Viral Vicissitudes

An assay on SA (“make it a double”😉) Together, they add up to lots of be awareness  Selfie and Situational… as in YOU and all about, around you. Just how well… do you THINK you know yourself and did you even notice ANYTHING different about ME? A deliberate double take… to think twice, take a good look around you rather than in the… Mirror, Mere… just imagine what you’d be capable of if you took yourself off social media for a few minutes and engaged real people, outside your “followers” - might actually develop some social skills... Pre-screaming... want to see something REALLY scary, you'll have to puy down that device, look up and see... the skies are clear, as even the witches fear, to fly without the aid of air traffic controllers...."nothing's brewing - knock knock...Boo, a skeletal crew, that’s who?!"😱  Pre-fright sound check... as in come back for the second half of this double creature feature: "lend me your ear, Buds" "   

Left over, rumbling stomach reminder… Unanswered Question… one that I was presented with, relatively speaking (the only one I am aware of in that state😍)…both upon arrival, and upon departure… Red or… a question we all have been confronted with, about this time of year, when we are presented with, what’s oft referred to as a ‘forced choice’ but one I have come to call… High bread… which, in our home state, more frequently termed flat…rather than the tortilla type, they spread everything on, down in NM…and where, I learned, to quickly pivot… Red, Green, or… a bit of both…as in Christmas presentation… One question you never ask is… Weather… it’s going to be sunny or cloudy as the only thing that counts is that it’s “Chile every day” as in green when immature then growing to different shades of red, you can see hanging in bunches around the adobes (that we call abodes up here)… So, you think you can stomach it? That, at least, should  be the question...

New Mexico food for thought confusion One more SW out-posting… For starters- down here, or is it up? As in is it really New, or borrowed from south of the border, towns (e.g., “Pueblos” and their earlier inhabitants that were indigenous to the region). Santa Fe, for example, used to be a whole territory and now look at it…very arts and… High-bread… as in over 80% is over 4,000 feet above sea level…speaking of seeing any - water that is… A river runs through it… as it’s a Grande affair in the city of Albuquerque, where the Rio Grande, while running north/south divides east/west - quite a mesa… Inspiration over perspiration nation… one of the few places on earth that waking up to a dry bed, is cause for dread… My out-take… definitely worth a visit and great place to explore -  just don’t expect many…showers🌵

“Cha Ching!” the times, they keep… “Soon, very soon…”  they, the student athletes (along with their staff to keep them company) can    literally bet on it, that the one thing that will keep changing, even if the student athletes, most of whom are still minors, once the time change has arrived, can bet their full allowance on major league sports… Timing is… off, according to at least one college coach, trying his best to spare his athletes the likelihood of asking their teammates for spare change…this, coinciding with the NBA for calling “foul!” on several players and coaches…and full implementation just one day prior to “Daylight Saving Time” going bye bye… “Spare Me!”   Call me “out!” for being a cynic but given the recent trend$$$ in both collegiate and professional sports…gambling, the amount of spare change, changing hands, I’ll bet you double or nothing that the  “No Change At All” officials will not reverse the “ruling off the field” 😩

Roll playing… PT with my PT… “Weight, your turn!”  Sounds like charge of a Sarge… “ Drill, baby drill!” Can get pretty repetitious…”until it becomes part of your muscle memory!”  “Spot on!” This from my personal spotter, always looking over me… “Burn, baby burn!” Calling out, each and every calorie, in a nicely spaced out cadence…”Two thousand and one…” “Get rolling!” Commonly overheard during my Physical Training session, from multiple Personal Trainers, a curious exhortation to go nowhere fast…given the stationary nature of the transports… Not got you charged up yet…? “Your turn to PayPal!”

Life in the ditch, can be a real… Vixen… sounding off, as she’s the alpha female of the pack, oft referred to here, in the dry river bed as “sound dogs”…(sounds like dogs to me but turns out to be a pack, of coyotes)  An arroyo flush… can’t be far behind-hind, which will have them howling, whereas… Too much rain… Arroyo pain… Waste deep… “I’ve had it up to hear..” It takes a while to get used to listening to lectures about water and  its weighs, being a native of the Great Lakes…kind of like the most famous of male of his species, always playing second to the Road Runner…another prized possession in this part of NM.  Leaves me…thirsting for more, sights, sounds of the SW.

JD, in ad-Vance Pardon me… but it doesn’t  quite work that way, Mr. Vice President, as you have to first establish residency, then pass the bar exam…then and only then can we award you the Juris Doctorate… Copy that… ok, that we can do…forward you an advance copy that you wrote a forward for (“Dawn’s Early Light” by Kevin Robert’s), on behalf of the architect of Project 2025 (curiously postponed until election results came to light) speaking of… Projections… as in plenty of advance notice that you are likely the front runner, aka the  “presumptive nominee” for 2028… Advancing the cause… as in sending the VP to the front, as in the Middle East, a noble gesture from another potential (Nobel) nominee… Veep Creep:  the new term that reflects the increased exposure and rise to prominence, which he views quite literary,  as a climb out of Appalachia…which, in case you didn’t read it (“Hillbilly Elegy”), some extra copies are always on hand… (Given just a few minutes n...

Booths busting with broadcasters    At the seams…which seems only appropriate  Seemless transition in many cases…of coaches and players, looking to argue off the field, to augment their salaries by calling out coaches and players…from a safe distance… Pressed box… which is apropos to the (box) scores, that they seem to think you can’t manage on your own… SRO, due to the old saying that when a door is closed…better look through the window…of opportunity, that is… The growing business of getting into ours, of providing every possible angle on every single play… Called “Media Guides”- which turn out to be the biggest cheat sheets in the game, given the volume of information they contain of players, numbers, stats that they seem to call up verbatim - now available to “every fan…and even what all parents need to know about their favorite….”  Expert viewing from above to those lowly… on, and off the field, including your home turf. Now even parenting is  accompanied b...

Read it and reap… “ Won Mississippi…” “Two Mich-i-ganders…” M-I-SS-I-PP-aye - spell it out and make sure you don’t miss a syllable or phoneme… Trading place…values - whereas Mississippi ranks highest for reading improvement our home state is simply (sound it out) “rank” 😫. Speaking of… Sounding out…each syllable in order to be phonetically correct, a return to what, in all worlds of words scientific, referred to as “evidenced based” that took what started out as a science project, and pro-pelled them to being at close the front of the class, nation wide, leaving us up here simply wide open to criticism for leaving all those students behind that recent fore-ayes into literal fantasy as it comes  to literacy, turned our two states… Upside Down…as in next time we, now all groan up, use the  old “count to three Mississippi’s” before rushing the passer while playing “a game of touch” will think twice as in pause to sound out each and ev-er-ee… (Spoiled sport alert- We’ve seen Stra...

Undermining, the Gold standard Upper crusters - what used to be called “golden oldies” but ironically not where the purest gold is found… Something fishy - as in the golden nuggets the owner of “Tish” must have issued - the Guinness record holder as the longest living goldfish, passing on at the tender age of 43 years…giving rise to the golden oldie, “tish tish…”  Dime a dozen - well, close enough, when you divide the number of goldfish in the snack bag by the total cost…there’s now a whole section in our local grocery devoted to them…talk about flooding the marketplace… Major Meltdown - chain reaction to all the melting down of the gold chains stolen from the Parisian marketplace…now we’re talking inside trading…to drive the price down… “Hi ho Silver!” Another mine grabber 

We’ve groaned, accustomed to this routine… Game day conditions: “Work slow downs…forward momentum stopped”  “NO passing zones…ground under attack, man against man...defense” Post game show, keys to the game: “Valet doing a ballet move…what’s called a quick opener…and a smooth handoff” My choice for MVP…the parking lot attendant, tips me off... “Please drive home defensively…it’s going to be a quick turnaround, need you back here next week” Why they're called the No Fun Lane, while we’re referred to as the Motor City  ( additional home groan signs that you've come to the right place..."Home of the Pistons, and the Winged Wheelers, known to out-of-townies as simply the Red Wings...and for road side assistance, in nearby Fraser, conveniently located at Belle Tire, the former home of the Motor City Mechanics...who have long since re-tired…”) 

Scene Enuff? Restoring Order Undercovered… so you can’t be blamed if you missed it, given our own pressing matters… a lack of coverage is what I’m talking about… Inflatables… at least they appear to be, as in larger than life…the cast of HUGE characters, complete with jelly bellies… Ground breaking… at least it was shaking with all the foot stomping, which sends shudders throughout the palace... Mi casa es su casa… a common saying, even north of the border, to reflect the generosity of the host, which could easily result in getting eaten out of your house and home…we're talking Ozempic sized appetites... Royalties expected … but today we’re all what the Brits call commoners, as in who’s in the audience, who all come curious, to see just how many holes it will take to fill the Albert Hall… more like filling the holes left behind, given the size of theirs… “ A Day in the Life ”🎶 of a Sumo wrestler, a few of which showed themselves proudly on Brit soil for the first time since 1991…a...

“We’ve come a long way, baby!” (May be…?) From Virginia Slims… “Smoke ‘em if you’ve got ‘em…no more reason to hide…” Which made Virginia thinner, tobacco companies came out the winner.. “Play Misty for Me…” No, please don’t, as the air is so thick with it, it’s making my eyes…” Only a rumor that Phillip Morris and friends, transferred some funds to Alcon,  "Systaning relief" - given the rise in dry, itchy, irritated eyes, and such... But wipe away your tears... No more smoking… “We just be toking, down on electric avenue…” e-cigs have come, to replace the ones that emitted smoke butt, in doing so, may have inadvertently admitted, the "yutes" among us, looking for something, or even too...  "ACE is the place..." Where you can find "Weed and Feed" not only under the same roof, but one neatly arranged pile...don't need to go far, to satisfy your cravings...  Pleasant after affects… Turns out that, while cigarette paper takes a long time to break...

Open Enrollment, and your Crayola box Full body work out...  in an adult coloring book... Color me Blue... me too, given the skyrocketing premiums announced by what are called, The Blues (make sure you completely color, stay in between the lines, of both the cross and shield)  Don't leave no body on Red... after so many have fled, seeking cover from other health insurers, promising... Mellow yellow... not so mellow after all, as along with red, can leave the person with dread (given their strong association with stuff that leaks, reeks) But blue plus yellow, especially mellow... the color of grass, no longer for medicinal use only... Taking a bruising... our household budget, in order to pay for the rise in health care costs. And the color purple that signifies what's left, after Meta-care, pays their share...(this crayon could end up being a blunt instrument) 

A mighty fine brine...is back in season Turn up the (Canned) Heat…  In-Sterno! Talking about a red October...(and how "Canned Heat" acquired its name, out of desperation)... Come a long way, baby (maybe, maybe...) From Virgina Slims to things that, if you consume too much, can make things grim..."look in the mirror" Red or white... Which "scientific finding" is right?  What gets you up... If you take too much, or run out, can be a real downer...as in withdrawals ("too much of a good thing..." and all that) Canning  Is an age-old, safe way to store, preserve food stuff for the future, whereas tanning, which amps up in the winter months, shows itself in later years, turns out that tanning your own hide, may not be the most effective method for hiding wrinkles later on...

Mock draft, trials, and tributes. Donald on the dais... "Please tell a prompter, I don't need it…as I operate best without notes, being the extemporaneous extraordinaire...some call it going off script but if you don't have notes in the first place..."   Ill feted… from the one voice of the opposition- “P-s-s-st…you’re about to hear things go from bad, to terse…” Mock and awe... in reverse..."Nice place you got here...now hear this...you need to grant him a pardon...this fine fellow felon. OK, now I can get back to making peace with my own House..."  SNL SOL... " NOW  how are we going to mock him, this coming week, after coming back as the presumptive nominee...Peace Prize?!" 

Three cheers, for elephant ears!  Easier... to track all those ear mark funds and their appropriations, buy committee... Make room... after the appetizer, for the main course of Pulled Pork projects, only temporarily pulled off the table, until this House opens back up... Sure shooting ... can't keep us out for long, then it will be like shooting fish, in a barrel... Surf and turf... can't have one without the other...all those turf management projections, AKA farm subsidies prepped for planting..."my cattle have futures!"  Pet projects pending...  so many that even RFK had to get into the act..."The one and only time I'll authorize a PET scan"  Next Presidential Post: "Donald on the dais...extemporare extraordinaire!"     

Trump it Involuntary Horns honking...  almost reflexively, in reaction to the announcement, both inside and out, sounding the arrival. Soon joined by other instruments and voices that were instrumental, beyond the one who, never shy about tooting his own horn, pointed out, some that those in the room would not even think about playing with, let alone orchestrating such an accord. Lots of key players, banding together. Plus twenty parts, to obtain such harmony. That's a lot of parts. Well, no one ever said such an arrangement would be easy to orchestrate. Let alone keep the band together. But, if any one person is capable of such a thing...   

Wind swept nations... War torn for decades... Now having to endure... Heavens storming with prayers... Going up from the rest of the world... That gentler Gulf breezes will finally prevail...  

From Fickle Fandom out-post… Time to carry on... The time has passed... "We've got to move past it,...get a move on...after taking a licking, licking our wounds..." Take a quick flight back east (see where the "carry on" comes in?)  Back to where the "no passing zones" (no wonder our offense stalled out)...  Give way to, what's called in another venue, fast passing lanes, first down gains... Time to join in the chorus...  Here come the jersey boys, girls... announcing the old (Karas, Sanders...), the ones we barely knew (vintage 1957😃😡✌🤞)... Return of the Lion King thing  

Almost p-r-r-r-fect - Cat calls From a steady diet... "Let's go Tigers, you're the best, of the east, and the west" (while most of us stayed back, in what's temporarily known around most of the mid-west as EDT) You're g-r-r-r eat... ish, at they slid into second....place. This, following taking what's known around the MLB as a lead-off...first, most frequently covered by the pitcher and the announcer, and what may call for a "pitch out play" Throwing a lot of pitchers at the other team is part of what we've been known for... Here, kitty kitty... Came the cat calls, from those way out there, known in most ball parks as "bleacher bums" who, despite paying lower prices, see it a rite, to not only tease our home team, but throw what's been more occasional, in the late season, "home run balls" littering our own field... Calling them back... After straying a bit, as in being in what's known in baseball at all levels, as ...

"You be da judge...due diligence dudes!" Only matter of time...  that a test case of the NIL cache (as in hidden cash, valuables that have been stored up for later use, by those who are the eventual recipients of this treasure trove of money being paid to younger and younger athletes) makes its way up, to the highest court in the land, while the so-called "supreme influencers" come out younger and more creative... Mani-fold, so I'm told...  by one who has been so inclined from the start, given that they asked, while everyone else their age asked for frivolous stuff for birthdays and Christmas, our aspirant listed one and only one thing, repeatedly..."I need a robe and like Mr. Ford I'll remind you, you can order it any color, as long as it's black; any other gets sent back"  Justice league... combining forces with what’s been known as the “Junior League” —   they’re getting younger, wiser, and wealthier, these junior supreme court justices, aft...

“Take a knee” is back, in season... Along with an elbow to the "gut!" …a leg whip. and over the shoulder catch… call out to Yoga instructors  You get the vibe… it's game day! every day Having a field day… as in an ortho-pedics dream come true And the year has just kicked off… Started on a tear… as in "run for it! which can result in muscle tear without proper warmup  Now, good time and place for a "straight arm" ...as well as the cold shoulder routine, which could call for the services of the social worker on site Finally, to finish it off...  Give it a good swift kick... on behalf of the podiatrists, along with their special shoe...sponsors "Remember, there's no eye in Team" ...OK, but there is still a call for safety glasses, the new "must have" this fall -- hence the optometry stand, by every door, now called a "kiosk"  A specialist for every specialty, out on the Field of Screams... "We're not talking about the...

Bad Bunny. not so funny - comedic double crossings    "A bad rap" - is more like it. "They just don't get my art, not cultured enough to see the humor in the lyrics" Quixotic - a word that comes to mind whenever I hear a budding class comedian, think the rest of the class, let alone the adult in the room, will appreciate their humor..."exceedingly unrealistic, impractical..." Among other shortcomings...and goings...(“standing in quicksand is more like it…I’m dying up here, last man standing, can’t you just give me a hand …👏?!”) South of the border - and feeling a bit disoriented (as in Time, Place, Person…critical for comedic characters) one of the American comedians on the Saudi scene, made what he thought was both humorous and diplomatic gesture…offering a “sheikh peak”…and he thought censors here were harsh... Super bowl affect - in the world of resolutions, the amount of time it takes for the average one to expire. A whole other double meaning in...

Loost in translation, disemvoweled… How in the ‘el… do we expect to communicate with dem, over dare, while we can’t even understand our own, regional dialects…"sondwhich" for example... Crossing  Consonants… continents, if you prefer. Where, due to crossing tine zoons, you’ll find yourself a bit off "shedule" (the first indication you're in foreign land). They say that us Midwesterners have made bland, out brand (lacking any accent “et all”). But it’s what, on our side of the pond, is what those reporting the evening news, aim for...am I rawt? Brit Lit… a common subject within what’s termed in our “common core” as English Language Arts…”for old farts” in terms of the satire and otherwise experienced as British (old world) humor… More or less … a study in contrasts. While we here try to make a big deal of what they’ve hysterically been experiencing for centuries and thus, a bit desensitized. Case in point…”due to the financial crisis the President is calling for ...

October festing -  best get some rest...for the hunt. The reason, for the season... at least in what's redundantly, abundantly, resplendent..."Up, North"  Before the real begging at the end of this long month, we up here beg... "So, how do you like them apples?" Just a few months after cheering ourselves for being the cherry capital...at least as far as naming the airport, in what's up here, casually referred to as ..."See you, in TC"... Making the great lakes, greater... "See you later, freighter..." Well, not literally, as in waving good-bye, to all the huge ships that ship stuff to and from, using our water weighs -- the latter reflected by watching them go up and down in what we simply, the smug among us, "The Soos" -- now featuring kegs and casks, as in not only all those crafty beers that are made just about everywhere, but local whites and, of course, reds, from local vineyards..."dotting the lower and upper...penins...

Monarchies, and their patterns of mass, migration   Insectuos - In the world of insects, the study of which is called "entomology" which is often confused with that of the world of words, the shortened version, "etymology" there exists plenty of evidence that they were doing it before we did...what has, throughout the history of 'mankind', hasn't always been so...as in the process of colonization...whereas in the "Good News for Modern Man" - the English translation of the Bible, that was first published in 1966...talks about going out and ..."talking to all people everywhere and make them my disciples..." And who better to... Minister - To follow who, among other acts of ministry, was seen as "Great Healer". Heretofore not imaginable, that one in the form of a woman would take the reigns of the Church of England, would come to assist the healing of the divisions within the Church. In the Bible, Sarah played an integral part ...

Coming to terms - "It's come to this, boomer, you're far out, man" 😎😕 The dating world... As in how to...show you're not, dated. "You're leading me on..." to "getting bread crumbed" Turns out crummy, either way. "A bit overboard..." "Love bombing..." Turns out to be a bummer, after all is said, done. "You think you've   got problems?!" We're talking "Trauma dumping!" Leaves one feeling, down, in the dumps.  Taking them down, a notch... (de)throning, great for the narcissists among us...whereas "throning" itself can take them off, mislead, as dating only by "association"...(confused?) Throning them off the hunt (close enough), has always been part of the cat and mouse, dating game...  The coast is clear... while "Ghosting" as currently conceived, has been around a long time as seen in the old "cold shoulder" routine, the current gens have taken on the n...

A Swift kick, up-date on reproduction  From what I could make out…  As we were too busy ‘fooling around’ in health class… Presentation: “Prior plentiful (parenthood) planning” “While candy is dandy… and liquor quicker.. Malt is even thicker…”  Even before foreplay, as in k-i-s-s-i-n-g… Learned the value of attending mixers…where we could mix, match, get fixed up… Graduating, in due course, to the kissing booth… Butt, what about even those with star ‘player’ quality, who are a bit slow in putting the moves on… “ Now we’re talking about a cruel summer…” Familiar ring tone? Yet another re-mix from her newest re-lease... “Taylor and her Travis-tee”

Signs of things to come - spending bill boreds Signmakers dreams (and their interpretation)   “Making scents on someone else’s dime” Perfume industry mark-ups, the hole packaging industry... “Is there a proctor, in the House?” Going to need some extras on hand, given all the "means testing" and other determinants of benefits, likely to be terminated... “Paper or plastique?” What was strewn about the House floor...shredded bills, and the ones who blew them up... Great Gape exhibit... The gaping hole in the field of anthropology, zoology, primatology, and every other type of other topology that Jane left behind... Sign up and drive: Make weigh! for Professional Toe Truckers... both the light, heavy duty types, given all the duties being passed, sore feet, Congress stalling out… Thank Heaven for 7/11… no more of the five and dime even Dollar General crap…"Going to need a bigger sign" due to the new rates of inflation, size of these bills... House Broken, in Jeopardy:.....

A Natural Outcome, Growth Curves Economic Fore-casts… “No time for what used to be called foreplay…”  Guv.shutdown…  Looming, followed in kind, as in about nine months, give or take a few hours for those who are in the biz of predicting DOB's... Birth rates…  Booming! Which tends to happen each time there’s a sudden shutdown…as in public servants, having to burn off, the midnight oil... Hunt for Red October… make weigh for Octoberfest! (back in the black, ink)  Over the hump… saved, once again, by the baby bump! (Only a coincidence it’s aligned with this being a Wednesday)