#uncoffeed...

I think we're going to win a third season of Netflix's MindHunter . I hope I'm right; I hope enough other people appreciate that not-quite-resolved ending. I don't mean the convenient cliffhanger. I mean the part where our society is mirrored and resolution doesn't mean resolution for everyone.  And that deep-80s soundtrack that hearkens back to my basement days. "I feel Guilt, though I know I done no wrong I feel guilt" - Marianne Faithfull This song sums up my mood at the moment.  Ghostly emotions tend to creep on the weekends. I wonder if this feeling of guilt was instilled in me by Catholicism , or if Catholicism was invented to address it? Does it have anything to do with my absent-while-present father ? Some sin for which I've been forgiven?  That nagging feeling that I've missed something crucial and thus failed in my efforts?  Why doesn't matter. Guilt is a powerful tool that's often used against us. ...

I followed my own advice:  when you don't know what to do, garden. Pulling weeds does something to clarify the bigger picture.  What keeps growing back is native; understand its purpose. Study your soil and weather - and the local wildlife - when choosing to interject a garden into what's already there. You can take risks and plant something you really like, but know that it may not survive the environment even if you dedicate yourself to protecting it. Decide which way you're gonna play this - in my opinion, there are no wrong answers. Sometimes I feel like I'm standing a planet away from what should be my peers. As a rebellious teen cliché, I gravitated toward highly intelligent people who did not hold degrees. They made sense to me, and I seemed to make sense to them. They were happy in their hippie lives, happier than I was in mine. They presented a version of stability to which I could aspire. I get very clear signals from time to time that I did ...

I took somebody's online quiz (having no faith in online quizzes but needing entertainment.)   The quiz proclaimed me INFP-T. As I read their breakdown I kept mumbling no... no...No...NO...THIS IS ALL WRONG. It's an online quiz, for cripes' sake.  But the quiz-creators take themselves relatively seriously. The Briggs-Meyers test is considered reputable to some degree.   Worse, a friend sent me a link of Quora discussions:  https://www.quora.com/What-is-it-like-to-be-an-INFP https://www.quora.com/Is-anyone-an-INFP-They-seem-very-rare https://www.quora.com/What-frustrates-people-about-INFPs  "I dunno about that infp stuff," Sharon said. "Google says infp types tend to be verbally unassertive. (I think you assert verbally, frequently)" Sharon's met me.  Jim adds: "Because you know how much more there is that you didn't assert." Yes, Jim, so much yes.  It is nice to be understood. Let's just be clear on one t...

So I've been spending a lot of time talking about myself lately, which is probably not a surprise. It's my blog, and I've been avoiding Facebook and its inherent drama, so that leaves me as my #1 topic.  Today, though, I got sucked into a good one, and I'm going to talk peripherally about Sean Carter , because he's awesome. Thank you, Sir, for keeping the faith. All Packages Matter, people. Add this to your list of causes. I lived in DC (That's short for Our Nation's Capital, #2 Black majority city after Philly) for 13.5 years. I watched my neighborhood gentrify, and as a person who started out as the minority, I can tell you I had mixed feelings. I appreciated the restaurants that popped up down the street - Red Rocks, El Chucho , and Room 11 - but I was sad to see houses emptied one by one, as the original occupants passed away and their relatives sold the houses to flippers.  Do other cities have Luxury Condos with Used Tire Mart views?  Dunno. I d...

I have That One Friend. The one nobody understands why you're friends with and sometimes you don't either.  I lie - I collect these people. If you're even reading this blog you are probably one of them (hi there.)  If I could get all of us into one party at the same time, the National Guard should be deployed to protect society from us and vice versa.  This That One Friend goes rounds with me on the topic of Religion vs. Science , my favorite thing.  It seems to be a tangent of the "You seem like a reasonable person, Y THO..." conversation, which often precedes people shaking my hand and walking away forever.  But thanks to the question resurfacing, I'm coming closer to finding words to explain my viewpoint (which hasn't wavered) and also why that one has been collected. Almost all arguments are matters of semantics.  Our current human vocabulary is insufficient to describe what our senses have identified..."sense" is one ...