Stuck in Neutral

Several things are going on, related to the painting job being done on the complex; one of which necessitates I get out of dodge for an extended period of time, because I’ll have no place to park the jeep for however many days.

Back in ’23, there was the great paving project that uprooted my parking spot for an entire week. To avoid the chaos/trauma others were experiencing in finding places to park, I booked the jeep into a car park that would only allow parking by the month @ $360.50.

Though fairly nearby, the trek back/forth wasn’t fun because the area was sketchy, inside the facility didn’t feel safe for a woman alone to be wandering around in, but I managed.

Though convenient, I really don’t want to car park again. I thought instead I’d visit Twin 2 in Murietta. However, Twin 2 tells me she not only had not gotten the guest room set up (no mattress), she hasn’t even unpacked from the move.

So that visit not working out, not wanting to book the car park, not wanting to face that harrowing drive back to the Long Beach area, book a hotel to visit the great grands for a week, I decided on a Residence Inn a few cities over, that I know to be attached to a shopping center, which will make it easier to care for my weak stomach as there’s a kitchen, cooking appliances, a refrigerator — it’s like home away from home, but with a gym and safe areas to walk.

I just returned from that road trip to Hollywood, will soon have to hit the road yet again, but I’m stuck in neutral — my now vintage Diane Von Furstenberg suitcase, that I purchased back in the 70’s when it was affordable, still out of storage ready to repack, but I can’t book the hotel until the signs go up detailing what days are involved in no parking.

I know it’s soon because notices were posted to our doors just yesterday, indicating painters were ahead of schedule, would start today on my building. In fact, the building is being power washed as we speak. However, insofar as parking, no such notices have been forthcoming.

From what I’ve seen in other areas, no parking signs just mysteriously appear; but logic tells me that if they’re starting on my building today, the parking area will be next and soon. However, without proper notification, I’m stuck in neutral … constantly having to check morning and night to see if the no parking signs have been posted, so I can make hotel reservations.

Of course this stay is going to cost more than $360, so any thoughts of helping Di out with her situation are off the table, as I’ll need to apply those $$$ to my stayaway.

I haven’t seen any of the Usual Suspects since I returned from Hollywood, probably won’t see anyone until next week, so news on Di and whether Kesha has been able to assist is not yet known by me.

Speaking of Hollywood … this was the photo I took of two dolls' star the day before Pride.

This is the photo, I saw posted to the internet, the very next day .... after the Pride Parade.

LA Pride, Part 2

How it started.

Our Driver Sheri from Auto Museum

Great Granddaughter, Granddaughter, Moi

Reps from Thrive Cosmetics

How it ended.

Our Other Driver

Driving slow, plus the heat of the sun, caused the celebrity car to overheat/breakdown about a half mile from the parade's end.

Inasmuch as it was the Legacy's car, our driver was incredibly embarrassed; but we said, no problem and were prepared to walk the rest of the way, until the Golf Cart came to the rescue for Granddaughter and I, while others stepped up to walk with the signage that had been on the car.

Other than that little snag, the parade, the various news interviews, people from cosmetic brands that had partnered with Twin 1's organization, various board members coming up to say wonderful things about Twin 1 was a lot, and all this was before we even got to the moment with Channel 7, by which time I was a bit of a mess … said I couldn’t speak, that Twin 1’s passing a month ago was still too raw.

For the record, Twin 1 actually passed away in January but, with all the hoopla causing it to be fresh in my mind, it was beginning to feel like it was yesterday.

So, anyway, the parade itself was the largest/longest-running parade I’ve ever seen, overwhelming actually.

So overwhelming that, even though I was given a VIP Pass to Pride Village, I passed, instead chose to be Golf Carted back to the area of the hotel, while the others soldiered on to the Pride Village event.

Being in the actual parade did not allow for an opportunity to capture much of the miles and miles and miles of what there was to see; but I did manage to capture Jesus.

And this lively group.

Upon arriving in Hollywood, I made a point of seeking out the asshole's star.

Surprisingly, this ancient, radiation-feeding megafauna also has his own star; but I bet nobody even thought of damaging, tearing up or spitting on his star.

Merry Christmas

I’m back from an overnight, with granddaughter, the great grandbabies and my new relative (the 18-year-old great granddaughter I didn’t know I had), to tour the Festival of Lights at the Mission Inn.

Knowing the elves would have returned to the North Pole Christmas Day, on the way out of town I stopped by the market where Elf Buddy resides for one last hunt and found him in the Bakery Department.

Lights in and around the Mission Inn were spectacular and, since pictures and videos are worth a thousand words, here you go.

Perils of taping. Didn’t see the curb. Almost fell.

All in all, it’s been a fun but busy, too busy, holiday season. I’m now ready to settle in for a long Winter’s nap.

14,115 Steps and Missed Opportunity

Me at Disneyland, August 1980, with my girls (Twin 1 and Twin 2).

Twin 1 on the left, Twin 2 on the right would have been 12 years old at the time.

Me at Disneyland, October 17, 2024 with Twin 1's baby girl (my granddaughter), granddaughter's husband (GrandSIL), granddaughter's babies (the great grands to me), and a Great Granddaughter I never knew I had until recently (long story ……… progeny of a family member on a long prodigal journey through life, and the reason I put myself on Ancestry, so children of that prodigal granddaughter can find their people when they grow up and go looking).

With all the walking and picture taking (over 100 pics), I didn’t think to recreate the 1980 photo — arm around granddaughter as I did with her mom, until I was on the road headed home.

Missed Opportunity there.

Walking down Main Street, we caught the band marching in to perform.

I could have listened to the band forever, but GrandSIL wanted to head for Fantasyland, so the babies could see Small World.

Small World was my favorite as well back in the day, and I just so happened to have a photo of me, circa 1980, looking mesmerized by the singing dolls.

Small World is still a favorite, so I was looking forward to revisiting.

We made it to Fantasyland, but unfortunately found Small World to be closed/under repairs, so we let the great grandson burn off some energy in the Play Yard, where I heard the tent set up for the kids calling to me.

I convinced my new relative to camp out with me and though it wasn't easy to get down on the ground, crawl my big arse in, turn around to pose, I managed to do so, then crawled out and got out on my own. Call it the magic of CrossFit, three times a week for four years.

"That's not Goofy", I was informed by granddaughter when I said, "Oh look, there's Goofy".

"No grandma, that's his son Max".

"I didn't know Goofy had a son. Didn't know he was married", said I.

"He's a single dad", said she.

Who knew?

I loved Star Wars Land, where first great grandbaby girl somehow got in trouble with a Stormtrooper, and then I and my new relative saved the world by joining in the battle against the First Order in Rise of the Resistance ……… took positions as Engineers on the Millennium Falcon.

As the pilots careened through space, and the gunners fired, my job (and new relative's job) as Engineers was to ……… when the ship was hit and something was broken, fix what was broken.

We saved the world, and landed safely.

You're welcome.

But then there was a flurry of activity, Chewbacca the Wookie showed up, began running around and we heard it was because ……… now I don't know if it was the Pilots who messed up or the Engineers, but whoever it was, in one of the ships that followed, caused their ship to crash.

Oh well, we did our job.

After Chewbacca sorted out the responsible parties, he gathered men from the crowd to participate in a "Who can make the best Wookie sound".

GrandSIL was selected ……… probably because of his beard, and got robbed.

He clearly made the better sound, but the other guy had more family members rooting for him.

I call foul, but GrandSIL did later get a photo with Chewbacca, so that was a win.

The girls (granddaughter and new relative) were anxious to find a character they kept referring to as Tiana.

Do you know who that is? I didn't, but was informed Tiana is from the animated film The Princess and the Frog AND is Disney's First Black Princess.

Again ……… who knew?

Fortunately, we walked right up on her and she was uber gracious. Took time to address individually the baby, granddaughter and my new relative.

The girls were thrilled, and meeting the First Black Princess was so emotional for granddaughter that she cried after.

I gave her a hug and said, "If you get this emotional over Disney's First Black Princess, how are you going to handle the First Female President being Black?"

What we did after that was a blur of lunch, more walking, not being able to get into Dumbo because the lines were long, same when I wanted to ride one of the merry-go-round horses, so on and so forth ……… the waits were 45 minutes to an hour on everything. The only reason we made it onto the Millennium Falcon, was because we signed up as single riders and were matched with groups who'd been waiting in long lines and needed us to fill the crew.

So anyway, no amount of CrossFit could stop the bottom of my feet from aching from so much walking. So, a little after 4:00, I tapped out, headed for the hotel, checked in, relaxed, while the others did the park until dark.

Upon checking out this morning, we made sure to take photos at the Great Mickey Mouse Pumpkin.

And there you have my fun but exhausting adventure with the kids.

My step count was off the chart, but I survived to tell the tale.

Projection

Dr. Google says "In psychology, projection is a defense mechanism/personality disorder where someone unconsciously or consciously attributes their own thoughts, feelings, or traits to another person or group".

Taking that translation into consideration, it seems I’ve been wrong in labelling Manager as "mean". I’m now thinking her problem is mental, a personality disorder because, on my way to the mail center this morning, I detoured through the Community Room, saw Home Girl and Red Light sitting, chatting.

Home Girl is in the process of moving to Sacramento, Red Light moved out in May, and must be lonely in her luxury unit, because she’s always here ……… but that's about to end because she tells me Manager today told her "I don’t want you here".

Red Light said her response was that she has friends here, is an invited guest. Whereupon, Manager turned to Activity Director, told her to not allow Red Light to participate in any of our activities — don’t let her paint, don’t let her play bingo and has posted a sign reminding us of the upcoming Costume Party, with a line we’re sure is directed at eliminating Red Light from participating in any way, shape, manner or form.

In addition, Manager told Red Light that if she does not voluntarily stop coming here, she is going to call Corporate to see if there’s some way she can ban Red Light from the property, guest of a resident notwithstanding.

Boys and girls, can we say personality disorder with a side of petty?

The reason Manager has given Red Light for wanting her to not come here is, "You’re a bully. You've tried to bully me".

Talk about the pot calling the kettle.

It has been said, "We see others as we are" ……… Manager is projecting.

From our standpoint, Manager is the bully — what with her disrespecting her elders by yelling at them (the residents), denying us privileges to our own Community Room kitchen, will only authorize upkeep if we "write a check" for cost before the work is done, so on and so forth.

Evidently, Manager’s personality disorder of projecting, with a side of petty, has blinded her to the reason we see for her wanting Red Light to disappear from existence …… revenge because Red Light has stood up to her in the past, even called Corporate and made complaints about Manager’s behavior toward residents.

Complaints that went nowhere, other than to piss Manager off, which started the war between she and Red Light.

In addition to Manager’s projecting, with a side of petty, it looks like paranoia can be added to her brain soup, because Home Girl tells me Manager accused her of influencing others to move.

Manager has put together that when Home Girl turned in her notice to vacate, our Boebert character put in her notice shortly thereafter, and that had something to do with Home Girl.

"How?" asked Home Girl of Manager — "I’m moving to Sacramento for health reasons, she’s moving to Hesperia because she can no longer handle the smell of cigarette smoke seeping into her unit".

I’ve worked for and with people who could easily be classified as functionally insane so, putting together everything else Manager has done, adding in these latest revelations, I’d say we here at the complex are in deep do do ………… being managed by a woman who is not mentally/emotionally well.

The monthly calendar indicates "Community Meeting, Friday, October 18, 11 am – 12 pm".

As boring as that last meeting was, I’m actually interested in attending because of these latest revelations ……… anxious to see what happens next.

Thing is, I’m leaving Thursday morning on an adventure with granddaughter, grandson in law and the great grand babies, staying overnight, returning Friday, but maybe not in time to attend the community meeting.

I’ll aim for getting back in time, but it depends on how early we head back and/or if they want to extend the overnight stay for an additional night.

My guess is the meeting will be all about HER ……… how we’re the ones being mean to HER, talking bad about HER, and her making up some fictional new rule that once a resident moves out, they are not to return to the property.

And that's the tea on this the 15th Day of Halloween.

Weekend Update, Part 1

Had a much better experience in Long Beach this past weekend than last time when Long Beach was a drag … and not in a good way, because the energy had shifted to empty streets, nothing interesting to see/to do that felt safe, which prompted me to check out of the hotel a day and a half early, return to the complex.

This time Long Beach felt high energy, safe with people everywhere, lots of interesting things to see/do, starting with Great Grandson’s 2nd birthday party.

The festival opened at 11:00, but I opted to spend that time alone with the grandson and his new sister before the house and backyard filled with a gaggle of parents and children arriving for the party.

There was all manner of goodies to eat for the party guests — adults/their children, and the backyard was transformed into a magical wonderland.

Seeing a magical playland, the kids needed no encouragement or instructions. Upon arrival, they jumped right in.

If you will recall, granddaughter and grandson in-law, worried that White Grandma would ruin the birthday party with her judging, complaining, making everything about her, had rescinded WG’s invitation, asked her to please not come.

So, you could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw WG walk through the door, but she was on her best behavior — warm, friendly to everyone, even gave me what felt like a warm genuine hug when I left the party early to head on over to the festival about 4 o’clock.

I learned later WG did not crash the party, instead she was reinvited.

After I had my little episode of thinking I was having mini strokes and headed to the E.R., grandson in-law began feeling bad/thinking WG is old, did not have long to live. So, after granddaughter gave WG a talking to, as per acceptable behavior, she was reinvited and managed to put up a good front of being a pleasant human being.

Having not stayed for opening gifts, I also later learned great grandson was a "big fan" of my gift — the piggy bank.

Putting in 5,836 steps on the Marina Green, burning 1,050 calories, Day 1 of the festival wore me out.

Clearly, I was over dressed.

Suns out, buns out.

It was a no to pole dancing lessons, as it would have stressed the shoulder damaged years ago (torn rotator cuff) that I occasionally treat with acupuncture.

And by the time I made it to the Queer Country tent, my feet were too tired to do any line dancing and riding the mechanical bull would have broken every bone in my body.

However, when invited to toss an item into the red hole in the mouth on the board, I was game.

I missed the hole, but won a prize for being the only person to get it to stand at attention ...... on the board that is (wink).