The Hazards about Restless Dreaming or Not Sleeping

     I've mentioned here before about my frequent bouts of having problems sleeping.  Well, I've had many more of these problems this month.  First, in the the early weeks of December, I found myself lying on my back, which caused me to wake up immediately.  Now, I normally sleep on my side or stomach.  This position provides me with the clearest airways.  While I might switch sides a few times during the night, I almost never sleep on my back.  When I do, I am almost always propped up on pillows, because I have either a runny or stuffed up nose and this position is the easiest one to keep my breathing regular.  This time, I believe I was on my back because I was in that state that males get when their asleep, about four times per night.  I must have turned onto my back so that I would have enough room to protect that state that my regular sleeping positions wouldn't allow.  This was happening a few nights in a row.  Most of the time, I allowed that state to fade on its own, although I might have aided it at least once.  I usually fell right back to sleep.  Not only was I entering that state at night, I was frequently getting into that state at other times, with similar results into exiting that state.  I get this way every now and again, when I just seem to enter that state without even knowing it's happening.  Fortunately, these bouts only last a few days, although this last one seemed to last well over a week. At least there is a benefit from entering that state so much at night.  If I enter that state so strongly that it wakes me up, it must mean I was in fairly good health.  On the other hand, my latest round of insomnia has been the opposite.  It started on Saturday.  I woke up about 3:30, not in that state, and I could not get back to sleep.  I kind of slept, but not really.  I didn't think too much of it, as it was holiday weekend and I could catch up on my sleep.  I was wrong.  The same thing happened the next two nights, only earlier.  So, over three nights, I barely got nine hours of sleep total.  I was so bad off yesterday, I barely had the hand-eye coordination for Candy Crush.  Definitely nothing requiring more skill.  I even ended sessions early when I was in the middle of a bonus round, just so I could try to take a nap.  As it is, I have been so sleep-deprived, I am days behind on my year-end inventory.  And forget about taking down my store's Christmas decorations.  I'm lucky I've got someone in the car with me, or I wouldn't be trusting myself driving.  Last night, I woke up around one.  I think I managed to get back to sleep.  See, there were times last night that I couldn't tell if I was asleep or awake.  All I know is that I am finally starting to feel better this morning.

Understanding My Unusual Way of Thinking

     I've always had an unusual way of thinking, but I haven't always understood that.  One particularity of this is that I can change the way I think, going creative one second and logical the next.  Sometimes, this is a plus, but, to people who cannot work on my wavelength, it can be a bother.  It can hurt me too, if I have trouble shifting from one 'gear' to the next as it wore.  Let me show you an example.  During my years of working in retail, I have to apply various discounts and taxes to products.  While the cash register can easily handle this task, I sometimes have to estimate these amounts before keying the numbers in.  While it doesn't matter what order you perform the operations, I always put the discount in before the tax, as that is the way the register is set up.  Now, I don't remember being taught this in school.  Maybe I was absent that day, or I ignored the lesson because I was allowed to skip ahead a few chapters at times in the textbook.  Whatever the reason, I only really focused on this fact well after I was out of school.  While the order is unimportant, I have not really seen any explanation for it, probably because the long way of explaining just how to figure these totals out isn't really up to thorough examination.  For example, you want to buy something that is $10 with a 10% discount but with a newly added 10% sales tax.  Traditionally, one would be taught to first find out what 10% of $10 is [$10 x 0.1 = $1] then subtract that to the price [$10 - $1 = $9].  Next, you would find out the tax [$9 x 0.1 = $0.90] and add that to find the final total [$9 +  0.9 = $9.90].  Or, if the operations were done in the opposite order, tax first [$10 x 0.1 = $1, $10 +$1 = $11].  Then, one calculates the discount [$11 x 0.1 = $1.10] and subtracts [$11 - $1.10 = $9.90], you get the same total.  However, no one really explains why.  I don't do the math that way.  Normally, I do it like this.  When asking what a 10% discount is, you are really wondering what is left [100 - 10 = 90].  So, I multiply by 90% directly instead of subtracting 10%.  The same goes for a 10% tax [100 + 10 = 110].  This time, I multiply by 110%.  If you perform the operations this way, you still get the same totals no matter if you take the discount first or the tax first [$10 x 0.9 = $9, $9 x 1.1 = $9.90 or $10 x 1.1 = $11, $11 x 0.90 = $9.90].  Now, for those of you who forgot third grade math, this is the associative property of multiplication.  If you need to multiply three or more numbers, the order doesn't matter.  You still get the same answer [1 x 2 x 3 = {(1 x 2) x 3} or {(1 x 3) x 2} or {(2 x 3) x 1}].  So, from the example, $10 x 0.90 x 1.1 = $9.90 no matter how you multiply.  Now, if this were taught the way I think, the process makes much more sense with a strong foundation in basic math.  However, it doesn't 'show the work' as well, so I don't think this is the way it was taught in school.  At least in my time.  However, it does go to show that if someone says that their way isn't just the 'best' way but the 'only' way to achieve some solution or goal, they might be right, or it could just be their point-of-view.  Without showing exact proof, it could go either way.  There might be another way of achieving the same goal, just as fast but easier and with the same amount of proof.

I Want to Push Me Up

     Two weeks ago, I decided to do something unusual for me that I had been thinking about for awhile.  For December, I have been going on a push-up challenge.  Normally, I don't do these kind of things, but I wanted to try something different.  I felt that I needed more exercise in my life, especially after my newest pair of 34 waist pants felt slightly snug, even with the stretchy waistband. I decided on push-ups as my exercise of choice because I didn't need any extra equipment to do them, just a flat surface and gravity. I started on December first by doing twenty-five push-ups without stopping.  Just the basic variety.  For the rest of the first week of December,  I did twenty-five push-ups, in addition to any other exercising I did that day.  No skipping days, and each session had to be done as a complete set without interruption.  Starting on the eighth, I upped my numbers to a minimum of thirty.  If I managed to do more than that, then that would become my new minimum number for the next day.  I also decided to add some back work to balance out all of the work on my chest.  Technically, pull-ups would be the bodyweight exercise of choice.  However, there is no easy or safe place at my store to do that.  So, I improvised with a modified form of inverted row instead.  I don't do them as often, but just enough to keep my upper body balanced. As of today, the fifteenth, I am up to forty push-ups per set.  After today, I will be adding variations to my schedule, mostly decline and incline variants, to the schedule.  These will either be as part of the main set or as a substitution to the regular push-ups.  I am hoping to build my way up to at least fifty reps per session by the end of the month, although I could go up much more.  I doubt it, but it is a strong possibility.  Now, this doesn't include my other exercise sessions for the week.  Although for chest days, I may have to cut back a bit just so I don't overtax my system.  I have seen items somewhere about how some people go on to do one hundred push-ups per set in the course of a month.  That is where I got my idea for this challenge.  I doubt I will make it to that point.  My shoulders wouldn't be able to keep up.  Still, I will try to get to as many as I can by January.

The Trials That I Have Thwarted

    This past spring, I expressed some fears that I wouldn't be able to keep up with my weekly blogcast due to various complications.  Specifically, I was serving Federal jury duty, and I had started back with my online graduate school classes.  Well, that didn't happen.  Here's why.  First, I got a conformation email two weeks ago that my jury service had ended.  Still haven't gotten a letter, though.  I actually knew about my service even earlier, at my previous call-in.  I heard that there were no other cases on the docket until after my service had ended.  In fact, I only got called in twice.  I don't know if that is typical or because of the pandemic, but I'm glad that I wasn't called in more.  I didn't have to serve either time.  In fact, I was one of the first jurors eliminated each time.  Frankly, I'm not sure how well of a juror I would've been.  At least my duty has been fulfilled.  I'm just sorry for those jurors who missed their first call-in.  They still have another six months to serve.  If they received their summons the same time I did, then this means that they will have been on call for over two years before their terms end.  On the other front, my classes weren't as hard to deal with as I thought.  My summer course went quickly, but not to the point where I had to make any drastic changes with my time.  I don't think I will be taking another accelerated course any time soon, though.  This fall, I took two more courses.  The first was Early Dramatic Literature.  I had to read one, usually short, play each week; write a brief essay on it; respond to another person's essay; and write a major paper for the final.  The paper was the hardest part.  I was having a difficult time finding works to cite.  I also had to rewrite the conclusion multiple times.  I still wasn't completely satisfied with it.  My other class was Advance Poetry Writing.  For the class, I was supposed to have eight to ten chapter tests for the textbook, write four pairs of poems with at least eight lines, workshop everyone else's poems, and turn in a portfolio of four poems ready for journal submission.  The class didn't turn out that way.  First, many in the class had a hard time getting the textbook.  Even I had to go through the college book store, and I wasn't able to get a used book.  I had to spend twenty plus dollars more on new.  Then, the chapter tests were late starting due to not everyone having their books.  When the first test became available, it had a duplicated question.  The third test was a little late.  Then, the tests stopped.  They were going to be put up all at once so that those who could read ahead could take them when they had the time, but the tests never came and the professor ultimately declared that the remaining tests would not be taken. This means I spent extra money on a book that I would not need, featuring examples from poets I never heard of.  And, I discovered a mistake, at least it seems that way to me.  As for the poetry submissions, the first group took a little long for everyone to finish.  One person submitted theirs after the deadline, and I never got to look over those poems.  I only realized this fact this morning.  The second workshop session took extra long, as there were multiple submissions after the deadline.  Because of this, the third submission was reduced to only one-poem-needed and submitted before Thanksgiving.  The workshop session is taking place over finals week.  I uploaded my responses to the last group, along with those for two others who submitted after the deadline, this morning.  I was doing the last response on the site, after I discovered their lateness.  As to the portfolio, there hasn't been any news or links to turn one it or how the poems should be presented.  If there's nothing up by this afternoon, I will have to send a message to see what to do.  I'm guessing that this part of the class has been reduced as well, since many students won't have their last responses by the last day of finals and not everyone will have had the minimum four poems workshopped.  I find it a shame, especially since I found the experience quite easy.  It only took my about twenty to thirty minutes to compose a poem, once inspiration hit, and another thirty minutes to type them up, editing as I typed.  Each one was different, and they have been posted on my literary blog.  Gong over the poems of others wasn't so easy.  Some of the choices weren't the ones I would have made.  I was pretty much the only one who went beyond free verse, including a sonnet(!?!?) for my last submission.  I don't want to say that some of the poems were bad, but there were a few I saw that might not have made it to a literary journal.  While I don't consider myself a poet primarily, I have to say that I enjoyed the work and found it very satisfying.  As of right now, I might be taking another semester off, as the opportunities for spring a bleak.  Still, my blog has survived and is ready for another year.

A Countdown Decades in the Making

     I've decided to do something that will be both reckless and innocuous at the same time.  Starting next week, I will be doing a countdown of all the songs that were number one the week of my birthday.  Every day, on my Facebook page, I will be including a link or other posting of each song.  I will be going in descending order, so that the songs I like best will be closer to my actual fiftieth birthday.  Ouch.  However, I won't be telling anyone that I will be doing it.  I will just be posting random songs, mixed in with my regular posts.  I wonder what people will be thinking, if they never look at the link to my blog page.  Seriously, people will think I'm crazy by posting links to the worse songs these first few weeks.  Sure, they went to number one, but that doesn't mean that they held up well to the march of time.  If someone asks, I will tell them the reason, but only to those who ask.  I want the surprise to build.  Somewhere around the top ten, I will announce the reason, but not before then.  I got the idea from when I was posting songs/mix tape list to various friends on their birthdays.  Unfortunately, there aren't that many birthdays this time of year, or that many friends I feel confident enough to send them such things without ticking them off.  Anyway, I am currently sorting through my list of songs into four categories.  First, there are the songs that were just plain bad, but somehow reached number one.  I'm talking about one-hit wonders, flash-in-the-pan rappers, and artists from the 60s (or 50s) trying to make a last-ditch comeback.  Next, there are the songs that really weren't too bad, but they just didn't connect with me.  Mostly, these are the artists and genres that are outside my wheelhouse.  After that are the songs that were critical favorites, but I still didn't really like.  These are the songs that won awards or reached great milestones, but I still don't care about them.  Still, they deserve to be place high just on those accomplishments.  Finally, there are the songs I really, really, like.  Some might be good, but they might be bad.  These songs could be easily forgotten (actually, most of those are in the first group), but I am fortunate enough to have a pretty good variety of great songs to chose from.  I'm guessing about a third of the songs could be placed here.  This might make my job harder.  I'll mention something more closer to the actual end date, probably the entire list.  I will have to include an addendum for the song that is number one on my birthday next year.  Hopefully, I won't have to change the list too much.

Who's Number One in 2021

     In about two weeks, I will be doing my annual tabulations on what the number one song of the year will be.  Last year, I did my first ever spreadsheet to help me out.  This year, I might go back to pencil and paper, and my calculator.  Doing things the old-fashioned way took about two hours at most.  The spreadsheet took al least twice that amount of time spread over two days.  Now, that might be because I had never made a spreadsheet before, but I could be wrong.  Anyway, we'll see what will turn up. I have narrowed down my choices of what the top song will be to three potential songs.  These estimates are very loose, so I wouldn't put too much credit in with them.  However, I am confident that the winner will be one of these three songs.  First off is "Butter" by BTS.  It spend two months at number one, but it also debuted at that spot.  The song fell out of the top ten relatively fast after that run, so it didn't get to rack up extra points for longevity.  Second is "driver's license" by Olivia Rodrigo.  It also debuted high and spent about two months at the top.  It fell out of the top ten much more slowly, so it got to rack up some nice bonuses. It's main downside was that her follow ups quickly drowned out the original, pushing it down faster, but not entirely out.  The final nominee is "Levitating" by Dua Lipa, with or without Da'Baby.  That is the main detraction for the song, as controversy surrounded the rapper, possibly causing the remix of the song from reaching number one.  The song was still allowed to chart, as the original album version, so the song stayed on the charts.  And stay it did.  It has been charting for over a year now, pretty much the only song this year that has stayed in the top ten for almost all of this time.  While it only peaked at number two, it has been hanging around the top ten for ten months!  In fact, it outlasted its two follow-up singles, "Cool" and "Love Again."  Only her duet with Elton John, "Cold Heart," has been able to finally overtake it, and that is just barely as "Levitating" finally seems to be leaving the top ten.  With Christmas songs starting to chart, I'm not sure what will happen next, but the last few weeks of the year chart with the following year. There is a traditional of songs that haven't reached number one to wind up as the number one song of the year.  It isn't often, but it has occurred.  Chart longevity can beat out long stretches at number one, but I have a feeling this year could be close.  I'll post my final calculations, and the actual results, next month.  See me then.

What's My Holiday Again?

     Thanksgiving is just next Thursday, and there are already a ton of places decorated for Christmas.  Sure, there are a few inflatable turkeys out there.  Strangely enough, they are almost always the same one, although I have seen at least one with a different facial expression.  I mean, should all of these turkeys look so happy for Thanksgiving?  This one turkey I saw was more sullen than happy, but that is understandable.  This year, the house that had the zombie pilgrim its hand place just below its belt in a suggestive manner didn't do anything this year.  It had over a dozen figures, the last of which was taken down barely a week ago.  However, the 'Beetlejuice' mannequin is still on the porch, if you know where to look for it.  More importantly, many people started to decorate for Christmas the days after Halloween.  I feel that is just a little too early.  In the pace of a few days, many homes started to go all out this week. One home, that I don't usually pass, had put up over a dozen inflatables in the yard over the past two days. They weren't up today, but I could see them lying on the grass.  The weirdest thing though is the number of places with Halloween decorations still up.  Now, I'm not talking about generic autumnal decor, because that is still appropriate for the season.  No, I'm talking about actual things that could only be for Halloween.  For instance, the stable that had multiple skeletons, including one of a horse, didn't take them down until this past weekend.  The house with the skeleton climbing a pole still has it up, although almost the rest of its autumn decor has been removed.  Just this morning, I drove by a house which still had cloth 'ghosts' hanging from a tree and other decorations on its porch.  Two weeks is more than enough time to take everything down.  For my store, I will start taking down the leaves this Friday so that the window can be cleaned before the big Christmas decorating starts.  The rest of the stuff will come down by next Monday.  Everything for Christmas should be up by the day after Thanksgiving, but it probably won't.  If it was up only to me, everything would be done by then.  I've done it once before, without any help.  However, if I delegate some chores, my part get done faster, but their tasks take at least a day longer than I think they should.  There might be a few new details this year, but it's too early to know for sure.

Just Another Missing Brick on My Wall

 I have played many games via my Facebook account.  Many, many games; many, many times.  I deleted some over the years, for various reasons.  Some I technically still have active, even if I haven't played them in weeks, or months.  However, I have been ignoring more games than usual lately.  Hey, when you 'accidentally' net up two, three hour of bonuses on Candy Crush Saga one is all but bound to try and use as much of them as possible.  Blame it on all of the competitions that have been set up lately.  For instance, I had made it to the second round of their recent 'All-Star' contest.  I missed out on my first chance to enter the next round, but I still had the consolation bracket.  I had to place the top score two days in a row to make it through to the next round.  I easily won the first day, but I had numerous problems the second day.  For some reason, I couldn't get full access to the game at work.  I would log on, but my winning streak bonus wouldn't show up, or I would be starting on a beginner level instead of my own current one in the low 8,000s.  I couldn't rack up the points needed to vie.  By the time I got home, with the clearer wifi signal, there wouldn't have been enough time for me to get the points to move on.  That really irked me.  I recently place second in a competition over the weekend, but even that doesn't seem completely fair.  Saturday night, I was in second place just about 10,000 points behind first place.  The next day, first place had over twice as many points as I had, almost three times.  Now, I know certain levels can net you super high number of points, especially with the first time playing modifier, but that was stupid high.  Currently, I am leading the first part of the next challenge and all but certain to make it to the second part team-challenge.  Unfortunately, something had to give with all of this 'candy-crushing.'  Some games, I have only played a few rounds, just enough to activate the daily bonuses and move on.  Other games, I still play diligently and competitively, because of the way those games have challenges.  In all of this confusion, I lost a game.  I don't know how, but it is gone from my Facebook page.  It was called "Brick-Breaker-something-something."  It was one of a batch of similar instant games.  Now, on Facebook, I believe one can have only one instant game set up.  Once you select a new one, the original one fades from one's collection, but can be re-selected.  Last Thursday night, I tried to access my 'Brick' game, only to discover a different game was now in its place.  I don't remember accidentally switching it out, but I tried to find it again.  The game was no longer listed in the featured games.  I searched Facebook's Gaming section.  Still no luck.  The game wasn't even listed under my activity log.  I couldn't even find it in a search of Facebook sites.  It was like the game never existed.  Since I can't remember the game's full name, searching for it has been hard, but I have a nagging doubt that I will never see it again.  I admit, it wasn't a top favorite game, but I did enjoy it once, when I didn't have as much Candy Crush on my mind.  I don't fully mind that it has gone, but I wish it hadn't.

Do You Know the Way to Monterey

 Last week, something strange happened after I finished reading my last regular reading assignment from the online course materials for one of my grad school classes.  It was a late Restoration era British comedy-of-manners that took me two hours to get through.  I could've finished sooner, but I kept nodding off and had to reread some sections.  Trust me, it wasn't as boring as it sounds.  Anyway, after I signed off, I noticed that I had a new notification on my computer.  Usually, these things don't pop up when I'm at work.  The wifi connection is too unstable most of the time.  However, this time it came through.  I had a new upgrade to install, a big one.  This was the upgrade for the MacOS known as Monterey.  I knew this was coming this past month, but the exact timing had slipped from me.  I had a lot going on these past two weeks.  It is the latest update in their series of California themed names.  I think I liked the big cat themed names, but that was years before I got my MacBook.  Anyway, I did a quick web search to see if the OS had actually dropped.  It had, and I read a few articles about it.  Then, I did nothing.  For one, downloading something as big as a new OS would take a fairly long time.  Even longer with my weak wifi at work.  I noticed the notification less than an hour before closing.  Nowhere near enough time for the download.  Furthermore, I didn't download Monterey after I got home that night, either.  I never upgrade my OS the first few days after it drops.  I like to see if any problems pop up.  Bugs get revealed that first week pretty frequently.  Also, I get afraid that I could lose important files.  I usually wait a month or so before I do anything.  Since I have important documents relating to my classes right now, I think waiting until at least after the semester is over would be prudent.  I will upgrade, though.  This could be the last one I will ever get to use.  Last year's update had a few minor features that my computer was unable to handle.  This year has a few major features that I will be missing out on.  Admittedly, I don't think I would be using all of them anyway, but it is still an issue.  MacBooks made before 2016 can't even handle the basic features anymore.  I predict about a fifty percent chance that I will not be able to use next year's update.  This drops to around twenty percent the following year, and pretty much zero in 2024.  Hopefully by then, I will already have a new desktop model and just use the MacBook for travel or secondary functioning. Until that time, I will be doing what I can with what I've got.  Maybe even getting a tablet or smartphone so I can finally really use some of the compatibility features that would really be fun.

Bones or Mo' Bones Day

 Yes, I appropriated the title from the latest internet sensation.  Parody is fair use, after all.  Anyway, a few weeks ago, I wrote a post about some of the Halloween decorations I saw on my way to work.  Well, since then, a few more decorations have been put up.  Many of them revolve around skeletons.  Quite a few of them in fact.  For instance, the home which had the heads placed on pikes have since moved them to a different location.  In front of the pikes is a skeleton with a helmet, sword and shield.  Something out of the old Jason and the Argonauts movie.  Unfortunately, one of the heads has since vanished and one of the pikes have fallen over.  At least they still have a giant inflatable red-winged bat.  Another house has put back up their dragon skeletons.  Two dragons, one much larger than the other, stand in front of their home.  I can't be entirely sure, but they may have either added some lights to the bones or painted the horns and claws to make them stand out more.  At least they don't have the Santa hats they used for Christmas still on them.  Hey, those things are probably expensive.  Why not repurpose them for other holidays.  Even the city of Prestonsburg has a small skeletal dragon for an official town display.  This doesn't include the tattoo parlor with the skeletons and fake graveyard in front of their business.  At least they go very well with the sarcophagus they keep outside the door.  Another place has not one or two, but four skeletons out in a display.  A skeleton dog is 'barking' at two human skeletons sitting on a bench, along with a life-size horse skeleton standing nearby.  Oh, did I forget to mention the place is a stable?  Not sure if the horse is appropriate for a stable, but if it works.  The stable has about six or seven horses; I'm not sure exactly how many. Recently, two ponies have also been there.  Or at least visiting the corral.  A few times, I even saw a baby donkey there.  It's mother too, but this was years ago.  The weirdest skeletal sight might be the small dinosaur outside a business just outside downtown Pikeville.  Maybe I house.  I was focused on driving, so I can't remember where I saw the thing.  Now, a small skeleton is great for Halloween, but a dinosaur?  And I'm talking about a fairly good replica.  I used to be an amateur paleontologist so I can recognize such things.  Now, I couldn't tell if it was a T-rex or just a generic bipedal beast, but I think it had sharp teeth.  Still, dinosaurs are not appropriate for Halloween, even if they are skeletons.  Maybe they had a model for some reason and repurposed it.  Cheaper, if weird.

Savor the Flavor for Later

 The latest round of the soda wars kicked off again last month with Pepsi's release of the first of its limited edition "Soda Shop" offerings, flavored with real sugar.  Now, I'm the type of person who will try any new flavor of soda, even the occasion trial of Coke.  I waited until individual bottles were available, since I didn't want to buy an entire carton of something that I might not like.  Fortunately, I only had to wait a week or so before I could try the new flavors.  First off, there is Black Cherry Pepsi.  Now, Pepsi has a wild cherry flavor already.  (They also had a cherry-vanilla flavor for awhile.  I haven't seen it anywhere for awhile.  Maybe not even on its website.  A shame really, since a slightly liked it.) The soda has a slight dark red coloration to it.  It doesn't smell much like cherries though.  The first sip was strong.  A bitter/sour cherry flavor similar to medicinal flavorings.  The sweetness is undercut, barely registering after the first taste.  Further sips just strengthened the medicine comparison.  Even after the ice diluted the drink, the connection to medicine remains.  While the flavor isn't that bad, it is very strong and some people will suffer from negative associations.  Definitely an acquired taste.  Second, there is the Cream Soda Pepsi flavor.  For all of those readers not familiar with cream soda, it is a strong vanilla flavor.  Pepsi also had a vanilla variety already, although I haven't seen it around too often.  Dr. Pepper made headlines last year when it introduced its cream soda variant, so it seems that Pepsi was following suit with this flavor.  My first impression was with the strong vanilla aroma.  It was hard to miss.  The first sip had a very pronounced vanilla flavor, as did the next few sips.  However, the sweetness began to overtake the vanilla, leaving just a sugary taste.  Even diluted with melting ice, the sugar was the dominant flavoring.  The initial vanilla quickly fades.  While there is some vanilla aftertaste, one has to fight to find it once you drink some.  For comparison's sake, Dr. Pepper's cream soda has a steady vanilla flavor mixed with the soda's usual flavor.  In fact, the same goes for Dr. Pepper's cherry version as well.  The cherry flavor is nowhere near Pepsi's medicinal black cherry.  I will admit, I am a huge Dr. Pepper fan, so it can be hard to impress me with other brands.  Overall, I find Pepsi a little too sweet in most of its versions; the cream soda of these two new flavors more so than average.  I'm just glad I didn't buy a carton of either version. While this experiment was a great one-off, I don't think I will try another bottle of either flavor.

Scare Me up Something Original

 It is Halloween time again, and this means that people are putting up decorations.  For myself, this is limited to mostly the same old things at my store, Booknotes.  For twenty-one years now, I have been setting up many of the same things, with a few new items, or at least some tweaks here and there.  To be honest, much of it is more autumnal than Halloween, but it all comes together.  What is amazing is what other people have done.  Just on my way to work everyday, I see a wide range of decorating that simply boggles my mind.  For instance, just up the street from me, a house put up one display featuring a Frankenstein monster and a witch on sticks, only to replace it with a 'snow-globe' inflatable on a graveyard scene, with bats and/or ghosts swirling around inside.  The former decorations were moved to the shed.  The town of Wheelwright replaced the autumn harvest bench scene with their own set of inflatables, including a zombie rising from the ground, a giant black cat with a bobbing head, a grim reaper, and a giant spider along with rope 'webbing,' with a tiny skeleton caught within.  Speaking of skeletons, another house has a skeleton climbing a pole after being chased by a skeletal dog, just slightly over pug-size.  There is a second tiny skeleton hanging from near the top of the pole, and it is wearing sunglasses.  The same house has a trio of miniature creepy clowns that they move about every few days to add to the scare factor.  One place has a fabric ghost tied to a tree, but has three heads stuck on poles beside of it.  One head has an arrow sticking from it.  However, the one place that has gone to the most trouble is the same one I have mentioned before.  They set up mannequins for many holidays, with Halloween being the biggest.  This is the home that had a naughty zombie pilgrim scarecrow last Thanksgiving and a tableau of Trump and Biden this past Independence Day.  So far, because they are prone to adding more and more, they have almost a dozens figures around their yard.  A regular scarecrow recently fell down and has yet to be uprighted.  There is a masked serial killer in the remains of the garden.  A demonic nun watches by the road.  A partially dismembered figure lies atop an open cage.  Two fortune-tellers dressed in stereotypical garb (you know what a mean, but I won't use the now culturally inappropriate term as it is considered offensive) sit and stand by a table with a crystal ball featuring a skull inside of it.  Some clowns hand menacingly from a swing set, less than full size.  The main feature lies by the steps of the house.  There, you have Beetlejuice as well as Cousin Itt from The Addams Family.  I'm not sure how the hair was made, but I don't think it is actually hair, but it is hard to tell from a distance.  Meanwhile, my store has two bunnies with bat masks and some orange ribbons on.  Oh, and a small blue brain stress toy hidden about.  Yeah, I need to up my game if the store is open next year.

Shoppe Senses Tingling

 I have a quite unusual set of skills, just not in the Liam Neeson action-movie way.  None of them are spectacular or flashy, really, but they do have their uses.  For instance, I have an uncanny "shop-sense."  Put me into a store or mall of some kind, and I can usually find exactly what I want or where it is supposed to be located if it's not there.  It's amazing at what I can find.  Getting the right size, or finding a sale or clearance item, frequently happens to me.  (This sense used to extend to libraries and school campuses, but it has been so long since I've been to new ones, I'm not sure if that skill hasn't waned or not over time.) It doesn't matter if it is a store I've been to dozens of times, a different location for a chain, or a brand new place, I can orient myself to its layout and adjust as necessary.  Note, I said 'usually.'  Recently, the local Walmart has started a major remodel.  Even though I go there at least once a week, recent trips have left me in a daze with all of the drastic changes taking place, even in sections that I rarely go into. I have even wound up barely getting anything, but that might be more due to supply issues than anything else, but I digress.  For instance, the toy department was moved to where the gardening center used to be.  I'm guessing most of those products were taken outside or just not replaced for the moment.  Books and magazines were taken from the front to where the toys were, with about a thirty percent reduction in the former and another forty percent or so reduction in the latter.  This might be a temporary reduction until the changes are completed, but, if not, then that means that magazines have gone down to about a quarter of what they were just two years ago.  School and office supplies have also been moved to fill this section, as well as crafts/fabric.  For a few weeks anyway.  Crafts were moved back to almost exactly where they once were, for no reason.  Now, it looks like home improvement will be moving to the back.  Home furnishings filled in the gap where school supplies were, along with some movement of clothing.  Shoes were slightly shoved around as baby care went to where the Subway restaurant once was.  Paper goods now occupy where baby care was.  Pet food, with other pet supplies, took over paper goods' spot.  Health and beauty expanded to where pet supplies were, but not without a sizable reordering of products, so that the aisles have different products together.  Just last week, the seasonal aisles were placed with housewares, for what go better together than small home appliances and Halloween costumes and candy.  Clothing was currently moved into where seasonal was, and it looked liked cards/party supplies were the next to be moved.  Have I mentioned how checkout has changed?  The previous multiple self-checkout lanes have been rearranged into one single location.  Too bad not all of the registers had been connected as of my last visit.  Some of the regular lanes are still being fixed into a meaningful configuration.  Until finalized, paper numbers cover where the original plastic one denoted which was which.  Large gaps still float in the front, but last least that allowed me to see where the collectables aisle had been moved to.  Similar empty spots turn up elsewhere among the departments, just waiting for the latest changes, as well as the changing of the tile.  I'm almost scared of what will happen when the changes start in the grocery aisles.  Already, small changes were made to produce and bakery.  In fact, they were among the first changes I noticed.  That and how the deli doesn't seem to have product displayed, at least at the times I'm there.  For whatever the reason, my store senses reel whenever I go there lately.  I can't seem to keep up with the week-to-week alterations.  I've been in other stores, both during and after major renovations, but I've never felt this confused before.  The changes have been random and chaotic.  Even just passing by the moved sections leave me befuddled.  It shouldn't, but it does.  I recently went to a supermarket that I hadn't been to in over a year.  They had a near complete makeover, but I was able to navigate the aisles with few problems.  But my local Walmart.  It just leaved me wishing that the remodel would finish.  And soon.

Don't Cross Words with Me about Crosswords

 The average solver might not know this, but crossword fans do--crossword puzzles have certain conventions, both to make the puzzle fair and to make it look better.  The primary rule is that every letter must be "checked," that is every letter in a white square must be part of both an across clue and a down clue.  This is done so that a solver has two chances to get an answer.  If they don't know the answer to one clue, they might know the answers to the intersecting clues, and thereby get the answer to the first clue.  Secondly, every answer should be at least three letters long.  This is done to not only make sure that each letter is checked, but also to allow a greater range of answers.  Even today, there are only so many two-letter combinations that make sense.  Re-using the same ones in multiple puzzles would leave a solver bored.  There is no maximum length except by the size of the puzzle, but because of other rules, there would have to be at least two more and as many as five more of the same length to remain a legal puzzle.  Lastly, crosswords have a radial symmetry.  Basically, if you turned an unsolved puzzle upside-down, the pattern of black and white squares would look the same.  Occasionally, a reflective symmetry is used instead, meaning the left and right sides match each other, except reversed, as in a mirror.  There are other conventions, but these are the major ones.  I bring this up because a major national magazine has recently made changes to its crossword puzzle.  So much so, that the puzzle should no longer be called a crossword.  This magazine is TV Guide.  Traditionally, their puzzle has never been one of the harder ones. When it went from digest to tabloid size years ago, a began doing the puzzle every issue.  I never had too many problems with it, unless the name of an unfamiliar actor or a character from a show I never saw came up.  Sure, there was an occasional offbeat answer and many clues weren't connected to television at all, but it was a nice diversion. Then, back in August, the magazine made a big change in the puzzle.  Many clues became unchecked.  Quite a few answers had only two letters.  The grid was unsymmetrical.  The puzzle broke all of these rules.  There wasn't even a theme tying many of the answers together.  Now, not every puzzle had a true theme, but the current configuration pretty much prevents that.  Also, the puzzle often has a sponsor who takes out a two-page spread including the puzzle, as well as a clue that refers back to the sponsor.  I'm sorry, but this no longer makes the puzzle a crossword.  Yes, some places and people would still call this a "crossword," but I am not one of them.  I guess it is easier to make a grid such as this, but it doesn't really work for me.  Solvers don't always like "easier."

Not Your Parents' Metrics System

 Do you know what was the number one song in the country las week?  Unless you are a chart-watcher like me, you might not.  It was "Way 2 Sexy" by Drake.  I, for one, have yet to hear it on any local Top 40 radio stations.  That isn't that strange, as my favorite rarely plays hip-hop/rap records unless they get very, super popular.  Then again, they have been known to randomly play songs that are fifteen, twenty years old out of nowhere.  In fact, the only time I might have heard even a snippet of it may have been when I was scrolling through SiriusXM radio in the last days of my free trial.  Drake didn't just have the top song, but nine out of the top ten.  In fact, every song from his latest album debuted in the top forty, and many people have never heard it on the radio.  This begs the question, how can all those songs debut so high without radio airplay?  Let's review the history of Billboard magazine and its chart.  Billboard started out by charting the sales of sheet music over a hundred years ago.  Yes, it is that old.  When recorded music and radio started out, they began to chart those as well.  In the 1950s, Billboard combined various data into a single Hot 100 chart, which is the primary chart used today.  Throughout most of the chart's history, the criteria for appearing were simple.  The song had to be played on the radio and available as a commercial single.  That second part was very important.  Even if a song was played non-stop on the radio, unless there was a way to buy it, the song couldn't chart.  At first, it was as a vinyl single, transferring to cassettes and CDs by the time I was a teenager.  Then, in the 1990s, a number of artists had very popular songs on the radio, as well as videos on MTV and elsewhere, but the songs were never available for individual sale.  Billboard initially tried to solve the problem by creating two sub-charts, on e for radio airplay and one for commercial, physical sales.  The airplay chart was close to the Hot 100 with a few outliers, but the sales chart looked nothing like it, as more and more songs were leaving physical sales behind.  Ultimately, Billboard had to allow all singles on the chart, as commercial sales were going digital, such as iTunes.  As part of this transition, Billboard switched how it weighed some of its metrics for determining the chart positions.  Where airplay and sales were once equal in standing, the metrics were changed to favor digital sales, streaming, and social media sharing.  What this means is that if a fan streams each single from an artist's new album, or purchases the singles individually instead of the album as a whole, each instance would count more for the chart than a single time a song is played on radio.  This is why Drake, and many other artists, debut an entire album on the charts when it first comes out, but rarely have the songs make a lasting impression unless they are released to radio.  This week, only two of Drake's songs stayed in the top ten, with "Stay" by The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber climbing back to number one.  "Way 2 Sexy," or another song, might return to the top spot, but this is highly unlikely.  For example, Taylor Swift debuted at number on with "Cardigan" when her first new album of the year debuted.  However, it was the only song from that album to do so.  Not only that, but "Cardigan" quickly dropped out of the top ten and barely placed in the year-end charts.  Artists are gaming the system to get the coveted number one slot, but it is skewing how the charts work.  It is getting close to the point where being number one isn't so big of a deal any more.  Unless a song can show widespread airplay, or if fans keep a song steady on streaming (BTS fans, I'm looking at you for "Butter" being a success.), then it really isn't a great number one song. Just look at the charts, and question if they really reflect what is popular.

Anti Social Media Presents

     So, in my quest to start a secondary career as a social influencer, I wanted to make sure I had at least a minimum amount of media coverage.  I know that I need more, but I'm not sure what exactly I need and where I should be.  Obviously, I'm on Blogger, otherwise how could you be reading this post.  Unless you are some sort of telepath reading my mind, which, knowing me, could be entirely possible.  And, I do have two other blogs, my literary blog which I just started back on, and my store's blog which I haven't had an actual post on for over a year.  I have a channel of sorts on YouTube, since it is part of the Google suite of products.  I haven't done as much with it as I could be, but I have had one person follow me for a while, and two people commented once, but I think they were talking to each other.  Maybe.  I am also on Facebook, but so is practically everyone.  My store, Booknotes, is also on Facebook.  I post links to both Blogger and YouTube there.  In fact, more people probably see this from the links than by actual searching. Beyond those, my scope begins to thin out.  I'm on LinkedIn, but is rarely use it.  I'm just not that geared towards business at the moment.  I could use a lot of help there.  For instance, I messaged someone there recently on their birthday, but they never replied.  However, I just got a notification that they added new contacts to their profiles.  They interacted for one that, but not a message.  Okay.  My lack of a mobile device prevents me spreading my influence even farther.  So, no Instagram or Snapchat for me, just yet.  I have looked into Reddit quite a bit, but I have to officially join.  It just seems to confusing for me.  Then, there are all of these video fee channels going up, like Twitch.  I am still not sure exactly what that is.  I tried looking in on it a few times during a recent online convention.  Unfortunately, the only times I could look into it were when nothing interesting was happening, so I never could figure out what to do there and how to interact.  Besides, I think it is connected to Amazon, who is a direct competitor of mine, so I try not to go near it.  I have no idea what Pinterest is, beyond being some sort of online mission board, which doesn't interest me.  There are streaming services for various interests, such as Discord, but I am not sure if that is the way for me to go.  I just joined my first streaming service last week, for goodness sake.  I chose the free tile, can't afford upgrading at the moment.  So far, I've only been able to find the time to watch one program.  I'm too busy with other things online.  Such as my school assignments, regular business duties, and somehow becoming a world champion level Candy Crush Saga  player.  Really.  King emailed me saying that I have achieved a level only 0.5% of player reach.  I'm not sure I believe it, but it is an ego booster

Have a Piece of American Pie

Firstly, I tried to contact the second with a birthday song list this weekend.  Unfortunately, he has a very  low social media presence.  To the best of my knowledge, his birthday was never acknowledged, anywhere, unless it was super private, or I had the totally wrong date.  Either way, I have yet to have a response.  I might need a greater/wider social media presence myself, but that is, again, another topic for a later post.  This week, I am going to present a very weird series of connections, almost a conspiracy, but not quite.  This linchpin to this series is the song "American Pie" by Don McLean.  A magazine I looked at over a year ago felt that it was the quintessential rock song.  It is fairly long with lyrics that are difficult to figure out.  Supposedly, it is about the so-called 'day the music died,' but almost any and all events from the 60s could fit in quite applicably.  'The day the music died' involved a plane crash that killed three budding rock musicians in 1959:  Bill Haley, the Big Bopper, and Richie Valens.  Strangely enough, "American Pie" was number one on the twelfth anniversary of that crash. Richie Valens was only on that plane because he won a coin toss.  The loser of that toss was Wayland Jennings, who would later have a long career as a famous country singer. He is also known for his lengthy partnership with Willie Nelson, as well as both having tax problems.  (Remember this; it's important.)  McLean has had other songs, but none as big of a hit.  Supposedly, McLean was also the inspiration behind the Roberta Flack hit "Killing Me Softly with His Song,' written after seeing him perform, which songs unknown.  "Killing Me Softly with His Song"  became Flack's second number one hit a year after McLean's "American Pie," as well as her second consecutive Grammy for 'Record of the Year.' In the mid 90s, a hip-hop trio from New Jersey would cover that song and it too became a hit, even though it was never released as a commercial single and therefore ineligible to chart on the Hot 100 list at that time.  The trio were the Fugees.  The group fell apart soon after their only real hit, for the possibility of individual success.  Wyclef Jean would become more of a producer or guest for others, most notably with Shakira on her biggest hit "Hips Don't Lie." The group's female member, Lauryn Hill, would go on to have the biggest success, for a short time.  Her solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill became a Grammy winning smash.  However, she has yet to score another hit, as she hit multiple problems of the years, most notably tax evasion charges.  So, through this bizarre series of connections, one could say that Wayland Jennings and his legal troubles are the reasons why Lauryn Hill got into legal trouble.  Yes, the ties are very tenuous, but the argument is fairly sound.  Hey, I find all of this very interesting, otherwise it wouldn't be the topic of this post, now would it?

I Did It, It Was Me Who Done Song

I really hate making title based on puns of DMB song lyrics, but I have hard time trying no to.  Anyway, a few weeks/post ago, I reported that I was going to be trying something new with birthday notifications on social media.  I was going to post the number one song from the day/week the person was born, with further suggestions from throughout their lives.  I was finally able to so yesterday.  It took me about an hour to compile the list of songs, mostly from interference from pop up ads.  Also, I has another friend whose birthday was a few days later that I was also researching.  There was about a 25% difference in songs, so I had to include a second song for some years.  I started out by messaging my friend a video clip of the song from the year he was born.  It was basically home movie footage set to the song, no real relation between the two.  I should have chosen the lyric video.  Well, I thought I sent it.  I have yet to receive any acknowledgement on his part for the message.  Second, I posted on his page my birthday wishes to him, as well as the entire top ten list for his birthday.  This, he did comment on, so I proceeded to the next step.  In the comments, I place a list of other number songs.  I chose so of the cheesiest and corniest ones, as a sort of a joke.  So far, no comments on them.  Maybe he was celebrating a lot last night.  If there had been comments, I would have had the list of good songs--The Emotions, The Knacks, Eurythmics, Mariah Carey, Eminem, two each from Boyz II Men and Taylor Swift, The Black Eyed Peas, The Chainsmokers, and Drake.  Maybe today.  This was the closest I could get to making an actual mix tape for him.  I don't really have the technical knowledge or clearances to do much more than that yet.  I'm hoping I get something for my birthday, as it has been years since I had a party or even a real gift, but I digress.  Perhaps someone will do the same for me next year.  I believe I actually have more groaners than my friend had listed.  At least I have a great rock song as number one for my birthday, and I actually do like it.  It's "American Pie" by Don McLean.  Next week, I will be posting some interesting facts and connections about this song, as well as how my second birthday tribute for this week goes.  I'm not sure how this will work, considering my friend's limited social media profile, but I can be up to the challenge

Summertime Rag Blues

     First, sorry about the mixed musical metaphors in the title.  Trust me, it will make sense.  This month will mark the first time in twenty-nine years that I will not be getting an issue of Entertainment Weekly through a subscription.  I first subscribed to EW through, no joke, Publisher's Clearinghouse.  Yes, the sweepstakes.  I had seen the magazine for over a year in waiting rooms.  I liked what I saw, but few stores carried it locally.  So, I decided to subscribe. I really liked the irreverent take it had on entertainment.  In fact, I believe the first issue I received in the mail had the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the cover, wearing nothing but socks, in strategically placed areas.  And, they may have been printed upside-down.  After so many decades, I may be misremembering.  Anyway, for many years I would read the entire issue, even the articles on subjects that really didn't interest me.  I enjoyed finding about topics outside of my normal zone.  Of course, I particularly enjoyed features on topics I loved.  For about forty-eight weeks per year, I would get a new issue.  Sure, sometimes an issue would get lost in the mail and I would have to ask for a replacement, although some stores finally started to carry the mag locally.  Then, about five years ago, things began to drastically change.  Yes, some of the satiric tone had left and recurring features were dropped, but I still liked EW and read every page.  It took me awhile, but I ultimately realized that there were fewer issues published each year.  Five years ago, they went down to less than forty per year.  Two years ago, just after I renewed my subscription, the magazine went to a monthly format without changing its title.  The magazine began focusing on more topics that I had no interest in at all.  I began to skim articles instead of reading them.  Reviews went more niche interest:  movies went more art house (partially due to the pandemic), television focused on streaming and new shows instead of older ones, music chose narrower genre artists over big-name stars, and books, ugh.  The book section went towards a literary bend, in both fiction and non-fiction.  Many of the titles and authors were those I didn't know or barely heard of, and I own a book store.  Sure, they might be "important," but I knew I wasn't interested in them and neither would most of my customers.  So, I chose not to renew.  If I see it on a magazine rack, I might look at it, maybe.  There is still the magazine's website, which is somewhat interesting and still has some of the style that first got me interested in the mag.  Unfortunately, I have other 'rag' problems.  For instance, I was finally able to go somewhere to pick up my first issue of Billboard in over a year.  I bought it without looking at it.  I was surprised to find out that it had gone monthly too.  I normally only check it out online, so I hadn't realized the change of frequency.  Not only that, but the issue only had three charts in it.  I don't know how long Billboard had been monthly (I'm almost certain it was still weekly), but the last issue I had gotten had a full selection of charts inside.  Sure, if that issue was a monthly as well, the charts were old when I bought it, but the issue would have had a broad selection.  When I'm online, I rarely have the time to search multiple charts.  I can still see all the charts online, at least the free one which I believe would be the majority of them, but I don't think I will buy another monthly issue if it isn't fully representative of all music.  I don't want to get into how it can take a week for copies of TV Guide to show up on the newsstand.  It used to show up within two days of when it is supposed to be put out nationally.  For the past few months, I have to wait five days, minimum, to find a copy.  Once, earlier this summer, it took almost two weeks before I finally got a copy, this when only three days were left, but there were still pertinent articles and puzzles left.  Still, this is not acceptable.  It might be a distribution problem, but other magazines aren't as effected.  At least is still get Games World of Puzzles on a regular schedule and early, usually, and I have had multiple subscriptions to it for over thirty years, but that is a whole other topic for a post.

Six Students in Search of a Class

     Well, I've started my latest classes for my online Master's program.  Or should I say "class?"  Let me explain.  My first class in on early dramatic literature.  I will be reading one play a week for three months. At least each play is shorter than your average novel, so that will mitigate some of the work.  Pretty much all my assignments are for the last month of the course.  The first four play are from Ancient Greece.  Translated, fortunately.  I've even read at least one of them, maybe two.  The play I'm certain I've read is Lysistrata.  For those unfamiliar with the play, it is about how the women of Athens "withhold" themselves from their soldier husbands in an effort to stop a war.  Many 'spear' puns and double entendres ensue.  Yes, it is a comedy.  The next three are from Ancient Rome. All of the rest are from England, I think.  I'll have to double check, but I am mostly sure.  My other class is supposed to be on advanced poetry writing.  I'm more of a fiction writer, but some of my greatest works are poems.  Hey, the class should be easier than some other possibilities.  That is if it ever starts.  After a week of problems trying to get the textbook for the class, the class has yet to start.  Nothing has been put online.  No syllabus.  No discussion page.  No contact information. Nothing.  I believe this class is being taught by the same professor I had for my fiction class a few years ago.  During that class, he disappeared for about a month in the middle of the course.  No explanation.  Now, I don't know if he is a little late setting up the online module or if there is some other problem.  To keep on track with my plans, I need to take two courses this semester.  There is only one other course I could theoretically take this fall, and it requires over one hundred fifty dollars worth of books.  I'm not sure if there are other, less expensive options for the class.  I would have had to register to find out.  However, I doubt I would be able to get and/or read anything in time for the first assignment.  So, I am stuck without knowing what is going to happen.  Maybe the class will be up by the time I check again this afternoon.  If not, I have no idea what my next step will be.

Ooh Baby, What a Wildlife World

     This past weekend, I saw a raccoon.  Actually, it was three raccoons.  They were huddled together on the road and scattered away when my car got close.  Two went one way and the third went another, up the hillside.  I would have taken a picture, but I thought it would be safer for both my car and the raccoons if I kept on driving as opposed to grab a camera from the back seat.  That is a problem I frequently have.  I encounter a great animal sighting, but I can't prove it because I don't have a camera on me.  My own digital camera keeps having problems.  I don't own a smart phone, although my mother does, but that still doesn't help me out.  Getting my Mac out and setting up its camera would be too much work.  Anyway, I have been missing opportunities like this for a while now.  Just in the past year, I have had other wildlife encounters that I didn't get to photograph.  In fact, I meet more animals while driving than while just staying put.  Except for the occasional luna moth, I am rarely in a position to take pictures of of any animal I see.  Let me give you some examples.  For this post, I will focus only on mammals and birds.  While I have seen more forms of wildlife than this driving, I just want to focus on the larger creatures.  Or at least the more well known.  First, let's go with the smaller cuddlier creatures.  I have seen numerous chipmunks, squirrels, and rabbits.  Any day with a bunny can become a good day.  Strangely enough, I have also seen a few rats and mice while driving.  There are more raccoons, as well as possums, woodchucks (I prefer groundhogs, but I digress), muskrats, and at least one otter.  Next, some larger beasts.  Deer are the most common.  I have seen them singly, in pairs, and whole herds, including one pack that ran across the road near the Pikeville floodgate.  I have even been able to take a picture on occasion.  Of course, I have also seen elk.  I did have my camera ready at the most recent sighting.  Unfortunately, they were in weeds taller than they were.  I couldn't get a good angle, so I didn't take the pic.  However, I have seen rarer animals, but let's check up on some birds first.  Songbirds, including woodpeckers and crows, are so commonplace that I won't mention them by name.  Turkey flocks are a little more common.  I've even seen those flying over the road.  One even flew down into the parking lot of the shopping center where my store is located.  Then, there are the herons.  For some reason, just started popping up everywhere a few years ago.  Mostly, I've seen them flying, frequently alongside my car.  Once, I almost hit one that was walking along the road.  One also flew up from the creek (or maybe its just a large drainage ditch) near where I live.  The closest I've been to the big birds.  I've seen up to four buzzards together up close, picking over a carcass in the road, or near it.  Finally, I am pretty sure I have seen at least one bald eagle.  Perched, not in flight.  This leads me to the rarest finds.  I have seen at least one beaver, fox, and coyote near the road.  Okay, the beaver was in a creek, and I wasn't driving at the time, but I did see it.  I have seen a mink.  It was the middle of winter, so I doubt it was a young similarly looking creature.  I think I may have seen a skunk, but I can't remember for sure.  Just a few months ago, I saw a weasel darting across the road.  It was long, skinny, and very dark brown.  It was so dark in color, it may have been an escaped ferret instead, but I'm thinking weasel.  I've seen at least one ferret up close, so I know what they look like.  However, aside from a large furry thing that I saw from over a quarter mile away that may or may not have been a bear, the rarest sighting I have had is a lynx.  That's right, an actual Kentucky wildcat.  It was last year, a few weeks before that wildcat incident at a local store.  It was the afternoon when the feline crossed the road just in front of my car.  It had the familiar ear tuffs, so I am fairly certain it wasn't just a big domestic car.  It was about halfway up the Pike county side of Abner mountain.  In fact, many of these sightings have been in the area:  raccoons, deer, buzzards, turkeys, various rodents, and so on.  My only complaint, besides not being able to take pictures of most of these things is that why I never saw them until starting just a few years ago.  The animals were always here.  Okay, not the elk, but most of the rest were here.  I don't get why they just starting to show up "out of the woodwork" as it were.  It just doesn't make much sense to me.  At least I get to see them now. 

Doodle Me This

     As many of you know, Google frequently changes its logo on its home page.  Generally, these changes correspond to an occasion, holiday, anniversary, or other event.  I even accidentally adopted this style when I started changing the logo for my store, Booknotes, for its indoor display.  (I used other web browsers back before I went with Google.). I still do so for my "Making the Video" series on YouTube and elsewhere.  For the current Tokyo Olympic Games, Google did more than just a cute logo.  They had a link to a series of mini-games based around characters and figures from Japanese folklore and mythology, not to mention tropes from anime and manga as well.  Each of the seven mini-games was based on a different sport:  skateboarding, synchronized swimming, archery, rock climbing, table tennis, rugby, and a marathon (although the in-game length was closer to 500 to 1,000 meters). I found skateboarding to be the easiest one; all I had to do was randomly push buttons in a pattern to win.  The synchronized swimming was a rhythm button-pushing game similar to Guitar Hero or Dance Dance Revolution pushing the buttons in time to the prompts and music.  I didn't play with the sound one, so I found this one a little harder to beat.  It wound up being the next-to-last one I won on.  Archery was mostly shooting at moving targets while the opponent did the same for right behind you.  Not that hard, but not easy either.  Took me a few tries.  Table tennis was basically moving to where the ball would be and timing the return.  That is until your opponent started shooting multiple balls, up to at least four at a time.  Still found a way to win.  For rugby, you were put on a team trying to get the ball to the other end of the field without the other team taking the ball back.  The other team were oni, ogre-demons from myth.  At least there were power-ups to help you out, such as super-speed or invisibility.  They were crucial for winning.  The marathon was just staying on track an avoiding the random sea creatures that would be crawling on the beach course.  This one took a few tries to, but I won.  I found rock-climbing to be the hardest.  You had one minute and twenty-nine seconds to reach the top of the mountain, while dodging snowballs being thrown down on you, while jumping from three types of handholds (stabile red, moving blue, and unstable green that would fade after a few seconds after being grabbed).  It took me multiple tries before I beat this one, and I had already finished all the side-quests as well.  See, this was also a mini-RPG where one earned trophies for various accomplishment.  Five of them opened up more difficult versions of the mini-games.  I didn't even know that there were trophies until a searched online for tips in beating the games.  I then unlocked the trophy house and found out that I was over halfway to finding them all.  The final trophy was to find the previous trophy-master.  It turned out the it was the mascot for a previous doodle game Google had done.  The mascot was playing the current "Doodle Island Champion" game that you were actually playing.  Turns out the mascot had played the original game as well, meaning that each one was playing as the other online at the same time.  Yeah, very meta of Google.  After finishing, I posted my accomplishment of Facebook.  Unfortunately, the game was taken down a few hours later, before I cold see if anyone in my social group were playing it too.  Before it was taken down, it looked like team red was winning.  I was team blue, of course.  I managed to go over the entire game, except for the team headquarters for the other three teams.  Supposedly, each team experienced minor changes in gameplay, but none that would have effected how to win the overall game.  Now I wonder, what will Google do next, and why they didn't keep the game up for more than a week?

The Song for the Week You Were Born

    I am about halfway through my SiriusXM free trial, and I am starting to hear many of the same songs multiple times.  One in particular happens to be the song that was number one on the charts the week I was born.  Fortunately, it is a fairly good and well-received song that I like.  I won't be naming it, as I don't want to date myself.  However, my lack of social skills and general love life, pretty much forces me to date myself.  At least it is with someone who likes my body and not just my mind.  Or so I'm told.  (Sorry.  Bad joke.) Anyway, this has given me an idea I want to try on social media.  Instead of just wishing someone a "Happy Birthday" with emojis, backgrounds, and perhaps a GIF, I want to provide a clip of the song that was number one the week they were born, or perhaps a mix of various songs that were number one that day throughout their lives.  I first though about having songs that mention their birthdays.  However, unless a birthday falls on a holiday or is randomly chosen for a song, not that many dates are mentioned in songs.  Strangely enough, I actually know someone whose birthday falls on a holiday, as well as someone whose birthdate is mentioned in a song.  I actually sent a video of it to that second person last year.  The song was up-tempo and very appropriate for a party.  Now, I think my new idea can work for everyone.  Unfortunately, not everyone has a good song that was number one on their birthday.  For example, I really wanted to do something for a friend of mine, who doesn't have that much of a social media presence.  I looked through my copy of The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 9th edition, by Joel Whitburn. (There really needs to be an update, but there have been too many songs to fit everything into a single volume anymore.) I knew the year, and I was somewhat certain of the day.  The good news- the number one song was by Paul McCartney. (Linda has a co-credit, but it is still his first number one after he left the Beatles.)  The bad news- it's "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey." I admit, the title/s are kind of mediocre.  I caught a video for the songs on YouTube.  Neither one is really uplifting.  I'm not sure how the song/s reached number one.  At least I can still use other songs from other years, if I chose to go this route.  Songs such as "Get Down Tonight," by K. C. & the Sunshine Band, or "Abracadabra," by The Steve Miller Band, or other more recent tunes.  Hey, at least I like these two.  I'm not sure who else would like them, but it is still the thought that counts.

Loops and Loopholes

   I've mentioned a few time on this blog that I have a glitch whenever I play Candy Crush Saga via Facebook, one that I try to exploit as much as I can.  Because if this glitch, which only appears when I play using my Mac's Safari browser, I can gain infinite lives and maintain very long winning streaks.  I also can receive limitless boosters.  I don't know how it happened, but I love it.  I sign into Facebook and then log in to the game.  I play an easy level I already played, usually 6000.  If I win, then the game activates as if it was the first time I played it that day, even if it isn't.  If I win, I continue playing.  If it looks like I will lose, I log out of the game and Facebook.  I then leave the browser and open another browser, which I usually immediately close. Note that I don't have to go into Facebook or the game on the second browser to use this glitch.  I then go back to Safari, Facebook, and Candy Crush where everything starts over.  Now, this glitch has had its downsides.  For one, ongoing challenges wouldn't always activate, as the game would think I was just starting for the day, instead of going forward.  I need to log out of the game after an extra win or two, to make sure a challenge activates.  Sometimes, different challenges would be running on different browsers, at the same time, even when only one level should be going on.  This doesn't always work, but it allows for some unusual playing.  For instance, if a timed bonus starts just before I log out, it can automatically reactivate when I log back in.  Just this past Monday, I used the glitch to stretch a on hour bonus with boosters to over five hours and multiple booster bonuses. I almost had double digit flying saucers this way.  This biggest gain was in the daily log in bonus, which would activate every time I used the glitch.  This allowed me to stockpile thousands of the striped/wrapped duo booster.  Unfortunately, I was stuck on the first day.  That's one of the reasons why I started using a second browser, just so I could get the rest of the cynical bonuses.  That all ended a little over a week ago.  The game changed from a fixed cycle of bonuses to a random selection, with the caveat that the possible bonuses get bigger with each consecutive day.  So, instead of getting booster x on day one and y the next, I could get any among a bunch of boosters, sometimes repeating on consecutive days.  While this isn't technically bad, it is unaffected by the glitch.  I now only get one chance, apparently per browser, per day.  My stockpiles will no longer be growing as fast.  With the glitch, I could use the primary striped/wrapped bonus every first time I open a level and never have my stockpile drop.  Now, I need to be more careful with booster management, at least a little.  I still have a huge stockpile of many of them, after all.  Also, this glitch doesn't always work.  If I make a mistake, a lose my winning streak bonus, currently over 400.  It maxes out after five wins, but it still takes work if I have to start over.  I have a strong feeling that I accidentally did something to cause this glitch, so it probably only works on my computer, and only on this Candy Crush game on not any of the others I also play.  Or even on other similar games, although they have been known to act strangely if I log out before I actually lose a level.

Writing Can Be Hard

 Yesterday, I posted the first part of the first chapter of the follow-up to my novella Dada, titled Pop.  The titles are connected both by being names to call the male parental unit, as well as being art movements that were decades apart and only tangentially related.  Note that both meanings were crucial to the first novella, and they might still be important in the second one.  Originally, the major ideas for Pop were going to be included in the first book as a flash-forward second section.  I later decided to just write an entire second novella instead.  I moved some of the story beats into Dada, but I kept some others to be used in later chapters here.  However, the first scene remained almost exactly the same.  Chris, the main protagonist, and his brother Sam are getting ready for the day in front of a dressing mirror.  I even still have Sam going downtown for an interview, for the same purpose.  What that purpose is won't be revealed until Chapter 3, as well as a big surprise I hinted at throughout the first scene.  I have Chris keeping a few more secrets from Sam as well, but they won't be brought out for a few more chapters.  One secret won't be revealed until near the end of the book.  To prepare for Pop, I had to go back over the first book so that I could remember character names, relationships, and other important facts.  I am embarrassed to admit it, but I had forgotten Sam's name, it had been so long.  I had also forgotten that I had named Chris's high school friends similar to slang terms for the male anatomy.  Intentionally.  Of course, I had the teenage Sam point that out to Chris immediately.  I never got to have Chris acknowledge the fact though.  He really should have realized that his closest friends had nicknames so close to those terms, but they were never used. (The names in question are Jim, Will, Rick, and Pete.  You can guess what the slang terms are.) At least I finally updated the first two chapters to their second drafts, the ones I used for my first UK application.  I remember correcting a sentence while going over the book to begin writing this one.  I hope it wasn't in the example, or that might be a reason why I wasn't accepted.  Anyway, I don't want to give any spoilers away, but I can mention a few more things.  First, the novella starts out in New York, but most of it will take place in Lexington, Kentucky, the opposite of Dada.  Second, Chris will be reunited with his old friends, although he already has met with them a few times between the two books.  Third, the reason why the friends drifted apart involves secrets that they had been keeping from each other, and not just Chris's smugness.  I hate to admit it, since he is very loosely based on me,  but Chris is kind of a tool.  Finally, I finally bring Chris's mother into the picture.  While she is in the first book, she is only seen while she is on the phone with Chris or mentioned in flashbacks.  How to two react is an important scene, although I may wind up downplaying it, since I have bigger plans for the two in the third book.  I have yet come up with a title for that one yet.  There really isn't another art movement that can also be used as a term for "father" that I can think of.  Hopefully, I can come up with one when I finish with Pop, which could be sometime late next year.  One part of one chapter a week equates to about forty to fifty weeks, depending upon my other workload.  It's a start.

Miscellany Inaction

I just finished my summer class a few days ago.  It will be a few more days before I receive my grade for the class.  I just hope it is good enough to go on.  It was not the best idea to take a monthlong class.  Cramming four months of work in just four weeks was difficult for me.  If my grade is good enough, I will be taking two more classes this fall.  One of the classes will be in advanced poetry writing.  I have already taken the class for fiction.  Strangely enough, I feel that my best poems are better than my fiction, but I still prefer the latter over the former.  Which brings me to my next subject. While I haven't mentioned it for a few months, I do have more than one blog. Two in fact, but I'm going to focus on just one of them today.  The T. H Weingarten Miscellany.  I started it as a way to collect enough material for graduate school submissions.  So far, it hasn't worked to well.  There is a mix of material there.  The majority of the blog is dedicated to the first draft of a novel/novella called Dada. The first part of the first chapter can be found here.  I have recently updated both parts of the first chapter to reflect how the passages looked when I submitted them for my application.  I will be doing the same for Chapter 2 in the next few days.  I bring this up because Dada was always supposed to be the first part of a trilogy.  Well, I have decided to start the second book.  Starting next Tuesday, or so, I will start posting chapter parts for the follow-up, Pop.  For those who hadn't read it yet, Dada is about Chris, a twenty-something man in a job he hates.  Out of the blue, he becomes the guardian for he younger half-brother, who is rapidly going through puberty.  On a road trip back to his father's house, the two have a few adventures.  The story culminates at their father's mansion (his family was really rich back in the day) where Chris finds out about a number of family secrets in quick succession, including what happened to his father.  Pop takes up Chris' story four years later.  Both Chris and his brother have undergone a few changes in that time.  I'm thinking that the first scene will show just how many changes have occurred, and they will blow your mind.  I don't want to give to much away yet, but I will say that the first few chapters will take place in New York, but the action will move back to Lexington about halfway through.  I am planning on having about as many twists as Dada did, if not more, and that's saying something.  Maybe nothing as major as Chris' father's art movie, but close.  I still haven't included the full text of that chapter yet, but it is available for messaging if anyone is curious.  I warn you though, it is risqué.  Even the synopsis I did post got a tad too close for comfort for public viewing.  Here's to a few more months of writing my second book.

The Song That Goes Pop in July

 Late last month, I received an unusual email.  It was from a game I used to play on Facebook, but it had been discontinued due to the cessation of the code it was built upon.  The game was Songpop.  This wasn't the first time they had sent me an email, either.  After my first month of not playing, they sent me an email or two giving me free bonuses if I would just return to playing the game.  Of course, I couldn't even though I might have wanted to.  While the game had long since been available on mobile devices running iOS or Android, it had just started to become available on PCs.  I was on a Mac.  Therefore, I was unable to go back to playing.  However, this email was announcing that Songpop had finally come to the Mac.  I really liked the game when I was still able to play it.  I even wrote a post about how dejected I was when the game was dropped a few hours earlier than I expected back on December 31.  Now, I had the chance to go back and play it.  One problem.  I was getting ready to start my online summer class.  I didn't wasn't to start a new game while concentrating on my class, especially when the course timetable was so constricted.  So, I have yet to download the game.  However, my class ends this weekend.  I have been a day or so behind schedule since the start.  In fact, I don't even really have the time to be writing this post, but I have just enough spare time to do it.  This means, this coming Saturday evening, or sometime on Sunday, July 4, I will finally have the time to play again.  I am not sure how much will have changed in just a few months.  In the few years I had been playing the game, very little had changed in the gameplay. The biggest one was the lack of connection to Facebook when the game was being phased out. I never got the chance to play against any of my friends.  I was too nervous, and not that many friends were active, especially at the end.  Anyway, I am getting ready to play again.  I needed a new game, as I have been hitting huge roadblocks in many of them the last few weeks.  It looks like I'm making progress, and boom! I either get stuck or sent backwards.  At least Songpop is the type of game that allows progression even when losing.  Time to get back to work, and then back to playing this weekend.

The Tragic Death and Second Life of Lady Mondegreen

 In a 1954 interview, writer Sylvia Wright talked about one of her favorite poems as a child, "The Bonny Earl of Murray."  The poem ends on a very tragic note, as the Earl dies.  For Wright, this tragedy was compounded in that she believed another character had also died, a "Lady Mondegreen."  That this figure was never mentioned until her death was somewhat odd.  It was only later in life that Wright discovered that she had misheard the line, which was actually "and laid him on the green," which is where the earl's body was placed after his death.  The term mondegreen was coined for the mishearing of a line or song lyric from this interview.  I've been of fan of such things since the late 90s when I saw a book about such lyrics, Scuse Me as I Kiss This Guy.  The title is taken from a frequently misheard lyric from "Purple Haze" by the Jimi Hendrix Experience.  The actual lyric is "scuse me as I kiss the sky."  In all fairness, the actual lyric doesn't make too much sense, especially when compared to the mondegreen.  As was never able to purchase the book, but I would always try to look at it, or one of its sequels, whenever I visited a book store.  While I never bought any of the books, I did get the spin-off calendars when I opened my own book store.  Unfortunately, the calendars ceased being published after about seven years after I opened.  I kept some of the funniest pages to look at from time to time.  I ultimately did find another book with misheard lyrics, but I sold it, after having it for many years.  The book included two other types of bungled language, eggcorns and misanthropes.  The former is the coining of a new word from bungling up saying the actual term.  The latter is an accidental or intentional use of the wrong word in a situation, mostly found in literature as a deliberate character feature.  Every now and again, I get the notion to find more on this subject, particularly new material.  There are a few websites, including one that may have been attached to the original books Kiss This guy, but I haven't been able to prove it.  With the advent of captioned music videos, as well as the widespread use of internet searches, one would think that such occurrences would be rarer, but they are still out there.  I will end today's post with an example found in that second book I mentioned.

            I can see Cleveland now, Lorraine has gone.   

            I can see all lobster claws in my way.

Now, what was Johnny Nash singing about.  First, why wouldn't Lorraine want him to see Cleveland?  Was she a demanding woman who hates the Browns? (But then, who likes them?) Or, is she a woman of great proportions who physically blocked his view until she stopped aside?  Unfortunately, he now sees lobsters.  Cleveland is on a lake, not an ocean, so where did the crustaceans come from? Or, was there a catering accident and there are only the claws before him?  So many claws.  Of course, these aren't the actual lyrics, but they are funny.  The actual lyrics are below.

            I can see clearly now, the rain has gone.

            I can see all the obstacles in my way.

But seriously, the first line is the title!  If you heard that, you know the first line

Why So Sirius, XM?

Last week, I had an unusual email.  Well, not really that unusual, but definitely not that expected.  Okay, I knew there could be chance, but still.  Anyway.  Because of a great review of my car's last oil change at the car dealership, and not the one I got it from, I was eligible for a three-month free trial of SiriusXM.  This was on top of the seasonal two-week free trial centered around Memorial Day that just ended.  Now, I admit, I wasn't too thrilled about satellite radio when I first saw the ads.  Some of the pretentiousness of the curated stations based upon random names just seemed odd.  Then, I got a new car.  Part of the package was a free trial of XM radio.  Things had changed somewhat since those first ads.  I was amazed by the clarity and the selection of stations.  Then, the trial ended.  At the time, I couldn't afford to continue the service.  Technically, I still can't, especially since I don't really have the credit card needed to pay for it.  All I had was the free program guide.  I would sometimes listen to the station just to get the new listings.  Sirius and XM were merging at the time, so many changes were occurring.  I would make up new lists of where the stations were being moved, and which were changed, either added or deleted.  This would be a help during one of the quarterly seasonal free trials.  To garner new subscriptions, SiriusXM reactivates some radios for two weeks a few times a year, with a limited range of stations.  The majority of the music ones that don't have excessive language and a smattering of the others.  Plus, a few Canadian stations, for some reason, at least on my cars.  These trials are usually based around holidays--Memorial Day for spring, Labor Day for summer, Thanksgiving for autumn.  The winter trial never had a fixed holiday; that may be why it was discontinued.  There have been others, most notably a sports-based trial around the first week of the NCAA's men's basketball tournament, but there isn't any clear schedule about when this type of trial will start.  Getting back on topic, I reactivated my radio last week and now have all 250 or so channels open, as well as the online streaming ones.  A few of these used to be part of the regular package, but have since been relegated to online only.  I had just printed off a recent guide earlier that day too.  No reason.  I kept some of my old program guides over the years, and they do tell a story.  Some channels have been renamed, such as the Boneyard into Ozzy's Boneyard.   Some have fallen by the wayside, such as most of the ad-friendly music stations.  Only the LA based KISS is left. Others that have departed include both Oprah Winfrey's and Martha Stewart's channels, a yoga chant channel, and even a Bollywood channel dedicated to the music stylings of India and its movies.  There was even a Playboy radio channel.  It was probably just articles, as I'm guessing most of the magazine's visual appeal couldn't translate to radio.  At least that's what I'm guessing.  Never listened to the station.  Or the magazine.  Honest.  Many categories have been renumbered and internally rearranged.  For instance, the love song base Love channel used to be in the "pop" category.  Then it was moved to the eclectic catch-all of the "jazz/standards/classical" group.  However, Love has been at least temporarily replaced by Yacht Rock Radio, a blend of soft rock from the 70s and early 80s, while Love is currently online only.  At least I can appreciate Steely Dan on a fairly regular basis.

I Accuse You of Murdering Your Own Mystery Series

For the second time in two years, a mystery series that I follow appears to be ending.  The "Witch City" mystery series by Carol J. Perry stars Lee Barrett, an investigative reporter for a Salem, Massachusetts television station.  Since childhood, she has experienced visions of the past, present, and possible future whenever she gazes into a reflective surface, but no every time.  In the latest book, See Something, Lee has been promoted to programming director.  While this keeps her off-screen, it doesn't keep her out of trouble, as she finds a young woman suffering from amnesia.  Lee takes the woman to her home, where Lee's aunt Izzy helps the poor woman out.  Lee also calls her police officer boyfriend, Pete, for assistance.  It turns out that the woman may have been witness to a murder.  While not a suspect, the woman's life is in danger as the suspects go after her for an unknown reason.  The suspects you disguises and multiple identities, but the main thrust is the motive as opposed to determining the suspects real names.  Late in the book, after the most recent threat to Lee's life is resolved, Pete proposes to her, unplanned and out-of-nowhere.  In the epilogue, after the case is resolved, the two have an official engagement party.  At the end of the book, after the usual recipes and author acknowledgements, there is a publisher's note saying that Perry will be starting a new book series soon, suggestive of haunted houses.  And that this series is ending.  Why end a series just because the female protagonist is getting married?  I should have realized something was happening from the other clues.  First, the story was copywriter in 2019, but not published until this year, as if Kensington, the publisher, wanted to milk out the series a little more.  Many characters from two books previous had also been brought back.  Finally, the book was in the new wide mass market paperback style.  Unlike regular paperbacks, it is about an inch wider and a half an inch taller.  It is also a dollar more expensive.  This seems to be a trend in publishers of cozy mysteries and romances.  Too big for a man's pocket, but great for a woman's purse.  Other series, that I don't read, continue well after the wedding.  At least this series doesn't have any loose ends, unlike another series a liked ended.  That one was the "Wiccan Wheel" mystery series by Jennifer David Hesse.  It too has seemed to end after the female lead got engaged.  Unlike "Witch City," there were a few loose ends left to tie up.  For instance, one of the supporting characters had a hidden back story that was hinted at, but never explored.  A recurring enemy flew the coop, but still held the possibility of returning.  Finally, there were two entire Wiccan holidays that had yet been used of the traditional eight.  Leaving such a possibility open irks me.  Why have a definite theme, and not complete it?  Sure, one of the two holidays is fairly obscure and has no clear parallel in the modern calendar, while the other coincides with Easter, but there was still so much to go into.  What hurts me the most, though?  I was coming up with a mystery series about ghost/monster hunters, and Perry's new series might be stepping on its toes. At least I have other series still going strong, if I could only get them.