It just isn't there...for some of us

The holiday spirit, that is.

You know about the last six weeks of every calendar year...the so-called holiday season.

The season to be jolly.

If you're jolly right now, that's fine. If you don't feel any jollity at the moment, that's all right. And if you're someplace in the middle, it's okay.

I grew up in an alcoholic household...a house of constant faultfinding, constant shaming, and constant belittling. (Hint: I turned 18 years old on 11-11-1973.) Mom was the alcoholic...and she, more often than not, battled her sisters (my maternal aunts). And that wasn't when Mom battled my maternal grandmother.

The battles were tiresome to hear (let alone watch)...and I wanted to hide instead of getting involved. Just wanted the fighting to end, once and for all.

One such confrontation happened in December 1974...and it was between Mom and one of my maternal aunts. It eventually got to the point where Mom demanded I take sides: "As the man of the house..."

I just wanted to be alone.

Memories of these feuds, plus taking a look at how the accent this time of year is on the corporate side of things (after all, QuickBooks said that holiday spending accounts for about 47% of American small businesses' annual revenue...and the National Retail Foundation predicts Americans will spend an unprecedented $1 trillion here in the 2025 cycle), have caused me to feel that this time of year isn't so wonderful.

Instead, to me, it's the most critical/crucial/pressure-filled time of the year.

And I didn't even mention the antics that have taken place in Washington, DC ever since 1-20-2025...or the pressure I feel I'm on ever since two people asked me to launch GoFundMe projects in these two people's names.

I know...them's fightin' words (especially to Edward Pola's and George Wyle's survivors). And writing this post might end up stepping on way too many toes.

All my life, I've been asked- told- to exhibit feelings that aren't real to me (especially during the last six weeks of each year).

I JUST WANT TO BE REAL WITH MY FEELINGS.

Well, it's time for me to get off this soapbox...time for me to hear from you. And here's hoping you're in a safe place to express your REAL feelings...all year long.

The most unlikely champion

It's been a while since I last posted anything about my version of the NCAA Division 1-A football playoffs. (That's what happens when you're asked to take on different things in life...such as a couple of GoFundMe projects.)

Anyway...I actually DID play the 2023 version, and I've been itching to post that. Well, here's how it turned out:

FIRST ROUND (seeding in parentheses): Boise State (24) 63, James Madison (9) 44/Oklahoma (16) 38, Penn State (17) 24/Iowa (20) 27, Miami (OH) (13) 14/Louisville (21) 38, Tulane (12) 20/Mississippi (19) 45, Toledo (14) 31/Notre Dame (22) 36, Troy (11) 13/Missouri (18) 48, SMU (15) 34/Oregon (10) 42, North Carolina State (23) 27

SECOND ROUND: Washington (1) 63, Boise State 38/Oklahoma 24, Ohio State (8) 14/Texas (5) 34, Iowa 10/Florida State (4) 38, Louisville 34/Alabama (6) 28, Mississippi 17/Notre Dame 42, Liberty (3) 21/Georgia (7) 45, Missouri 31/Oregon 35, Michigan (2) 28

QUARTERFINAL ROUND: Oklahoma 52, Washington 45/Florida State 37, Texas 21/Notre Dame 38, Alabama 21/Georgia 28, Oregon 17

SEMIFINAL ROUND: Oklahoma 52, Florida State 42/Notre Dame 45, Georgia 37

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Oklahoma 41, Notre Dame 24

MVP: Oklahoma QB Dillon Gabriel...in the title game, he went 16 for 25 for 232 yards and three touchdown passes. Not only that, but he also ran 24 times for 163 yards to lead all rushers that night. What made the 2023 Sooners the most unlikely of the "shoulda-coulda-woulda" champions?

They were the lowest seeds EVER to win it all in these playoffs. (UCLA was seeded 13th out of 16 entries when it won it all in 1988...the same seeding USC drew when the Trojans won the 2003 playoffs, two years after the 1-A playoffs went to a 24-team format.) Oklahoma wrapped up its time in the Big 6/7/8/12 by winning these 1-A playoffs for the first time since the Sooners three-peated in 1985-87. Funny thing: This time around, Michigan had a chance to duplicate the Sooners' 1980s effort...but in the second round, Oregon's Bo Nix took matters into his own hands (23-30-217-2 TD passes plus 16 rushes for 88 yards and 2 TD runs) to end the Wolverines' two-year reign in these playoffs.

I used Dave Koch Sports' Action! PC Football to do these playoffs...and now, I want to slow down to see just what the 2024 D-1-A playoffs would've looked like.

I know...it's tempting...

When I'm not blogging, or when I'm not putting videos on YouTube, I'm still writing movie-and-TV scripts. And nine years into my second wind as a writer, I'm still plugging away...even at a time when artificial intelligence has made tremendous strides.

AI has been able to do more things for people than it could even two years ago. And one of those things is...it can, with just the right prompts, write an entire television script or a screenplay.

Yes...it's tempting to go to ChatGPT or Gemini or some other source and have it turn out a script.

And I'm not going to go there.

Now...I actually feel more comfortable feeding a screenplay of mine (or my one teleplay) through a site like https://screenplayiq.com or https://ScriptReader.ai and getting back an analysis. Last year, I started turning to ScreenplayIQ and ScriptReader out of curiosity...and to get one perspective or two as to whether I'm on the right track in this journey I'm on.

Of the 31 scripts I've written (or revised from my first try at screenwriting...the 1980-1994 period), all but three have earned at least one "recommend" from ScriptReader.

The other three picked up "considers" across the board.

I don't mind using the pitch trailers I get from ScreenplayIQ...and, in fact, I've been able to upload them to YouTube. (They don't look too bad...even with those little or not-so-little quirks.)

Both sites have helped me make better written pitches: ScriptReader and ScreenplayIQ shine at identifying script themes, script moods, and character arcs.

That all said...there's still absolutely NOTHING like the TV-and-movie-script evaluations (paid or not) you can get from flesh-and-blood human beings. The AI evaluations help...but the final word comes from scripthousing sites like Stage 32 and Script Revolution.

If anything I've ever written resonates with people on Script Rev and/or Stage 32, I'm happy.

And if you've ever read any script I've written...thanks so very much for putting my stuff to the test.

Something I've never done before

Until two days ago, that is.

I'm also on LinkedIn...been a member for over a decade. And a couple of days ago, two of my fellow LinkedIn members asked me to...set up a GoFundMe page for each of them.

First, an evangelist named Sahil Nazir asked me to log onto https://gofundme.com so that he can finance his Christian ministry in Gulberg Town, Pakistan.

Sahil cares for 15 orphans; they also attend a Christian school. In addition, he has a street ministry where Sahil and another pastor go into poor communities to distribute food and Bibles. He'd like to take on more orphans...except money's extremely tight. Sahil's looking for money so that he can provide the orphans with food, water, clothing, and other basic necessities.

This on top of flooding currently taking place in Pakistan.

Mamadou Bah asked me to put together a GoFundMe page, too, so he can establish his own auto repair business in Brikama Nema, Gambia.

He's been spending the last ten years trying to get this firm off the ground in a highly-impoverished country.

Mamadou told me he needs wrenches, sockets, and lifts...as well as diagnostic software and hardware, a spare parts inventory, six months worth of rent, and money for both electricity and water.

https://gofund.me/b12481c0 is where to go to donate to Sahil's ministries. (Right now, the donation total stands at $31 USD.)

If you'd like to help Mamadou out, https://gofund.me/27796ddd is the spot.

My new TV news source

Actually, it's been new to me ever since I bought my present TV set in July 2023...my first Roku TV.

That month, I started watching TYT.

TYT (short for The Young Turks) is America's biggest online news network; it's been around since 2002 and available on all sorts of platforms...like YouTube TV, the Roku Channel, Twitch, and so forth. It's an independent news source...so, unlike mainstream media, it isn't beholden to corporate interests.

TYT presents the news first ("just the facts"), followed by analysis and perspective. It's a network that fights for rank-and-file Americans instead of for the nation's 1,000 wealthiest people.

Yes, TYT is a progressive network...but, according to the network's Website, opinions range from far left to center. And the network's reporters and hosts try their very best to tell the truth and try their utmost to be honest with viewers. They give credit where credit is due.

So...if you watch TYT, you're not only likely to watch Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian give Donald Trump credit for something...you're also likely to watch them put Joe Biden down. (As well as vice versa.) No wonder the TYT Network has racked up 30 billion views by 27 million subscribers since Day One.

Speaking of Kasparian and Uygur...they host "The Young Turks," the network's flagship program...a weekday two-hour newscast that airs live from 6:00-8:00 PM Eastern time (5:00-7:00 PM Central time). "The Young Turks" covers news events America's corporate networks touch...and quite a few events those corporate networks don't have the guts to address.

That's also the case with two other TYT programs: Dr. Rashad Richey's "Indisputable" (2:30-4:00 PM Eastern, 1:30-3:00 PM Central) and John Iadarola's series, "The Damage Report." (That one comes on live from 1:00-2:00 PM Eastern, 12:00 Noon-1:00 PM Central.)

If you're tired of the way ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, MSNOW (the former MSNBC), and NBC try to inform you, just slip on over to TYT.

For more information about this online news giant, log onto https://TYT.com.