Promos announcing the airing of Season 2 of Severance have been airing on Apple TV+ for several weeks. The series, whose smash-hit first season aired in 2022, is set in an eerie company whose employees have voluntarily had their memories, personalities, and life experiences bifurcated into at-work “innies” and at-home “outies.” The show asks whether you can remember what you have never experienced.

Last week, I sat down to watch the opening episode of the new season. And I was stunned. No, not by the brilliant acting or evocative music. Not by plot twists or ready answers to Season 1 cliffhangers. I was shocked that it all felt new and foreign to me. What was the plot? What had those cliffhangers been? Why didn’t I remember any of it?

No, I haven’t been subjected to a severance-inducing intra-cranial capsule insertion. I am a victim of the malady of “streaming overseeing.”

Barb and I will choose a series recommended by friends, family, or critics and watch an episode a night until we have completed the show’s cycle. Then we repeat the process with a new series.

We enjoy each series as we binge-watch it. We have visited dystopian worlds, laughed and cried with families from every continent, and tracked down a rich bounty of spies, crooks, and dastardly traitors. We feel lost when one series ends and we are searching for a worthy successor.

Despite how entertaining these shows are, it is amazing how quickly my memory of them becomes muddled, mixed with remembrances of the ones that have come before. Which Australian show snuck in a wicked step-grandmother? Was it Offspring, Packed to the Rafters, or A Place to Call Home? Was the explosion on the moon part of For All Mankind, or did that happen at the beginning of Foundation? I know one of the multiple Yellowstone prequels featured Helen Mirren. But which one? Who played her husband?

The premise of Severance is so unique that it would be difficult to mix it up with another show. My memories of it have just been submerged by the weight of all those other worlds. I knew I couldn’t continue the second season without a refresher course, so I rewatched all of Season 1. Nothing in it was familiar to me. Every twist and turn was new and fresh. It was great.

And I will remember it all until something new comes along and severs my brain one more time!

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Monday is a momentous day for the United States, marking both Martin Luther King Day—a time to honor a civil rights icon—and Inauguration Day. It’s a time of reflection on leadership, democracy, and the power of the vote. This got me thinking: who has received the most votes in U.S. history? Male or female, President or Vice President, who is the ultimate “Lifetime Big Kahuna” of American elections?

Let’s count down the top five vote-getters in national elections and crown the winner on our abbreviated version of America’s Top Forty. Can you guess who is at Number One?

#5: Al Gore — 143 Million Votes
In the three national elections from 1992 to 2000, Al Gore amassed an impressive 143 million votes. He won the Vice Presidency twice as Bill Clinton’s running mate, and then famously lost the 2000 Presidential race to hanging chads and the Supreme Court. I doubt Al agrees with Meatloaf that, “two out of three ain’t bad.” Although Gore fell short of the Oval Office, his environmental advocacy and national presence have left a lasting legacy.

#4: Richard Nixon — 182 Million Votes
Richard Nixon’s career was as remarkable as it was tumultuous. Over five national elections, from his Vice Presidential bids with Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956 to his three Presidential runs in 1960, 1968, and 1972, Nixon garnered 182 million votes. He won four of those elections, making him a dominant figure of his era, even if Tricky Dick’s second term as President ended with the Watergate scandal and disgrace.

#3: George H.W. Bush — 186 Million Votes
The 41st President of the United States, George H.W. Bush, takes third place on our survey with 186 million votes in four elections from 1980 to 1992. He was victorious twice as Ronald Reagan’s Vice President, but flanked by Dan Quayle he succeeded in only one of his two Presidential bids. Though his reelection bid in 1992 fell short, Bush’s patrician demeanor and success in the first Gulf War left a mark on American history.

#2: Donald Trump — 214 Million Votes
Number 2 on the list is President Trump, a position I am sure Rudy Guliani and Sidney Powell would help him improve. His total of 214 million votes is impressive, probably comparable to the number of votes Richard J. Daley received from the City of Chicago in any of his frequent mayoral runs. Just think how many votes Trump could have with someone like The Boss (Daley, not Springsteen) in his corner.

#1: Joe Biden — 291 Million Votes
And now, the undisputed “Lifetime Big Kahuna” of American elections: Joe Biden. With Vice Presidential elections alongside Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, combined with his two Presidential campaigns in 2020 and 2024, Biden’s lifetime total stands at a staggering 291 million votes. His record-breaking 81 million votes in the 2020 election solidified his place in history as the candidate with the most individual votes ever cast in a single election. Biden’s political career, spanning decades, reflects the enduring power of perseverance and public service. We will be sorry to see you go, Joe.

Conclusion:
There you have it, America’s top five vote-getters. These leaders represent the highs and lows of American democracy, earning their places in history through the astounding number of citizens who supported them. Love them or hate them, they each received a staggering number of votes on the national stage.

The next time you’re at the polling booth, remember: every vote contributes to the story of our nation’s leaders—and maybe, just maybe, to a future “Big Kahuna.” As Casey Kasem used to say, “Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars!”

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Do you keep a journal or a diary? A daily reminder of how you have spent the past 24 hours? Your activities? Your thoughts? Your meals?

I have never been a diarist—I lack the patience to capture life with a daily entry. While my blog posts sometimes read like a page from a diary, they are too sporadic and their focus is too variable to be a realistic depiction of my daily life.

But there is one journal I am meticulous about. For the last 35 years, I have been logging my physical fitness workouts. It’s all there, in three spiral-bound steno notebooks. Every mile I have run, every stride on the elliptical, every Tabata-lite class I have taken, and every session with a trainer is listed in precise chronological order.

The series of places I have worked out at all make their appearance. The Cardiac Rehab Center at Holy Family Hospital, the microscopic fitness centers near my former Westchester laboratory, and park district facilities in Buffalo Grove and Deerfield are all included in my tiny block lettering. Each mention reminds me of a different phase in my life.

I record my weight and my maximum heart rate. Did I listen to a CD on a 5-mile voyage through the neighborhood? That’s listed too. (In this age of streaming I have stopped keeping track of my workout soundtrack.)

Over time snippets of other data have crept into the rows of statistics. A brief mention of a sore back explains a two-week absence of exercise. Acknowledgments of trips abroad, trips at sea, and trips through the USA all explain some of the gaps, as do references to the occasional medical procedures.

I can look through my logbooks and see how often I worked out on the days before our son or daughter were married—and how exhaustion kept me on the sidelines for a few days after. I can even see how the death of my mother affected my stamina and vigor in the weeks following her passing.

Of course, it is an incomplete picture of my last 35 years. There are no happy emojis at the birth of a grandchild and no sad ones at the loss of a pet. But examining each page does bring back memories—recollections of weddings, funerals, and travels.

Having those logbooks motivates me to keep on going, to keep on listing row after row of entries. And maybe I’ll include some notes to my future self—at least a smiling emoji or a thumbs up now and then!

Rediscovering My Writing Dream

In the first year of my retirement, when our four grandchildren were younger and I was more ambitious, I vowed to write a children’s book and dedicate it to them. A car ride with three of the children suggested an outline for the story—it would be the story of a five-year-old boy who was enjoying an afternoon with his cousins and grandparents but also wished he was at home playing with his baby sister. He wanted to be in two places at once.

How could he do that? In my story, a magic car wash would be filled with bristly brushes, spurting hoses, and foaming soap in a long, narrow tunnel. While the car and its passengers were being pulled along the car wash rails, the occupants, guided by a giant rooster (don’t ask) could amazingly be in two places simultaneously. Thanks to the magic car wash, the young lad could travel with his cousins in the car and play with his sister at home, all at the same time.

The grandkids loved the idea — especially the rooster — so much that I decided to take the next step: attending a free online seminar teaching how to write, edit, and publish a children’s book. The seminar speaker, Miss L, promised penning and illustrating a bestseller would be easy, especially if I signed up for some of her (not free) advanced seminars and tutorials.

That seminar was months ago. Despite nearly daily emails from Miss L reminding me that “today is the day to start my writing voyage,” my project has fallen by the wayside, buried beneath other priorities and responsibilities.

The kids haven’t forgotten though. They continue to ask me if I have written about our special car wash. Barb gives me an occasional nudge too.

But nothing has sparked my motivation—until today, that is. Today the universe sent me a sign that the time for writing is now.

How do I know some cosmic force is telling me to write my book? What is the sign?

Every morning my inbox contains a new “Word of the Day.” Sometimes it’s a word I know, sometimes it’s a word I only think I know, and sometimes it’s a new word for my lexicon.

Today’s word was a newbie for me, Isochronous. The definition of isochronous? Why, it’s multiple events occurring at the same time! Just like the story I want to tell in my book.

Thanks to that little push, I think I am ready to get to work. After all, I now have a working title: The Isochronous Self-Service Filling Station and Car Wash! I know Miss L, Barb, and the grandchildren will be delighted that I am finally getting started.

Kids and blog readers, look for it soon at bookstores and/or gas stations near you. It’s going to be big!

What are your unfulfilled ambitions? I’d like to know what our readers yearn for. Leave a comment, or send them to me at lesrraffblogger@myyahoo.com.

My doctor's visit has just ceased
I've barely left her clutches
When my Apple watch begins to chime
And jerks me off my crutches.*

It's not the instructions that give me pause
I know it's good to read 'em
It's the final line all marked in bold
That has my ulcers steamin'*

"Won't you please go rate my care,
The highest score the better
So that on Yelp and Docs on Call
I'll be the best bone-setter."

"Did the receptionist smile when you paid your bill?
Did our valet park your car right?
Was the coffee hot when you filled your mug?
We need the rating airtight!"

Wherever you go, whatever you do
Your compelled now to relate it
What's right, what's wrong. no in-between
And you better not predate it.

The plumber and the moving man
Your barber and Mom's electrician
Want ten points on a ten point scale
They should pay me a commission!

When I buy doo-dads on Amazon
A hose or some eye-glass cleaner
Jeff Bezos's boys will send a link
That to ignore's a misdemeanor.

"Was the product shipped in a timely way?
Did it meet your satisfaction?
Did the nozzle leak, did the cleaner smear?
Did we take the proper action?"

I understand about data points
They want customers with opinions
But for me it's just a waste of time
I'm not one of the rating minions.

To one request I will respond
When my time on earth is nigh done.
And the God above says "Rate your life."
I'll say "Dear Lord I had a fine one!"

*To my dear friends who may worry, I currently have neither broken bones or painful ulcers!

	

		

							

					

												

							
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