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Politics

Moving on … but you can come with me.

October 16, 2017 7 Comments

NOTE: If the post below is the first and only thing you’ve ever read on my blog, you should read this other post first. Thanks.

I launched this blog almost 12 years ago. The writing I’ve done here, and the feedback I’ve gotten from many of you, has made this the most fulfilling creative endeavor of my life thus far.

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Filed Under: Daddy Scratches, Life, Politics

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RECENT COMMENTS

  • Tanushree on Moving on … but you can come with me.Hello - I started reading your blog 12 years ago as company during lunch at my desk. 12 years on,...
  • Jon Zal on Moving on … but you can come with me.Thank you, Julie! :)
  • Julie on Moving on … but you can come with me.Happy for you, Jon! I'll come with you. Your story about Baby Tink and Poop is still the funniest thing...
  • Jon Zal on Moving on … but you can come with me.Here, yes. Thanks for sticking around, my friend. :)
  • Jon Zal on Moving on … but you can come with me.Thank you so much, Lauren. I really appreciate it. Thanks for sharing those words with me. Happy to hear you’re...
  • Lauren on Moving on … but you can come with me.Jon I'm not sure I've ever commented before but I've absolutely loved reading your posts over the years and have...
  • Dave on Moving on … but you can come with me.Last post!
  • Jon Zal on I’ve narrowly cheated death yet againI'm here to help. :)
  • ACWMH on I’ve narrowly cheated death yet againExhausting to be you, sure. But think of it this way: you're not only living your own life, raising the...
  • Valerie on This one hurtsI just came across your post and found it really echoed what I wrote myself. Including the link to the...

ABOUT ME

Jon Zal @ The Capitol

I was born in 1970, raised just outside of Boston, and now live near Philadelphia. As a child, I thought I was going to be…
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TWITTER

Jon Zal 🇺🇦 Follow 23,851 55,132

Husband, father, writer, podcaster, drummer, Army vet (M.P. K-9), ex-music journalist. #BlackLivesMatter

jon_zal
jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
18 Jun 1537973122564911108

Now that’s what I call an “Out of Office” message.

Taking a break. Catch you next month.👋🏻 🇮🇹

Image for the Tweet beginning: Now that’s what I call Twitter feed image.
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jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
11 Jun 1535717917324726272

Really hoping a later episode of “Obi-Wan” explains that Little Leia was using a Jedi mind trick to make full-grown men incapable of catching her during multiple, low-speed foot pursuits.

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jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
10 Jun 1535405282024738816

Republican pronouns: Me/My/Mine

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jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
10 Jun 1535275808075415556

Cop-killing insurrectionist party claims expiration date has passed on attempt to overthrow the American government.

House Judiciary GOP @JudiciaryGOP

All. Old. News.

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jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
10 Jun 1535273541762965504

View on Twitter Twitter feed image.
View on Twitter Twitter feed image.
View on Twitter Twitter feed image.
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jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
9 Jun 1534922033531965447

Republicans: “Back the Blue*!”

*into a corner … and throw things at them … and trample them … and douse them with bear spray … and beat them with flagpoles … before vandalizing the Capitol & hunting down the Vice President so we can hang him

“Party of Law & Order” my ass.

Republicans: “Back the Blue*!”

*into a corner … and throw things at them … and trample them … and douse them with bear spray … and beat them with flagpoles … before vandalizing the Capitol & hunting down the Vice President so we can hang him

“Party of Law & Order” my ass.
Scott MacFarlane @MacFarlaneNews

All at once... a police line is breached and the mob fights through!

Newly released video exhibit from US Justice Dept in Capitol riot case

Reply on Twitter 1534922033531965447 Retweet on Twitter 1534922033531965447 41 Like on Twitter 1534922033531965447 153
jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
3 Jun 1532800057287884800

[Children are required to wear a lightweight square over their nose & mouth during a public-health crisis]

Republicans: "WE'RE CAUSING THEM IRREPARABLE HARM! TYRANNY! THIS MUST END NOW!"

[Children are regularly slaughtered by guns]

Republicans: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Reply on Twitter 1532800057287884800 Retweet on Twitter 1532800057287884800 138 Like on Twitter 1532800057287884800 414
jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
3 Jun 1532749551471366146

“We require extensive training for service members to handle weapons. We only issue live ammunition under strict supervision. I would say the military takes weapons safety & storage very seriously, while the civilian community in America does not.”

Image for twitter card

They Are the Good Guys With Guns. After Another Mass Shooting, Veterans Want Change.

After yet another school shooting, veterans continue to speak up, on social media, in organizations they have formed, and in the media.

www.military.com

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Photographic evidence that I occasionally leave th Photographic evidence that I occasionally leave the house. Rare … but it happens.
Go @RedSox! #OpeningDay Go @RedSox!
#OpeningDay
New profile pic. Previous one was six years old. S New profile pic. Previous one was six years old. Started to feel like a lie.

Longest my hair's been in 18 years. Planning to let it keep growing for a bit. Not gonna let it get as long as it was Back In The Day (read: down to my chest), but ... I need a change.

Anyway ... that's me now. 👋🏻
Just gutted by this loss. Van Halen, Rolling Sto Just gutted by this loss. 

Van Halen, Rolling Stones & Foo Fighters. That’s my Big Three … and of those three, there’s only one I was banking on as a go-to active interest for the next couple of decades. 

As with Van Halen, I fell in love with Foo Fighters not only because of the music, but because of the fun those guys had with, and love they had for, each other.

Had plans in place to go see Foos play in Oregon this October for the final stop on their now-canceled tour. Can’t believe I won’t get to see Dave & Taylor play together again. 

Dave was the first interview I ever did with someone who wasn’t a member of Van Halen. He let me call him at home one weekend, 22 years ago. Two East Coast guys, same age, drummers, music lovers, shooting the shit on a Saturday afternoon. It remains one of my favorite memories. 

I briefly met Taylor in Austin, TX, back in 2006 when he and his solo band somehow got put up at the same shitty Holiday Inn as me. He was very kind, gracious and cool to this awkward, socially anxious fanboy. Saw him play live that night, his drum kit positioned at the front lip of the stage so he could sing lead and play drums at the same time. Great set. 

I am absolutely gutted thinking about what Dave is going through right now. 

Hadn’t been playing much in recent months. Been sweating it right the fuck out every day since Taylor passed, though. Nonstop Foo Fighters & Nirvana play-along sessions. Only way I’ve been able to channel the grief. Glad I have that outlet. (Thanks for getting my ass behind the kit again, Taylor.)

Really hoping Dave finds a way to make peace with this tragic loss and keep being the joyful soul & inspiration he’s been to so many of us for so long now. 

#RIPTaylorHawkins 🥁💔
#FooFighters
My weekend? Awesome, thanks. How 'bout yours? Ret My weekend? Awesome, thanks. How 'bout yours?

Returned home Sunday and all is well now, but ... man, for a guy who not once in 52 years spent a night at the hospital or experienced a serious medical emergency, I made up for it in spades last week.

Celebrated Valentine's Day with my first colonoscopy. Couple small polyps removed. No cancer found, and no other problems. "Return in five years." Yay! 🥳

Fast forward to last Thursday (2/24), at which time large quantities of nothing but blood began exiting my body via an orifice from which large quantities of blood should not pass. So that was disconcerting.

Pro-Tip™: A good way to skip the wait at the ER is to show them a picture of a toilet bowl filled with nothing but your own blood and then pass out.

Three mostly sleepless beep-filled nights, one CT scan, a couple IV bags, several bazillion blood draws & some bad hospital food later, I was home without any further issues, and, thankfully, no surgery or other medical intervention required.

But, yeah ... hoping to never do that again. 🥴

So, uh, anyway ... how you doin'?
Happy #nationalmargaritaday. 🍹 Happy #nationalmargaritaday. 🍹
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