Lit City Blues

1. This is a multi-level crisis which means you've got multiple potential points for successes and failures and depending on where you live, you're mileage may vary when it comes to finger pointing/grading. In general, I find it helps my overall anxiety level to think of it this from a local, then state, then regional, then Federal and then Global perspective. It's way too early to lock in 'final grades' on this mess yet, so whatever you do: grade on a curve.

2. Read this.  Insert [Surprised Blink Gif] and then lean back and really think about it...  I'm not sure he's entirely wrong, but it's an insight which I don't think has really occurred to anyone yet- because we're all sheltering in place and slowly going stir crazy being locked inside our houses.

3. The nature of 'work' has changed, probably forever and that's a good thing.

4. Once the dust settles, I'd be interested to see how urban planning reacts to this. The overall tr…

Howdy y'all-- so, I'm going to start keeping a running list of thoughts/links/initiatives that I've come across to kind of help get knowledge moving around out there. I'm not in Public Health. I have no secret sources of knowledge. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own...  if you know of something that I should add to my list or have some comments/thoughts you want to get out there, let me know and I'll throw 'em on the list...

1. In general, I am taking the attitude of "it's already here" and acting accordingly. Plan. Plan. Plan. Don't wait for confirmed cases or for the government to tell you what to do. Educate yourselves, make informed decisions for yourselves and make a plan for yourselves. We've cleared the decks for the rest of the month in terms of non-essential appointments for the kiddos and we got an extra thing of TP, 200 bucks of groceries and are preparing to hunker down and get into "work or home" mode for …

Well, I did it.  I finished The Office.

The Office had eluded me for years. It was one of those shows that I couldn't quite get into-- I tried a few times and just sort of petered out after half a season or so. I started fresh this time and stuck with it- and honestly, once you break through that first season or so, it's smooth sailing- especially once you get into the Jim and Pam of it all. And honestly, at this point I've seen so many GIF/memes and references to it online, it sort of felt incumbent upon me to actually sit down and watch the show, if for no other reason than to finally understand all the references for once.

I think the thing that blocked me the most was Michael Scott (Steve Carrell), especially in the early going. At first, he just seemed like an incompetent dick of a boss, who was so massive oblivious to modern workplace etiquette that you just thought there could be no possible way he would last in that position for as long as he had up until the show …

Look, I'm a dude and if you're still processing the fact that five women have dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination and the sixth is technically still running but facing what I imagine to be really, really shitty math and don't want to hear from a dude right now- I get that. Don't read this post. Come back in a week or two and it'll still be here, I promise.

But here's the thing: I have not (as of yet) been blessed with a daughter, but I do have four nieces and the sackcloth and ashes routine that's going on in the wake of Elizabeth Warren's exit from the Presidential race is starting to piss me off a little bit. This:

Rachel @Maddow to @ewarren on her dropping out: “Feels a little bit like a death knell in terms of the prospects of having a woman president in our lifetimes." pic.twitter.com/uFIE8J4mfT — Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) March 6, 2020 ...is starting to piss mee off a little bit. Articles like these are starting to piss me…

Watched On: Redbox
Released: 2019
Directed By: Paul Feig
Starring: Emilia Clarke, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Emma Thompson, Boris Isakovic
Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer 46%, Audience Score 81%
Pick: The Missus'

Because we're parents, the Missus and I get to see many trailers for many movies that we say, "Oh man, we should go see that one" and that inevitably never happens, because life and kids. Occasionally, we'll get back around to one of them usually courtesy of Redbox or a streaming service- and Last Christmas turned out to be one of those movies.

The movie opens with Kate (Emilia Clarke) heading to her job as an Elf at an all-year Christmas shop in central London. The owner (Michelle Yeoh) calls herself Santa. She's also currently homeless having been thrown out by her flatmate. While at work, she notices a man outside the shop staring upwards- she talks to him and finds out his name is Tom. (Henry Golding)

After an unsuccessful audition, Kate sees Tom agai…

Well, this is a pleasant surprise to start the week with!

https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/fce1ut/ot_spotlight_litcityblues/

If you followed the link over here, welcome! It's a general mish-mash of all kinds of things that rattle around my brain-- in terms of writing related things--

I've got books out there in the world! My first two 'babies' are:

The Prisoner And The Assassin

The Arrows of Defiance

Just e-books for now, I want to get them back as print on demand paperbacks sometime this year.  Also, my third book The Last President is getting close to the finish line and I hope to have that out later this year.

Hey, did you like my response to this writing prompt? Lots of people told me I should write more of it-- and I've been trying to listen and figure out how and then I found out about r/redditserials, so expect The Adventures of Preston and Lark to pop up there sometime in the next couple of month- maybe even this month if I can get my act toget…