The headlines from Aljazeera differ radically from those found on domestic news sites:
“In Lebanon, petrol is now priced out of reach.” “A military coup shakes up Sudan.” “Sudanese gear up for nationwide protests against military coup.” “UN renews peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara, calls for talks.”
The similarities between domestic and international sites, though? Pain. Negativity. Upsetting circumstances. It’s hard to get away from the stress of unhappy news. It’s difficult to find reasons to look favorably upon the human race and our ability to make peace or otherwise to engage in refreshing, positive behavior. Strong arguments can be made that we “need” to know about all the misfortunes that befall our species and the planet we inhabit. But equally strong arguments can be made that we need an escape from violence, fear, hatred, animosity, and anger. Yet the arguments calling for black news seem, increasingly, to be winning. For that reason, I rarely watch television news. And I try to avoid online news, though truth be told that is a hard line to hold. I suspect “bad news” has the appeal of a car wreck; it draws us in as if it had a message produced specifically for each of us. I don’t know why that is, but that’s the way it seems to me. I hate it.
On the other hand, news designed as “feel good” fodder would be equally annoying, I think. But a mix of news stories that echoes the reality of the human condition would be welcomed, I think. News that acknowledges the goodness surrounding positive human interest stories, as well as the heartache of human frailties. This morning, I would make a terrible journalist; I would lobby for good news that might change the path of humankind, giving us a reason to be positive and appreciative and grateful for the circumstances in which we live.
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Maybe the constant barrage of unpleasant news is responsible for my recent spate of less-than-positive posts. Or maybe it’s just my natural state. Whatever it is, I hope to turn that around. At least to some extent. So, I will try to avoid the negativities.
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So, one way to avoid the negativities is to relate an experience I had last night and a few minutes ago this morning. My good friend, Jim, who resides in Alexandria, Virginia, texted me the photo (to the left) last night of the twelve-and-a-half pound Prime beef brisket he bought at Costco. He knew I would be in awe of the massive chunk of high-end brisket, which is why he sent me the picture. Jim and I are brisket aficionados; we baptized my first offset smoker while we both lived in Dallas, with a monstrous Choice beef brisket (Prime was not available to the riff-raff at the time…only professionals who owned their own BBQ joints could get the good stuff). This morning, we exchanged text messages about cooking times and temperatures, then spoke by phone for a few minutes (he knows my habit of getting up very early in the morning, so a text and phone call around 5:30 in the morning is perfectly natural). Jim is smoking the brisket for a block party he and his wife are hosting this afternoon. Neighbors and friends are supplying the accouterments, such as a keg of beer. I do wish I were there! (My apologies to my vegan and vegetarian friends; I cannot help myself.)
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I vacillate. I want a lake house, but only if I can afford it. I can afford it only if I sell my present house for a significant sum of money; at least equal to what one Realtor told me my house would sell for. But I question the validity of the Realtor’s estimate. And so I vacillate. I suppose the only way to know whether I could get what the Realtor says is to put the house on the market. But, then, if it sells, I’d have to act quickly to find a place to move. And therein lies the problem. The alternatives are to play the ponies (based on extremely long odds) or buy lotto tickets or work out details of the perfect bank robbery or the perfect swindle (involving the redistribution of wealth from obscenely wealthy but awfully bad people to me). Inasmuch as I’m allergic to incarceration, the latter is out of the question. So, I stay where I am and long for a sudden windfall. There’s no windfall in the offing, so I simply stay put. Unless some other option comes along.
I like my house. But I’d like a house on a lake even more, I think. Well, the right house on the right lake. Ideally, it would be nestled in a quiet spot, with few if any close neighbors. Where is my ideal spot? I don’t know. But I’m willing to find out.
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My IC and I began watching Squid Game last night. It’s bizarre, to put it mildly. But after a couple of episodes, it started to grow on me. We’ll see if it continues to satisfy. If not (or even if it does), we might go for another series a friend recommended: Goliath. I enjoy legal dramas, so I think I’ll enjoy Goliath. Still, I have dozens of Scandinavian crime dramas and police procedurals to watch. I could happily sit in front of my television for months, I think. Except sitting in front of the television can get very old, very fast. We’ll see how it all goes.
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It’s almost 6:30. Time to stop blogging and, instead, play games of one kind or another. I need a diversion. Maybe a nice breakfast would be good.
