Ramblings of an EdMan

I called AAA this afternoon about a situation and the wait time was terrible. 

I got routed to a Maine agent twice due to my 207 area code who answered quickly. 

But then I had to deal with the Southern New England AAA office which was clearly drastically understaffed, in a meeting or having tech issues. I called for ten minutes and got hung up on. 

I tried to figure out and install the app that didn’t work and then waited for around 18 minutes still on hold while eventually going to aaa.com/roadservice. 

The service call was easy but trying to get someone was insane. I was very happy I wasn’t on the road. I’ve had AAA for 25 years and they need to do so much better. 

Listening to the insects

The cars

The birds quieting

Seeing a few less insects

The sun almost down

Setting across the valley. 

A quieter time at dusk,

Not nearly as quiet as the very early June sunrise, almost at the witching hour. 

Sometimes I wish I lived in a quieter place,

So many human sounds here. 

But it’s still nice to hear the music of dusk. 

I still love good print journalism. Highly trained professionals sometimes with a viewpoint. I actually think that can be better than “objective” journalism that often seems to involve here is one side of the story here is the other side. Which is extremely lazy and all too common. 

Unfortunately 24 hour news has become talking heads yelling to each othet rather than telling good stories. 

We do hunger for stories. 

I certainly don’t want to spend all day watching hearings. I would much rather read a trustworthy source. 

It’s sad how few of them there seem to be sometimes. 

So about a month ago, I was showing my psychiatrist my most recent Three Good Things posts. In it one of my good things was Bushmill’s which I liked to put in my coffee after work. Lots of cream, tons of cane sugar which doesn’t fully dissolve and the Bushmill’s is only a buck per 50ml in Connecticut for the last three years. 

I was probably drinking around 10 units of so of alcohol a week. Like it would take 2-3 work days to finish the Bushmill’s. Some beer, lots of small sips of alcohol but pretty much drinking every day. 

I had some to be defiant that day and then abstained until Rites of Spring and after the festival. My doctor said I could drink at the festival. His concern was my body getting a tolerance for the alcohol over time and that it can counteract my Tegretol mood stabilizer. 

It’s odd too, because I was honest that I drank. I guess he didn’t know it was most days and that I used it as a reward. 

It has been harder not to drink than I thought it would be. I would probably be drinking a Lionhead Lager right now after doing some chores before the NBA finals. 

I’m definitely going to crave beers in this heat. I would like to find some balance to drink occasionally. 

I also do worry about not drinking triggering mental health issues. Stopping very heavy drinking both ignited a manic episode for Mark Vonnegut that he talks about as part of his excellent memoir “Just Like Life Without Mental Illness Only More So”. And a suicidal depression for William Styron in his “Darkness Visible.” I do think it is making my depression harder. 

It’s something I have to contend with. I certainly have a whole lot more alcohol than I need. 

It will save me some money too. Alcohol isn’t cheap.

And I just got results for a fatty liver this week so another reason to drink less. 

I have written some poems again and I did pick up the guitar again the last couple days. Maybe I will try stringing it for a second time. The B string definitely needs a change. 

In an era that hsd a lot of isolation and boring basketball, teams like the Golden State Warriors made it fun again. 

Absolutely awesome game by Kyrie Irving and LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers still lost game 3.

Clutch shooting by Kevin Durant late and a huge disparity in three point shooting. 

I think Game 3 is about as good as the Cleveland Cavaliers can be and they still lost. 

Impressive game. I love the Warriors so happy they won. After last year it would be tempting fate to be happy to see the Cavs win. 

That was an awful lot of fun. 

Looking forward to game 4 tomorrow. 

Been just super tired all week and down. 

It’s been nice to have The French Open this fortnight. 

I keep wondering what’s next. 

I need to make the next step.

But right now I am just totally exhausted. 

A diet of cats, sports and the armchair with frequent naps. 

Hoping to get through work tomorrow. Sleeping now will probably help. 

And looking forward to watching the Warriors tomorrow after work. DVRs are a very good thing. 

It is awfully nice on your off days to be surrounded by cats. 

Lots of napping today. 

Although Lenny’s 5:45 am wake up call is why they sleep upstairs. 

I do want to sleep in some of my days off. 

It’s a bizarre world. 

You would think terrorism is the most dangerous thing ever. 

It’s incredibly sad when it happens and incredibly overcovered.

And it accomplishes the goal of terrorists to make us more fearful. 

For instance, the most recent London attack is an out of control van and some knives. 

Out of control cars kill far more then seven people each and every day.

If you find you are getting too fearful just turn it off. Giving up civil rights for “safety” is the exact wrong thing to do. 

The world is no where near as dangerous as the media makes us fear. 

Lanna, my wife, is coming back from New Orleans today. I guess there are thunderstorms in her connecting city. 

Maybe it isn’t so bad I haven’t flown in a decade. 

I know my mom has had issues on connecting flights too. 

If she did fly into NYC directly, she probably could have had a direct flight. 

Hartford is so much easier to deal with though then driving through Fairfield County, Connecticut, Westchester County, the Bronx and Queens on either 95 or the Merritt to JFK or an airport I’ve never used LaGuardia. 

At one point, Bridgeport was a regional airport, but that’s been years and years. 

What are your flight stories? 

I had plans to leave the house today, but still in a crashing mode. 

I guess I have to so I can pick up Lanna from the airport tomorrow. 

Saturdays seem to be a short day full of sleep for me.