The Tempest is Back

Maybe you’ve noticed, probably not. I’ve taken a week off from The Tempest. Going a week without writing here is a rare thing. In the ten plus years since I’ve had this blog it’s only happened twice. This time I wasn’t sick or out of the country. I just got tired of hearing myself think. This time of year is the busiest for my business. I meet with clients to conduct annual reviews, one after another, non-stop. By the end of the day I am sick of the sound of my own voice. I am equally tired of thinking too heavily about things. So instead of writing blogs I have been flooding my Facebook feed with Dad Jokes. I explained it to my daughter this way...What’s better for humanity, bad Dad Jokes or political opinions?

Here’s the thing about jokes, making them doesn’t mean you’re not a serious human being. All it does is provide evidence that you are a human being. Yes, yes, I understand that these are serious times in which we live and very important things are happening which require serious thinking etc..etc. but along with all this seriousness comes mental exhaustion. It is simply impossible to devote yourself to earnestness 24/7 without becoming a colossal bore.

“But, how can you crack jokes about something as important as...” is a common refrain I hear from my more serious friends, to which my answer is always something along the lines of...Why not? Who died and put you in charge of humor?

So, yes, I consider myself a reasonably serious person who cares about very important things. But honestly there is nothing any more fun than cracking a joke during the middle of a highly charged political debate, especially when its at your own expense! To that end I had the following discussion with my daughter the other day:

Me: I want to start a movement on Facebook where every political rant gets answered with a similarly themed Dad Joke. Something along these lines: “The election was stolen from Trump!” Answer: “Not only that but the thieves made off with all the toilets at the Justice Department and now the FBI has nothing to go on!”

Kaitlin: Great!!

Me: Now, you try one.

Kaitlin: Ok. Give me a political rant suggestion.

Me: “Say what you want about Trump, but he was the most pro-LIFE president we’ve ever had!”

Kaitlin: Well, you know what they say, “Beggars can’t be CHOOSERS.”

Me: EXCELLENT. See how easy that was? Here was mine, “Maybe so, but sales of Cheerios and Frosted Flakes have tanked!!”

On a different subject, Tom Brady just won his seventh Super Bowl, the halftime of which featured a singer who I had never heard of...a first. Sure there have been other acts that I didn’t know very well, but this was the first one who I didn’t even know existed. The Weeknd. He’s Canadian, I’m told. What did I think? I don’t know really. Since I had never heard any of his music before I have no opinion on how well he performed them, because I have nothing to compare them to. I’ll say this for him...he was fully clothed and his performance lacked any pelvic thrusting gyrations into the camera. In fact the entire show seemed devoid of any sexual subtext...a rarity anymore. Much has been said about the underwear headgear of his army of marchers. I just figured it was a way to stay compliant with the mask mandate. The only thing about the show that set me back was when the jockstrap-wearing dancers started goose-stepping in unison—an extraordinarily bad look—after everything we’ve gone through in the past year! But, I’m thinking that The Weeknd is probably far too young to comprehend the historical optics of the goose step.

Oh...and here’s some great news!!

So, there you have it. The Tempest is back, as incoherent and scattered as ever.

Reader: You’re back? I didn’t even know you were gone!!