Winter is coming.

Autumn is already here, seasonally speaking. The calendar will catch up soon. And I fear winter's going to cut down on opportunities to safely spend time with other people, what with the pandemic & all. I wish that wasn't true.

Some of my favorite memories are cold weather ones: campfire parties with bunches of Girl Scouts, all sitting on logs bundled up, hot drinks in mittened hands and marshmallows blazing over the fire; comet watching with Spouseman, lying on the warm hood of the car, staring up at stars on a back road in a forest preserve; all alone on a sunset walk through the neighborhood, ice crunching under my boots, ice forming on my eyelashes, ice making the bare tree branches creak in the -40 degree wind chill.

Gonna pause here to note that I was rarely cold out on any of those occasions. Did I did mention I hate feeling cold? Yeah. No cold toesies for me once I was old enough to buy my own boots.

I hate being cold, but I'm willing to keep having outdoor hangouts all winter long, if I can find other people to hang with me. It's partly about having the right gear, and all about the good company.

MURICA AMIRITE?

I am a citizen of a country whose federal government throws people into concentration camps, keeps them in wire cages, starves them, experiments on them, & sterilizes them. I'm a citizen of a country where local and state police forces promote violence and consort with thugs, neither serving nor protect the communities that provide them with budgets dwarfing the ones funds given to public aid and education. I live in a country where the haves are unforgivably selfish and dangerously blind, and the have-nots are willfully ignorant. Where far too many people have no idea how their own government works, and are so secure in their willful ignorance that no narrative truth can reach them.

It's painful, that's what it is. I'm not helpless, and I am not a bystander, but it's hard, not being able to do more without breaking myself. I don't do as much as others, but I give, and I speak up, and I support where and when I can. Not everyone is built for battle. Not everyone is strong enough to hold up themselves, much less others. It ain't fun being fragile, is what I'm saying.

FFS All opinions were NOT created equal.

When did the absurdity of "We can agree to disagree, but it's my opinion and I'm entitled to it," become an acceptable conversation topper? It isn't true, it isn't right, and it's responsible for a lot of evil in the world. That's my opinion. And if you disagree with me, you're wrong. Period. So there.

Vote Dammit.

I have voted in nearly every election since I turned 18. That's a lot of elections, and a LOT of disappointments. I have known all my life the system was rigged and broken and the only chance we had to fix it was to vote in people who were willing to change it.

I've preached about the importance of voting so often my friends who think it doesn't matter get annoyed and edge away from me every time it comes up. (YOU WERE FOOLS AND NOW LOOK WHAT IT'S COME TO) Ahem. Sorry. Not helpful, but GD*#$#)$&^#@ it's frustrating.

And this year...oof. This year I am feeling very gloomy about the outcome but still hoping I am wrong. We've got this one last chance to steer away from the precipice. Maybe. But by golly, whatever happens after the election, I'm gonna go down knowing I did everything I could to make a better future out of this mess I grew up in.

HAHAHA-OOOPS.

Last week started off more cheerful than it wrapped up, can you tell by the way the entries deteriorated into rants? SORRY. In writing news, things are going okay. I'm grinding through the end of the 3rd of 6 sections in Sharp Edge. I've hit a plot point that doesn't want to polish up, but things will work out.

ANYway. It's Monday night, so this is going out now. Until later!