Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Monday, August 29, 2022
Crummy August
My birthday's in August, and normally I feel good and strong in this month. This month, though, was crappy. No particular reason for it, I just felt bad and lethargic the whole month. (No, I will not claim "long Covid," because both "Covid" and "long Covid" are bullshit.) Just wanted to make a note of it, though, since usually "my" month has been a good one. Not so this year. (In general, I don't like May thru August in Texas, because the months are all extremely hot and sluggish, above 100 degrees---the fever doesn't usually break until mid-September. This year, though, temps did constantly dip below 100 a couple of weeks ago, and have been so ever since. So it's not the weather's fault...)
Cleaning up some stuff!
For the past few months, there's been a lot of messiness that I haven't taken care of around my apartment, which led to a general feeling of crappiness.
For one thing, whenever I'd listen to a CD, I'd then leave it lying around instead of putting it back in its case and returning to the rack.
Books, same thing: If I started reading something but then moved on to something else, I'd just leave a stack of old books sitting around.
Cat-wise: I haven't always picked up the cat hair-balls that they spewed forth. (Half the time, if I heard the spewing, I would, but then sometimes I'd come upon them after the fact, and didn't feel like messing with them.) I also have been neglecting their constant shedding.
RE the various types of glues and other accoutrements that I've ordered for my various types of candle/crystal projects---they've been sitting around on counters instead of being stored away properly.
This Sunday, though: Went to grocery store and got groceries for the first time in a month. Slept afterwards because I was so "drained" by the "effort" (!). But when I woke up: Whew! I sprang into action! Got all the months-long shit cleared up and organized! Including draining a bathroom sink!
Never trust anyone under 40.
Back in the late '60s, the trendy slogan was "Never trust anyone over 30."
But today I say: "Never trust anyone under 40."
Never trust anyone who grew up in the Internet Age.
Never trust anyone who garners their opinions from what their made-up "friends" on Facebook or Twitter say.
Never trust anyone who has only had "relationships" via the Internet.
Never trust anyone who can't walk 20 feet to take their trash out without looking at their phone the whole time.
Never trust anyone who's never read a book.
Never trust anyone who grew up with the "social-emotional learning" teaching system instead of actual learning.
Never trust anyone who can't pronounce the letter "t" or other consonants. Example: "Mah-ha-un" for "Manhattan." Or "buh-un" for "button."
Never trust anyone who doesn't know that "an" instead of "a" comes before a word beginning with a vowel.
Friday, August 26, 2022
Haven't Bought Groceries Since July
The last time I bought groceries was on July 31. It's now August 26. For the past 6 months or so, I was going grocery shopping every 2 weeks, and spending about $180 every time. (Way up from, say, 2 years ago, when I'd spend about $100 every 2 weeks.)
Not going grocery shopping wasn't purely intentional. Part of it was laziness and annoyance with my local market. (The check-out people and baggers are terrible, and I'm tired of either telling them not to put avocadoes on the bottom of the bag or else complaining to their managers about not bagging my ice-creams so they don't leak.)
And I have plenty of money for groceries, and I've had plenty of opportunities to go grocery shopping at all times of the day, all days of the week. I just haven't FELT LIKE IT. (Bartleby: I prefer not to.)
And so, in the month of August, I have thus far spent ZERO on groceries. Luckily, I had a LOT left over from late July: My milk and OJ were/are still good (expiration dates of about August 8, but nothing has actually gone bad). I had cereal (until last week, when I ran out and then had to go to the oatmeal); I had spaghetti (and sauce) and rice; I had Ranch Style beans and black beans; I had tortillas; I had a big bag o' fish-sticks and a big bag o' frozen fries; I had a block of cheddar cheese and potatoes for baking; I had plenty of condiments.
I didn't have favorite stuff like avocados and salsa, or salmon, or hamburger meat, or hummus, or pot-stickers, which all ran out after week 2 of my last shopping excursion.
My Cokes did run out, but I bought 2-liter bottles from the local corner store, which was ultimately cheaper than buying 20-packs of 12-oz cans.
In Cat News: I normally buy the cheapest canned tuna (72 cents a can) to feed them alongside their daily dry food. I did run out of that, so had to go to a nearby drugstore to buy some 3X more expensive "people tuna" since they didn't have cheap tuna (Starkist, $2 a can). The cats don't like it.
Overall, I did save myself a ton of money by eating up all the leftovers in my fridge/pantry instead of buying new stuff. (I'm at this moment down to basically spaghetti and rice and Saltines and some cheddar cheese and one Ramen and some old Romaine lettuce.)
But... I'm going grocery-shopping this Sunday! And I will SPLURGE! :)
Peoples Temple Choir (1973): Down from His Glory (sung by Jim Jones)
OK, then, obviously, Jim Morrison. (The actually good musicians/singers on this album had to put this stilted Jim Jones track on there just to be respectful to their leader; the rest of the album is actually good.)
Thursday, August 25, 2022
Who's Hotter?
I suppose it depends on the context. If I didn't know anything about either of these two men: If I were 15 thru 18, I'd pick Jim Morrison. If I were a hard 30 or older, I'd pick Jim Jones.
Sunday, August 21, 2022
5:46pm
I was snoozing on my couch, and jerked awake to a voice calling "Steph!" at 5:46pm.
My mother is 81 years old. I'm not currently speaking to her, but I'm guessing she'll die any day, as 80-somethings are wont to do. Just wanted to put this on record in case tomorrow my shitty brother calls me to say our mother passed away yesterday at 5:46.
Friday, August 19, 2022
Racism
A woman in a neighborhood with houses both owned and rented walks to the public dumpster catty-cornered from her house, at the street-corner of a playground, carrying an old cardboard beer box with old phone books and other recyclable detritus in it.
As she's crossing the street to the dumpster, another woman literally RUNS up to her:
Woman 2: "Where are you going with that?"
Woman 1: "To this dumpster."
Woman 2: Gesturing to beer logos on outside of Woman 1's box: "You're bringing that around our children? No! NO!"
Woman 1: Pointing to the shallow contents of box and wondering what children were involved: "It's phone books. I'm just throwing them out."
Woman 2: "I don't care what they are! You don't bring that around our children!"
Woman 1: Goes ahead and tosses box in dumpster, then walks in opposite direction of own home, for fear the upset racist will learn where she lives.
I lived in this mixed-race neighborhood in Austin for about 6 years, before I moved to NYC in 2007. During this time, the above happened. Also during this time: I got accosted by a black homeless guy at a neighborhood bus stop (the bus arriving just in time to rescue me); I had black gangstas on a bus telling me I didn't belong on that bus (thank you!) when I yelled at them to shut up with their loud-ass stories about who they'd f***ed that weekend (the driver had to stop the bus because they got so agitated with me); I had a black guy jump out of his car and reach in to my car window just because I'd honked at him while he was going 10 mph in a 30-mile zone; I had a black woman at a fast-food drive-thru jump out of her car and try to reach in to my car window just because I'd honked at her for not pulling up after several minutes. Oh yeah: There was also the black guy jacking off in daylight hours on the park bench in the playground catty-cornered from my house that I had to report to the police.
I was generally happy when I lived in this neighborhood, but the above black encounters were ridiculous. No normal people act like that.
p.s. And the above was all in Austin, a famously laid back, live-and-let-live town. Just imagine the sh** that goes on in Berkeley or Chicago!