Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

It is bloody hot, 11:45 p.m., the balcony door is open, the fan is on, and I still feel hot and sweaty.  They say (I read it on the internet, we will see if it turns out to be true or not) that tomorrow is supposed to be the hottest day in the Czech Republic -ever.  Of course, ever means since they’ve been keeping records.  If there was a hotter day at some point in the 11th century, we would not know about it.

It is a motivation reducer.  I have no great ambition to write about any one subject tonight.  There’s the translation I’ve been working on all day.  It is perhaps one of the goriest books I’ve ever read.  So far, people have been killed by having their throats slit, being stabbed in the back, shot by firing squad, shot by a guard (one person who was running and one person who was standing, stoned to death (a dog),, and beaten and then hanged by a gang in an ally.  I have barely begun and I think there’s a mass shooting in a cafe coming up.

At one point the weather was described as boiling and I had to change it to baking.  It takes place in Tehran.  Baking.  That’s how I feel today.

I don’t want to write any more about the Great American Festival of Bullshit happening right now, I’ll wait until tomorrow.  There will, no doubt, be plenty to mock and I’m sure other pundits will hit most of the high points.

There’s a trend, or somebody’s trying to make it a trend, I’ve seen it a couple of times on facebook – bubble nails.  This is just plain ugly, it’s sort of like the bagel face thing  of a year or two back.  If something can be done, it will be done, because people love to jump on a trend, no matter how pointless or artificial.

That’s about it for tonight.  Keep cool, everybody.

I am totally loving my new job, as Tarot Reader in residence at The Colored Pencil Art Gallery.  This morning I got to work and, first thing, I read the cards to see what kind of a day it would be.

No money, but lots of sunshine and connectedness to the universe, was the prediction, and that’s pretty much what came to pass.  I did a lot more readings than I did on Monday but a few people paid nothing, one guy left 10 kc, and nobody got crazy generous,but there was a lot of fun and a lot of good readings.

My favorite group was a Dutch family.  The daughter was obviously curious, but a little bit nervous, but eventually she worked up the nerve and everyone followed.  They were all asking lots of questions, which essentially means they were answering the questions themselves, and I learned a lot about all of them.

Then the daughter wanted to have a go at reading and I said sure, she could do mine.  However, we had somebody waiting impatiently in line (which was awkward, but in the final analysis it’s great when people are waiting in line, it builds demand, they have time to shop so it’s good for the place, and the service gets valued a bit higher) so she had to hurry.  It’s really interesting to me what untrained people will see in the cards.

She actually gave me some insight into my life, despite reading things on the card I have never, ever seen.

Even when it’s down time, I am surrounded by beauty and, when things are very slow and I’m bored I can always step out and take a walk around Old Town Square.

Basically, though, I am getting paid to do something  I would happily do for free, and you don’t get any better than that.

A facebook friend posted today that he was amused by the Trump candidacy, that as long as he’s in, that’s damage to the Republican party and if he actually gets the nomination, the Democrats will win in a landslide, similar to 1964 when Goldwater had the slogan “In your heart, you know he’s right” and all of us kids in Mrs. Lynn’s 6th grade class were saying “In your guts, you know he’s nuts” and that seemed to be the national consensus as well, although LBJ didn’t turn out to be such a peach, either.

I wish I could agree.  However, there are a few reasons why I think we should be concerned about the very real possibility of a Trump presidency.

1.  Americans elected George Bush twice, and anybody who claims they didn’t know he was retarded before the election in 2000 just wasn’t paying attention.  But, there is no requirement that voters pay attention.  There is no requirement that voters make a conscientious effort to choose the most intelligent candidate, or the most honest one or the most compassionate or anything, really.  Voters can vote according to any damn fool criteria they choose, and most of them do.  Come election day, plenty of people will vote for Trump because “He doesn’t take any crap” or “He says what he thinks” or “His wife is hot,” or “At least he’s not a liberal.”

2.  If he gets the Republican nomination, the chance of his getting the Presidency jumps up to almost 50/50, because that’s the way the  game works.

3.  The chance of his getting the Republican nomination is very real.  He is currently leading in all the polls, and that is rank and file support.  The  party leadership hates him.  This makes him the Republican Bernie Sanders, and I think Sanders is going to take the Dem nomination.  The party bosses have some influence, but if they were actually in control, Trump and Sanders would be out already, and they’re not.

They might actually try to keep Trump out of the debates – I’m not sure who determines who gets into the debates, whether it’s the party leadership, Fox News, or Republican megadonors Charles and William Koch – but that could backfire on them, because if they try to keep him out, they would have to actually give a reason, and they don’t have one.

So, I’m very worried about the possibility of a Trump Presidency.  I think we all should be.

First day of the new ‘job’ went well, I think.  I put job in quote marks because it’s not really what most people would call a job, and also because I really don’t know if it will last.

I am the Tarot reader in residence at an art gallery.  I don’t get a wage, or a salary.  I have a cup on the table for donations.  If people donate enough, I gie them one of my books of poetry as a ‘gift.’

I will ‘sell’ more books this way, if today is any indicator (sold four) than I do through Amazon or Kindle.

I only did eight Tarot Readings all day, and they were the usual range.  There was the guy who totally believed in it who wanted reading after reading and, since he was first, I accommodated him.  There was the guy who claimed not to speak English but when he eventually sat down to the table his English was not bad at all.  There was about an even mix of men and women.  There were more Czechs than anybody else but there was a Frenchman, a Pole, and a Russian as well.

Isabel was not impressed with the number of readings.  “You worked hard today?  Pffft.  You just sat around counting your cash.”  I didn’t really make that much cash, but I liked the image.  That’s the job I want.

Also, in between readings I wrote a poem.  So, it was all around time well spent.  I’m glad I’ve got tomorrow off, though, even though it’s not entirely off.  Must get cranking on that translation. or rather proofreading, of the book about all the people bleeding to death in Iran. buac in the ’50s.

Will Joe Biden run?  A couple of months ago, before Bernie Sanders, I would have been thrilled at the prospect.  I like Joe Biden.  I think most of his ‘gaffes’ are not gaffes at all, but high level trolling (i.e. “This is a big fucking deal”).  Joe likes  to talk, a lot, he’s a garrulous sort of guy, but he’s smart, he’s competitive, he would kick the ass of any Republican running, and probably be a reasonably competent president.  Also, he’s not Hillary Clinton.

Joe Biden

But, now we do have a viable alternative to Clinton, and he’s also a viable alternative to Joe Biden.  Bernie Sanders  is articulate, as are Biden and Clinton.  He’s also more liberal than either of them, a true FDR style Democrat, and that’s why I’m supporting him.

Speaking strictly in terms of sporting events, I think Biden has a shot.  He’d siphon off establishment votes from Clinton, he might take away a few from Sanders who actually like Sanders but are worried that he just might be too liberal to win, after all.

He’d do well enough in Iowa and New Hampshire to stay in the race and it might wind up as a hung convention (haven’t had one of those for a while), where he’d have an insiders advantage.  If he gets Obama’s endorsement (Obama can’t very well endorse anybody else – he’s either going to endorse Biden or stay neutral) that might swing it all his way.

(I’m ignoring O’Malley, Chafee, and Webb in these calculations on the grounds that so is everybody else in the country.  Their campaigns have just not caught fire, and they’re not likely to now.)

The main thing to remember is, whoever gets the Democratic nomination will win the presidency.  Not that that is the way the country is tending, there are still a very large number of Republicans and Republican sympathizers out there, but out of the 16 or so candidates running, they haven’t got a single one who isn’t a complete loony toon.

Their latest entry, John Kasich, who seems to be running on a platform of “I’m not as crazy as the rest of those guys,” says that climate change might be man-made, but we still shouldn’t do anything about it because it’s God’s will.

Of course it’s a Democratic year.  If it winds up being Biden, I could live with it.