s n a p p e r h e a d

Lose Weight the Hard-Simple Way (Notes on Keto, IMF, A-fib and Insulin Resistance)

At the end of 2018, I recognized the common early warning signs for insulin resistance. Over the previous five years, my thirst had increased until—ten months ago—I realized that it was waking me up to urinate/drink more water. Also, I noticed a significant increase in my heart rate and blood pressure after meals. About the same time, I noticed I could have an uneven heartbeat (arterial fibrillation/a-fib), which was intermittent and unrelated to meals, exercise, activity level, or anything I could determine by experimentation.

My a-fib was not directly related to my insulin resistance. My entire life I'd eaten (by default) a low-salt diet. Once I learned how much salt, magnesium (Mg) and potassium (K) that my body needed (and wasn't getting) for normal cellular electrical function, I fixed my a-fib with Himalayan salt tablets (2-4 grams/day), Mg (1,500-4,000mg/day) and K (1150-1450mg/day). All routine muscle cramps and twitches also disappeared along with the a-fib (except when I skip a few days of minerals to test it).

What follows is a synopsis of my research and subsequent actions, which will - hopefully - save you the many hours I spent reading books and the internet. Bullet points have been used to simplify the information. I've followed the bullet points with some slightly-denser paragraphs.

All digested food = water, protein, fat, carbohydrates and vitamins/minerals.
Healthy bodies require (daily) = water, protein, fat and minerals.
There is no minimum daily carbohydrate (carb) requirement.
The small intestine turns carbs/sugars (and any excess proteins) into bio-available glucose.
Glucose is used by the liver to quickly provide fuel to the body's cells.
Glucose causes insulin to be created by the pancreas.
Insulin attaches to glucose and "unlocks" the "door" of energy-starved cells.
Proteins become amino acids, which are used to build/repair cells.
Fats (in the absence of glucose/insulin) become ketones to fuel the body's cells.
Fats (in the presence of glucose/insulin) are stored.
Insulin is a hormone which encourages fat storage and prevents fat burning.
When insulin is absent the pancreas creates the hormone glucagon to start fat burning.
Eat/snack carbs/sugars throughout the day = pancreas constantly releases insulin.
Insulin resistance = "the locks" on energy-starved cells become "jammed".
Exercise the body when insulin is present = build muscle (without losing energy).
Exercise the body when insulin is absent = burn more fat (but get tired faster).
The liver (and other organs) store about 24-48 hours of glucose for immediate use.
No carbs/sugar for 48+ hours = liver fuels the body's cells with stored fat (using ketones).
Insulin Resistance has been mislabeled as Type 2 Diabetes.
Type 1 Diabetes = pancreas produces none or insufficient amount of insulin.
Type 2 Diabetes = pancreas produces plenty of insulin but the cells demand more.

   Shocking Fact #1: There's no such thing as “Heart Disease.” This came as a surprise, since my family tree is full of dead branches of male ancestors who died of it — my dad, Leverett: heart attack while driving; Papa, Milton Bullard: heart attack while sleeping; Great Grampy, Milton’s dad: heart attack while rowing — and the list goes on.

          Doctors use the label Heart Disease as a catch-all for a group of symptoms that are merely a list of risk-factors for a person's potential future heart attack. What all of the men in my family (and tens of millions of other people on Earth) probably died of, is actually Un-diagnosed Insulin Resistance / Type 2 Diabetes.

          Many people’s pancreas successfully continues to make more and more insulin whenever the body demands more and more of it to fuel their cells. And — here is the important part — some people exhibit no symptoms or the symptoms happen so gradually that they go unnoticed or, since there is no pain involved, many people postpone taking action until it is too late.

          Most important fact I learned: Insulin Resistance/Type 2 Diabetes is curable because the body does not have to use very much insulin. That came as big news to me. Contrary to the food pyramid, there are no minimum daily requirements for carbohydrates or sugars. There are only minimum requirements for protein, fat, and a few minerals – none for carbs/sugars. Every cell has two entryways (a metaphor) for getting fuel for cellular energy: the cell’s front door and the cell’s back door (door metaphors).

          The Cell’s Front Door: Insulin is required. This is the simplest and easiest way for the body to fuel cells. It’s the body’s path-of-least-resistance, because there are less chemical processes needed when consuming carbs (and logical in a evolutionary context: encourage fat storage while eating rare and difficult to find, very tasty, high-energy fruits). The small intestine breaks down carbohydrates and refined sugars into bio-available sugars, which enters the bloodstream and causes the pancreas to produce insulin. The insulin carries that bio-available sugar to energy-depleted cells, and then acts like a key—unlocking the door to the cell—which allows the bio-available sugar-fuel to enter. And (sticking with this metaphor) each time insulin opens a cell’s door the lock on that door can become slightly worn.

          Insulin resistance is simply fuel-starved cells signaling their locks are getting worn out, and more insulin will be needed to unlock their doors; the pancreas responds by dumping more insulin into the bloodstream. (And when that’s insufficient, doctors prescribe insulin pills and then injections of more insulin. These are the same doctors who will never say, “Just switch the type of fuel that you are using to fuel your cells.”)

          The Cell's Back Door: The less simple and harder way for the body to fuel cells is for the small intestine to contain no carbohydrates or refined sugars, which causes the pancreas to not produce the hormone insulin and, instead, produce the hormone glucagon. When glucagon is present, the liver dumps its stored bio-available sugars into the bloodstream, and after all stored bio-available sugars are depleted (in a few hours or days) the liver signals the fats cells in the body to fuel the cells. It does this by creating ketone bodies.

          These ketones carry fat from consumed food, and (eventually) from the body’s stored fat, to fuel the cells instead of using glucose from carbs. The evolutionary impulse to “find, eat, and store all the sweet food so as to never deplete one’s reserve fuel tank because Winter Is Coming,” was—until refrigerators—the basis for human survival. Now it is the basis for insulin resistance.

         Curing insulin resistance is a very-hard-simple act.

How to Begin the Keto Diet - Step 1 – For about three weeks (give or take, depends on how often you succumb to sugar cravings) you need to eat no sugar or carbohydrates. Zero carbs. Eat as much protein and fat as you want. Don’t count calories. No vegetables except a moderate amount of avocados and greens with coconut MCT oil or avacado oil. No fruits. No nuts. Just eat fatty meat, eggs, and cheeses and good fats.

Every time you eat any sugar/carbs (which includes the milk in your coffee and the greens in your salad) your liver will store it as bio-available sugar. As long as it is a small amount, you can still go into ketosis. And - if you are in full ketosis, you'll know it when you no longer feel hungry, have no food cravings, and only feel empty after hours of no food.

If - after days of eating only meat and dairy - you still have cravings and hunger? You are consuming something you assumed had no sugar. Alcohol = sugar. One of your daily supplements may advertise as sugar-free; read the label: many sugar substitutes, like maltodextrin, make the pancreas create more insulin than sugar does. I recommend using only liquid stevia extract as a sweetener.

Typical keto meals: eggs, bacon and a whole avocado with coffee with heavy cream, and some drops of liquid stevia; a big hamburger patty, double cheese, fried egg on top, greens with coconut aioli, seltzer water with stevia; a steak with blue cheese and butter, a whole avacado and tea with no sweetener. The first few days are the most challenging. Your brain wants the carbs/sugars and it will tell your stomach very loudly that you need, must, get sugars. Just snack on some pork rinds or some deli meat and cheese or another coffee with heavy cream.

Supplements - Because, on keto, you're never eating enough vegetables or fruits, and you probably weren't getting enough of many of these from the American Diet anyway: Psyllium fiber pills; Multi-B vitamin; Zinc; Vitamin K (help calcium from heavy cream and cheese get out of my bloodstream); Vitamin D (absorption of other minerals and mood enhancement), Butyric Acid (large intestine health); Omega 3s (skin and cellular health), Turmeric (anti-inflammatory), Garlic (aids in the reduction of arterial plaque); CoQ10 (heart enzyme); apple cider vinegar pills (aids in digestion of all these fuckin pills).

Step 2 - For the next three months you need to maintain less than a one-meal a week carb or sugar cheat meal limit (never a one day a week). You are now, also gradually, going to pay attention to calories. Counting calories is not really necessary, just use common sense. You are going to eat less because you are less hungry and your body is not craving carbs anymore.

I recommend a cheat meal once a month. It's needed so you can experiment with how you feel; how insulin resistant or fat adapted have you become? If you're doing this only to lose weight, then how much weight do you not lose the week of your cheat meal compared to a week of no cheat meal?

This is combined with a gradual phase-in of intermittent fasting (IMF). This means you need to, slowly, reduce your daily eating/snacking from all day, to eating only within a 4 hour window. Water, clear diet fluids, or coffee with stevia, are the only things you drink outside of an ever diminishing window of time. Begin with 12 hours, and reduce it by 2 hours every few weeks until you feed yourself during a 4-hour time window.

I should go into detail as to why experimenting with long term fasting is the next step. But, since I don’t consider it a mandatory next step, I will just call this paragraph "Step 2.5" Your body contains tiny, microscopic, filaments lining the interior walls of all of its arteries. When we eat, something damages those filaments (research has not determined what hormone or chemical does the damage and some researchers completely deny it happens or that food is the cause). When we don’t eat they, reportedly, grow back. When we eat constantly they never grow back and the linings of our arteries eventually get tiny scars and long-term constant eating causes plaque to build up around those scars. So when you reduce your eating window to 4 hours a day the filaments can grow back. If you skip consuming anything that can cause the release of insulin for 24 hours (to a maximum of 48 hours) all filaments definitely grow back and autophagy begins. Autophagy is what it sounds like: the body eating itself - and it is a good thing to do about once a month, because it means the pancreas has depleted glucagon and the body begins to do some "house cleaning" by consuming dead/damaged cells. I say this step is not mandatory because it is just a way of pushing off a heart attack for a few years or decades. You can not measure if it is (was) effective until you are crazy old and still alive.

Step 3 – You are now about nine months into your keto lifestyle. You have – guarantee – lost at least 20% of your body mass. You have not done much exercise, if any (it's only necessary if you enjoy it or are in some kind of hurry to lose weight). Your insulin resistance is almost completely gone now. You are no longer thirsty and - in fact - need to remind yourself to drink water. You no longer get insulin spikes after meals (except on cheat meals when you consume too many carbs). You are now comfortable ordering at restaurants (meat, salad, eggs, cheese, add avocado on everything, diet drinks or seltzer with your own stevia drops). You can skip a day of food when you decide to. You can also have a huge cheat meal on your birthday or when the occasion calls for it.

Step 4 – There is not really another step (unless you count eating this way for the rest of your life as a step). If you want to continue to lose more weight than the current weight you've become = eat less cheat meals. If you are comfortable with your level of insulin resistance = eat cheat meals more often (recommend keeping a 4 - 6 hour eating window and continuing to skip a day or two of eating at least once a month). Most important: pay attention to how your body feels when you eat, after you eat, and during the hours you are fasting – remember how your body felt when you would eat many times a day with snacks, and how you slept then, and how much joint pain you had then, and compare it to how you feel now.

POSTSCRIPT - If I ever had any faith in any medical professional, routine tests would have resulted in prescriptions (for statins and insulin), I would have been instructed “eat less and exercise more,” and provided a less-than-worthless menu-plan prescribed by the American Diabetes Association, based on the Food Pyramid (which is how I got insulin resistance in the first place). And, for my a-fib, doctors may have recommended invasive surgery to shock my heart back into regular rhythm (based on guidance from the American Heart Association).

Because I'm retired military, none of that health care would have cost me anything in dollars, just in life-expectancy. I know people who pay serious money for their insulin (tens of thousands of dollars a year) and one person who had his heart shocked into normal rhythm (a few thousand; but it needed to be re-done a few months later). . .which is the primary reason your doctor will deny any of this is based on valid research and will never recommend ketosis, IMF, and autophagy as ways for you to cure yourself. Because - how can they profit from that advice?

With all that said, the only real way to know if this is/was an effective way to lose weight and avoid insulin resistance - for you - is to try it out. For me, it's to step on the scales and look in the mirror; In 8 months I lost 50 lbs and 6 waistline-inches. And, in the future - if I'm still here - then I have not followed in my male ancestor's footsteps (because I diagnosed my insulin resistance, became fat adapted, fixed my a-fib, and the practice of IMF and autophagy has postponed the inevitable, which is a great title for an essay about Amor Fati and Memento Mori: My Inevitable Demise).

Death of a Friend — Carol Turner (1945-2018)

Cecil caught rubbing his head on top of Carol's

          A good friend of mine died last year on the 10th of September. Her name was Carol Turner and she was fortunate enough to survive 2.5 years after her first brain cancer surgery. Although I was her neighbor for seven years, Carol liked Cecil—my cat—much more than she liked me (which is not hard to understand, he's a better person than I am). Cecil was always ebullient when he showed affection for her. There was no doubt, in anyone's mind, that Cecil liked Carol more than he liked anyone. When he was around Carol, his behavior was analogous with that of a child who prefers their grandparent over their parent.

Over the years, Carol and I (and Cecil) spent hundreds of hours—mostly in the warm weather months—sitting and talking in the courtyard of our apartment complex. We talked about many obscure things as well as nothing important, mostly we three were just keeping each other company.

          A few people loved Carol and sought out her company. Most people, however, were irritated by her too-happy, naivete, and seemed to attempt to avoid her constant overly-chipper attitude. There were two reasons for this: The first was because Carol was obsessively driven to inject a ray of sunshine into every person she talked to, every day, whenever she crossed their path, no matter what. Always. Incessantly. On top of this, she unfortunately was severely afflicted with an aversion to ending conversations (on the phone or in person). It didn't matter if you were interacting with her for the first time in weeks, or if you had just finished talking with her for an hour, she had to share, and repeat herself, and chat, and keep talking.

          The second reason was because almost all Asperger Syndrome traits were evident in Carol's behavior: She was victim to an excessive hoarding impulse (was ashamed of it, but refused offers to assist with it). She suffered from a sensitivity to light, odors, and touch. She had a monotone vocal tone, which was mostly only noticeable when she raised her voice to catch someones attention (usually someone attempting to avoid her). She had an aversion to eye contact. She displayed a difficulty in reading the emotions of others as well as communicating her emotions non-verbally (instead, she would explain her feelings: "I'm so excited" or "I am so happy for you").

This was not something many people knew how to handle. But, because I possess at least half of the Asperger's traits, I understood why she acted the way she did, and wasn't put-off by her discomfiting behavior. I would usually steer her repetitious brain-loop dialogue towards new thoughts. I handled her failure to end conversations by telling her, early in our friendship, that every mutual-goodbye was final. Once said, I hung up/walked away (no matter if she continued to talk or hollered at my back).

The down-side of Carol's naivete and her inability to read body language was that she was a horrible judge of character and remained loyal to some terribly toxic people (who she erroneously referred to as 'friends'). A few of them used her all the way to her death. She would talk about some "really great person" (no matter if it was someone she knew for decades or a new neighbor she only talked to once) and, eventually, I would learn (more often than not) about a large number of terrible things this person had done to her or to other people she knew.

The death of my friend was not unexpected, nor was it a surprise when it occurred, but the shadow of that friendship continues to remind me that it's gone. Although I no longer feel sadness, I do occasionally still miss Carol—especially when out-walking with Cecil if he yowls on her porch while staring at her door (now occupied by a new tenant) his confusion then reminds me of our loss.

Values, Socioeconomic Positions, Gravel for 2020 President

If you have a personal set of values, and were asked to briefly outline a few you consider the most important, what would you say?

I have some core values. They are character traits that I've attempted to adhere to.

Treat everyone alike—from strangers I've never met to neighbors and family members.
My moral and ethical standards are governed by my own conscience. I want to be a good person in my own eyes, therefore, I always attempt to behave with an awareness of the probable outcome, to ultimately avoid thinking of myself as a hypocrite.
Avoid negative people, as well as those who are (actively and passively) emotionally draining.
Be aware that there are millions of people who are smarter than I'll ever be—listen when others speak; evaluate new ideas using critical thinking skills; be courageous enough to change my mind when I identify a more logical/rational idea.
Admit when I'm wrong and apologize for my past mistakes in judgement.

If you are a US citizen who is politically aware enough to support a political platform, and were asked to briefly outline a few socioeconomic positions you consider the most important, what would you say?

Until today, I would have referred to the list of issues of the Bernie Sanders 2020 Campaign. If asked to pick those I consider the most important, I would have listed:

Economic Inequality
Healthcare
Political Reform
Criminal Justice Reform
Free Undergraduate Tuition

But, now, I have to refer to the list of issues of the Mike Gravel 2020 Presidential Campaign. These

are much more. Much more of everything. Everything that Bernie Sanders espouses but with complex, definitive, and in many cases, clearly-thought-out details. A few which I consider best of the best:

National Ranked Choice Voting & The Wyoming Rule
Dept of Defense = War Dept and the Dept of Peace (with 50% cut in funding)
Bring every US troop home
American National Fund
Break Up Big Businesses
Public Banking For All

Do you think Mike Gavel should become president in 2020...is not the question. Anyone who asks that question isn't paying attention/has not read the first paragraph of this essay. There are going to be at least two dozen people running in the Democratic Primary next year. Their issues are what are important. Deciding (defining) what your personal values are, and encouraging others to decide what theirs are, is what is most important. We shouldn't care about what a candidate looks like, or what school they attended, or how many languages they can speak, or how old they are, or what sex they are...all that is unimportant.

If you can't read and have to have your information read (spoon fed) to you, here is Mike Figueredo explaining in a video, why you should donate to Mike Gavel 2020.

A Simple Exercise in Rational Thinking

          Do you understand what it is to think rationally?

By that, I'm not asking if you know the definition of rational thought; I'm asking you to describe the feeling, the emotional impact, of your mind's effect on your body when you examine a series of facts and, consequently, draw a logical conclusion—the result of which is a novel idea (for your brain).

          When you mentally examine something complex, which you've not considered before (but others, obviously, have) do you have a 'eureka moment'? Or, do you just store this new-to-you information and mentally move on? Is there a last-puzzle-piece-falling-into-place feeling of pleasure-adrenaline? Do you get an inner smile?

Let me give you an example. Each of the following numbered statements are factually true.

You had no control over when, or where, you were born.
Your parents had no control over when/where they were born.
No mammal controls when/where it's born. Life on earth can be dated to three billion years ago.
Our planet is about four billion years old. It is about a million times smaller than the sun.
The sun is about five billion years old. It is one star in a galaxy of at least a hundred billion others.
Our galaxy is about 14 billion years old. It is one galaxy in an observable universe of trillions.
The observable universe is only about 100 million years older than our galaxy. Because of the speed of light and the continual expansion of space (over those 14 billion years) the farthest point of light we can see, today, is approximately 46 billion light-years away; the light from everything further away hasn't had time to reach us yet.

The only rational conclusion to be made from this list: The universe is infinite. It goes on in all directions—forever; filled with an infinite number of galaxies, solar systems, stars, planets, and life which had no control over when or where in the vast infinity of space and time they were were formed (were born).

I came to this conclusion because our location in the universe is completely arbitrary. Humans did not choose to make earth their home, no more than the earth chose it's placement around the sun, or the sun chose it's placement in the milky way, or the milky way chose its placement in existence.

Right this moment, as you're reading these words, if you raise your left hand and point, a zillion-and-a-half light years away in that exact direction is another intelligent person. Xhe is exponentially smarter than you and I (because life can be dated to seven billion years ago on xer planet). None-the-less, xhe did not control when/where xhe was born. Right now, xhe is also contemplating xer observable universe (which is also 46 billion light-years away from xer arbitrary location in the entire universe). You and Tgja (that's what xer name sounds like to human ears) are alive at exactly the same moment in time, in the infinite existence of space, but our two observable universe's will never overlap. Our two planets have never, and will never, share one single point of light in each of our respective night skies.

Oh, and one final answer to that question you had from the last paragraph: it's because xer entire species put hubris behind them and stopped thinking about themselves as the center of all existence when they stopped believing in anything they could not prove with mathematics (over 27 thousand years ago). That was the time when Tgja's species began treating those who claimed to know something which couldn't be rationally proven, using simple logic, as mentally damaged. Back then, they'd kindly offer those lesser individuals a kind facial grimace (xhe would call it a smile, we—if we could see it—would never refer to it as such) before they reported the defective individual (whom they referred to as 'idiot') for re-education.

more complex stuff:

conformity (accidental vs intentional)

valuable values

claims about god(s)

When You Ponder Why You're Who You Are, What Happens?

          Thinking about thinking — it's not just reserved for philosophers, poets, and songwriters.

When reminiscing about the first time you swam in the ocean, or rode a horse, or got lost, your brain begins the recollection because of a sensory 'anchor point' specific to those past thoughts. It may have been a mental snapshot (waves on a sandy beach), a specific smell (coconut sunscreen oil), an unusual sound (distant seagull cries), or maybe even a uniquely memorable sensation of touch (bare feet on hot sand) or taste (saltwater on the lips). Your mind does this autonomously, and routinely, because the event was accompanied by a sufficiently strong enough emotion — at the time — for your brain to release chemicals into your bloodstream.

          Pleasurable events are 'attached' (associated with) different chemicals than those associated with, and caused by, negative events. It's important to note that our consciousness's default mode is to prioritize negative brain chemicals (and those associated events) as more relevant and valuable (easier to recall) than positive chemicals/events (easier to forget).

          The reason negative memories have priority is because our survival is our mind's most important task. The adage: 'What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger' exemplifies this — no matter how much enjoyment your brain stored during the hundreds of joyful hours you've spent in the ocean, the few minutes you struggled and almost drowned, when you got swept out to sea by a riptide, is considered an immensely more important memory by your conscious mind.

Similarly, your brain accompanies a different mix of chemicals with a story you were told (or read) about a stranger's or a fictional character's visit to a beach; just as it does when your mind creates a memorable dream about going to a beach.

"I remember my first trip to the beach when I was five. It was at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. A huge grey wood stairway-walkway led us across the dunes, and I ran from where it ended all the way to the surf-line, because the sand burned my feet."

That's not an accurate recollection of those events. Not really.

What actually happened is the five-year-old came home from Cape Cod and told people what happened at the beach that day, which 'locked in' a few memorable moments (among which included: building a sand castle with a plastic yellow pail and blue trowel, floating briefly in the shallows without assistance, and collecting shells — no mention of hot sand). Over the next few weeks/months that five-year-old learned information about that day at the beach from the perspective of family members (both parents constantly recounted to themselves, and others, about how hot the sand was). Years later, the five-year-old/now teenager has lost the memories of sand-digging and shell-collecting (because those events were no longer intentionally recalled by the conscious mind and, subsequently, deemed unimportant) but the memory of running across the sand was reinforced, and sufficiently re-remembered, to make it a strong enough memory that the five-year-old/now adult owns a pair of beach shoes.

Our brains can also construct completely new ideas by imagining the answers to questions (posed by ourselves or others).

Take this as a question: What is the difference between fictional conjecture and theoretical science or philosophy?

          Try this as an answer: Currently (as of March 2019) there is no consensus, among all the minds engaged in studying astronomy and astrophysics, as to what causes the forces currently referred to as dark matter and dark energy.

The two terms are placeholders. It is widely agreed that these two placeholder-terms are required to explain the events we see in the observable universe. Specifically, that there must be much more matter than we can visibly account for (our galaxy's would fly apart if all the visible solar systems were the only things providing gravity) and there must be some unknown force causing every galaxy to move away from each other at an increasing rate (it is increasing too fast to be caused by gravity).

What if prior to the inflation of the universe (foolishly mislabeled big bang) there was not nothing? What if every atom had been crushed into a singularity by the combined mass of the something that is currently called dark matter? And, that dark matter exerted dark energy in the same manner as real matter exerts gravity? Do not confuse anti-matter in this hypothesis (that's another thing all together). When universe-inflation began about 15 billion years ago, the dark matter fractured and has been coalescing within all the matter ever since. This dark matter lost it's energy (in a radiation-like manner) so it can no longer re-coalesce (every molecule of dark matter lost it's gravity-component). Different from how a single atom of hydrogen has a minuscule amount of gravity (which means real matter possesses a component which always provides it with an attractive-force, currently theorized to be one of the quantum particles) — in the case of dark matter it all lost its attractive force (dark energy) at once. Dark energy (now radiating free of the matter it once was attached to) can't act on matter. But, it can act on gravity. So, large amounts of gravity (galaxy-sized amounts of gravity) are being acted on by the dark energy.

Is this fictional conjecture? Is this theoretical physics? Is this philosophy?

March 2020 addendum (no such thing as dark energy): Recent re-evaluation, by current astrophysicists, on the term dark energy (as a needed placeholder term) has revealed it to - maybe - be a completely unneeded term.

The term dark energy was coined, based on faulty science. Apparently (more science is now needed to re-confirm its lack of existence) "small sample size" is to blame for the decades-long erroneous statement that all galaxies are moving away from each other at an ever increasing rate.

Re-testing/re-measurements on a large scale, revealed that if you examine more than one swath of space (and not just one single minuscule spot) almost all galaxies move at various different rates relative to other galaxies in all directions and speeds. The chaos of things in space move chaotically and with no uniformly increasing speed.

(And, if you look back at just that one minuscule spot from decades ago, those few galaxies do - in fact - still appear to be moving at an increasing rate.) The astrophysicists of 1970 were not lying. They just never asked anyone to check their math. Or to look at another part of space. And nobody took it upon themselves to check their math, or look elsewhere, for 50 years or so.

So there is no dark energy. It was a mistake to think it was ever a thing. And for decades to come, people will still claim it is real because (like every oops-editorial "we made a mistake when we said before that...") it will not get bandied-about as much as the erroneous original claim.

Is this fictional conjecture? Is this theoretical physics? Is this philosophy?

The only thing it is not is religion. A 50-year mistake made by scientists is still science (in fact, it is good science.) Show me a religion that admits its mistakes.

more essays related to memory:

I Cecil You, Too

Neither Overwhelmed Nor Underwhelmed

A Simple Exercise in Rational Thinking

Joining the Military? And, Why David Pakman Needs a Better Producer!

Considering enlisting in a branch of the US military?

I recommend asking the opinion of someone who:

you respect the opinion of
knows your individual capabilities and weaknesses
will provide you with more than four minutes of their time
possesses a modicum of first-hand knowledge about the topic

If you respect the opinions of the host of The David Pakman Show, and you have an economics question—or a question about politics—call his show. Leave a voicemail. But (as this clip woefully demonstrates) neither Mr Pakman, nor his producer, has done any research on why someone might decide to enlist in the military. Instead, they chose to answer this caller with a list of "off the cuff" opinions filled with ridiculous stereotypes. This tone-deaf answer shows Mr Pakman to be guilty of the hubris he so readily ascribes to others who foolishly assume they must know enough about every topic to easily answer questions with no preparation.

Then, this segment was reviewed by a producer who subsequently also failed to consider there would be millions of future viewers—ranging from those considering a job or career in the military, to those currently in the military, to those who are military retirees (of which I am one)—who might do what this show consistently prompts everyone to do: fact check.

Mr Pakman provides a rambling, sophomoric, list as to why people consider joining the military:

See the world
Work for your country
Fill a need ("scratch an itch")
Be around guns
Desire infrastructure and/or discipline

       I assume Mr Pakman meant 'structure' not 'infrastructure', before he insipidly closed the segment with a statement that people should consider if the military is "the best path" for them.

   Slow clap. You should be ashamed Mr Pakman. Your flippant attitude appears, to me, to be no more than a ineffectual veneer, attempting to hide your obvious disdain for all the people who chose, or will choose to join the military. If this is what you think, be a big enough person to say so! Don't hide behind your weak statements of, "...the US needs a volunteer military...don't have a draft...guess there must be some sane reason to join...".

   You are—obviously—out of touch with all the members of your audience who choose a job in the military because they needed a job. Not many years after I joined, there was a TV ad which proclaimed, "Join the Army. It's not just a job, it's an adventure!"...that was just marketing; it was just a job.

       If you want to learn some real reasons why people enlist in the military, keep reading.

During my military career—which covered the decades of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s—I heard one answer exponentially more than all others; most (especially those 18-23 years old) enlisted in the US military because they:

had never been employed non-seasonally, full-time
were encouraged (or had no choice to) quickly: graduate, get a job, and find a place of their own
would only qualify for entry-level/minimum-wage jobs (in 2018 that is $15K year)
knew the approximate cost of basic needs (food, clothing, housing, insurance and transportation)
witnessed their peers, and others in their community, failing to pay for those basic needs on that income
listened to their military recruiter who promised:

Three free meals a day in the mess hall
Free uniforms
Free bunk in the barracks / rack on the ship / cot on deployment
Free medical care, free non-elective dental, free basic optical care
Free military transportation
Starting pay of a E1 is approximately $20K year (in 2018, after training)

   $1,400 a month (after taxes) is a large amount of money in someone's pocket, when all their basic needs have already been provided for. And, just like their recruiter told them, they were now training for—and receiving on-the-job experience in—a job specialty of their choosing (with hope the training and experience would transfer to an equivalent non-minimum wage, non-entry-level job when they left the military).

   There are hundreds of jobs that need to be performed in the military because almost every job available in the civilian world has a military counterpart. If there's no military counterpart, that job is now 100% contracted, or performed by DoD civilian employees.

       Many soldiers, sailors, airmen, and (yes—even some) marines only see their assigned individual weapon (civilian term: gun) during marksmanship training and on operational deployments (civilian term: fighting in a war, becoming a member of a peace-keeping force, etc).

   During my first years as a soldier, I did not hear anyone say they joined to: "see the world," nor to "work with guns," nor were they looking to bring "structure in their previously undisciplined lives".

   To be fair to Mr Pakman, later in my career, I had occasion to converse with members of the US Special Forces, Army Rangers, and Navy Seals and some expressed a desire to "go hunting," and used many other more colorful words to describe killing human beings. So—clearly—some people do choose a military life because of the weapons and their ability to use them. Also (to continue my fairness to Mr Pakman) I was told, by two different sailors, they joined the Navy primarily because they "looked forward to visiting all the different ports on shore leave." Which is similar enough to "see the world" to warrant a mention.

       But there are many more reasons why people enlist in the military. Here are just a few:

One infantry soldier told me he was ordered by a judge to show him enlistment papers within two weeks, or serve 364 days in the county jail (Yes, that's still a thing).
After the begin of every news-worthy military conflict, many say they "signed up to serve their country." Not just after 9/11.
Dozens of people (the second largest reason) said they joined to either take advantage of the College Education Bonus, or to utilize the College Loan Repayment Program.

And here are a few reasons some individuals may NOT be comfortable enlisting in the military:

Mandatory exercise/maintenance of body weight: If you do not like to exercise and/or are already over the military's body-mass standard, you will either "get with the program" or be quickly administratively discharged. Overweight military members are not tolerated.
Recreational drug usage: It is illegal to use any non-prescription drugs at any time (even on vacation; even in states where cannabis is legal). Failure to pass random drug tests results in fines, administrative punishments, and other-than-honorable discharges.
Respect: it is always mandatory and drilled-in from day one of basic training. It doesn't stop being required. Ever. Never stop respecting everyone else. Have a problem with other races? Other sexes? Other religions? The military has no tolerance for any bias, statements, or outward displays of hatred. And, the quickest way to be administratively discharged for "unable to adapt" is to show a racist tattoo, fly a hate-flag, or utter words which might be labeled hate-speech.
Long Hours: The military is not 9-5 with weekends off (although there are times when it looks that way). The military pays an annual salary because they OWN you every minute of every day for all the years on your legally-enforceable, multi-year, job contract. Never make vacation plans with non-refundable tickets. Never expect that you will work "regular hours". Never be surprised by a schedule change.
Small cog in a big machine: the military constantly needs a very large number of low-ranking individuals to continually replace people who leave after their enlistment contract is finished, or depart after they get kicked out (see above for a few reasons that can happen). They need a very small number of Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) to stay in the military (re-enlist) and supervise those lower ranks. Promotions go to only those who shine the brightest and prove they want it the most. Although it's reasonably easy to enlist and go to basic training and then get to advanced training, it's not guaranteed you'll graduate, and it's a challenge (for many) to be awarded an Honorable Discharge.
Not like any civilian job: The military does not comply with EEO guidelines; they do not recruit physically or mentally handicapped individuals. (Those who receive debilitating injuries are medically retired.) They also do not pay overtime. And, although they may order a "mandatory extension" of your enlistment contract (during "manpower-critical" times) they rarely allow the opposite to happen; an individual (once their initial training is complete) can not voluntarily terminate their enlistment contract. Decide to leave anyway? They'll charge you with AWOL, or desertion, which equals fines, administrative discipline, and possibly an other-than-honorable discharge. (Do I need to mention that a Bad Conduct Discharge will get you treated like a pariah by every future employer?)

Stained Glass Shadowboxes

Why the Thin Blue Line Flag is Anti-Black Lives Matter

This 2018 essay was updated/revised in 2020.

Last weekend, as we drove thru the countryside of my state, my wife pointed to a pickup truck flying two large flags and asked if I knew what the black and white one represented. Although I'd never seen an "American flag" with: black bars instead of red, a black field behind the stars instead of blue, and a horizontal blue bar thru the middle — I was able to make a reasonably informed guess (because the other flag in the back of the pickup was a confederate battle flag).

There are a few variations of banners with these blue lines. Even though they range from those with solid black backgrounds, or combined with the stars and bars, or the union jack (as well as with the aforementioned stars and stripes), I've discovered one strong common denominator: all appear to have been created in the last five years — after 2013 — when the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement began.

For many decades, the descriptor: 'thin blue line' has been used as a simile. By referring to the police force as the "front line" of law enforcement, the phrase successfully brings to mind a line of blue-uniformed officers fighting valiantly to separate and protect law abiding citizens from criminals. I joined the Military Police in 1985, but it wasn't until 1990 — with the film The Thin Blue Line — that I learned this term was a label for police.

If someone wants to show police solidarity and also wants to display their support in the form of a banner (on the back of their Ford F150—as an example) they should consider a emblem from the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP). This organization is over a century old, advocates for the safety of law enforcement officers, and the FOP logo contains no words intended to usurp the message of another group.

The number of flags, banners, and signs which bring universal scorn to those who display them publicly is growing. Included in this list are the signs of the "Church" from Westboro, Kansas; the flag of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (the Nazi Swastika); and some variants of the US Confederate Battle Flag (Confederate Southern Cross). Specious claims of "pride in one's heritage" are no longer palatable by the masses. Since there are still many who want to publicly display their hatred for others, the white supremacists have recently adopted the thin blue line flag, which provides a superficially plausible explanation (claiming to support the police) while actually displaying their hate-filled message (which is that black lives don't matter to them).

The Thin Blue Line Flag is equivalent to the Blue Lives Matter banner.
"Blue Lives Matter" has one purpose: opposing the "Black Lives Matter" message.
"Black Lives Matter" opposes violence and racism against people of color by the police.

Thus: Displaying a Thin Blue Line flag means you support violence and racism against people of color by the police.

are the same as

updated/revised: June 2020

Art from the eye of the Artist

I have always loved women without makeup. Vanity is terrible. This woman is amazing in every way. I love her.

I Cecil You, Too

          I have never celebrated the fake holiday in mid-February. It's a scam holiday which business's use to sell cards, flowers, candy, and all that foolish shit. I give gifts of love when the time is right, not when someone else says I'm supposed to.

          Anyway—what the fuck is this thing we all have labelled with the word: LOVE? I know what mix of emotions I feel/have felt for those I've loved and do love (not a very large list) but it's amazingly hard to explain how certain fluctuations in my brain's chemicals affect my heart/brain/gut/libido, and even harder to understand/compare when others explain their "feelings of love". We just assume everyone must be feeling the same way we feel when we use the same words they use.

          "See that color? That is what I have labelled: Red."
"Oh, that's red? Ok, I'll begin to refer to everything which is colored that way: red. Umm, what about when I feel all these crazy feelings at the same time? I need a label, so that when I am feeling all these feelings I do not need to explain each of them every time."
"That is labelled: Love."
"What about all those same feelings, except one: I don't want to be physically intimate?"
"Still labelled: Love. You could add the word Platonic, but that'll require an explanation because that word has different interpretations."
"What about when I feel all those feelings for my pet?"

          "When I say, I love my cat (Cecil) I think I must be misusing the word. Instead, I should use a word that compounds the meanings of the words: pride, enjoyment, happiness and admiration."

          I'm proud of Cecil's training and I enjoy his 'loving' attention. He never makes me angry (Mostly because he can't communicate with words, has no malice, and enjoys my company) and I admire him for his actions, looks, demeanor, and thoughtfulness (is he being thoughtful? I'm probably just anthropomorphising his behavior). Maybe I should consider his name, Cecil, to be my label for what I feel about him. When I say, "Such a good Cecil" I really mean that I'm currently feeling a combination of pride/enjoyment/happiness/admiration.

When I receive an "I love you," I—almost never—use the phrase: "I love you too".

Because it's wrong to treat an I love you, as if it requires a mandatory reply. It is not supposed to be interpreted as if it were the question: Do you love me? Also, it should not become a replacement phrase for goodbye. When people do that, they cause their incessant I love you's to lose their value. Eventually, it becomes a throw-away line. If said all the time, what do they say when they really want someone to know they have caused a rush of complicated emotions which are identified (when felt all at the same time) as the feeling of love?

Recap: "I Love You"—all three words—are reserved for when the emotion of love is actually being felt. I do not want my I love you to cause an immediate response of I love you too. I prefer either no reply or a response like: "those words make me feel good," or "Thank you," or "I like it when you tell me that," or "those words make me happy," or "when you say that, I get warm inside". It is better that the person you love smiles and says nothing, and some time in the future, if they tell me they are currently feeling the emotion they call love—for me—I know they're feeling love at that moment and I can decide to reply with my present feelings, or not to reply. I appreciate their statement of love when they are feeling it and then I consider what I did to make them feel that way. This is my normal.

When she was young, I tried to encourage my daughter, Denise, to understand and to communicate her feelings of love. It was a long and complicated issue. I found communicating my thoughts to her and her mother, on expressing love, very difficult. I felt there was a lack of love in our family, and wanted us to tell each other that we loved each other more often (it worked occasionally). I also wanted us to communicate our love by kissing (which never caught on). The compromise I got from my daughter was cheek-bumps. I failed at explaining to her that bumping cheeks was how people communicated respect to either: an old and feeble relative; someone who was contagious; or (in France) because that was their custom.

Denise now says I love you to each of her children many times a day. Each of her kids reply with a I love you too. I see and hear their devotion and their respect. With them, it does not seem to be a "worn out phrase" or a "throw away line". In fact, when a child is upset (and, intentionally, does not reply to their mother's I love you) they—routinely—apologize (later) and remind her that they love her.

I am now an old relative with whom respectful cheek bumps may be apropos. And, now, I am adjusting to her normal. Now, I reply to her I love you with an I love you, too.

Landmines, Deal Breakers and Brass Rings

This essay is intended to help you with future “new” relationships. I hope this information is considered valuable enough that you decide to teach your children to apply this to their future adult relationships.

Before beginning a new intimate relationship with someone, I have picked an appropriate time to have what I refer to as my, “Landmines, Deal Breakers, and Brass Rings Conversation”.

“Landmines” are things you know about yourself. They can be any value, character trait, habit, and/or fetish, which you are aware other people may not like. Landmines are not obvious (and sometimes we intentionally hide them). Tattoos are a good example; some people dislike all tattoos and others just dislike certain types of body art. A large number of clearly-visible tattoos might not be considered a Landmine (unless the racist ones are all hidden), however, someone with a few concealed tattoos should consider them a Landmine.

Although identifying and sharing each others Landmines are crucial to a healthy relationship, the most important aspect of discussing Landmines is that it starts “The Conversation” on a positive note. Each person shares something they are either embarrassed about themselves, or their past, or which the other person might find off-putting. To decide if something is or is not a Landmine, I ask myself, “If I don’t share this, and—instead—they discover it in the distant future, could I be accused of being intentionally deceitful or lying by omission?”

Examples of Landmines:

Incarcerations
Addictions
Diseases
Non-standard employment
Non-standard housing
Pet issues or allergies
Children given for adoption
Previous long-term relationships
Dangerous or risky behaviors

“Deal Breakers” are things you absolutely will not tolerate in another person. Many non-smokers consider smoking or vaping (of any substance) to be a Deal Breaker. At this point in “The Conversation,” each person takes turns explaining to the other the types of behavior(s) which—if discovered in the future—would cause them to terminate the relationship. For example: if someone quit smoking a while ago (and didn’t consider it important enough to be a Landmine) and then the other person told them that smoking was a Deal Breaker, it’s now a subject which needs further discussion.

Normally, people identify things they consider Deal Breakers based on their past. If a previous significant other was a habitual liar, they may no longer put up with the smallest amount of dishonesty and—therefore—might consider some “white lies” to be Deal Breakers; along the same lines, if a previous significant other constantly acted jealous for no reason, they may now consider any hint of jealous behavior to be a Deal Breaker.

Examples of Deal Breakers:

Pregnancy
Desire for future children
Sports enthusiast
Love/hate of pets
Must/must-not Hunt, fish, camp
Share same Religion
Share personal politics, values, habits
Sexual/pornography appetite

“Brass Rings” bring “The Conversation” to a close on a positive note. Each person explains at least one thing they would ultimately love to receive from the relationship or from their partner. This is the point where each person is expected to bare their deepest desire. Selfishness is a must when explaining one’s Brass Ring(s). It does not work if—after making it all the way through the Landmines and the Deal Breakers—someone claims their Brass Ring is just the happiness of the other.

Examples of Brass Rings:

Clitoral orgasms
Enjoyment of specific sexual acts
Destination vacation
Financial security
Platonic love
Children

Stupid Genius

Stupid Genius - 2018

Denise's LOVE

On New Years Eve, I found a very touching note from my daughter after I returned from dropping her off at the airport.
I snapped a picture of her handwritten Love and made a character's face with it. The L became the character's eyes, the o an ear, the v it's nose, and the e is it's smile (with tongue sticking out of the corner). These items (and others) are available at my CafePress Shop.

This is the image alone.

My dearest only child - Denise,

Please accept my apology. I hate myself for shouting at you. I have spent almost all the hours since our phone-call, trying to understand why your words caused me to feel so much anger. I'm ashamed of myself. I should have paused, thought about what you said, realized you had no way to know your actions (which—like you said—are the actions of many others) would cause me so much pain, and I should have waited to talk to you about my anger on a later date.

In order to fully understand my own thoughts on this issue, I’ve had a long conversation with myself – and – this is that conversation:

    “What were the words, said by Denise, which made you feel angry?”
    “Denise shared how she and her boyfriend met in a bar and then she said, ‘The next day or so, we exchanged messages and I almost decided not to chat with him because he never offered to buy me a drink that night.’ I didn’t immediately feel angry when she made that statement. But I did begin to ask questions to learn if she was aware of what her words meant.”

    “Obviously the answers she provided to your questions did make you angry. Why?”
    “She said that when she went to bars it was what was expected and normal. That, ‘all men purchased drinks for all women.’ When I asked her if, ‘she had ever purchased a drink for a guy?’ She replied, ‘No. She had never done that, and no woman she knew had ever done it’.”

    “Why were Denise’s words so upsetting?”
    “I was shocked to learn that someone I love, someone I care about as much as I care about my daughter, would have such low self esteem.”

    “Can you explain what that means, and why you think she has low self esteem because of this statement?”

    “The reason a man purchases a drink-gift for a woman is he hopes she will accept it, feel obligated to talk to him for a short period of time (commonly understood to be the time it takes to finish the drink) which—he hopes—will lead to more drinks, more conversation, and eventually sex.”

    “What does that have to do with a person’s self esteem?”
    “Self esteem means: self-worth. How a person thinks about themselves; the cumulative good and bad thoughts one knows about themselves. (This is not a dollar price tag. Having high self esteem is not saying, ‘I think I’m worth a million dollars.’) Self esteem is a vague picture that people hold in their mind about themselves.
    “If someone has mostly good thoughts about themselves; takes care of themselves; treats themselves with respect; considers themselves to be both caring and thoughtful; and behaves in a positive manner—they are considered to have ‘high self esteem’. Conversely, when someone thinks about themselves in mostly negative terms; treats their mind and body terribly; knows that they are careless and thoughtless; and performs negative acts—they have ‘low self esteem’.
    “If someone expects men to buy them drinks, then they are expecting men to pay to talk to them; to ‘buy their time’. Women who think this way are communicating to men (even if they don’t know it) that their time is for rent.

    “Are you saying these women are prostituting themselves for drinks?”
    “No. I am not implying women who expect drink-gifts are prostitutes! Not at all. Instead, what I am saying is that when a woman expects a man to buy her a drink — instead of informing him (not asking...telling him), up-front, that she is going to buy the next round — she is telling him that she considers herself to be subordinate to him. She considers all men to be superior to her. She is telling him that she has low self esteem. Simply put: she thinks her life is worth less than his life.
    “A woman with high self esteem doesn’t sit and wait for a man to offer her a drink. She offers to buy the man she admires a drink—first. If he gladly accepts and says he will buy the next round, she has found an equal. If he refuses to accept her drink but offers to buy her one—he thinks all women are supposed to be subordinate to him (she should run away). If he accepts and never offers to buy her a drink and expects her to buy him drinks all night long? Well.... is she looking for a subordinate man? If so, she found one.
    “At this point I should mention: “buying a drink” is a dumb, irritating, ‘ploy.’ The entire situation and verbal game sounds wrong-headed; it doesn’t matter if anyone ever offers to buy anyone else a drink.
    “Think of it this way: if a person (woman or a man) goes to a bar and then sits and waits for the opposite sex to approach, talk, and offer them gift-drinks...they have low self esteem. Or they are a narcissistic attention-whore (which is not Denise, so, no reason to expound on that). Everyone should feel free to walk up to and talk to anyone whom they admire. No drinks are ever need. Approaches are made by people who are self-assured and confident. All one needs to do is say, “Hello, I like your smile.” That is how a conversation is begun. If the other person is interested in talking to you, then it will take off from there. If they are not, they will not offer you a seat, not engage you in conversation, and you can move on and tell the next person you admire that you, “think the color they are wearing looks good on them.”

    “Is this something you think everyone knows about?”
     “About how to start a conversation with an attractive stranger? I hope so. Denise is not shy and she's in her mid-30s!”

     “I meant awareness of one's own self esteem. Is that something you think people have?”

“Unfortunately, far too many people have no idea. This is not something many people have ever wanted to learn about themselves. I also realize that many people have never even considered what the term ‘self esteem’ means and never think about their own self esteem.”

    “Aren’t some women fully aware of their low self esteem and subsequent actions?”
    “Yes. Some women are open about their life’s expectations when they admit they expect men to buy them everything. They have a clearly-stated goal of finding someone to take care of them. Those women are derogatorily referred to as Gold-diggers and the men who keep them are derogatorily referred to as Sugar-daddy.”

    “Did you get angry because Denise’s words made you think she was a gold digger?”
    “No. She said that she never thought about her behavior other than to think that it was ‘how everyone acted’ and that it was ‘normal’. According to her, it was how every woman around her had behaved her entire life. Since she and I have just reunited after 16 years, I think it’s possible she has never had a positive role model to show her how to act if she wants to attract a partner interested in an woman who is assertive and who expects to be treated as an equal.”

    “Why didn’t you explain all this to her on the phone instead of getting angry?”
    “The shock took over and I lost all my clear thoughts. I love my daughter so much it makes my head spin at times. When we talk, her words about her life make me feel emotions of concern, and worry, and pride, and contentment, and empathy, and excitement, and sadness, and so much more . . . all inside of one single conversation.
    “We have (so quickly) reunited to become parts of each other’s lives, that when I discovered she had adopted a long-term bad behavior—and it was something she’d done her entire life—I was so shocked I blew up.”

    “And your shock turned to anger?”
    “Yes. Unfortunately all I could focus on was that she didn’t know how a simple act of “expecting free drinks from men” had informed every man she’d ever talked to in a bar that she had low self esteem. And, then all I could think about was that she must also not know that almost all men with lower self esteem were only interested in finding women with low self esteem.
    “Which made me think about all her previous failed relationships. And, I wondered if all of them had been doomed to fail because of that.
    “Then I realized that if I had not lost contact with her 16 years ago, she would have known (because I would have told her before she was 21—before she went into her first bar) that she should only trust men with high self esteem, who gratefully accept compliments or drink-gifts from women and who are not looking for a subservient partner. I would have also made sure she knew she should never talk to a man who only wants a subservient woman. They are the men who always say: ‘I never let a little lady buy me a drink!’
    “I felt that, maybe, her low self esteem was caused by me.”

    “How do you think you can fix this?”
    “Denise knows how much I want her to be happy. How much I love her. How hard I am willing to work to help her in any way that she wants me to help her. Over time, this will be thought of as ‘the phone call when I got angry and made her cry.’ I’m very sorry for not using my words very good. I hope she will forgive me.”

Hello There 2018 - Let the Catching Up Commence!

...you'll be my bodyguard and I can be your long-lost pal. I can call you Betty—and Betty, when you call me—you can call me Al...

After three years of: ‘no good reason to sit down and write’ my life has spanked me with a dozen reasons. Now I feel driven to get the swirling cacophony onto the page in-hopes of, maybe, getting “thoughts in order.” (A distant *yay* echoes off the surrounding cliffs of the neverscape. Or, at least, I think it was a yay...maybe it was naaayyy?)

My ex-step-daughter — I can call her Betty — contacted me a few months ago. She was 19 when I divorced her mother (with whom she shared a close, daily-contact, type of relationship). Now she is 35. Over the 16 year interim, I assumed our estrangement was, unfortunately, the expected outcome of what had become a tenuous relationship.

    In the early 1990s I assumed the temporary, non-tenured, position as her primary care-giver from a litany of predecessors. She was an obedient, friendly and pleasant ten year old. Easy to talk to. We liked each other. Her mother’s ‘hands-off’ parenting style fit nicely with my desire to teach. My more authoritative and ‘present’ style seemed to be more appropriate and needed. Until ... a few years later ... it wasn’t. Because: teenagers. (I see no need to provide details about the petty crimes, drugs, running away for weeks, or dropping-out of school.) She was not “cash me outside, how bout dat?” girl. But in the late 1990s, it felt like all my efforts to help her become a good person had amounted to hundreds of man-hours of wasted time. Against my wishes, her mother allowed her—at 16—to get married. At 19, my adult step-daughter was back in my house as a divorcée with an infant named Destiny.

    It had become perfectly clear I was nobody’s parent, nobody’s teacher, all my opinions were worthless and the only things required from me were: shut up; provide food, shelter and money; and shut up.

A year later, Betty's mother told me that all she required of me was the same five things. And, that was when I paid thousands of dollars to lawyers so they would legally affix the prefix “ex-” in front of all of our respective relationship labels.

    Last month, the aforementioned ironically named infant (my ex-previous-step-granddaughter...if that’s even possibly a real label for a relationship) turned 17. Her mother, Betty, had progressed from using my name to using the title ‘Dad’ and we have progressed from the occasional text message or email to weekly phone calls. By yesterday — Festivus of 2017 — our phone calls are almost daily and they sometimes are hours in duration. They are a vibrant and wonderful mix of reminiscing, catching-up, discussing current topical issues, exchanging opinions and tears, and planning future visits (Betty lives 3,000 miles away).

    In eight weeks, we have become bodyguard and long-lost pal. I have learned many of the lessons (which I assumed had been a waste of time) were, actually, vitally important. My parenting style twenty years ago had influenced some of her parenting successes. She had now raised three, constantly-on-the-honor-roll, loving, respectful, and wonderful children, who are now 10, 14, and 17. Yes, of course, her life has not been without its pitfalls. But, I have recently learned, in several conversations, that the reason Betty believes she became an attentive, loving, parent (one might use the term “helicopter-parenting soccer mom”) with a job, stable household, and a smile in her voice, is partly because of me.

    Next week, she will be visiting with my wife and I.

    The pronoun game has already been addressed and re-addressed. We can lay no claim to the names Grandpa and Grandma — even if those labels were appended with our names so that the “grand kids” can distinguish us from the people who rightfully hold those titles. More important (and to-the-point): two months ago, neither of us had any idea we would soon be exchanging stories with a highly likable, mature woman, overflowing with laughter and love who wants us to think of her as our “daughter” and who asks for, receives, and heeds our advice. Also we held no inkling in our minds that this self-same “woman of many titles (none of which fit perfectly)” had three children who might someday be eager to include us in their lives as “pseudo-quasi Nana and Papa figures.”

    Maybe this is an appropriate point for me to provide a synopsis about the end of my life?

Most people cringe when someone discusses their own death, preferring to only think of death in an abstract manner. Or they always ask to postpone those “morbid thoughts” for when the “time comes.” Others attempt to hold on to an obscenely strange belief that, “it’s never going to happen.” That is not who I am. I have contemplated and embraced my terminus and have come to accept its eventuality without any dread. I hope to have about five years left. It would be great if I have double that.

    If I make it to 62 (in 2021) I will have outlived all my male ancestors, none of whom lived to receive social security. None had retired before they died. All died of apparent (or possible) heart attacks.

    I have attempted to avoid and continue to (mostly) avoid many of the "environmental factors" which contributed to the early demise of my father, grandfathers, and great-grand fathers (nicotine, alcohol, red meat, etc.) None-the-less: genetics. So I retired at the age of 43 from the military, divorced a stress-inducing woman the same year, and have attempted to live as frugally as possible on my military pension for the last 16 years.

My goal was to live through at least two peaceful decades of happy retirement. Most people want the same thing. Only the masses don’t think about actuary tables; they fall in lock-step with the government who proclaims that everyone should retire about 65, because the government says they'll more-than-likely die in their early-to-mid 80s. (Those who think that way are stupid, conformist, sheep. *baaah*)

    Now, I've — out of nowhere — received a wonderful surprise opportunity: to be able share my last few years (five? – fingers crossed ... 20? – all fingers and toes quadruple-crossed) with not only my still-fantastic wife, Pam. But, now, with our new bodyguard Betty and her three children. I'm immensely glad she treats us both like long-lost pals.