May 2023

Yoda feels the Force, and he likes it.

We’re lucky if we make it into old age.

A lot can change in nine months.

Hard to believe another school year is wrapping up. My wife, a teacher, is excited to be relieved of the stress that comes with her work. Our daughter, a fourth grader, is bummed that her school year will soon be concluding. One of my ladies sees it as the beginning of another summer vacation. The other one sees it as the end of elementary school. She’s still a year out from middle school, but she’s already discouraged by the proposition of letting go of her childhood. I don’t blame her, though. Adulting kind of sucks; growing old wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the dying part, but, you know, we’re fortunate to live long enough to die from our bodies giving into death by exhaustion.

MTFBWY

I’ve been a Star Wars fan since I was a kid, but it’s been a bit of a “love/hate” relationship lately with the franchise. Most of the recent content released by Disney/Lucasfilm has been bad. Even when I try to enjoy it on the most basic level, from a place of pure fanaticism, it’s been hard to overlook the bizarre narrative decisions and plot holes and bad acting in the Disney era content because some of the creators behind the film and television productions have absolutely ruined fan favorite characters from the Original Trilogy. It’s been a mess for the most part, Grogu and Mando are the exception.

“What about Andor, Nick? That show is so well-written and gritty.”

Yes. That’s true, but it’s not an exciting show. Andor, the character, isn’t compelling.

But every “May the 4th” renews a bit of the love I’ve had. I still get stoked to see other fans show their love for the franchise on social media. This year was a little different because it marked the 40th anniversary of Return of the Jedi. Besides the outdated special effects, the movie still holds up, and it is the best conclusion of any of the Skywalker saga trilogy Star Wars movies. It wraps up the story in a satisfying way, and it features the best space battle in any of the movies.

The future of Star Wars content doesn’t look promising, but we’ll always have the OT.

Feel the Burn

Summer is right around the corner, just a few weeks away. The winter here in California was gnarly, and that weather pushed all the way to spring’s doorstep. Fortunately, this season has been mild out here, and we have been granted some reprieve between the deluge of atmospheric rivers we had a couple of months ago and the full-on assault of triple digit heat that we are guaranteed to have in a few weeks.

According to the World Meteorological Organization’s Secretary General, Prof. Petteri Taalas, “We just had the eight warmest years on record, even though we had a cooling La Niña for the past three years and this acted as a temporary brake on global temperature increase,” (Nullis, 2023). This was in response to the El Niño event the WMO (and other climate-focused orgs) is tracking. The WMO thinks that by the end of September, we will have an 80% chance of transitioning from the “ENSO-neutral state” we’re in now—meaning we are neither experiencing La Niña or El Niño events—to an El Niño in the Pacific Ocean. Secretary General Taalas added that this will likely lead to “a new spike in global heating,” and yet another opportunity for countries to break their temperature records.

Thank You for Your Service

This is Memorial Day weekend here in the U.S., and while I’ve always been opposed to war (because it’s perpetual and, pretty much every example I’ve ever seen or studied, it destroys life instead of protecting it); however, I do support our troops. They are us. In my case, they were my dad, two of my older brothers, some extended family, and a few of my friends. It could have been me. One of my friends tried to get me to enlist in the Air Force with him, but I declined because I had other plans in mind after high school all the way back in 2000. After 9/11, one of my brothers enlisted in the Army, and for a hot minute I re-thought my stance on war and joining the military. I thought about all the Americans who died that day and the pain their loved ones would feel forever, and I considered a 4-year commitment would be the least I could do to honor the fallen and their families. I kept returning to the same place in my head, though, and I just didn’t want to do it.

So, I thank the people who serve in our military whenever I see them in public, and, of course, on our patriotic holidays. I do it not because I believe in the never-ending march of the industrial war machine, but because I love my dad, I love my brothers, and I love my friends, and I respect them and all the other dads and moms, brothers and sisters and friends who did and are doing what I could not.