A.G.E's Joint

  Ah, Decisions, Decisions.  I've been trying to decide what the write would be this week. Am I going to be a good boy and pay the bills or go to the Home Center Store and buy a bunch of plants.  Why not both.  I get the the nursery aisle and am bumfuzzled at the the selection. But not to worry. I had been there a few weeks earlier and had drawn a plan. The only problem was one of the varieties was out of stock. That's as bad as the pizza place being out of the sausage to go with your pepperoni. But I found a substitute that worked and I spent the next hour playing in the dirt like a little kid.  Tomorrow, I'll go to the local nursery and get the next phase of plants. I still have to set up the vegetable pots, but they don't take very long.  I've also got a batch of blueberry bread in the oven.  Life is better than a bunch of whiny New Found Glory songs, for sure. 

  I was spending my morning doom scrolling Facebook. It's a bad habit and unproductive, I know. But it allows the time to pass while I drink my morning pot of coffee. I flip past a repost of a Garrison Keillor interview. I'd seen it before. It made fun of a church  I used to be affiliated with. The reason I'm no longer has more to do with internal politics than scripture. Down at the bottom was a post from a Faerie past who had moved on because of a specific faith issue. For no apparent reason, she reiterated her position in no uncertain terms. As I was debating whether to respond, my wife informed me it was time for her to go to work and the post drifted away into the timeline of doom. Ain't that a kick in the head. I've been thinking about it all day and it may have been sheer luck I was called away. My reply would have only furthered the break existing between us and better she stays in my past.  It's better than being called a turkey. 

In the DQ training room.. . "Alright, everyone. Take your seats and let's get started." A screen comes down from the ceiling. On it is an old timey streetlight.  "Welcome to Adventures in Gaslighting - An Advanced Course in Mind Games. I'm Don Draper and this," nodding to the blond on his right, "is Rachel Jezebel. You may remember us from your Deadly Sins training." Draper shuffles his notes. What is Gaslighting? It is a mind game where the subject is convinced truth is a lie and lie is truth. It is the basis of most modern marketing and has significant uses in politics and crowd control. "When I was topside, the subject was one of my specialties. I spent much of my time manipulating the public to buy things they did not need with money they did not have. And if the folks needed to go into debt to buy this stuff, the more money I and my client made. A good example was premium liquor. Often it is the regular stuff in a fancy bottle and people...

Rrrrrinnngg! Good Day and thank you for calling Devil's Quill, your answer to all that is annoying you. My name is Atlas, how may I help? Your classmate is prettier and smells better than you? And all the good people say it is your fault?  Before we start, may I ask how old you are? 13? That's not fair. Normally, I would refer you to our Mean Girls Department, but I have a program called Casseopeia that works wonders for Mother and Daughter issues like this. It is a downloadable phone app using Artificial Intelligence to create ugly selfies spread on all the Socials. You just move me to any black square. By the time they realize what has happened, they will have lost the promise of the stars. Just remember what the goal is: revenge. Will it make you popular? I'm not sure Ms. Wednesday, you are one of us, anyway. Satisfied? I'm on my way.  Click

  Waiting Taming the fear  Of the call Sure to come. A whole life Dropped into the final hole. The stop sign we all come to.