12/31/2021
Where are we now? Are we there yet? What time is it on Earth?
To Serve Man
Episode 89 (number 24, season three) serves up an age-old dilemma. Eats, Shoots and Leaves all over again. Or, technically, all before again. Like my friend says about a free lunch “Depends on what you mean by free. And what you mean by lunch.”
I spend a lot of time with Jesus. I sin a lot. I don’t go to church. I am forgiven.
Which sentence does not go with the others? I believe that they all go together. Some people probably believe otherwise. I wonder if they believe at all.
This post is a recollection of sorts. A gathering of the grand ideas, false starts, crashed dreams, stuttering expressions, sputtering exhortations, hidden hopes, and unexpected unconventionalities. That was the year that was supposed to be better than the one before but maybe not?
I say maybe it was. You know me, I scratch an itch until it festers. Then I can feel better about something. The thing about a scab is that when it peels off, the skin underneath is good to go.
The year divided America along familiar fault lines. At first. Then the fault lines shifted. And I posit America shifted. I have my ear to the ground. I hear the rumble.
Sometimes. Most times the feeling hits before the reality. And we all go, I kinda thought…
That’s happening now. Is your ear to the ground? I am going to talk about some nuts and bolts below the line. Above the line, we talk not about nuts and bolts but the people that screw them together.
And the people that get screwed by them. Funny thing is, we all screw the nut and get screwed by the bolt. The only variable is the price of the nut. And the cost of the bolt.
And the strongest bartering chip is the exterior-plating of the bolt. And the visible-finish of the nut. Sounds logical and all. I mean, all the horse-trading folks are really smart. I just can’t figure out who is the bolt and who is the nut.
I guess that’s why they call it navel-gazing. AS you have noticed, I took a vacation from writing this last three weeks and have put forth some silliness, some light-heartedness, and some good will.
I wrote it in joy, as I do all of my writing. Seriousness awaits. But I enjoyed my silly time. My sincere hope is that you have too. We need to play. It’s evolutionary. And relaxing. AND FUN!
NUTS & BOLTS
Pretty Graph! Still searching for a pie chart
I hope this convinces you. It convinced me. Tell me what your convinced about. Please.
Just think, your $5 monthly subscription could be reflected on a graph just like the one above. And we could question it just like we are now. But I get $4.03. Thanks again.
Numbers don’t lie. (jus people) More opens. More clicks. More. Not that that is important. Just a public airing of the platform. But 11% to 18% is an increase. Right?
That’s all on you! Those spikes are your clicks. I told you before. I will tell you again.
THANK YOU!
Your support IS the difference. Please enjoy the quotes below. I gathered them for the times. And for the moment.
Walk a block in a pair of shoes that don’t fit. You’ll learn more than walking a mile in my worn out ole shoes.
Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.
If you don't risk anything, you risk even more.
Success is the sum of small efforts - repeated day in and day out.
Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.
Whatever life throws at me I'll take it and be grateful for it as well.
You don't have to be a genius or a visionary or even a college graduate to be successful. You just need a framework and a dream.
1 year. 52 posts. 105,000 words.
I usually post on Friday. This is not Friday. But is is 12/30/2021. My first post was on 12/30/2020. You can read it here. Because you have read this far, I guess you are totally committed to this. Wow!
This is what I write. This is what I write about. It has taken a year for me to realize what it is that I write about. I write about you. My readers - you live these lives I have intersected.
Re-reading words from days past are just that. Words from days past. Snapshots of the moment. But they hold the key, and have the power to turn it to open closed doors.
So in that vein, let me present a collection of collectables, in the form of written diatribes, vituperations or even the occasional philippic. Conscientiously cultivated, curiously collated, and compassionately comported.
Some ask me, “What do you write about?” I ask myself the same question. We all should. What do you write about?
I write about this
So (my editor says saying so is a big-time verbal crutch, so be it, nice to know the clinical definition of a problem) SO, as I was saying . . .
I read a lot of myself this past 3 weeks (inner self screaming for help) only to make your life easier. Thank you’s on the way out.
Life / Food + Music + Art + Craft + History = Culture (L/5e=C)
Gen X Open Letters
Vulnerability
Vulnerability: Cost-Benefit Analysis
Is The Fear of Success Holding You Back?
Intersectionality
Identity Impact on the Intersectional Interstate
Another Collision on the Intersectional Interstate
BONUS TRACK
Things Change - the Bakersfield Beat knows about change.
This collection of songs I am listening to as I write these words. Not all of my readers will like any or all of these songs. Some will like one. Some will like none. A few will like a few. All will have a dog they kick out. We have a need to say no. I say yes.
But all will listen. And all will have an opinion. And that’s all I ask. Enjoy. Or don’t.
Thank you my friends…
Ric
