First and foremost, thank you to all who have read my blog posts and my book, “Homey’s Adventures”. I wrote this as a chapter for my new book last summer. I am hoping that this summer, we can put the pandemic behind us:
Even though I am a writer, the quarantine is more confining than I want it to be. We tend to be creatures of habit. Before the quarantine, my day usually consisted of exercising, cleaning house, working on the yard, working on my writing and watching news or a movie on TV. My move changed my daily routine. I don’t have a yard and my apartment takes less time to clean. I introduced myself to Netflix because of the quarantine. Redbox had less new movies to watch. With Netflix, I discovered binge watching.
Binge watching tends to be addictive and I am not sure that it is good for me. However, Netflix is a lot cheaper than talking to women on the website and I could not afford to talk to woman on the website anymore. Also, I promised Xena that I would wait for her and Marie regardless of how long it took. I included emailing Xena every morning into my routine. I was trying to create my new routine and it needed to change as the quarantine changed. In my first book, I had a chapter entitled “In Limbo.” This chapter is like that chapter in that I was trying to adapt to what is next and it is the same time of year, summer.
The first show I started to binge watch was “Better Call Saul.” I have told you, my reader, of what I think of lawyers and “Better Call Saul” is an articulate satire of the legal profession. Like me, Saul Goodman adopted a new name to disguise his past deeds. Unlike me, he did it to hide his past deeds. I am writing these books to expose my deeds without hurting anyone else in the process. Homey’s Adventures is a fictionalized viewpoint of what has happened to me in the past.
Given my experiences with lawyers, there is more truth than satire in the “Better Call Saul” series. I suspect there are a lot of scorpions, snakes, and sharks in the legal profession and people who have these qualities gravitate to that profession and politics.
In the series, slipping Jimmy (a.k.a. Saul Goodman) slowly progresses from being a reformed con artist into a criminal lawyer. “Better Call Saul” is a spinoff series from a prior series entitled “Breaking Bad”. In “Breaking Bad”, Saul Goodman is introduced with emphasis on the word “criminal” in the description of Saul. In “Breaking Bad”, Saul is more a criminal than a lawyer. The “Better Call Saul” series tells us why he became a criminal in an often humorous and sarcastic way.
In one episode, there is a flash back when slipping Jimmy passes the state bar and he and his brother do a Karaoke performance of the Abba song “Winner Takes It All” Here are the lyrics:
I don’t wanna talk about things we’ve gone through
Though it’s hurting me, now it’s history
I’ve played all my cards and that’s what you’ve done too
Nothing more to say, no more ace to play
The winner takes it all, the loser standing small
Beside the victory, that’s her destiny
I was in your arms thinking I belonged there
I figured it made sense, building me a fence
Building me a home, thinking I’d be strong there
But I was a fool, playing by the rules
The gods may throw a dice, their minds as cold as ice
And someone way down here loses someone dear
The winner takes it all, the loser has to fall
It’s simple and it’s plain, why should I complain
But tell me, does she kiss like I used to kiss you
Does it feel the same when she calls your name
Somewhere deep inside you must know I miss you
But what can I say, rules must be obeyed
The judges will decide the likes of me abide
Spectators of the show always staying low
The game is on again, a lover or a friend
A big thing or a small, the winner takes it all
I don’t wanna talk if it makes you feel sad
And I understand you’ve come to shake my hand
I apologize if it makes you feel bad
Seeing me so tense, no self-confidence
The winner takes it all
The winner takes it all
His brother who is a dysfunctional successful lawyer ends up betraying Jimmy and tries to have him disbarred. His brother fails in his attempt to disbar Jimmy and commits suicide. Jimmy is disillusioned by his brother’s betrayal and turns criminal. That episode was mostly sad and not humorous, but I love ABBA songs and found it very moving.
This book is about love. I ask my reader a rhetorical question: What’s the point of winning if you lose brotherly love in the process? When we die, we cannot take what we win with us. I have never seen a hearse pull a trailer full of riches to a grave site. If you believe in judgement day, we do carry the loss of love and betrayal to the grave with us.
I also binge watched a series entitled “The Crown” which is about the life of Queen Elizabeth II. I found it fascinating of how she adhered to the principles of a constitutional monarchy and had a profound effect on her subjects. It showed all the dysfunctional behavior of royalty. At the same time, the series showed how Elizabeth tried to keep the principles of her position which she described as the dignified and efficient.
As head of the English church, she could not condone or allow divorce in her family. She had to contend with an uncle who abdicated the throne to her father so that he could marry a divorced woman. She had to contend with a sister who posed nude for an artist and published the nude pictures in a magazine. Her sister married the artist and had an unhappy marriage because of the artist’s unfaithfulness. She had to contend with Churchill and mishandling of a pollution crisis in London. She had to contend with her husband’s unfaithfulness.
During all these trials, she effectively carried out the roles of her position with dignity and efficiency. Elizabeth reigned over a decline in the British empire, and she was effective in preventing her former colonies from becoming communist. She effectively kept her position relevant in a changing world.
Her husband ended up saving himself by starting a retreat on the royal grounds for ministers of the English church who had lost their way in life. I found this inspirational in that he saved himself by saving others. This act of love saved him and made his relationship stronger with his wife the queen.
Prince Phillip had an identity crisis related to his secondary position of royalty which resulted in his dysfunctional behavior. By an act of love to the wayward ministers, he saved himself and his own marriage. This was my favorite episode because it showed how selfless love of those who cross our path can end up saving us too.
Inspired by watching “The Crown” series. I watched “The Tudors”, “Reign” and “Versailles”. “The Tudors” was about the dysfunctional life of Henry VIII, and his six wives. “Reign” was about Mary Queen of Scots and her dysfunctional life in the French court where she took refuge to avoid the reach of Elizabeth I who was also one of Henry VIII daughters. “Versailles” was about Louis XIV and the building of his concept of opulence symbolized by the Versailles palace. All these series had gratuitous sex and naked women. Homey found them interesting, but they were not morally or intellectually satisfying to Jim.
About the same time that I was watching these fictional historical series, my minister delivered a message about how the most efficient method of government was a kingdom. However, only the kingdom of Jesus can work because every other man is a sinner and fails because of sin. I don’t know how historically accurate these fictional biographies were, but they supported my minster’s viewpoint.
The last series that I binge watched was entitled “Dexter”. This series lasted for 8 seasons. I am not a huge fan of cop shows, but this one is unique. The antihero is a serial killer who has a code to kill only the guilty. His adopted father was a cop and recognized that Dexter was a potential serial killer. His adopted father trains him on how to kill without getting caught. Dexter became a forensic specialist and worked for the homicide department of the Miami police department. The theme and story were humorous and ironic.
Unfortunately, I started to identify with Dexter because he had to hide his dysfunctional behavior. I know what that feels like because I had to hide my dysfunctional behavior for the last 8 years of my marriage. Dexter also ends up helping good people using his special skill sets. I tried to help strippers get out of the stripper life. My dysfunctional behavior is that I had sex with them while I was still married. I could identify how hard it was to hide my behavior and still act normally. I describe in my first book my motivations and failures of my dysfunctional behavior. Dexter’s vigilantly behavior was much worse than what I did, but I can identify with the hiding part.
I think my binge watching did accomplished something. God gives us time for reflection so that we can go forward with a better life. I was waiting for Xena and Marie. I was doing better than my first in-limbo period as described in my first book. In my first book, I tried to set up the mysterious woman scenario with a Colombian woman that I nicknamed Red. Quite frankly, I saw the probability of meeting a beautiful Colombian in a bar and her seducing me was low. Certainly, watching Netflix was a lot cheaper than wasting money on a questionable website.
I hope and pray this summer will be better. I think I need to go to the St. Louis Botanical Gardens. It really is a very beautiful place to get out and about.
If you want to learn more about Jim and Homey, then please visit my website http://www.homeysadventures.com. You can read the first two chapters of my book for free. If you like what you read, you can buy my book there or on Amazon and many other book retailers. You can search for my book online using the words: “Homey’s Adventures” by Jim Wish.
Jimwish.com 