Post-NY

I returned from a quick trip to New York a day ago and, while I enjoy visiting New York, I also enjoy leaving. It's a lot to take. A lot of people, a lot of everything. As I blogged about earlier, being in the thick of the Pride Parade crowds was a treat even though I didn't make it to the parade itself. The people-watching was great. Lots of interesting outfits in the crowd. The two guys I saw wearing see-through mesh shorts (one with a red thong underneath and the other with silver bikini briefs) were certainly a highlight. And both guys had the kind of young, hot bodies to carry these looks off! I feel so old when I go to New York now. It's like a new crop of young people have taken over. I don't know where they get the funds to live there. Maybe they're not actually living in the city or they have five roommates. I would encourage any young people who want to have a New York experience to go for it, but to make sure they have a job and housing lined up.

Happy Pride Month

I’m in New York for my day job and I came to town on the day of the Pride Parade. Thankfully there was good weather for the festivities. Huge crowds aren’t really my thing so I didn’t go but I hope the folks who did turn out had a great time. I was glad to see so many people of color out here in full force for the parade. That’s great. Since I had time to kill before I could get into my hotel room, I spent some time reading and people watching in Central Park. Happy Pride Month to everyone!

The Government We Deserve

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: We get the government we deserve. I don't understand all of the shock and awe over Donny T.'s latest publicity stunt to separate and cage immigrant children. Did people not pay attention to what Donny said on the campaign trail? Did they think he was bullshitting? What you saw on the trail is what you get in the White House. I shake my head at people who thought Donny would change after becoming POTUS. Seventy-something year old people don't change, not like that. By this time in their lives, their views are largely set in stone. So enough of the pearl clutching and gasps of shock and claims of "I can't believe he's doing this" because he IS doing it. The question now is what's going to be done about it?

Watching all of this news about the Mexican border has made me think about the time I went on a tour to Tijuana years ago during a trip to San Diego. We went by bus and had a few hours to explore Tijuana. I spent the majority of my time in the station waiting for the bus to take me back to San Diego. Tijuana, for me, was no bueno. (I did have a nice lunch there and got a nice brown suede purse.) But the most fascinating thing for me was seeing the chaos at the border.  (This was before 9-11 when you could go to Mexico on a driver's license and a passport wasn't required for US citizens.) It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Thankfully, our group was able to have expedited service and avoid the long lines that Mexican folks had to endure who crossed the border for work or whatever. The border then was a hot mess and I can't even imagine what it's like now.

(Don't) Step Into My Life

I have a stepmother and step-siblings. My father and stepmother have been married longer than my father and mother were married and they seem to be in it for the long haul. I have no issues real issues with my stepmother. She's not overbearing or awful like stereotypical stepmothers are. Her kids, however, are another issue. I'm just not a fan of the bulk of them. They were raised in a different way than my sister and I were raised and I find myself just not on the same page with them a lot of the time. One of my stepsisters is a holy roller, another one just seems like she'd beat you down if given the opportunity. (The kids of the holy roller seem like they'd all beat you down too! I keep my distance!) My stepbrothers are a little more chill but even they seem slightly odd to me. Thankfully, I don't see them much since we all live in different states, so I don't have to spend a lot of time with them. One thing that bothers me about one of my stepsisters is that she seems to have co-opted my father in place of her own. I thought her real father was dead because none of the kids ever said a thing about him and I finally asked my stepmother last summer if he was deceased. She said he's alive and well in Michigan. The kids, however, don't seem to have any kind of relationship with him. I don't know what the backstory is on that and it's none of my business. Maybe that's why they cling to my father so much. Maybe he's the father they never had. I'm glad they enjoy my father so much, but I'm kind of annoyed that they call my father "Daddy." When my father married my stepmother, we were all adults. No one was a child who grew up with these two folks or lived under the same roof with them. I can't even see myself calling my stepmother "Mommy" or any variation of the word "Mother." My mother died more than twenty years ago and she's the only mother I had. My stepmother is not a replacement nor does she wish to be. She's my father's wife. Period. And her kids are just that...her kids.

Hereditary

I like a good scary movie and it's been a long time since I've seen one that really scared me. So I went to see Hereditary with high hopes for horror. It got good reviews, it has good actors (Toni Collette and Gabriel Byrne), so I figured it'd be a slam dunk, right? Wrong! For a movie that started great, it sure went off the rails, mainly in the last fifteen minutes. People being decapitated, setting others on fire, decomposing bodies, an overabundance of flies (Amityville?) all got a seat at the table in Hereditary. Are we still doing devil cult movies? Didn't that trend end in the 70's with Rosemary's Baby, the Wicker Man, etc.? Apparently not. When a modern movie throws in a devil/cult story line, I feel like that's just lazy writing. I watched a movie on TV not long ago from the 70's called (no surprise) Race with the Devil with Peter Fonda and Loretta Swit. The plot of that film was that two couples stumbled across a devil worship ceremony while they were driving across the country in an RV. Then the cult tries to kill them. I thought about that movie while I was watching Hereditary because, once again, devil worshipers were back on the big screen reeking havoc. I also thought at a movie from a few years ago called The Witch. Another horror movie that had good reviews but was a disappointment to me. (Spoiler alert: the goat did it!) Come on, Hollywood. You can do better!

Eat This Cake

So bakers can legally refuse to bake a cake for someone based on religious differences now? I'm waiting for the next case involving someone who refuses to bake a cake for someone who's of a different faith or someone whose skin color is different than their own because they believe that person is "cursed" via the bible or something. Ridiculous, but ridiculousness seems to be the law of the land these days. (Thanks for nothing, Donny aka Worst POTUS Ever!) Between the on-going reality show in Washington, the frenzied media flapping their gums non-stop about everything and nothing, and just the general feeling that something isn't right in the world these days, it's hard to stay positive, but we must push on. Keep calm and carry on, eat cake (but not the cake of the bigoted baker), block the noise, and try to survive.

Problem Solving?

I've been reading about the whole Starbucks employee training and the company's so-called resolution which is to allow anyone to use a Starbucks location for the toilets, wifi, and seating regardless of whether a purchase is made from the store. That sounds crazy to me. You'll have entire stores full of the homeless, loiterers, and anyone else who just wants to hang out. As someone who is not a frequent Starbucks customer, their new policy won't affect me personally, but I just think the management of that company could use some training themselves so they'll stop coming up with idiotic policies like this. Here's my hot take: if you want to use the Starbucks bathroom or partake of their wifi, then you (or at least someone in your party) needs to make a purchase at said Starbucks. Otherwise, adios, amigos! And that goes for everyone, regardless of race, creed, skin color, hair color, religion, whatever. This is a business. It's not the public library. If paying customers go into a Starbucks and see that it's filled with the homeless, they'll stop going to that Starbucks. And maybe that's a good thing. Maybe those customers will give their business to another franchise or an independent coffee house.