July is a Wasted Month

Summer is riding right along and with July most of the way done I realize that it has been quite a waste of a month. Think about it: you start the month with a big cookout, or cookouts, and a spending spree on a mess of fireworks. Then there is usually a birthday or two that have some form of outside event, because it is the sunny season, and then you pace through the rest of the month trying not to spend any money or time outside. By the time August arrives, you are more than celebrating National Air Conditioning day because it is tremendously hot and your suntan is now sunburn. I know there is nothing to be done about this. We cannot just skip an entire month, but can we at least acknowledge that it is not as enjoyable as everyone makes it out to be. Let’s be honest, warm weather is nice and it makes it easier to do things outside that we couldn’t during colder seasons, but opening up our pool is not fun, it is a new chore. Next year, I fully intend to plan out my July with Spongebob’s Indoors song in mind. I also fully intend to ignore as much “traditional” July fun as possible. With the exception of ice cream. Because ice cream is great no matter what month it is. But that is just one man’s opinion. Thanks for listening to me ramble. I appreciate it. See you next time.

A Peek Behind the Curtain

Oftentimes when I am working at writing these rambles, it is not as easy as throwing an idea at the wall and then writing about it. Many times, I have to actively try to say something in these, even if all I intend to do is ramble. Most of these rambles are made even harder because talking is easy once a conversation has already started, but I purposefully have to start the conversation with an opening line. Once I get going it is easy enough to just type for a solid 5 minutes and get something down, but that start is very difficult at the best of times. The other 10% of the time I just write until I am tired of typing and then I wait a day and proofread and see if there are any improvements to be made, or if I even want to release the ramble at all. Let’s be honest, not all of them are worth reading, even if they are not necessarily supposed to be completely sensible. To be straight with everyone, I just wanted to give a glimpse into how my process works and maybe that starts a conversation about work in any form. The start, the ongoing processes that keep the work moving, and the struggle to keep coming back. The easiest part is the end. All I have to say is, “But that is just one man’s opinion. Thanks for listening to me ramble. I appreciate it. See you next time,” and I am done.

P.S. See you next time.

Billy Joel Had It Pegged Down

We are halfway done with the 1^st year of our new president and man has it been rough. Nothing he is doing seems to be on par with what needs to be done. Prices are up, moral is down, and the country in total just seems to be a more miserable place. People I know say that it is the worst it has ever been. Then like a beacon of reasoning, I heard the Billy Joel song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” and it got me thinking. If you really listen to the lyrics of that song, it has been really bad before now. The entire song is a grocery list of all the things over the years that were just not what the world needed. However, with a list that large, if we added to it, I don’t think it really would make a blip on the radar. In fact, I would say that among all the other “fires” he mentions in the song, the current run of the world would be a very small part of what is, and was, wrong. Not that I am saying we need to continue on the path we are on, but I am saying that our parents and their parents survived Billy’s song and lived to sing along to what are, for them, memories. It gives me hope that maybe one day the song will be covered by another artist who adds their own lyrics and this generation can reminisce as we sing along. But that is just one man’s opinion. Thanks for listening to me ramble. I appreciate it. See you next time.