According to my computer, which has been conversing with The Weather Network, the temperature in Tulsa is 79°F and the humidity is 84%. Those readings were made just before 6 a.m. In my opinion, 79°F should never be permitted this early in the day. In fact, that level of warmth should be illegal except in extremely extenuating circumstances. I recommend President Biden appoint a Climate Control Czar to establish and enforce climate and weather-related limitations. I am sure other countries that are hungry to control all aspects of humanity and civilization would happily jump on board. China, Russia, India, and Luxembourg would, no doubt, become allies in the endeavor. World peace would most certainly follow.
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Speaking of weather, today’s plans could be subject to weather-related change. The forecast calls for the development of thunderstorms this morning and again this evening, with a high temperature of 90°F. Tomorrow morning, too, as we head home, there is a risk of thunderstorms. Well, until the Climate Control Czar makes her mark on the planet’s atmospheric comfort, we’ll just have to buck up and deal with whatever Mother Nature decides to do.
There was a time, when I was much younger, during which many people carried thin plastic raincoats with them. These raincoats were extremely thin and delicate and were folded nicely in little plastic bags. In those days, when the unexpected rainstorm arose, people would pull out their little bags of rain protection and would don the sweat-inducing gear, which tended to stick to the skin at the slightest hint of bodily moisture. The plastic, astonishingly thin, would shred into wet strips of useless petroleum detritus when the wearer attempted to shed the rainwear. These emergency raincoats never lasted more than one wearing. I remember this only vaguely, but I feel sure it’s not just my imagination. I do not recall why we did not use umbrellas in those days, but my guess is that folding umbrellas had not yet been invented. Big, awkward, unwieldy sticks wrapped in water-shedding materials were just too cumbersome, hence the ubiquitous emergency raincoats. Again, if memory serves.
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According to NationalToday.com, today (July 15) is:
- National Be a Dork Day
- National Give Something Away Day
- National Pet Fire Safety Day
- National Gummi Worm Day
- National I Love Horses Day
- Saint Swithin’s Day; and
- National Clean Beauty Day
I believe every day is “be a dork day,” so I behave accordingly. Just ask my IC. As I was preparing for tomorrow’s celebratory drive home, I learned that July 16 is, among other things, Guinea Pig Appreciation Day, National Personal Chef Day, and World Snake Day. More importantly, though, tomorrow is Guru Purnima. Guru Purnima is a holiday dedicated to paying respect and expressing gratitude to one’s spiritual and academic teachers. Though predominantly celebrated by Hindus and Buddhists in Nepal and India, there is no reason to avoid celebrating here in the USA; in fact, we might be better served to celebrate Guru Purnima than National Corn Fritter Day, another of tomorrow’s special reasons to celebrate.
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My IC is adamant in her assertion that I should devote more of my time and energy to writing. Not just more of this frivolous nonsense, but more serious stuff like fiction short stories and novels. And I think she may be right. I enjoy writing fiction. In fact, I have started several novels but have finished none. Perhaps I should attempt to finish a novel or six. Maybe the one in which Fletcher Kneeblood (I’ll have to change his name, though, as it just doesn’t fit the character) is involved in responding to a plot to extort the U.S. into issuing a formal apology to the world for using nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I rather enjoyed the research I did in preparation for writing that one. As part of my research, I delved into how South Africa became the only nuclear-weapons-capable country to renounce and disable its nuclear arsenal. Does anyone else remember that? And I enjoyed writing an alternate beginning for the novel (parts of which I used in a later draft), in which the unsympathetic protagonist slept with a prostitute in a French motel, then flew Icelandair home to his girlfriend in the U.S., with a stop in Reykjavik. While on the plane, the guy hooks up with an Icelandic writer who had been in Paris tending to her dying ex-husband. I learned that Icelandair was formed in 1937; what a surprise that was (to me)!
Another just-barely-started novel, also a nuclear thriller, includes a scene in which the leaders of Canada and Mexico meet secretly to discuss how to protect themselves from the lunatic occupying the White House. During the meeting, they reveal to one another that their countries have secretly developed nuclear weapons capabilities. Their conversation continues, culminating in their interest in establishing a mutual defense agreement between their countries, China, Russia, and India.
One of those two novels, I do not recall which, includes a scene in which the voice of a Mexican mother in Nuevo Laredo, speaking by phone to her son who is in New York City, is suddenly cut off. The reason, I reveal shortly thereafter, is that a nuclear device utterly destroys both Laredo and Nuevo Laredo. That blast was a warning of what was to come.
I prefer writing that reveals characters’ personalities through their actions and words, rather than telling the reader about the characters. That takes more time than the simpler, more straightforward telling; but it’s much more interesting to the reader and it engages the reader more. But one of the problem with my writing is my philosophy that says “why limit yourself to ten words when you can say the same thing with fifty?” Another problem is that I get bored quickly and easily. Though I love to write, my love affair falls apart when I have to stick to a single story for any length of time. So I wander. And I lose interest and move on, leaving the corpses of unfinished novels strewn behind me. There are other problems, too. But I may return to that passion anyway. I have nothing to lose and much to gain (if ever I actually finish something). Maybe I should finish up a few dozen of my hundreds of short stories, first. Most of them will require only the completion of a story arc and some polishing. We shall see. Time will tell, as it always does.
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Thank you to those few blog followers who responded to my plea that you reveal yourselves to me and tell me why you follow this blog. I will try not to disappoint you in future blog posts. This one, I realize, may do just that, though. Forgive me. Sometimes I have to immerse myself in silliness just to get through emotional rough patches.
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Thus ends my mindless rambling for the day. I hope the world gets better with every passing hour.
