Did you see the date, dear reader?  Yep, the 21st.  We’re now two months away from that insipid summer solstice and the nights are getting noticeably longer.  And in one short month, it will be Fall!  Finally.
Did a lot of sitting in front of this monitor today, hands over the keyboard, ready to type, but I didn’t get all that much writing done.  That’s just how it is some days…slow going.  But still a good day.

N.P.: “DYSTOPIA” – Rein

Today was better than I expected it to be.  Except for the air quality…that was shit.  But the rest of it was better than I expected it to be.  Glad it’s over.

N.P.: “Life’s What You Make It – 1997 Remaster” – Talk Talk

Finally figured out why California’s been so hot this week…the whole place is on fucking fire.  Anyway, today was busy as hell.  Got a lot of words down…good stuff.

N.P.: “Graves” – Whiskey Shivers

Hotter than fuck again today, dear reader.  It was so hot today, a gang of snakes showed up at the back door, evidently demanding entrance.  I don’t speak snake, but what they seemed to be saying was, “Nope…this is too much, we’re done, let us into your climate-controlled paradise, please, goddammit.”  I patiently explained to them that while I am beyond sympathetic with their plight (imagine having to crawl across the hot-ass ground on your taint all day), they were collectively shit out of luck when it came to gaining entry into my air-conditioned Xanadu.  One of them tried to get a little pushy, so he got launched into a neighboring yard.  The other two seemed to get the hint and slithered away hurriedly on their scaly taints.

N.P.: “West Coast Poplock” – Ronnie Hudson

Bad news in Belarus, dear reader.  If Americans want to know what actual systemic problems look like, Belarus would be a fine example.  And China…brazenly rounding up Muslims, shaving their heads, and loading them on trains headed for concentration camps.  That is systemic.
Then there’s Hong Kong.  It’s difficult not to notice that the American press largely ignores these stories.  They seem to ignore much of what goes on internationally.  Israel and the UAE signed a peace treaty last week that is the most significant concrete step to Mid-East peace in the last 25 years…barely heard a word about it in the States.  It’s difficult not to notice that the American press largely ignores rather a lot of significant developments nationally.  If stories don’t fit The Narrative, they go largely unreported.  As reporters and legitimate journalists, the American press is almost completely useless.  As propagators of propaganda to an unquestioning public utterly bereft of any critical thinking ability, they remain quite effective.

N.P.: “Wut will nicht sterben – Radio Edit” – Puhdys

It is so fucking hot in California.  Today was actually 2 degrees hotter than Hell.  Everything outside is dead.  And good riddance, for the most part.  Sorry, dear reader…I’m a bit angsty today.  Edgy.  Unsure why.  Not enough whiskey, perhaps.  Not enough pages filled.

N.P.: “Help Me” – Sunny Boy Williamson II

Mother of Christ, dear reader…I can’t be expected to function in this infernal heat.  It is 121F outside.  We were supposed to get mail today, but I watched the mailman just fucking combust as he was messing with his keys, trying to get the boxes open.  Just burst into flames.  It was the damnedest thing.  Everything in his mailbag combusted as well.  Which is a shame…I was expecting something.  Alas.

In other news, I officially do not care for chicken on pizza.  I prefer proper pizza meats, like sausage and pepperoni.  Chicken on a pizza is not a deal breaker, but the whole time I was eating it, I’d generally wish the chicken wasn’t there.

N.P.: “Brave New World” – Powerman 5000

My heart was warmed this morning when I got to watch video of an idiot woman rode through South Dakota with a bunch of other Sturgis bikers when they came across a herd of bison blocking the highway.  The herd was stopped, and in the middle of the highway a mama bison was nursing her calf.  So this genius inexplicably decides to dismount her bike and go introduce herself.  Naturally, mom didn’t take kindly to an idiot from another species getting familiar with her baby, so mom proceeded to kick the shit out of the idiot.  Threw her around, flipped her in the air, threw her around some more, stole her pants, and knocked her out.  She was choppered to a hospital where she’s expected to recover, which I must confess is a bit of a disappointment.  If Darwin is going to take out the trash, I think he should take it all the way out to the curb, out of the gene pool.
What was especially disappointing were the comments the idiot’s friends were making as the idiot was being pummeled.  “Oh my God…oh my God…” they just repeated in apparent disbelief.  Like they could even imagine, let alone expect, any other outcome.
In their efforts at civilization, humans have intentionally drifted away from their animal nature.  Which drifting was necessary, expected, and thus “good.”  But at this point in their evolution, they have grown too distanced from their identity and innate knowledge as animals, and this has not served them well.

N.P.: “Bound Too Long” – The Crystal Method

A sunstorm alert went out across Anhedonia County today, which county contains the town of  Fecal Creek, where I am presently sitting and typing this.  Ten days of the hottest temps this summer.  Highs nearing 120F, with the nights only cooling to the low 90s.  I just made a final supply run before the temps begin their infernal ascent into the Intolerable.  Any traveling or errands will have to be done late at night…daytime travel is extremely hazardous.  Try to walk anywhere, the soles of your shoes will melt.  Even if you’re lucky enough to have a garage, tires will start aggressively melting the moment they touch asphalt.  Last year, when things weren’t so locked-down due to plague, 8-year-old Timothy Skutch was sent by his father to get more liquor at the corner liquor store, an establishment called simply and unpretentiously, “Liquor.”  Timothy made it halfway down the block before the soles of his shoes melted on the sidewalk and Timothy became stuck.  Of course, he died.  He wasn’t discovered until hours later, when Timothy’s father became enraged at the continued lack of liquor, and decided to track down his no-good kid, only to find said kid roasted in the California sun, shoes frozen mid-step.  It was fucking horrible, dear reader.  Nobody’s really talked about much around here since then.  The city put up a statue of Timothy as he probably looked just before his shoes melted into the sidewalk and doomed him.  A bunch of white kids tore the statue down a couple weeks ago because it was racist.  But the message of Timothy lives on.  Today the local news was full of profiles of Timothy, with admonitions and warnings about the upcoming sunstorm.  The moral of the story is that humans aren’t supposed to live here.  That and all statues are inherently racist.
Anyway, I need to go finish mirroring all the windows.  Stay safe, dear reader.  Updates here as conditions allow.

N.P.: “On This Rock I Will Build My Church” – Lord of the Lost