Consortium of Seven: Year 4

      Foolishly, I've let work demands and various stresses get to me in the way they will, leaving me susceptible to what seems to be a head cold by Thursday night. It had been creeping up on me for days, I now realize, with that enervated state by the time I made it home each evening this week. This week's piece was coming down to a Thursday night push-through, but I had to fold early in favor of trying to treat the symptoms and get some rest.       Waking up some hours later, I decided to develop a themed snippet I'd written and saved back in June.        The fifteenth anniversary of my mom's passing was this past Wednesday, the 13th, which in 2008 fell on a Saturday. The approach and arrival of the anniversary was in mind this week, but while there are some important life lessons about the impermanence of life, and the hubris of even for a moment taking opportunities and time for granted, I don't want to focus ...

        Another personally draining week, I'll be trying to use most of my Friday to catch my breath and get my bearings while still keeping some things moving.       This week's tv/streaming highlights for me came Thursday, with the fourth episode of this third (and final) season of Star Trek: Picard (Paramount+), and the first season-capper for Poker Face (Peacock.)       This season of Picard continues to be one that's understandably drawing praise, even from those older, crankier fans who continue to otherwise find so much to complain about all things modern Trek. Lots of good character moments, many including some newer faces, mixed with those of the Next Generation cast mostly reaching for a possible last adventure.       Meanwhile, Rian Johnson's creation, the lie-detecting Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne), hit that tenth episode, completing the larger story arc of season one - the inc...