Today, I am in a bad mood. I didn’t realize how bad my mood was until I reached for a rubber band and found that there were none… to which I responded by sweeping everything off the counter and piling everything that doesn’t belong to me in a chair. The owners can either collect them or throw them away, I don’t give a fuck.

It was an instant switch from down but calm, to raging fury of destruction.

I think I’m finally beginning to process his words from yesterday, and I don’t like them.

Not just because he’s kinda right, but because I am tired of all the shit I get. I am tired of dealing with these people that I don’t think I even like anymore. I am tired of dealing with the person they force me to be.

I’m tired of all of it.

Now I’ve just gotta figure out what I’m going to do. As they say, “Should I stay or should I go?” And right now? I’m leaning toward go.

Let's Make Dumplings at Amazon

I am so frustrated. All I want is a simple photo viewer that allows me to arrow/space bar through my pictures. But of course Windows 10 dropped that capability. Because why would someone want to look through their photos quickly?

That’s dumb. We all want to open big apps and spend hours trying to get the bundled Photos program to recognize various folders. That’s what people love: wasting time.

Because that’s what time is there for, to be wasted. Because we’re all going to live forever and there’s nothing else we want to do than to wait for some bloated program to open, decide that it won’t see any other pictures in a folder–or even recognize the folder at all–and frustration is like medicine. Or poison. One of those.

Ugh. I’m very set in my ways and I hate change.

So having to reset Windows 10 the other day, which resulted in the loss of a bunch of stuff, is already an experience I wish I could have avoided. But it is what it is.

Change is inevitable.

But does it have to be so fucking frustrating, Microsoft? Really? Do you have to make everything some giant uphill struggle so that the thought of switching to Linux or some kind of Windows-alternative starts seeming like a version of heaven?

Because really, all I need is Scrivener, OpenOffice or LibreOffice, Semagic, and some way to view and edit photos and I’ll be satisfied. And unfortunately, 4 out of 5 is not acceptable for all of my years of loyalty to Windows software.

And all the ways you’ve invaded my privacy in recent years, Microsoft? Your insistence on access to my private data so you can send it to your HQ for some inane reason? Fuck you very much.

*

I’m just so tired of fighting Windows all the time.

I’m tired of not being able to do the things I want with my own computer.

I’m tired of the weird programs turning on and doing things in the background at the behest of Microsoft.

I’m tired of having to go through after every update and check that my Privacy settings haven’t been reset to “Share everything with Microsoft”, because honestly, I don’t want to share squat with Microsoft.

I want to turn on my computer, edit documents, and watch YouTube videos of cats frolicking.

I don’t want my screen to keep freezing and my data to be lost. I don’t want my computer to shut itself off and turn itself on without letting me know what’s going on or giving me a warning to save my stuff. I don’t want to suddenly have everything S-L-O-W way down as some hidden Windows process begins doing something I can’t track or figure out why it’s happening.

I want my computer back!

Mike's Harder Lemonade: Deadpool version God, now I want a drink. So, thanks for that Microsoft. If I turn into an alcoholic, I’ll know who to blame:

Deadpool.

Small Gods at Amazon

The Kid brought home the plague. That’s the only explanation.

Everyone’s been sick, so it should be no surprise that I finally succumbed to the coughing, running nose, fever, chills, and general misery of whatever the Kid brought home from school.

I’m hopeful though, that I’ll throw it off before Monday. My immune system is healthy and this cold doesn’t seem too strong.

Still, my head feels like it’s full of mashed potatoes. Ugh.

Witch King at Amazon

I’m thinking about buying a beehive.

I want honey bees, but my brother is leaning more toward bumble bees. Either way, I’m hoping to help out my tomatoes and other vegetables.

Plus taking care of a hive of native bees helps with conservation*.

Because bees have really taken a pounding of late. There’s a real concern that we’ll be looking at the extinction of several species.

“We’ve had several end-of-hive events take place recently. And there’s quite a lot of reason to be concerned” – is the mildest way I can describe it.

Really, we’re looking at a potential environmental catastrophe.

1. Without the bees, there’s going to be a lot more biting insects. (There’s a niche for most everything. And if an opening is created, something is always willing to move in and fill it.)

2. With the depletion of a hive’s numbers, they are left vulnerable to predatory insects. (Hornets, yellow jackets, all kinds of things can get inside a weakened hive, kill the queen, and use the bees as a food for their young.)

3. Without bees to do the work, gardeners will have to seek other means of pollinating their crops. (Remember my zucchini plants that didn’t zucchini?)

4. Without bees there won’t be any honey. (And that would be a real tragedy, because who in their right mind doesn’t love the taste of honey? Sweetness that can be cultivated super easily.)

5. Without bees you won’t see a bumbling buzzing body bobbing and weaving from flower to flower, making the world bloom. (The sight of a fat bumble bee with its small wings busily flapping as it dances over a patch of clover is a nostalgic memory.)

Bees are an essential part of the world.

It would be a real tragedy if we wiped them out. The world would definitely be a lesser place without them.

* I might have to switch to buying a bunch of mason bees. I’m pretty sure they’re what’s local, as I saw them being sold at the Little Valley Nursery back in the spring.