I know it's been a while since I was around but I take issue with that dead fish badge I found sitting on the top of my page. I'd accept an absent fish or maybe a sleeping fish but spreading rumors of my demise after mere three months seems like jumping the gun to me.
The truth is, my job is rather demanding lately. The increased volume in the shipping industry has not let up and I now find myself wasting most of my life away in a dim, uncomfortable, industrial building. I can't complain too bitterly, though. The hours are there for the taking and the pay has been steady which is something that not everyone can say these days so I am grateful but exhausted by the sixty-plus hour weeks.
I have found myself missing this outlet lately, though. A place where one can (mostly) freely express oneself is a rarity in this age of ascendant censorship and virtue-signaling and I always have bunch of unpopular things to say. It is a struggle not to argue with customers and coworkers who seem oblivious to the lies that they have accepted as unfillable truth and it would be inappropriate for me to do so. Plus the rising price of hive is attractive, if I'm being honest. So what I think I'm saying is that I'm going to try to come back to posting here, semi-regularly, at least.
I might as well ramble for a while.
Today was a difficult day. So was yesterday. My grandfather passed away in late October but because of covid concerns we had to delay his funeral services until yesterday and today.
I blame my aunt for ruining the service yesterday. My grandfather was a man of some notability in this city so a public service was planned and held at a place that was special to him before he became too ill to continue his work there. Things would have gone beautifully were it not for my aunt her need to be the center of attention and her disastrous hand in the planning.
I knew something was wrong when a man in a purple shirt, a cowboy hat, and a shiny studded belt studded up to the podium introduced himself as a preacher. He gave a nice speech, but it was hard to take himself seriously dressed as cartoonishly as he was.
She made things worse by interrupting the guests who chose to speak with what she thought were cleaver quips. On multiple occasions, she piped in as someone was trying to give a heartfelt goodbye to their departed friend and threw them out of their rhythm.
At the dinner that followed, my aunt proudly announced that the preacher was a friend of hers, he offered to conduct the service for free, and that he is also a musician and a dj who makes [definitely awful] music that we should all check out.
"That explains the belt" I said flatly; as she glared at me, and her ex-husband (who flew in to attend the funeral) roared with laughter.
Today, on the other hand, was just sad. My grandfather was a soldier for twenty-three years, my father spent fifteen years in the army himself, and this morning, my grandfather was laid to rest with his due honors.
The chaplain spoke, the guns were fired, and my father, fighting back long delayed tears, stood and saluted his fathers ashes while a bugler played in the distance.
I'll end there for today.
All the images in this post are sourced from the free image website, unsplash.com.