Odd comment below. Brenda, I'm honestly not sure what you are trying to say. Yes, I did read that HuffPo article. It's pretty much what I've been saying for weeks - pace yourself, manage your outrage, pick a couple of issues because you can't "fix" everything by being perpetually outraged, take breaks - again, I went back and re-read my own posts to see if I remembered them correctly. (I did.) I believe this article did also share a link to a handy activism site: dailyaction.org. That article wasn't about "getting over your Trumprage" and "quit bitching." I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt here because initially I really was equally puzzled and pissed off by your comment, but mostly puzzled.
"but I think it's time to move past the Trumprage and to start doing something about it,"
Um, I believe that's what I've been doing.
"and finding new people to bitch at or new things to bitch about don't count."
Um...what? I'm genuinely confused. Does paying attention to the hijacking of our government sound like bitching to you? Why is that?
I've actually been feeling better and better! I mean, seriously, the past couple of days have been wildly empowering - the media is finally locking the barn door after the Russians stole the White House and is reporting on a lot of highly suspect shit that happened on Team Trump. Better late than never, I suppose. Before the coup would have been nice, but at this point we'll take what we can get.
Republicans are not having a good time at town meetings, even in safely red districts. People are PISSED and showing up. Again, better late than never.
And of course McConnell will be remembered forever for that incredibly dumb quote for the AGES about "She persisted." OMG, that was like CHRISTMAS! And then Lindsey Graham piled on with that "she had it coming" shit. Elizabeth Warren was already a rock star, but now she's sharing memes with the Statue of Liberty. Holy shit, that was fun! I want a t-shirt!
So, not only have I not been "bitching," I don't think I've been bitching at all in my posts here. Or maybe I've just misunderstood the concept of bitching for my entire life.
Here's something I have bitched about on Facebook recently: I'm so annoyed by how nearly every damn recipe site I click through from Pinterest follows the same model: It's a mostly white space Wordpress blog with a photo of the "owner" at the right. They all say something like, "Hi, I'm Becky, and I'm a stay-at-home mom of three who loves to cook healthy food!" and it has waaaay too much chatter about the 3rd grade play or whatever, WAAAAY too many incredibly dumbed down photos about how to slice a fucking onion, and - and this is what really kills me - NO LINK TO DOWNLOAD THE ACTUAL RECIPE. You have to suffer through the entire saga/photo montage of the cooking process - "and now, dice the onion" - photos of onion being diced - and you know what?? That is a recipe I'll never make, because for the love of God, some of us still know how to read words and don't need pictographs. And I also suspect that those blogs are all run by one guy using stock photos of those wholesome 30something housewives.
And OMG, it's spread to the crafting world! I had a wild idea that I wanted to crochet an afghan of hexagons. Easy, right? Just find a basic "recipe" in writing, adapt it to whatever I want to do with it. Every freaking thing I clicked on was a "Becky dices an onion" photo step-by-step, with no link to download a simple freaking one paragraph pattern. Row 1: Ch 6, sl st join, ch 3...etc., never mind a goddamn chart. I'm starting to fear that inability to read a pattern is going to follow inability to read a recipe without pictures, and eventually we will all be scratching everything on the cave walls of the internet using photos from our phones.
Now, THAT is just bitching. Talking about the future of the country and the world? Not the same thing.
So I don't post often lately, but when I do it does tend to run long. Yay Friday!
My daughter took a day off work today and went to the Epcot Art Thing with a friend from work. I didn't have a bad day at work, but it didn't help to get regular text messages about their adventures. Today was the dream Disney day, 72 degrees and cloudless skies, and there was an avocado margarita involved, and it was fabulous, and I was At Work. I'm not at all bitter. I did leave work an hour earlier than usual and went to Costco, because I needed a case of my favorite fancy mineral water. Two new bed pillows fell into my cart; they were on sale at the door. Hypoallergenic cotton, jumbo firm, 2 for $10 on special. Even if they only last a couple of months, they seemed worth a try.
There may be a Magic Kingdom trip tomorrow. It's being tossed around. I'm in if it happens. I had originally planned an at home spa weekend of painting nails and moisturizing things and killing my gray roots, but Big Thunder Mountain Railroad?? The nails can wait.
I'm flouncing, too---the constant anger and snark are exhausting. This comment you made about someone you describe as a childhood friend was the tipping point:
ReplyDelete"I've also lost a couple of Facebook friends, but the funny part is I am not sure who they were. I usually hide the feeds of people who bore or annoy me, so I'm assuming that, like my childhood friend who still shows up to say something stupid now and then, they hadn't hidden mine and have now unfriended me. No loss there, obviously. I'm hoping my childhood friend will follow suit shortly, but she's like the dumb dog that just wanders by to shit in the yard now and then."
I can handle negativity, but that was just plain mean. I hope that person doesn't read you blog and know that you were talking about her. I have admired your courage and your strength for a long time, but you are starting to sound as hateful and harsh as someone else we know. By all means, I agree that you should COC, but can you please dial the anger down a little bit? It's not helping me find a job that pays enough so that I can actually afford to work, and it's not lowering health care costs enough so that I can afford to get medical care even though I have health insurance because my deductibles and co-pays are so high that the insurance is really about worthless.
I do apologize for using the words "bitch" and "bitching." That was my anger and snark coming out. Not good.
One thing I forgot to mention in the health insurance discussion - both my parents were members of health and hospital care funds even before they met (pre-WW2), I even have an ancient premium payment book that dates to that era and the weekly contribution was 6 pence! In those days no automatic deductions - you had to go to the fund office or an official agency and pay in person.
ReplyDeleteThis was very lucky for me, with severe childhood asthma from an unusually early age - I have NEVER allowed my health insurance to lapse, so I have never been classified as having a pre-existing condition. The point that matters is continuity of membership, which is unaffected by changing from fund to fund. If your existing fund accepts your problems, the new one MUST.
These days, the asthma is a very minor problem, easily controlled with a preventer puffer, and I cannot remember the last time I used a treatment puffer. The preventer is (normal price) over $70.00 dollars a month, but because of government subsidies on essential medications for pensioners - I pay $6.30. The treatment puffers are also $6.30, so every New Year I check the expiry dates, and if necessary get a new prescription made up. On my Pharmacist's advice that is actually expiry date + 2 years, once it is past that point the puffer is regarded as unreliable.
All the best,
Gae, in Callala Bay
Okay, on a lighter note: I have to ask; what is an avacado margarita? I can't imagine that. (And I usually have a great imagination.). Also, keep persisting, girl! 😀
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what goes into an avocado margarita besides avocado and tequila, but my daughter said it was amazing, like a creamy smoothie, and the salt on the rim was flavored with hibiscus. I must sample the next time I visit Epcot and report back.
ReplyDeleteI'm having some sort of weird Blogger connectivity issue at the moment; I hope it resolves itself in the morning.