A trip to Queens to pay some tax bills.

As most of my readers know, my posts are usually two (or more) weeks behind when events happened. This allows me to preserve a degree of privacy when I travel, so that people would not ransack an empty apartment when I'm away.  Today, I'm writing about an event that emptied my wallet, and not my apartment....

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In the USA, our yearly income taxes are due on April 15th.  My income can vary from year to year, but it has two constant (for now) income sources: My pension from work, and my social security check.  With both of these checks coming in on time, I have the same after tax income I was living on for years before I retired for good. However, what can and will vary is the income I receive from renting out the family homestead, and any distributions I decide to take from my 401k (retirement savings).  

Unfortunately for me, America has a progressive tax system which hits the middle class worst of all.  The rich have their tax dodges such as the constructive use of insurance policies to avoid paying income taxes (I won't go into how this is done here.)  The poor pay little in income taxes, receive subsistence subsidies, and live lives of quiet desperation. This means that for me, I am stuck depending on others for several things such as the financials from the family homestead.  More importantly, due to our progressive tax system, I am stuck having to estimate how much taxes I will need to pay for the year, and then pay them in advance.  AARGH!  

Today was the day I had to go to my tax lady and send off taxes owed for 2024, and to pay an installment on 2025's estimated taxes.  Ouch!  At least, I had RQS with me, as she had to pay her 2024 taxes as well.  So we left my place at noon, and arrived at the tax lady at 1:15 or so.  By 1:45, we were out of the place and heading towards RQS's place.

We arrived at RQS's place around 2:30 or so, and both of us wanted to take a nap.  I couldn't afford that luxury, as I wanted to make it home before the worst of rush hour began. So around 3 pm, I started my drive home and hit the one traffic jam I expected, and avoided several more.  It was hard to believe that I was home before 4:30, but I was.  And I finally got the chance to take that nap. 

 

 

PS: Two weeks later, RQS found out that the tax lady had not yet filed her taxes, even though she had an e-file receipt.  She was pissed off (to put it mildly) and it took a few phone calls before she could reach the tax lady.  Next year, I'll bet that RQS will use someone else, as her returns are relatively simple and can be handled by any run of the mill tax professional.  As for me, I'm stuck using someone like this lady until I find someone better....

Happy Birthday! to someone special.

 

Life is short, and so was Mickey Rooney.  When I saw him perform with Ann Russell in Sugar Babies, I remember him staring into her luscious breasts and saying:

Who wants to be tall?!?!

Well, someone special to me is another year older, and I wanted to celebrate her birthday with a nice dinner out.  And that I did.  I made reservations at a local restaurant with the mistaken thought that we'd be dining during Hudson Valley Restaurant Week (HVRW).  It was not as expensive a mistake as it could have been, but more on that later.

We had several things we wanted to do during the day, but didn't do them because we wanted to relax.  So it was a jammie day for us, both of us lounging around in clothes we wouldn't want anyone else to see.  Since RQS has to watch her diet, she was saving up all of her delicious calories for the meal we'd be eating later.  As for me, I wasn't worried about anything I'd be eating, as I knew not to stuff myself before going out for dinner.

Eventually, 4 pm came around, and it was time to get dressed.  RQS put on one of the dresses she has stored at my place, and I put on a royal blue dress from Lane Bryant that I had never worn before. Although I am several sizes larger than the model above, I feel that the dress looked good on me. RQS said so too. And then, it was off to Briarcliff Manor to eat.

Just as we were going out to the car, the heavens opened up.  So we ran as quickly as we could, and got into the car.  Luckily, we budgeted more than enough time to reach the restaurant, as I was not comfortable driving in this weather.  When we got to the restaurant, I dropped RQS off at the door, and found a parking spot open up right by the same door.  At least we wouldn't get too wet going to the car after dinner.

We decided to split an order of calamari for an appetizer, and then had the lobster and crab lasagna.  The calamari was an unexpected treat, as it was done perfectly - tender, not rubbery.  And, to use an overused ethnic phrase, the lasagna was to die for!  Yum!!!  Both of us were pleasantly surprised that the seafood flavors stood out in this dish, when they could have been easily overcome by the other ingredients in this dish.

Although we both enjoyed dessert, it paled in comparison to the main course.  But then, after this main course, an excellent dessert would have a hard time against such a main course as we had.  So I paid the bill.  If we had waited 2 days, we could have gotten a similar meal for $120 that included 2 appetizers, 2 mains, and 2 desserts (with tax and tips).  But I was drinking a little, so make that $150.  Our meal with 1 appetizer, 2 mains, 2 desserts, and 2 drinks (with tax and tips) was $170 - and worth every penny.  We will be going back there again - we just don't know when.
 

 

Upcoming Repairs in two buildings

 

The other day, my brother and I worked on doing a power wash of the foundation on one side of the family homestead. The sickly shade of green is (to the best of our knowledge) is the third layer of paint applied to these walls in the 84 years since the house was built.  While doing the power wash, my brother pointed out pitting on the walls, as well as a crack that needed repair.  And then we got to talking about plumbing issues that needed resolution, the most important of which was the need to have the water heater replaced.  So guess who is driving to Long Island to be there when the plumber arrives?  Me, of course.

I really don't mind driving down to Long Island for work on the house.  What I do mind is that I'll have to be there as Mario, and not as Marian.  And there's nothing I can do about this, given that I'm not going to out myself to my brother, his wife, or my nephew. So, I scheduled another weekend at RQS's place, where I can fix a problem that has existed with RQS's bed since the day it was installed.  

About a year ago, RQS bought an adjustable bed frame when she bought her new mattress.  Unfortunately, the installers gave her a problem about removing the old mattress and bed spring, as well as taking shortcuts in the installation of the new bed frame and mattress. The men claimed that the mattress needed a day or two to breathe before putting on the "bed protector" (think of a mattress protector that envelops the entire mattress on all sides, top and bottom), they didn't bother to install the mattress retainer bar, they didn't give her the manual for the adjustable frame, and they didn't explain what the extra box of parts were for when they departed.  Luckily for her, I bought the same exact bed that she has, and know what has to be fixed and how to do it.  So, this will be another task that can be accomplished on this trip to Long Island.

As you can guess, I try to accomplish more than one thing on each visit to Long Island when I can.  First, it costs me roughly $13-14 to cross an East River bridge each time I go through Queens.  And then, I have a hard time finding a parking spot whenever I use my car to visit RQS.  Although I grew up on Long Island, I wouldn't mind not having to go there again.  It is no longer my home.

 

An early lunch with a friend, then killing the rest of the day

 

As much as I didn't want to get up this morning, I wanted to see my friend SJM, as we had a lot to catch up on.  So, when the sun came in my window, I closed my eyes, got out of bed, and headed out of the room for a much needed bio-break.  (Who doesn't, after a good night's sleep?)

Putzing around for the better part of 2 hours, I realized that I had better start getting showered and dressed to go out.  Since I had one more day's wear left for a green dress I wore last week, I decided to put that on today and launder it tonight.  It didn't take long for me to get showered, dressed, and made up to go out. What it did take was a little over 20 minutes for me to make it from my apartment to the far side of Ossining for lunch.  Yet, I still beat SJM to the restaurant.

I opened up by telling SJM of my brother and his recent issues.  And we agreed that he's doing what he has to do, but with a cost.  He's stuck in a Catch-22 situation, and there's not much he can do without abandoning some responsibilities, screwing up family life, or taking risks which would be fool hardy for a person of his age.  And then SJM told me of her husband's health problems (reminded both of us of what RQS is going through) and of the drama with her two sons.  All too soon, we had to end lunch and go our separate ways.

At this point, I figured that I might go to Poughkeepsie and look at what Lane Bryant had in the store for Spring.  Since I've already got an overflowing closet with dresses to go in a donation bag AND a dress coming to me from Universal Standard, I decided to avoid temptation.  Instead, I went to the bookstore and pick up a gift for RQS's birthday.

Since I now had nothing better to do, I decided to drive home and relax.  With a hunk of pizza dough in the fridge, I cut the hunk in half and made myself a 12" cheese pizza.  Yum!  It was far from perfect.  It needed something that wasn't there,  But, Yum!  It sated my appetite.  Once done with the pizza, I did some laundry. Although I have a basket of clothes that still need folding, I have some dresses and shirts which are hang drying.  Tomorrow, they will be hung in the closet where they return.

As for me, I am supposed to go to a meetup tomorrow.  I may go.  And then, I may not.  It all depends on how I feel in the morning.  If my leg is bothering me, I'll take it easy.  If not, I'll go out.

A short trip to Queens

 

Queens, NY. In some areas, it is as congested as Manhattan Island.  In other areas, it has a lower population density than other suburban areas.  Today's mission was to find a parking spot in a moderately congested part of Queens, and then stay with RQS for a couple of nights.  

But first....

I have been going to the same location to have my taxes done for almost 50 years.  This doesn't mean that I have been going to the same business for 50 years.  For the first 48 of these years, I have used the same tax person that my parents used for their business.  When she retired, she recommended the person who took over the location and opened a new business of her own.  This was my first destination for the day.

To give you an idea of where I was going, Corona is a section of Queens that became predominantly Hispanic over the part 50 years.  It is much more common to hear Spanish being spoken here, and to find people who can't speak English.  I'd bet that a very large portion of the area's residents are illegal, and will soon be terrorized by the Orange Snowflake's crackdown on immigrants, legal and illegal.  Bur I digress.  For now, Corona is still a vibrant community, a region of New York City where I feel safe to visit in the day time.

Normally, it is hard to find a parking spot in Corona. Yet, I easily found one less than 300 feet away from my tax lady's office.  Although I put $2.00 in the meter for 90 minutes, I could have put in only $0.50 for 30 minutes - I was in and out of her office that quickly.  Then it was off to RQS's place.  And that's where the "fun" began.  Or, I should say, that's where I started having a  little bit of bad luck with traffic.

Cross-borough traffic in Queens is terrible, unless one is on a subway line that connects to Manhattan island.  It is easy to go from Flushing to Corona, Corona to Jackson Heights, and Jackson Heights to Long Island City before reaching Manhattan.  But, if one wants to travel from Ridgewood to Flushing, one either has to travel on the NYC Subway to Manhattan then change trains to reach Flushing, or take a bus that slowly winds through narrow streets to reach the same place.  There is no easy way to reach Ridgewood from Corona, and I had to fight Friday afternoon traffic to reach RQS.

A little over 1 1/4 hours later, I was in Ridgewood, and found a parking spot within 10 minutes.  And then, I was at RQS's for the evening. Unlike most trips, this one would be way too short.  I knew I'd be leaving on Sunday.  But, for the next 2 nights, I'd be with RQS.  And that was the most important thing to me.

I understand why people feel overwhelmed these days

 

The above picture was taken at a meetup with a group who now has gatherings when I am not free to attend due to scheduling conflicts.  Trying to live life around other's schedules and needs gets exhausting for many, and it's easy to see how many people (like my brother) get overwhelmed by life.  And I got to thinking this morning about how retirement doesn't always free us from our responsibilities to others, and the sacrifices we make to fulfill those responsibilities.

In my case, I've had to make a trade-off - go to meetups, or have a relationship with RQS.  Which would you drop?  If you said RQS, I'd slap you from here to next Tuesday.  She's a keeper.  But this has me run the risk of not being able to travel while I'm able to do so, as her health seems to be on the wane.  Even with healthy eating, her body is betraying her.  Do you think I'd want to give up on travel if something more important would get in the way?

While we're on the subject of travel, most of my readers know that I have often traveled as a female who carries male id.  With the current administration in Washington, I'm not sure of how long I can do this.  All it takes is for some person wanting to impress his supervisors by excessive use of authority to hassle me, and everything could fall apart in my life.  I now have to think whether I should travel as a female for one upcoming cruise I plan to take.

Yet, my problems pale in comparison to others.  For example, my brother's car was totaled (through no negligence of his own - his car was stopped at a light when someone hit him), his job is both life draining and a time suck, his volunteer efforts take up time, he manages the family homestead that we rent out, and he returns to a home which is not a refuge for him. RQS has to manage two life threatening ailments that could both cripple her and cause her to have an early death.  Since both ailments run in both her blood lines, she is scared. And these are only two of the people close to me.  Many others have it much worse than this.

Turning on the TV or radio is no escape, as we are bombarded by the latest atrocities going on in the world.  The orange snowflake keeps trying to destroy the rule of law in the US, while his actions are destroying the security enjoyed by Americans that took generations to build up.  Yes, globalization without a good social safety net has resulted in a lot of broken lives.  But a return to a society where no social safety net exists would be even worse for us.  It's bad enough when one person loses a job.  But when entire states lose large percentages of their work forces due to social, environmental, and economic change, how can people cope?  It's hard to feed, clothe and house one's family if no jobs are available, much less even afford proper health care.  No wonder why many in the "Red States" live in fear of losing what little they have - they have always lived as serfs tied to the estates of nobility which never cared about their subjects.

 

If I were speaking to an audience of "Minorities" who complain about being victimized, I'd say 

Get over it!

This does not mean to ignore those things that drain your soul.  Instead, I want for people to conquer their problems and take control over what they can in their lives.  We can not control what life puts in our way.  But we can control how we react when we encounter these problems.  Yet, sometimes, taking charge may involve doing the unthinkable.  Years ago, the wife of a close friend was dying of the same type of cancer which claimed my wife's life.  When she could no longer swallow any food and was in constant untreatable pain, she had to make an impossible decision - do I choose life or do I choose death?  Many people would tell her to get doped up for the pain, and live the rest of her few remaining days in hospice without any quality of life.  Without children to care for and a husband who could live without her, she chose to end her life while it still had meaning for her.  (I was with her husband when this happened.)  I don't know if I could have done what she did.  But I hope I could do it, instead of wasting away in a hospital bed, burning money that I'd rather go to my heirs.

 

Please note that I first focused on the exception to my rule instead of the rule I apply to my life. I feel that it is my duty to try and conquer what problems life puts in front of me.  It's hard enough getting by these days.  And for my transgender friends who read this blog, I say: 

 Don't Give Up!  

This too shall pass.

Some people may have to bear a heavier load in life than others.  But you don't have to break under the pressure.  Try to set limits.  Ration your media consumption.  Avoid "Friends" who are "Debbie Downers".  Find people and places which recharge your batteries when you are around them.  Even if you can't limit your responsibility to a ailing relative or friend, you must find time to nurture yourself. Just keep looking for hope, and you shall find it.

 

 

I have my new bed!

 

Bed, n. - A platform on which to sleep, have sex, read books, or watch TV.  Which do you think I do most?  I'll give you a clue - I'm coming close to watching all 270 episodes of the original Perry Mason series.

Why do I start off with the definition of a bed?  Well, I had to get up early, so that I could shower and get dressed as Mario for the delivery.  However, I did all the shaving that I knew I'd need to do to switch into Marian mode after they left.  This meant that I was up and showered by 8 am, eating breakfast by 9, and resting on my sofa until noon.

Shortly after noon, I received a text saying that the deliverymen would be here in 15 minutes.  So I made myself presentable and walked downstairs to greet the men.  A few minutes later, they were removing my old mattress and bed spring, and assembling the adjustable base on which the new mattress would sit.  A few minutes later, they brought the new mattress in and made sure that everything was working before they left.

Now, I have the same bed and mattress as RQS.  I think that the people who delivered her bed rushed through the job, as they did not attach the "footer bracket" to the bed frame.  As a result, her mattress keeps sliding to the foot board of her bed.  (I might be able to take care of this issue when I visit her this weekend.) Luckily, I noticed that the bracket was properly attached to my bed frame, and I expect no future problems with my mattress.

- - - - - -

With the delivery being done,  I made a call to my doctor's office to arrange for next month's appointment, and then I rested a bit before changing into Marian mode to go to the movies with DS to see The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie.  But, before I would get to the movie theater, I decided to buy a new printer - I do not intend to spend twice the price for ink as I need to simply because HP is now software blocking the use of re-manufactured ink cartridges.  This meant that I'd be running down to Micro Center in Yonkers, and then going back Northeast to Mamaroneck.

It felt strange to use my credit card with Mario's name while presenting as Marian.  But I wanted the printer, and no one gives much of a damn about how I present.  Before getting on the road again, I tried to reach my tax lady - to no avail.  So, I figured that I'd check with RQS on how to reach the tax lady, and send an email later in the evening.

My next stop was at Costco, where I bought another pillow.  Now, I have 4 new pillows, and have a completely new bed, pillows and bed linens. Finally, I made it to Mamaroneck, finding a parking spot without problems.  Then, I bought my ticket and found DS inside a darkened theater. As much as I am a fan of the old Warner Brothers' cartoons, there is no way a modern film can have the charm of the old films.  Yet, I enjoyed spending 90 minutes to watch this piece of fluff. Hopefully, we can do this again.

On the way home, I called RQS.  Some of the tests her doctors have ordered have delivered bad news.  This may get in the way of travel, if she can't get things under control AND stop the progression of a genetic weakness.  AARGH!  I'll be there for her.  But I'd like to have more of the good times with her, before things change for the worse.

At least, RQS will be able to get a comfortable sleep in my apartment when she's here next.

Parting is such sweet sorrow

 

So many odds and ends for people to catch up on, and I'm in the middle of many of them.

Let me explain.... 

I've been there for RQS through 2 emergency room visits, and forced diet changes caused by her ailments.  This is not a problem for me, as I need to have less ultra-processed food in my diet.  However, it may crimp our style when we choose places to eat for our once (or more) per week nights out.  In many ways, this will be a good thing, as I will need to clean much of the crap out of my cupboard, replacing it with healthy foods.

Before leaving RQS today, we decided on a place where we will have her birthday dinner.  It's a nice restaurant where we've held two of our co-op board's yearly dinners.  Since it will be the first weekend of Hudson Valley Restaurant week, I figured that we could have a nice dinner for a little less than I'd normally pay for such a dinner.

When I got home, I texted my brother to ask him how the house is coming along.  Well, we may have to make some hard decisions, so that we can rent the place out as soon as possible.  It looks like my brother's car got totaled by some idiot kid driving recklessly on a side street while my brother was patiently waiting for a light.  Given his workload, etc. I wasn't going to push him for information for my taxes.  However, he said that he should have things ready soon.  And I made arrangements to help him with work on the house next weekend - something I hate doing, but needs to be done.

I wish I could have stayed with RQS another day, but I have a doctor's appointment in the morning.  If I make the time AND get my bedroom cleaned up enough to have my bed delivered on Tuesday, I may decide to go into the city and see an old movie, completely recut and reedited with never seen footage - Caligula: The Ultimate Cut.  Will this end up being the final version of this production?  I doubt it.  Although this version has much of Bob Guccione's porn removed, it is still a flawed film.  Yet, I'll bet that someone will rework the film into something better than the the 2 versions that currently exist for sale.

A social day for Marian

 

This was a day where I knew I'd be spending the day as Marian.  So I made sure that I'd be wearing a comfortable dress when I went out for lunch (but not the dress above).  But I had one thing I wanted to do, but didn't for reasons I'll mention later.

My first appointment in my calendar was meeting with CCS, my friend from the census, for lunch. Since she exercises with a personal trainer on Wednesdays, we decided to have lunch after her session.  This meant that I'd be having a late lunch. The day's plan was to have me start moving around 11, and leave the house by 1:15 pm for lunch.  While I was getting dressed, I got a call from Vicki suggesting that we meet for lunch today.  So what did I do?  I scheduled dinner with Vicki for tomorrow, and had lunch with CCS today. 

I arrived at the Ossining pizzeria around 1:30, and found CCS already sitting in a booth.  Both of us ordered hearty meals with dessert, and I was stuffed by the end of our meal.  We caught each other up on the things happening in our lives, including RQS's visit to the ER, and CCS's family reunion during Passover in Atlantic City.  By 3:30, we were finishing lunch, and scheduled next month's get together before parting our ways.

Next, I was too tired to take care of one errand I had planned for the day - going to Costco and getting a membership card with Marian's image on it.  (I have one with Mario's face on it.)  So I went home, and went into a digesting sleep for a couple of hours.  

After I regained full consciousness, I prepared for a Zoom meeting with RQS and our Texas friends.  It was a good meeting, and everyone had something to say. At 9:45, I ended the meeting, and finally had a chance to rid my face of the makeup I was wearing for almost 10 hours....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I received an unexpected package today

 

The other day, I received notice from USPS Informed Delivery that I should expect a package that originated from New Rochelle, NY.  Who could be sending a package?  What was in the package?  Why was this package being sent?  So many questions, and absolutely no clues.

When the package arrived, I saw my name listed as Marian, and not as Mario.  So, it had to be from someone who knows me as Marian.  But the package was in one of these USPS Priority Mail envelopes, so I had little information available to me.  So, I opened the envelope and found some paperwork for my 2023 taxes.  Now I had my answer - Fran (the TG accountant who bailed on preparing my taxes due to health issues) was cleaning out her files, and sent me what I once gave her instead of shredding the paperwork. What could this mean?  Was Fran giving up on having me as a client, given last year's issues?  Who knows?  But I had no plans to work with Fran this year, as I didn't like how she handled RQS's taxes last year.   

RQS has already had her taxes done by the same lady who prepared my taxes last year.  As soon as my brother has prepared the financials for our property, I'll be making an appointment with this woman and driving to Queens to get my taxes done.  Unfortunately, this will likely force me to spend 2 days as Mario, as I don't want to introduce Marian so someone who has to deal with me as Mario.  This is the most frustrating part of being both Marian and Mario on a part time basis.

It's been a long weekend, and I'm almost glad it's over

 

I'll bet that RQS was feeling like this on her way home today.  On Friday, she had lost her cell phone, and we drove to Queens on Saturday to retrieve it.  Most of the remaining weekend was spent resting, recharging ourselves for the week ahead.

But why do I mention this?

My brother had a busier weekend than I did.  My nephew lives on the west coast, and my brother went out there for a competition my nephew participated in.  As expected, my nephew did well, and is preparing for the next step in his competitive career.  This meant that my brother didn't have the time to take care of paperwork I needed, nor did he have the time to recharge his batteries after an over-full week at work.  There was no way I was going to pester my brother for paperwork with the stuff he has going on in his life.  Instead, I made sure to talk about my nephew for 20 minutes before asking any questions such as: Did my brother have the chance to find my grandmother's death certificate? Of course, he also had an answer for my unasked question.  And we then proceeded to talk about priorities for the rental property we jointly own.

- - - - - -

When RQS finally made it home, she found something in her mailbox - jury duty pay.  Someone had pilfered the original check sent to her, so she had to file a claim for the money owed to her.  Now, she can afford to treat me to a fine dinner at l'Arca del Oro. (That's Mickey D's, for those who don't get the reference.)  She's in a better place than she was a week ago.  And now, I gave her a much more pleasant task than the doctors did last week - choosing a restaurant to go to for Hudson Valley Restaurant Week (HVRW).

Running to Queens for a phone

 

RQS has been discombobulated this past week, all because of a medical issue.  And that has resulted in a sort of mental fog which has caused both forgetfulness and clumsiness which have been frustrating at least.  Yesterday was the culmination of a week where the brain fog cost us both time and money.... 

- - - - - -

Our plans for the day were to wake up at 6 am, so that we could get to RQS's neighborhood by 10 am.  This is where we were to pick up her phone at the store of a fellow who found it.  So, when the alarm woke me at 6, I fiddled around a little, and then prepared to go out for the day as Marian.  RQS followed suit, and by 8:15, we were out the door and headed for Queens.  Both of us were relatively silent, as we weren't fully awake yet.

Arriving in Queens, we had a minor disagreement (do not stress that word, it was a light difference of opinion) as to where we had to go.  Thankfully, we had Google Maps to guide us - the store we had to go to was on the other side of the subway station.  If we didn't follow directions, we'd have wasted a few minutes getting back to where we needed to go.  So I parked the car in front of the store, and RQS came back with her phone and all of her cards.

We had time to kill before lunch with friends.  So it was off to the bookstore to have some coffee and to buy a book or two.  On the way, we had to stop at an ATM and get some money.  Luckily, both the bank we needed and the bookstore were in the same neighborhood, and we didn't have to drive too far before being able to settle down with a cup of Joe.

Next, it was off to White Plains. We were lucky to get there when we did, as they were starting to reroute traffic for a St. Patty's Day celebration.  (Why they didn't wait until the next weekend befuddles me, as it would have been March 15th, and not March 8th.)  This eliminated the cheap 2-hour metered parking that we wanted, and forced us to use the "expensive" parking lot under the building the restaurant was housed in.  Once parked, we met our friends and had a great lunch.  I won't say too much about this couple, save that they are as ethnically mixed as RQS and I, and that we have similar feelings about the world.   

Finally, we were on our way home around 3:30.  After a quick drugstore visit, we were home for the night.  And even here, the fog still affected RQS, as she lost some stuff she'll need to replace tomorrow. Let's hope that the fog has completely lifted when she wakes up in the morning.

This is how my car puts on mileage

 

Lately, RQS has been dealing with a few health issues.  Several days ago, a specialist told her that she had to go to the emergency room as one of her tests came in at ridiculously high levels. She was discharged the same evening, with new scripts for new medicines.  Given this visit to the emergency room, she has not been her normal self - the feelings of helplessness and feeling ignored by the medical professionals came back and hit her hard.  

While in the ER, the doctors rescheduled an appointment to get her to another specialist 3 months earlier than originally scheduled.  During this visit, the doctor gave her advice on what she should be eating (for example, kill the carbs) and how much exercise she should be getting.  As an aside, the 2nd specialist suggested that she should find a replacement for specialist #1, as s/he didn't pay attention to her when she wanted to discuss how treatments for her first issue would interfere/intersect with treatments for the second issue.

As you can guess, RQS was not "all there" for the second half of the week.  So, when she came up to see me, she had a "comedy" of misfortunes occur.  First, her scarf got tangled in the wheel of her suitcase.  Thankfully, her Uber driver got it untangled and tossed everything in the trunk of the car.  As she was dropped off at the subway station, her cell phone fell out of her pocket.  Luckily, she had her ID, some money, and everything needed to come to Croton with her.  But she was totally out of sync with her normal self.  While RQS was on her way up, my ex-GF Patty told me that her sister's wake would be tonight.  If I were to have gone, I'd be dressing as Mario and driving to Fishkill to pay my respects.  This would have been an awkward introduction of Patty and RQS.  Luckily, I wasn't expected to pay my respects, as they were keeping everything small.  So, I dressed as Marian, and picked RQS up at the station.

There was no way I would take RQS straight to my place, as she was ravenously hungry.  So, it was off to the diner in Peekskill for dinner.  While there, she contacted Uber and sent in a request for help. Uber didn't respond quickly, so I thought of something after dinner - calling her phone to see if anyone had found it.  Someone did!  So we are meeting him at 10 am to pick the phone up and say thanks.  But this means that we have to get up at the crack of dawn to get showered and dressed, so that we could be in RQS's neighborhood around 9:30 am, and then mosey back to Westchester to see friends (with me in Marian mode) at 1 pm.

It took until 11 pm for RQS to fully relax (or, as much as she could under the circumstances).  Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, and I'm not looking forward to the drive....

Neither of us wanted to brave the cold.

 

Senator John Blutarsky.  The fictional character had more to say for him than the excuse for a man running this country now.  The current president reeks of corruption, ineptitude, narcissism, and treason; while the future Senator Blutarsky dealt a blow to corruption at his college before moving on to politics. 

But why do I reference a great bit of comedic fiction in today's post?

This weekend, I picked RQS up at the station, had dinner out, and then spent the rest of the weekend (for the most part) relaxing inside.  Although we took a drive on Saturday to pick up ingredients to cook some French Onion Soup (with a slight variant or two from Julia Child's recipe), we stayed comfortably warm inside my apartment.

What does one do when one stays inside?  For the most part, it was watch TV and read books.  I've learned that I have to avoid over-watching the news as of late, as I'm getting sick each time I see President Musk and his lackey, Trump, destroy my nation from within.  I've read the outline of what they're doing in history books, and I don't like how the story ends up.  So, I've had to remind RQS that we need to watch more videos of people clearing up the mess around abandoned houses.  (We tend to enjoy videos from Midlife Stockman, as they tend to be the most relaxing.)  

Sunday came, and I could have gone to church.  I was conscious early enough to have done so.  Instead, I decided to drift back to sleep for another 3 hours.  By the time noon came, we had a decision to make.  Do we go outside in the cold, or do I make the warm, filling and tasty onion soup.  The soup won out, of course.  So, I sliced up 6 onions, then cooked them in my new Dutch Oven.  (I bought a cheap one, just for the onion soup.  If I like cooking with one, I may buy one of a better quality later on.)  Although I burnt some of the onions while cooking and scraped out the residue before continuing with the preparation, the soup came out OK.  This was the highlight of the weekend - something which allowed us to relax, and not fall prey to the fear the snowflake wants us to feel.

Why do I mention fear?

Supposedly, the snowflake has been intimidating GOP congressmen and senators with death threats.  (This was reported in a YouTube video, where one Democratic congressperson mentioned this to their constituents.)  If this is true, and I have no evidence of this, it's another step towards authoritarianism.  We have to counter this by first remembering FDR's great words (from another context): "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."  By refusing to surrender any of our rights, and having others do the same, we can defeat this monster.  If not, we might as well remember the fictional Rick Blaine's dilemma in regard to the "Letters of Transit", and make appropriate choices.

Waiting for a washer/dryer set.

 

This was the day I dreaded - a morning rush to get RQS to her pottery class, followed by a lot of waiting in a "cold" house for a washer and dryer to be delivered and installed.

- - - - - -

RQS and I set our alarms to get us up and moving at the ungodly hour (for us) of 8 am.  I was the first one in the shower, and I was ready to go out by 9 am.  However, we didn't need to be at the pottery studio until 10 am.  So that gave us 30 minutes to kill.

I was glad to be able to drive RQS to the studio - I'd have never found it on my own without Google Maps.  But I did take the slow route to Long Island afterwards, as I had a lot of time to kill.  When I arrived in my old neighborhood, I started shopping for a doorbell. Although I saw one in the local hardware store, the price wasn't as good as I wanted for an inexpensive piece of Chinese crap.  (I wanted something inexpensive, but didn't have a cheap look or feel to it.)  So, I'll bring up the idea with my brother that we should buy something a little bit better when the place is ready to be rented out.

Arriving at the old homestead at 11:30, I set things up and began my wait.  This was not going to be a day where being out as Marian would be practical, especially with the possibility that my brother may stop by if installation runs late.  Fortunately, we had a table and chair available for me, and I proceeded to make myself at home for a while.

 

The delivery truck came a little bit before 2 pm, and then the "fun" began.  It was interesting to see how 2 people could "comfortably" carry a washer and a dryer up and down steps without a hand truck, then install the appliances in the basement.  Within 30 minutes, everything was set up, and I was ready to go home.

Next, I'll have to find some time to be around when the hot water heater is installed....

I didn't originally plan to be at RQS's place today (a short post)

 

Normally, I might try to put more effort into a topic for a post.  Today is very different.  We have a washer/dryer set being delivered to the family homestead, and I have to be around the house tomorrow waiting for the delivery.  Given that I didn't want to risk being late for the delivery, I decided to drive RQS home and stay at her place for the night.

- - - - - -

I would usually drop RQS off at the station on Mondays, and I would have the rest of the week to myself.  Not this week.  I packed up minimal supplies (my CPAP machine, a change of clothes, and the computer I'm writing this post on) and drove to RQS's place.  We arrived around 2 pm, and I easily found a spot within eyesight of her building's front door.

Given the frigid weather outside, neither of us wanted to go out for dinner.  So, it was Chinese delivery.  What Chippies are to the UK, "Chinese" joints are to the US - ubiquitous in almost every town.  None of them serve the exact same food, as their offerings are not as standardized as a McDonald's.  But they will serve a typical set of food selections that will fill you up for at least 59 minutes.  (As the old canard goes: Eat Chinese food, and in 60 minutes, you'll be hungry again.)

For the most part, it was a nothing-burger of a day.  Tomorrow, on the other hand, will be a rush, followed up by a lot of waiting.

Valentine's Day has come and gone.

The one reason RQS came up to my place this weekend was that I had made reservations at Hudson House Inn and Restaurant for a nice romantic dinner. This gave me the opportunity to finally wear a pretty dress from Lane Bryant that has been hanging on my door for several months. (My dress is in the same style as in the above photo, but in a nice violet color.)

If you recall, our original plans for Thanksgiving dinner were fouled up by RQS's hospital stay.  This time, we made sure that no problems would get in the way of a romantic dinner.  RQS came up the day before, and we made sure to have enough time to make it to Cold Spring with time to spare.

We made it to the restaurant on time, and proceeded to have a wonderful dinner starting with crab cakes, salmon with crab meat stuffing, and finished with an apple tart.  Both of us enjoyed people-watching there, as some people dressed to the nines for the evening, and others were very casual.  We were somewhere in the middle with our dresses, wearing outfits which would fit in a dressy environment, but could be dressed down as needed for other environments.

At home, we exchanged Valentine's day gifts.  I was very lucky that RQS's gift was delivered on time, as I didn't want to be empty handed when she gave me my gift.  It was a nice day, and a good start to the weekend.

A snowy weekend - and I left my car at home.

 

I had planned to be with RQS this weekend, but this put me at risk of getting fined by my co-op.  By the time I would get home, I expected to clear off 7" of snow from my car and possibly get dinged with a fine from my co-op.

- - - - - -

Friday started with laundry - 3 loads of it.  By the time I was packed, out the door, and on my way to RQS's place, it was 2-3 hours later than expected.  I didn't make it to RQS's place until 7:30 pm.  Luckily, she had already started to cook dinner when I left the subway and transferred to the bus to her house. The rest of the evening wasn't that exciting.  We fell into our usual routine and watched a couple of movies before felling asleep.

Saturday came, and with it, the exterminator.  Each month, the exterminator is scheduled to take care of RQS's building, and today was the day.  Once his visit was over, it was off to the library to drop off some books, and then to one of our go-to restaurants for a bite to eat.  They were about to close, so we decided to get this food to-go and eat it at home.

Around 7 pm, the snow started to fall and I knew we were in for the night.  Although we weren't planning on doing anything this evening, it made me feel a little worried - if I didn't get home early enough on Sunday, I could have some problems with my co-op.  As they say, "the die is cast", and I would deal with things after getting home.

Sunday came, and there was less snow on the ground than expected.  Even with this, I figured that I should leave RQS's place a bit early, so that I could shovel out my car in daylight and move it back into my assigned spot.  This way, the co-op has less of an opportunity to ding me for not getting my car into the street so that the driveways could be cleared.  I left RQS around 1 pm, and made it to Grand Central in the nick of time to make the 1:50 train to Croton.  By 3:00 pm, I was home, and had a chance to finish this post before shoveling some snow....

- - - - - -

On other matters....

It looks like the Orange Snowflake is trying to put the LGBTIQ community back in the closet.  (Not that we didn't know this already.)  We've seen him give executive orders to (fr now) make it impossible to get a gender marker changed on federal documents, as well as erasing any statistics that refer to LGBTIQ's from federal websites.  This is the first step among many in which he intends to hurt us.

Why do I mention this?

Stalin made sure that no statistics were kept for his reign of terror.  It is estimated that 28 million people lost their lives in the gulags while he was in power.  We may not be able to stop the Snowflake from deleting our history for now.  But we can throw a wrench into his plans in regard to another at risk group - the illegal immigrants.  How, you may ask?  Get congress to act by requiring that accurate statistics be kept.  The public has a right to know how much the Snowflake's removal efforts are costing, as well as being able to know how many illegals of each category are being removed.  The more data we have, the more tools we can have to force congress to act when the time is right.

Right now, GOP members of the house and senate are afraid of losing power.  What they don't know is by surrendering their chambers' powers to the Snowflake and the SA Nazi (Musk), they are surrendering their own power and won't get it back.  We've seen this happen before.  But now, we can take a different path of activism.  Lawsuits can be filed in friendly federal courts, and slow down the march to tyranny.  I suggest that everyone buy copies of On Tyranny, and How Democracies Die to understand what is going on, and how we can cause the Snowflake some grief.

Eastern Caribbean Cruise - Follow-up Thoughts (02/03/25)

 

This was a day that I completed some tasks, but left more of them undone.  There's the old adage that one needs a vacation following a vacation to recharge from the first vacation.  And that seems true for the two of us.  RQS rushed to make final payment for our New England/Eastern Canada cruise - I guess she wants to make sure that the cruise is paid for while she has the money to pay for the cruise.  (And I can't blame her for doing so.)  I'll pay my share of the remaining monies owed later on this week.  And then we can look into a Bermuda cruise to be taken earlier in the spring.

- - - - - -

I never thought that I'd warm up to MSC cruises after my December 2023 cruise to Florida and the Bahamas.  However both the cruise line and I have changed a bit since then.  The ship has improved its food and entertainment offerings since my last cruise, and I have developed realistic expectations for an inexpensive cruise on this ship. Given the price of cruising these days, MSC has become much more attractive than it used to be for me. I know how to get value from their cruises, and I know not to use them for "bucket list" cruises.

There are times where I miss cruising with my former cruise partner.  Yet, we got into a big rut over time.  Although I made a big mistake which ended our friendship, I still look upon the times we had together as good times.  Yet, these were times that couldn't last forever.  Cruising with her took time away from what I should have been spending with my then girlfriend.  This time around, I make sure that RQS comes with me, with a rare exception or two.

If more cruise lines offered true solo cabins at a reasonable price, I'd have considered cruising more often.  However, I often find that on the lines that do offer solo cabins, the prices for these cabins often exceed that of a double occupancy cabin.  So, it is nice to again have a partner to sail with - especially one who is also my romantic interest.

- - - - - -

There are many places to go and so little time and money available to make those trips possible.  Hopefully, I will soon have the resources to do another bucket list trip.  I'll inform my readers if that does happen....

Eastern Caribbean Cruise - Sea Day (01/24/25)

 

There is not much to say about sea days on a cruise ship.  There are entertainment activities to keep one busy, as well as a healthy supply of food onboard to occupy one's time.  So far, I have not been over indulging, and I have felt sated with human sized portions of food.  This doesn't mean that I usually eat too much on a cruise.  Instead, I usually walk more when I'm on a cruise, and maintain my weight. 

Today, I didn't have much to write about.  So I wrote an entry which will get posted to this blog in roughly four weeks.  However, I'll recount the day here to give you an idea of what a sea day on a ship can be like.

- - - - - -

RQS and I took our time getting out of bed, and barely made it to lunch in one of the main dining rooms. Coincidentally, we ended up sitting at the table where I was assigned on the first cruise on this line. After a nice meal of fish and chips, we left to have dessert in the buffet because we didn't have attentive service from our waiter.

We went back to our cabin and rested a while before getting dressed for gala night dinner.  Unfortunately, we were a little bit late and didn't have the chance to get our formal pictures taken.  So we met our table mates and had another nice conversation over dinner.  Again, service was slow and error prone - RQS didn't get her glass of wine as she ordered.  While at dinner, RQS spilled some dessert on her dress - there went the chance to get a nice picture of us taken.

After a bio break, it was time to go to the theater.  Well, we had made reservations, but this didn't mean much - they no longer bothered to make sure that people had reservations to enter the theater.  This meant that the theater was overcrowded by the time we got there.  In case of emergency, it would have been impossible to exit quickly.  So we left as the show was about to start, and made it back to the buffet for a quick snack before returning to our cabin.

Was it a nice day fr us?  Yes.  But nothing much to write about.