a good day to be a human

it's a good day to be breathing, to still be alive, to be a human. i decided to make a cover for dad's book this morning. astoundingly quick was the process! i did this on canva in about 1 hour w "help" of a.i.... the verb's in quotes bc of its implication of agency... dad & mom were so delighted by the cover results, i am happy to have used cyber means. (ignore the stupid blue outlines. i forgot to unclick them before screenshotting the images.)

last foggy evening, james & i were noshing at carl's jr in gorman when we noticed that the drive-through voice was eerily measured & pleasant. sure enough, the chain & a score of others have gone to using a.i. for drive-up service. james, of course, immediately riffed on all the profane ways he would deal w/such an entity... in bakersfield, i ordered doordash or grubhub or some damn thing for mom & dad, too tired to make dinner. the next morn, dad asked alexa what was the temperature in frazier park, to see if it was a good moment for me to get home. the a.i. assistant reported the stats, then added, "and by the way, remember to thank your driver for last night's delivery." if we'd been sucking on mints, dad & i would've swallowed them whole at that moment as we goggled at each other. she knows. ... who would've predicted the ease with which our culture has invited into our homes big brother? we volunteer with eagerness to install into our private spaces the all-knowing screens & devices. yes, everything is so damn easy now... we hardly have to use our limbs; the tech does it all! (picture the movie "wall-e," with its helplessly vestigial humans, but even that brilliant film didn't foresee the machines' takeover of our private spaces!) it all is frigging creepy to me, & so i'm glad to be back in my funky, analog mountain home. if i want a.i.'s help, all i have to do is push a button & speak into my phone, but i choose to do that. as far as i can tell, nothing is listening in, & that's how we want it!