Category: Rev. Joe Dirt’s Ramblings

The unsolicited, unreasoned, uninformed, unapologetic opinions of Rev. Joe Dirt

Posted on

The Lottery by John Steinbeck

Okay, okay… I got the title a little wrong.  Steinbeck’s book is actually titled The Pearl. I started thinking about this book because the current value of the Mega Millions lottery is $850 million.  The current value of the Power Ball lottery is $730 million.

The Pearl is a wonderful, concise novel of about 90 pages.  It is not near as well known as Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, but it should be. The language and the imagery are captivating and the narrative is spellbinding.  If I remember the back story of this novel it is based on an old Spanish legend.

The story is situated somewhere in South America.  The primary protagonists of the story are an exceedingly impoverished indigenous couple, Continue reading “The Lottery by John Steinbeck”

Posted on

Thbbft…

As any semi-regular reader of my silly little blog will know, I have been studying Spanish for a while.  As part of that exercise I use a platform called, italki.com.  I use one professional teacher from Guatemala who is valiantly trying to improve my grammar and pronunciation.  As you can imagine, working with me, he does indeed have the patience of a saint.  I am also working with what italki calls tutors. These are generally folks not trained in teaching languages, but will converse with you and gently correct your errors.  Some will try to teach a little. I use them mainly for conversational practice.  I am currently using 4 tutors in 4 different countries to sample different accents.  I also occasionally do a language exchange. There is no cost to these.  You spend 1/2 your time speaking your language and 1/2 your time speaking their language. This last method sort of works and sort of doesn’t, at least for me.

I use Skype to take these lessons. My avatar on Skype is Bill the Cat going, “Thbbft“. Continue reading “Thbbft…”

Posted on

Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #9,340

yeah I know you did not ask!

I turned on the TV and watched about 10 minutes of the House “debate” on impeaching Trump for a second time.  This was about 9 more minutes than I could have stomached if I had not been doing other things at the same time.

I came to the conclusion that there are a lot of Republicans that I would like to play poker with.  They have no idea when to fold a losing hand.  I also suspect, given the analytical skills on display, that they would always draw to an inside straight.  Only thing that could be better would be a drunk poker player with lots of cash to bet.

I’m tired of this Irish blessing we are living.

Posted on

Me siento avergonzado

Or in English, I feel embarrassed.

Since the events at our national capitol that the Military Joint Chiefs  are calling sedition and insurrection, I have talked to two gentlemen in Central America.  The young Mexican man living in Honduras was just incredulous.  He could not believe such a thing could happen here. For many people in that part of the world, the United States is their dream.

The gentleman I talk to in El Salvador is a little more seasoned.  He asked me if I felt like I was living in the middle of a Mad Max movie, referencing the Viking helmeted man.  I told him I felt a little like I was living in a república bananera, banana republic.  He agreed that it did seem that way right now to a lot of people living in real banana republics.

The new face of America is a 33 year old, wanna-be actor living at home with his mother.  If you do an image search you will find this individual’s picture in a multitude of foreign news outlets.  How very distressing.

Supposedly Trump made a comment about the insurrectionist wishing they looked a little classier.  I immediately wondered, have you not been looking at your rally audiences for the last 5 or 6 years.  He is not that much different from many of the folks I have been seeing at them.

I’ve been saying for years that we have become a lowest common denominator society. I am beginning to feel we are trying to divide by zero.  As every programmer knows, if you do not handle this error it crashes the program.

What a sad, sad time for our country.

And so it goes.

Keep well.

Posted on

Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #4,293

yeah I know you did not ask!

I pulled into a convenience store the other night.  Alright, alright, alright… I pulled in to buy a lottery ticket.  Before I got out of the truck I put on my black pandemic mask.  I had on my usual ball cap. I did not have far to go, but it was very cold outside so I zipped my jacket up as far as it would go. Then as I stepped out of the truck I had the random thought that all I needed at this point was a gun in my pocket.

Surely, I am not the only one.

Posted on

Cynical Corporate Courage

I cannot begin to tell how glad I am that they are finally banning Trump from all these social media platforms.  However, the cynical part of me is not applauding these corporations.  They waited until it was obvious to even a blind, deaf and dumb Dungeons & Dragons wizard that  Trump was not going to be able to steal the election.  That is not my definition of courage.  It is not my definition of being socially responsible.  And so it goes…

Keep well.

Posted on

Revisionist History – Juanita Style       

My mother has been in a nursing home with Alzheimer’s for a while now.  Part of the process of the move was selling her house and dividing up her stuff.  From that time period I have a couple of cardboard boxes that I have never really gone through.  In an attempt to organize the closet in my man cave, I pulled out those two boxes.  In one I found my baby book.  I was the first child of a 50s’ mother who was married at 17 and had her first child when she was 18.  I don’t really know if she continued the tradition of a baby book with my 4 siblings, but I suspect not.  The last time I remember looking at this book I must have been in 4th grade.

What grabbed my attention this time around as well as in the 4th grade was the section recording the mother’s  and father’s first words on seeing the baby. For my mother’s first words, what is now written in the book  is, “My goodness, he looks like a Negro”.  These are not the words that I Continue reading “Revisionist History – Juanita Style       “

Posted on

How They Stormed Congress

If you got 30 minutes or so here is a very well done report and analysis of the mobbing of our Capitol Building from a New York Times podcast, The Daily. Spoiler alert it was not spontaneous.   They warn you and I will too, there is strong language in the podcast.

How They Stormed Congress

The other mind blowing thing I came across today was a poll by YouGov as reported in Newsweek.

45 Percent of Republican Voters Support Storming of Capitol Building: Poll

I have almost never agreed with Republicans, but I used to respect them even with their differing opinions.  That is not so anymore. We need to get back to teaching Civics and History.  Hell we need to get back to teaching manners.

Just as aside,  surely it is just not me? When I look at the Proud Boys and other MAGA mobsters in their paramilitary (and worse) grab with their phallic symbols dangling over their shoulders, I am reminded of a bunch of 12 year old boys playing army in an empty lot.  Time for the Lost Boys to grow up.

And so it goes.

Keep well.

Posted on

Imagine that Everyone Is Enlightened

So I finished The Book of Delights: Essays by Ross Gay.  In its place I have placed in the “meditation room” a book by Richard Carlson, Ph.D. entitled Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff… and it’s all small stuff. The title of the essay I read this morning was Imagine that Everyone Is Enlightened Except You. It immediately made me think of my first rule of driving:  Everyone on the road is an idiot except me, AND I should not be too sure about myself.

The base premise of the essay is that every obnoxious driver, discourteous clerk, line cutter, etc is actually an enlightened person that is trying to teach you a necessary lesson. They are teaching you about patience, forbearance, acceptance, etc.

Part of me finds this an interesting concept of how to go through your day and deal with all the frustrations, big and little, that come our way.  It would certainly help to maintain your blood pressure in an acceptable range.  But it does remind me a bit of the old joke about the man who prayed for patience.  Boy, did the deity send him some lessons to learn patience.

But then part of me thinks, “Well, Grasshopper, maybe you’re the enlightened person trying to teach them a lesson when you flip them off or get in their face…”

But then you say, “Oh Grasshopper, cannot you see that is two sides of the same coin?”

Must be a lot of us out there needing to get us some learning!

And so it goes…

Keep well.

Posted on

…and a HUG around the Neck

A while back I wrote a little story, A bushel and a peck… about buying a small painting while we  were in New Orleans. The painting has a little bird with the saying, “I Love You, a Bushel and a Peck”.  I speculated in that posting about completing the ditty with another painting that said “…and a Hug around the Neck”. 

I contacted the artist, Katie Leese, at her website JeanBird.com.  I told her what I wanted. She sent me a couple pictures of possible backgrounds, and the artistic Señora picked one. Katie’s surcharge for custom work was only $10 more than the price of one of her paintings on her website or at her stand in New Orleans  I think the pair display very nicely in our kitchen. Most importantly, they make both our hearts glad when we see them.  It was money well spent.

Keep well.