self-doubt

Why

do you rely

on my

Time Travel

You can't fix yesterday.

You can't fix last weekend.

You can't fix five minutes ago.

You can only go forward.

 

14 types of mushroom, on rice

 The Vitamin Shop is advertising a capsule good for your immune system: 

https://www.vitaminshoppe.com/p/mushroom-immune-formula-60-vegetarian-capsules/vs-3282

It contains 14 different types of mushrooms, in a capsule that also contains "Organic Myceliated Brown Rice." I'd hate to just swallow it in a capsule. It sounds so much better as sautéed mushrooms on organic brown rice. 

Or why not market the 14-mushroom mix as a flavor enhancer that's also good for your immune system?

My robot dog

When I'm a very old lady, I would like a robot dog to follow me around. The dog will replace the cell phone. The dog will keep my tea mug. If there's tea in it, it will keep it warm. If it's empty, it will ask me what kind of tea I want. Before I go into the kitchen, I will tell it why I'm going there. It will follow and when I get to the kitchen, it will tell me why I'm there.

When I start trying to sing an old song, it will supply the music and lyrics.

When I try to remember a poem, it will look it up and correct me, quote the poem.

It will connect to IMDB or its successor, so when I'm trying to remember old movies, I can say what I remember about it, and it will provide possibilities.

I should be able to ask it historical facts too. And who's currently who in local politics.

It will recognize faces and remind me of their names.

It will generate thank you notes that I will only have to jot a few things down on, then it will add envelope, stamp, address, and mail it. Ditto for birthday cards, holidays. I'll finally be a properly polite old lady.

The robot dog will be great pals with the letter carrier.

It will vacuum the carpets and mop the floor. It will leap onto the furniture to be social, and also to vacuum or dust.

It will snuggle, be warm in the winter, and (optionally) spray me with water in the summer when we're outside. And wag its tail and bark playfully when it does so.

It may need an inside configuration to handle vacuuming and tea-warming and then easily convert to an outside configuration that's lighter and more suited to outdoors.

It will help with the gardening. It can dig. 

It will protect me in crowded city streets. It will wag its tail very swiftly as if to say, "Make way! Old lady is right behind me!" If needed, it will politely whine or woof. 

In emergencies it will directly signal ambulance, police, fire, whatever, as well as be able to call for helpful passers-by.

I'll tell it where I'm headed: It will walk ahead of me so I don't forget the way, because it has GPS.

I can even go on hiking trails and it can keep track of how fast I'm moving and give me options as to which trail to take and how soon we'd be likely to get to the end or get home depending on which route we take.

Good dog.

If Trump wins a second term...

"If Trump wins a second term, and you hear your friends or neighbors plotting a violent overthrow--"

"I'd turn them in," says my spouse without waiting for me to finish. "Once the revolution starts, it's up against the wall. Or 'It's safe to go home now'--but that's so they can find you, and take you out to the desert and shoot you."

Spouse is from Chile.

2020 Ironic Song Playlist

 It started early in the Covid-19 quarantine, with Petula Clark singing Downtown.

When you're alone and life is making you lonely
You can always go - downtown
When you've got worries, all the noise and the hurry
Seems to help, I know - downtown
Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city
Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty
How can you lose?

The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares

Lyrics 

That got sadder as stupid people really did start going back downtown without masks and making this whole thing worse.

This morning, talking about politics, my spouse quoted "an allegedly corrupt mayor" but couldn't remember the name. "Jimmy Walker?" I asked, and yes, that was it. 

I explained, "I know him from Fiorello. It was one of the albums of show tunes my mother used to play." I wondered at the disappearance of Fiorello, and remembered a Saturday Night skit when one of the characters sang a song from Fiorello - "I love a Cop". 

That goes on the 2020 Ironic Song Playlist. Though maybe only the title is ironic. The song is about falling in love with a cop who arrested you and being embarrassed to introduce him to your friends. Then again, that meet-cute scenario does seem entirely ironic in looking at the violence displayed by the cops against protesters. Don't these cops realize they're losing all hope of meeting cute? 

With two songs on the list I remembered there was a third: another ironic song I heard yesterday, but couldn't remember which. I've been letting SoundCloud play me music as I work from home. I looked through my SoundCloud history. The most likely is this one sung by Sammy Davis Jr.: 

I like the fun of reaching for a gun and going bang bang...
Cause no one,
I know,
Gets oh such a glow.
Out of bang bang!
Like me!

 Lyrics 

Triggered by an LDAP error at work, not even my problem

At what point do the complexities of technology become too much and you say, 'That's it. I'm going off to live in a yurt.'