Miscellanea.

Tuesday was a nightmare and today is no better, so I am forced to rely on that old favorite of desperate writers: Observations on the Passing Scene. Thomas Sowell used to do that in his column, and he's a lot smarter than I am, so there. 

1) Filed under Things I Didn't Want to Know, courtesy of the National Institutes of Health:

The human body contains trillions of microorganisms — outnumbering human cells by 10 to 1. Because of their small size, however, microorganisms make up only about 1 to 3 percent of the body's mass (in a 200-pound adult, that’s 2 to 6 pounds of bacteria), but play a vital role in human health.

We all know that bacteria is crucial to being able to live, but come on--two to six POUNDS? Meaning, you could take an equivalent amount of bacteria that's inside me, nothing but the bacteria, and fill a small bucket with it that would weigh more than the average rump roast? What would it look like? Would it be a big puddle of goo? Man, that seems revolting. Hope you weren't eating. 

2) How bad are people in the publishing industry about guy things like sports? Pretty bad. I freelance for one outfit that calls me their go-to sports editor because I am the only copy editor in their stable who watches sports with any kind of knowledge. And that's hardly true for the whole subject. What I know about hockey and basketball, two sports I've barely watched, I got from working on their books. I know a bit about baseball and football, but little compared to my friends who are truly fanatics. And yet I am the Sports Guy. So if you see dumb and incorrect information presented about sports in the media, remember that. 

3) The Chinese Death Olympics suck. They can't even do human interest pieces, like sending out NBC goofballs onto the streets of the town, because no one is allowed out. I am informed that most of the play-by-play and color commentary is being done from booths in the United States (not sure if that's true as NBC is not forthcoming about any of this). China's locked down the whole area because of its own horrible virus, possibly because having athletes die from it would be embarrassing and put the spotlight back on the nation's culpability. Meanwhile, the ramp for the big air ski jump appears to have been built next to a nuclear power plant. But no, the Sporting News assures us that it's quite the opposite! Those silos are now "sleek office spaces" and "museums and restaurants"! I'm sure that it's perfectly safe, just like the Wuhan Institute of Virology. This is all so stupid.

4) I'm working on a new novel, a romance adventure book (not the ripped-bodice type of romance, but there is a romance angle) that has required the most meticulous plot of anything I've ever written. There are a lot of characters and a lot of moving parts involved in a story that unfolds in a matter of a few days. It took me months to work out the story. Now that I'm writing it, I'm scared that if I make any changes to what I wrote in the outline -- say, I decide a scene is better with one of the supporting characters not present -- I'll throw everything off down the line. It requires a lot more focus than I normally have on anything. Maybe it will promote brain health. I doubt it. Not with that bucket full of bacteria I have sloshing around inside me. 

5) February 9 and I haven't fallen on the ice yet, thank God. Okay, I fell yesterday, walking Izzy in an ice-covered park, but it was facing uphill and it more like leaning forward with extreme prejudice. My pride was the only thing hurt, and I had to dust snow off my pants. May God keep you fall-free, wherever you are.