Concrete Lunch

This week FaceBook decided I am a weak loser man who needs to see “reels” of men who are more manly than me giving me advice on general masculinity improvements, how to be an alpha douche, and stuff like that. Apparently I need to also be more tan, grow a beard, and have big veins in my over-muscled arms and neck.

Side note: If I have need to kill one of those guys, a simple razor blade cute to one of those easily-found bulging veins should do the trick.

Oh, I have also learned that people who aren’t happy simply haven’t “decided” to be happy. Isn’t that amazing? For the record I am happy, in general, except when I’m watching these stupid videos. Also, everyone has the right to be unhappy. It is a natural emotional state that humans have, and it is sometimes appropriate.

It’s been an amazing and educational delve into the dungeon of alpha male wisdom influencers.

My old skateboarding website was mentioned on this week’s episode of a popular skateboarding YouTube show/podcast.

It was cool to hear it mentioned.  It was a fun project for about 10 years and I made a lot of good friends because of it. Knowing that someone remembers it is nice.

My first job as a librarian was at the Johnson Space Center library – the Scientific and Technical Information Center. I was there from 1996 to 1998. It was a great first job. As a young person it made me feel great to be part of something important. I got to work with some incredible people. I was there there morning of the fire on Space Station Mir. When I got to work I was immediately pressed into service, retrieving documents and specifications as engineers worked to keep the astronauts alive. It was a great start to my career.

Watching the Artemis II moon flyby mission today is very moving. Thirty years ago you needed NASA TV on cable to watch this kind of thing. Today you can watch the mission from launch to splashdown on a phone in your pocket.

Remembering these words from Carl Sagan seems appropriate today, as four smart and brave people travel farther from Earth than anyone ever has, to loop around the moon and come home. We can still do great things. BUT we need great people in charge, not the orange scumbag and his circle of religious kooks, bigots, and nincompoops.  We could provide healthcare and education to everyone. We could shelter and feed the world’s hungry. We should do that and more.

I’ve been in my job for 20 years. Before that I had other jobs. I’ve been a librarian for 30 years. In that time electronic tools on the computer have come and gone.

We are always switching to the “next big thing” that will without a doubt make our work easier and “more productive.” They always involve learning a new system, which will be abandoned in a year or two for the new next big thing. It’s all wasteful bullshit. Wasteful of our money and our time and our energy. I have rarely seen it actually save time or money or improve anything. I can’t actually think of a single time.  In almost every case, a simple Word (or a plain text document!) would be better, saved in a logical files structure that no one fucks with.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my job and my profession and my colleagues. We (and probably you, if you work somewhere) are simply caught up in a consumerist cycle of bullshit.

When I retire in 9 months one of my goals is to not pay attention to any ephemeral bullshit again. I’m going to write by hand and on the computer. I’m going to read novels, both science fiction and some classics, that are timeless. I’m going to enjoy the time I have with my wife, which is the  most precious thing I have. I’m going to take naps with our now 16-year old cat. I’m going to play with our sweet little sheltie dog.

I am lucky…

• To have met my wife
• To have had the parents and family I was born with
• To be in a good situation
• That we (my wife and I) are both still alive

These four facts are never lost on me.