Can I exit out that door?

 After days of stress, I've allowed myself some space to lean back and...observe internally?  

1. Supply chains have fixed themselves.

I know that it's a long road back, but there are many simple pleasures that I wasn't aware made a large impact in my life.  These were used as a rightful excuse a year ago, and while I should still be aware of it now, I won't have it.  The distress began over the summer when Pacifico in cans disappeared.  Yeah, look, when it's hot and I'm starting to get a little hazy, I don't trust myself when I'm outside on the patio.  It eventually returned.  Same, it seems, as my favorite iced tea, which I down like an addict.  And I admit as much: it helps me reduce my alcohol intake, refreshes, and generally gives me the vibe of a pleasant afternoon DJ.  (Or so I've been told)  I get em by the case and don't give a fuck.  Then, one day, it was gone.  All of it.  The magnum bottles, the small bottles, the "tall" sized plastic bottles, all of it gone.  

Make my own?  It...look, I tried that, and it was OK, but not as good.  Like the angry Jimmy Dean caller, this had to be fixed.  I ordered a flat wholesale, and I was sat down to "have a talk" about it.  Shit, I don't smoke...is it really that serious?  What if this was a Sparkletts delivery truck?  You wouldn't give a shit about that, would you?  "Trip likes the taste of this water."  Well, I've been told that has "caught up now" and that supplies will be secured in time for Saturday, where I am looking for continued good things out of the Mountain West.  And why not?  

2. I can't find my sunglasses.

Nothing to add here, other than the fact that I haven't been able to find them since the weekend, and if you see them, please let me know.  Feel like I looked everywhere.  Hope I didn't leave them in the park...if so, they're long gone.  I write in honesty that this is why I don't buy "expensive" sunglasses for the same reason I don't wear a watch: I don't trust myself.

3. It's going to be a wild card, isn't it?

Second-best record in baseball and yet I fear a play-in game where Roberts is going to let whoever starts, likely Max, only pitch 3 innings and get scared and then someone like fucking Graterol is going to throw the same amount of innings and that's that.  I said second-best...that's not first, is it?  Eh, we did it a few years ago and ended up in the World Series so I should shut my mouth.  "We" - haha!  That's how it goes.  Come on boys!

(Reminder: The 2020 World Champion shirt still fits, and will fit forever.  And...so far, Stafford looks like a dog that's finally been adopted after spending a decade in the Pound, so there's that)

4. The dial can still go up

Hit 100 twice this week, but the dial is aiming down.  Over acceptable Mediterranean food last night an agreement was met that this isn't the "end" or fully Fall because there are now too many "bump-ups" to know better.  All those things make for good ideas and marketing (turkey-flavored candy corn, for example) but why we're here is for that overall level of comfort.  Be it a nightly stroll with Doo Dads or hosing off the heat from the plants, the talk is of the moment and the future. 

So, we keep on.  The mental door remains open.

Use all your well-learned politeness

As I returned to the kitchen this morning, all the signs were there: the jar of peanut butter left open with a knife still in it, an empty milk carton and what's left of the loaf of bread all on the counter.  It's that scene of an immediate break-away.  School Days.  That we're able to do this much, as I wrote in August, is a fulfillment of a moment of hope.

So nothing is perfect, we won't be at "before," but it sure beats the alternative, doesn't it?  I think it does.  I run in to others that do, too.  But that isn't the majority, which surprises me.  And maybe I shouldn't be surprised, but it's clear that we are living in a new age: The New Era of Cynicism.

There are always going to be people whose life has gone horribly wrong, and you're seeing them in the moment of self-awareness.  Life is many things, one of which an endless map with choices galore.  Incorrect Life Choices - it's their way of life, and it's not YOUR fault that you happen to be walking down a sidewalk and see that person hit with the realization that they, in that moment, are surrounded by A's, B's, even C+'s, and they're just knee-deep in their own failure.  But now, we're just at a point where the majority responds to anything with a furrowed brow or phony smile with "Huh.  Yeah, right."

It's not always that obvious.  I'm old enough to remember when, if some things weren't going right for the majority of the public, it wouldn't completely remove optimism.  So they no longer make your favorite belt in your new size.  So the team you root for is in dead last.  So you really do need to get a new DVD player if you want to watch your copy of Clerks again.  Does that define you as a person?  To much of the public, those nuisances now do, and I've never seen anything like it.

I'm wondering where it leaves those of us who like actual interaction.  Maybe it was 2020 into 2021 and all of the doom that surrounded and was survived, but for many, you'd never know it.  As each day winds down I can pinpoint an interaction or 2 and then shake my head wondering "What the fuck was THAT?"  And what can you do beyond move on, try someone/something/somewhere else?  

I have the sangria, the games are planned, the AC is hummin', deals are being made and made anew.  Those who enjoy revelry will be around, likewise prepared to fart in the direction of the living black clouds.  While they are left to sulk alone, I'll get a refill.