Day #16 of Year 2 of Pandemic
Apr. 2nd, 2021 09:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatI wonder if I should have just kept counting from Day 365?
Anyhow, I'm annoyed with Crazy Company again. Remember how I said that someone in my neighborhood found my pass, and company's pass office advised that they would just void my check and send it back to me? Well, guess what?
I got my LIRR pass by certified mail today.
I'm amazed the trains run sometimes. I truly am.
Needless to say, I'm annoyed.
But alas can do nothing. It's annoying that I can't punch the people who keep annoying me in the nose.
Oh well, didn't do much today.
Spent a few hours this morning listening to Michelle Obama's book "Becoming" on audio. It's a long book - but I've only got four hours of it left. After listening to it for two months now. It's very insightful and uhm, rage inducing? She did not enjoy being First Lady. I'm not sure anyone does. You have no privacy. People treat you as if you belong to them or owe them something. It's insane. The press rips apart and scrutinizes everything you do or wear or say.
She and her husband went for a date in NYC to see a show - but it was the only time they went. They didn't go again, because it was such an ordeal, and they got a lot of flack for doing it. She visits the Queen of England, shares an intimate personal moment, and makes the big faux pause of putting her arm over the Queen's shoulder affectionately. The Queen didn't mind. It was a human moment. But the British public did. At one point she wears shorts going to visit a place in Arizona or Texas in over 100 degree heat, and they get upset about her attire. Then, she got into a fight with the secret service over the fact that her ten year old daughter wanted to go out to have ice cream with friends, and they made everyone wait over an hour for them to get a special security detail from out of state to assist.
She stated that the only important person is the President, his family has to be protected so he's never distracted from his job. And her job as first lady is basically to support him, and everything she did was vetted through his staff.
And how women outside the White House expected her to fulfill all these different roles - to validate them in some way.
My god.
And how the Republicans leapt on any opportunity to critique her behavior or the inappropriateness of her attire. Oscar Del Renta was upset she wasn't wearing his designs - she was promoting Minority designers.
After listening to this, I felt an overwhelming desire to strangle people.
I couldn't do what she did. I don't know how their marriage survived.
It's an interesting listen back to back with Barack Obama's Promised Land, and far more honest. Obama doesn't quite go into as much detail on life inside the White House. Although he does state that it took a toll on his family and Michell, and how at times he questions whether he did the right thing, and kind of wishes he hadn't put them all through it. Although they never truly complained and supported him throughout. Barack is made differently than Michelle - he honestly doesn't care what people think of him. He exudes confidence, and it rolls off him. But she cares, and it doesn't roll off her shoulders as easily.
At any rate - it is not a life any of us would want. And it made it clear to me, at least, that our media is a bully. Actually our entire society is made up of bullies and narcissists. I stopped watching the news, and late-night talks shows ages ago - because I got tired of it.
I listened to it while I was doing household chores. Changing sheets on the bed, changing out the towels, cleaning parts of the bathroom and kitchen. Making almond flour pancakes. I really can't digest any grains except for organic oatmeal. I had gotten myself some gluten-free sourdough, and it gave me heart-burn. It's like glass going down the tubes. But had to turn it off to figure out the aerogarden. The Aerogarden - Harvest Elite Slim is problematic. It took me forever to get it to reset and work this morning. I kept pressing or touching the button and nothing happened. Or it went into self-check, and still nothing. I cleaned it out again, re-plugged it in, and tried again. Still nothing. Finally after about an hour of doing this - I got the damn thing to set the clock, set to herb garden, etc. Only to find out the clock was set to 1:23 AM, instead of 11:39 AM. So I had to set it again - which took a while.
The directions online state to arrange the pods like the kit tells you too. (It doesn't. So I guessed.)
Hopefully the dang things will sprout. I'm doing herbs - dill, curly parsley, thyme, thai basil, mint, and genovese basil. (I went with the gourmet herb garden, it was either that or the tea kit. I don't like the herb garden with the cilantro - because I don't like cilantro. It's genetic - apparently.)
After that, I talked to mother, who is hanging in there. She managed to get her 1099 form unencrypted, which was a major accomplishment actually - since she had to go through a whole online process to do it - and my mother thinks of herself as a luddite. I told her she's not as much of a luddite as she wants us to believe - she prints stuff off of her phone all the time.
And then got irritated by television shows. I really need to find a television series that doesn't make me cry or want to throw things at the television set.
I'm craving some story - not sure what it is. I tend to end up writing the stories I crave, because I can't find them elsewhere. They aren't tropes or genres or anything specific, just a story I want and I can't find it told the way I want it to be told, so I do it myself. Kind of the reason folks write fanfic, I think? I had a fanfic about Spike that I wanted and couldn't find, I wrote some of it in my head, but chickened out before it made it to paper. I can't write it now - don't have the characters or their voices in my head any longer, which is a key ingredient to fanfic.
In it? Spike had become human, but he was a vampire slayer - tough, rough,
and a watcher. He comes back to help train Buffy and the gang, but they don't recognize him as Spike. His hair is brown and shaved close to his head. He's tan. He's muscular. And he speaks with an American accent. Also
he wears different clothes. My problem with a lot of the Spike turns human or gets his soul fanfic, is people seemed to think he'd revert to William before he'd been sired. And that made no sense to me. You don't forget 156 years of violence, vampires, monsters, and being a badass. The demon may be gone, but what he learned isn't. He's just not super-powered, but he still would know the fight moves.
But I never found that fanfic. And I can't write it now - the story left me long ago. I always a little disappointed in fanfic. Just as I was always a little disappointed in the show. I wanted something - and it never came, and I don't really know what that something is.
A lot of television shows and books leave me with that feeling of "dissatisfication". I had that problem with Game of Thrones - both the books and the television series. I got disappointed. And same with Battlestar Galatica (both versions), Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, His Dark Materials, Doctor Who, Sherlock, oh so many ....
I thought Buffy was going to surprise me for a while there - that's why I got so obsessed, but alas, it did not.
The MCU movies did satisfy me, weirdly. I didn't expect them to. But I was satisfied for the most part. Justice League - the Snyder version satisfied more than the Whedon did, but there was still something I wanted from it. I felt more satisfied, oddly with Nolan's Batman films.
I can't always tell people what it is that will satisfy me or what I'm looking for. To be honest, I don't rightly know. If I did. It would be easier to find it.
Anyhow, I'm annoyed with Crazy Company again. Remember how I said that someone in my neighborhood found my pass, and company's pass office advised that they would just void my check and send it back to me? Well, guess what?
I got my LIRR pass by certified mail today.
I'm amazed the trains run sometimes. I truly am.
Needless to say, I'm annoyed.
But alas can do nothing. It's annoying that I can't punch the people who keep annoying me in the nose.
Oh well, didn't do much today.
Spent a few hours this morning listening to Michelle Obama's book "Becoming" on audio. It's a long book - but I've only got four hours of it left. After listening to it for two months now. It's very insightful and uhm, rage inducing? She did not enjoy being First Lady. I'm not sure anyone does. You have no privacy. People treat you as if you belong to them or owe them something. It's insane. The press rips apart and scrutinizes everything you do or wear or say.
She and her husband went for a date in NYC to see a show - but it was the only time they went. They didn't go again, because it was such an ordeal, and they got a lot of flack for doing it. She visits the Queen of England, shares an intimate personal moment, and makes the big faux pause of putting her arm over the Queen's shoulder affectionately. The Queen didn't mind. It was a human moment. But the British public did. At one point she wears shorts going to visit a place in Arizona or Texas in over 100 degree heat, and they get upset about her attire. Then, she got into a fight with the secret service over the fact that her ten year old daughter wanted to go out to have ice cream with friends, and they made everyone wait over an hour for them to get a special security detail from out of state to assist.
She stated that the only important person is the President, his family has to be protected so he's never distracted from his job. And her job as first lady is basically to support him, and everything she did was vetted through his staff.
And how women outside the White House expected her to fulfill all these different roles - to validate them in some way.
My god.
And how the Republicans leapt on any opportunity to critique her behavior or the inappropriateness of her attire. Oscar Del Renta was upset she wasn't wearing his designs - she was promoting Minority designers.
After listening to this, I felt an overwhelming desire to strangle people.
I couldn't do what she did. I don't know how their marriage survived.
It's an interesting listen back to back with Barack Obama's Promised Land, and far more honest. Obama doesn't quite go into as much detail on life inside the White House. Although he does state that it took a toll on his family and Michell, and how at times he questions whether he did the right thing, and kind of wishes he hadn't put them all through it. Although they never truly complained and supported him throughout. Barack is made differently than Michelle - he honestly doesn't care what people think of him. He exudes confidence, and it rolls off him. But she cares, and it doesn't roll off her shoulders as easily.
At any rate - it is not a life any of us would want. And it made it clear to me, at least, that our media is a bully. Actually our entire society is made up of bullies and narcissists. I stopped watching the news, and late-night talks shows ages ago - because I got tired of it.
I listened to it while I was doing household chores. Changing sheets on the bed, changing out the towels, cleaning parts of the bathroom and kitchen. Making almond flour pancakes. I really can't digest any grains except for organic oatmeal. I had gotten myself some gluten-free sourdough, and it gave me heart-burn. It's like glass going down the tubes. But had to turn it off to figure out the aerogarden. The Aerogarden - Harvest Elite Slim is problematic. It took me forever to get it to reset and work this morning. I kept pressing or touching the button and nothing happened. Or it went into self-check, and still nothing. I cleaned it out again, re-plugged it in, and tried again. Still nothing. Finally after about an hour of doing this - I got the damn thing to set the clock, set to herb garden, etc. Only to find out the clock was set to 1:23 AM, instead of 11:39 AM. So I had to set it again - which took a while.
The directions online state to arrange the pods like the kit tells you too. (It doesn't. So I guessed.)
Hopefully the dang things will sprout. I'm doing herbs - dill, curly parsley, thyme, thai basil, mint, and genovese basil. (I went with the gourmet herb garden, it was either that or the tea kit. I don't like the herb garden with the cilantro - because I don't like cilantro. It's genetic - apparently.)
After that, I talked to mother, who is hanging in there. She managed to get her 1099 form unencrypted, which was a major accomplishment actually - since she had to go through a whole online process to do it - and my mother thinks of herself as a luddite. I told her she's not as much of a luddite as she wants us to believe - she prints stuff off of her phone all the time.
And then got irritated by television shows. I really need to find a television series that doesn't make me cry or want to throw things at the television set.
I'm craving some story - not sure what it is. I tend to end up writing the stories I crave, because I can't find them elsewhere. They aren't tropes or genres or anything specific, just a story I want and I can't find it told the way I want it to be told, so I do it myself. Kind of the reason folks write fanfic, I think? I had a fanfic about Spike that I wanted and couldn't find, I wrote some of it in my head, but chickened out before it made it to paper. I can't write it now - don't have the characters or their voices in my head any longer, which is a key ingredient to fanfic.
In it? Spike had become human, but he was a vampire slayer - tough, rough,
and a watcher. He comes back to help train Buffy and the gang, but they don't recognize him as Spike. His hair is brown and shaved close to his head. He's tan. He's muscular. And he speaks with an American accent. Also
he wears different clothes. My problem with a lot of the Spike turns human or gets his soul fanfic, is people seemed to think he'd revert to William before he'd been sired. And that made no sense to me. You don't forget 156 years of violence, vampires, monsters, and being a badass. The demon may be gone, but what he learned isn't. He's just not super-powered, but he still would know the fight moves.
But I never found that fanfic. And I can't write it now - the story left me long ago. I always a little disappointed in fanfic. Just as I was always a little disappointed in the show. I wanted something - and it never came, and I don't really know what that something is.
A lot of television shows and books leave me with that feeling of "dissatisfication". I had that problem with Game of Thrones - both the books and the television series. I got disappointed. And same with Battlestar Galatica (both versions), Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, His Dark Materials, Doctor Who, Sherlock, oh so many ....
I thought Buffy was going to surprise me for a while there - that's why I got so obsessed, but alas, it did not.
The MCU movies did satisfy me, weirdly. I didn't expect them to. But I was satisfied for the most part. Justice League - the Snyder version satisfied more than the Whedon did, but there was still something I wanted from it. I felt more satisfied, oddly with Nolan's Batman films.
I can't always tell people what it is that will satisfy me or what I'm looking for. To be honest, I don't rightly know. If I did. It would be easier to find it.
no subject
Date: 2021-04-03 02:46 pm (UTC)Oh yes, and indifferent to the effects of what it does. And while I wouldn't say the whole society is, certainly life online makes clear how many there are.
Good luck with the herb garden!
no subject
Date: 2021-04-04 08:36 am (UTC)Hah! Me too! But when you get the opportunity to do so - or an equivalent - I have to tell you, it is immensely satisfying. Especially how surprised they are.