Playing Catch Up
(c) David Volk

There's a cold front moving in, or so you told me And the barometric pressure's on the rise --From “The Weatherman” by Andrew Ratshin

I had a birthday earlier this month and have been struggling to catch up ever since. It’s not that I’m slowing down, mind you. It’s just that at 44 there are times when I get cranky and can’t be bothered. Yes, that’s right. I’m not just getting older, I’m getting bitter.

I also fell further behind when I took a trip to Florida for the birthday of one of my favorite relatives. We flew Frontier Airlines for the first time, which wasn’t bad. The only part that really bothered me was that our welcome ceremony was cancelled when we came under sniper fire and had to run with our heads down. CBS footage of the landing tells a different tale, of course. Somehow, it shows a 7 year-old girl coming to greet us, but who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?

While we’re on the subject, I hear that Hillary Clinton made a similar claim about sniper fire last week, then later claimed that she had made a mistake because she hadn’t had much sleep.

Which kind of makes me wonder if the White House phone rings at 3 a.m., will she say the wrong thing then, too?

But I’m not writing now to talk about politics because if I was I would just find myself depressed that things have sunk so low that even a person’s middle name has become an issue. Instead, I’m still trying to play catch up from the recent lunar eclipse, which I would have completely missed if I hadn’t been talking to a friend who was getting ready to watch it. Even then, I missed some of it because it took me a while to find the eclipse viewing I made when I was in elementary school. Sure, my neighbors all laughed at me, but I can still see and they…um….er..um…can, too.

The whole ugly scene reminded me of a short tune by Andrew Ratshin, one of my favorite singer-songwriters. It’s called the Weatherman, 1t’s 20 seconds long and it goes like this:

There's a cold front moving in, or so you told me And the barometric pressure's on the rise And the moon on it's ellipse, Is gonna bring on an eclipse So I've got to find a box to shield my eyes

Now the wind is from a northerly direction And the pollen count is finally on the wain But tell me, would it be a hassle To stop being such an asshole And to tell me if you think it's gonna rain

From a man who is considering changing his middle name for the duration of the election—

David Hussein Volk