Five Things I Think, June 7

1) I think that Lake Therapy is addicting.  I do in fact have a bit of a sunburn right now, as I remembered to slather sunscreen liberally upon the little Ginger I bear responsibility for, but forgot to do so for myself.  Instead, I slathered my insides with beer while hanging out in a cove, a progression of Fascist Pig, Threadless IPA, Cut Throat Pale Ale (all 3 from Finch’s), then moving along to a Hobgoblin and finishing with a Strongbow cider.  It was a good afternoon. 

There’s something strange about my metabolism at the lake, an odd sort of semi-immunity to beer that only occurs there.  Whereas I may stop at two on any given other day, on a lake day it’s long into the sixth before I start hearing my internal monologue introducing itself to the twelve steppers. 

It may be the sun, it may be the water, it may even be the complete relaxation that wraps around me like a mother’s hug when I’m on the water.  But one thing is certain:  for a man who enjoys good beers and good boozes, it’s a pleasant circumstance.

 Our post-storm sunset

2) I think a line of thunderstorms can create excitement under the best of circumstances; when on a boat it’s truly an interesting time.  We were hit Saturday evening by a squall line that was blowing steady 30 mph for a few minutes, which meant your very own Dangerboy tossed his shirt off and ran to the upper deck to secure chairs before they went over the side.  The rain was biblical, and also chilly.  I enjoyed a very good dinner in damp shorts, as we watched someone’s inflatable killer whale sail across the marina. 

Fortunately, Little Danger was unperturbed.  We’ve spent some fun thunderstorms together on the porch, his first when he was only 4 days old.  I’d like to get it into his head early, and I think I’ve succeeded, that storms are nothing to fear, just a reason for caution.

3) I think it’s a little disgusting the amount of civil liberties I’ve watched erode away over the past 8 years.  The TSA, DOJ, NSA, and several other alphabet soup agencies really need pulled in.  And gang, it’s only going to get worse.  The information collected about each of us leads to a dystopia once imagined, now experienced.  We’re headed toward the world of Shadowrun, just lacking elves and orcs. 

Still, it could be worse.  Watching the events unfolding in Turkey makes me truly happy that our police still, for the most part, toe the line of “good guy”.  Yet I also see a possible future there for Little Danger, as the soldierizing of our police force continues.  It’s concerning, to say the least, as probable cause is less and less necessary for search, seizure, and incarceration.  We increasingly approach the Panopticon, and I think it’s a horrible way to design a society.

4) I think it’s been too long since I’ve sat down at the gaming table.  I just realized I haven’t run or played an RPG since the calendar rolled over to 2013, and that’s just damned unacceptable.  This shall be rectified with great prejudice.  Now I just have to figure out what group to get together, and which game to run…hmmm. 

5) I think I’m happy to be typing these words again.  At the risk of covering ground we’ve already walked together, it’s important that I dig out from this self-imposed mountain of solitude and get social again.  For a guy whose gift is getting along with people, I’ve been seeing way too much of my own four walls. 

The resurgence of this place, my own little corner of the government-surveilled series of tubes, has helped me to come back to a sense of normalcy and productivity.  Since success often breeds more success, I can’t imagine this as anything other than a good thing. 

So…what do YOU think today?

Bonus thought:  Did I just get through a whole blog post with "damn" as the strongest word?  What the heck is wrong with me????