The Left Hand Can't Do What The Right Hand is Doing Edition
Near the end of February 2025
I’m typing this edition of the Substack while I am still capable of doing so. Assuming all goes according to plan on Monday, February 24, I will have surgery on my left hand to alleviate some arthritic discomfort (aka, “bone on bone” pain — I know a few of you reading this can feel me).
For those who are interested, here’s a short animated (and bloodless) video of the procedure:
In the video, the whole shebang only takes 43 seconds. IRL, I’ll be out for about an hour and a half.
The procedure has an excellent recovery rate, although it will be a matter of weeks, if not months, before I regain a degree of nimbleosity similar to what I had before the onset of this decrepitude. So, to my point above: typing will be cumbersome at best for a while. I suppose I could try speech recognition in Windows — but if you’ve ever heard me speak, you know my thoughts don’t come out in anything remotely resembling a linear fashion. (Nor does my writing, but.)
Therefore, operating (no pun intended) under the assumption I may be offline for a bit, I thought I’d pull together this compendium of recent posts and have it ready to send, which will require only one hand to implement.
Here’s what’s new since last time:
Trump, in Verse
A mere fifteen new politically-themed verses for your discomfort reading pleasure. The link above will take you there, but here’s a list of what you have to avoid look forward to:
Promises Brayed
That Musk-y Stench
Substitute for Teaching
Gaza Strip Tease
Making a Dick Move
Leader of the Brand
Soda Popping-Off
Who Gives a Cluck About Eggs?
An Uneducated Guest
Give Me Some Elba Room
Didn’t Think Piece
Royally Screwed
Strange Yellow Brick Road
Social Insecurity
The Ballot or the Bullet Point
Trump leads the number of references contained in the above, but Elon and at least one potential Cabinet member make appearances as well.
The personal irony in all this is that amidst all the kerfuffle over Musk’s invasion of various databases, including IRS records, I received my 2024 tax return in record time (EIGHT DAYS from filing to deposit)! This was particularly welcome when compared to my 2022 tax-year return experience, which I will remind you of with this link.
JohnBranning.com
Just one new post since last month:
Vending For Myself (2/13/2025)
Last month, I wrote something about getting started with a faux-autobiography. This month, I made up some personal history to populate such a publication. I might be on to something here…
It’s a sad commentary on the state of our country that I welcome being anxious over an impending surgery in order to keep my mind off of the terrible things happening with our ever-decaying form of government. Things are going to get (much) worse before they get better (if ever).
Can’t wait for that propofol to take effect…
Hope this notice finds you well and holding up under the current conditions. Thanks for your interest in my ill-informed opinions and attempts to generate a laugh or two about what’s goin’ on.
Until some unspecified date in the future, with 9 of 10 functioning digits,
JB
Websites: JohnBranning.com / TrumpInVerse.com