Morning Update: 06/16/24

My children (the four-legged ones) woke me shortly after 6:00 this morning. Did I sleep at all last night? It certainly doesn’t feel like I did. Toss, turn, flip, repeat. If I was a piece of meat simmering over a low flame, I’d be burned by now. This isn’t how I like to start the morning. I walked into the living room and noticed that the cats had broken yet another glass-covered frame.

While I was out with the dogs, three jets passed overhead, leaving IND just as fast as air traffic control could get them off the ground. They seemed to be taunting me, “We’re escaping and you’re not, loser.” I’ve not been outside Indianapolis since my last trip to Chicago, four years ago. Being around so many people whose minds are warped from generations of belief in mythology, who are mistakenly convinced that the 1950s morality was better, and who think they have a right to force their morality and opinions on others, is crippling. I’d leave, but where am I going to go, and, more importantly, who is going to take me there?

A perfect example of why this is a horrible state is found in yesterday’s state GOP convention. We already knew that, following the primary, Mike Braun is the unfortunate choice for governor. Braun has been useless as a US Senator, so I doubt he’ll be any better as a governor. He had chosen state Rep. Julie McGuire as his running mate. But noooooo, Indiana is so fucking stupid that they chose ultra-right-wing pastor Micah Beckwith. This classless idiot “is known for his far-right stances on gender, sexuality, and abortion. He cast himself as a political outsider who would keep the governor’s office in check, limit property taxes, and oppose school efforts to support the LGBTQ+ community,” according to the Associated Press. Braun says he’ll hold Beckwith in check, but can we rely on that? No, we can’t. Beckwith lobbied for over a year to get this position. We’ll painfully feel his influence if he’s elected. Can Democrats win? No. They’re underfunded and continue to nominate people who are unelectable from the outset. Indiana is going to be one of the worst places to live on the planet.

But then, I’m not exactly happy with the rest of the planet, either. These are some of the headlines greeting me this morning:

• A shooting in Rochester Hills injures nine people, leaving an 8-year-old in critical condition
• Maine police kill armed man after a night of gunfire and burned homes
• 2 killed and several wounded in shooting during a Juneteenth celebration in a Texas park
• Person found shot, killed on Indianapolis’ near northwest side
• 44-year-old man airlifted to Indy hospital in critical condition after shooting in Anderson

Do you see the repeating pattern in all those headlines? How fucking stupid are we to stick to a faulty constitutional amendment just because of who wrote it? We’ve said it again and again and again, the US is the ONLY industrialized country with this problem! We need to get the fuck over this stupid worship of a single statement by people who lived in a very different society.

Maybe I should move to Denmark or Finland. I wonder if they let old people in.

A forecasted high of 96 this afternoon most likely nixes our weekly walk in the park. The Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational is making noise over at the track. One would have to be a real fan of old race cars to endure all the short little races that are on the schedule. Apparently, there aren’t many of these fans left. They can fit all the parking in the infield. Still, we have to put up with the noise.

My sugar was stupid high again last night. I’m not sure if it was the hamburger bun, the cheese, or the mashed potatoes that is at fault. On their own, I wouldn’t have expected any of them to send my glucose skyrocketing, but together they generated a frightening number. Maybe that’s why I’m so cranky.

There WILL be a new video posted, probably a little later this morning. I managed to finish everything except the rendering last night. We’ll see what kind of hoops I have to jump through to get it posted. The last one had to be FTP’d onto the server. This one’s larger. Yikes!

And yeah, we still need help with that new machine. Venmo: @C_I_Letbetter or CashApp: $ciletbetter. We don’t need all that much. I just have nothing left to give to it myself.

Maybe I should go back to bed and stay there the rest of the day.