Grinding

I grind my teeth and this results in TMJ-related problems that flare up every now and then, like having my jaw click painfully if I open my mouth too wide. I suffered through this jaw pain over the last few weeks. I could barely put a fork in my mouth (but maybe that was a good thing). And eating huge sandwiches like hamburgers was just out of the question. I had to either tear off tiny pieces to stuff in my mouth like a bird or just avoid these kinds of foods entirely. Just when I was starting to consider going with a largely liquid diet, the jaw problems subsided. Because of this, I was forced to dig out my old night guard, a bulky piece of plastic to put in my mouth at night to stop me from grinding my teeth. Bruxism is no joke. Every time mine flares up, I worry that one day it'll do me in for good and I won't be able to open my big mouth at all.

Ridiculous!

In today's moments of ridiculousness, why in the world would Ted Cruz think picking a vice presidential running mate would help his ailing campaign? And to pick another failed candidate, Carly Fiorina, someone who barely registered in the polls when she was running for office, is just ridiculous. What's the logic behind that? That this pick will help him with women? That this pick will get him some much needed media coverage after his losses to Trump in yesterday's primaries? Yeah. Okay. Dream on dreamer!

And, while I'm blogging about ridiculousness, how about pervert Dennis Hastert? What's ridiculous is the many people (Tom DeLay and others) who wrote letters of support for this guy. Ugh. Hastert is yet another hypocritical politician who tried to lecture others about how to live while he broke the law himself. Do as I say and not as I do.

DMV Drama

Because I recently moved, I had the pleasure of going to the DMV (twice!) yesterday. Oy! Dealing with most government organizations, federal, state, and/or local, can often be frustrating and my experiences yesterday weren't exactly cakewalks. The office opened at 7:30 am (or so I thought), so I was there at 7:30. The office must have opened earlier because there was already a line inside at 7:30. Okay. Fine. I brought the requested documents to change my address, but I hadn't brought my car registration to get my address changed for that (because my sister drove and my registration was in my own car). Whatever. I figured I'd do my car registration address change online later. So after being bumped from one desk to another, I finally got to the desk where my new address was noted for my driver's license. Everything was fine, the clerk was friendly, no problem. Then the clerk made a mistake in the name of my new street address, so she had to to everything over. This is when her previously friendly demeanor turned ugly. She snapped at me and I fought the urge to tell her, "Don't take your mistake out on me, lady!" I understand working with the public is a hard and often thankless job, but it's the job these people chose. If they don't like it, they can try to find employment elsewhere. Anyway, after that drama, I went to yet another counter to get my new license. (They used the same picture from my previous license, so no photo-taking was necessary.) On the way home, I realized a flaw in my picture. There was a white spot on my forehead, like a photo flash. I didn't notice this at the office because I was too busy checking to make sure my address, birth date, etc. were correct. Since the picture hadn't changed, I really didn't pay much attention to it. The spot on my photo bothered me, so I went back to the DMV (this time with my car registration to get that changed). Thankfully, during my second visit, I didn't have to take a number. I just went to one line to get my registration updated and then I spoke with a supervisor who quickly got my photo corrected and my new flash-free driver's license was issued. All in all, I spent about three hours between my two trips to the DMV.

If the DMV offices around here had more locations with Saturday hours, maybe they wouldn't be so bombarded with people. A lot of people (myself included) can't get to the DMV during the work week, so Saturday is really the only day we can go and take care of business without having to take a day or half day off from work. But does the State of Illinois care about that? Apparently not. Hell, they can't even pass a budget here!

RIP Prince

I was surprised to hear that Prince died. Twenty sixteen is certainly turning out to be the year of the Grim Reaper. Every week it seems like some celebrity has died, particularly ones in the music industry. David Bowie, Glenn Frey, Vanity, Gato Barbieri.

As for Prince, I had read he'd been ill recently but I'd also read he was doing shows about a week ago. It's a shame that he's gone. I'm glad I had an opportunity to see him in concert some years ago. RIP Prince.

Beauty School Dropout

I'm sure I've mentioned before how I love the Grease soundtrack. For the past few weeks, I've had the song "Beauty School Dropout" in my head. "Beauty school dropout, go back to high school..." I finally itched that scratch and put the Grease CD in my car. (I moved over the weekend so my stuff has been in disarray.) But back to Grease. Beauty School Dropout is such a great song. I thought it was recorded by Frankie Valli, but Frankie Avalon sang it. (Too many Frankies!)  I also love the stuff by Sha Na Na on the soundtrack. When I was a child, my father used to force me and my sister to watch Hee Haw and Sha Na Na when these shows came on Saturday nights. (Yes, I'm showing my age.) The Hee Haw stuff didn't take, but I did enjoy the Sha Na Na music and their songs on the Grease soundtrack are excellent. "Hound Dog"? "Hand Jive"? "Those Magic Changes"? Great, greater, greatest!

Not Voting?

I read on the interwebs today that Anderson Cooper said during an interview on Howard Stern's show that he doesn't vote because he feels, as a reporter, that he shouldn't vote because, I guess, that would show bias towards one candidate over another. Say what? Dude, citizens of all professions vote and, if you're a good journalist, your voting record shouldn't impact your ability to interview and/or discuss candidates fairly. Sure, it's his choice not to vote, but his reason for not doing so seems ridiculous to me. I, for one, will be glad when these primaries are over and the conventions are done and we know who our presidential candidates will be. Of course then the political ads will be running 24/7. Oy! At least I've got a temporary break from them now since my state primary happened last month. I'd like to see all US states hold primaries on the same day so we could all get them over and done with in one fail swoop. Enough of this dragging out the delegate process for months and months. Just vote and/or caucus on one day, a candidate is selected from each party, and we can all move on to election day. Of course, that would mean we'd never really get a break from the political ads because once the candidates for each party were selected, the ads would start up all over again.

The Face of the Company

I read an article in the Chicago Tribune today about black business owners who chose not to put pictures of themselves on their company websites because they didn't want their businesses to be labeled as "black" businesses. About a week ago, I read a similar story about Real Housewife Bethenny Frankel advising female business owners (minority women, in particular) to have a white man as the face of their company. (She has since denied saying this, but let's assume she did.) Was she wrong to give such advice? Were the black business owners featured in the Chicago Tribune wrong also to hide their race in order to get more business? The world is a tough place and if you're a minority who's trying to run or start a business that relies on customers from all walks of life, then maybe taking yourself physically out of the equation is the right thing to do. I remember overhearing a woman at my hair salon talking about trying to get a liquor license in Chicago for a restaurant she and her husband were running and she enlisted the help of someone white to help her jump through hoops she and her husband knew they'd have a hard time navigating because they're black. Is this sad? Sure. Is it the way the world works sometimes? Absolutely.

Who Does This?

I watched a man brushing his teeth in a water fountain at work today. A water fountain. Who does this? Don't most people brush their teeth in the bathroom? The whole situation was gross and I really should have said something to the guy when I saw him, but I didn't. I just gave him a look of disgust and kept going. (I doubt the look made any impact on him.) What is wrong with people? After witnessing the water fountain weirdo, I was talking to a coworker about it and we got into a conversation about the gross sanitary habits of some people in the workplace. When I worked in Philadelphia years ago, our receptionist was OCD and employees could often find her in the ladies' room scrubbing her hands furiously with the soap provided. She'd also turn on all of the sinks and keep a stack of hand towels placed for her use. If she wasn't washing her hands, she could also be found stuffing the toilets up by overfilling them with toilet paper. Everyone knew she did this, yet when confronted by HR, she denied she was the culprit. The sad thing is she was a very pleasant woman aside from her bathroom craziness. She was very friendly. Hell, she was the receptionist! Women (myself included) would walk into the ladies' room, see her at the sinks, and turn around and leave. You were better off going to another bathroom in the company when she was in there.

My coworker mentioned someone shitting on the floor at her old job and leaving the pile on a paper towel to make a "point" about the ladies' room not being cleaned often enough. (Apparently, this was a problem at her workplace.) Again, who does this? If you want to make a complaint, do it in writing. Don't take a dump on the floor!

Delivery Dude

I saw a guy delivering for Jimmy John's sandwich chain today (it's sort of like a Subway for those who aren't familiar) and the guy was driving an Infiniti. Now, granted, it wasn't a new Infiniti, but it was an Infiniti nonetheless. Since when can delivery drivers afford luxury cars? And, yes, Infinities are luxury cars. No, they aren't in the same category as Audis and BMWs, but they're not Hondas either. They're entry-level luxury cars. But back to the Jimmy John's guy. He pulled up alongside me at a red light and turned up his music. Suddenly, the sounds of some weird electronic music filled the air. It wasn't even good electronic music. The driver, who was probably around 20 or so, looked like he was enjoying himself while I looked at him and wondered, "How is he driving an Infiniti???" Maybe he borrowed Mom or Dad's ride because his own beater was busted. Or maybe he just rolled like that. Maybe he was working three jobs to pay for that Infiniti.

Speaking of delivery drivers, I remember way back when I was in college a guy in one of my classes was talking about how much money he made delivering pizzas. He told us he was making $25,000 a year and that seemed like an incredible amount of money to me. (This was the late 80s, kids.) I just kept thinking, Wow. Twenty-five thousand dollars a year as a pizza delivery guy. I know I was making considerably less in one of my dead end jobs. I was probably working as a cashier at A&P at the time or shelving books at the library.

Four Moons

Whenever I see a good movie (especially the rare good "gay" movie), I like to blog about it. I watched a Mexican film called Four Moons (Cuarto Lunas) this weekend and I enjoyed it. The movie covered the lives of four different story lines involving gay guys of different ages. The youngest was a kid who was just learning to deal with being gay, the next story line dealt with two college students who'd grown up together and ended up becoming involved (although one of them was uncomfortable letting anyone know he was gay), the next situation involved a gay couple in their thirties and one of the men was cheating on the other one but the non-cheating partner wanted to try and save their relationship, and the final story line involved a retired professor who hooked up with a hustler at a bathhouse. I could have done without the story of the kid being bullied because he had a crush on his male cousin and the professor's steam room hookup, but the other two stories were quite good. I thought the film dealt with the relationships in a smart and realistic way. It's interesting that some of the best gay movies out now are done outside of the US. For all of the lip service Hollywood actors, producers, directors, etc. give about LGBT rights and LGBT causes and all of the money flowing through Hollywood, the US still fail when it comes to creating good LGBT films. How come countries that certainly are less gay-friendly are willing and able to get funding to make good LGBT films?

Drive-Thru Drama

Why oh why did I stop at McDonald's today? (Uh, because I was hungry?) All I wanted was a cheeseburger combo and an apple pie. There was only one person ahead of me in the drive-thru but that person turned out to be a head case. I don't know what happened but she got to the window to get her food, she started cursing at the people in the restaurant, complaining about their English language skills (or lack thereof) and how she'd been disrespected. Then I heard something about fries. (I believe the fries were the source of her fury.) The woman proceeded to waste close to 10 minutes bitching at the McDonald's workers while a caravan of cars formed in the line behind her. Finally, she got her money back and left. I told the cashier when I pulled up that they should have called the police and told the distraught to woman to keep it moving or risk arrest. Seriously, that behavior was uncalled for. The drive-thru at McDonald's shouldn't cause that kind of behavior. If you want your money back, ask for it and I'm sure they'll give it to you. Does someone really need to be cursed out over french fries? I don't think so. People are so crazy these days and pop off over every little thing.

Reading, Not Writing

I've been doing a lot of reading lately. I have three books going right now including a biography of Bob Marley since I'm still on his Bob Marley kick. Fun fact: according to the book, after Bob's daughter Cedella was born, he supposedly took her to get "baptized" into the Rastafarian faith and the Rasta minister blew ganja smoke in her face as part of the ceremony. Okay...The book is fascinating and I'm enjoying it. Unfortunately, my healthy reading schedule is getting in the way of my writing and I haven't been writing much lately. I have something I've been working on for a while, but I'm thinking about scrapping that entirely and working on something else. But I've got over 100 pages done. Still, for some reason, I can't seem to finish that puppy, so maybe I need to put it aside and try something new. I do have an idea for something new that came out of a writing workshop I did last year. I just need to sit down and actually WRITE. I really should just start blocking off time, especially on the weekends, to write. I have no excuse. (Sigh.)

In other news, I found a way to block any news stories that feature the words "Kardashian" and/or "Jenner" from my Google news feed. I knew there had to be a way. Too bad Google doesn't actually offer the blocking of terms themselves. I had search the internet but I found a non-Google source to do it, but I was sick and tired of seeing those names pop up every time I went to the Entertainment page. I have no interest in any members of that family and the media just seems obsessed with them. Every move they make seems to be reported on a daily basis. "This one went to Paris! That one was spotted at LAX!" Please. I don't care!

Illness in Illinois

Forget Sleepless in Seattle. There's a serious illness in Illinois and it's the government. I've lived in a variety of states (Michigan, Pennsylvania, South Carolina [ugh], New Jersey, New York), but I've never lived in a state as dysfunctional as Illinois. The state can't pass a budget and, as a result, colleges can't get needed funding (Chicago State University will probably close this month), social programs for low income children and caregivers for the disabled don't have funds to keep going, the state has been unable to pay out lottery winnings above $600, license plate renewal notifications aren't being sent to drivers, and the list goes on and on. Illinois has been dysfunctional for a long time. Corruption in Chicago and Illinois have been allowed to fester for decades and people just shrug their shoulders and say, "That's the way it's always been." I saw an article today in the NY Times that showed what $830,000 could get you in real estate in three different places. One of them showed a house in Oak Park, Illinois. The taxes were over $18,000 a year compared to under $5,000 in the other two states shown (Virginia and North Carolina). That's ridiculous. Yes, I know the cost of living in the South is generally lower than it is in the North, but the taxes in Illinois are outrageous especially when you consider the dysfunction of the state government. What, exactly, are you getting for your nearly $20,000 taxes each year? A governor and a state legislature who can't work together and, therefore, just have a Mexican stand-off and do nothing?

Gig Economy

There's a lot in the news these days about jobs in the so-called "gig economy" we're experiencing. So many people, it seems, are working as independent contractors now. Uber and Lyft drivers, freelance writers, Amazon delivery drivers, etc. Pretty much every time that I go out, I see the little Uber sticker in a lot of car windows. My sister and I were talking about the explosion of driver services like Uber and Lyft and how they've taken a huge chunk of service from traditional cab companies mainly because the cab companies just fell behind in terms of technology. Street hails may still be the law of the land in places like New York (although that's changing also), but for places outside of New York (Manhattan), trying to get transportation isn't as easy, or it wasn't until services like Uber and Lyft came onto the scene. Aside from providing transportation to folks who need it, these services also enable drivers to be independent contractors and work when they want to. Still, they're not perfect and there are problems with drivers assaulting people. But I don't think the gig economy is going anywhere, especially when people are having such a hard time finding steady work. Gigging seems to fill the gap for those between jobs, working part-time, or people who are just interested in working on a really flexible schedule. But gigging doesn't give you health benefits, there's no retirement plan, and the hours aren't guaranteed. Still, it's better than nothing.