Thursday Thoughts - don't leave false illusion behind

Picture it. Spring, 1980.

Add book, mug, and lipstick and my material life is reduced to a where you throw your shit when you walk in the door vignette

Treasures and death: a collage. Good week for treasures. Lots of dead things out there, Bruce and Ben tried to eat every single one in addition to the tiny alive crabs. 

Before. Shoulder season crowds loading. Spring is a hard time to intentionally book a trip to the shore far out - it could be so nice and it could be miserable and freezing. Every trip is weather dependent but few people like to freeze at the shore in spring when they know it's warmer inland.

Accomplishments. This week I took a bunch of returns to the post office, worked on taxes, picked up library books, ate a lot of vegetables, went through my bathing suits, purged clothes I have down here, booked two of the hotels for our New England road trip, and did my shore calendar and seasonal list. It's the little things. 

Misadventures in DIY. Who paints the bathroom floor THEN decides to have a team come in to paint walls, a plumber to replace the toilet, an electrician to fix a light fixture, and a husband to install a towel rack and toilet paper holder, requiring another coat before a top coat goes on? This dumbass. But I finally did the top coat last night, which will cure for seven days. 

You gotta get the big mama jar. The price of food has reached pearl clutching levels.

Scenic. March came in like a lamb and seems to be going out like a lion. It is confused by life in the now, like most of us. Off to secure my outdoor furniture and shit.

My constant starer.

Hope you all had a great Women's History Month and remember that every month is Black History Month and Women's History Month,  every month is the time to dismantle systems of oppression rooted in racism and patriarchy, and every month is the month to point your pitchfork in the right direction and clean up your own people's messes before you borrow messes from other people. Art by Kelly Reemsten

In the age of social media, this is a lost art. Reading and learning is so good and important and we bypass it a lot to make some sort of statement, like it's required of us. It's not. Even if we have at other times. I hope you follow Rabbi Danya. She provokes great thought in me. 

I'd like to thank the Academy in advance for cleaning up all of its messes. 

We could of course go into things we should all be talking about. Like the wife of a sitting Supreme Court Justice being in on the January 6 coup attempt as well as a conservative lobbyist and that same justice being the only one to rule against release of information instead of recusing himself for a conflict of interest. Like the former president continually being a lying liar who lies. Like misinformation and hot takes being presented as fact and disseminated to the masses by Fox News. Like the war in Ukraine and the threat Russia with an unhinged mediocre man at the helm poses to everyone. Like how we are treating Ukrainian refugees versus how we have received Middle Eastern refugees. Like high prices being passed off as "supply chain issues" and "inflation" instead of what it is in many cases - corporate greed, C-suite bonuses, stock buybacks all under record profit quarters while citizens suffer in the stores and at the pump. The widening wealth gap. The price of medications. Student loan debt crushing people. Gun violence. Violence born out of desperation, depression, lack of opportunity. Mental health. Substance abuse disorder. Black people sitting in jail on weed charges while white people are legal and licensed to distribute now. The farcical war on drugs period. Book banning bullshit and the silencing of teachers. Cutting off the ability to teach CRITICAL THINKING. The absolute disregard for nurses and their vitally important role in this world. Making sure gay and trans kids don't feel like they are legislated out of existence. And so much more. 

I hope we all have the day we deserve! Well, I hope that every day, and that we live knowing that is going to be the case. 

What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is Eye in the Sky by The Alan Parsons Project

Unpopular? Opinions

Opinions...like assholes, we all have them. Isn't that a weird saying?

Anyhoo some are deemed to be publicly popular/universally accepted. You never know until you put it out there, right? Here are some of my opinions that might be unpopular. You let me know. Also, does anyone else feel like I've done this blog post before? 

Eating coconut is like eating shredded paper.

Christmas Day is my second least favorite day of the year.

The Christmas season begins after Thanksgiving.

Listening to a book is not the same as reading a book in any way.

College is not for everyone.

Kids who don't understand what the words mean should not be reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Teachers are underpaid.

A lot of Beatles songs suck. I don't dislike them but I don't get worshiping at their altar either.

Most country music sounds like people singing hurdy gurdy over and over again.

I have zero interest in podcasts, Harry Potter, or Game of Thrones. I've listened to them/attempted to read/watch them and, no.

Fruit does not belong on hot food unless it's a dessert.

I don't get the hubbub about Beyonce.

No one should have to pay for medication they need to survive.

Churches should not be tax exempt unless they are doing some serious fucking work for the poor, needy, and under-served in the community

Long rounded nails creep me out. So do ragged, unkempt/uneven nails.

If you support government laws on abortion you think you have the right to tell others what to do with their bodies. If you don't support those laws, you think every person has the right to bodily autonomy. Period. It is that simple. Pro-life and pro-choice are dog whistle words. Do you think you can control someone else's body? Would you give up control of yours to the state or to Joe down the street to tell you what you can and can't do with it? Would you support having children born against someone's will placed in your home for life? Where you actually fall on the subject of abortion lies in your answers to those three questions.

I'd rather clean the bathroom toilet than go out dancing.

I simultaneously hate the term adulting and think it is perfect.

Tell me some of yours. 

Happy happy happy birthday to my aunt Maria!