Confluence

Well, folks, this is one of those confluence-of-events weeks. Not only do I have two mile-markers this week, there has also occurred a potentially life-altering event which I have been loath to mention until now. Needless to say, I am a person in flux and at this advanced age, it’s scary and exhilarating all at the same time. My father, who has been known to say the most shattering things with a completely straight face, simply said, “Most people change their lives at 40. Why did you wait so long?”

This week is blog #104, which means this my second anniversary in the blogosphere. Last year, I posted about what I'd learned in that first year...which was mostly how much fun it was to make my kids roll their eyes at me. Granted this is an amusing avocation, but not one upon which I can concentrate.  Knowing I have a diverse readership, I've tried to be blunt and forthright about my opinions, and as a result I've gotten some great comments, great emails, and, here and there, a couple of "you and the horse your rode in on" missives. Only one death wish to date, so I guess I'm doing okay. If I'm not doing okay, please feel free to tell me that, too.

So I suppose I should mention the potentially life-altering event. A whole lotta years ago, shortly before the personal computer dominated our lives, Steve gave me an IBM Selectric typewriter for my birthday. This was a great grand thing that had its home in the Stanford Avenue kitchen where I sat on a stool and wrote children's plays...and then  a first novel. Let me tell you, there's no way I would ever go back to a typewriter, but at the time, that little silver ball bouncing around was the greatest invention on the planet. And it was on that typewriter than I drafted my first novel. Eventually I graduated to a Mac and writing just exploded. And somewhere in there, between the plays and at the freelance stuff, I wrote one that looked like it might go the distance.  And so it has. Yotzeret Publishing has accepted DREAM DANCER for its 2014 list. The contracts are signed and I am in the process of prepping the first "hard copy" for the publisher. Then the real fun begins. I'll even have a real editor to bang this around. I am so excited I can barely sit still!  But as amazing as this is, the one person with whom it should be shared isn't here to jump up and down with me.

Nor is he here to remind me that on Wednesday I will move into my next decade. And that's all I'm gonna say about that.

On the political front, I would be remiss if I didn't comment on Mr. Romney's lack of tax returns. 

Is this guy for real? Mittens is beginning to look and sound more like the Manchurian candidate every day. How can you run for public office in this country without releasing your tax forms? This is like waving a red flag in front of a media frenzied bull. Your taxes are, by extension, a matter of public record. If Mr. Romney was on the up and up, wouldn't he publishing his returns in every available media outlet? And if it was President Obama withholding his returns, the whole GOP would be accusing him of unspeakable acts of criminal intent! 

And speaking of unspeakable acts of criminal intent... how about the re-emergence of Michele "If I Only Had A Brain" Bachmann? Not content with calling SCOTUS "schizophrenic," she's now sending out letters urging the states not to accept any funding for existing health care programs...insuring that the uninsured will be even less insured than they already are. Seems she thinks she's on the short list for VEEP. That place belongs to Tim  "Watch Me Ruin A Perfectly Good State" Pawlenty. 

As I am aging rapidly, I find my bull-o-meter going off the scale at the ads I'm seeing on the idiot box. And idiot box is most applicable here because you have to be an idiot if you watch this crap. I'm sure elections have always been down and dirty, but I think things are exacerbated by the 60 nanosecond news-cycle and information overload. The safest thing is not to believe anything you see or hear...because the super-pacs are not content with polluting the broadcast frequencies; they are really after you mind. Best to prepare ourselves by removing the queen of diamonds from all packs of playing cards. 

And if this is not already enough, half the newspapers put the Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes divorce above to the fold. Don't we have more important issues on which to be focused? I'm just sayin'................

The Wifely Person Tip O'the Week

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”

Winston Churchill