Ethan and Ehlana:
While we’ve had a busy day; Ehlana wants me to begin this update with her total lack of guilt over getting to have the cheer squad practice indoors while I definitely got rained on during the football team work out after school! For my part, I’m glad that staying dry was an option for my favorite girls; and don’t think that there should be any guilt involved at all. Our academic adventures included a first immersion for our Day One classes; and we managed some dry outdoor time too at lunchtime before the rain arrived. The classroom play time was good; my football practice went really well even with the rain and challenges of a wet football and field and gear; and Ehlana assured me that the cheer squad is pretty much ready for the game on Friday evening too.
While I’m thinking about football, Ehlana and I have been talking about what I can and can’t do as a player and Magi Master, and while Michael has had a promotion since marrying Cassie; it has been quite a while since there has been a male Magi Master teen – at least for the Magi of the Light! I don’t need to list the obvious talents that I can’t use in sports, but there are other advantages that I have – like my talent for mathematics. That comes in very handy for football with everything from running my routes to calculating everything about flight paths of thrown footballs and how that relates to every player on the field. I do not have a problem with using those abilities, and while I don’t want the extra attention; I’ll figure out a way to play my best and do well while avoiding the spotlight as much as possible.
Moving along, we brought our four best friends home with us after our practices and kept them for dinner and a study evening. Mom had dinner ready by the time we got home thanks to some help from Dad; we all enjoyed that meal; and then the teens in the house took care of the clean-up before getting to a group Magi lesson; our homework; and a music practice. All of that work-play kept us busy until ten-thirty; we took Silkie for a damp bedtime walk to see Naomi and Aiden to their homes; and now we’re winding down fast toward bedtime with the usual computing and twin chat entertainment. Before we get to the world and political news of the day, let’s mention that our little band has decided to go ahead with a four-song Christmas music extended play recording at the studio along with a couple of singles that we can use around Halloween and for school dances. Naomi already accepted a job for the school Halloween dance; and we’re planning on a set or two at the Haunted Halloween Walk. We might get a gig for the fall festival weekend too, but that might be an issue if it conflicts with the football game that weekend. We’ll have more on the music front in the coming weeks, but let’s get to the rest of the news for today.
We mentioned the President’s ramped up rhetoric against Venezuela, and now we have video of our navy destroying what they claim was a drug-running boat; destroying it and killing eleven people. No proof of anything was offered or provided, but we’re always expected to simply believe whatever we’re told – not that Ehlana and I believe much of anything from our political leaders! We really would like to know exactly what was stopped here and how much it cost for that search and destroy mission, since that wasn’t a very large boat; and we doubt that even if the story is true that the drugs destroyed were worth more than the expenses of that operation and the cost of the bomb used to destroy it! Let’s not even consider how wrong that attack would be if that was just a boat full of tourists or divers or fishers; since that would mean that our navy flat-out murdered a bunch of innocent people.
Yeah, that could and has happened many times in the past; so it definitely could have happened with this incident.
Also in the news and another recycled story is another round of fighting over the release of documents related to Epstein. This never-ending diversion is disgusting and we really wish that all of the evil people involved would be outed and sent to prison, but that is probably not going to happen; so all of the talk and pretending to care about all of the victims really is nothing more than another distraction and those victims are unlikely to actually see true justice. The plans to send National Guards to fight crime in several cities is also getting a lot of attention; and yes, that is just another distraction.
News that isn’t getting attention in our country includes the victory day celebrations in China for the eightieth anniversary of the end of World War Two – which for the Chinese was a victory over Japan. China has also been hosting an economic conference for the Shanghai Co-operative Organization, and while our leaders are wasting time distracting the masses; the leaders from China, India, Russia, and many other countries are busy building economic partnerships and supporting China as they commemorate the horrors that were inflicted on their people during that terrible war. We’re sure that our leaders can explain why our current allies include Germany and Japan while some of our biggest allies during that war are supposedly our enemies now – or not!
The news out of China is positive for those countries involved and bad for us because we aren’t even trying to build partnerships. We’re bullying friend and foe alike to do what we tell them to do; and that will eventually end badly for our country. That’s true for Ukraine and Israel, and while those conflicts are different in important ways; the death and destruction is going to affect both countries and their people for decades to come. Hate is also being cultivated in both countries; so that is certain to have long-term consequences that could make peace anytime in the future difficult or impossible.
It’s time for us to call it a night and get some sleep; so that’s all we have for this report.
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
