It's Facebook's Fault

Yeah, yeah.  I know ... it's been since like *August* that I've put anything down here.  The only reason (read: "excuse") I can give you is:  "I haven't been in the mood."

But, I will admit, I have - like everyone else - been spoiled by The Book of Face ... because it's too easy to put stuff there (like this bit I posted about a goofy guy on my ride to work a few weeks back):

"SIGNS" 
(November 30th, 2018 - 0539)

This morning as I boarded the shuttle between Metro-stations (the train isn't running for part of the journey to work as they repair a bridge for the past week and over the next, so I get to ride a bus in the mornings, just like when I was 6):

Guy on Shuttle: "Hey. They put those signs up for a reason."

John on Shuttle: (I wasn't sure if he was talking to me) "I'm sorry?"

Guy on Shuttle: "They put those signs up there for a reason!"

John on Shuttle: "Which one? The 'No Talking to the Driver' sign?" There are actually 4 or 5 signs posted at the front of most of the shuttles ... it was a legitimate question.

Guy on Shuttle: (pointing) "No. 'No coffee.'"

John on Shuttle: (while looking) "I don't see a 'No Coffee' sign."

Looking again and feigning severe confusion, I noted that the sign actually read 'No smoking/eating/drinking' and, in pictures: something like 'No cigarettes, putting unidentifiable things in your mouth, or big tea-cups on saucers with hot stuff in them.'

Guy on Shuttle: "It's right there, see?" He likes to point apparently. He was still pointing at the sign very smartly.

John on Shuttle: "Oh!" I said, "No 'drinking!' Thanks! But I'm not 'drinking,' I'm 'holding!'"

I proudly showed him my holiday-design Starbucks cup with the little spill-stopper in place that every stylish commuter sports.

"But thank you for pointing that out," I said.

I may have feigned a smile a little too obviously. Maybe. Later in the morning, a friend suggested that I should have explained to the guy that you can't drink hot coffee, you have to sip it ... but hey, in my defense: it was too early to think of good stuff like that.

Guy on Shuttle: "You were *drinking!*" He was pointing again, but now both at the sign and me in turns. He really was a good pointer.

Shuttle Driver: "Please be quiet sir."

Guy on Shuttle: "He's drinking coffee!" This time he's pointing at me like he was 8 and we were on the bus to school.

Shuttle Driver: (The driver is now pointing to his own sign!) "No Talking to the Driver, please sir. We put those signs up for a reason."

Guy on Shuttle: (Muttering to himself after glancing at me, dropping his line of sight and turning to stare out his window) "You *were* drinking ... ". He whispered it in a grumbly sort of hiss as a sort of last stand in defiance of authority but support for "The sign" and what he so deeply believed to be truth, justice, and whatnot but, a stance only appreciated by him as he pulled his little wheeled suitcase intended for airports but too big for storage in an overhead compartment on the average plane that he uses for his daily carry-everything-he-considers-important-to-work-buggy closer to his chest, putting wheel marks on his shirt as he hugged it and getting something like grease from the wheels and axles on the front of his pants.

Yep ... that was my 0540'ish this morning - and w/out coffee yet!

JM(M)

The Thumper Theory

Use of double-negatives aside, I don't think many people have this "theory" in mind so much anymore, let alone use it on a daily basis:

With various perceived new evils running amok of late, there is a resurgence of the idea that "silence is acceptance" or something like that.  It seems the thought is now widely held that something must be said to the face of unjust ideology or wrongful speech, etc. 

Personally, I like Thumper's lesson taught to him by his Daddy that morning, but I have also always liked the passive-agressive way some folks from America's 'South' put it:  "Bless your heart."

If you hear or see someone say or do something that, in your opinion, rrrrrrrreally needs to be ... corrected ... rather than 'saying nothing at all' or saying something to someone that may hurt their feelings or otherwise offend or cause further unpleasantness, simply say (with a smile): 

"Bless your heart."

- JMM

Happy 4th of July ...

Half digital, half analog ... and half Facebook.  Maybe some Twitter for sound effects.

Why didn't you TELL me?!

I really should post more often to this blog.  It's the handwritten journals gettin' all the action, dawg.   Do not fear.  I will make sure it's all made clear --  both in the book and hopefully also in the movie, m'dear.

- JM(M) -

1st Run-on Sentence for 2018

"It can be a difficult undertaking to post content to one's blog if the writer has good reason to believe that his content would create concern in, if not offend, the minds of specific people who have the ability to make the writer's life difficult because those specific people, unfortunately, are aware of the blog's existence." -- Smart Blogger