MediocreMan

Thanksgiving Reflection · 27 November 2025

Thanksgiving is an interesting holiday, so I thought I would take time on Thanksgiving to reflect on Thanksgiving. Especially since some people like Thanksgiving and some people do not.

Now, I am not going to get into reasons why people do not like Thanksgiving except to say that some people just do not like the food. Or maybe preparing the food. Which is a valid point. I mean whether or not you like turkey and stuffing and gravy and mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce is beside the point. After all, you do not need to eat what is seen as traditional Thanksgiving food on Thanksgiving. You do not need to eat turkey and stuffing and… Well, you get the picture. You can eat whatever you think ought to be your Thanksgiving meal on Thanksgiving. No apologies necessary. To anybody.

(By the way, if you think I am giving you permission to eat whatever you want on Thanksgiving or any day, I am not. It is not in my power to grant you that permission. Unless, of course, you think you need somebody to give you permission. In that case, by all means say that the MediocreMan on the internet gave you permission to eat whatever food you want to eat on Thanksgiving. Or any other day for that matter.)

Heavy sigh (Not for the last paragraph, but for the next.)

I know that there are political reasons or even historical reasons for people not liking Thanksgiving, too. People have that right. Of course, they do. But I will not debate those issues. I am not savvy enough to do so for one thing. And who needs to have arguments on Thanksgiving anyway?

Speaking of arguments on Thanksgiving, I think arguments are okay. After all, perhaps we need a little discourse in our lives. The problem is that we do not know how to have civil discourse anymore. We think that name calling and screaming are part and parcel with arguing. We think that reason has nothing to do with life anymore, so we just conjure up assertions and call them facts and say we are having reasonable civil discourse. Actually, I do not know that I have been at a family dinner when that happened. Unless, of course, I was the one who started it all. Sorry about that.

At any rate.

I think when all is said and done, we all ought to just take a day to be thankful. Everybody has at least one thing they can be thankful for, right? Even if it is being thankful that we got to take that previous breath. Or the next one. Breathe in. Breathe out. Aah.

Well, I was going to try and be more positive than this on Thanksgiving. I was going to try and lift up somebody’s spirit. But I do not know that I have done that. What I do know is that I am thankful for life. For my family. For my friends. For my faithful readers (both real and imaginary). And I am thankful that I know the One I am thankful to.

I hope that you have a great Thanksgiving. (Whether you actually like the holiday or not.)

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My New Plan B · 22 November 2025

It seems that I now have a new Plan B when it comes to getting a blog post out when I do not have a blog post ready. I just grab one of my DailyPrompt pieces and voilà! A new blog post is ready.

There are times when I do not have a blog post ready. Imagine that. It is not that I procrastinate. It is usually that I had something come up that was more important than writing my new blog post. Not that my blog is not important. It is. After all, I need to make sure that I get something out for my faithful readers (both real and imaginary). And I need to keep up my streak.

Okay. Keeping up my streak is not important. Not really. I do see it as a measure of my own writing discipline. The longer my streak goes, the more I realize that I am committed to writing. Or at least that is what my mind tries to tell me. Keep going. After all, you never know when you are going to be an overnight success after years and years of working.

Lately, the more important thing keeping me from writing my blog post is editing books. I have a couple that are ready or nearly ready for publication. (After seeing one of them printed, I know I need to fix the cover.) And yes, that is a bit more important than getting my blog out there. For even though my faithful readers (both real and imaginary) are discerning, hopefully, they do not know which blog posts I came up with weeks before publication with many hours of editing and polishing and which ones I came up with moments before my self-imposed deadline. (Which, by the way, is Thursday before it goes live on Saturday. So I can have give a preview to my followers on social media. Hint. Hint.)

Okay. Most of my blog posts do not go through hours of editing and polishing. Most of the current ones are done a week before I post them, then polished and uploaded on the preview Thursday. That is about it. No muss. No fuss. Just write stuff, edit stuff, polish stuff, post stuff. Simple.

But there are some weeks when something messes up my process. Which usually means that there is something that makes me miss my Saturday blog writing session. But that is okay. Because now, I have a backup plan. I do not need to have a piece of filler ready to go (like I used to). I do not need to throw something out there that is more drivelly (is that a word?) than normal. I have a new goto. A new Plan B. I have DailyPrompt.

One of the nice things about writing short pieces for DailyPrompt is that I now have many pieces ready as backups for when I run out of time for posting my blog. I can post a poem that I wrote. Or I can post a piece of fiction that I wrote. Which also hopefully drives traffic to DailyPrompt, where people can read lots of the short pieces that I have written and posted there.

I am glad that I have a new backup system for my blog posts. I am glad that I have written enough short pieces on DailyPrompt that I do not need to worry when I am not able to get a blog post ready in the time that I want. I am glad that I have a new goto. A new Plan B.

By the way, there will be times when I post from my DailyPrompt pieces when it is not because I am going to Plan B (or Plan C as the picture suggests). But I hope my faithful readers (both real and imaginary) cannot tell.

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My Wife Does NOT Dress Me · 15 November 2025

Contrary to what I seem to say, my wife does not dress me. At least not every day.

I have been known to say, “My wife picked this out,” when talking about a shirt I am wearing. Because, let’s face it, I am not anything near to a fashionista or clothes horse. I am just a slobby guy who can barely figure out what colors go together. Okay. Maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration. I do know that there are some combinations that just do not work. Like plaid on plaid. Unless, of course, you are that special person who can wear anything and look good. Which, by the way, I am not.

At any rate.

When I say, “My wife picked this out,” I am quick to point out that she did not pick it out for me to wear on that particular day. I mean, c’mon. My wife does not dress me. At least not each day. She might tell me what to wear if we are going somewhere, but what wife does not do that. Even if it is just, “I don’t know about that choice.” Which translated means, “You are NOT going out in public with me in that outfit, buster.” But that is a completely different story, which I will probably not ever write because I do not have a doghouse to be in.

I must say that I actually did not realize what I was saying the first time I told somebody that my wife picked my shirt. It happened when I got a comment from somebody about a particular shirt that I was wearing one day.

“Hey, that’s a nice shirt.”
“Thanks. My wife picked it out.”
I got this strange look that said, “Your wife dresses you? And you’re a grown man?”

Okay. I did not really get that look. At least not the first time I said it. But I am pretty sure I got it the second time I said, “My wife picked it out.” I mean how could somebody not resist the look if not the words? Yes, I am sure there are those who have great self-control, but I do not know that many.

At any rate.

After I thought about it some, I realized that I needed to change my words. Or add to my words.

“My wife chose this shirt. Or my wife bought this shirt. I actually do dress myself each day. And yes, I even get the colors to coordinate every once in a while. And no. I am not a moron. At least not usually.”

Which is the whole point of this particular blog post. I just wanted to say that I am not a moron. At least not usually. Even when I say, “My wife picked this out,” when somebody compliments my clothes. Oh yeah. And the other point is that she does not dress me every day. (Which, by the way, she would not take credit for most days anyway.)

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