You know it ain't right to do me like you do.

  I'll go into this in more detail in tomorrow's News, but this is a big deal. Derek Chauvin was found guilty of all three counts against him today. It shocked the shit out of not only him but I think most of us. The jury went into deliberations yesterday and by 2 p.m. it was announced they'd come to a verdict.

 I'm no expert, of course, but I really don't think there's a hard and fast rule about how fast a jury comes back from deliberation and how the verdict will play out. Personally, I wasn't sanguine about things. I watched most of the trial and really couldn't see a way anyone could've come to any verdict besides guilty. 

 This is America, however, and we are as a culture still somewhat in love with authoritarian rule. Racism plays into it, no doubt, but I really think it's all connected. You rarely see a stone racist who isn't down with society being set up in such a way that Certain People are kept in their proper place, even if violently so. This is why Donald Trump won and why there was such outrage on the right for Major League Baseball's decision to pull out of Atlanta for the All-Star Game due to the new and unnecessary voting restrictions.

 There is a serious meltdown going on in the Wingnut World and while it may sound petty, I'm here for it. A more miserable bunch of jackanapes and poltroons I've never seen, and anything that causes them misery is worthy of at least a chuckle. Again, they're horny for authoritarianism and it's good they're disappointed. Hopefully, the stress will give them constipation and days of discomfort.

 I've been thinking about the prosecution presenting its initial case, particularly the first few witnesses. They were at the scene and actively involved in the whole thing. Particularly the first young man, who was the one who thought the twenty George Floyd gave him might be counterfeit. He was made to chase Floyd down, and he broke down on the stand out of guilt for kicking the whole thing in gear. It wasn't his fault but he felt guilty, and I hope out of everyone involved he's got some peace.

 Sentencing will happen come June barring any appeals, I don't know how that works, but that's for another time. Moving on, the weather continues to be great but it's supposed to get cold and rainy before the Sun comes back around. I bought another damn harmonica today, a Fender Blues DeVille in G. It's a sickness. I've been pretty pleased with the Fender Blues harp so far and the DeVille has gotten good marks. Plus, it looks cool, plastic comb notwithstanding. I'm losing that prejudice anyway, as plastic comb technology has come a long way since I last worried about it.

 I do wish I could remember which harmonica I had that came in a red case. Special 20 maybe? I don't remember owning a Special 20, but I can't for the life of me think what else I had back then beyond the Marine Band and the Blues Harp. I'm starting to catch up to my old chops and, in some places, surpassing them. I never really "got" tongue-blocking techniques, but I think I'm getting it. I'm not sure if I'm bending properly, though. I keep reading it's tough to do, but it's one of the techniques I haven't lost. Sounds good enough, anyway.

 While I don't regret it too much, I am sort of bummed at myself for staying away so long. Athens wasn't a blues town and I'm no band leader. Frankly, apart from Neal Pattman, I don't think I ever saw anyone play a harmonica except maybe on a rack, Dylan-style. I didn't hear much harp in New Orleans, either, apart from Grandpa Elliot, but by the time I moved out of the Quarter, I had no interest in live music anyway.

 Still, I probably could've put more effort into any of it and zigged instead of zagged, but if that ain't the story of my life, I don't know what is. My whole travel has been choosing one path or another, and I don't think I ever really chose poorly, but I can't help but wonder. Back in 1998, I was offered a job with a company that built stages and sound systems for outdoor concerts. It'd mean I could've traveled around the country but also require moving to Minnesota. I could've got a free ride to Southern Miss but chose to go to the University of Florida. I could've moved to New Orleans rather than Athens in 1999.

 I don't regret anything but I would sometimes be interested in seeing how things would've turned out otherwise. But there you go.

Got me on milk and alcohol.

  I really don't have much to go with today, so let's get the News hammered out and go from there. While there was nothing particularly earth-shattering or too deep, it was a good, solid week of old-school blogger journalism. We looked at the environmental problems in Florida, the new infrastructure bill the GOP will try to scuttle even though almost a third of their constituency is for it, the ongoing success of the COVID vaccination roll-out, Matt Gaetz being Matt Gaetz, the defense for the Derek Chauvin getting bodied all week, and this unceasing weekly frog-drowner storms that are the new normal. Sometimes it's a stone groove to just be useful.

 Beyond that, I don't what else to tell you. I've been listening to a lot of harmonica music lately, as in more than usual. It's weird. I got pretty rusty from the last time I blew on a regular basis, but the more I re-learn here lately, it seems the less I can do. But that's how it goes with me. I'm not sure if it how it works for everyone else, but the more I learn about something, the dumber I feel. There's something Socratic about that, but don't ask me to explain it.

 I got my first shot this week, speaking of the vaccination rollout. I'm getting the Pfizer tracking chip so that means I'll have to go back towards the end of the month to finish up. Once I get clean, I'm going to plan on hitting the road again. Maybe go to AthFest if they have one this year. I still want to make a trip that hits Biloxi and Mobile before heading down to Gainesville, if for no other reason than I haven't been there in over 20 years and I'm interested in seeing what it's like these days.

 There is just nothing coming, man. I've been doing pretty good all week keeping a "normal" sleeping schedule. However, I stayed up late last night on purpose to play video games, mostly Champions Online, and slept in some today. So I've been sluggish all day. Really not reading anything, either, not even a deep Wiki-dive.

 I did get around to watching Phantasm II, for what that's worth. It's a pretty decent sequel to a fun, weird horror movie. The rest of the sequels are here and there on various streaming services, so I'll probably knock all of them out. Or at least the third one, the last two look a little iffy.

 Monday's my 46th birthday. Getting older is a drag, man, and middle age sucks. I don't recommend it, for what it's worth, but I'm not sure what other options are.

 Hell, I don't know. This has been sitting here for twenty minutes while I've been watching the last Red Letter Media's Best Of The Worst. I don't know what I'm going to do tonight. Maybe play some more games or watch a movie or maybe going to sleep and deal with it all tomorrow.

 And you know what? That right there was 500 words. Good enough for jazz, as the man said.

Take a little trip with me.

  It's the first of April. I never have cared for April Fool's Day mainly because most folks are neither all that funny nor all that clever. I've only seen a couple of April Fool's tweets today and they've been blatantly obvious. I guess living in the bizarre reality that has been the last four years has sapped most people's tolerance for bullshit.

 The Derek Chauvin case is going into its fourth day. Here's a pretty good Twitter feed called Unicorn Riot that's been following the trial. The defense's strategy seems to be not only painting George Floyd as a danger but also that the cops were being threatened by the cops. It's going to be interesting to see what the defense brings because the prosecution is eating them up. A former supervisor of Chauvin has said he went too far.

 Another... interesting take on it is how guilty the witnesses all seem to feel over it, as if they're blaming themselves for Floyd's death. Particularly the young man who originally thought he passed a fake twenty. He was hard to listen to, bless his heart, and it goes a long way in explaining why this sort of thing keeps happening, why police brutality is so commonplace.

 You'll see these arguments online where people who support police brutality and inevitably someone will ask them, "Well, what if it happens to you or someone you love?" Once they get over the claim they'd never do something like that, the pro folks always say something along the line of, "Well, I/they probably deserve it." Think about that. Our culture has this worship of authority so ingrained that we think we deserve to have punitive measures used against us whenever said authority deems it necessary. 

 That's something about our culture we maybe should think about. It doesn't remove or explain away the racial aspect of police brutality or the other aspects of White Supremecy that, but I definitely think it has a structural component to this all-American comment of daily life. Same thing with yet another mass shooting. We for some reason think we deserve like this or, at least, it's a reasonable sacrifice. It should also be noted that the same people who think the cops are justified with what they do are the same ones who lose their shit when they get a ticket for parking in a handicapped spot. Go figure.

 Moving on, we've all had to consider Matt Gaetz's "oh-face" way too much this week. It's come out that he's given to show nude pictures and videos of his sexual conquests to others, even fellow Congress critters while on the floor of the House of Representatives. That's just creepy and gross. I mean, that'd be creepy and gross if he was 21, but for a member of the U.S. legislative body, it's almost beyond the pale. Even if the sexual trafficking of minors charge is bogus, he ought to be bounced just for that. For cryin' out loud, man, try not to act so much like the privileged frat boy douchebag you so obviously are.

 And that's about that. It's been cold but an otherwise lovely day and we finally got high-speed fiber-optic internet. It is nice to rejoin the 21st century. I've been buying more harmonicas, including a PowerDraw harp that I'm extremely looking forward to messing with. Maybe after my birthday, I'll buy myself one of these Lucky 13 harps that are tuned for bass playing.

 I'm having a lot of fun relearning harmonica and guitar. Maybe the best thing about learning or relearning anything - from a musical instrument to a sport to something like painting - is when a hurdle or a block that's been hanging you up and frustrating your progress just melts away. You figure it out and it becomes second nature. It's like discovering you have a super power.