Thursday Thoughts - neon sign on the horizon rubbing elbows with the moon

1. Ohh back to school back to school to prove to dad that I'm not a fool. 2018's Blue Sky Day Designer planner fits in my purse as does the Poppin notebook I use along with it. That is my life organization system.

2. I love having talented friends who make things especially when those things are so me. Thanks Staci! I had to snag one of these for my kitchen towel updates.

3. Who out there is hoarding unopened trial sizes of shampoo, conditioner, lotion, soap, body wash, mouthwash, toothpaste, etc., that you're never going to use? I will pay shipping or pick up locally if you want to get rid of them without throwing them out.

4. Not only have I purchased two Christmas gifts, but I have also booked my work Christmas party. Ho ho ho motherfuckers.

5. Guys, I'm really trying to talk about other things but not a goddamn thing is normal right now and it's hard for everything else to not feel inconsequential. There's a large part of the population that does not seem alarmed by a slide into authoritarianism. How many times can I say the insane attacks on the free press are Authoritarianism 101? Why do people think it's normal for a president to vociferously attack the free press but waffle on white supremacists? None of this is normal and since something fucked up happens literally every day it's hard to not let it become normal. Don't let it become normal.

6. I'm especially amped up this week because last night I learned of a local church one of our family members is affiliated with being targeted for a sign that says Resist White Supremacy outside of it. They're being harassed and photographed by a white supremacist group and homophobic slurs are being left on their church facebook page. And last Saturday, this was the scene at my elementary school. I could not be angrier if it was painted on my own front door. That same day I also learned of the death of my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Axler, who I have kept in touch with all these years. She was a truly wonderful woman, a voracious reader, and a cancer patient advocacy warrior. Two strikes for the hallowed halls of my childhood last weekend. Children arrived to play soccer to these messages on a Saturday morning. This is not normal.

7. Also not normal: people being more concerned about statues than other humans. People who pulled down a confederate statue were arrested very quickly. Five men on video beating Deandre Harris (one man) on the ground in Charlottesville who have been identified, names given to police, and in the ensuing 12 days have not been arrested and no one gives a fucking shit. Let's talk about the fucking statues and how they do not represent history. They were erected between the 1890s and the 1950s - when Jim Crow segregation was in place and glorify leaders of the confederacy and confederate ideals of owning people. Likewise the Confederate battle flag experienced a comeback in the 1950s and 1960s as a way to remind black people involved in the Civil Rights Movement that they were once owned and in many ways still oppressed by the state. It's a flag that flies in defiance of the federal government and against racial equality. Do you know how Germany observes the darkest part of their history on their streets? They fucking don't. There are no public monuments to Hitler or any Nazi leader and they are absolutely not flying the Nazi flag. You can be arrested in Germany for flying that flag or giving the Nazi salute. Nazis are dealt with in museums and books. They're not memorialized in public because they tore the country apart and committed unspeakable acts and treated humans worse than animals and don't deserve recognition of any sort. Just like people who fought to keep slavery alive. I'm surprised at how many white people not from the south are so invested in keeping confederate statues up. I know. I shouldn't be surprised. Especially given the graffiti above. As in every situation, it's always been that way or why do you care now are not good reasons to keep doing anything. Huge props to the anti-Nazi Boston crowd for showing up last weekend. That's how this stops - with a vocal backlash. Not by ignoring it. Not by staying silent. This is not normal.

8. For reasons above, I identified with Giving Thanks for the Bridges I've Burned This Year by John Pavlovitz. I'm not comfortable in a lot of places with a lot of people I used to be comfortable with.

I don't want to get to a place where I am so full of WTF that I can't get words out but the truth is most weeks I hover right around there. Since there were Nazis in the streets and I've watched people I know defend that or focus instead on fucking statues over people and I have just folded in on myself. Injustice sets my blood on fire. Every week on Thursday I think what is the sense of even pointing it out - I'm either preaching to the choir or I'm talking to trump cult members who I'll never reach. Another part of me whispers but if you just reach one person...whatever, something in me will not be silent even when my eye starts twitching thinking about writing anything. Links for your consideration:

•  Please follow Amy Siskind on Facebook and Twitter - she is the best source for seeing how the president is setting up an authoritarian totalitarian regime. She also puts out a weekly list of things subtly changing around us. This is August 19th's - links to past weeks are at the bottom. Resisting authoritarianism requires participation of citizens who identify as democrats, republicans, and independents - it requires all of us. Absolutely everyone is welcome at any time to fight against a fascist regime. I don't care who you voted for and I don't care why, I just care that you choose America over sticking with a man who is not good for anyone in this country in any way. Speaking the truth is not divisive but your president is. This is not normal. Resist.
• Get insight into why you are hearing sanitized versions of white supremacist messages from your GOP reps in government: The White Flight of Derek Black. This is not normal. 
• James Clapper's take on trump's disastrous Phoenix speech and people sharing fake crowd photos (propaganda, anyone?) of the Phoenix rally. Who the fuck holds election rallies with an election 3.5 years away? Fuhrers. This is not normal.
• About that Phoenix rally - people were outside exercising their First Amendment right to peaceably assemble while trump was inside attacking the First Amendment right to a free press. Police used chemical agents against a peaceful crowd, turning a nonviolent gathering into one that harmed many and failing to provide protection for First Amendment assembly. This is very serious and a direct attack on the Bill of Rights. This is not normal. 
• Someone who goes on and on about fake news and fake press is fucking insane and unfit to lead a country that has a Bill of Rights guaranteeing freedom of the press. What's even scarier to me is when I see people I *know* saying on social media that things are fake news - things that have happened and are on video. This is not normal.
• Shaun King's series on the NYPD's 42nd precinct & Bronx DA's office - part one and part two of five are out now. This should not be normal. 
• The Secret Service has spent $60,000 on golf cart rentals alone this year to protect trump...at his own golf courses. The POTUS is charging his protective detail - who are there solely because he is - for golf cart use at his own clubs. Taxpayer money, going right into his pocket. Conflict of interest. No one gives a shit. This is not normal. 

9. Reminder

10. E-card of the week: I'm hoping this is me this weekend. I need to disengage for 48 hours.

Happy happy birthday to my friend Jill - did you guys know she's selling LipSense now? She is, if you're in the market. And she is about to embark on a glorious trip and since we are on the same cruise crew I wish we were going but alas we are not. Happy birthday my friend!

Thursday Thoughts - in full FI mode

1. My attitude this week, for no specific reason aside from a possible link to the summer Fuck It Phase:

2. I am a 40 year old woman who consistently gets zits in the same two spots. The latest in my attempt to throw money at the problem. I got a great deal and honestly? I've always felt like I was washing my face poorly. This has a timer like my Sonic toothbrush. It's like learning to care for yourself all over again as an adult who should already know this shit. 

3. Things that have annoyed me on my neighborhood facebook groups this week: eleventy billion people reporting that their trash has not been picked up to all of us on facebook but only seven to 10 people actually reporting a problem to the city (Philly page); eleventy billion people asking what to do with kids on a rainy day at the shore (OCNJ page, question has been asked and answered 203948203948023948 times in the history of the page). You?

4. Immediately after I said I haven't watched TV forever last Thursday I started watching Ozark. I have one episode left. I love Jason Bateman and really like Laura Linney in this too. I can't recall loving her in anything in the past. Everyone in town is crazy or has a sneaky side hustle or weird secret. My kind of show. 

5. I've already purchased a new sweatshirt, pair of leggings, kicking around shoes I can wear at work, athleisure shoes, and old lady black comfortable enough to commute in shoes for the fall. If you can't tell, I'm turning over all of my shoes right now and those that are not comfortable for old lady feet must go. Aside from a new sweater or two, I'm probably set for the season though thanks to some good Nordstrom sales. Someone remind me of this later when I want to buy shit I don't need because it's pretty.  

6. Is anyone else concerned that two man toddlers are in a pissing match over nuclear war and we have no one working our State Department right now? In a world where everyone has nukes, we need diplomacy. Not threats to use them. A president must be able to de-escalate conflict, not disregard advisers in favor of doing and saying whatever the fuck he wants in public to ramp it up and endanger the world. That's what Kim Jong-un does. We're so worried about him because he's crazy and unpredictable. Those traits describe our own leader. He is unhinged and mentally unfit to hold the office. It is time to invoke the 25th Amendment. But never mind this paltry shit. Let's go back to discussing her emails. I'm alarmed by how many people seem A-ok with nuclear war. You guys, what are we even fucking doing?

7. Two things to keep your eye on: a) State TV is coming your way soon via Trump TV - just like North Korea and Russia, you will hear what the government wants you to hear! Have you brushed up on your 1984 lately? I see many of you have. If you don't like the sound of any of this, you can call the FCC at 1-888-225-5322. B)  The U.S. Global Change Research Program Climate Science Special Report that this inept administration will undoubtedly try to label as fake news being that they are science deniers is out for you to peruse.  

8. I never thought I'd be an avid reader of a pastor blogger but damn if John Pavlovitz has not been resonating with me, one of the least religious people on earth. Take some of these excerpts (below) from a recent blog post about why he opposes Donald Trump - I feel like they were written from my own heart, especially about the reasons why I continue to call out what I see and how this goes far beyond one man and even beyond politics in general. And this reverberated so fiercely within me: I'm probably not going to apologize for being passionate about people. Me neither, John. But in my case make probably definitely. That's a promise.

9. Reminder:

10. E-card of the week: Some weeks. Like this one. LOL

Congrats to Christy P for winning my $60 six year anniversary giveaway. 

Today is my Friday.
shanananaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Thursday Thoughts - sliding into third

1. This week is carnival week on my street so some dick in a box from outside of the neighborhood parks the wrong way on the street constantly. Turn around and park correctly, you lazy shitgibbon.

2. I watched in fascination as a fellow commuter set out her trashbag seat cover on the train and then again next to me on the shuttle bus to the park-n-ride. I mean, I fear bed bugs. I get it. This lady had her shit down. Her husband was the only one who was visibly annoyed by her until she started yelling "Oh no, oh no, JESUS CHRIST IN YOUR NAME NO!" on the shuttle bus because there was a car in sight on the road as the bus was making a left. Then people got snarky as fuck with her, telling her the bus driver did that every day.  She replied, "It only takes once for us to all die a fiery death." Thanks for that. Cheers and goodnight, lady.

3. I have worked three blocks from here for years, walked by it a million times, and I swear I've never noticed this.

4. I can't get in depth this week with politics, but the resistance is clever as fuck. And mighty.

5. Crazy Christians who want to control women's bodies and who other people can marry among other things scare me more than ISIS...mainly because my fellow citizens don't seem to have a big problem with that form of control.

6. The Progression of Productivity this week:
Monday night...I went to Marshalls, made turkey taco lettuce wraps and prepped breakfasts and lunches for the week, washed pans and ran the dishwasher, packed up bathing suits to take and leave at the shore, mopped the bathroom floor (AKA Dog Pee Town), washed and dried a load of shore towels + home towels, sorted mail and opened packages, reorganized my laundry stuff, watched the season finale of Billions, and read.
Tuesday night...voted, went to to the fool carnival, folded towels, unloaded dishwasher, finished a book.
Wednesday night...slumped, slack jawed and lifeless on the couch, hot and annoyed. Rallied to make naan pizzas, fold more towels, wipe down the kitchen, put a vat of iced coffee in the fridge to process, pick up the living room, cycle MFD's laundry, and do a load of my own laundry, all while humming a tune called special prosecutor under my breath.
Thursday night...can she make it four productive nights in a row? Probably not. I woke up feeling sick to my stomach and MFD will be walking 10 miles in the heat with the Earth Quaker Action Team for Green Jobs & Justice so it'll be a slow night at home.

7.  Sometimes when I'm in a stabby mood I google fuck you images and then I feel calmer. Is that how you define crazy?

8. I feel like I see car selfies more than ever. Just me?

9.  I'm super pumped for this weekend. I'm going to get some shit done at home, I'm going to see some of my people and celebrate MBD's birthday, and I'm going to put the shore house back together after the carpet replacement that happened this week and be mostly done with shore chores inside for the summer. There is some touch up painting that needs to be done but otherwise I'm fucking free.

10. E-card of the week...we might be waiting a while this week.

Home stretch of the week. 

Linking up with Kristin & Joey 

Thursday Thoughts - Currently

Reading: The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman. Yesterday was library day and Tuesday is Show Us Your Books. Hi-yah!

Watching: Aside from reruns of the Golden Girls and The Office, nothing, really. I am probably down to about an hour a week of TV.

Requiring: Oxford commas. A local college student contacted me wanting free space here to beef up her portfolio. I said sure...as long as you believe in the Oxford comma. Team Oxford Comma for life.

Needing: To spend as much time outside at lunch as possible when it's sunny. Instant mood improver.

Dining: with my oldest friend last night. Jen and I have been friends for almost 37 years. We suck at keeping dinner dates but every once in a while we get our shit together and whenever we see each other it's like no time has passed. We are being advanced for us and already planning another outing with Kelly.

Avoiding: making eye doctor and dentist appointments. No good reason on the former, fear on the latter.

Following: This series from the LA Times editorial board - one two three punch. Part I: Our Dishonest President, Part II: Why trump Lies; Part III: trump's Authoritarian Vision; Part IV: trump's War on Journalism; Part V Conspiracy Theorist in Chief; and Part VI comes out Friday. The lower case Ts are mine, not theirs. Not capitalizing his name, sorry. I don't even like typing it out.

Participating: in democracy, because it is required. I made calls to my Senators this week on Gorsuch not getting a hearing as long as the POTUS and/or his administration are under investigation by the FBI for collusion and treason; attended a municipal meeting in support of ending gerrymandering on Monday; called and faxed my state rep Brendan Boyle and asked him to support SB22 to end gerrymandering in Pennsylvania and support an independent commission to draw up PA's congressional and state legislative district maps; also asked Boyle to not support SB3, a very chilling anti-abortion bill in the PA House right now. Then I contacted my Senators about Gorsuch plagiarizing because WTF. I also use ResistBot like it's my job.

Finishing: My part of the tax info gathering. Every year I'm all I'm going to do this quarterly next year. Newp.

Reminding you:

Laughing: 

Savoring: the fact that I'm peacing out on the week today. Hello, three day weekend. 

What's up with you?

Linking up with Kristin & Joey and Kristen & Gretch