Update and corrections

A copy of The Week has arrived, dated May 3.  The last one was March 29.  That was a long week.

I am still trying to get my letters opposing lying, killing, and buggering published (without that one word).

I'D, instead of I'll, be David Sedaris lite-er.

Spell check:  Kubelsky.

Four on a Wednesday

It suddenly occurred to me that now that our restless family member is homesteading, for the time being, in Hawai'i, one of the siblings with whom he deigns to communicate might encourage him to research whether his grandfather's first brief marriage might have produced my half-brother or sister.  There's a list of possibilities extant which I have mislaid, but the family geneologist may be able to furnish a copy.

Although the address label  of The Week seems to indicate my subscription runs through February 2014, apparently that is an error, and I probably only received the advertised three-issue free trial.

It also occurs to me that the several authors of the Bible don't seem to have last names.  Christ wasn't Jesus' surname, but an adjectival description of his kingly status.  He was of the house of David, however, so how about Davidson?  After all, even one Roman slave had a full name  --  Judah Ben-Hur, so why the secrecy?   (I'd list a bunch of Jewish surnames here, but all that come to mind are those later ones of Germanic or Slavic origin such as Schwartz, Lowenstein, Konigsberg, Goldenberg, Kabelsky, and those of other popular entertainers.)

ONE LAST NON-SEQUITUR:  Recently, an active brain has been disturbing my sleep as I contemplated writing a memoir, but a couple of nights ago, I epiphed.  My life has been stunnngly boring, and no matter how cleverly I phrased the stories, nobody will want to read them.  I'll just be David Sedaris lite-er.  (The most interesting part of his life is his yummy sister, Amy.)

Misc.

"The three R's  --  reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic  --  now are racism, reproduction and recycling."  --  George Will, 4/7/13

As a criticism of inappropriate teachers, I might add a fourth R  --  religion.  That would be the biblical kind, and the religion of science, such as the myth of man-made global warming and the search for Spock.  There is so much that some teachers touch upon which is none of their business.  In the words of Sgt Friday, "Just the facts, ma'am."

While writing the above as "The People's Court" was finishing, I  discovered I had missed the  best sports movie ever, showing on TCM  --  "The Set-Up" (1949)  --  and my VHS copy is flawed.

I haven't received a copy of The Week since the one dated March 29.       ???

I recently discovered a cache of unused picture postcards which I sent to our family world traveler to insure I continue to receive his welcome words.  A few have scenes of 1960's autos, some of the world's most clunky.

A fan. . . who is literate

In today's snail mail I received my first fan letter.  Carl H. Peterson of Paradise  (the nearby CA town, not the hoped-for eternal goal) said, in part, "I want to thank you for your E-R letter on Tuesday.  There was not a word of it with which I disagreed."  Notice his proper syntax.

The letter to which (there, I did it too) he refers appeared on March 24, was titled "No teacher is 'awful,'" and can be accessed at chicoer.com/letters.

I am most curious to know how he got my street (P.O. Box) address.  I do worry at times that some people who have allowed me to offend them  will track me down, and put me, in the manner one group might, to the curved sword. 

BY THE WAY:  Referencing the last sentence of my letter, I was gratified to see that in the season finale of "The New Normal," both gay men (and everybody else) were in the hospital room for the birth of their child by the surrogate.  Do you suppose that actually does happen in real life, and gays are just imagining that everybody wants to exclude them? 

My E-R readers will love this

Recently, I ordered something from Amazon for $149 with possible free shipping.  The "catch" was, you have to sign up for an additional service to be eligible for the bonus shipping.  Even though their "Amazon Prime" is "free" for the first month, I resent having to track it, test it, and cancel it in time so as not to be billed later on. 

All shopping has turned into a series of "catches."  There was a time when the price was the price, and you bought something or you didn't.  I remember Poeder's (say "pooders") Market, a mom and pop grocery a block from my childhood home.  Poeder was a grumpy old man, and I never saw mom, but his prices were about the same as those at the larger, cleaner store two blocks away in the opposite direction.  Signs in the windows in most stores didn't announce sales as much as they tried to induce you to buy stuff they had overstocked.

[My friend and I used to play "I spy" at night, looking through Poeder's window until we began to realize the things we saw that  began with "r," and "m" most often were rats and mice.  He went out of business.]

Today, I am most irritated by the constant print advertising I receive weekly which changes the price of, specifcally, Diet Caffeine Free Pepsi from anywhere between $2.50 and $2.98 per carton of 12 oz cans.  Sometimes, it's "buy two cartons at some unspecified higher price and receive two or even three free."  Sometimes it's three for $10, or four for $11.

Shopping has become a giant elementary school arithmetic problem.  Why do they do that?

[This portion did not fit in the 250 word limit, but I like it.]