THIS

That is all.

Consequences Part 2

Waking up early this morning, too early to tune into TV news about the ongoing fallout from the Capitol insurrection — without disturbing my neighbors by the noise, as sound does carry early mornings when all is still quiet, I instead booted up the computer and browsed through several news sources.

Rather than being disturbed by the happenings, as some of you are, I find it fascinating, can’t stop watching — probably because of the contrast between what I’ve observed all my life when minorities are involved.

I captured a comment from facebook which seems to nicely sum it up.

As to what the consequences will be other than fines, job loss, possibly Covid from being in a crowd, one commenter wrote “Everyone who gets charged and convicted for the attack on the Capitol should lose their right to vote”.

That would be Divine Justice.

It’s interesting to see that the FBI actually is investigating individuals identified as involved which, sadly, involves not just low lifes that lack good sense, old opinionated fools, a bunch of nothings trying to be something, but lawyers, police officers (no surprise there), a fireman, lawmakers, school personnel.

There are actually videos posted by news sources, in various cities where these people reside, of the FBI searching their homes.

Can you imagine?

Back at home, thinking you’d gotten away scot free, only to have the FBI knock on your door … and the operative word here is “knock”, not bang, batter ram or shoot through.

Can you imagine?

The shame, the embarrassment of your neighbors seeing the FBI going in/out of your home, carrying boxes, your face in the news.

I myself actually had a visit from those guys.

It was back-in-the-day when I was too naive to understand it was the friggin FBI and I should be concerned, embarrassed or afraid.

It was shortly after I graduated from high school, had a job and was taking night college classes.

Not yet on my own — still living at home with my mom, brothers, sister, I returned home from work and was met outside, as I approached the door, by two big Caucasian guys in suits.

They identified themselves, named a certain individual, said they were looking for him because he’d joined the Navy, decided he didn’t like it, and had walked off.

I forget the technical word they used for it but, evidently, you can’t do that. LOL.

I did not recognize the name they gave me but, upon being shown a photo, I recognized him as someone I’d seen at the high school I attended in my first year of high school.

The kids at that school were too fast and too rough for the quiet, naïve, studious person I was, so mom moved us to a house across the line to put me in a school district more my speed.

At any rate, though I remembered seeing the guy at that first high school (Black guy), I didn’t know him … not his name, had never spoken to him.

They believed me, that was that, and I really hadn’t thought about it until this morning, watching the FBI hunt Capitol terrorists down.

If I could go back, I’d ask the FBI what brought them to my door.

Someone had to have given them my name, but why?

Had the guy been lying to his friends, trying to boost his resume by saying I was his girlfriend?

I don’t see his face now, but I do remember he wasn’t anyone I’d have been attracted to. Not just because I was a late bloomer, had not yet begun dating, but because he was butt ugly.

I must have been about ready to begin dating, however, because I do remember being attracted to the two white FBI guys.

At any rate, as faces are shown in the news, I’m keeping an eye out to see if I recognize some of the Klan girls and Klan guys from that group I dealt with at the job I retired from.

If I do recognize a face from that group, I’ll be posting “Ha! I knew this was what you were” to their facebook page, then turning ‘em in.

Meanwhile, in Calhoun County, a deputy arrested a Black man — in front of his children, for going door-to-door, in his own neighborhood, trying to collect signatures for his tenant’s association.

I’m sure the man had his children with him because he figured it would be safer for him, that the optics of his being out and about — even though in his own neighborhood, would look less threatening to observers.

It didn’t.

The cop said they received a call about a “suspicious person” and, instead of investigating, the cop immediately went to handcuffs and arrest … even adding that age old ploy (lie) of using the word “gun” in the arrest report, which there was not.

The man is lucky not to have been shot on sight, in front of his children; and probably would have been, had he not been arrested on a resident’s porch, in full view of the resident and her home security cam taking vid.

Every single time I see a politician saying that, after what’s happened with the Capitol riot, we should look forward, not back, healing, unity, come together, I roll my eyes.

It’s never ever going to happen.

The most we can hope for is people will go back to keeping their opinions and prejudices to themselves.

Live and let live in our separate but not equal corners.

Consequences

Glued to the news, watching everything happening since chaos broke out at the Capitol.

I imagine quite a few in that crowd, knowing that the FBI is hunting them down, members of the public are assisting in identifying them, have now awakened and realize there might be consequences for their actions.

Some have already lost their jobs.

Good on their employers for that.

Others are lowlifes with no jobs to lose, don’t care if they spend a few hours in jail, as it won’t be their first time nor their last.

As to what consequences might be for those who’ve never gone awry of the law before involving themselves in this insurrection, I’m expecting it to be a soft slap on the wrist in the form of a tiny fine and community service.

Nothing new when it's not a minority group.

The only good thing I see coming from this is that I will no longer have to worry about No. 45’s threat to run again in 4 years.

Though stranger things have happened, coming from the Maga Hats, I can’t believe they’d be THAT stupid as to throw their support behind him yet again.

He's done, fried, cooked, over.

Speaking of consequences, Grandson-in-law, being a health care worker, got his vaccination yesterday.

Thus far, his only side effect is that his arm is “super sore”.

My doctor’s office left a message that, because of my age, I’m on the waiting list for next up ... call to set up an appointment.

I won’t be doing that.

My gut is telling me there will be side effects, that the drug was developed way too fast to know what those side effects will be.

I don’t want to die of Covid but, dealing with daily gut issues, I also don’t want to risk additional health problems.

Besides, I’ve lived long enough. I’d planned to make my final exit around the age of 35. Now here I am 42 years beyond my projected date of expiration.

Grandson-in-law is young. Can probably handle whatever side effects are to come. But, I’ll take my chances by staying away from crowds, wearing a mask, obsessively washing my hands. They can give my vaccination to someone who really needs it.

A Day That Will Live in Infamy

I woke up this morning thinking today would be special because the electoral count would once and for all end No. 45’s battle to overthrow the election and we could all breathe again.

I was taking it as a personal honor that this was happening on this particular day, because it would be happening on the day which marks my 77^th time around the sun.

Returning to the complex from the Pain Cave, I turn on the television and witness an ongoing assault on the U.S. Capitol.

One terrorist, a woman, was shot and later died.

Sorry, not sorry.

Especially since, on the whole — unlike the instances of police brutality against the BLM protestors, these domestic terrorists were handled with kid gloves.

Twitter has suspended No. 45's account for 12 hours.

Big Whoop!

Twelve lousy hours and way too late.

There's talk of removing 45 from office NOW, rather than later.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

He was impeached many moons ago, and had he been removed at that time, this day of infamy would not have occurred.

Business as Usual

With the holidays behind us, Christmas decorations packed up and back in storage, it’s been so far so quiet and uneventful as I returned to my regularly scheduled life yesterday.

No updates from management as to Head Maintenance Guy’s status after having tested positive. His name is still listed on the Monthly Calendar so, even though I’ve only seen him walking through the walkway just the one time since, it’s looking like he’s still here and on payroll.

Also, no updates on the resident that tested positive and supposedly is in quarantine.

We still don’t know who it is, which makes us all a little suspicious of neighbors we’ve not seen around for a while.

When Next Door Neighbor (NDN) knocked on my door New Year’s Day, I saw she was on the landing, looking down, chatting with the woman who lives in the unit beneath her. NDN said the woman wanted me to stick my head out the door so she could wish me a Happy New Year.

I suspected that neighbor, having not seen me in a while, was checking to see if I was the mysterious quarantined resident.

LOL.

Especially when, after saying “Happy New Year”, with a concerned look on her face she asked, “Are you okay?”.

Bless her heart.

“So far so good” was my reply.

That neighbor still works — part time at one of the stores in the mall, and our schedules usually gel in that, when she’s on her way to work, I’m on my way to the Pain Cave.

Knowing my schedule, it must have given her pause when I took two long weekends, didn’t leave the unit, gave Trainer days off, our paths (hers and mine) did not cross.

I saw she had her grandkids with her that day, still wearing their Halloween costumes, LOL. But I knew they were downstairs before I stuck my head out the door, because I’d heard the little girl screaming, most of the day, as she played with her brothers.

Nothing was wrong. It’s just that the child is loud and noisy.

Doesn’t bother me.

I like the sound of children playing, even if, out of the three of them, the little girl is the only one to be heard.

At any rate, it’s back to business as usual with me.

I texted family to alert them to the fact I might have rare books, so don’t just willy nilly go tossing things after I’m gone. Granddaughter thought that was especially interesting and said her husband, in addition to being in the medical field and rich, has a number of qualities, skills, attributes that make him sound like Superman, also collects books and knows how to research their value.

Though my grandson-in-law does appear to be all granddaughter says he is, I am not impressed.

I’m glad she’s with someone who can take care of her because, having not a normal upbringing with her mom (Twin 1), she grew up not really able to take care of herself by herself. Always needing myself, her aunt (Twin 2), sometimes living on the kindness of school friends when her mom was off being lost in her Prodigal experience.

It’s a relief to me that granddaughter is now married, has a stable living situation, but it bothers me that she’s still dependent on others — this time her husband.

Women should have something of their own, be independent, able to support themselves, not be completely and utterly dependent on anyone.

I’ve seen what can happen.

Some of the women on skid row are there because they fled abusive situation, but had not the skills or resources to land on their feet when they fled.

The worst was a woman I years ago met who told me the story of how she'd been married a number of years, worked in the home all those years, knew how to do nothing else but care for her husband. She had children but, for one reason or another, they didn't want anything to do with her. So here she was ... her youth was gone, her beauty was gone, the years of being not all that happy in the marriage had made her dumpy looking, downtrodden, pathetic.

Once the kids were grown, out of the house, her husband decided he wanted a younger version, got himself a girlfriend, moved the girlfriend into the house, telling the wife that if she didn’t like it, she could leave.

With nothing to fall back on, last I saw, she was too weak and afraid to leave, get an attorney, sue his arse, or Betty Broderick him and his girlfriend.

My deceased ex thought he had me in that trap — what they used to call back in the day “barefoot and pregnant”. I had no job, no money and had just given birth to twin girls. He was pretty pleased with himself, thinking I had no way out, but I yet and still outwitted, outplayed and escaped when the girls were six months old, had the skills that allowed me to get a job right away and never looked back.

It would be smart for granddaughter to not just be a housewife, further locked into dependency once they have children, but to build skills and a career for herself … just in case.

So, anyway, once the pandemic ends — if it ever does end, granddaughter and her husband will free up some space for me here by taking over the containers of books. She says they have the room.

I’ll be happy to see those containers gone, in good hands, so I can move more towards my goal of minimalist living.

Welcome 2021

The New Year started off on a good foot.

That good foot being, I found the book and doll I’d intermittently searched over a year for.

The items turned up when I’d given up and wasn’t even looking for them.

Isn’t that always the way.

Instead, on Christmas Eve, while reorganizing and decluttering — making some hard decisions about letting go of items no longer of use to me now or in the future, but which I’d been holding onto because letting go is so tough, I was moving a container of craft items and spotted a container of books I didn’t know I had, did not see in all my other searches.

Lo and behold, the book and doll, both items I’d searched for all year because I wanted to display in October for Halloween, were right on top.

Too late for Halloween now, but at least they’ve been located and can be put on display October this year.

I’d purchased the book in 1969 and, when I learned the author — Louise Huebner, the Official Witch of Los Angeles at that time, was making an appearance near my workplace, I used my lunch break to walk over, make her acquaintance, ask her sign my book.

I’ve no idea what those symbols mean, but maybe Debra at She Who Seeks and/or one of her knowledgeable friends can decipher and let me know.

The symbols could be wishing me good fortune or thanking me for paying full price for the book because, oddly enough, that was one thing the author asked, “Did you pay full price for this?”.

Evidently, she wasn’t selling many copies back then.

I don’t remember what full price was 50 years ago — it can’t have been much compared to book prices today, but turns out it was a nice investment because, researching the author to see what she’s up to, I find she died in 2014, published several books that sold well, and this particular book is considered rare. So rare that —a used hardback copy is listed on one site for $70, another for $110.

Inasmuch as those prices are low, I’m assuming the books are not in good condition.

There being a resurgence of interest in this particular book, there's been a mass reprint, and a new hardback on Amazon can be purchased for a whopping $768.57! Strangely enough, two used copies are available through Amazon for $884.44. 

They must be in better condition than those going for $70/$100.

My copy is used, has a 1969 publishing date, is in excellent condition AND autographed, so who knows.

The book was my anchor during some very hard times, so I’d never sell it, but I’d better let the twins know it’s rare, don’t toss it in the trash when I die; and to check, with reputable dealers, for other rare books in my stash, as I’ve got everything written by or about Edgar Cayce, Joel Goldsmith and a few other new age teachers from back in the day.

Me being such a generous employer, I gave Trainer today off. That means with another three-days (Friday through Sunday) of no training, no off-premises errands, nowhere to go until Monday, in between binge watching episodes of Dr. Who, I’ve been tackling a few to-do’s on my list, including reorganizing the bibs and medals area.

I tossed the wooden boards, put up a new medal holder for future 5K.

Bibs have been relocated to a bib folio.

Cover

Inside

Medals previously hanging from the wooden boards are now on a tabletop medal display, and the area looks a lot less cluttered now, more feng shui compliant — though not exactly.

Before

After

The floor plan of this unit doesn’t give me the option of exactly. Instead of medals in what feng shui designates as “the Fame corner”, they are located in the Wealth/Prosperity corner, but it must be working — giving me chi that draws in abundance and harmony, because I've been blessed with both.

In fact, placement of everything in this unit, because of the layout, is a little off, feng shui speaking. However, I’ve a lot of wood furniture, and with the help of stones and candles to balance, the rooms feel comfortable and peacefully Zen.

On tap for today is needlepoint, while watching more of Dr. Who on BBCAmerica until the marathon ends this evening, or until it’s time to switch channels to the new season of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

If the wind dies down, I might head out onto the patio and begin the process of putting Christmas back in storage.

So far so good, how's it going for you?