It Was (Not) A Good Day

And everything was (not) alright

It’s said that life happens while you are busy making other plans. If, like me, you have the audacity to do this planning in public, life shakes its head ruefully, says, “look at this MFer,” and runs you over with a semi.

It’s been nearly a week since I last did any writing. That means Friday passed and I didn’t high-five you. The Month of Star Wars ended after 6 days, which is not a full month no matter how many calendars I check.

After somehow avoiding its specter for almost 3 years, I finally succumbed to Covid. And by succumbed, I mean it beat my ass like I owed it money. (Sorry if that’s a bit crass; I binged several seasons of Yellowstone in the past week and its use of profanity is frequent and inventive.) I noped out of work Tuesday afternoon and spent the next 4 days caught somewhere between reality and feverish half-dreams. Even when my head felt more-or-less like it was attached to my body, I hadn’t the wherewithal to do anything other than watch TV.

So that’s what I did.

I’m here now on the other side of it, to let you know that I’m still alive, and will go on delivering amusing word packets to your inbox. So expect a high-five this Friday, per usual.

The Month of Star Wars has reached its end, however. It was fun while it lasted, and I would’ve kept up with it if I hadn’t been interrupted. But truthfully, the stories weren’t drawing many views. And the ‘every day’ nature of it meant I sometimes had to publish something that would’ve benefited from a bit more time in the hopper.

---

I’ve used the phrase, ‘in the hopper,’ forever. For the first time ever, I just wondered what a hopper actually is. So I googled it, and now present my findings for your edification.

At various times in history, a hopper was a grasshopper, a cone-shaped receptacle for milling grain, a mechanism for feeding material into a machine, and a box for proposed legislative bills. Use of the phrase ‘in the hopper’ as a indication of progress was first used during World War II.

Evidently, in some parts of the U.S., ‘in the hopper’ means ‘in the toilet’. Which changes the meaning completely, and quite funnily. Thus ends this lesson.

All facts from grammarphobia.com.

---

The Month of Star Wars was a fun experiment, and it generated several story ideas I’d like to pursue at greater length. But more importantly, it clarified several things for me about what sort of writing I’d like to do, and what is valuable. More to come on that front in the very near future.

As this is sort of an administrative post, I’ll leave off here. Stay safe!