I keep reading about people not getting vac’d due to this, that, or the other reason. Religion, body autonomy, whatever. Fine. Don’t get vaccinated (or wear a mask) if you think it’s not right for you. On the other hand, don’t go out. Don’t put yourself in proximity of anyone else. Your rights end when they intrude on the rights of others to not die of a preventable illness because YOU don’t want to get vaccinated or wear a mask. Your right to spout hate ends when you do it in MY business or home or church. Your rights are not greater than my rights not to be exposed to illness or hate speech or violence just because you think it’s your right to spread them. Please grow up.

When Obama was running against McCain, I saw on tv a woman expressing to McCain how she didn’t trust Obama because she thought he was a Muslim and not a good person. McCain said the he knew Obama well, that Obama is not a Muslim and is a good man. The woman said she was still not sure about that. If you don’t believe the person who knows, the one you plan to actually vote for, or the scientist who has the facts, but believe Fox News or random people on Facebook, I am pretty sure you are beyond hope. It’s called being brainwashed, I think. Or like being in a cult, where you only believe that one leader and nothing and no one else, regardless of how bizarre what he wants you to believe actually is. It saddens me that my countrymen have fallen for this.

Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

Don Miguel Ruiz

I am going to try the Elavil again. I cannot get past feeling like crap all the time. Just one good day here and there, but noooo. No good days. None good days. WTF? And my homemaker, who I depend on to do the things I cannot do, is crap at her job. Very nice person, but cleaning isn’t something she seems at all familiar with. Wonder what her own house looks like? I do not have the energy to micromanage her. Just do the damn job already. Sheesh!

Gorgeous, gorgeous weather, cool, breezy, sunny. If I had an outside, I’d definitely be there.

It’s the first day of meteorological autumn. My favorite season.

My brain is still drain. Not sure why. Am getting out more, being around people more. Not good for thinking? LOL I am thinking, though. Thinking I am getting concerned again about the virus. I am torn between wanting to go out and have lunch and shop and whatever, but my friend that I go places is with has become rather cavalier about safety, and does a lot of things with others where no masks are worn. We and her husband are all vaccinated, but we can still get sick and/or make others sick. I think if I get sick again, I may not survive it. I’m not saying I had the virus the first time I was sick, but my symptoms were similar, and I am still not recovered over a year and a half later. Go out, have a life/risk death. Some choice.

DD came down a couple of weeks ago, and we also went to lunch, but at a place with outside dining and fans blowing outside air past us. She is adamant about safety measures. Makes me happy. I see so many people not wearing masks in stores. Unless I am actively eating, I wear my mask all the time. I am starting to dread winter, being shut in and alone again, with dark days and nobody to talk to. Bah. Also, humbug. It is what it is, and I will get through it. I always do. If I don’t get sick. 😦

https://www.boredpanda.com/televangelist-god-prayers-roast/

Don’t know where I’ve been this month. My brain is on summer holiday, I think. Anyway, this is from a retweet on Twitter:

My 14yo watched someone on the news saying we’re all in the same boat, and he sat bolt upright and said “No we’re not! We’re all in the same storm but we have different boats and some of them are crap.”

is here. Yay. So far, not hot and sticky. It’s 74, and the dew point is 57, so not too bad.

This is a free calendar. I think it’s pretty. 🙂 From here: https://onedesblog.com/august-calendars/

Tired today. Been tired lately. Tomorrow I see the ENT guy, and then PT. Nooooo. ENT is at 11:30, which means I have to be copacetic by 11 at least. Dreading it already. But lunch out, so that’s something to look forward too. Hoping to go back to the Mexican restaurant and have almost real tacos again. I could eat real tacos every day, I think. Grain, veg, dairy, and meat or beans. All in one. What’s not to love? The restaurant ones are not real because the corn tortilla is deep fried. NOOOOOOO!

Trying to figure out how to get pictures from phone to laptop easily for my friend Tess, and cannot come up with an easy solution. I’m sure they’re on Google Pictures, so she could just back that up on the laptop, or download each one she wants to keep individually, but I really thought I had hooked up my phone to the laptop before and just transferred them. Anybody?

Anyway, brain is on a break, so later. Get vaccinated. Wear you mask. Use your brain, that’s what it’s for.

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…it’s learning to dance in the rain.”

So I checked in on someone I am mutuals with on Twitter and somehow came across the testimony that is going on regarding the Capitol insurrection. OMG it is horrible. My fellow citizens acting like the worst mob you can imagine, deliberately targeting and harming and even in some instances killing members of law enforcement trying to protect OUR capitol and the people within the building. My fellow citizens. Possibly someone I actually know or have met was there. Maybe a friend of yours, or a neighbor, or someone whose business you have dealt with. The clerk at the convenience store. A doctor in your doctor’s practice. Your doctor. Your mail delivery person. People just like you and me, who have been brainwashed by Fox News and the orange disgrace into thinking that killing people and destroying our democracy are worthy goals. I am not a crier. I virtually never cry, and the testimony of one officer in particular made me cry. I just don’t know how to deal with this. This is my country. This is the beacon of hope for the world. Or it was once. No more. We were a laughing stock there for a while, and now we are just another country whose citizens have lost any sense of decency or morality or common sense. Freedom of speech is a good thing, but look where it has gotten us. All those pundits lying and lying and lying and convincing people that their warped version of reality is actually reality. It is not, but try and tell them that. Trump did not win. He did not, will not, cannot save this country. And save it from what? What we need to be saved from is him and those incredibly gullible ordinary people who are in his thrall. I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t know how to make people stop and think and reason and question, instead of blindly believing and following. I think if the Democrats don’t step up and really treat this as the serious threat it is, we are doomed. As my friend Ollie used to say, ‘Life sucks, then you die.’ Turns out she may have been right.

Sorry about that. Anyway, here’s this.

https://www.reviewgeek.com/91751/smart-devices-can-change-your-life-but-not-always-for-the-better/

Which is only relevant because I commented on social media and said this to Tess yesterday, too, when we were talking about how everything is now connected to the internet. “Honey, we have lost everything. Bank accounts, savings, everything.” “How did that happen?” “Someone hacked our toaster.” I am so freaking funny. LOLOL

Here is Gertrude, after I threw out some treats for her. She just sat there and stared at them. This has never happened before. I am getting seriously concerned.

My body aches. I am shuffling around. I need to lie down and just read and forget everything else except feeding Miss G today. But it was worth it. It was a good day, and I had lots of fun. There is just that one exercise that I should not have continued with once I noticed it was causing some pain. Idiot Jean is an idiot. This is why I am sticking to one session per week, too. Twice a week does not allow enough recovery time, and that’s how the pain response gets started.

Speaking of Miss G, she is kind of worrying me. After a big thunderstorm a week or two ago, where she was absolutely freaking out, she has been especially fearful and skittish and timid, and I am not sure what to do about it except keep being soothing and calm around her. Poor baby. She wants to hide a lot. Any thoughts, anyone? I have googled and it doesn’t look like a health issue, so am at a loss. I miss Miss run around like a maniac. 😦

On the plus side, Kongos ‘Hey I Don’t Know’ is up in my playlist and I like that song. DD2 introduced me to a new group yesterday. Poor Man’s Poison. Quite like them. Fit right in with what I’m into at the moment. One song made me think of The Cog Is Dead, another favorite group. For some one who cannot play any instrument of any kind, I am very into music. Brightens my life. When I’m feeling really down, there is even a song for that. Dead Summer by Unblest. I’m always telling Tess that there is a song for everything, and I frequently start singing one that fits the moment or the subject or whatever. She has started doing it, too. Tess and I are the same kind of crazy. Rare to find someone who is that. Her husband does the little circle thing sometimes when we are laughing hysterically over something that only we find hilarious.

Oh, dear. I need coffee. Coffee break time. Oh, yeah. On the kind of not great side, the smoke is worse today, according to the site. Windows still closed, a/c still on. I work at not letting myself think too much about what is going so badly wrong on the planet. So many things. The birds. That is so upsetting, and I cannot let myself think about it because it is crushing. There is nothing I can do, and I have learned that torturing myself over things I have no control over is self-destructive. A technique I learned in therapy is to just firmly say to myself STOP! when the thoughts begin. Silently or aloud, doesn’t matter. I have been doing it so long it just happens automatically, I don’t even have to think about it. Anyway, the worst part of it all, I think, is the knowledge that we have done this. Us. Humanity. We have just callously done whatever we want, usually in the name of profit, and gave no thought to consequences. In spite of being warned what would happen for decades.

On the bright side…but I am having trouble coming up with a bright side right now. I started out so well, too. Should not have let that bird thought in. Too late. Well, I do have some good food in the frig, that’s a bright side. Better than open box, eat contents, which is my usual go to when things are not going well.

And another. Barrowman never fails to make me laugh or smile. Here, the horse is standing on his foot. 🙂

Yes, I am a Torchwood/Ninth Doctor fan girl, and proud of it.

Is everywhere. Maybe it was before, but today is the first day I’ve been out where you can see some distance, and you can see the smoke everywhere. Last week, I thought it was up in the atmosphere, but it is ground level today. Still, my air quality app says air quality is Moderate. Hmmm. Scary. Seems the whole western part of the US is on fire. Here’s the site, if you’re interested. You have to let it access your location.

https://fire.airnow.gov/

So, PT went well, but I did one exercise that was a bit uncomfortable, and my back hurts now, but hopefully it will be better tomorrow. Lunch after. Went to Friendly’s and split a Reuben and onion rings. Yum. I love onion rings. Reubens are good, too, and Friendly’s especially. Then…..Trader Joe’s. I love, love, love Trader Joe’s. Got two each of my fav dinners, enchilada verde and chicken marsala. Real mashed potatoes in that one. Real mashed potatoes. Froze one of each. Don’t see why freezing isn’t possible with them, so. Got some cup up fruit, enough yogurt to see out the rest of my ten days on antibiotics, and mango wine in cans. Something new. I am oh so fond of mango, and wine isn’t bad either, and the checker said it’s really good. Chilling as we speak. The wine, not the checker. Tess had to buy the wine, cause I don’t have the proper ID, like they can’t tell I’m old enough just by looking at me. LOLOL Listening to a playlist of Imagine Dragons (my current all-time favorite group), Mumford and Sons, say what you will, I adore their music, and Kongos and Barns Courtney. Good music, good day except for the smoke, and happy Jean is happy.

“In the end, the unvaccinated person himself or herself has decided to inflict a preventable and unjustifiable harm upon family, friends, neighbors, community, country, and planet.”

Because Fox News and the orange moron told them to. Those people at Fox, and even the orange disgrace have themselves mostly been vaccinated, and yet spread the falsehood that you should not. Not sure I understand the reasoning behind this, except to stir up more controversy and thus increase ratings. Why else would they encourage people to risk their and their loved ones lives?

Since my own doctor seems not to want to see or treat me, I saw a fill-in yesterday. Gave me an antibiotic, which I have now had two doses of, and I am better. I am functional, my brain is working, I sorted some papers that have been waiting for a few weeks to be seen to. Not happy at all with the new doctor I choose, and depending on how my visit next month goes, I may ask to change again. If I don’t fight for me, who will?

Some moronic Republican is taking his ball and going home for not getting his way. Color me surprised.

People dying from covid are now regretting blindly following Fox News and the orange moron, but as one doctor is saying, Too Late. I want to feel bad for them, and part of me does, but part of me thinks they have only themselves to blame. Yes, I am a horrible human being.

On the bright side, it looks like the haze from the country-wide smoke coverage has lessened somewhat today. Scary times. AND I got a free pizza from Domino’s. I choose garlic Parmesan sauce, Italian sausage, onions, and extra cheese, and it is very tasty. So thank you Domino’s. I also got a make your own pasta bowl and am saving the bulk of the pizza for tomorrow. Or maybe I’ll save the bulk of the pasta bowl and eat the pizza. Decisions, decisions.

I don’t think it’s too late for some of you. Get vaccinated. Let your brain do its work and think and reason. That’s what it’s for.

Struggling, that’s where. Not doing at all well, and starting yesterday, a bit of vertigo. Always fun. Not so bad I can’t read or watch tv, thank goodness, but it’s kind of fun when you look at a plant and it is slowing heading off to the right. Why the right? Why not the left? IDEK. Anyway. Been kind of in a slump. PT helped my back, but the rest of me is really struggling with energy and physical stability, and I cannot do anything that needs doing. Tried to vacuum the other day. Tried. Did not succeed even a teeny bit. Fill the sink with hot soapy water. Need to go lie down. Cold, no longer sudsy water. Ick. Buying ingredients, thinking I can use them. Ha! My brain thinks I am this person, but my body thinks I am someone else altogether. At least it is not hot and sticky. Sticky, yes, but hot, no. It is 72, the warmest it’s been in a week maybe? I can deal with that. My lovely blanket, that I finally broke down and had washed, is shedding fuzz like you would not believe. My tee shirt is covered in it. How do I fix that? It never shedded before. It is now in serious competition with Second Gertrude, who has clumps of fur fall off five minutes after I have seriously brushed her. WTF, Gertrude? She is cute enough and sweet enough and fun enough that it an tolerate the shedding. Not too sure about the blanket.

And, I have decided I should take up drinking. Drinking is in my blood. My family is rife with alcoholics, so why not? I am having a hard time coping right now, preferring to sleep and read over being in the real world, so it sounds like another alternative. I just had two shots of Dewar’s White Label and am feeling no pain. Yay I almost literally never drink hard spirits, using them in cooking and stuff, so I have a lot on hand. l am over being in pain, being exhausted, being alone, being lonely. I have 72 unread emails, cause I haven’t fired up the old laptop in a couple of days, and none of those 72 are from actual people I know. I check every morning, but mostly people don’t even reply to me emailing them, let alone email me first. I do try not to care, and to just accept things as they are, but maybe being crocked will help with that.because it does kind of hurt to see how unimportant I am to every body I know. 🙂

Just to demonstrate the booze thing, I have had two shots of scotch, and am very tipsy. It tends to affect you more when you almost never do it. 🙂

Also, I am bingeing Leverage, because the new series is out and I want to watch the old one first. Elliot!!!!! Hardison!!!! Parker!!! Nate and Sofie! LOLOL I have read that the new one is great, but I am going to miss Timothy Hutton. And Noah Wyle looks so old in the bits I’ve seen. I am also bingeing Tenko, an amazing series we watched on A&E back when A&E was something, on Daily Motion. A couple so far have had no sound, but there is a book that gives you an idea of what is going on.

Remembering Tenko: A Celebration of the Classic TV Drama Series Andy Priestner

This was amazingly good back in the day, and has lost nothing in the years in between. Based on real people’s experiences, too. Wish they would have it on Prime or Netflix. Hint, hint.

So that is my story for today. Trying not to fall into the black hole, and semi-succeeding, today anyway. Stay safe. Get vaccinated. Later.

Yesterday, the a/c was on. Today, I just saw a man walking down the street wearing a jacket. It is 57 degrees and breezy. I love New England. “

She is two years old today. Not sure what that is in cat years. 🙂 Here she is the day she moved in, eleven days shy of three months old.

And here she is today.

Affectionate, friendly, fun. She is a joy.

is one of those days when I just sit here messing about on the laptop, because everything hurts so much that I just do not want to move. Why don’t I ever get the good pain meds? Are there even good pain meds that don’t kill you as a side effect? I always say that pain is like a bad boyfriend. You are so over it, but it is never over you, and stalks you incessantly. Not fun. Not even a little bit. On the other hand, was a bit better yesterday, and my new vacuum came and I snapped it together and tried it out on a small area, which is the most I could stand up for. OMG the suction. Never had a vac with this much suction. Die, cat hair, die. It’s a Shark. Not me or my house in this picture, btw. 🙂

This is an entire Tumblr post by several people. First is the post that started it, then the comments. I am taking the liberty of posting it because it matters. It is important, in my opinion.

stupid leftists and their belief in *checks notes* the intrinsic value of human life

Reblog if you would burn down the statue of liberty to save a life

Here’s the thing, though. If you asked a conservative “Would you let the statue of liberty burn to save one life?” they’d probably scoff and say no, it’s a national landmark, a treasure, a piece of too much historical importance to let it be destroyed for the sake of one measly life. 

But if you asked, “Would you let the statue of liberty burn in order to save your child? your spouse? someone you loved a great deal?” the tune abruptly changes. At the very least, there’s a hesitation. Even if they deny it, I’m willing to bet that gun to their head, the answer would be “yes.”  

The basic problem here is that people have a hard time seeing outside their own sphere of influence, and empathizing beyond the few people who are right in front of them. You’ve got your immediate family, whom you love; your friends, your acquaintances, maybe to a certain degree the people who share a status with you (your religion, your race, etc.)–but beyond that? People aren’t real. They’re theoretical. 

But a national monument? That’s real. It stands for something. The value of a non-realized anonymous life that exists completely outside your sphere of influence is clearly worth less than something that represents freedom and prosperity to a whole nation, right?

People who think like this lack the compassion to realize that everyone is in someone’s immediate sphere of influence–that everyone is someone’s lover, or brother, or parent. Everyone means the world to someone. And it’s the absolute height of selfishness to assume that their lives don’t have value just because they don’t mean the world to you. 

P.S. I would let the statue of liberty burn to save a pigeon. 

also, there is an extreme difference between what things or principles *i* personally am willing to die for, and what i would hazard others to die for. and this is a distinction i don’t think the conservative hard-right likes to face.

an example: so, as the nazis began war against france, the staff of the louvre began crating up and shipping out the artworks. it was vital to them (for many reasons) that the nazis not get their hands on the collections, and hitler’s desire for them was known, so they dispersed the objects to the four winds; one of the curators personally traveled with la gioconda, mona lisa herself, in an unmarked crate, moving at least five times from location to location to avoid detection.

they even removed and hid the nike of samothrace, “winged victory,” which is both delicate, having been pieced back together from fragments, and incredibly heavy, weighing over three metric tons.

the curators who hid these artworks risked death to ensure that they wouldn’t fall into nazi hands. and yes, they are just paintings, just statues. but when i think about the idea of hitler capturing and standing smugly beside the nike of samothrace, a statue widely beloved as a symbol of liberty, i completely understand why someone would risk their life to prevent that. if my life was all that stood between a fascist dictator and a masterpiece that inspired millions, i would be willing to risk it. my belief in the power and necessity of art would demand i do so.

if, however, a nazi held a gun to some kid’s head (any kid!) and asked me which crate the mona lisa was in, they could have it in a heartbeat. no problem! i wouldn’t even have to think about it. being willing to risk my own life on principle doesn’t mean i’m willing to see others endangered for those same principles.

and that is exactly where the conservative hard-right falls right the fuck down. they are, typically, entirely willing to watch others suffer for their own principles. they are perfectly okay with seeing children in cages because of their supposed belief in law and order. they are perfectly willing to let women die from pregnancy complications because of their anti-abortion beliefs. they are alright with poverty and disease on general principle because they hold the free-market sacrosanct. and i guess from their own example they would save the statue of liberty and let human beings burn instead.

but speaking as a leftist (i’m more comfortable with socialist tbh), my principles are not abstract things that i hold aside from life, apart or above my place as a human being in a society. my beliefs arise from being a person amidst people. i don’t love art for art’s sake alone, actually! i don’t love objects because they are objects: i love them because they are artifacts of our humanity, because they communicate and connect us, because they embody love and curiosity and fear and feeling. i love art because i love people. i want universal health care because i want to see people universally cared for. i want universal basic income because people’s safety and dignity should not be determined by their economic productivity to an employer. i am anti-war and pro-choice for the same reason: i value people’s lives but also their autonomy and right to self-determination. my beliefs are not abstractions. i could never value a type of economic system that i saw hurting people, no matter how much “growth” it produced. i could never love “law and order” more than i love a child, any child, i saw trapped in a cage.

would i be willing to risk death, trying to save the statue of liberty? probably, yes. but there is no culture without people, and therefore i also believe there are no cultural treasures worth more than other people’s lives. and as far as i’m concerned the same goes for laws, or markets, or borders.

Well said!

This is an excellent ethical discussion.

The first time I came across this post, randomslasher’s addition was life changing for me. I suddenly understood where the right was coming from, and I had never been angrier.

This is also why so many people on the right fail to see the hypocrisy of trying to make abortion illegal when they themselves have had abortions. They can tally up their own life circumstances and conclude that it would be difficult or impossible to continue a pregnancy, but they’re completely mystified by the idea that women they don’t know are also human beings with complicated lives and limited spoon allocation.

This is also why they think “get a job” is useful advice. In their heads they honestly do not understand why the NPCs who make up the majority of the human race can’t just flip a switch from “no job” to “job.” When they say “get a job” they’re filing a glitch report with God and they honestly think that’s all it takes.

This is also why they tend to view demographics as individuals. They think that every single Muslim is just a different avatar for the same bit of programming.

Borrowed observation from @innuendostudios​ here, but: there’s also a fundamental difference in how progressives view social problems versus how conservatives view them. That is, progressives view them as problems to be solved, whereas conservatives do not believe you can solve anything.

Conservatives view social issues as universal constants that fundamentally are unable to be changed, like the weather. You can try to alter your own behavior to protect yourself (you can carry an umbrella), and you can commiserate about how bad the weather is, but you can’t stop it from raining. This is why conservatives blame victims of rape for dressing immodestly or for drinking or for going out at night: to them, those things are like going out without an umbrella when you know it’s going to rain. 

“But then why do conservatives try to stop things they dislike by making them illegal, like drug use or immigration or abortion?” And the answer is: they’re not. They know perfectly well that those things will continue. No amount of studies showing that their methods are ineffective will matter to them because effectiveness is not the point. The point is to punish people for doing bad things, because punishing people is how you show your disapproval of their actions; if you don’t punish them, then you’re condoning their behavior. 

This is why they will never support rehabilitative prisons, even though they reduce crime. This is why they will never support free birth control for everyone, even though that would reduce abortions. This is why they will never support just giving homeless people houses, even though it’s proven to be cheaper and more effective at stopping homelessness than halfway houses and shelters. It’s not about stopping evil, because you can’t; it’s about saying definitively what is Bad and what is Good, and we as a society do that by punishing the people we’ve decided are bad. 

This is why the conservative response to “holy fuck, they’re putting children in cages!” is typically something along the lines of “it’s their parents’ fault for trying to come here illegally; if they didn’t want to have their kids taken away, they shouldn’t have committed a crime.” It doesn’t matter that entering the US unlawfully is a misdemeanor and child kidnapping isn’t typically a criminal sentence. It does not matter that this has absolutely zero effect on people unlawfully entering the US. The point is that conservatives have decided that entering unlawfully is Bad, anything that is not punishing undocumented immigrants – due process of asylum and removal defense claims, for example – is supporting Badness, and kidnapping children is an appropriate punishment for being Bad.

This is very important

This is a really good and important post that puts things into perspective. I hope you all read the entire thing and not just scroll past it. Conservatives are why we punish the victim, treat addiction and even mental illness as a crime, not an illness, why vindictiveness seems to be the rule of the day, and compassion does not come into play at all most of the time. The current Republican party has just taken this to the extreme in every way possible. Then they call themselves ‘Christians’. They have no conception of what Jesus taught, and their only god is money. Sorry, but that’s what I believe.