Charles In Charge

Of course, Halloween is different this year. Everything is different this year in case you hadn't noticed. Halloween is one of those holidays that started out, in my mind, for kids and has assumed a whole new life as an adult drinking-and-let's-get-dressed-up-and-misbehave game. 

So please don't think I'm less than kid-friendly, but most of the moaning about how COVID-19 has 'ruined' Halloween for the kids is coming from adults feeling sorry for themselves. I'm not willing to join that pity-party because nearly-seven decades on the ant farm have taught me when it comes to feeling sorry for ourselves, we bi-peds are remarkably capable at it and incredibly competitive.

Besides, my dim memories as a child in a costume with a mask whose eyeholes didn't align with my own suggest the wee ones might not be as nearly upset about the change in plans as we taller ones might be. As long as there's candy (NO Mary Janes or Charleston Chews, thank you), the tykes should be just fine.

Not that you're going see any of them going Full Charlie, or in this case, definitely NOT Brown.
-bill kenny  

Confederacy of Dunces

We had another nearly-nice day yesterday around here. I'm treating June in Connecticut as if it were a chocolate layer cake, always moist. Seems to be more or less a national trend but I don't live in Indiana, so I don't know what it's like where you are. I do know when John Donne rings the bell around here, I'm the only one in my corner. And right now, even though summer has officially started, I'm not working on my tan, that's rust. 

Like most days this month, we had a threat of showers (if we were to NOT have showers, I'd fret that something was wrong with the clouds), not torrents of rain (at least around here) but enough in the forecast that you knew it was raining as if Gene Kelly could keep a secret if his life depended on it. 

And as I walked from Point A to Point 2 (I majored in neither math or phonics at Rutgers, nor orienteering (come to think of it) which must be why so many people tell me where to go) I passed a building where the sprinklers were on, making sure the lawn was getting watered. I imagine there's a schedule for this kind of stuff and a contract that regulates the relationship between the waterer and the wateree but after all the recent rain, seriously? 

Instead of an agreement that helps get things done, we have a starting gun in a footrace to see which side can come with a faster reason for why something cannot be accomplished. Or, we have a variant of the Abilene Paradox in which one party is unwilling to even attempt to change even though they say they want to change. Instead, they strive to have the other side come up with reasons for why change is bad so they are absolved of any responsibility for failing to change. 

Happens everyday and more often than you'd imagine. Just watch the evening news and listen to what those who are our leaders say and then watch what they do. You think we got into the messes we have in this nation right now by accident? HA! Pull up a chair buckaroo and I'll explain how the professionals we have who are mucking everything up have made it possible for us to ever need to try this at home. Ever.
-bill kenny