Month: December 2025

Spoiler Alert: He’s not done making trans jokes.

He’s not done dropping knowledge either. I don’t intend to give any of it away, but after, the Lady Talis said, “he’s weaving a tapestry.” Indeed. the dude does this in layers and though at times he appears to be less than at the top of his game, by the end you’re seeing why the mic can drop. Throughout the brief yet powerful performance he delivered jokes that exposed the hypocrisy that lives on as a result of how we approach those we ‘like” vs. dislike. It hit home for me especially in light pf how this government operates and how Charlie Kirk’s death was treated. He addresses that too, and I gotta say, it was the most thoughtful and even approach to what that man meant to people that I’ve seen yet. He really nailed that one. He nailed others too, but you gotta watch to find out.

I ain’t giving away the jokes.

Some Thoughts:

1. Jake Paul… Yeah, no. I don’t agree with these guys calling him a brave competitor. One look at the guy and you realize his brand is crazy and he really has taken to believing a great deal of his hype and feeling that he is more than human in many ways. It is all a show to him. Why shouldn’t it be? The man is making hundreds of millions of dollars to polarize people.
2. Yeah, it’s working.

Football.

I’m supposed to be locked in on that concept right now, but I am really not. I know Alabama won last night…. Don’t care. I’m more interested in the Gary Sudbrink Calls than I am in anything having to do with the CFP. Heck, I’m far more interested in the outcome of the FCS ‘ship than I am the FBS. Why? It isn’t the money–not directly. It is the concept of who can get in and how. It is Notre Dame opting out of a bowl merely because they didn’t make the CFP and feel aggrieved (despite having a pick a choose schedule and no real conference opponents who know them). It is a Big 4 situation that is increasingly killing what College FBS Football is.

Here’s what is ultimately going to happen: The FBS is going to move to a 24 team playoffs that is superimposed over the existing bowl system in the same manner that the now 12 team system is superimposed. The one thing slowing down the process: Conference Championships. Yeah, its a hot take, but when you really think about how these conferences work and how late in the year the Championships occur, you start to see that it butts up against the bowl system in a way that in obtrusive. There is a lot of money involved, and once we can get that hammered out, the proved 24 team system will prevail.

Why? Because we already have faith in the Top 25 system. Most fans can see number 25 being left off (unless they argue for a play in with #26–which is how March Madness ultimately started to spiral). On the other hand, some don’t want to see that type of competition where ‘Cinderella’ can beat a top team. They don’t want to see James Madison win over ‘Bama or Georgia. They want to feel like their power teams are their power teams. The fact is, their power teams are power teams because of history (read: name recognition) and wealth. If any Billionaire decides to throw a hundred million at a team, that team will suddenly become the best in the nation–being able to pick and choose the best players, coaches, and staff. In two years that team would be unbeatable for the next decade.

Kinda makes me want to go play NCAA26 and find out.

Stepped away from a bit of family time to blog it out, because I know I will forget later. I’m certain that the mood of the eve would likely carry me away from such thoughts and towards my bed… or the crafting table. Still trying to stay away from politics, but the increasingly infantile actions of our president have me twisted. The Patriot Games? Really? Don’t even get me started on the Presidential Walk of Fame. I mean how small of a person did we elect? Seriously, we are in unprecedented partisan territory and even more unprecedented stupid territory. It would be comical if we, as a country, weren’t so damned thin-skinned and gunned up. It hasn’t gone well for anyone but the richest of us so far. I felt that today when I pulled up to what was supposed to be a sushi date and discovered the place (and all of the other stores in the chain) had been raided by ICE. The blasted through the front door, busting the glass, and took people into custody. They effectively shut down the chain.

These were nice people who were running a solid business that gave other people jobs. Instead of a meaningful conversation about the future of the USA, we get this:

That’s where we are at as a nation, folks. Here’s hoping all this crap goes away when he is gone.

I have to take one more pass at the novel over the next four days. Here’s hoping it is not a rough pass. Glancing at the download preview I am already seeing red on the first page, so there’s that. I am tired. I didn’t sleep well last night and here I am dealing with this drek. The Seahawks are playing. It is the first football I’ve watched since Sunday…. which makes sense but represents a decrease to be sure. My mentals have decreased to be sure. I’m not thinking all that well lately, and as such I think I want to lock in on…

Some Thoughts:

1. X-mas is on deck. I am looking forward to having everyone together, but I am also learning that the kids are not really all that interested in being here with us lately. Especially the middle kid. He seems to never want to be around. Maybe he’s at that age… maybe he just doesn’t like this side of the family?
2. Actually looking forward to spending a few days prepping for the spring classes. Here’s hoping they get to the number of students required to make.
3. New Seahawks Unis… Fire.
4. Sam Darnold is still Sam Darnold. I feel for the Jets. They’ve struggled to get a respectable QB since, well, Pennington. He’s one year younger than I am. His kid is playing good ball at Northern Arizona.
5. Salt and Sugar. So yummy… so dangerous.
6. Going to take the daughter and the Son-in-Law to all you can eat Japanese tomorrow. After, I’ll entertain the boy with FC 26. He loves that stuff. Tis the season, Yeah?

The transfer portal is an increasingly crazy place. It is a real mess in terms of sorting out who is going to land where and how. My own son is in the portal and hopes to be headed up to the FBS level. It isn’t about the bigger crowd or paycheck for this one. He wants to play against tougher talent so that he can see if he really is made of NFL stuff. I think he is. He thinks he is. We’ll find out over the next few years. He’s an 18 year old true sophomore with two seasons and 19 games under his belt. He’s been solid so far.

He’s also in the fantasy playoffs.

Not against me, mind you. He and I both easily won our first round matches in the family league to slide into round two against the top two squads. As the #3 seed I play the #2 seed. It is a rematch of a battle a few weeks back, but this time it appears that my TE, Atlanta’s Kyle Pitts, is doing his thing. Let’s hope that continues this week and through the next few. I don’t expect 45 points each week, but I’ll take 20+. The league leader in the one seed is a problem. A juggernaut, actually. The only chance he loses is if he plays the wrong guys. Even his bench is loaded, so little chance that happens. I’m looking forward to what a two-week championship competition vs him will look like.

The $$ league proved to be too tough for me this season. A three game late skid sealed my fate. I am officially 11th out of 12 in the league after being third three weeks ago. Rough times. Also, super competitive. I need to do better next season. I owe it to myself.

I despise that this is increasingly becoming a political platform, but people be saying some out of pocket stuff and after a while it is hard not to have to respond. By people I mean the President and his goons and by out of pocket… man I don’t even know where to begin anymore. I suppose I should start with the Rob Reiner Stuff. Check this out:

What the heck is Trump’s damage? The man is truly ridiculous on so many levels but the hypocracy between the deaths of someone he profited off of and someone he disliked is crazy. This is not how a leader of ‘all’ acts. So we can just go ahead and say it loud: He’s not a leader of all. He’s a leader of those who laud him. The man is straight trash and the worst part of it is that if you disagree with him, he isn’t going to have your back. He’s going to cut you and dump you in a ditch like you’re Marjorie Taylor Greene. I mean if she cannot say what she really feels than nobody can.

This entire country is going down the tubes and it is because of a small but powerful cadre of people who can profit off of that fall and then profit even more as they step back and rebuild the rage machine against the opposing party who will be tasked with fixing it and then summarily blamed because they did. This is how we’ve worked for some time now, but it is getting more polarized and the damage is spreading far outside our borders. We need to figure out a way that this doesn’t happen.

I don’t expect that we will.

It is back to working life. I discovered that my due date is Thursday, leaving me little time to complete a rash of work. I plan on making it a two day project to finish and will give myself upwards of five hours to get the work done. Given the 500 words an hour I claim to be able to accomplish, that ought to mean 2500 solid words. Unfortunately, I believe the full project is 7K and I have only 3K thus far. Work faster, Talis.

This is supposed to be the vacation time–a space between teaching and taking classes when the Lady and I review our life choices and figure out what steps we want to take moving forward. I’ve taken to setting a price on Airbnb and zooming out to the wider world in search of where I can get the bang for that buck. There is a furnished Cave in Fornelli, Italy available for $1200 a month. It’s five kilometers from the sea, which is the main selling point. That and super fast wifi. It is being pitched to digital nomads, which is what I believe I am becoming. I’d ultimately prefer to teach online. We are putting a lot of thought into the concept of living out in the woods of Tennessee, though the idea doesn’t hold as much joy as other locations, such as the Juan de Fuca… Still, it is beautiful land that experiences weather and still offers an opportunity to buy in at a relatively low price. Not terribly low, mind you. I’ve yet to find the real cheap outside of the 1 dollar sales overseas that seem more than a little suspect.

The thing is, I am thinking about tomorrow while clad in the problems and procedures of today. I am looking towards a third act while the second remains incomplete. I am trying to prepare for the future in an unsteady present. These are things I need to come to grips with. I must discover a way to love now as I prep for tomorrow. Slow work, that.

I don’t have a ton to say tonight. I’ve been chillin all day. Watched the Giants blow another one, saw one of my top Wrs in fantasy mess up his hammy… Not as bad as say, a KC fan or a Packers fan even, but it wasn’t a great one. I advanced to the semis. Shedur had a terrible game, which is like air to the haters. He’s such a polarizing figure that it is hard to say anything real about his performances without being sucked into one side or another. I wonder if that is a human thing or simply an American one? We try to polarize everything and have developed that ability to such an extreme that everything from politics down to youth football becomes a cesspool of whose side you’re on and who you follow. I wonder if social media is like that. I dabble but I fail to get involved in the crazy. I didn’t even know the TikTok awards was a thing until I saw an honest to God commercial for it this morning. Apparently it is going to stream on the app and on some TV station (or app?) as well. Crazy. What would a TikTok award even be?

Sooner than later this social media thing is going to undergo another phase and another series of apps–likely driven by 12 year olds–is going to emerge as the new hotness. Once a thing gets too popular, a new thing must emerge for the cool people. No, Bluesky is not it.

Meanwhile, my Game Studies class hovers at 9 students, which is even with other hybrids in the state but below the online offerings. I would not offer this course online. Where is the joy in that?

I find joy in a lot of things. Lately it is Minecraft and chill. That can become quite obsessive, especially when I’m trying to max out my armor and weapons so I can build without ever worrying about mobs again. Need that mend ability though. Hard to come by. I am grinding as I build in order to make more and more scrolls until I finally get it. May need to abandon that course and start building out merchants until one gets me right. Honestly, merchant grinding is always the best path, but the buildup is hard. I need to get better farms going.

That’s a problem for tomorrow’s Talislegger.

There are going to be a lot of stories written about the lasting damage the USA has done to its global reputation and, even above that, its ability to sustain itself. I’m trying to jump on the bandwagon early here and point out a few things I’m noticing so we’re not in the Monday Morning QB mode. Here’s the thing: We aren’t being led by people who actually care about the future of the country above their own personal and private gain within whatever specialized community they exist within. All of these people with top level access and influence are trying to do half a dozen things that often have little to do with each other. The Venezuela issue, for example, isn’t really about that nation or Maduro. Of course, because arrogance makes you stupid, Trump probably thinks it is about Maduro and his Nobel Peace Prize winning winning opponent, María Corina Machado. She should be the President there. She won the election. Maduro said nah, it was rigged and stayed in power. Can we see the irony in this?

Nah, this is about oil. Specifically, I am starting to think it is about the shadow network of oil being moved around the world by a series of ships we are starting to snatch. That shadow network cuts into certain people’s profit. We’ve long been looking for an excuse to get at those shipments and destabilize the network. This is clearly the chance to do such.

This isn’t the only way we are marching into a dark corporate future, but it is legitimately a shot across the bow of our own demise. I’m increasingly worried about the world we are signing up for and how long it is going to take to get us back to right. I’m even more worried about finding leadership that has the charisma and the guts to do so.

had a solid Friday as we move into a weekend without kids . Still not recharged and I need to ask myself how much of what I need has to do with being physical and rewatching to my mind body and soul. I want to spend time in the gym this week. I want to get in a good headspace about working my body and strengthening my mind with creativity.

Minecraft is fun but is it the fuel I need? Bad fiction hasn’t been it though the story is engaging… I’m ready to push my limits post reset. I want to continue to grow.