Citation Needed

Hello friends. I would love to have something momentous and/or fun to report, but this past week has been a bloody challenging one. See, my partner’s parents are both in their 90s, and her father is displaying signs of dementia. Caring for them both is turning out to be a full-time gig for her, and I help when I can.

I do think aging is a disease that we’re all born with. It’s a losing proposition. We only get more and more feeble, the older we get. I think that’s unfair. It’s not a prize to be sought. It’s not a consolation for the dubious victory of living longer. If we’re lucky, we keep our faculties enough to live comfortably, but that’s not the majority result.

I once had a short story idea that posited ‘What if humans got stronger as they got older?’ And the more I thought about what kind of society that would generate, the more I realized it could be a movie idea. Then I got caught up in something else and stopped working on it. But I hope to return to develop it further, because I think there’s a chance to tell some really interesting truths with it someday.

That’s really all I want with my life: to give insights into the human condition such that it might help someone live… better? happier? contentedly? It’s not enough for me to just exist. I have to create something that will feel useful and truthful to people. And that is a gigantic proposition. There are a million ways to go about telling that kind of story, and it’s my inability to focus on just one that’s keeping my tv show idea from fully germinating. But I’m getting there. I hope. Wouldn’t it be funny if this newsletter ends up being the only thing I ever create for the rest of my life? I’ll let this next picture answer that:

What I’m reading

I watched the first episode of ‘Tokyo Vice’ last night because I love Japanese things and Ken Watanabe. As a first episode it was… okay. Didn’t automatically leave me wanting more. But I’ll stick with it. I will say that Ansel Elgort’s spoken Japanese is pretty amazing. I don’t know if he’s doing it phonetically or if he actually studied Japanese for this, but man, it’s great.

On my Kindle I’m re-reading ‘Aristoi’ by Walter Jon Williams. It’s that flavor of science fiction that throws a ton of new ideas at you so fast it’s very difficult to find anything to latch onto at first. I had read it in the early 90s and remember liking it quite a bit, but in my re-reading I’m not there yet. We’ll see.

A short one this week for the reasons mentioned above. Let’s hope things smooth out a bit as we head into the holiday times. I’ll try to make next week’s submission more jolly and fun. Until then, remember to practice self-care. It’s actually the most important thing you can do. Here’s your reality check: Reno.