had trouble finding the order in his very full car. He hands me three bags and takes off. I take the bags and guess what’s not there: NO ICE TEA MIX! Four other things were missing as well. I contacted support and a few minutes later I got a text from the driver that he was bringing the missing items back, “right now.” Not knowing how long “right now” might take, I grab an umbrella and go stand under the tree, in the rain, waiting another thirty minutes before he showed up. I was happy to at least have the tea but my bones refused to cooperate at all the rest of the morning.
Next up: a 2:00 PM phone interview with FSSA regarding getting back on Medicaid. I was told to be ready at 2, but to expect that the call might be delayed as much as 30 minutes. So, I had all my information gathered in advance and at 1:50 thought that I should go ahead and use the bathroom now so that I don’t have to during the call. Care to guess who called early, while I was in the bathroom? Yeah, it was the interview. I was happy that no one else was home at the time! Fortunately, the call only took a few minutes since all my social security info was already in the system. I was able to get back to the bathroom before things got messy.
I tried napping afterward, but there was no relaxing no matter how tired I felt. I got up, worked on a new video I’ll post later, gave Pinball some required snuggles, fixed dinner, and waited in vain for my body to relax enough to go to bed. When I finally decided to try, though, I looked over and there were seven cats and both dogs filling my bed. There’s no moving the dogs when they’re asleep; they’re dead weight and immovable. Yeah, I can move the cats, but when you move a sleeping cat you have to act fast. If you haven’t filled that space in two seconds, they take it back. You can’t succeed with seven cats. Plus, Queen Bit was one of the cats. Attempting to move her puts your skin at risk of scratches that leave scars. I finally decided to go sleep in the recliner. Pinball joined me and we snuggled down for a nap that was only occasionally interrupted.
G and I were both up at 5, which is an hour earlier than most days. I fed everyone, made coffee, and then chatted with G while he told me about his dreams and what he wants to do with the rest of his life. He’s dreaming big and I’m excited for him. Tipper was up by 6, complaining that her brother was too loud. There was plenty of time to play with animals, all of whom were happy for the attention, and both were looking forward to having good days when they left.
And now, I have to figure out some way of dealing with this pain for the second day in a row. There aren’t many options. The dogs are both back to sleep. The cats are wandering around, deciding where they want to nap. I need to post that video in a bit.
This is the life we’re living. It is what it is.
Morning Update: 05/14/24
There really is nothing to share about yesterday. The kids went to school. Kat went to work. I went back to bed and stayed there. The most exciting part of the day was the delivery of more cat litter. Most Mondays seem to be this way anymore, especially if we’ve done anything outside the house on Sunday. My body doesn’t seem interested in being active two days in a row. The dogs don’t seem interested in being active on Mondays, either.
It was another violent weekend in Indy and I’m concerned that violence will only increase as it gets warmer. Consider, here are just a few of the local headlines I’m looking at this morning:
There are times I feel as though we’re living in a bad episode of some police procedural television show. Gunning down victims in the street, calling SWAT to a dispute between neighbors, and someone shot to death while sitting in their pickup? Who the fuck does that in real life? Are these cases of, “Oh, I just happen to have this gun handy so I think I’ll use it?” Or is it more “I don’t have any idea how to resolve this conflict so I’m just gonna shoot somebody?” Maybe it’s a case of “I don’t feel that I have any control over the circumstances in my life, so I’m going to make sure someone pays attention to me.”
Overall, nationwide, violent crime has decreased since 2020. Cities significantly larger than Indy have seen violent crime plunge significantly. In cities such as Indy where violence continues to increase, the causes seem to come down to three significant issues:
We can look at these issues because we have data showing the relationship of cause/effect. What we don’t look at, though, is who is behind those causes. Numbers don’t solve problems, people do. If economics is a primary issue in increasing violence, the question needs to be WHO is responsible for that? I can tell you now it’s not a politician. Instead, look at the head of major corporations and retailers in a city. Where are they located? Who are they hiring? How much are they paying? Who is being left out? Start addressing these problems and the economics issue goes away.
The same can be said for education. Why are teachers quitting in frustration? Why are some schools limited in how they can teach while others get to explore new and innovative methods? Why the hell are people with absolutely zero experience in a classroom telling masters-level educators how to teach? Why are students in certain economic zones not getting all the opportunities as students from other areas of town? All these things (and a lot more) factor into failing schools, high drop-out rates, and a large sense of desperation among those who don’t manage to thrive within the system.
Why are some cities unable to recruit new officers? I don’t have information to argue that one. Theoretically, out-of-date policing procedures, low pay, lack of basic safety programs, and insufficient training are what gets called out first. That doesn’t mean those are the only problems. I’m sure there are some who will never consider police work because of its traditional stance against people of color. Complaints of abuse within the ranks are part of what’s keeping more women from both police forces and the military. At the baseline, though, the problems are internal and we have to hold the leaders of those departments responsible for making the necessary changes to both methods and culture.
Brandon’s taking Kat to the rifle range today for her birthday. Kat’s taking her AR15 out for the first time. Her dad gave her the gun when she graduated boot camp and it’s never been fired. She never felt that there was any need or reason to do so. We haven’t even had any ammo for it. But now? I’m glad they’re going. I’m glad she’ll have a response in case things go awry in the neighborhood, and there’s no good reason to think they won’t.
We, you and I, created these problems because we’d rather rally around shallow slogans with no real meaning or understanding the issues, because we try holding politicians responsible for problems that are caused elsewhere, and because, more than anything, all we do is complain rather than become involved in a solution. We are responsible for the society we’ve created. This didn’t happen out of the blue. Aliens are not responsible for this mess. You are. I am. And we’re the only ones who can fix it.
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