October 22, 2026
We are surrounded by military here. Fortunately, it is the U.S. military, but still they are very noisy. As I was planting daffodils this morning, first a fighter jet flew overhead. Then artillery practice began at Fort Jackson. For five minutes, I could hear the crack of rifles.
At 10:30 this morning, our pedal steel player quit our pop band, because he could not figure out how to fit pedal steel into our mainly R&B repertoire.
At 10:45, two days before our gig, we found out for the first time that it is a “white party.” At first I was afraid this meant a “white supremacist party,” which would have been especially weird, since the people throwing the party are black. But it turns out it means everyone is supposed to dress all in white. That is still a problem, however, since I don’t think anyone in the band has an all white outfit. We are negotiating.
I looked up these parties online, and found out that Sean Combs had started the practice. This made my son and I wonder if there was any danger that we would be sex trafficked if we went to the party. Hopefully the risk is low.
I spent a couple of hours freshening up some websites and typing some edits into a piece of fiction. I laid down for a few minutes, and then Elen and I went to the chiropractor.
While Elen was seeing the doctor, I went to Barnes and Noble to work. I ordered a medium latte. Now, I don’t drink coffee much these days, so once I drank a medium latte, I was pretty much like Beavis is here after 2 minutes in:
https://youtu.be/_orcoYUYFLg?is=neN1b8sg9P02pACO
Then we went for a walk in the woods at Fort Jackson. This is a very funny thing: the base has security at all its gates, and fences with barbed wire at the top. But it also has trail heads where you can park and simply walk into the middle of the base. If our enemies ever want to penetrate the base, all they have to do is bring backpacks and walking sticks, and they’re good to go.
Then I sat outside, watching the chickens as they have their playtime, ready to start my new course:
https://www.amazon.com/North-American-Cambridge-Course-Students/dp/1107699002/
For some reason, I remembered lying in bed, when I was maybe six, and trying to test the idea that the numbers really went on forever. I would fall asleep trying to count as high up as I possibly could. I am sure I got well into the thousands.
I headed to One Life Fitness. There was a man in the hot tub when I got there. He was watching a comedian with earbuds on (the man in the tub, not the comedian) and cracking up. His laugh was like someone took a recording of a cackling chicken and a machine gun and melded them, then played the clip at a very loud volume.
He took his earbuds out after a few minutes, and it turned out he was really nice. He told me all about the comedian he was watching and how funny the fellow was. When I got out of the tub, he said, “Take care, friend.”
Well, we had had a friendly conversation for about 30 or 40 seconds, that was true. But I don’t think Aristotle would rate that very high on his friendship scale.
Then I went for a swim. This renewed a worry I have had. I like to do single-arm swimming, and I always do left arm first, then right arm. My worry is that, one day, I will have a heart attack just after I finish the left arm lap, and that will be that. I just don’t want to die lopsided like that.