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Ups & Downs
In the midst of the COVID19 lockdown, it seems we still have time for pointless drama…
Choppy Waters
Call it cabin fever. Call it being cooped up while our Constitution is being used for toilet paper. Call it basic boredom run amok.
Things are getting a little testy around here and I could actually live without it.
Even so, energy builds and then there’s a storm. Once the storm passes, everything settles back down again.
One of our primary stressors has been resolved for the time being. To me, it was a matter of faith.
Some people want to control the uncontrollable. I’m not one of those people. Life became uncontrollable for me several years ago. I can’t be bothered.
If God wants me dead, I wouldn’t have survived this long. If God does not want me dead, then I just need to muddle through whatever comes my way.
I just can’t get upset about this crap anymore. We’re housed, clothed and fed. Anything else can just go jump in the lake.
We’re all pretty chill people in this house with a certain exception. I don’t know what their issue is, but they need to grow out of it. I’m pretty well at my wit’s end with someone who thrives on drama and negative attention. I just don’t need it. Why the hell would somebody WANT to be a professional pain in the ass? There’s no benefit. It needs to end.
Let’s Get Smooth
Relaxing Bossa Nova & Jazz Music For Study
Smooth Jazz Music – Background Music
Here’s some lovely chill out music. I often listen to this and other jazz compilations while I’m writing. It helps to drown out the random idiocy floating around the house so I can focus on the story.
Take a look at what musical compilations you can find to help mellow your day.
I like all kinds of music, but I need instrumentals to help me focus on my writing. There are a lot of excellent mood compilations that I resort to when I’m writing bad guys scenes.
Find what works for you and use it to help take the edge off while you weather the quarantine.
Drama’s Up, Spirits Are Down
Its not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it. ~Hans Selye
As with the real world, there is some seemingly needless drama percolating among the Sentinels. They suffered a terrible incident and it’s making them question the nature of their mission.
There’s long been a general rule that superheroes don’t kill, much less on purpose. Classic comics featured spectacular duke outs, but the bad guys always got carted away to jail or slithered away while the heroes were distracted.
The primary reason was because not killing villains contributed to their reusability.
The secondary reason was that comics were seen as contributing to the delinquency of children.
So, making superheroes take a code against killing made them seem virtuous and took the edge off of some of the claims being made against comic books at the time.
Along came the movies. Christopher Reeves’ Superman was so good he could give you diabetes just looking at him. He clearly had the power to utterly destroy anyone and everyone but he had the heart to keep from doing so. He was kind, gentle and just.
Eventually, we got grittier movies. Nowadays, the big superhero teams are often seen killing off the bad guys.
Even if they’re not trying, physics requires that getting whacked in the head with an unbreakable metal shield thrown by a guy who can rip the door off of a car will give you lethal head trauma. Sure it looks like he just got bopped but that’s a kill shot, y’all.
Whether they’re nazi spinoffs, aliens or creatures of some kind, they’re being subjected to demonstrably lethal trauma from weapons, fists, lightning bolts, ray guns and all that.
It’s a long way from the days of the Superfriends. Nowadays, Wonder Woman has a sword and she’s not even a little afraid to use it. Of course, the Superfriends had their problems. The people who were clamoring about violence on TV insisted that cartoons stop all the fighting. So, instead of simply slugging it out with the bad guys and then carting them off to jail, the rule of nonviolence dictated that massive amounts of property damage be done.
Lava flowing toward the nearest town? Well, just rip the top of a neighboring mountain off and jam it in the volcano’s caldera. No possible chance of a problem there…
Bad guys got you cornered? Just do a super-speed corkscrew through the floor. People coming in to work the next day won’t mind a 4′ hole bored in their floor. Just put some cones around it. No prob.
So, lots of irrational nonsense came to superhero media in the name of “too much fighting and violence”.
Well, the Sentinels are having the same problem. They frequently accompany Empire City Police Department’s Tactical Division teams on gang raids.
The logical question is: if the cops have guns and can use lethal force, why can’t the supers?
It’s a question they’re currently struggling with because of current events in the story. The bad guys have no rules and will kill without a second thought. The good guys have lots of rules and can’t kill without a lot of paperwork, investigation, suspension and possibly being fired or prosecuted.
Killing, even in self-defense, is a serious issue. Does it mean you’ve sunk to their level? The Sentinels aren’t like the Avengers. The Avengers are part of a SHIELD program to combat threats that secret agents and military personnel can’t handle.
The Sentinels are intended to be an inspirational organization as well as special consultants to the ECPD. They have promotional appearances at schools. They have collectors’ cards, t-shirts and action figures. Kids look up to them.
The founders of the organization, Tim “Foxfire” Wisler and Lucius “Lucky Dog” Deagle, want them to be the Superfriends. Do no harm and minimize the property damage. The other members of the team are feeling a bit more pragmatic. Kill or be killed. Reality needs to fall somewhere in between but the team needs to be on the same page. Disharmony can shake a team apart. We’ll have to see if it does…
This is a lot more pressing now that the bad guys have seriously crossed the line.
That’s our ride across the hump for this week. I hope you’re weathering the lockdown well. Hopefully, it will end soon.