Fourth of July randomocity

I apologize in advance for any excessive surliness. It's been one of those weeks.


I guess it would be appropriate for me to write about my thoughts as to the state of our democracy---that it appears to be dying on the vine, that every day it seems the voices of greed, hatred, ignorance, and religious lunacy seem to be getting louder and the voices of tolerance, fairness, and reason seem to be growing quieter. I could go on and on about how the wealthy now own this country and have mastered the art of getting the ignorant to do their dirty work for them. I could say that behind almost all of the problems in this country lies one single cause--greed. I could go on and on and on about how I just don't see our society surviving much longer without something dramatic and traumatic happening to force things to change.


I could do say all that, but I won't. Instead, I'll just say, have a happy Fourth, everyone, regardless of your ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion (or lack thereof), citizenship status, or economic station. We need you. We need everyone. We just need to realize that. Our country is not just white picket fences, two kids and a dog in a yard, a white house with a Chevy in the driveway. Our country is also Chinatown. It's Little Italy. It's the ghetto. It's all those places where people may not speak English, and where most people don't have white skin. Those people aren't African American or Asian American or Italian American or Hispanic American or whatever American. They're just American.


Anyways, I won't say any of that. That's what would be expected of me. I try not to be predictable.


So, my own plans are to write as much as I can. I'm inching closer and closer to the end of the first draft of The Sorcerer's Daughter. I may actually be done with it by the end of next week.


The weather here is supposed to be beautiful, which is fortunate, since the driver's side window of my truck is stuck half-way down. I'll be calling someone to have it fixed tomorrow--since it's not expected to be raining anytime soon, it can wait one day. But I'll at least be out walking around in the mild, sunny day. I may take some pictures of some lovely little flowers I saw on the property, to use as inspiration for a painting or something.


That's what's on my mind today. What's on yours?