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Opinion: Happy birthday to me

At the risk of sounding like a broken record here’s a reminder that the 2020 Presidential Election is just a little more than two weeks away. Madera County voters should by now have received their ballots in the mail. Those who have no patience for President Trump or his opponent Joe Biden should pay attention to the state measures and the local races.

Those are issues important to Madera and California. Those races can be very close. To obtain extra insight into the various candidates and propositions visit votemadera.com for information. Votes should be cast by 8 p.m. on November 3. Ballots can be hand-delivered to the Madera County Clerk’s office, vote centers or put in the mail. The postage has been prepaid. Rest assured your ballot in the mail will be perfectly safe. Make a difference and vote.

I’ll be glad when we get past the election so my post office box will no longer contain mounds of campaign literature that are hardly worth reading.

They must be good for the economy as the printing and mailing of these brochures are considerable. I will also be glad when the airwaves are no longer cluttered with political advertising. Mostly, I don’t care who you are and if you approve of this message or not.

This time of year, the television stations and the theaters are filled with monster movies. Some are scary, some funny and some just right down ridiculous.

On Saturday night each week on the cable channel, MeTV is a campy monster movie hosted by Chicago icon Svengoolie real name Rich Koz. The show is part of the networks SyFy Saturday night.

I enjoy Svengoolie’s commentary more than the old monster movies. During commercial breaks, Svengoolie provides a running commentary on members of the cast and interesting tidbits about that night’s movie. He also has a mailbag segment where he reads the show’s fan mail and displays emailed photos sent to the program.

A few months ago, on a Saturday night, my phone blew-up with messages as friends in the east saw my photo on Svengoolie and contacted me.

It reminded me of when children would get a Happy birthday greeting from the clown Flipo Jr. on the local afternoon segments of the Mickey Mouse Club.

They even hosted groups of children crawling through a cardboard mouse house on some of the segments. My Brownie Girl Scout Troop 128 appeared on the show. To us, it seemed like a really big deal to be seen on television.

Now that I am of an age that passes out candy at the front door instead of going house to trick-or-treating, Halloween seems somehow diminished.

The best Halloween party of the year is always the annual Rotary Halloween Ball. This soiree is so much fun I have even been able to convince my husband to attend a few times and he hates parties.

Like everything fun, that blasted COVID-19 nonsense has canceled the festivities.

My birthday is this week and I refuse to let a worldwide pandemic spoil what the Internet tells me is a sapphire anniversary. You know, because it is all about me! I have a T-shirt to prove it.

Other who share my special day include playwright Oscar Wilde, Noah Webster the man famous for dictionaries, actors Tim Robbins and Angela Lansbury.

I am a great admirer of both Wilde and Webster. The way they manipulated and played with words delights me.

As I come to the end of this week’s rant, remember to vote and stay safe.

Long days and pleasant nights, have a great weekend.

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Readers may contact Tami Jo Nix by emailing tamijonix@gmail.com or following @TamiJoNix on Twitter.

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