Banter Bites

More Calm … Less Chaos

Have you ever noticed that being mentally tired is so much more exhausting than being physically tired?

BANTER BITE BACKSTORY: Red always looks forward to Fridays as they tend to be "lighter" Red & Black days, which lets her catch up from the week, as well as get herself organized for the inevitable Monday morning onslaught of Black's weekend research and work, resulting in lots and lots of emails. And even though not a pressure-filled day, most Friday's Red finds herself not only physically tired, but mentally exhausted due to the pandemic on top of the presidential election, both of which created more stress than normal. Assuming anyone can even remember what "normal" is …

But today's different. Very different. Red's not sure if it's due to watching less TV because there was less genuine breaking news (vs. everything that's just promoted as "Breaking News") or because there was less political drama originating from the White House. Or a combination of the two. Regardless, she just felt more relaxed. Of course, there are things that make her roll her eyes (she does that a lot), things that concern her, things that will take a long time to be resolved, but Red welcomed the fact there was a lot more calm and a lot less chaos. And for the first time in a very long time, she wasn't heading into the weekend totally exhausted.

The funny thing is when she mentioned this to Black, preparing herself for a detailed and research-filled response, Black merely said,

This is one of those rare occasions where analyzing and understanding the "WHY" adds nothing, so I will say nothing … except … relax and enjoy.

If you’re looking for a reason not to mow, there’s logic behind letting it grow …

BANTER BITE BACKSTORY: As is often the case, Red hadn’t heard of the latest trend, “No Mow May,” which is all about lawn maintenance (or the lack of it) until Black started sending her articles about it.

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It’s hard to imagine one holiday celebrates … spring, women’s fertility, workers, and labor rights. But it shouldn’t surprise you that even though it dates back thousands of years, we each “dance around” different aspects of May Day.

If you’ve never thought about May Day, don’t worry, most of us haven’t.

BANTER BITE BACKSTORY: Red appreciates that some holidays have historical significance, some have ancient traditions, and some are opportunities for one of Black’s unexpected, but often amusing and clever, comments, but May Day checks all those boxes.

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Spring’s supposed to be full of optimism as it represents a new beginning, with longer days, the trees and flowers blooming, the birds chirping, and a general feeling of rejuvenation. So, whose idea was it to rudely interrupt it with Tax Day? And the fact it’s April 18 this year instead of April 15 (when we ran the article below in 2021, we got two extra days) hardly makes it any less, well, … taxing.

This quote is perfect, except that we don't know who said it, "People who complain about taxes can be divided into two classes: men and women."

BANTER BITE BACKSTORY: It's probably a safe bet (yes, the IRS even has specific rules on how to handle gambling income and losses) that no one looks forward to Tax Day, but it would be easy to make assumptions that how people approach this potentially stressful day would be impacted by how much, or how little, money they make …

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