Moody Monday: Denver August 2023

I had a different moody Monday post set to post, but this is brewing and needs to be put on paper (well e-paper.) 

I am spending a few days at the Embassy Suites hotel in Denver for work.  A nice hotel, the extra large room has been nice for a 6 night stay. The photo above is the breakfast room in the lobby of the hotel.  A nice breakfast, though a little monotonous, the same selection every day.  

The thing that struck me as I sat there on Sunday morning was the 5 televisions. I was going to pose a rhetorical question about the need for five televisions at breakfast, but I will skip to a statement of my mood. We don't need television, let alone five of them, displaying the worries of the world over breakfast. Maybe some of what ails us, is information overload and five televisions for breakfast is a part of that.  Breakfast is a time to talk, to think, to start the day, and NOTHING that was playing on any of those five screens was a good way to start your day.  

The boyfriend of a friend tried to commit suicide yesterday. They had an argument, and he emptied the medicine cabinet. I get angry at people who commit suicide or try to, it appears that said friend will survive.  I have never forgiven Tony Bourdain for offing himself, a talented writer, chef, who ended it all with no explanation. We had forgiven his transgressions, and would have supported his beautiful mind through the rapids in his path. How selfish to think death was the only way forward.  There are others I am angry at for ending it all.  As Doc Spo once described it, it is often a permanent solution to a temporary problem.  

Some good mood. 

ABA Media Affairs selected half a dozen projects to be featured in media for the ABA Annual Meeting, one of them was one of my projects, finished last summer, and starting to influence change.  

There were ongoing sidebar conversations at meetings about my impending retirement, and repeated pleas for me to continue to do parts of what I do.  

    A: It is good to hear people say that something you do makes a difference. 

    B: The parts of my work, people like, are parts that I enjoy - and hope to continue as a hobby.  

    C: They kept complimenting my writing, and saying that I helped to bring sanity and understanding to issues.  Enough to make my head swell.  
 

This has been a long solo trip, I am headed home on Tuesday.