End Of The Week Shenanigans Or; What, Me Worry?

We made it to Friday. The week has pretty much been dominated here in the states with government shutdowns, government openings, who’s to blame for said shutdowns, and something about emails implicating powerful men(on both sides of the aisle) in child rape. Oh, and a former Fox News host drawing a line between being a pedophile and just liking younger girls(“Epstein wasn’t a pedo, he just liked girls like 15-years old. Not like, 8.”) Cool. Thanks for that distinction.

I think most people with a shred of humanity would NEVER have a conversation like that, distinguishing what a child rapist really is. Last time I checked anyone under the age of 18 was still a minor. And if grown men are going to an island for the specific reason to rape and abuse underage girls then why are we even having a conversation about semantics here? These are creeps and deserve to be chemically castrated(or a rusty knife will do.) I don’t care even if it is your favorite president(or former president), actor, athlete, comedian, or tech mogul.

I’m just tired of the excuses, strawman arguments, gaslighting, “well Biden said…”, “well Obama did this…”, “the libs”, etc, etc…. Let’s get down to the bottom of this and release ALL the info so we can properly shame and then punish these pigs. Nuke the island on live TV, dig a mass grave, line up all the child rapists, and bury them all together. Sell tickets to the party and take the money made on ticket sales and donate it to a charity for abused, molested, and trafficked children.

Just a thought.

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Only a couple weeks until Thanksgiving break, which then leads right into a week off. Excited is too small of a word to describe how I feel about that. I don’t think I’ve had a whole week off all year. It’s been little mini-vacations here and there, not entire weeks. Not sure our plans, but it is my birthday week so I know for my actual birthday we are going to go to Cibo Ristorante in Columbia City for a very nice Italian meal with my wife and I, our daughter, and my parents. Then we’re heading down to Indianapolis to have dinner with our oldest, our son, and their partners. We also want to drive up to Grand Rapids, MI and hit the outlet mall. Might get a new Fossil watch, maybe some jeans at the Levi’s outlet store, and get some dinner somewhere.

We also found out that work is shutting down between Christmas and New Year’s, so we’ll be off from December 24th to January 5th. That’s a lot of time off for year’s end and I’m okay with that.

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So I’ve been listening to a lot of Weather Report, not an actual weather report, but the band started by Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter. I always liked their album Heavy Weather as it had their classic “Birdland” on it. I’d ventured back one album before that as well, Black Market, and while kind of tame I enjoyed their records. Of course those two had Jaco Pastorius on fretless bass so that was a bonus. Those records led me to Pastorius’ debut solo album and maybe one of my favorite jazz compositions with “Continuum”.

But beyond those two records I never delved much deeper. But then a fellow blogger had said I should check out the older albums, and on a whim two years ago I bought the self-titled debut record from 1971 and the 1973 album Sweetnighter. I’d listened to I Sing The Body Electric online but at the time it didn’t do much for me. But that debut? Wow, that was coming right out of Zawinul and Shorter’s work with Miles. This stuff felt directly connected to Bitches Brew and the electric albums that surrounded that monumental release. There was that psychedelic lean, as well as almost cosmic vibes throughout that debut and it completely floored me. Sweetnighter was starting to move away from the amorphous, ambient vibes of electric Miles and their debut. It was beginning to show the band Weather Report were becoming; more grooves and more of Shorter’s horn taking the reigns. Tracks like opener “Boogie Woogie Waltz”, “125th Street Congress”, and “Will” showed the kind of funky, all-encompassing grooves the band would later find mass appeal with. Even selling out massive stadiums to perform in throughout the mid and late 70s.

We’re heading down to Indianapolis tomorrow morning to visit with my son and his girlfriend. I haven’t seen them in close to a month, so it’ll be nice seeing them. I’d talked to him earlier in the week and he told me about how there was a shooting in the apartment next to theirs. Woke up early in the morning to 4 or 5 pops, and then when leaving for work there was cop cars and caution tape in the parking lot. Then the same day he’d locked his keys in his car, so he had to call a locksmith to come open his door for him. $300 later and he was able to go home. I think he could use to see his mom and dad, and I could use to see my son.

So that’s that. Happy Friday to all that celebrate(aka those not retired.)