Viral Vicissitudes

Human Resources, Hidden Figures: Over and Under   Overworked, Unseen, Underappreciated: The original Hollywood presentation of "Hidden Figures" (2016) revealed that, among a legion of people it takes to successfully launch a 'manned' space-ship are several who remain unseen to the naked eye, behind the scenes, underappreciated; nonetheless critical to the mission. Such as some African American female mathematicians, who themselves did not seek the limelight but eventually found themselves on the big screen in front of millions (among which was Katherine Johnson, who passed from us in 2020 at the age of 101; incredibly intelligent, humble to the end). The film helped to not only expose and counter some long held stereotypes, as well as became a conversation starter regarding others who might also, while unseen, are critical to any given cause, who work tirelessly on behalf of a mission, on our behalf. In the past few years, in the COVID context, a lot has been written ...

A Stellar Presentation: "Look up Above!" Plentiful Planetary Platitudes "Welcome to the Show!" This warm welcome, preceded by "...whether you are just getting up, or preparing to go to bed..." A subtle reference to this weeknight radio talk show being aired when most of U.S. are in slumber. Who might otherwise miss out on "fresh" news...as well as some amazing sights unseen by those who are engaged in 'shuteye'... "When the sun comes up..." is usually followed, in conversation with two young grandsons, by "the moon and stars go down" 😄. This was also the response of the one who was a good sport to get up with his mother yesterday, pre-dawn, to join me in viewing the stellar presentation, a planetary alignment which apparently, according to more expert star gazers, hasn't been seen by our naked eyes around these parts since 2004, and won't be exposed to us again for another eighteen years, at least not quite th...

Polar Opposites, Off-Putting: "Goldilocks" meets "Inside Out" Above and Below, Over, Under: As in the types of emotions, 'character' traits that, while deserving, were not mentioned, 'uncovered', the ones that go beyond the main 5 characters we could all relate to, in one way or another, in the 2015 Pixar presentation of "Inside Out" which depicted, in part, what happens when our emotions are aligned on our behalf, which may in turn benefit those around us, as well as when they get a bit misaligned, or at least mis-applied, when the extremes of any particular emotion (aka feeling) are unleashed, undirected, take over, eventuate in us acting out of character... Exception to "Everything": As in "To everything there is a season..." Or, in this case, "for every character trait a reason..." OK, I get the indications, the call for, Anger, Disgust, Fear, Joy, and Sadness (presented in alphabetical order so as to not s...

Re: Alignment - Catching, Catching Up with Values, and Character(s) Spring Gleaning: Well, its' too late now for actual spring cleaning, the stuff you said you would do but didn't get around to pre-solstice, given that summer officially arrived around here about an hour ago. I was at least able to glean this from the solstice well-wishers from across the pond, listening to BBC a few hours ago, followed by a glance at the pre-dawn sky, an amazing photo op depicting (I say "depicting" as it almost seemed photo shopped given how vivid it was) a half moon accompanied by Jupiter (it was like I could reach out and...). This, after the meteorological prognosticator on the past full day of spring predicted temps that at least matched if not eclipsed the prior record😓. This in turn followed a local road report comparing Guinness worthy potholes, which were finally getting filled in ("...so, it's safe to get that realignment now, if you haven't done so already......

Celebrating Celebrations: The Return of "It's Party Time!" Celebrants, Accelerants... As in having to accelerate the rate with which we acknowledge certain milestone events, ranging from births to deaths, from weddings to funerals, including...all those that have necessarily been put on hold, deferred, postponed, or even "cancelled" altogether, while we haven't been -- together, that is. So many and so often throughout the past two years, during which I wrote to you 370 times here in an attempt to divert attention, sustain hope, and aspirations, to once again return to casually as well as in more formal attire, acknowledge those important milestone moments in our individual and collective lives. As we observe and more directly participate in such events, we may find ourselves trying to play catch-up, having to ramp up our rate of participation, partying...suddenly having to respond to more "RSVP's" or cleaning with a frenzy in order to host an ...

Soggy Bloggy: "You're All wet!" - Re: Credibility...In's and Out's. "That's just so..." Believable...Unbelievable. The whole gamut of experience and those that are the issuers, the receivers. That is, those who we find "credible" (i.e., "believable"), those of us who are more "credulous" (i.e., having or showing too great a readiness to believe things) and the ones who were either born or who eventually became more "incredulous". We can all relate and are best served when we actively think and pursue info to either support or refute things we are told, more often when we are being "sold". Like adding a mere few trillions in spending that we (as millions of taxpayers don't really have in the bank) won't adversely affect the economy...Many of us rushed to either spend or deposit checks we received several months ago, barely questioning where all this 'Monopoly money' materialized from, a...

Re: The Title - Re-Purpose, Resign, then Re-Sign... Once Again: Allow me to re-iterate...as I indicated a few days ago, after resigning (s sounds a bit like z here) from this blog (as in "I didn't sign up for this" overheard from many 'frontliners' the past few years and in my household after viewing the most recent credit card statement), I found myself casually looking back at a few posts as well as "stats", compelling me to re-start (i.e., "re-sign", even in the absence of a signing bonus) writing here at (semi?)-regular intervals (perhaps not quite as frequently as I am determined not to abandon, defer the other noted writing I am invested in). Initially intended to cover a variety of lighter topics ("re-purposing"). My reverie took me in part to the incredible frequency with which I, myself have utilized the "Re:" in letters, reports, and in e-mails the past several years, as well as the vastness of the prefix "Re...

RE: Re-/Pre-...Reprise, Reappraisal: "The Great Frame-Up!" 10K and counting...On You. Hear and Now: Now that you've had a chance to cleanse your viral palate, clear your mind, rid yourself of any remnants, resonance of "Viral Vicissitudes" (will we ever really be done with this or, better put, will this virus and its now countless iterations, ever be done with us?)...As for me, I know, upon reflection, that, like you, I've had many "I'm so @#&*?$ done with this..." (see 8-8-21 post) moments throughout the two years commencing about March, 2020, when we as a nation started seriously counting COVID numbers, and a few months prior to me starting to formally write about 'It' as a topic... Before, After, Pre-Post: And after I had sworn off writing about this dreadful topic, blogging, with a corresponding commitment to myself, self-stated determination, to re turn to writing the book (now expanded to two, plus  a short story, at least con...