Miracles and Mysteries

 I found myself these last couple weeks, as surely many Americans did, on pins and needles over what would result from the midterm elections--partly a feeling of dread, and partly a feeling of hope against hope. I am so encouraged therefore to see what appears to be pretty much a blanket rejection of Trumpism, Trump endorsed election deniers, autocrats, fascists and just basic run-of-the-mill idiots. Perhaps the nation is on the road to regaining its wits and moving forward after this long detour through Looneyville. God willing. 

And perhaps President Biden will finally get his due gratitude for an amazing two years of his first term in office. 

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Here on the home away from home front (Bali, that is), I am happy to see the return of Kompas newspaper to the newsstand at Starbucks in Renon--absent ever since the start of COVID these years ago now. I always enjoyed reading Kompas (an Indonesian language newspaper) for the random eerie article that always seemed to be found tucked into the pages, today's example being the story of a family of four found dead in their home in Jakarta. The bodies were discovered after neighbors noted a pervasive unpleasant odor emanating from the home. One neighbor therefore climbed over the locked gate and noted, through a window, a body within the house. The police were called, broke through the gate, then broke through the front door, and discovered four bodies in all, an elderly mother, father, and their two adult children, each in different rooms of the house. It had been reported by neighbors that the family members were rarely seen outside the home during the course of the time they had lived there. Medical examination revealed no sign of foul play. It did reveal however that the people in the house had died at various times over the past two weeks, not all at once. Yet another curious finding was that they had consumed neither food nor drink for an extended period of time, as their stomachs and so on were quite empty. 

A mystery, is it not? With no answer as yet offered. 

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At present, I am getting together the money to pay for a 5 year foreign resident permit for Indonesia. In the past, I have always just done a year at a time, but it's quite a pain in the ass actually. Moreover, the five-year permit will be a bit cheaper than the yearly in the long run. The downside is that one has to come up with the full five years payment all at once. But I guess, on a positive note, that I feel pretty sure I will live for another five years. Otherwise it would be a waste of money, right? Not like I could ask for it back were I to expire sooner.