Creating Monsters

October 28, 2022October 28, 2022

Creating Monsters

A generational temper tantrum is occurring. There’s been a lot in the news lately (well, at least on the sites that I read. I don’t know if the mainstream media has said much) about childish adults throwing soup on Van Gogh’s sunflowers and gluing themselves to the wall of the museum, or gluing themselves to a street in Paris, or gluing themselves to other paintings, and other stupid, senseless, and destructive gestures with far less cool and panache than the brothers of Delta House. But they’re out there, throwing temper tantrums.

October 22, 2022October 22, 2022

Laughing at Arrogance

I have to laugh when people attempt to remind me that they are superior to me now that they “know” what my politics are. The arrogant condescension of “I don’t expect to see conspiracy theories coming from you” followed by a link to FactCheck “debunking” some minor semantic part of the linked article is the preferred method. Because total burn on me doncha know. A post on FB about the Los Angeles DA charging the CEO of Kennoch for storing election worker data on PRC servers brought that response from a former colleague and once friend. (We’re still mostly friends, but s/he strays into attempts at public shaming a bit too often these days.)

January 7, 2022January 7, 2022

Friday Thoughts: Normal Life

We’ve been living in Texas for just over a month now. And, for just over a month now, we’ve been living a normal life. Normal as in, the masks are no longer sitting in pockets, bags, or counters ready to be grabbed when leaving the house. Nope. They’ve been thrown away (except for the Mike Rowe ones). We don’t need them. They are not required anywhere. Going to the store? Just walk in. Restaurant? Walk in. It’s soooo refreshing.

December 31, 2021December 31, 2021

Friday Thoughts: Leaving 2021

This is the last day of 2021. I am happy to see it in the rearview mirror, just as I was with 2020. On our walk today, I was talking with my husband about the last year. It did have its ups and downs. The biggest up being that we have moved to Texas. Met my own goal of moving before the end of the year. Barely. But we did it.

December 24, 2021December 24, 2021

A New Home for Christmas

Today is Christmas Eve and we’re in a new home for the first time in eighteen years. Not that we spent every Christmas there, not by a long shot. But this is the first time in eighteen years that our home base has changed. We got most of the boxes unpacked and as soon as things were looking settled, I pulled out the Christmas box and started in on the holiday decorating. And discovered I don’t have nearly enough stuff for this house!

December 20, 2021December 20, 2021

Striking Differences

We are settling in here in Texas and I am constantly struck by how different and yet similar our life here is, compared to our life in Philadelphia. The most obvious thing is the weather. I grew up in San Diego, so I’m familiar with warm winters. But it’s been twenty years since I lived in southern California. And, those twenty years have been filled with snow, freezing rain, sleet, ice storms, and just plain damn cold weather every winter.

December 5, 2021December 5, 2021

Settling In

Our stuff is arriving on Tuesday! Yay! The driver called this afternoon to give me the update. “Sounds like you’re in an empty house.” “Yes, I am. How’d you guess?” (said with slightly sarcastic tone as I listen to the echo). “I can hear the echo. How’d you like me to fix that for you on Tuesday morning?” “I’d love it! When?” “Between eight and nine.” “Great!” (while silently thinking, okay, gotta get up early on Tuesday!)

December 2, 2021December 2, 2021

Moving

Moving and job hunting are, according to what I’ve read, the two most stressful things you can do. I’ve done a lot of moving and job hunting over the years, and I have to say, I completely agree. We just landed after a two-state move, Pennsylvania to Texas. It’s been almost twenty years since we moved anywhere. We didn’t even move into different apartments in Philly. We stayed in the same city and same apartment for twenty years. Then we moved almost 2,000 miles away.

November 16, 2021November 16, 2021

Tolerance

What does it mean to tolerate something? What do we mean when we say that tolerance is something to strive for? People are fond of saying that they have no tolerance for intolerance. But according to the definition of the word, they therefore are intolerant, regardless of the targeted nature of their intolerance.

November 9, 2021November 9, 2021

Moving Forward

So…we are moving to Texas in a few weeks. We haven’t moved anywhere, not even within the Philadelphia environs, for almost twenty years. This is going to be quite the adventure. It’s been stressful too, and I haven’t been writing. I need to get back to the writing since that’s the only way I’ll manage to finish book #3. My plan is to alternate packing and writing for the next couple of weeks. If I can finish the first draft, I can then do editing which, for me, is a lot easier. Then, send it off to beta readers before the final push of packing and moving.