Question

 Last week, a California Parole Agent was shot and killed at his place of work.

Flags are being flown at half-staff and some departments have suspended posting to social media out of respect.

I have to ask though, if it had been an office clerk -- someone who greeted the public, answered phone, filed documents -- would there be this much pomp? Would there? Honestly?

"Dilution of a Character"

 I recently read the transcript of an interview with Chuck Dixon. For those who don't know, in the '90s, Dixon was basically the Batman writer. He wrote the ongoing Batman and Detective Comics and a bunch of Batman miniseries. He wrote the Robin miniseries and the Robin ongoing. He co-created and wrote Birds of Prey. I wasn't a Batman reader and I knew his name at the time.

But that's not the reason I'm writing this.

When asked about his criticism of Mile Morales, Dixon said, "[I]t’s a dilution of a character. You’re diluting, you’re confusing your audience by creating these different entities with the same name."

And I wish that the interviewers had then asked him about Connor Hawke.

Connor Hawke was created to replace Green Arrow, Oliver Queen. Dixon didn't create Connor Hawke, but he did write the comics where Hawke took over as Green Arrow and then wrote Hawke's adventure for about three years.

How did Dixon feel about Hawke? Was he a "dilution of a character"? If so, why write him for three years and then come back to him several years later after Queen returned as Green Arrow?

(Hell, they could have asked if Tim Drake, the Robin Dixon wrote, the third Robin, was a dilution.)

Maybe he's cool with it because Green Arrow is just a guy with a bow and arrows. Dixon said, "I was gonna say that Iron Man and Green Lantern, I was gonna specifically mention Jon Stewart, they lend themselves because anybody can be in the Iron Man suit, anybody can adopt the ring."

I can't find any evidence of it, but I guess Dixon was perfectly cool with the creation of Riri Williams, Ironheart. Right? Right!? Because "anybody can be in the Iron Man suit."

sigh

Gumball does Joanna Newsom!

Always Tired

 It's been more than five years and nine months since I wrote this post about now I had been tired for more than five years. I'm sorry to say that I have not gotten any better since I wrote that post.

I don't think I've completed reading a novel in that time. I believe the travel book that I keep in my car is the same one that I was reading way back then. The idea behind the car book is to have something to read while I'm waiting for appointments or for take-out to be made or to read before a movie and eventually I'd finish and move on to something else. It used to take me about a year to finish a car book.

I get enough sleep.

Before I did TMS I was sleeping between 11 and 14 hour each night. Even on weekdays. I would go to sleep that early. After TMS my sleep adjusted and I sleep between seven and nine hours a night.

Still always tired.

On a good day, it's just being tired. On a bad day, it is straight up exhaustion.

Doctors, for the brain and the body, have been of no use.

Not currently on any brain medication. Haven't been on any since October or November of 2024.

No trips to Utah planned.

Be well.

In My Opinionation

For Christmas, my brother gave me the first two seasons of Blossom.

I started watching it a week or so ago and just finished the first season.

Included with the first season is the original pilot episode. In that episode, Blossom's parents are still together. When the first episode was released, Blossom's parent have been divorced for two or three years and she lives with her dad, which was a brave thing for a TV show from 1990 to choose to do.

Also, when the series starts, Blossom's brother, Anthony, has been in recovery for drugs and alcohol for a while. In the pilot, he's maybe only a couple of month into recovery. He's isolating himself from everyone and Blossom only sees him once, when she's up late at night while she's in the kitchen. I think the show would have been more interesting if he had been at the beginning of his recovery when the actual series started.

For the most part, the show is still enjoyable. It's very much a product of it's time and genre -- multi-camera sitcom. I'm enjoying the nostalgia of it.

However, this was one episode, so far, that really pissed me off. It's called "The Geek." In it, Blossom is tricked into going to a dance with a nerdy guy. A jock, played by the second Jimmy Olson from Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, talks to Blossom about going to a dance and she gets excited and when she says yes the guys says, "Great, you'll be going with this guy." and out steps the nerd. Throughout the rest of the episode, Blossom agonizes over not wanting to go to the dance with the nerd Six, her best friend, even points out the Blossom was tricked, but Blossom dismisses Six. She makes up an excuse to not go to the dance then feels guilty about what she did. Then she offers to go to the dance with him and he turns her down and he gets the last work by saying, "It doesn't feel good getting turned down, does it?" And Blossom agrees! She was wronged! The jock and the nerd tricked her! AHHH!

Anyway, looking forward to the second season.

Also, Six is the best. She was when I watched the show in the '90s and she's still the best.

To Use an Old Metaphor

I have no plans to go to Utah. However, I think about going to Utah everyday and often desperately wish I were there already.

It's Gonna Happen, Sorry

 Dear Kid From the Autism Forum Who Doesn't Like Being Touched,

As someone like you, someone who hates being touched by people, but is several years older than you, it's my unfortunate duty to tell you that there is nothing you can do about it. People will touch you, on purpose and accident, for the rest of your life.

Accidental touches will happen. The only way that I know how to avoid these kinds of touches is to never go out. I haven't yet figured out how to do this. I have to go to work and go grocery shopping and I like to see the occasional motion picture and the picture house. I hope you understand that accidents happen and there's nothing you can do about it.

Unfortunately, on purpose touching by others will continue to happen, too, and there's nothing you can do about it because most people don't understand and touching COMFORTS them. They don't get a pain in their stomach when a hand is rested on their shoulder. They don't get an ache and prickles that can last for hours in the place where the hand was rested. For them the touching feels good.

When I was a kid, probably around your age, I got up to courage to tell my extended family that I didn't like being touched and asked them not to hug me anymore. For the months orI was ambushed with hugs by the people who were supposed to love me and care about my feelings the most. They thought it was hilarious. When I confronted them directly, they pretty much insisted I lied about not liking to be touched. Then, as I stood dumbfounded, I'd get hugged again. Eventually, because I stopped reacting, they stopped all the extra hugging and touching and went back to the normal amount. It was more than I wanted, but better.

A lot of people on the forum suggested that you tell a teacher or the principal. I don't think that would help.

Have you, or a friend, ever told a teacher that you were being bullied? And then the teacher talks to the bully and tells the bully that you, or your friend, told them that you were being bullied by the bully? And then the bullying gets worse? Yeah. What's going to happen if the teacher tells your class that you don't like being touched is that you're going to get touched more and, as long as it doesn't get violent, there's nothing that the teacher can do except remind the class that you don't like being touched. That doesn't help.

Maybe telling a teacher could help is the teacher is touchy-feely or has the class do massage circles. Maybe they'll stop calling for massage circles or allow you to sit out without drawing extra attention to it. Maybe.

Friends are an interesting case if you tell them. Some will treat it as a joke and will touch you more for a while. Some will understand and do their best not to touch you and if they do they will apologize. However, this will only last for a month or two at most and then they'll forget and the casual touching will start again.

And it doesn't stop once you get out of school either.

I have a coworker. I've worked with her for years. She's very kind person, with some horrible politics, but she's kind. She's also a toucher. As she moves past me, she'll put her hand on my back. When she comes up behind me to ask me a question while I'm sitting at my desk or checking my mailbox, her hand is on my shoulder. Every time.

I've told her that I don't like being touched, more than once, and she sort of stops for a while. But the touching comes back because, as she's told me, to her touching is REASSURING and COMFORTING. She's heard me when I say I don't like being touched, but I don't think she really believes me and I know she doesn't understand.

The one thing I haven't tried is just freaking out on people. I don't like making people uncomfortable. I hold in my desire to to let out a big reaction until I'm alone and let it out then. Maybe freaking out on them when they touch you is the answer. Maybe it'll get the message across and people will stop touching you. Maybe it'll get you sent to the principal's office in a conference with your parents. Who knows?

Who knows?

I know it's not the answer you expected and I'm sure it's not the answer you wanted, but it's my experience.

Good luck and be well.

ticknart