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shadowkatIt occurred to me just now that we live in a world that is trying to kill us. Constantly. Through various methods. Pick your poison. It's either the negative thoughts in one's head, abject lonliness, anxiety, various ailments hereditary and otherwise, diseases, medical conditions, chronic illness, negative messaging from advertising, social media, etc, vehicles, guns, other people, natural predators, mother nature...and I'm certain I've left out something. [ Which is a long way of saying the Governor's Mask Mandates are back, as if it ever left - I've been wearing a mask since April 2020, when I managed to get my hands on them. We didn't have any masks before that. Okay maybe the second to last week in March?]
Staying alive for fifty some years is a bit of an accomplishment really.
One should be grateful.
Not only that - having a job, shelter, some semblance of a family, good food (ability to cook), free transportation (perk of working for a transportation company), health care coverage, entertainment choices, access to the internet, air conditioning, heat, hot water/cold water, drinking water, and laundry facility nearby with elevator access ...are gifts. I've done without a few of them, so I recognize how great they are. Also plenty to read, and electronic devices to cart over a thousand books with me wherever I go. Time was - I had to cart the actual hard copies.
Did you know that David Bowie owned a suitcase that just carted books or traveling book case? It was a traveling book case with various compartments. I remember seeing it at the David Bowie art exhibit way back in 2019. In case you don't believe me, no reason why you shouldn't, here's a Traveling Book Case of more than 400 books. Now I do it with an e-reader. I also have books on an audio reader, plus comics on HD Fire Reader.
I'm concerned about my hot flashes - I couldn't sleep last night due to constant flucuations in temperature. I did sleep, so I amend that, didn't sleep all that well. I know I slept - because funky dreams. I think anxiety makes them worse? Lovely. So does radiator heat. I turned on the air conditioner - and ended up either being freezing or too hot. I was kicking off the duvet comforters (weighted comforter, and light one) and pulling it back on. (I really want a light quilt.) Duvets don't work that well with hot flashes.
I may start putting ice on my chest at night. I'd take soy for it, but soy and my body aren't exactly mixy things. I'm tempted to try it again though.
***
Co-workers talked me into calling the car service and rescheduling pick-up for 4:30 AM on Sunday. One also told me that if it didn't arrive (it has always arrived in the past), that I can always call an Uber or a Lyft. It's just that it is so early on a Sunday morning. Should be okay though.
They couldn't confirm the rescheduling by text, but they did do it by email. Driver hasn't been assigned yet.
Worrying is kind of pointless. There's nothing else I can do, it's out of my hands.
Also, I discovered I've co-workers who get my anxieties. They have them too. I am trying to make friends with my anxieties. Embrace them. I've done meditation, learned to breath through them, and of course Winged CBD made for women. (I wish it had less sugar in it.) Good news, I did not buy Russell Stover's chocolate Covered Marshemellows shaped like Santa Claus and Xmas trees from the pharmacy.
Mother decided to berate me into seeing my brother, SIL, and niece right after I visit her. I finally got her to back off, when I told her that she was stressing me out. (She was.) There's no time. I get back the 27th. If I were to do it, I'd have to get tickets on Amtrak, and hike up there for three days. We don't exactly get along. Well, we do, but for a limited amount of time. Also, I get bored quickly at his place and its not the most comfortable house on the planet.
***
Thinking of going back to writing my fantasy novel tonight, worked on it a little last night - get my mind off things. Work was productive today and the day flew by fast. I hope it does the next few days as well. Being busy helps abate the anxiety.
***
The Governor's mask mandate - indoors and outdoors, but everywhere you go indoors now. People are fighting it. Or rather local communities are fighting the Governor's mandate.
In other COVID news, the idiotic Australian soap opera actor by way of Germany whose currently living in LA - has decided to sue Disney over the vaccine mandate. Claiming it was unconstitutional, and in violation of his rights.
Soap Actor Sues ABC Over COVID Vaccine Mandate
Former General Hospital actor Ingo Rademacher is suing ABC over its COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
After separating from the show in November for refusing to comply with the production's mandate, Rademacher called it "blatantly unlawful" in court documents filed in Los Angeles on Monday and obtained by PEOPLE.
"ABC does not have the authority to force a medical treatment to its employees against their will," the lawsuit states. "These actions constitute religious discrimination and violate Mr. Rademacher's rights under state and federal law."
According to the documents, Rademacher sent an email to Disney's HR department in October that argued he was "entitled to a religious exemption against mandatory vaccination for COVID-19 on the basis of my deeply and sincerely held moral belief that my body is endowed by my creator with natural processes to protect me and that its natural integrity cannot ethically be violated by the administration of artificially created copies of genetic material, foreign to nature and experimental."
The suit says he was then asked to participate in an interview with an HR lawyer about his religious exemption, which he likened to a "cross-examination." Following the interview, his request was denied and his contract was terminated, the documents state.
A spokesperson for ABC was not immediately available to comment on the matter.
In a statement to PEOPLE, Rademacher's lawyer, Scott Street of JW Howard Attorneys, says, "This case is about freedom, including freedom of religion and the right to privacy that all Californians have under our state constitution. Cases decided a hundred years ago don't change that. The world has evolved since then. The law has evolved since then. We look forward to litigating those issues in court."
Rademacher played Jasper "Jax" Jacks on and off for 25 years. He addressed his exit from the show in a video posted to Instagram last week.
"I was on the show for 25 years. They're like my family, a lot of the people there and I was really hoping that I could play Jax for another 10 or 25 years," he said, adding that his exit from the show "is still something that I'm trying to process."
What's amusing is that he wasn't on it for 25 years. He was on it for about five, left, came back, left again for a long ass time, came back, left again, and has really only been back four years. He comes and goes. Why anyone would miss him is beyond me, it's not like he had much of a storyline. He's not the main character. He's supporting and they had sidelined him already for being an ass on social media. And he had no storyline. Plus he's been written out numerous times in the past. They didn't recast him nor did they kill him off, they just sent him off on a long business trip - which he always does. That character is rarely on the show. Add to all of this? He's an aging actor on a daytime soap opera. Job security on a soap opera is kind of laughable unless you're a big draw. If he had any sense, which he doesn't obviously, he'd let bygones be bygones and just walk away.
My god. When I think things can't get any more ridiculous or absurd than they already are - they do. I get the fear of the vaccine, I do, but I got it. My coworkers got it. People who can't handle getting blood taken or shots, got it. I know people who got side-effects, bad ones, from each dose and did it. Vaccines are necessary for public health and have been required since well forever. We just got spoiled - with the HIV, H1N1, Flu shots, and SARS. We didn't all have to get vaccines for those ailments, so could choose. COVID is like polio, smallpox, measels, etc - it's deadly, so yes, we have vaccines.
***
* The James Webb Space Telescope is ready for takeoff, after two decades, $10 billion and years of delay.
The bigger and more powerful successor to the Hubble Space Telescope is scheduled to lift off from a European launch site in French Guiana next week, endowed with the hopes and trepidations of a generation of astronomers.
If the telescope survives the launch, it still has to unfurl its big golden mirror and prevent itself from melting, with no prospect of human or robotic intervention should something go wrong. But what astronomers see through that telescope could change everything by bringing into focus the earliest stars and galaxies in the universe.
“The next decade of astronomy and astrophysics is predicated on J.W. being successful,” one cosmologist said.
* Our ex-Governor Cuomo...has been told to turn over to the NY State attorney general over $5.1 Million in proceeds from his memoir which he created using government resources and staff. (I'm amazed they let him do it in the first place, or rather, with Cuomo - he never asked, hence the problem.) This is his much touted "Lessons Learned" book. That Governor will did like his hubris get out of control, didn't he?
Andrew Cuomo was ordered to turn over about $5.1 million from his memoir to the state attorney general by a New York ethics board.
The ex-governor ran afoul of ethics laws in writing a book focused on his leadership during the pandemic, a state panel had previously found. The Joint Commission on Public Ethics directed Cuomo to relinquish the money within 30 days, and authorized the attorney general’s office to enforce the collection. Cuomo vowed to fight the order in court.
Cuomo has already donated $500,000 of the book’s proceeds to charity, and placed another $1 million in a trust for his daughters.
* The House is poised to recommend holding Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff, in contempt for refusing to cooperate with the Jan. 6 investigation. [Wasn't he already cooperating with them? He released a ton of documents. There's more? Makes you wonder how bad this truly is...also, they aren't kidding around. I have a feeling a lot of idiotic Conservative Republicans are going to end up in jail paying huge fines by the time this is over. With any luck it will take down the party.]
The vote would send the matter to the Justice Department, which would consider whether to prosecute Meadows. He would be the first former member of Congress to be held in contempt of the body he once served in nearly 200 years.
Meadows had previously given the committee thousands of pages of documents. Among them were texts from three Fox News hosts, who urged Meadows to persuade President Trump to stop the Capitol rioters. [The more information that comes out, the more absurd it is - and the more I wonder about the idiots who still support them. Are they insane? ]
* In New York, prosecutors are focusing on whether Trump misled his accountants as they weigh whether to charge him with fraud. [ Of course he did. New York has been gearing up to charge Trump with fraud for six years now, I honestly doubt they will veer away from it now. New York hates him with a vengeance. Most New Yorkers (those with a brain who've been paying attention) know he's a crook.
* Separately, the Proud Boys, a far-right nationalist group, are showing up at school board meetings and other local events to influence the 2022 midterms. [Sigh. Why aren't they treated like a terrorist organization? They should be rounded up and treated the same way as ISIS and the Al Queada. I honestly see no difference between them. Also if a terrorist is supporting your views in any way, you probably should reassess them.]
***
Random Photo of the Evening...
Staying alive for fifty some years is a bit of an accomplishment really.
One should be grateful.
Not only that - having a job, shelter, some semblance of a family, good food (ability to cook), free transportation (perk of working for a transportation company), health care coverage, entertainment choices, access to the internet, air conditioning, heat, hot water/cold water, drinking water, and laundry facility nearby with elevator access ...are gifts. I've done without a few of them, so I recognize how great they are. Also plenty to read, and electronic devices to cart over a thousand books with me wherever I go. Time was - I had to cart the actual hard copies.
Did you know that David Bowie owned a suitcase that just carted books or traveling book case? It was a traveling book case with various compartments. I remember seeing it at the David Bowie art exhibit way back in 2019. In case you don't believe me, no reason why you shouldn't, here's a Traveling Book Case of more than 400 books. Now I do it with an e-reader. I also have books on an audio reader, plus comics on HD Fire Reader.
I'm concerned about my hot flashes - I couldn't sleep last night due to constant flucuations in temperature. I did sleep, so I amend that, didn't sleep all that well. I know I slept - because funky dreams. I think anxiety makes them worse? Lovely. So does radiator heat. I turned on the air conditioner - and ended up either being freezing or too hot. I was kicking off the duvet comforters (weighted comforter, and light one) and pulling it back on. (I really want a light quilt.) Duvets don't work that well with hot flashes.
I may start putting ice on my chest at night. I'd take soy for it, but soy and my body aren't exactly mixy things. I'm tempted to try it again though.
***
Co-workers talked me into calling the car service and rescheduling pick-up for 4:30 AM on Sunday. One also told me that if it didn't arrive (it has always arrived in the past), that I can always call an Uber or a Lyft. It's just that it is so early on a Sunday morning. Should be okay though.
They couldn't confirm the rescheduling by text, but they did do it by email. Driver hasn't been assigned yet.
Worrying is kind of pointless. There's nothing else I can do, it's out of my hands.
Also, I discovered I've co-workers who get my anxieties. They have them too. I am trying to make friends with my anxieties. Embrace them. I've done meditation, learned to breath through them, and of course Winged CBD made for women. (I wish it had less sugar in it.) Good news, I did not buy Russell Stover's chocolate Covered Marshemellows shaped like Santa Claus and Xmas trees from the pharmacy.
Mother decided to berate me into seeing my brother, SIL, and niece right after I visit her. I finally got her to back off, when I told her that she was stressing me out. (She was.) There's no time. I get back the 27th. If I were to do it, I'd have to get tickets on Amtrak, and hike up there for three days. We don't exactly get along. Well, we do, but for a limited amount of time. Also, I get bored quickly at his place and its not the most comfortable house on the planet.
***
Thinking of going back to writing my fantasy novel tonight, worked on it a little last night - get my mind off things. Work was productive today and the day flew by fast. I hope it does the next few days as well. Being busy helps abate the anxiety.
***
The Governor's mask mandate - indoors and outdoors, but everywhere you go indoors now. People are fighting it. Or rather local communities are fighting the Governor's mandate.
In other COVID news, the idiotic Australian soap opera actor by way of Germany whose currently living in LA - has decided to sue Disney over the vaccine mandate. Claiming it was unconstitutional, and in violation of his rights.
Soap Actor Sues ABC Over COVID Vaccine Mandate
Former General Hospital actor Ingo Rademacher is suing ABC over its COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
After separating from the show in November for refusing to comply with the production's mandate, Rademacher called it "blatantly unlawful" in court documents filed in Los Angeles on Monday and obtained by PEOPLE.
"ABC does not have the authority to force a medical treatment to its employees against their will," the lawsuit states. "These actions constitute religious discrimination and violate Mr. Rademacher's rights under state and federal law."
According to the documents, Rademacher sent an email to Disney's HR department in October that argued he was "entitled to a religious exemption against mandatory vaccination for COVID-19 on the basis of my deeply and sincerely held moral belief that my body is endowed by my creator with natural processes to protect me and that its natural integrity cannot ethically be violated by the administration of artificially created copies of genetic material, foreign to nature and experimental."
The suit says he was then asked to participate in an interview with an HR lawyer about his religious exemption, which he likened to a "cross-examination." Following the interview, his request was denied and his contract was terminated, the documents state.
A spokesperson for ABC was not immediately available to comment on the matter.
In a statement to PEOPLE, Rademacher's lawyer, Scott Street of JW Howard Attorneys, says, "This case is about freedom, including freedom of religion and the right to privacy that all Californians have under our state constitution. Cases decided a hundred years ago don't change that. The world has evolved since then. The law has evolved since then. We look forward to litigating those issues in court."
Rademacher played Jasper "Jax" Jacks on and off for 25 years. He addressed his exit from the show in a video posted to Instagram last week.
"I was on the show for 25 years. They're like my family, a lot of the people there and I was really hoping that I could play Jax for another 10 or 25 years," he said, adding that his exit from the show "is still something that I'm trying to process."
What's amusing is that he wasn't on it for 25 years. He was on it for about five, left, came back, left again for a long ass time, came back, left again, and has really only been back four years. He comes and goes. Why anyone would miss him is beyond me, it's not like he had much of a storyline. He's not the main character. He's supporting and they had sidelined him already for being an ass on social media. And he had no storyline. Plus he's been written out numerous times in the past. They didn't recast him nor did they kill him off, they just sent him off on a long business trip - which he always does. That character is rarely on the show. Add to all of this? He's an aging actor on a daytime soap opera. Job security on a soap opera is kind of laughable unless you're a big draw. If he had any sense, which he doesn't obviously, he'd let bygones be bygones and just walk away.
My god. When I think things can't get any more ridiculous or absurd than they already are - they do. I get the fear of the vaccine, I do, but I got it. My coworkers got it. People who can't handle getting blood taken or shots, got it. I know people who got side-effects, bad ones, from each dose and did it. Vaccines are necessary for public health and have been required since well forever. We just got spoiled - with the HIV, H1N1, Flu shots, and SARS. We didn't all have to get vaccines for those ailments, so could choose. COVID is like polio, smallpox, measels, etc - it's deadly, so yes, we have vaccines.
***
* The James Webb Space Telescope is ready for takeoff, after two decades, $10 billion and years of delay.
The bigger and more powerful successor to the Hubble Space Telescope is scheduled to lift off from a European launch site in French Guiana next week, endowed with the hopes and trepidations of a generation of astronomers.
If the telescope survives the launch, it still has to unfurl its big golden mirror and prevent itself from melting, with no prospect of human or robotic intervention should something go wrong. But what astronomers see through that telescope could change everything by bringing into focus the earliest stars and galaxies in the universe.
“The next decade of astronomy and astrophysics is predicated on J.W. being successful,” one cosmologist said.
* Our ex-Governor Cuomo...has been told to turn over to the NY State attorney general over $5.1 Million in proceeds from his memoir which he created using government resources and staff. (I'm amazed they let him do it in the first place, or rather, with Cuomo - he never asked, hence the problem.) This is his much touted "Lessons Learned" book. That Governor will did like his hubris get out of control, didn't he?
Andrew Cuomo was ordered to turn over about $5.1 million from his memoir to the state attorney general by a New York ethics board.
The ex-governor ran afoul of ethics laws in writing a book focused on his leadership during the pandemic, a state panel had previously found. The Joint Commission on Public Ethics directed Cuomo to relinquish the money within 30 days, and authorized the attorney general’s office to enforce the collection. Cuomo vowed to fight the order in court.
Cuomo has already donated $500,000 of the book’s proceeds to charity, and placed another $1 million in a trust for his daughters.
* The House is poised to recommend holding Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff, in contempt for refusing to cooperate with the Jan. 6 investigation. [Wasn't he already cooperating with them? He released a ton of documents. There's more? Makes you wonder how bad this truly is...also, they aren't kidding around. I have a feeling a lot of idiotic Conservative Republicans are going to end up in jail paying huge fines by the time this is over. With any luck it will take down the party.]
The vote would send the matter to the Justice Department, which would consider whether to prosecute Meadows. He would be the first former member of Congress to be held in contempt of the body he once served in nearly 200 years.
Meadows had previously given the committee thousands of pages of documents. Among them were texts from three Fox News hosts, who urged Meadows to persuade President Trump to stop the Capitol rioters. [The more information that comes out, the more absurd it is - and the more I wonder about the idiots who still support them. Are they insane? ]
* In New York, prosecutors are focusing on whether Trump misled his accountants as they weigh whether to charge him with fraud. [ Of course he did. New York has been gearing up to charge Trump with fraud for six years now, I honestly doubt they will veer away from it now. New York hates him with a vengeance. Most New Yorkers (those with a brain who've been paying attention) know he's a crook.
* Separately, the Proud Boys, a far-right nationalist group, are showing up at school board meetings and other local events to influence the 2022 midterms. [Sigh. Why aren't they treated like a terrorist organization? They should be rounded up and treated the same way as ISIS and the Al Queada. I honestly see no difference between them. Also if a terrorist is supporting your views in any way, you probably should reassess them.]
***
Random Photo of the Evening...