First-World Problems

I read two online articles today that illustrate just how different one's circumstances can be in life based on where one lives.

The first article was about how some parents were complaining online and to the manufacturer that their kid's Hatchimals haven't hatched as expected. One person tweeted that Christmas had been ruined for one of her kids because of the lack of Hatchimal hatching. Really? Christmas was ruined because a toy malfunctioned? People like this need to get a grip. If you let a toy ruin Christmas for you or your kids, then you don't understand what Christmas is about. #firstworldproblems

The second article I read was about how a lack of feminine hygiene products in certain developing countries, like Uganda, forces girls out of school. When you live in the United States where there are a plethora of tampons, pads, whatever at your nearest drug store/grocery store/Walmart to purchase, you sometimes forget that every woman doesn't have access to these kinds of products. People living in some remote part of Africa or India can't just walk or drive to the nearest Walgreens and pick up a pack of pads. These women often don't have access to basic sanitary goods that we are able to purchase freely and plentifully here in the States. 

Not Again

Once again, we mourn the loss of another musical superstar this year. When I heard about George Michael's death yesterday, I was stunned. I knew he'd been ill in the past, but I thought he had recovered. As a teenager in the 1980s, I loved Wham. I had a "Choose Life" sweatshirt and several Wham records. And when George became a solo singer, I still followed him and his music. This year has been terrible for a variety of reasons (celebrity deaths included). I'm sure I'm not alone in being ready to put this year in my rear view and move on from it. Hopefully 2017 will be better, but with the governmental changes coming, I'm not so sure about that. However, I am trying to remain optimistic because, really, what else can you do? Curl up in a ball and refuse the leave the house?

In other non-celebrity-death-related news, I saw the movie Fences yesterday. I was shocked at how crowded the theater was for the movie. Did everyone decide to go to the movies on Christmas? Apparently. The first theater my sister and I went to was sold out so we drove to another theater and were able to get tickets. The movie was great (albeit a little too long) and the performances were powerful. I hadn't read the August Wilson play before seeing the movie, so I had no idea what was going to happen in the film and I'm glad I didn't know ahead of time. I went from having sympathy for Denzel Washington's character to wanting to strangle him for being such a hard-ass. My only real complaint was that the kid who played the younger son in the movie just wasn't up to par with the other actors. He couldn't hold his own against Denzel and Viola Davis and I wish a more seasoned young actor had been cast in his place. Maybe Michael B. Jordan would have done a better job with the role.

RIP, George Michael.

Merry, Merry, Merry

Merry Christmas. If you don't celebrate the holiday, enjoy your day off. Hopefully you're not working. I'm looking forward to a day of eating, drinking, relaxing, writing, and watching Godzilla movies on the El Ray network. However you choose to spend the holiday, have a great one.

Party Poopers

I've been reading (with glee) news stories about performers turning down invitations to perform at Trump's inauguration. I'm surprised that he actually thought he'd get A-list talent to perform. What world has he been living in? When you pick a VP who believes in gay conversion therapy and wants businesses to be able to discriminate against gays and lesbians based on their religious beliefs, you cut out a huge demographic in the performing arts. On top of that, you run on a platform of racism, bigotry, sexism, etc. What performer in his or her right mind would agree to show up and sing for that kind of platform? Put politics aside for a moment and just think of the financial blowback any inauguration performer would receive if they performed at this event. Skipping the inauguration is, for many I'm sure, a business decision. A-listers don't want to lose money because half of their fans decide to boycott them for performing at Trump's inauguration. I'm surprised Trump isn't able to wrangle a few country singers to perform. Is he so toxic that he can't even get Carrie Underwood or Garth Brooks to show up? Apparently. Well, there's always Ted Nugent and Kid Rock. Thanks, Michigan.

Shut It!

Some people, as we all know, really need to shut it and limit expressing their private thoughts publicly. Today's candidates are, repeat offenders, Lena Dunham and Bill O'Reilly. I read that Dunham recently stated during an interview that she wishes she'd had an abortion. Huh? Who wishes something like that? It didn't take long for Dunham to apologize after she was publicly shamed for her statement. It seems like almost every time Dunham opens her mouth, she ends up apologizing for whatever stupid, ill-conceived statement she made. It amazes me that this woman has an entertainment career in front of the camera (and that's not an insult about her looks--that's an insult about her whole person). And recently Bill O'Reilly stated on his show that the "left" wants to take power away from the "white establishment." Say what now? What world does he think we're living in? This isn't the 1950s anymore, Bill. The last time I checked, the citizens of our country and its government is made up of all kinds of people and, guess what, they're not all white! When I hear the kind of diarrhea of the mouth that comes from people like Dunham and O'Reilly who have a public platform, I wonder if these folks are just trying to get some publicity. Clearly, they can't be that clueless, can they?

Anti-Social Media

There was a question in the advice column of today's edition of the Chicago Tribune where a reader who'd been invited to a party via social media and accepted the invitation via social media found out that another party invitee announced that he/she wouldn't attend the party if the reader would be there because the invitee didn't like the reader. The reader was wondering how to respond to such a rude statement. My advice would have been to tell the person who didn't want to attend the party if I'd be there to go f*** themselves. The whole scenario got me thinking about people who come back into your life via social media and how to deal with those you don't like. Because I'm not on Facebook or Twitter, I'm able to avoid a lot of people I no longer want to have anything to do with. I think I shut my Facebook page down in 2010 or 2011 and never looked back. I do miss seeing updates from family members and old friends and coworkers, but I don't miss having to deal with people I really didn't like in the past and have no desire to reconnect with in the future. I was thinking about a woman I used to work with in Philadelphia in the mid-1990s. I never liked this woman. She was stuck up and a bitch, yet many people in the company gravitated towards her. Why, I don't know. Maybe others in the office saw something in her that I didn't. I never told this woman that I didn't care for her. I just avoided her and minded my own business. I certainly didn't kiss her ass like others in the company did. I remember being at a housewarming party for one employee and this woman was there dancing (jerking, really, because she couldn't dance) to Blondie's "Heart of Glass." Ugh. Now if this woman came to me today via some form of social media that I am still connected to, I wouldn't just ignore her request to reconnect. I would tell her, "I didn't like you twenty years ago when we worked together and I doubt I'd like you now, twenty years later." The same goes for one of my old supervisors, a woman who pops up on social media every now and then as someone I might now. Yeah, I know her all right and, given the opportunity to reconnect with her, I'd tell her to go pound sand also, but I suspect she's smart enough to never step into my life again. It's not like I'd ever use her as a reference. Luckily, during my tenure at that particular job, I had four different supervisors, so I don't need to rely on this particular one for anything. Some bridges were meant to be burned, folks.

Owner of a Lonely Heart

I've been going through a nostalgic musical period for the past week (or two) and my latest song crush is "Owner of a Lonely Heart" by Yes. I remember when the video for this song (which is great, by the way) was played in heavy rotation on MTV (back in the days when MTV actually showed music videos). Now when I hear the song, I can't help thinking about that scene from the movie The Break-Up where Jennifer Aniston's brother sings a verse of the song during dinner. Hilarious. Check it out on You Tube if you haven't seen it.

What's so great about "Owner of a Lonely Heart" is the music. The guitar, the bridge, the beat...they're all great. I went on iTunes recently to sample other Yes songs because I wasn't familiar with any of their songs other than "Owner" and now I know why. I didn't find any other songs by the band that I was interested in. Yes is an acquired taste and, clearly, it's not my taste.