Too bad about the truck breakdown, and all the troubles that followed. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that these vehicles are American-made, from the era when the Japanese were kicking our butts with reliability, but the American car makers didn't seem to care. Or was that the case in the early 2000's?
You trying to get back and forth to the mechanic in Carson City, it reminds me of that guy, Hubcap Charlie, in Palm Springs. If you keep having these car troubles, and have to keep going to Carson City, you could become a minor celebrity. Little kids will be staring out the window of the cars, trying to spot Broken Truck Frank.
I'm delighted to hear that Bruce Jenner looks like Jessica Tandy now. That is a very satisfying turn of events.
I am reading a very good book right now. It's called Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking. As you can probably guess from the title, it's all for introverted people ... kind of a feel-good read for introverts, just like someone might come up with a book for people with buck teeth, with all sorts of research, and information about famous people who had buck teeth, and shit like that. But actually, it's a well-written, interesting book, very thought provoking. Peggy read it, and told me I should read it. I wasn't all that enthused, but I did start it eventually, and I'm glad I did. One introvert to another: you should read it too. One interesting point it makes is that the United States is more culturally extroverted, and has more extroverted people that your average country, because it was pretty much settled by risk takers who pulled up stakes and set out for the new world.... the introverts probably all stayed home in Ireland and Germany and wherever. So there's a lot more extrovert tendencies in our gene pool than a country that has been settled for thousands of years. Anyway, you should read this book. There's a whole lot of stuff I've never really thought about before that is surprisingly helpful and useful. My experience has always been that a person gets the feeling there's something wrong with them in this society we live in, if we're not out there with a big grin on our faces, slapping people on the back, absolutely loving to be around people, and drawing energy from social events, rather than being drained by them. Yes, you should track down this book. It's written by Susan Cain. I'd buy a used copy and send it to you, but it was published in 2012 and it's still new enough that it costs $14 or $15 used. In about six months it'll be available for about a penny on Amazon. I'm reading a copy from our town library. Maybe you can get a copy at the King's Beach Branch Library. If nothing else, you'll like all the scientific data to back up your conjecture that our temperaments are largely derived from genetic influences.
Yes, you're right that the Republicans seems pretty successful at getting middle class people to support politicians and policies that will eventually destroy them. They've managed to convince a whole lot of people that nothing good ever came from government. I heard some politician say exactly those words the other day and I realized, wow, if that's what these people actually believe, then we are in some serious shit. Actually, this is the downside of America. We've had a very short history, compared with most other countries of the world. Culturally, we're at about the teenage level of development, I'd say.... we think we know best about everything, just like some fool high school jock. The other countries of the world have experienced thousands of years of wars, good times, famines, golden ages, plagues, victory and defeat and on and on. They have a basic understanding that humans can be completely barbarous, and that government at least offers at least the possibility of encouraging our better natures.
--edward
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