John Prine was Right

I also worked basically full time (35+ hours) while attending school, and guess what? I had to do the same thing in college.

That experience gave me perspective and appreciation once I had to pay for my continued education.

Did I go to prom? No.
Homecoming? Nope.
Join a club? Not really.
Do community service in HS? Nope.
I did run a newspaper, generate ad sales, and learned how to write for grants that got us new computers.

Do plenty of other people have these experiences? Absolutely.

Also, shared cultural experience is a big thing people lose sight of, even homeschool kids come to HS to either attend full time, go to electives, or play sports.

Because the local community school offers coming of age experiences that no other organization offers at large in society.

I am college educated, but I didn’t plan on college in K-12. HS planted the seed of college, but no one forced me to go.

I decided to go back years after, but, I’m grateful that it was an option.

Genuinely flummoxed that people lose sight that education isn’t just about serving up college kids or workplace fodder. It’s not just about theory or practice, it’s about exploration, imagination, and room to be a kid and have wonder, thought, and yes, boredom.

Not to mention (re: purpose of education) have a community school that provides kids with soft skills that they need to be a functioning member of society.

Not just academic merit, but safe place for students to explore, think, and imagine what their world could be or what they find passion in.

Pro-Tip: “Chrono-marathons” or listening to an entire Artist’s catalog in chronological order is good for artists you want to hit refresh on.

Pro-Tip: no on is pressuring you to listen to an entire album that’s front loaded or backloaded. Once that side is done, put a new album on.

Pro-Tip: Start at Side B to switch things up on your favorite album.

Anyway, thank you so much for your commentary, and I’m grateful for your thoughtful words, and in this case, I’m glad the internet exists for positive connections like this.

Also, the actual soundtrack/score which has gone from The Clash (no synths) to either remixed to include synths (Journey), or just embrace the Synths from the beginning (Kate Bush)

Then there are some of us that grew up without the Upside down, but were forced into is ala Will. We’re a bridge between worlds. We can navigate the analog and the digital seemlessly because we lived in both.

Children are being forced onto the internet now, and what are the ramifications of that?

How is what the internet’s doing to children any different than what it did to Eleven and the rest of the numbered kids?

Did you ever think about the role music had on the whole theme?

It’s clearly a mode to connect us, ground us, and it can be enlightening, and all of those things are positive as they work with the internet.

But there’s Billy, he too listens to music, but he’s missing all of that.

Technology is no longer a tool or an aspect of culture, it is the culture.

It’s a bleak landscape, it’s a nightmarish world where things are distorted and trolls lurk (demogorgans), catfish are people that resemble friends and loved ones but are nefarious…

Technology within ST is a tool, but it’s a flawed one. It’s got limits. The TV fuzzes, the phone breaks up, the batteries die, etc.

But what happens when technology is all encompassing? When it rules every aspect of life? When everything powers technology?

Every season of ST starts with a problem multiple characters experience, but don’t communicate with others in the tribe. The problem gets worse. Once the tribe communicates, the problem gets resolved eventually. It’s not quick, it’s not easy, but eventually we work together to resolve problems.

My theory rests on the importance of communication to society’s survival. Without effective communication we go into pathos, lizard brain.

TL;DR Stranger Things is an allegory for the dangers of the internet on society.

There’s so much there.

We're all living in the "Upside Down": "Stranger Things" is a show about the internet's dark sides - Salon.com Under the irresistible '80s pastiche,

The person who was on the same wavelength as me was @mchlmorelli.bsky.social back in 2016 he wrote:

www.salon.com/2016/09/01/w...

We’re rewatching Stranger Things, and I had a theory, I kept finding similar things that connected to my theory.

So I looked to the internet because surely I wasn’t alone, and I was amazed more people didn’t think the same thing.

Injury updates: Lightning D Ryan McDonagh will be out “a few games”, per Jon Cooper.

Dominic James, Nick Paul not quite day to day yet.

Holmberg is day to day.

Cooper said injuries aren’t progressing the way they hoped, recalls likely ahead of Wednesday.

#GoBolts

Get your bags ready Curtis… 😢 #GoBolts

Capitals vs. Lightning: How the Game Was Lost The Caps lost...again...and here's how it happened.

Capitals vs. Lightning: How the Game Was Lost

Yesterday when dusting I found this card of Hedman in place of my wedding picture.

I took it out, and Hedman played like the Hedman of old last night.

Coincidence? #GoBolts

We’ll see.

My therapist said:
Just work for an hour on Sunday, do what you need to do and forget the day.

I did that once. I guess it helped. I still don’t think I should be working on Sunday.

But is thinking about work and what I need to do the same as “work”? Am I doing “work” without realizing it?

Monday happens… the anxiety crescendo peaks at about 11AM…

I realize I’m not going to die.

The day is OK or whatever.

It ends… I work my way to Sunday.

Start the process.

It’s just a never ending loop of me thinking:

“I need to do ____…”

Also me:
“It’s Sunday, I shouldn’t be working, it can wait until tomorrow”

Me again:
“Tomorrow you’re going to be so unprepared…”

Also me:
“La La La La La La, I can’t hear you”

Looming darkness and disappointment awaits…

Sunday Scaries edition:

During therapy once, I brought up how I spend all day Sunday thinking about what I have to do for tomorrow or I’ll feel unprepared.

A RAPM comparison chart from Evolving Hockey comparing Dominic James and Isaac Howard. The five columns for James are showing positive numbers in beautiful purple while Howard's are in the negative (except for XGA/60).