sometimes I wish I were born Russian

sometimes I wish I were born Russian

fiction
edward w pritchard

These times, these days,  living in America is like standing on a small block of ice in a near freezing lake drifting with the current without a destination.

Sometimes I wish I were born Russian [2] for only one of the great Russian novelists or short story writers such as Gogul could manipulate the words and language to portray the absurdities of contemporary American society accurately and with a proper subtle panache. If Gogul were writing in America today in Russian and I understood the Russian language perhaps he could write a story of fiction explaining Russian political interference in American politics in 2016 and why it occurred. I for one would love to hear Gogul's  take on the matter; perhaps a short story in the style of " The Overcoat".

If I were a Russian politician charged with creating mayhem in American society, politics  and  institutions I would leave American society alone and allow home grown over achievers to wreck the ship of state of American society in four year elected shifts broadcast ad nausea across the various social media channels by beautiful people- who never tell you the whole story. [1]

[1]    author is referencing Quick Silver Messenger's service song " what you going to do about me"

[2] author appreciates his Russian readers

you know it's a government job when the workers are working in the rain

you know it's a government job when the workers  are working in the rain

fiction
edward w pritchard


T'is true that enough money will remove all obstacles if the capitalistic system is allowed to operate unimpeded. You know it's a government job when the workers are working in the rain.

There's a pretty system of lakes I drive by everyday where the workers are working frantically working  double shifts and Sunday's this winter to break up the ice in the middle of the lake with large special equipment so they can place fencing units to hold back the water so they can manipulate the Lake for a future economic development scenic park project. The government employees even work in the rain.

How much over time and how many triple shift bonus hours must the Government of Ohio be spending on the project there near the clock tower on Portage Lakes this Winter?

Another way to look at the Portage Lakes clock tower improvement project is rain or shine the project will get done quickly and no one will stand around and talk while one guy does all the work as you drive by.

Well it should be beautiful when the project is done.

the President and the porn star

the President and the porn star

fiction
edward w pritchard

How can an important politician such as the sitting American President improve his image after allegations he through his representatives paid a porn star to keep quiet about their relationship?

Looking back into history for an example we find that in the years near 1650 the sitting Pope Innocent the X [tenth] found himself accused of being involved with his deceased Brother's widow
one Donna Olimpia Maidalchini who some said had unusual control of the Pope's financial affairs and access to his person near the end of the Pope's life in Rome. It was quite the scandal.

A certain ruthlessness in Pope Innocent X can be detected in the marvelous portrait painting of the Pope by Spanish master Diego Velasquez.  The painting of the Pope from 1650 is one of the greatest portraits ever painted. 

It has been suggested the Olimpia Maidalchini controlled vast amounts of papal wealth through her influence over Pope Innocent X; considerably more Italian money than the  $130,000 dollars that a porn star  allegedly received as hush money.

Too bad that gossip hungry public's can't judge great men by their accomplishments and not their very personal private lives. In such non political activities I say my Country right or wrong and do not personally carry tales or Judge.

god speaks through his journal entries

god speaks through his journal entries

fiction
edward w pritchard

Come to find out did I that like the Judge in a court of law god speaks through his journal entries.

January 31, 1986 at 11:46 AM a MB 5 earthquake occurred in Northeast Ohio where I was which I took as the voice of god jolting me to reconsider my position in the universe. The fact that I doubted god's existence was immaterial at that moment. As was the fact that activities of Men at the nuclear power plant fifty miles away may have induced the rare earthquake by shooting water into bedrock.

The solid building I sat in on the third floor of the old Firestone bank building began to sway. I put down the phone I was working on and made my way slipping to the window and watched the world I knew slide and shake.

Being sophistic then as now I deduced that the universe was trying to tell me something and had been having trouble getting through to me.

Keep you eyes open and your heart alert pilgrim the signs of change surround us though we crave permanence in all things.

raving fans run a muck

raving fans run a muck

fiction
edward w pritchard


If I have cancer and go to the Doctor no matter how happy and impressed I am with his office routine and staff, his personal competence as a physician and as a man and the fairness of his billing routines there is no way I am ever going to be too happy with my experience. Ditto with a criminal defense lawyer if I am charged by the State  with a serious crime and the lawyer is fighting hard to keep me in jail for only five years instead of twenty. In serious situations that cause me personal harm and loss there is always the nagging realization that no matter how good the outcome if I have lost something I once had I will be unhappy.

This idea that the customers of businesses should be raving fans of Banks, hardware stores and day care centers is misguided. Who can stay perfectly satisfied with their choice in grocery stores week to week as prices insidiously rise, the cashier staff get younger and younger, and the old men potato chip salesmen stocking the food aisles become more and more detached from their customer base.

This yelp idea of rating your experience with your criminal defense lawyer and putting it on line with negative vicious comments is misguided. Word of mouth does enough damage what with people's tendency to gossip and be stealth-ful and inappropriate in their comments and criticisms. To write down nasty allegations even if true is not cool. Let things be.

So to this current plethora of negative accusations, co worker against co worker of sexual misconduct allegations twenty years after they have left the employer. Ditto again ex spouses accusing each other of emotional abuse twenty years post divorce. In fact shouldn't there be non disclosure language in employee exit agreements and divorce contract language to minimize the human tendency to grouse and exaggerate their experiences?

To write down nasty allegations or spread gossip even if true is not cool and leads to so much discomfort and disrespect for human dignity. It's cliche- but to error is human to forgive and to have never spoken divine. Let things be.

cutting the buttons off his best suit/ another sexual abuse scandal on wall street

cutting the buttons off his best suit/another sexual abuse scandal on wall street

fiction
edward w pritchard


They've made us watch the hanging of Deever Daniels [1] three times this morning,
and all the boys have left their desks to watch,
so the trading floor is empty,
and no one is a watchin the stocks and bonds hit the third bump in the road this week,
and I ask-ed my sergeant what did Deever due to deserve such a punishment,
why he emotionally abused both of his ex wives said old sarge,
and chased three lithe young girls about the office for a dozen years besides,
and the girls wouldn't lie,
so the government has sued the company,
and all the boys have to watch training films on how to treat a woman, so saith the honorable board of directors,
so I ask-ed my old sarge grizzled veteran why do we have to watch a man be hung three times for the same crime?
and sarge gave me a wink,
with his one good eye,
and said to learn ye mates,
that's no way to treat a lady,
take heed of the passions of ye-s youth Man
for why would a woman lie about something she is remember-in
that happened fifty years ago,
now that she is old and left alone,
and I said but won't a lot of good folks lose their jobs,
when the company's deal to sell itself and continue to operate falls apart,
and the company has to file bankruptcy,
and old sarge just a looked away.
and said I be retirin soon,
and it will all be over for me,
but his voice arisin with anger,
sarge said
no man should be hung three times for the same crime,
not even that Harvey Weinstien,
but I was confus-ed and said,
I thought we were talkin about Deever Daniels?
and some more of the bad folks on Wall Street,
like Men, the usual villains in every story

{1} author is writing bad poetry with a purpose with reference from the work of Rudyard Kipling " the hanging of Danny Deevers" about the latest sexual abuse scandal in America

taking Buddy to the amusement park

taking Buddy to the amusement park

fiction
edward w pritchard

Today is the once a year day when the small family takes Buddy to the amusement park. The last time we went was when Buddy was ten.

Mother walks with a tight face eyes forward towards the right for she is the cause of judgment in the eyes of the crowds temporarily distracted  from the task of enjoying themselves here at the fair.

Father is oblivious to the crowds for he must concentrate always to remember where the car is parked
row and slot number and clutch tightly to Buddy's hand to maintain order with Buddy in the midst of the mayhem of the fair.

Buddy is very excited. He is drinking a bright scarlet snow cone with a twisted plastic spoon looking excitedly for Mickey Mouse in costume and in character to stroll about the runway.

Soon it will be time to deal with the first line at the first amusement ride. How will buddy react to the wait? The last time Buddy was in line at an amusement park he was ten, five years ago. A lot has happened since then but Buddy is pretty much still the same.

Father is mumbling under his breath as he walks row 27c slot number 37 over and over.

It's a warm sunny day at the fair today. No one has a care in the world here at the State's largest amusement park this peaceful Summer's day.

what drives a soldier to charge out of his trench and go over the top?

what drives a soldier to charge out of his trench and go over the top

fiction
edward w pritchard

What drove a soldier German or French in WW1 to charge out of his trench and go over the top silently running at top speed around the barb wire, explosions and bullet fire towards the enemy?

What drives us today in 2018 here in America when no one has much alliance to King and Country to trudge on among-st the chaos and disorder of a world external to our reason?

Today is one of those critical days here in America when the stock markets are just that close, less than half an inch from wiping out the dreams of another half generations of wealth and security. One ten percent drop today in the stock averages caused by blind fate turning it's back on the world for a few moments will bring misery and dash the hopes of a lot of good hard working people. The trend in world stock markets, the invisible barometer of prosperity or misery, may be about to change; confirmation teeters with the buy sell orders of a few invisible rogue traders somewhere out there far away and unknown to our reason or understanding. 

As a soldier in his trench in WW1 we are sometimes like our ancient, ancient ancestor a small mammal, maybe a lemur like creature, trembling and shaking in it's underground burrow when thunder and lightening comes from high above for causes unknown to us or the earth quivers below from mysterious earthquakes and eruptions. What does it all mean and why does it have to happen?

Listen carefully the sergeant is about to blow his whistle. Daylight is coming soon over the battle fields of Flanders in WW1 and it's time for us all to jump out of our trench and dash headlong towards an invisible enemy. At such times we are alone. As you run forward carrying your rifle in your right hand reach with your left hand to the small cross on the chain about your neck and clutch jesus tightly into your clutched fist until the pain awakens you to where you really are.

US futures markets currently are up about half of 1% as of 4am as traders in New York rise early to begin their day today February 09, 2018. 

Jerome Powell new head of Federal Reserve spotted

Jerome Powell new head of Federal Reserve spotted

Fiction, fiction, fiction/ this is not fake news or true
edward w pritchard

Last night Jerome Powell new head of the American Federal Reserve was spotted walking across his deck behind his house down the steps into his back yard where he proceeded to manufacture soap bubbles over and over from a Walt Disney tootsie toy Mickey Mouse soap bubble pipe [1] once belonging to one of his children.

The opaque soap bubbles created floated gracefully into the night sky and investors and followers of money the world over saw the shiny bubbles drifting skyward and knowing all was well, the best of all possible worlds, promptly went serenely to sleep dreaming of bundles of mortgages, leveraged buyouts and money.

All is as it should be. Go back to your own life and rest easy again. Don't take the game too seriously.

[1] Mickey Mouse is a trademark of Disney Corporation

sometimes the glass is really only half full/ stock market tantrums

sometimes the glass is really only half full/ stock market tantrums

fiction
edward w pritchard


Author once worked in the collection and commercial workout department of a Bank. Trying to collect money from people who couldn't keep up in the American society's race to the top.

From time to time it became apparent that the glass really was sometimes only half full.

The stock market might just be starting one of it's periodic tantrums. Maybe there really is still a business cycle in which actual cause and effect behavior en mass matters.

The remedy? Count your blessings pilgrims. Things are really quite good my friend. Be grateful for what you have and quit comparing yourself to other people especially those hand picked by the media because they are temporarily enjoying an unusual run of good luck in their lives.

Warning author suffers from world's smartest man syndrome. Here's what we wrote earlier about the stock market around Christmas. PS no one knows what markets will do in the short run.

this below was written 12/17/2017

this wacky stock market

fiction

edward w pritchard

The rich know things we don't. Everybody knows that.

Bernard Baruch boy genius stock market investor said " let me tell you something I always sold too early."

Earlier the ultra rich Baron Rothschild said " I always sold too soon".

Everybody has opinions about this wacky stock market and the Trump rally. Opinions are cheap facts are scarce. Nobody knows what the stock market will do come January 2018.

Shakespeare said speaking as Julius Caesar in his play of the same name " there is a tide in the affairs of men when taken at the flood leads on to fortune" that's a fact. Meaning in reference to the wacky stock market " no tree grows to the sky" as the Chinese say. The tide goes out the tide comes in, except in biblical accounts it never floods the entire earth, it always eventually goes the other way.

Take some profit in your portfolio of stocks. Buy yourself a new wardrobe.

Need some fundamental analysis on the stock market as a whole in 2018? Toys aren't selling this Christmas. That must mean something. The rich know things we don't. Too bad the Rich aren't around here to ask.

Cynics say, that's, the stock market wall street brokerage establishment, that they, the good old boys  types, can't make money if all the clients buys and holds. It's time for a little forced selling " they" say in private.

Caveat writer is neither rich nor wise but is merely pointing out " no tree grows to the sky. You only have to get rich once I have heard. It seems to me as an observer it takes hard work and sacrifice to become wealthy. Can everybody do that for years and years in a row? That's what propels the tide in the affairs of men me thinks. Take some profits pilgrim.

life isn't fair it's a competion

Life isn't fair it's a completion

fiction
edward w pritchard

Teaching school as a substitute teacher because of  my sympathies and beliefs I often taught handicapped students. My take away from that was life's not fair it's a competition.

First folks bond together as couples to get an edge up in the struggle. Ideally a fully functioning family shields and assists in the game of life.

Sometimes people form larger associations for protection and economic reasons. Like unions, or twenty percent of Americans working for the Government. Churches can be a comfort in the battle for survival.

And those handicapped students when they are grown? Hopefully the Government and the Churches can lead the charge to help the handicapped survive day to day. Families should help as practical.

the arrival of testy real estate markets

the arrival of testy real estate markets

fiction
edward w pritchard


In every time and every place suddenly without formal warning the madness of crowds startles society with a temporary mass hysteria. In America, in the Summer of 2018 the madness of crowds took the form of " testy" real estate markets becoming an obsession as a frenzy of buying and selling of houses crowded out normal business activities and became ludicrous and pathetic as driven by the antics of Real estate professionals normal people went to obnoxious lengths to squeeze the last nickle out of each and every real estate transactions.

The concept of " testy" might have began as in- these are the times that test man's souls. Others mostly male historians writing later suggested "testy" behavior meant testicular as in it took real balls to negotiate a sales contact in these frothy markets for houses with these type of sleazy practices and sales techniques. Whatever the true definition of the original " testy" it certainly was a truism that in the Summer of 2018 real estate markets across the United States took on an edge not ever seen before and the lady realtors and buyers and sellers were central to making real estate practices Summer of 2018 not business as usual.

Some examples of sleazy and " testy " real estate behaviors? How about the county auditors sending tax collectors to the formal closings of final real estate transactions. Not unusual maybe to collect all of what is owed but dressed as Antonio, the merchant of Venice quoting Shakespeare's collection language to help smooth along another testicular real estate closing.

Another sleazy example of unusual real estate practice that Summer of 2018- there weren't enough real estate agents to handle the volume of buying and selling so because of the lure of easy money young people entered the real estate business in droves and here's the unbelievable part in those times
 real estate contracts were written on Paper and those young realtors abandoned their cell phones and texting and "chattings" sessions in droves which permanently hurt the real economy as the Summer 2018 bubble in real estate coincides with the collapse of the cell phone obsession in America. Go figure.

Hard evidence of the original cause to the "testy" real estate markets of Summer 2018 may have been the fear in American Island Guam"s of nuclear bombing by North Korea then a separate Country than the Korea of our times. Additionally two false nuclear scramble warnings of Nuclear bombs being sent towards Hawaii from North Korea materially effected real estate values in Hawaii which soon spread to California and the West coast causing waves of forced selling of over priced Houses.

It was over soon after it started looking back with hind site.

 First a major stock market crash. Then the collapse of something called bit coins. Then another Presidential scandal. Then everybody defaulted on student loans. Then the hunger and homelessness and massive unemployment. They couldn't even finish to build a gigantic wall between Texas and Mexico. Then one day normal people decided to live in houses only as large as they could afford and then the " testy" real estate markets returned to normal.

gloating author faces over reaching President

gloating author faces over reaching President

fiction
edward w pritchard


Fresh from the recent confirmation of his pursuit  of pure justice in the Cleveland Indians baseball squad's recent decision to eliminate a racist Chief yahoo symbol from their corporate image and persona, gloating author is ready to take on the sitting President. As reader will recall in the October 2017 blog " Just another opinion" author called for the Cleveland Indian baseball team to end the Wahoo image and, and  they the corporate powers that be in Cleveland did so formally this week. Gloat on- myself.

Please Mr. President don't even, even in jest, or with tongue in cheek suggest that yourself deserves to be immortalized by having your face in gigantic stone carving on the face of Mount Rushmore. Comparing yourself to Abe Lincoln. PS- Don't forget what happened to Beatle John Lennon when while riding the crest of Popularity he compared himself to Jesus.

Author won't lecture Mr President that Mount Rushmore as it is offensive to many native American groups for a variety of historic and ethical reasons.

Author merely points out that that one, anyone, no matter how rich and powerful should fear blind fate's fury.

Accusation fly out of control in America right now. So much fury over accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct. Not to mention thousands of journalists looking to make a few kudos for themselves out of slinging a little mud over Rich folk's previous financial shenanigans.

Lay low Mr. President. Bathe in the glow of your recent spectacular accomplishments but keep yourself humble. Remember as the sage sayeth- a wise man walks with his head bowed.

fear and trembling

fear and trembling


fiction
edward w pritchard

When I was starting out in life as an adult in my later teenage years the good lord gave me a unique skill that I did nothing to earn or develop which suited me well in my economic battle with an indifferent world. I came to find out that the world didn't owe me a living or an existence. More to the
point I came to learn that all the Christian values that I assumed my fellow citizens lived by were for Sunday only if at all an no one put the interest of others above the own excepting a few, often Catholic women.

My unique served talent me well for a half dozen or more years when I was starting out. Although I was working nearly full time and in college I supplemented my income with playing Poker several nights per week. It worked out quite well economically but in the long run might have kept me from appreciating the need to develop a real mature type adult style job skills and career.

Hence I found myself in my elderly years facing a hostile economic world as a lower income type with the appropriate poor person mentality of facing a hostile world with fear and trembling.

Despite myself in my situation I find myself often relying on the kindness of strangers.

Thank you Lord for providing those strangers.


note author takes fear and trembling from Kierkegaard and kindness of strangers from Tennessee Williams