L.A. Pride

Heading out on Saturday to represent Twin 1 at Sunday's Pride Parade.

Granddaughter and I will be driven in a car, while a contingent from Twin 1’s organization Beauty2theStreetz, and possibly some of the unhoused that Twin 1 clothed/fed/obtained housing for/supported in a myriad of other ways, will be walking alongside the parade route with us.

The Parade starts at 11:00, will be broadcast live on ABC 7, streamed on Hulu, with Twin 1’s moment arriving at approximately 11:30.

We’ve been instructed to wear purple, with fun and/or related rainbow themed accessories. So, if you're watching the broadcast, you just might catch a glimpse of our dressed in purple selves.

But then again, maybe not, because my TV Guide indicates the broadcast ends at 11:30, just as Twin 1's moment arrives, while ABC's promo indicates the live ends at 1:00.

I don't have access to Hulu, so your guess is as good as mine as to how long that broadcast is slated to run.

At any rate, enjoy what there is of LA Pride you're able to view in your areas.

Good News Canada

If you don’t know who these young men are, I’m going to worry about you, LOL.

My favorite in the group .......

If you don’t know which one HE is, I’ll be completely plum flustered.

Unimaginable

The unimaginable has happened.

My baby girl, Twin 1/Beauty2theStreetz has left this mortal realm.

Having a hard time accepting this as reality, I will be turning off comments, disappearing from the blog world for I don’t know how long.

"Statement from Beauty 2 The Streetz …… It is with profound sorrow and heavy hearts that Beauty 2 The Streetz announces the passing of our beloved CEO and founder, Shirley Raines, affectionately known to so many as Ms. Shirley. Ms. Shirley dedicated her life to serving others and made an immeasurable impact on homeless communities throughout Los Angeles and Nevada. Through her tireless advocacy, deep compassion, and unwavering commitment, she used her powerful media platform to amplify the voices of those in need and to bring dignity, resources, and hope to some of the most underserved populations. This loss is devastating to the entire Beauty 2 The Streetz team, the communities we serve, and the countless individuals whose lives were forever changed by Ms. Shirley’s love, generosity, and selfless service. Her legacy will continue to live on through the work she started and the hearts she touched. We humbly ask that you keep Ms. Shirley’s family, loved ones, and the Beauty 2 The Streetz family in your prayers during this incredibly difficult time".

In the News TMZ

You Read it Here First

Booting up the laptop this morning, I found the TikToker’s observation that white people have birds right up front and center, front page news feed.

The magazine Newsweek picked up the story, called it a "participatory trend", interviewed the TikToker who said "she noted the pattern seems more common among older people".

"The theory quickly turned into a participatory trend, as others walked through their homes examining, finding nothing, then noticing dozens of birds on wallpaper, figurines, classical ornaments, a table lamp shaped like a peacock, chicken figurines, a bird clock, and a "Black autistic person, whose special interest is birds" leveling the demographic playing field by admitting 500+ bird decorations".

When interviewed by Newsweek, the TikTok Creator indicated "the pattern appeared more common among older people".

What I really found interesting was mention that the decorating observation wasn’t the only bird theory out there, that earlier it was used as a test for relationship compatibility.

"The test involved telling a significant other you saw a bird that day, then watching how they respond. Partners who ask follow-up questions show interest in the relationship, while those who seem disinterested might indicate larger relationship issues".

Well, that sent me down the TikTok rabbit hole as both men and women tested the theory on partners. Some passed, some failed.

One guy dumped his girlfriend because, when he said he'd seen a bird, she completely ignored him, LOL.

I dunno, seems kind of sappy to me, but that may because I’m tainted in matters of relationships; too practical minded, too old, too tired, no time or patience for the care and feeding of another human's feelings.

If a guy were to tell me he saw a bird, I’d be more likely to dash cold water in his face by saying something like, "Was it a bird, a plane or superman".

Meanwhile, Newsweek went on to say "the decorating bird theory continues spreading as 2026's first major viral trend".

Just remember that I, little Miss Smarty Pants, was the one that initially put you readers onto the theory. You read it here first.

In other news, the Baker, a few days ago, asked that if she put together new bingo rules would I print the rules out for her.

Of course, I said sure.

The Baker later texted that the organizers decided not to issue new rules, but rather to "sit and talk to everybody about them".

Interest peaked, of course I had to inquire, and it seems bingo might be in trouble — people won’t shut up while the game is in play, contributions are down making money tight for prizes and snacks.

To help keep bingo going, the Baker’s two daughters have agreed to donate lunches on bingo day to "save us a little money and to remind people that we need some donations to put on our winners table".

All in all, seems there are a lot of takers, not many givers, too many Chatty Cathy’s and I think it just awful that, in order to keep bingo going, because they know their mother loves giving of her time and energy in organizing bingo for the seniors, that the Baker’s two daughters have to step up to save the activity.

Today is Bingo Friday. I’m tempted to participate for the tea.

We’ll see.

Close Enough

I am getting pretty damn sick and tired of seeing Charlie K’s name pop up every time I boot up the laptop. More sick and tired of even seeing headlines about Donald Two Dolls and Taylor/Travis. My brain is literally screaming "MAKE IT END. WHEN WILL IT STOP?. MOVE ON!".

Other than that, life has been pretty quiet — no knocks on the door, no surprise visits from the Maintenance Guys.

Ever since last Halloween, I’ve been itching for the return of Halloween, so I can began decorating.

The First of Halloween (October 1) now just around the corner, I figured "Close Enough", and yesterday set up the front door.

I'd planned to place a pumpkin in the corner, but had to have the skull when I saw it at the market.

I’ll probably do the patio next weekend. Skelly was a pirate last year. This year he wants to be a cowboy so, with the sewing machine still set up, I’m going to knock out a western like bandana for him sometime this week. Fat quarters (18 x 22 inches) of pleather (fake leather fabric) and denim have arrived, so it’ll also be working on medicine bags in those fabrics this week.

After two days of seeing those two huge dumpster trucks clearing out Lu’s unit, her patio looks clear and everything seeming to have returned to normal in that quad, I think other residents are thinking like I’m thinking …. That it was a lesson in not judging a book by its cover.

Living in that quad is the drug dealer, his wife, and a woman who was previously homeless. We’ve all — myself included (though I’m at least friendly/neighborly towards them) eyed them suspiciously, but it was Lu, the woman we’ve known for years, would not have believed if we had not seen with our own eyes, who was the troubled one in the quad.

That event triggered me into more Death Cleaning, so I spent three days tackling the closet and ended up with clearing two big bags of gently/barely worn and some never worn items (tags still on) to donate to the Salvation Army store.

With 4 sweatshirts, 9 tee shirts, 4 blouses, 4 tank tops, 2 body suits, and 15 pairs of leggings cleared out, it is now a lot less aggravating to find what I’m looking for in the closet.

In fact, I found two tops I’d purchased, hung in the closet, forgot all about.

The 1944 top was a fun find, have been wearing it since. Jasmine Crockett’s clapback on MTG was initially put in the donation pile, but inasmuch as it’s so iconic, I’m not ready to part with yet. I don't see myself wearing it anytime soon, but it's nevertheless back to hanging up in the closet.

Just as I was finishing up this post, I received a text message from Crafty Lady. Seems it’s a group message alerting everyone to her having gotten "two vaccines yesterday, shoulder hurting really bad, experiencing flu-like symptoms, ergo no crafts for today".

I was just about to reply, "take care of self", but then it hit me that Crafts had been moved to Monday so Kesha couldn’t take credit. I understand Crafty Lady might not be as supportive of Kesha as I, didn’t want to give her that little bit of an out to try to keep her job, but WTF, no one told me about Monday being Craft Day.

Now what happened last week makes sense …… the Baker sent photos for me to post to the Residents’ FB page, showing how the Usual Suspects had crafted balloon paintings.

Hmmmm, Why did no one call, let me know they were doing crafts? thought I.

I wasn’t upset, just figured it was strange that no one notified me. They all know I’d never miss a craft session, is something going on?

After pondering all week, I’d come to the conclusion that perhaps Crafty Lady has a jealousy issue with me, didn’t want me included, in which case no worries, I wouldn’t chase the group down. Unless notified in future, I’m okay with being left out of Crafts.

Now seeing this text message that Crafts are on Monday, instead of heading down to the Community Room on Tuesdays, I’ll make a point of checking in on Mondays and, if I see crafts taking place, if anyone dares to greet me with "Long time no see" or anything of that nature, I’ll let it be known I’d been left out of the loop, that Crafty Lady’s sending out that group text message was first I’d heard of Crafts on Monday.

F 'em all and, if Crafty Lady is one of those who does have a jealousy problem with other Black women, which might be why she doesn't want to give Kesha the opportunity to take credit for her sessions and left me out of the loop, then F her two times, with a dirty dick and sandy vaseline.

Knock on the Door

Plan for today was a nice leisurely morning. So there I was walking around in panties, no bra, no makeup, not yet showered or bathed, having just cooked breakfast, settling down to eat around 9:30 when there was a knock on the door.

It was the Head Maintenance Guy (HMG), accompanied by the Inspector I’d seen inspecting units yesterday and another guy.

I opened the door a crack to hide my state of undress, asked what was going on. "Inspection" said HMG.

"OH NO! I thought we were done with that", said I.

"We did one side of the property yesterday, we’re finishing off with this side today".

I offered to hide in the bathroom while the Inspector inspected, but HMG said, "We’re inspecting the bathroom as well". So, I had to run into the bedroom, quickly slip on a bra, a tee and let everyone in to see me without makeup, no perfume, no earrings.

What a nightmare, but it's probably karma for my being so cavalier in my reply to what Mitchell had commented yesterday about a "surprise inspection". Me laughing, commenting "a surprise inspection would be hilarious".

Not so hilarious when it happens to me; but it’s over, done with and it was interesting chatting with one of the guys who, seeing my never-ending needlepoint project, learned I've been working on it for over 4 years, and that the end seems near, said his mom gave up, never finished one she’d worked on for a couple years.

While we chatted, HMG and the other man were inspecting away, the other man making notes on his clipboard.

Being as how the one I was chatting with seemed so friendly, so fun, and the other so deadpan, I said, "Your partner is sooooo serious".

Laughing he said, "That’s because I’m from Corporate, here just to shadow the Inspector and M___ (HMG). He (the other guy) is from the State, all about inspecting. He's coming in one way or another".

"Like ICE", said I.

That zinger really made him laugh, then say, "Well not that bad".

At that time, HMG and the State Inspector came back in from inspecting the patio, the Inspector was smiling for the first time (I wonder what he saw that made him smile). HMG and the friendly guy from Corporate thanked me, apologized for the intrusion, and they were off.

I kid you not … less than 10 minutes later, as I was at last finishing my now lukewarm breakfast, there was another knock on the door. It was Assistant Maintenance Guy, here to repair something on the oven hood the State Inspector had noted on his clipboard paperwork.

"When the Inspector says something needs to be fixed, we have to get on it right away", said the Assistant Maintenance Guy.

I didn’t see anything wrong with the hood, Assistant Maintenance Guy didn’t see anything wrong, so I’m thinking the State Inspector is just throwing his weight around.

At any rate, all in all not a terrible experience this morning. I just hate that not one, not two, not three, but four persons have seen me without makeup.

I’d really like to get permanent makeup, looked into it some time ago, but found that high blood pressure is an impediment to the process.

Once Assistant Maintenance Guy was gone, I finished breakfast and got on with my usual morning ritual except, instead of getting fully dressed after bathing, I lounged in bra and panties, read a few blogs, started on today’s post when, around 11:30, there was yet another knock on the door.

It was Head Maintenance Guy again, this time saying he had some guys with him to follow up on the State Inspector’s notation about the water heater.

I said, "Count to ten, then come in" — by which time I’d disappeared into the bedroom to give up the idea of leisurely lounging, put on regular clothes.

Returning to the living room, I spied Head Maintenance Guy on the patio with two guys, one of which was HOLY SMOKING HOT EYE CANDY!

Thank the Lord I had my face paint on.

After the three on the patio were finished, Head Maintenance Guy said they’d be back later, after picking up a part, to fix the problem, that I didn’t need to stay home if I had something to do.

"Well, I’m dressed now. Free all rest of the day".

Truth be told, even if I had something else to do, I’d not leave, miss another opportunity to get a look at the Hot Eye Candy water heating company guy.

In other news, The Usual Suspects did not return to the Community Room yesterday to finish their projects. There was only myself, Crafty Lady and Dream Lover, now seemingly free of his entanglement with Lu, and probably lonely, as he seems the kind of guy that has to have a woman to hang out with.

Dream Lover’s finished product. Not bad.

Crafty Lady's near to completion project.

The Other Wheelchair Lady’s unfinished bunny. It’s cute though.

I just realized today is 9/11 and I’m feeling a little sad. Sad that it looks like the guy that ended Charlie K may end up like Luigi M … caught.

Happy Belated Mother’s Day

Logging into the laptop this morning, the first thing flashing across the screen was "Egg prices are plummeting".

I'd not describe it as "Plummeting", when I just yesterday noticed an 18-count carton of organic eggs dropped a lousy $1.00 — from $13.99 to $12.99, but it’s a start.

Mother’s Day has come and gone — my 58th, and it was awright.

I received the obligatory texts from the usual suspects — Twin 1, Twin 2, Granddaughter.

I feel bad for my twins. They always want to take me somewhere to eat, do something fun, buy me something, but my worsening gut issues precluded my going anywhere to eat, there’s no place I wanted to go, nothing I wanted to do, nothing I needed. All of which made a not fun Mother’s Day for my girls, as I was content doing laundry and housework.

I had the Laundry Room all to myself, the flowers in the area around the Laundry Room were in full bloom for Mother’s Day, so I enjoyed the peaceful setting.

Talker walked by, saw me doing laundry, came in to give me a Mother’s Day hug and a side of tea.

There’s a new woman in Dream Lover’s life, but it’s not what you think.

Evidently, Dream Lover has a new neighbor — a woman who has taken a dislike to him and demonstrates her dislike by, instead of taking her trash to the dumpster, tosses it in front of DL’s door.

That’s pretty extreme.

Of course, DL went to Manager over it, got the usual "I'll talk to her", but it's unclear as to whether Manager actually did, because the woman has tossed trash at his door more than once OR if the woman was spoken to and, not caring what Manager had to say, continues to trash DL's area.

I’ll have to see who this new neighbor is, determine if management has done it again …… brought in a resident who is not well in the head, or if DL made his usual play …… "I’m looking for a nice woman to spend time with" and she did not appreciate it. Is tossing her trash as if to say to DL that she can see through him and he’s trash.

This scares me a little about who we’ll next get in our quad, when TinTin’s vacant unit is leased out. I’m hoping our good Chi in the quad will attract someone nice, but you never know.

The Activity Calendar indicated, instead of today being Pizza Tuesday, it's a late celebration of Mother’s Day …… "Social: Mother’s Day Luncheon. Celebrate Mother’s Day with a community luncheon full of fun, connection and appreciation for all the amazing moms, grandmothers, Aunts, Sisters, Friends, mentors, etc."

I guess Great Grandmothers fall into the "etc" category, LOL.

I wasn’t planning on attending because I can’t eat whatever is being served; besides, I had an appointment with my Primary at the Main Medical Center — the first time I’ve been able to actually meet with my doctor, face to face, since 2019; and accomplished only because that RN I’d two-weeks ago interacted with by phone, when my BP recorded 173, sent a message to the doctor’s care team that she should see me. Otherwise, it would have taken three months to get an appointment.

I’m actually surprised my doctor hasn’t retired yet, as she’s about my age, maybe a few years younger.

She looks great though, hasn’t aged much — probably because her culture is one that the women do keep their beauty as they age. The men, not so much.

At any rate, she joked about watching her patients age with her, adjusted my BP medication, had her nurse give me a tetanus shot, ordered Lab work — which I’ll take care of later this week, or next week, at a different facility, because the Lab Section at the Main Medical Center was way too peopley for me.

On the way to the Med Center, the dash cam captured a woman, on the far side of middle-age, in handcuffs.

That's her white car blocking the lane.

Mother's Day only two days ago, and mom or grandma is in cuffs.

I’ve never in my life been handcuffed, not even for roleplay fun when I was married to the cop, and could not imagine what an older lady could have done to be removed from her car, in traffic, and handcuffed.

Big Brass Balls

You can't fix stupid, is what ran through my mind when I saw an old fool shopping at the corner market yesterday, wearing a campaign shirt that to me indicated he'd drunk too much of the MAGA cool aid ……… "T@#$p For President, Finally Someone with Balls".

I don't know about "balls" ……… Stormy Daniels certainly didn't seem to think so; but if this old guy still supports and thinks the damage his pick is causing as something to be admired ……… ballsy, it just goes to show that stupid can't be fixed.

Had I stuck around long enough, it wouldn’t have surprised me to learn he’d driven to the market in a Tesla.

So, anyway, I picked up the eggs Trainer’s friend set aside for me — 18 count Organic Eggland’s Best @ $10.99, just one dollar more than when I last purchased these same eggs (Stater Bros), as opposed to the $13.49 I paid at Ralphs, two miles away.

I smell shenanigans.

In other words, it's looking like Claudia was onto something in commenting "Could it be that the producers are taking advantage of the publicity and jacking up the prices in certain areas?".

In other news, Casey Anthony is on TikTok.

Yes ……… that Casey Anthony, the woman who, some years ago, was dubbed "America's most hated mom".

She’s reintroducing herself to the public via TikTok as a "legal advocate for myself and my daughter".

Yes ……… that daughter, the one she was accused of unaliving back in 2008.

So now she's an advocate for that daughter. Talk about someone with balls ……… big brass ones.

I See Dead People

Well not people, just person; and not up close and personal, but off from a distance.

The plan yesterday was to, after working out, head across the street to the market for groceries.

After loading my workout gear into the car, I thought to check my fanny pack for cash and oh oh, I didn’t have sufficient on me.

Thinking the ATM at the market across the street had probably been emptied over the weekend, fresh cash not yet arrived (no cash in the ATM has happened before on a Monday), I drove to the branch of the same market that has a Teller setup, sure to have cash.

This branch of the market is located in the heart of where the homeless congregate. Thus, the shopping center that houses the market, a restaurant, fast food place, et al, is video monitored, with a voice that comes over the air announcing the area is being monitored, no loitering.

Also, inasmuch as the market is off to the side, away from the other shops and stores, the first business on that side of the lot, there is quite a lot of high iron fencing where the market and the market’s parking lot is located, to control access, keep the unhoused out.

What with that monitoring voice coming over the air, fencing and security guards, I always think of a prison when I shop there.

Believe it or not, this market always has the freshest produce.

I can only assume that, regardless of the people I see living on the streets in that area, it has something to do with Redlining …… that area being rated at a higher income than where I live because fruits and vegetables are not always that fresh at the corner market, often appear to be on their last leg. That never happens at this other market — the prison.

So, anyway, as I was driving to the entrance of the prison, I looked over and saw what I instantly knew was a dead body.

First thing I spotted was a figure on the ground, covered with what looked like a blanket. Then I noticed the cop car parked alongside where the body was located.

Once I parked inside the prison, I could see the tape surrounding the scene.

I observed nothing that gave the impression a crime had been committed, so maybe the person just gave up the ghost by natural or medical means.

That’s what happened to one of my brothers. He had a heart attack while stepping off a bus, passed away right there on the sidewalk.

After getting cash inside the market, I spent a long time working through my list because I was out of absolutely everything — except eggs.

By the time I finished shopping, headed back to the car thinking the coroner would have arrived, taken the body away by now.

Nope.

Still there on the cold sidewalk.

Just how long does it take for the coroner to get to the scene? thought I.

Remember that classic "train leaves the station" math problem? Well, the answer to how long it takes for the coroner is much like that math question and was found in the news I found online this morning.

Let’s say I was at the market from noon to 12:30. The video indicates the news and coroner arrived 17 hours ago. I downloaded the video at 7 a.m. this morning. Seventeen hours from 7 a.m. is 2 p.m.

So, correct me if I’m wrong, with my poor math skills, in estimating the answer being the coroner arrived around an hour and a half after I left ……… the deceased body lay there two more hours ……… likely way more because the unknown element is what time did the cop arrive, cordon off the area before I arrived.

So, that's how my week started ……… seeing dead people.

Signs of Life

Today did not go as planned.

The plan was to head out of the area to Sprouts, pick up a few specialty items not available nearby, stop by See’s Candies on the way back for my chocolate medication.

However, just before walking out the door, the Baker texted, asking me if I could bring her draft bingo games diagram to reality.

I could, I did, but it took hours, because it involved columns, grids, and marking boxes to indicate how seven different game combinations are to look like for those attending tomorrow to yell "BINGO!".

Thing is, I know from before that even with these visual aids, some of the seniors are not going to get it, will ask questions like, "What game is this? .... What's it's supposed to look like? ... Is this a bingo?"

At any rate, the visuals were made, and my day was shot.

Aggravated, I was not because I took it as the Universe either preventing me from being in a certain place at a certain time to avoid something, or to be in a certain place at a certain time to experience/see something.

It turned out to be the latter because, once the job was done, I walked copies over to the Baker’s unit and, returning to my unit, I noticed the car belonging to the guy who moved across the quad back in January ‘23, into the upstairs, corner unit — the Bad Energy Unit, was no longer in its spot.

That was a relief because, a few weeks ago, I realized I’d not seen him for months, and began to think he’d become the latest victim of the negative energy that seems to be in that unit.

Since then, I’ve been looking for signs of life.

His car, though not covered with dirt, never seemed to move from its parking spot — not good.

His blinds did not open during the day and I could see no lights coming from his unit at night — not good.

Notices posted to his door did seem to be taken in — a good sign, but I’d not physical seen nor passed him coming/going for months.

Is he on an extended vacation?, thought I.

Has he been hospitalized?

As a reminder, the unit where this guy (let’s call him UNC for Upstairs Corner Unit) resides, has a history of life seeming to go downhill for everyone moving into it.

The guy who was living in the unit when I moved in (2012) moved out in 2013.

The blog name for the guy was "The Vampire", because I never saw him.

Supposedly he worked nights, but there were never any signs of life in that unit, insofar as I could ever see or hear.

Even when he moved out, it was stealth — late at night, no sounds. I only knew he was gone when I one day saw Maintenance going in/out preparing the unit for its next victim.

Of course, I didn’t realize at the time that those moving in became victim to bad luck until, as years went by, I saw what happened and concluded there was bad energy left behind by the Vampire.

The next to move in was a returnee — a woman who previously lived on the complex, moved out for whatever reason, then moved back to be close to her boyfriend living on the property.

Shortly after moving into that unit her health began to fail, she had a heart attack, survived, had a pacemaker implanted, but had to move out again for "care purposes".

Then came Sue (October 2015).

Sue was vibrant and engaged, still holding down a part time job.

First thing to happen was having to sell her car because she couldn’t afford repairs.

I don’t know if the lack of transportation caused her to no longer be able to hold down a job, but she no longer left for work every day and was rarely seen outside her unit after that.

Sue began smoking and drinking to excess, which impacted her health to the point where she could no longer care for herself.

She was eventually moved in with family.

Then around May 2021, came a woman I didn’t get to know well, other than we’d wave at each other when coming/going to our cars.

I’d heard from others that she was a school bus driver.

What befell this resident was first losing her school bus driving job — she’d been fired after having an accident.

Then, to try to make ends meet, she began working in a pizza parlor.

The pizza parlor job was probably not working out, as I one day saw lots of family helping her move.

Next came UNC (January ’23) but, before he moved in, Red Light — living downstairs, reported hearing footsteps, someone walking around inside the vacant unit ...... "I know the sounds are not coming from the unit behind me. It’s directly overhead" said she and freaked out when I told her the history of the unit, that there very possibly could be some unknown something up there.

At any rate, the fact that UNC’s car moved from its spot earlier today, and seeing it now back, means UNC is still around. However, not physically seeing him, I can't say how well he's doing, that he’s beaten the curse, or whether the curse is beating him.

Speaking of people not seen nor heard from or about, have you noticed it's radio silence on those Astronauts lost in space.

What's happening with bringing them home?

Is the silence hoping we'll forget? Are the powers that be trying to escape having to tell us they're never coming home?

Labor Day? It’s Still Monday

It’s been dead as a doornail here on the complex, and I don’t think it merely seems so just because I’ve morphed into a recluse, and thus out of the loop, but is an actuality.

Nothing interesting even popping up on the window cam, except I did see Gandalf showing up earlier in the week, performing that "this far and no further" ritual of walking to the edge of the walkway by the stairs, looking to his left then returning to the unit. However, strangely, he showed up just that one time.

So, is he still living down there with his mom or not? Who knows for sure, but I surmise so.

His brother Compton is no longer parking on the property, so I guess Manager got what she wanted — him gone …… or thinks she got what she wanted because he’s still on camera heading to/from work, but it’s during hours when the office is closed, no management personnel around to know any different.

He must be parking/hiding his car nearby.

All in all, it appears Ms. Neighbor's two sons are on the downlow, keeping a low profile, staying away from prying eyes and out of the crosshairs of management.

With the resident known as Red Light having moved and no one willing to take over her self-motivated job of planning BBQs for us residents, it’s not going to look much like a holiday around here today, except for the absence of staff.

For me, it’s just another Monday anyway — a workout this morning and a grocery run after.

I did however manage to have a three-day weekend, because Trainer rescheduled me beastmode last week (back-to-back workouts Wednesday and Thursday), so he and his team could travel out-of-town Friday for a weekend Muay Thai fighting event.

Unmotivated, and the weather still too hot, I did not leave the unit, train for a 5K that might be coming up at the University. Instead, it was three days of needlepoint and prison break. In addition to which, a great deal of time was devoted to putting out fires, as I received notification sensitive data had made it to the Dark Web.

Back in May, when I returned from Pride Week in Long Beach, I received a fraud alert on my credit card, which alert necessitated cancelling the card. This latest breach seems to have stemmed from that incident, and I have a sense it was a bank employee, the one that assisted me in cancelled the card, who leaked/sold other even more sensitive data he collected during that conversation.

At any rate, all I could do this time was to put a lock on everything it was possible to lock, change passwords, and cross my fingers the scammers will find I'm not financially worth the effort.

It boggles my mind that there are people whose job it is to run phishing scams, find ways and means to defraud/take advantage of others.

If the scammers plan to use the information to file next year’s taxes in my name, reap the reward, they’re in for a surprise — find themselves liable for a bill to pay rather than a return, LOL.

Speaking of jobs, this Labor Day also marks the 14th year of my sliding the chute, or close enough as I officially retired on September 7.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again ……… Time flies when one is not having to deal, on a daily basis, with functionally insane employers, various forms of racism and abuse of authority.

Though the flashbacks and trauma lives on, I consider myself one of the lucky ones to have gotten out alive, as I once thought I’d be like the 60-year-old Wells Fargo employee who was recently found dead at her desk, four days after she’d last clocked in.

I fully expected to be a little old lady keeling over dying at my desk, but would have hoped my death would have been noticed before people were alerted by the smell, as was the case with this employee.

A worse fate would have been coworkers trying to get rid of me by taking me on a hike and leaving me behind, as was the case for the insurance underwriter on a work retreat, who also made the news this weekend — rescued after a night stuck on 14,230 foot Mt. Shavano during a freezing rainstorm after being left behind by his 14 coworkers.

If I understand the story correctly, those coworkers did not report him missing for 8 hours, which was after the guy miraculously survived the night, managed to get a cell signal and call for help his own darn self.

Just goes to show, though the struggle to retirement is real, and leaves one with lingering trauma, it's better than dying at one's desk or being downsized out by coworkers.

Fingernails on the Chalkboard Effect

My head began screaming OMG! when booting up the laptop this morning and the first thing to pop up was Taylor Swift and Jason Kelce.

Gag me with a spoon.

I am so done with seeing them individually and as a couple.

It used to be I’d get up in the morning hoping, begging, pleading not to see Inmate No. P01135809 on the news. Not see his face, not hear his name mentioned.

Now the hoping, begging, pleading is to not see/hear mention of Swift, Kelce, Tay or Trav.

The two are everywhere, every day, all day — in the news, in print, on TV, social media, and it’s just too much, even pushing the dreaded No. 45 to the side.

It's like fingernails on a chalkboard annoying.

I’ve been a fan of Taylor’s since she was a teen and came out with the Tim McGraw song, but this current oversaturation is turning me into not a fan.

Still, I like her music and I’m not throwing any shade on her when I say that, the other night, while watching Drag Race, I suddenly realized how much Plane Jane’s drag resembles Taylor.

Plane Jane                                       Taylor

I don’t think it’s intentional, it just is.

Plane can easily make a career as a Taylor Swift, much like Chad Michaels is doing as Cher.

So that rant off my chest, I’m not feeling a winner this season, though if I absolutely had to choose, I’d go with Sapphira.

Other than that, I’d like to see Mhi'ya put out of her misery, because it’s so painful to watch her try so hard and get such harsh, but justified, criticism from the judges.

I don't think she was ready for the show in more ways than one, not the least of which was not learning how to sew.

Going on Drag Race without having taken even a basic sewing class is like going on Survivor and not knowing how to swim.

Around 9:00 this morning, I heard a loud familiar voice exiting Next Door Neighbor’s unit.

It was Oversexed.

Me thinks Neighbor had invited her over for morning coffee with a side of tea.

It’s probably a mistake for an elegant lady like Neighbor to get that friendly with Oversexed, who is more from and on the rougher side of life because look how Oversexed is treating her good and close friend Meat Man.

He's confiding his secrets to her, and she's so easily and gleefully telling us, and others on the complex, what those secrets are.

Not that Meat Man doesn't deserve being found out and stabbed in the back by a friend ...... life is about choices, and he chose her to confide in. But what it says is Oversexed is not one to get close to around here.

We'll see how it goes with Neighbor allowing Oversexed into her space, but if Neighbor goes out of town and her place ends up being broken into, I won't be calling the cops.

After leaving Neighbor’s unit, Oversexed went right over to TinTin’s place.

The plot thickens.

A Handful of Sugar

Walking out the door yesterday, heading for the morning’s workout, what did I see but management’s latest posting attached to the door.

Not a notice this time. Instead, it was a cute little candy filled Valentine’s Day card.

"Never look a gift horse in the mouth" it is said, but my first thought was this has something to do with that $500 rent increase that has so many moving out.

Every single day I’m seeing folks moving out in other quads — thus far, it’s been no one I know personally; but I can’t say for sure because, with no contact with others via bingo and no access to the view of the courtyard area, due to that window being covered with bubble wrap, I’m out of the loop.

However, in my comings and goings, I’ve observed that just as quickly as someone moves out, just as quickly new people move in.

It’s becoming like a residential inn around here. We no longer know who our neighbor are.

So anyway, to some degree, residents probably appreciate this gesture from management. However, inasmuchas the rent increase is essentially funding it — giving Corporate extra money to spend, I'm sure residents would have rather no increase in rent instead.

After that morning’s workout, I dutifully checked the ingredients in the packet of sugary candies and found, sure enough, not edible as they contained three of the many ingredients my sensitive gut cannot handle — corn syrup, modified food starch, cornstarch.

Waste not Want not, so rationalizing it was just a handful, I took a chance and turned the handful into lunch with a cup of coffee.

No problems after, so it’s good to know the rare sugary cheat won’t hurt me, but I’d never buy jelly beans or gummies for anything other than gingerbread house decorations anyway, because I prefer chocolates.

I hope this sugary treat isn’t management setting us up for something else coming — leading us lambs to the slaughter so to speak.

Time will tell. It always does.

Shame about what happened in Kansas City Chiefs' parade.

Guess no place is safe — even with snipers on the roof and a kazillion cops on the ground; and to think, we'd just had that conversation about people carrying, unbeknownst to those around them.

It Ain’t Pretty

This is what the bedroom window looks like from the outside.

It ain’t pretty, but the bubble wrap is doing its job, seems to be effective in keeping the cold air out of the bedroom at night.

I did not have to run the heater last night, and woke up without sniffles and feeling chilled to the bone.

Because the outside view isn’t all that pretty, I did look into a window installation kit, as suggested by DrumMajor (Thanks friend) and liked that it was touted as "crystal clear", but was turned off by the mixed reviews ……… some purchasers liked it, others complained it did not live up to "crystal clear", tape didn’t hold, and the panels are not reusable when taken down.

Under the theory of "If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it", now that I see bubble wrap is doing the job, I’m gonna stick with it.

Pun intended, LOL.

Besides, the shrink wrap touted a 30/35% reduction in heating bill. Bubble wrap is estimating a 50% reduction.

As for the aesthetics, I’m good with losing my view and the window looking unappealing through the Winter months.

I had errands to run after this morning’s workout.

The weather was perfect for a drive, so out of the area I went — looking for new pokémon characters at each stop.

Bass Pro Shop was crawling with pokémons, but nothing I needed in my deck.

They did however have a sign at the entrance that one does not see every day.

I asked the young lady at the desk if people actually come in with weapons on them. She replied in the affirmative, adding that it scares her when the weapons are placed in her hands.

I’ll bet, but that lets me know there are perfectly normal looking people walking around armed to the teeth with more than just pepper spray.

So, no pokémons at Bass Pro, but they did have a fun looking poke stop, where I snagged game tools.

The next stop was my reward for having worked so hard cleaning up the place over the weekend.

After a stop at Sprouts, for items I can’t purchase locally, finding no interesting pokémon, it was off to the hardware store to replenish cleaning supplies.

In the parking lot, I captured one I did not already have in my deck — a Frogadier.

I think this is where I also captured a problem because, just moments after jumping on the freeway, heading home, bells and whistles went off on the car's instrument panel, indicating the left rear passenger side tire was down to 28 psi.

Panic … Fright … and it had been such a nice day up until then.

The good news ……… I was in the right area — the tire place was just down the street from where I’d just been at the hardware store.

Getting off at the next exit, holding my breath I’d make it before the tire gave out, I jumped back on the freeway, headed to where I’d been, passed the hardware store, made it a mile further to the tire place.

They found a rather large nail, said it’d be like a 2-hour wait, because it was a busy day, did I want to wait and be serviced.

I said no, I did not, but had no choice.

More good news ………… the tire was fixable, and no charge.

Good news because I’d spent most of my cash and, had the nail been embedded in an area where the tire was not patchable (that has happened to me in the past), I'd have been SOL because I'd left my credit card at home.

It's a blessing to have a car, not rely on public transportation; but it's also a headache as so much can go wrong, at any time.

I'm still not over the terror of the blowout I had a few months ago, and now this.

So, that was the agony and ecstasy of my day. More like ecstasy then agony.

Chocolate was intended for days like this. Fortunately, I’d just stocked up.

I did not watch yesterday’s game, but had timed it just right to tune in and catch halftime.

It was okay. At least Usher’s performance didn’t lull me to sleep like Rihanna's did last year.

My only criticism …… half time was just too short. It felt to me like Usher had been cheated on allotted time, compared to other halftime shows I’ve seen.