Comment on War in Afghanistan and Our Exit

 A friend or three were discussing the slightly messy exit from Afghanistan that began in mid-August. How much the media has piled on Joe Biden, as if it was his war, for the exit's messiness. Naturally, I had to chime in:

The entire event in Afghnistan, from inception to evacuation, has been a clusterfuck. Who did we think we were going in ——not just for a short term goal, but for the freaking long haul—to a place that devours empires and leaves tragedy in its wake? Was it ever going to be nice announcing that we were leaving? Of course not. Every faction wants to get a shot in on the USA. so it sucks, and I feel awful for the pain suffered by those soldiers and Afghanis slaughtered needlessly yesterday. And there might be more. I pray there won't be. But the fact that our inept pentagon managed to rescue considerably more than 100,000 people in two weeks is a testament to the focused intention of the people on the ground doing the work. And to the pilots; and to our allies in that work. And certainly to a very beleagured Joe Biden, who was dumped down a well of shit by his predecessor and is doing his damnest to climb out. I have faith. He seems to have surrounded himself with intelligent people who care about things. Does not mean we get out unscathed, but less pain is better.

New Book coming out

 

Ladies and Gentlemen. Readers of all ages! Step right up! Step right up and get yourself a copy of the long-awaited new book by Peter Gorman, long an inhabitant of this fine planet Earth! And he's got stories to prove it, from Magic Mushrooms in India, and Kif in the Moroccan Rif, to Naked High School Swim Teams in New York City, and the inside look at making a feast in the Amazon!!!

    For the one-time low price of $17.95, this book can be read and reread because it will be all yours! Fed up with reading and rereading? Pass it on to the next sucker.....er, reader, or line the birdcage. A million uses: Let it gather dust on a bookshelf where it will make you look erudite to your friends for including this little collection among your classics!

    The catch? The book is still being copyedited so will not actually be yours for two or three weeks. Yes, you are being offered the opportunity to be a pre-publication purchaser! You get to build your anticipation! You just send money via paypal to peterg9@yahoo.com and he promises to get it into your hands ASAP! Shipping for unsigned copies is included in the price if you can believe that! Shipping for signed copies in the USA is only an extra $8 bucks, making a total of $25.95 for a personally-signed-by-Gorman copy!!! Shipping costs for signed copies to foreign lands will be the cost of shipping it to your country. Some places charges' range up to more than the cost of the book. So order it unsigned if you live in New Guinea or Turkmenistan and sign it yourself from Peter G  to you! Who will ever know the difference???

     Don't miss this once-in-a-lifetime (until the next book!) opportunity! Order yours today. Order several and pass them out to friends or put them under random windshield wipers at the mall! What could go wrong with that?

     Dear friends, don't let this opportunity pass you by. Get your several copies today!

4th for tonight and that is freaking enough!!!!!

You have good days, you have bad days and all sorts of days between those two extremes. Today started off as one of those days, and if you've ever divorced, you need no further explanation. Only today was with my beautiful daughter, Madeleina. I don't know what I did or did not do, I just knew I was wrong and had to pay.

She starts in before I have coffee. I ask if she is really gonna do this. She said, "you bet!"

I looked around for a way out; nothing.

I tried to be sweet and sorry, but no.

Finally, I just beat a retreat. "Okay, kiddo, I'm going to shit, shower, shave. You can start the fight without me. I'll join after I've had coffee."

That made her laugh. End of fight.

 

What I'm talking bout being ill...

Don't start me talking, I'll tell everything I know.

Don't start me talking, I'll tell everything I know.

Somebody gonna testify, somebody gonna go.

That is how I feel today with my rants. I hope you are enjoying them rather than hating them, because I certainly am, and getting this stuff out of me is a big help. Thank you all for letting me vent.

So I have been complaining about illness. Well, here is were that comes into play. My oldest, Italo, replaced a water heater today but left a mess. The floor in the kitchen will take eight or 10 good mopping and then a couple of coats of good polish. And I am not strong enough to do that unless I took all freaking day.

And my roof needs changing. That should be nothing: Rent a dumpster, tear up shingles, rip up the underlying tar paper, replace bad 4 by 8 plywood sections as needed.

Staple new tar paper into place. Begin at the bottom and move up the roof stapling in the new shingles. Two three freaking days for two three amateurs, tops. Hall off dumpster. $4,000, including giving your friends some joints, a couple of shrooms, and a few hundred each.

But being ill I cannot do that. It stinks to feel so helpless that you can't even wash you floor or fix your roof. Gosh darn. That's what I was getting at with previous posts. Hope you all are not ready to commit haricari after reading these. Secretly, I have something to aim for and that is great!

 

Hellish health nonsense

I have run into illness a lot over the last several years. My legs have been swarmed by flesh eating bacteria twice, costing me a lot of muscle. My intestines burst three time, costing me to be cut from stem to stern until my upper and lower body no longer know each other's plans. The Brazilian Wandering Spider bite cost me the nerves in my left hand and the two anaconda bites cost me the nerves in my right hand. i can hardly type anymore.

Then last year, about 18 months ago, I had kidney, liver and congestive heart failure at once. 14 days in ICU and they took more than 50 pounds of water from me, from 238 to 180 lbs/ I've gained 20 of that back but I am working and I plan to be in the Amazon, with my own boat, in January for a 50 day trip[ into the nederlands. Every day is hard work, but since I went into the hospital in Feb, 2020, and in the next 4 trips to the hospital this year, I am getting fed up. I will never be 45 again but I can still be me if I work at it. My oldest son Italo sent me these two photos yesterday of me at 46 in New York City. At 70 I will never be there again, but this is what I am aiming for.