Saturday, June 3, 2023
Here's a very brief moment about funerals, and another reason why I never want to be at one again.
An old family friend died. Which is ordinary. Everyone I grew up with is ancient or dead, so an old family friend dies about monthly. As always, I didn't go to the service, but most of my family did, including my brother Clay and my sister Katrina.
After the funeral, Clay texted me, "You should've been at the memorial. Katrina cried a little."
I studied that line for a few minutes before replying. Are funerals all about watching each other, judging whose grief is the more serious, more profound?
It's just another of the fifty factors behind my hatred of funerals, but I can't tell you how much I don't care who cries and who doesn't. The older I get, the more important privacy feels to me. I demand the damned privacy of crying or not crying, without it being the topic of text messages.
The family's annual picnic is coming up, and I've said I'm going but...
Last year it was at a park in a distant suburb where there's no bus service, so I begged a lift off my old buddy Leon. Had an OK time, but most of the nephews, nieces, grandnephews and grandnieces are strangers to me. Being a hermit at heart, it was exhausting.
This year's picnic is in Prairie Dog City, which is even more remote — it's in the next county, miles from any bus route. It's where Clay and his wife Karen live, where I stayed with them when I visited in 2019.
How far away is it? My friend Leon is also friends with Clay, so Leon's usually my lift when I visit their house. It's a two-hour trip if traffic is smooth, but traffic is never smooth. It's exhausting, and it means any visit takes the whole day, and there goes half the weekend.
Leon isn't coming to the picnic, though, so I'll need to hitch a ride with someone in the family. Three of my four living siblings have offered, and that's sweet.
From experience, though, there's not a one of them I'd trust to take me from Point A to Point B without detours to Points C, D, and E. There'll be a dog that needs a refill on his worm pills, so we'll make a quick stop at the vet's office, and then let's pop in on Uncle Xenon — you haven't seen him in so long...
Argh. Well, I needed to bang this out to think it through, but my apologies for asking others to read it.
This year, someone else can bring store-bought fried chicken to the picnic. You want me at a family event, hold it somewhere in this county, at a place that's not impossible to get to on the bus.
News you need,
whether you know it or not
• Amazon and Google fund anti-abortion lawmakers through complex shell game
• The show must go on (and fuck you, Republicans)
• Reddit is trying to kill third-party apps
• Swiss capital city wants to test controlled sale of cocaine
• Variety film writer admits he's never seen Casablanca
• Fish relocating to colder waters as a result of global warming — study• More than 800-million Amazon trees felled in six years to meet beef demand
• Climate change is already making parts of America uninsurable
• Autopsy shows Rikers inmate who died of a "heart attack" was actually killed by a skull-fracture• Armed police raid bail fund for Cop City opponents
• DeSantis supports pastor who says gay people should be "put to death"• 'Fear and hostility': Florida cities to cancel, restrict Pride events
• Roger Stone forgot about his hot mic when he explained how he manipulated Trump
Mystery links
There's no knowing where you're going
• Click • Click • Click •
• Click • Click •
My browser history
without the porn
• Defector: The last good website
Be forewarned: This article at Columbia Journalism Review convinced me to spend some time at Defector, which is generally a sports website. I don't give a rip about sports, and yet, in fifteen minutes I was a paid subscriber.
"This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference."
• Here's the article at Defector that snagged me:
A fair obituary of football and movie star Jim Brown.
To read it, they'll want you to sign up for a free account, and it looks like you get only one free article. Or click here, to skip that step.
Also at Defector:
• Finally, a night where it's safe to be Christian at the ballpark
Or click here, for a back-door link.
• La Sombrita: A sculpture about the rules
• Tunnels under the city of San Francisco
♫♬ It don't mean a thing ♫
if it don't have that swing
• One and One, Giant Behemoth — Joe Walsh
• What Have They Done to the Rain? — Malvina Reynolds
Eventually, everyone
leaves the building
6/3/2023
Cranky Old Fart is annoyed and complains and very occasionally offers a kindness, along with anything off the internet that's made me smile or snarl. All opinions fresh from my ass. Top illustration by Jeff Meyer. Click any image to enlarge. Comments & conversations invited.
Tip 'o the hat to ye olde AVA, BoingBoing, Breakfast at Ralf's, CaptCreate's Log, Looking for My Perfect Sandwich, One Finger Medical, Two Finger Magical, Miss Miriam's Mirror, Nebulously Burnished, RanPrieur.com, Voenix Rising, and anywhere else I've stolen links, illustrations, or inspiration.
Special thanks to Linden Arden, Becky Jo, Wynn Bruce, Joey Jo Jo, John the Basket, Dave S, Name Withheld, and always extra special thanks to my lovely late Stephanie, who gave me 21 years and proved that the world isn't always shitty.