Monday melior

Monday has been a better day than Sunday, not that Sunday was so bad. It was still overcast and a bit sprinkly this morning, but that disappeared around noon and the afternoon has been mostly sunny to partly cloudy. Right now it is 73 (22.8 C) and breezy, and I was able to get out for a short walk. Tom went over to the railroad where he was helping Gil with something and also doing some more prep work for Track Week, next week, one of the heavy-duty weeks where he and John supervise workers for four or five days of intense work repairing, replacing and generally improving the tracks.

This morning I got a bit of writing done on Wacky in WhoVille. Although I did not write anything yesterday, I wound up thinking about the story a lot during my wakeful intervals and some of those wandering thoughts bore fruit today. I did some housecleaning, too, got my new insurance information entered into the pharmacy's computers and picked up a few odds and ends. I am finishing up my work with the woman I tutor this week, and I want to get her a sort of graduation card and gift. That is the one thing still on my to-do list, but I have until Friday for that.

I am also listening to some lectures on astronomy. I have been listening to/viewing a number of these series on literature, world history, "big history", psychology, even intellectual property. They are all on YouTube's Crash Course playlists, and there are many others. For more information on that, click on this link. They are entertaining and informative, written it seems to me for advanced placement high school seniors maybe or college freshmen? Each talk is only ten or twelve minutes, but you get a lot of bang for your buck. Well, it's free actually, although you can donate to support it if you wish. They have recently partnered with PBS.

Melior, as I am sure you know, is Latin for better. Think ameliorate.

Lest it sound like everything in the world is sunshine, lollipops and rainbows, however, I will mention that I learned yesterday that a woman I know died recently, a victim of her alcoholism. She had struggled for years, been in and out of treatment, worked with a number of people but never quite beat the disease. May she rest in peace now.

Also a friend in the blogosphere and his partner were the victims of an unprovoked drive-by homophobic slurring. We have never experienced anything like that, although after an article about us appeared in the local newspaper a couple of years ago, our mailbox was smashed twice in one week. On the other hand, other mailboxes get smashed along our road periodically. Sometimes what seems like hate or anger directed at a member of a particular group is more generalized anger and hate. That does not make it better, of course.
 
But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. And sometimes a jerk is just a jerk. And sometimes even someone who is not a jerk acts like a jerk for reasons unknown.

But as my t-shirt says, It get better. Even Mondays.