On Monday April 8th, there is going to be a total eclipse of the sun. I’m sensing an excitement around the country and perhaps the world. I don’t know how many of you will be going to a certain location to witness the eclipse, but I assume that many of you are.

I am actually more concerned about other things next week. I’m going to be picking up my daughter from college, and I have a report that I have to get to, and I have work that I need to get to, and I have a 51st birthday to celebrate, and an annual blog to write about it. Oh and the Spurs are playing a few times next week, and I need to watch Wembenyama make history as he does almost every game.

The world is constantly barraging us with these things “that have never been done before in history” almost every day. When I was younger, in 1986, they kept hyping up this thing called Haley’s comet, that only appeared every 75 years. They said you “had to be there to watch Halley’s comet, because you would never see it again in your lifetime.” I honestly don’t remember where I was when it happened, and I definitely didn’t go out of my way to see it. It’s supposed to reappear in 2061, which for me would be when I’m 88. I’m pretty sure I won’t ever be 88.

The total eclipse thing is kind of odd to me, because it doesn’t seem to be THAT rare. I remember only 7 years ago, there was one, and I do remember seeing that one, but I had to borrow someone’s glasses, and I was like, “Oh, I guess that was a thing.”

Then there was a lunar eclipse, which we had a few months ago, and there was those two Mars Eclipses we had last month. The Blue Moon seemingly happens every other month, and the Harvest Moon happens every other day. It’s to the point where history is happening so often, that it’s just commonplace now, and I can’t even keep track of which phenomenon I should be paying attention to.

I’m half expecting Halley’s Comet to swing by every two weeks, because all the other “phenomena” are getting a little too much attention. It just seems like people are just like cats, chasing shiny objects, or clicks on their content, so people will give them money. Now I understand why “follow the money” is such a powerful phrase. People don’t really care that history is being made, they just want to make money from telling you to buy stuff so you can remember the history that is being made.

People go nuts for these “once in a lifetime” things that are so special because they are rare. They throw parties, they get special glasses, they travel to certain locations that have the best views. I just heard about some people doing a skydive from 25,000 feet to happen around the time and in the path of the eclipse. I don’t suppose that had anything to do with making some money on overhyped people that wanted to do something cool around the eclipse or anything.

Nobody cares about the sun or moon that steadily, consistently, and like clockwork do their jobs of lighting and heating the earth, and making waves work. Nobody throws parties or money at them, or travels long distances to see the moon hang out at night. Nobody can even give the sun the courtesy of directly looking in its eyes.

We humans glorify the rare, glitzy and the exciting things, while casting off and neglecting the consistent, steady, and reliable everyday things. We suck at showing gratitude for the people that do things for us every single day. We love that Joel Embiid scores 70 points in a game but is always injured, as opposed to Cal Ripken’s record of 2,632 games in a row and only consistently being good.

People love flashy, shiny, solar eclipse and Halley’s Comet type blogs that are full of sound and fury, but go away and don’t post for another 12 years, and ultimately, signify nothing. They love the quirky, funny, or relatable content, but take for granite, the bitter, biting, slowly evolving, consistent blogs that have been doing it for 12 years.

The world loves the Extroverts, because they are shiny, but they fade out. If it wasn’t for The Introverts and their really helpful, idea making, hardworking, cleanup of the world, the Extraverts would be left doing the boring stuff and wouldn’t be able to do all the glitz and glam. Everyone praises the extroverts, but forget to praise the introverts. They just expect them to be there and do all the things.

I was so legendary at my last job in consistency and on-time-ed-ness, that whenever I wasn’t there, or I was late, they thought I died.

Some flashes in the pan heave written books, that were published, hit the Times best seller list and then were lost to history. I’ve been working on my novel for 20 years now. Grinding away at it, making it better, improving my craft, making it relevant and making it make sense. It may never make it on a best sellers list, but I will be published someday, and it will make a difference, to someone. I don’t know who or how, but it will be a novel of significance to someone.

Are you a solar eclipse full of sound and fury, or are you the moon that constantly shows up everyday, and makes the extro’s look good?

I may only be the moon, but I know the good quality villain, Gru wants to steal me…

With that in mind…Here’s the weekly Bitter Friday Giftures…

There’s a thing…

Some people are getting ready…

People are so good…

Just like…

It’s why we love…

And…

Halley’s…

And total eclipses…

But we don’t like…

Or…

Or plumbers…

We definitely love the…

Instead of the dedicated blogger…

ARRGGGHHHHHHHH

Bitter Total Eclipse of the Smart Ben