Ramblings of a Middle Aged Lunatic

My personal philosophy is that there are no bad writers.   Like most crafts, writing is an art that improves with experience.   Natural talent may help, but even without it anyone that aspires to be a writer can improve until they achieve success.               But while there are no bad writers per se, there is definitely a lot of bad writing out there, some of which was probably written by yours truly.   Oh well, nobody’s perfect.             What do I consider bad writing?                Bad writing means that no matter how suspenseful the story line, or how much you want to know what happens, you put the book down permanently.   Even if you have a burning desire to know how it all works out, you can’t suffer through another hundred pages to find out.         ...

                Millennials.   A word often uttered with casual scorn by the older generations, conjuring up images of safe spaces and participation trophies and avocado toast.   (I like avocado toast, btw.   For real, it might be the only semi-healthy breakfast I don’t have to choke down).                   I’m part of Generation X.   O ur parents still believed in breaking a kid’s ass (and it was couched in exactly those terms) to make us behave.   Schools were war zones filled with bullies.   One had to fight to survive.   Teachers were tough.   You better have your homework done on time, and you better not act up in school.   Punishment was swift and brutal.   We all went through it, and we all came out the other side wiser, tough, and better able to handle life’s toughes...

In three weeks, I’m going to be out of work.   The thought fills me with panic.   I don’t do out of work very well.   Since I landed my first job at seventeen as a cashier in the A&P, the longest period I’ve been out of a job was during my freshman year of college.   Even then, I worked at Macy’s during my holiday breaks.                   I’ve always harbored an idyllic fantasy of living a life of leisure on unemployment, arising well-rested from a refreshing night’s sleep instead of awakening, heart pounding, to the blare of an alarm clock, eating a healthy breakfast, going for a run, spending my days in pursuit of my various hobbies, hiking, cycling, reading, and writing.   I paint myself a pretty picture and then when it happens, I’m a wreck.   When I was laid off in late 2015, I couldn’t sleep at night.   Having grown up poor, the prospect of not having any ...

                This week Florida legislatures introduced a bill that would provide the parents of bullied school children with vouchers that can be used for private schools.                   Social media went nuts.   I would like to say I was surprised by the victim-shaming negativity that heralded such a bill, but all I felt was a profound weariness.                   This is my response to the naysayers, and I’ll be addressing the points I saw being raised in criticism of this bill. 1)       Private School Kids Get Bullied Too                 This is one of those knee-jerk responses that drives me crazy because they display a lack o...

Confession:  I am a singles advice forum addict.             I’ve been in recovery for the last six months or so, ever since I was banned from my favorite site.  The banning was abrupt and, I wholeheartedly believe, completely unfair.  I probably could have appealed it, but whatever.  It was a time suck that added absolutely nothing positive to my life.               The majority of the regulars were miserable and insufferable.  The site was plagued by trolls, and I was one of their favorite targets.  The moderators steadfastly refused to do anything about that, but popped up out of nowhere to permanently ban me because I scolded a woman who wanted to know the best way to go about abandoning her elderly, cancer stricken mum who relied on her for support.             Oh ...