It's Gonna Be May (2026)...

I had to add the year because I'm pretty sure I use that title every year. I am nothing if not consistent in my annoying jokes.

The world continues to be a raging shit show with new versions of shit showiness every day. This past month we added in an attempted assassination just for spice. And because we've had so many, actual political assassinations that don't get the coverage they should have, and attempted, and pretend, we just all collectively said, "Welp" and moved on.

We're still fighting a war with Iran that everyone but the president insists isn't a war because they understand the War Powers Act and he doesn't give a fuck about such things. And to be honest, he's really bored with the war and would just like everyone to forget it happened and to go back to what was happening before he decided that even though every other president in the past has told BiBi NoNo when he wanted to bomb Iran that he would be the one to fuck around and find out. And oh boy are we all finding out.

So yeah...just rolling along with the lunatics running the asylum and the rest of us trying to figure out if maybe we're the crazy ones?

And in the midst of all of that how did I do on my little goals?

Reading: Five books, one owned, one nonfiction. The thing I said would trip me up did. The book by Ibram X. Kendi was really good but took me forever to get through because he's really thorough. The index to this book was so long (600+ pages) that he put it online so the book wouldn't be too thick. It was also kind of hopeful in a weird way. Normally when I'm reading these, "How did we get here?" books something terrible has happened that I know happened that the author did not know when they wrote the book. Like "If this thing happens that's it, we're cooked." and of course that thing has already happened.

Well in Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age there were a lot of references to Orban and how he basically destroyed democracy in Hungary and well...he just lost an election. So maybe not totally destroyed right? And if Hungary fought back with all of the roadblocks he put in place then maybe we can as well? (Cue the Meh Court trashing the last of the Voting Rights Act and the entire south rushing to disenfranchise Black votes...) So I was hopeful there for a minute and I still am if maybe a little less so but if Hungary could fight back so can we.

I'm still behind on my count for the year and I have no idea if I'm ever going to catch up. I'm just hanging out here at 5 books behind and it might end up that I finish the year 5 books short.

Writing: Wrote more days than I didn't. When this one goes up it will be 22 blogs plus the pieces I sent to Dana. Six fiction pieces here, which is good because I realized that I had taken in my mind: 52 pieces, one a week, four weeks in a month and ran with it. Not thinking, oh some months have 5 weeks. So I was looking at being behind at the end of this month but did a half hearted piece yesterday and was actually hit with inspiration for a real poem for today. Yay! Back on track. I, apparently, am never going to finish the story I've been sending Dana for over a year. I was close, within striking distance and my brain was like...Oh but what if you add this? I will be on my deathbed still swearing I am ALMOST finished with it. Just one more twist...

Workouts/Weight: I wrote a whole thing about it. You know what did and did not happen. Interestingly enough I actually lost a subscriber after that, I guess they were sick of my bullshit around weight as well. Cannot say as I blame them.

So what is May looking like?

Adjustments. Acceptance.

Reading, I'm just going to keep going, and not worry about catching up. It is what it is. I read slower now. I have a harder time keeping focus. I don't see that changing for at least a few years.

Writing. I'll keep trying to make sure I write more days than I don't. Lucky for Skippy (and the rest of you) poetry month is over so it's back to our regularly scheduled oddities. I think I might even have a romance bubbling around in there. We will see! And I'm sure I will come closer and yet farther away from finishing that piece I've been sending to Dana.

Language. Still talking to the Owl. Still not expecting to ever be fluent. But much more able to translate the ad boards in international futbol matches so that's nice.

Masterclass. Not sure how much longer I'll be keeping this one. When it first came in to being it was really highly focused on the creative arts. Then it became a mix of creatives and business. People who are good at what they do sharing how they do it. Well, the past few months there has been more and more AI and why you should use it! creeping in. And I'm just not there for that. I want to listen to people talk about how they did what they did. Or give me tips on living my best life. I don't want to listen to people telling me I should farm my life out to a computer program. Even if it will tell me how smart and insightful I am. I think as soon as I run out of anything that looks interesting I will bail on MC.

Workouts/Weight. I'm going to keep doing what I do. And I'll keep tracking because I think it's interesting. We also have that cool scale that shows things like muscle mass and my new goal is just to end the month with more muscle than I started it with. Even if it's just a smidge more, more is good. The number, the weight, that's going to be what it's going to be, and apparently I can't really affect that without making myself cranky, so I'm going to change my focus.

And that's the theme for May. Change your focus. Instead of getting frustrated with the things that aren't working, I'm going to look at the things that are. I'm going to try to make sure I'm enhancing those areas. These little goals are all just made up anyway. Nobody is grading me. I'm not going to get held back a year if I don't finish them out. They're just things I do to make sure I do things. But I need to make sure I'm not making myself miserable working on things that don't matter that aren't getting done.

So that's your May challenge as well. Focus on the things you can control, in a way that you want to control them.

Summer is coming and it's going to be a real bitch of a summer. Super El Nino means icky hot up here. And even with the scramble to squash voting rights it's not looking good for the current reigning political party so they will be working overtime to fuck up as much shit as they can before November. Make sure with the heat and the nonsense you aren't adding on extra self ick.

Love yourself the way I love you.
See yourself the way I see you.
Know you are doing the best you can with what you have and that it's honestly so much more impressive than you give yourself credit for.

And remember...