My Strange J.J. Evans Story Plus Labor Day Subscription Sale
See you next Tuesday (but not in the offensive way)
Back in 1999, I was working at a New York City legal publisher and one of my core responsibilities that year was preparing our systems for “Y2K.” My coworkers Christina and Whitney — as bored 20somethings are inclined to do — imagined a scenario where the nation’s entire infrastructure would collapse at midnight on New Year’s Day, 2000 because of some undetected computer virus. We pitched names for the malicious malware but eventually settled on the “J.J. Virus” — named after the character Jimmie Walker played on the 1970s sitcom Good Times. People would try to withdraw money from an ATM and instead J.J.’s face would appear and he’d exclaim, “Dynomite!”
You have to understand. We were really bored.
“Y2K” came and went without much incident, although I appreciated all the unnecessary overtime pay I received. It’s how I bought my first DVD player. Computer viruses were less a pressing threat, so Chris, Whitney, and I soon applied the “J.J. Virus” to any biological malady, as well. “Where’s Debbie today?” someone might ask, and I’d respond, “She’s out with J.J. Although, if one of our computers crashed, we’d still say it got hit with “J.J.” Seriously, we were really bored.
Anyway, this is a long way of saying that the “J.J. Virus” has hit the Robinson family. I just checked in on my wife, and she’s still wearing that blue bucket hat. Earlier this week, she was also wearing the purple pullover, so this is a step in the right direction.
(J.J.’s famous hat is currently part of the collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History And Culture — at least until Trump has it replaced with Uncle Remus’s beard from Disney’s Song of the South.)
A bout of “J.J.” is not the best way to end the summer, but it’s preferable to getting shot in the back Gatsby-style while lying in your pool.
It’s Labor Day weekend, so I’m offering another 40 percent off paid subscription sale. I think you’re all wonderful, but Substack definitely has a bias toward publications with a growing number of paid subscribers. I appreciate your helping my humble independent effort expand its reach.
My son just started middle school, and he wants his own YouTube channel like his hero Ryan George. I’m a firm no because the internets are a scary place, but I will share one of his recent stop-motion videos. He’s considering making this a franchise.
Being involved in stop-animation film production can be an excellent career. Look at all these lovely people employed by Aardman, creators of Wallace and Gromit --https://www.aardman.com/careers/
Cute video from your son, and congrats on his reaching middle school. My grandson just started middle school, and so far, all is well. Good luck to your son, and to your wife and yourself as parents of a middle schooler.