I finished the script I had to finish. Here's a tip for those of you who struggle with this: I've found there sometimes comes a point of fatigue — both physical and mental — where I need to stop and sleep. Earlier in my career, I thought it was heroic to stay up all night, soldiering through, not giving in to the demands of my brain and body. I eventually learned that while that made me feel noble on some level, I was not writing very fast and I was not writing very well. If, however, I slept…well, then when I woke up I would do better work and get more done per hour.
So last night, I wrote 'til I reached that fatigue point and then I slept five hours — which is about what I usually sleep — and when I got up, I not only felt more competent at what I was doing, I went back and rewrote much of what I wrote in the last hour or so before I knocked off last night.
There are times when you can't do that; when the work absolutely has to be in before you go beddy-bye. But when you can stop and renew your energy, it helps to do that. It took me way too long to learn this.
I'm not following politics much these days. I'm especially avoiding articles that purport to tell us what the outcome will be of the voting next week because it's fairly clear to me that everyone's projections and predictions are all over the place this time. All you can say with any confidence is that a lot of those pieces will be proven wrong.
Still, I couldn't help following the story about the man who broke into the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and physically battered her husband Paul, intending to do worse to Ms. Pelosi if and when she came home. It was shocking someone did that and it was shocking how rapidly a certain section of the public came up with a completely bogus counter-narrative.
San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said, "There is absolutely no evidence that Mr. Pelosi knew this man. As a matter of fact the evidence indicates the exact opposite." Now, I wouldn't suggest taking anything any police officer says as inarguable truth but at least, his officers were in the house to arrest the assailant, they interrogated him, they investigated his past, etc. The counter-narrative was just made up by some folks who for political reasons, wanted the real story not to be the real story. They weren't there. They never knew the attacker. I can't see where they had any more information than I would if I announced what you ate for dinner last night.
And then many people felt justified at spreading this phony explanation because "Some people are saying that…"
"Some people" saying something does not mean there's any truth in the matter. "Some people" are saying Martians walk among us and that Elvis and J.F.K. Junior are alive. "Some people" even think cole slaw is edible.
Elon Musk even spread a little of the baseless counter-narrative, then thought better and deleted the Tweet in which he spread it. This man is now in control of Twitter, pledging a new era of Free Speech. I believe in Free Speech but a lot of people who say they do only really believe in it when it accomplishes something for them. I have the feeling I'm not going to be on Twitter much longer.