Ramblings

I have a birthday coming up next month. Don’t you think someone should present me with a 1967 MGB Roadster? I’m partial to canary yellow or lime green, though a deep lavender would be fabulous.

Yeah sure, I no longer have a driver’s license but, FFS, this is a work of art we’re taking about! I don’t need to motor around—I just want to admire its curves and stone cuteness. I want to sit luxuriantly in the driver’s seat and stare out at the water. Okay, I’d also like to drive a manual transmission again. Go out in traffic though? Especially Boston traffic? NO thank you!
~~~
Have you ever thought about having plastic surgery? IF I had the dosh to throw away, IF I wasn’t already way over my surgery quota for this lifetime, what might I have done?

• Breast and butt reduction? Nah, I could just lose 10 pounds.

• Is there a skin rejuvenation and smoother op? I had nasty cystic acne as a kid—it’d be mega sweet to have peachy, creamy skin. 

• What about hair restoration? I mean, for as much as I despise the Twitter Twat (AKA Space Karen, AKA Apartheid Clyde, AKA Rocket Nonce, etc.), his hair replacement job was pretty good, especially when compared to the Don the Con’s.

 Eh, that won’t work. I’ve too many big time scars crisscrossing my scalp. There’s not enough fertile ground up there for new fluff planting.

Okay, I guess I’m not gonna go down Plastic Road. Not even if I win the lottery. I guess the spectacularly dimbulbed and plasticized Trumpettes will have to struggle on without me.

 Oh well.
~~~
I think this must be just me—I haven’t been watching the Olympics. Granted, I don’t have a teevee connection—just a DVD player for watching escapist wonders like Star Trek, Terminator and Alien.

Yesterday, my physical therapist, Judy, asked if I was watching. The only thing I’d be interested in seeing is gymnastics—specifically women’s floor ex. Okay, in particular, I wanna see Simone Biles’s routine. I imagine there’ll be videos online.

I used to get excited about watching the Olympics. Not just gymnastics either. I enjoyed the swimming and skiing events too. Is my disinterest due to my age? I’m old—there’s a lot of stuff that I don’t give a shit about anymore AND I’ve never been a sports fan anyway.

Maybe this isn’t age related. Possibly I just can’t relate and/or I’m deeply envious. Yesterday, after a setback lasting a week and a half, I was able to walk down to the seawall and back without having to sit and rest at any point. I deserve a silver medal, at least, for that!

How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you was?
~ Satchel Paige

You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely.
~ Ogden Nash

When you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.
~ William Saroyan 

Welcome Distractions

I don’t drink coffee anymore. My sleep patterns are already off kilter as it is. It’s common for me to not be able to fall asleep at all or to wake after a few hours and find that I'm unable to drift back into the Land of Nod. I miss coffee. I miss the morning ritual, the slow easing into the day.

Okay, I believe what I really miss is the whole business of grinding the beans, brewing, pouring that first cup and then sitting with it—contemplating the day ahead. Yes, I could switch to decaf or herb teas but it’s NOT the same, DAMMIT!
~~~
Jen and I have a new, binge worthy teevee show. Reginald the Vampire is based on the comic book series, Fat Vampire by Johnny B. Truant. You know how vampires are always depicted as wildly attractive, fit and well dressed? Yeah, that’s not Reginald. He was more than a little chubby when he was turned so, following the basic rules of vampire biology, he’ll always be fat. Other than that, he’s no Aldis Hodge or Jason Momoa BUT he’s a truly nice dude.

The show is billed as comedy AND horror. I’m guessing the horror label is due to all the blood that, of course, goes along with fang action. Reginald the Vampire is a relatively lightweight but fabulous bit of colorful escapism. It goes beyond what I’d expect from primetime comedy. Fer instance, being LGBTQ+ is as mainstream and fine as being straight. Black and brown characters aren’t tokens, not afterthoughts, only there to capture more viewers.

This is refreshing to say the very least.
~~~
Sometimes, a lot of times, it’s best to just state things simply. Tim Walz, Minnesota’s governor, framed the Trump/Vance phenomenon best:

“Say it with me: Weird,” in response to a video of Trump speaking about Lecter. Walz later followed up with “these guys are weird” to describe Trump and Vance. (source)

It’s abundantly true—the two of them are just flat out weird. I mean, Von ShitzenPantz with his nonstop lies, “sir” stories, pedophilia, pulled-out-of-his-ass tales and other assorted crimes.

Trump is deeply weird. J. Divan Vance is even more weird. I did NOT think that was possible.

~~~
Orca versus yacht action is expanding.

Orcas have rammed a sailboat off the coast of Brittany — a whopping 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) north from the Strait of Gibraltar, where the majority of orca attacks on boats have occurred.
~~~
The incident is one of nearly 700 physical interactions between orcas and boats recorded since July 2020 along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of Europe and North Africa. Roughly half of those interactions caused mild to serious damage to the boats, according to a translated report published earlier this year in the journal Ingeniería Civil.

Orcas almost always target the rudder, which they have learned to break off with ruthless efficiency. (source) 

 I applaud our apex predator brethren and hope they succeed in their battle against the obscenely wealthy fucks and their ridiculous toy boats.

Bugs, Bunnies and Stuff

Nothing like getting a wee cold while trying to recover strength and ability after major fucking brain surgery. The bug hit me the Friday before last. At first I thought I’d just overdone my rehab workout the previous day. I discussed this with my ace physical therapist, Judy. She thought it was a light cold.

Today, I’m feeling better BUT, goddamn, it seems I’m nearly, but not entirely, back to square one on the strength and endurance front.

Pastry will help get me up off my ass and exercising. (oh, YES IT WILL!)

Ten has just left for Saint Fratelli’s to get me an apple turnover. Jesus Cannoli Christ, I love that man.

Also, meet Zeke, at right. He appeared on my walker recently. I strongly suspect Ten had something to do with this.
~~~
J Davenport Vance can’t go more than couple of hours without making some absolutely inane statement. In response to a reporter’s question about the white supremacist attacks lobbed at him about his wife he shot himself in the foot (again) with this:

“Obviously, she’s not a white person…but I just, I love Usha. She’s such a good mom…” (source)

“Obviously, she’s not a white person…” translates as:

• Obviously she’s not a superior specimen of humankind…
• Obviously she’s from an inferior race…
• Obviously she’ll never be welcomed at the country club unless she’s there to wash dishes…

N.B.—he did NOT condemn the barrage of racist weasel shit or the white supremacists. Nope. He just said he loves his wife and she’s gestated fetuses and given birth (which is what, according to his previous blatherings, is the only bit that makes her valuable). Okay, he also says she’s a great lawyer. J. Love-Seat Bowman/Hamel/Vance, who also went to law school and supposedly passed the bar, is clearly on the same legal beagle level as Alina Habba.

Somehow, I feel certain that Doug Emhoff would NEVER start a defense of his wife, our future president, with obviously, she’s not a white person but…

One last political note, apparently Spanky's already backed out of debating our next president, MVP Kamala Harris. For an old man suffering from dementia and awaiting sentencing on 34 felony counts for election interference, he's moving pretty fast.

That’s it from me today but here are some memes, comics, pics and other random finds. Happy Work Week Eve and shit.

Hilarity Ensues

Listen, it's funny and all that J.D. Vance wants to fuck dolphins and couches and probably a bunch of other things (Roombas, throw pillows and, when he feels like being Danger Boy, air fryers), but, what’s really important to remember is that he's an invertebrate masquerading as a human. He’ll espouse any heinously cruel set of inhumane laws and regs as long as the price is right.

J. Divan Fauxbilly is also a comedic gift who just gives and gives and gives. He’s not funny like Jonathan Winters or Robin Williams; he’s ridiculous like Madge Traitor Greene or that imbecile from Colorado.

How so? For a person who’s written a “memoir,” there are an interesting array of surprises coming out about him.

First, it turns out he’s not actually from Appalachia at all. He was raised in a large (2,000 sq. ft.), comfortable looking home in southwestern Ohio. Was his mother really, truly abusive or was that another of his lies?

Second, the man has quite a few aliases. His name at birth was James Donald Bowman. It was later changed to James David Hamel by his mother.

Vance spent more than two decades as James David “J.D.” Hamel. It’s the name by which he graduated Middletown High School, served in Iraq as a U.S. Marine (officially, Cpl. James D. Hamel), earned a political science degree at The Ohio State University and blogged his ruminations as a 26-year-old student at Yale Law School. (source) 

After that he changed his last name to Vance. When he entered politics he took the periods out of J. D. now going by JD Vance. How long will he stick with this alias?

Third, as a young’un he thought he was gay. Now, he’s rabidly anti-LGBTQ+. Is he deep in the closet with steel reinforced barricades or is he simply motivated to insane cruelty by his lust for power and money?

Moran and Log Cabin Republicans this week celebrated Trump’s pick of Vance, who during his 2022 Senate campaign said he would have voted against legislation codifying same-sex and interracial marriage rights. (source) 

Fourth, sources are saying the story of J Divan’s couch fucking kink is NOT in his Shillbilly Elegy book. Various “journalists” are saying it’s a hoax. My question—can it be proved that he did NOT take indecent advantage of his grandmother’s furniture?

No, I didn’t think so. Until there’s verifiable evidence, what we have is a Schrödinger’s Sofa situation. The couch is both violated and unmolested at the same time.

Fifth—like a lot of men, J.D. likes his porn. What kind, you ask? Dolphin on human women action seems to be his preference.

The Ohio senator was mocked on his own social media post because of a picture that he shared which showed a dolphin apparently attempting to mate with a woman.
~~~
…Vance posted Saturday with the picture, which was captioned with: "Woman gets violated by a dolphin and enjoys it.”

The problem, according to the commenters, is that the words "woman" and "dolphin" were highlighted in the image, suggesting that whoever took the screenshot apparently searched for those exact terms. (source)

Just FYI, dolphins will attempt to mate with pretty much everything that moves and have even been known to try and have a go at humans. 

This is the most I’ve found about dolphin on human sex. Granted, I didn’t do a deep porn dive—I don’t need the spam, ads and craziness that follow a search like that.

Basic common sense tells me that dolphin and human sexy bits are, most likely, incompatible. Dolphins weigh up to 1,000 pounds and the males are nasty, violent, rapey motherfuckers with females of their species. Also, they mate underwater. I’d be surprised to read of a human woman surviving the encounter.

So, J.D. Vance is into dolphin/human porn? I wonder if the folks in Ohio know that the fascist they voted to represent them in the Senate is a sexytime ichthyophile. Oh wait…dolphins are mammals not fish so this would count as bestiality then?

Apparently he also shares tentacle porn with his kids. Hello, Child Protective Services? There’s a home in Ohio that you might want to visit ASAP.

Lastly, found on GT Conway’s Threads page:

Vance to Megyn Kelly on "childless cat ladies": "Obviously it was a sarcastic comment. I’ve got nothing against cats. …"  (source)

N.B., he did not say that he’s got nothing against women—just cats. More of his lies and extreme nonsense here at a post on The Hill.

Christ almighty, this man is breathtakingly incompetent. I guess Yale Law School failed to teach him public speaking or, maybe, he was absent that week—too busy surfing dolphin porn in his dorm room.

Also, he keeps claiming his statement that the country was being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives…want to make the rest of the country miserable, too” was “sarcasm.” Sure it was Jimmy.

Is It November Yet?

I have an emotional hangover from all the weeks of mainstream media attacks on Biden with not a word about the corruption, felonies, convictions, constant lies and idiocy of the Trump crime-ing industrial complex.

The talking heads have also not said a word about the convicted felonious fuck’s obvious descent into dementia. His father died in June 1999, eight years after his first formal diagnosis of dementia, and it looks like Cheato is following his lead. Will it be eight long years before ShitzenPantz kicks the bucket?

It wasn’t just Fox, CNN, the Washington Post and the NY Times who engaged in Biden bashing though. Every day, or so it seemed, another prominent Dem Party politician and/or big deal celebrity was calling for the best president in my long lifetime, to step down. These were almost all wealthy, healthy, het, white men—people who would be able to smoothly, easily ride out an Orange Asshole dictatorship.

I’m furious. I feel betrayed. The Party kicked off a Dems in Disarray circular firing squad. They fell for the same old, tired Republican gaslighting.

I no longer feel able to trust the only party who, generally, shows a lick of sense.

Does this mean I’ll start voting third party? Fuck no! Voting for imbeciles like Worm Brain Kennedy or Woo Woo Williamson or Putin’s little buddy, Jill Stein, is the same as voting for the 24/7 Death and Suffering Republicans. NOT voting amounts to the same thing. I’m unable to do much at this stage of my life but I can and will vote. It’s my defense against bullshit extra suffering and an early death.

Trump’s made it clear that he thinks disabled people should just hurry up and die. I’m sure JD Nazi feels the same way. (by the by, did you know that the D in JD, stands for Divan, the sexiest of couches?)

I like MVP Harris A LOT and am excited that she’s the candidate. She’s amazing. I trust her and that’s not something done lightly or easily. I will most def be voting for her and whoever she picks as her VP. Governor Beshear of Kentucky and Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona both strike me as great choices.

Looks like the fecal brained old dumpster fire, who the Grotesque Old Party supports is having serious cold feet about debating a woman who’s a former prosecutor, district attorney, attorney general in California and vice president.

Trump has said he would debate Harris, and face off against her "more than once." But he said on his social media platform that he believes it should be hosted by Fox News, instead of ABC News. The former president called ABC "fake news" and a “joke." (source)

This is his first move in what will be a long drawn out, chicken shit retreat from what would undoubtedly be, for him alone, an absolutely humiliating performance.

Harris on debating the Gish galloping fool?

I'm ready to debate Donald Trump. I have agreed to the previously agreed upon Sept. 10 debate. He agreed to that previously. Now it appears he's backpedaling. (source)

She’s ready to go but the elderly, feeble brained, bully boy’s scared. He’s apparently still aware enough, just barely, to know that a debate with her will reveal to all that he’s nothing more than an incompetent, mentally ill pool of warthog puke.

“So think of it: They get me to that position, and then their campaign says, ‘I’m the prosecutor, and he is the convicted felon.’ That’s their campaign,” Trump said. “I don’t think people are going to buy it.” (source)

I think they will…except for his diehard cult of dimwits.


He’s toast and he knows it. The decaying griftasaurus already played his histrionic, lying-ass stack of fire hose bombast. He doesn’t have any other tricks hidden in his diaper.

So then, I’m thrilled to my core about Kamala Harris being our candidate. The way Biden played the GOP with  the timing of his withdrawal from the race was absolutely masterful. He has, so far, been the best, most inclusive and incisive president of my long lifetime.

“The great thing about America is here, kings and dictators do not rule — that people do,” Biden said as he closed his address. “History is in your hands. The power is in your hands. The idea of America lies in your hands.” (source)

Yes, it is. VOTE!

It’s Hunter Thompson Day

I wonder what Thompson would say about the state of U.S. politics now, in the Trump Era. Of Nixon, amongst other things, he wrote:

The slow-rising central horror of “Watergate” is not that it might grind down to the reluctant impeachment of a vengeful thug of a president whose entire political career has been a monument to the same kind of cheap shots and treachery he finally got nailed for, but that we might somehow fail to learn something from it. (source)

Did we learn anything from Nixon? It seems the only lesson learned is how to more completely and grotesquely bamboozle the minds of low information, hate filled, violence prone U.S. citizens. All it took to win the allegiance of the self-proclaiming “christians” and the rest of this country’s venomous misanthropes was a rich, tiny brained, reality TV clown who hurls sneering mockery at anyone who dares to oppose him.

Von ShitzenPantz couldn’t have done it without his billionaire backers and, of course, his boss—Putin the Puppeteer. The rich don’t need convincing—they’ll donate and vote for any slimy despot as long as it means they’ll net more millions and billions. Human rights? Fuck that shit—they can buy all the human rights (for themselves) they want.

By the by, the Paris Review column, linked at the quote above, is fabulous. Go, read the full piece—it’s short and well worth it. In the meantime, have some wisdom from the wise:

We live in a jungle of pending disasters, walking constantly across a minefield.
~ Songs of the Doomed: More Notes on the Death of the American Dream

America...just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable.
~ Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72

I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me.

Life has become immeasurably better since I have been forced to stop taking it seriously.

No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride...and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well...maybe chalk it up to forced consciousness expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten.
~ Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

The Edge... There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.
~ Hell’s Angels 

Music has always been a matter of Energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel. I have always needed Fuel. I am a serious consumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio.
~ The Proud Highway 

In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity.
~ Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Ralph Steadman

Some may never live, but the crazy never die.
~ The Proud Highway 

We cannot expect people to have respect for law and order until we teach respect to those we have entrusted to enforce those laws.

There are times, however, and this is one of them, when even being right feels wrong. What do you say, for instance, about a generation that has been taught that rain is poison and sex is death? If making love might be fatal and if a cool spring breeze on any summer afternoon can turn a crystal blue lake into a puddle of black poison right in front of your eyes, there is not much left except TV and relentless masturbation. It's a strange world. Some people get rich and others eat shit and die.
~ Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the ’80's

Freedom is something that dies unless it’s used.

I have never seen much point in getting heavy with stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I... And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots.
~ The Great Shark Hunt

Faster, Faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death.

Clowns to the Right of Me

Disingenuous
     adjective
dishonest and insincere

   Synonyms:
     feigned, deceitful, shifty
   Noun form:
     lying sack of shit

Hillbilly Himmler (AKA JD Wentworth, JD Flaccid, The Ohio Couch-Fucker, Fauxbilly, Shillbilly, Eyeliner Boy, JD Vance) is hilariously bad at political hit jobs. He tried to paint VP Harris as a welfare queen who’s spent her life living off government buckos.

A) the original assholian trope is based on the fever dream fairy tale that Black women have mobs of kids all by different fathers. Didn’t Shillbilly, just the day before, claim that Kamala wasn’t fit to be president because she’d never had children?

Which is it, you bully-for-a-buck micro-dick? She’s either a childless traitor to humanity or a lazy-ass, welfare scamming, birthing machine. Also, our future president has two stepchildren. The, now adult, kids call her Momala which is incredibly adorable.

B) Where have the fauxbilly fuck’s paychecks been coming from and who paid for his post secondary school education? Goodness me, JP's been living most of his life off the government dime? What's that you say? He's a foul, smelly hypocrite? Who could've guessed? (all of us, that's who!)

I’ve read that the Tangerine Twunt and his party of fascist sycophants are having buyer’s remorse re: The Eyeliner Kid. Gee, it’s a shame that they must now carry JD Couch-Fucker to term. Yes, even though that will put the life of the motherfucker (TFG and the rest of the Gangrenous Old Party) at extreme risk. Oh well...

Probably they should’ve just made better choices or kept their slutty knees together. I wonder what Dementia Don and the GOP were wearing when they spoke with the Ohio Player and his billionaire Silicon Valley backers. I mean, maybe the Gangrenous Old Party AND Von ShitzenPantz got what they deserved for playing fast and loose with reality.

It’d be irresponsible not to speculate. Ya know?

Trump campaign officials acknowledged that Trump selected the inexperienced Vance, charged with all his techno-authoritarian ideas, to boost support among their own base, not extend a hand to swing voters… (source) 

Daft Donnie only hires/picks the best people, right? Did his team just find out that his fauxbilly fuck veep choice is a foreign agent? a Russian spy? This seems to happen a lot with Sleepy Don's picks. Maybe tfg is too old for presidenting and needs to bow out.

Questions for our next president:

• What is candidate Harris’ position on sharks versus electrocution?

• What about changing hurricane landfalls via Sharpie? Will she? Is she aware that hurricanes are wet?

• How about water pressure in showers and how many times we citizens are forced to flush in order to get rid of incriminating docs ? Oops, I mean poops.

• Has Harris announced her stance on diet Mountain Dew?

• Do we know how she feels about Hannibal Lecter? Is it true that they used to be an item? Why is she hiding this from us, the voters?

• Windmill cancer—does she pledge to find a cure within my lifetime?

• Batteries! Aren’t there caravans of electric Chinese boats ferrying batteries over the border from Canada AS WE SPEAK?

The Republican Party has become a ridiculous joke. They're seriously rolling-on-the-floor laughable now. They're a Saturday Night Live by way of Monty Python skit. What's sad is that so many otherwise functional Americans will still vote for them.

It's Funny

It's funny to see the two imbeciles at the top of the raging anti-immigrant party’s ticket. One is married to a mail order porn model from Slovenia (who, after becoming a sleazy rich man's trophy wife, moved her parents here). 

First lady Melania Trump's Slovenian-born parents were sworn in as U.S. citizens Thursday, benefiting from a path to citizenship known as family-based immigration that the president and others have derisively dubbed "chain migration."
~~~
The lawyer acknowledged that the Knavses had obtained citizenship via the very pathway that their son-in-law, the president, has so publicly denounced.  (source)

The other is married to an “anchor baby” whose parents came over from the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

But yeah, screw the rest of them poor huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

It’s funny to see Elon Musk, an immigrant, contribute (or, rather, claim that he will contribute) $45 million a month to an elderly, dementia riddled, adjudicated rapist and convicted felon, presidential candidate who opposes electric vehicles. Does Space Karen remember that he’s the CEO of a company that makes electric cars and trucks?

It’s funny to see all the “she’s not fit to be president because she’s never given birth” faux indignation and outrage from the right. Are they claiming that the 46 preceding uterus-free presidents all gestated some offspring? Neat trick, eh?

Here are five presidents who not only didn’t grow their own, neither did their wives or mistresses:
Georgia Washington
James Polk
Warren Harding
James Buchanan
Andrew Jackson

Was Washington, having neglected to birth any babies, unfit to be the first president? He and his wife, Martha, owned 317 human beings. Slaves. Does that count? Only if you’re a right wing fantasist. I’m guessing Georgey Boy never taught any of his slaves how to ride a bike or tie their shoelaces.

Ya know, by Republican’s own “logic” Von ShitzenPantz is utterly unqualified for the highest office. He’s never given birth and, on top of that, reports paint him as the world’s shittiest dad. (Yeah, absolutely ZERO surprise there).

It’s funny how the standard-bearers of the White Purity Party slather themselves in bronzers and other makeup. It’s almost like they aren’t as thrilled about their pasty-ass skin color as they claim. They’re also big on Botox, have frequent plastic surgeries and love their uniform Fox newsreader blonde bleach jobs. These are some deeply insecure people who all seem to suffer from body dysmorphic disorder. Despite his elaborate (and badly applied) makeup and the hairdo from Hell, Donnie Demento may be the only party member who’s actually pleased with his appearance. I suspect this is because he’s mistaken those ridiculous, sloppily photoshopped NFTs for a mirror.

And here’s a truly amusing bit:

Former President Donald Trump donated not once but twice to re-elect Kamala Harris as the attorney general of California.

California records show that Trump contributed $5,000 in September 2011 toward Harris' 2014 reelection campaign, and followed up with another $1,000 in February 2013. His daughter Ivanka Trump also donated to the campaign, contributing $2,000 in 2014. (source)

I wonder if either of these flimflamming fools are able to grasp the irony. Nah. They’d need an ounce of self-awareness and half a brain to see it. While they’re both talented, if sloppy as fuck, grifters neither is burdened by cognizance or introspection.

Found online. I don't know who the artist is. I NEED this on a T-shirt!

I Get Back Up Again

To live without hope is to cease to live.
~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky

But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
~ Mahatma  Gandhi

There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.
~ Leonard Cohen

Do not judge me by my success. Judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.
~ Nelson Mandela

Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.
~ Benjamin Franklin

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.
~ Emily Dickinson

If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine.
~ Ernesto Che Guevara

Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don't give up the fight.
~ Bob Marley

Start by doing what’s necessary, then do what’s possible,and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
~ Francis of Assisi

There is no education like adversity.
~ Benjamin Disraeli

A democracy cannot thrive where power remains unchecked and justice is reserved for a select few. Ignoring these cries and failing to respond to this movement is simply not an option — for peace cannot exist where justice is not served.
~ John Lewis

When I liberate myself, I liberate others. If you don’t speak out ain’t nobody going to speak out for you.
~ Fannie Lou Hamer

At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.
~ Aristotle

Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.
~ Haile Selassie

To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards of men.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand fold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.
~ Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.
~ Elie Wiesel

Peeves and Other Annoyances

A relatively minor irritation—when an author sets a story in a city/world they’ve created and all the names for people or places are four and more syllables long. Every damn time the name comes up I fumble over it and try to puzzle out how it can or should be pronounced. This takes me completely out of the story’s flow.

Sure, it’s the writer’s universe, their creation. They can name the cities, planets, people and businesses whatever they want. I’m a bright babe. I’ll eventually come up with a reasonable guess as to how a new word should be said and stop my inner linguistic debate.

I’m nearly 3/4 through my current read though and still wondering how Chersenesos and Tonfamecasca should be verbalized.
Annoyance level: ★★
~~~
I’ve never been into makeup or big skincare routines. I’m regretting that now. Not my eschewal of face paint—it’s the lifetime of wildly irregular moisturizing that I feel bad about. The skin on my arms, before I rub in a pint of hempseed oil, looks like a dust bowl era dead wheat field in Kansas.
Annoyance level: ★★★★
~~~
People with perfect, bright, Hollywood closeup-ready teeth piss me off. I totally understand the wish to have straight, not terribly yellowed teeth. I’d like some of that action myself. It’s the glaring, gameshow host fluorescence that irks the fuck outta me.

This 21st century fad of having your teeth bleached to a blinding neon shade of white is just flat out weird. My very first thought, when someone flashes blazing fang is, “what is this fucker selling?” I’m instantly on guard, on the lookout for sly boots sales pitches and flimflams.

Also, I only mention it but, a decent, healthy set of teeth ain’t cheap. Medical insurance, here in the U.S., doesn’t cover dental needs. The price of a routine cleaning plus x-rays ranges from $200 to $500. Need a root canal? That’ll run you $1,100 to $1,900 per tooth. Bleaching? Add another $400 to $800.

Only the well off can afford a full set of strong, attractive teeth.
Annoyance level: ★★★★★★
~~~
The immediate go-to insult for Moscow Madge and Coke Junior’s always-a-fiancé-never-a-bride, la Gargoyle, is that they’re men in bad drag. WTF?!

There were a zillion failed wits online yesterday claiming the reason la Gargoyle reached up her own skirt (it’s on video and, yes, truly odd) during Crazy Donnie’s lies and stream-of-conscious-a-thon, was because she had to scratch her balls. C’mon! There’s no shortage of solid, serious things on which to mock these miscreants and this is what the jokesters hone in on?

Having said that, I find it fascinating how similar Madge and Hulk Hogan look. They could be brother and sister.
Annoyance level: ★★
~~~
I can’t get Ethiopian food outside of Boston. Mind you, Valhalla borders the city but the closest restaurant is still at least a 20 drive away. This blows.
Annoyance level: ★★★★
~~~
Stupid headline brought to us by the BBC.

Inches from death: An hour that shook America (no linky because the title is just TOO insane)

FFS, it looks like the BBC is now in the tank for Don the Con too. America was not, by any stretch of the imagination, “shook.” Disappointed, yes.

At this point I think it’s clear to everyone, except his most dimwitted cult members (you know, the morons who go to his rallies/wank fests) that the pumpkin headed grifter is descending way down into the deep end of dementia. We’ve entered Weekend at Bernie's territory, only Von Shitzenpantz’s body is still breathing. His brain? His mind? Yeah, that’s burnt babbling toast.

The billionaire class, who own the big media outlets, are propping him up, promoting the despot worshipping tool, the aspiring dictator. They’re doing it for the tax breaks, the money making page views, the power trip highs they get from creating versus simply reporting the news.
Annoyance level: ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Riding the Recovery Train

Note to self—It’s okay to take a day off.

On Thursday I had a physical therapy appointment. Judy, who I adore (as does Cake), took me for a walk to the seawall. Up until Thursday, the farthest I’d gone without taking a wee sit-down break was about a quarter of a mile—just to the steps down to the beach and back. Not much BUT, you try doing this shit after your third brain surgery within a four year span (sixth overall neurosurgery in six years).

How’d I do? Better. I was able to make it a bit farther, walking .38 of a mile without a rest stop.

Judy and I got back to the house where I sprawled in my comfy chair, sucking down oxygen and water as though I’d run a marathon. Once I’d sufficiently chilled I got on the elliptical for a whopping five minute ride. I’d be embarrassed about that five minute action but….well, see above. I gotta start somewhere. Later in the day, I managed a second brief elliptical session.

I felt great and slept exceptionally well that night too. Then Friday showed up. Oof. There was no pain (okay, I had a not-completely-debilitating headache—Tylenol fixed it) but, man oh man, I was riding the Fatigue Express to Lethargyville. I managed a shower. I donned clothing. I descended the stairs to the first floor. I sat down in my comfy chair and *BOOM* That was enough exercise for me.

Today I’ll attempt another seawall hike and more elliptical time. Also, this time for sure, I’m calling in sick to the Doomscrolling Marathon. NOT gonna get sucked into the gaslighting, clickbaity melodrama.

In case you weren’t sure, I’m ridin' with Biden—one of the best, most progressive and accomplished Presidents of my long-ass lifetime.