You can't make this S**T up!

 

By the time you read this, two weeks will have passed since I wrote this entry.  Normally, this wouldn't be much of a concern, but one of these news items will likely add even more fuel to a scandal hitting the press.  The other of these items affects something more precious to me: the separation of church and state.

- - - - - -

I'll start out by talking about the most important of these issues: the proposed IRS settlement regarding the Johnson amendment and churches' political speech rights.  For the past 70 years, churches have been allowed to exercise their free speech rights to advocate for certain causes, but NOT endorse political candidates or parties.  This has helped maintain the separation of church and state.  Now, with the Orange Snowflake in charge, I expect to see preachers and their churches abuse their churches' tax free status and directly meddle in politics. The effects of this change may take months, if not years to have an effect on the American body politic. But it has the potential to cause great harm to minority religious groups to practice their own faiths.   

We've seen what happened in a country when religious leaders got unchecked control of Iran.  Forty years ago, Iran was a prosperous, modern, and moderately free (if one didn't offend the Shah) nation.  Now, religious police patrol the streets, and the people have to do their best to live within a religious authoritarian state.  Do we want that here?

- - - - - -

Yet, the thing that may be the most consequential in the short term is the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.  The Daily Beast reported that the FBI has the Epstein prison tape with no missing minute.  There was another report (I can't find the source) that someone in an orange jumpsuit was near Epstein's cell on the night he allegedly committed suicide.  Hmmm.  Could this be a rub out?  The Orange Snowflake acknowledged that Virginia Giuffre was stolen from his employ at Mar-a-Largo by Epstein. My first question is: Why did the snowflake hire an under aged female to be employed at Mar-a-Lago's spa? Then, I ask: What was going on at Mar-a-Lago.  According to an article in Vanity Fair, the snowflake and Epstein had a "Calendar Girl" party  where they were the only 2 males present.  Even MAGA loyalists want answers now!

No matter how much the snowflake tries to deflect things, I think this scandal has legs.  It's one thing when the snowflake abuses the power of his office and accepts a $400,000,000 bribe from the Qatari government.  But when it comes to the combination of possible adolescent child abuse coupled with lies from the snowflake saying that he'd release all the files on Epstein, it's something else.  MAGA is upset, as this is one betrayal they can not deal with.

The snowflake can't have it both ways.  If he is innocent, why not release all of the files.  The worst that can be said about him in that case would be that he once associated with the wrong person and cut off contact when he felt Epstein had crossed the line.  But if he is guilty, then MAGA rightfully is upset, as the snowflake is as much a part of the swamp that he claimed he wanted to drain.  This will likely stay in the news for weeks to come.  I certainly hope that this is the case! 

My paperwork is complete. Now to send it out.

 

I finally filled in the last form I needed to register a foreign birth and gain a second citizenship in a European country (which I will leave unnamed for now.)  There's a part of me that has been hesitant about doing this.  But, with all that's going on in GOP politics in this country, it pays to have the ability to go somewhere if this country turns into a fundamentalist "Christian" autocratic kleptocracy.

- - - - - -

My grandmother was born in Europe in 1903.  She came here when she was 17, and gave birth to my dad out of wedlock.  (Yes, I can affectionately call my dad a bastard.  But then, I never did so.)  30 years later, my mom gave birth to me.  Luckily, according to the laws of one country, the child of a citizen is automatically considered a citizen of that country.  Grandchildren must file to be recorded in the foreign births registry before they are considered citizens.  It's a shame that my brother didn't do this before his children were born. His children would have been able to inherit citizenship from him, and be able to be citizens of 2 countries.  (My niece is preparing to become a UK subject, but that's another story.)

It's strange for me to think of myself as a citizen of more than one country.  But then, it's strange to think that America's democracy may be dead by our 250th birthday.  As a transgender person, I worry what will happen if the wall between church and state no longer exists, and that people are allowed to proselytize in the workplace. No longer will we be able to be free to hold our own beliefs and practice them. We're already seeing signs that this is happening with some of the rule relaxations that the Orange Snowflake is proposing.  I am still not emotionally prepared to pull up stakes and move to another country to be safe from America's madness.

- - - - - -

Once I was done getting the application form notarized, I prepared everything to be mailed out in the morning.  And then, I decided to take a drive up to Goodwill to see if I could buy a cheap carry-on for the times I am out doing an overnight as Marian. (One carry-on for Marian, and one for Mario.)  The used clothing there looked in much better shape than the used luggage.  I guess that I'll have to order an inexpensive carry-on from Amazon for this purpose. 

This weekend, I will likely be in Marian mode when I go to RQS's place. I have a set of dresses there that I can wear, and I figure that I might as well be comfortable.  We'll be seeing one of her friends (who has seen me in both presentations), and I not sure of what we'll do after that.  At least, I'll be able to drive down to her place, and not try to find the bus to her place at its new starting point. 

 

 

 

 

PS: on August 6th, I received word from the Foreign Births Registry that my paperwork has been received.  Now to wait a few months before the next step in the process.  Hopefully, bu this time next year, I will be a citizen of two countries. 

I started repacking my bags for my Alaska cruise

 

 

As I write this, we are in the middle of a nasty heat wave in the NYC area.  The temperature peaked around 97 degrees in the shade, and I was very glad that I took the opportunity to stay inside and relax. This meant that I had no excuse not to work on repacking my luggage in preparation for our Alaska cruise.  Somehow, I still have to figure out how I'm going to bring my winter coat with me, even though I doubt I will need it.

- - - - - -

About a month ago, RQS and I were about to go on a New England / Canada cruise when we got an offer that we couldn't refuse: The cruise line would pay us (in refundable cruise credits) to take a different cruise (up to 10 days long) to the same region.  Instead of each of us paying $2000+ to take the cruise, we'd get a free cruise with the money we paid for the original cruise refunded to us (minus charges) once the replacement cruise ends.

We took Princess Cruises up on this offer 5 days before the cruise was to sail.  This left me with a packed 28" bag, a 20" carry-on bag, my backpack, and my CPAP machine - all ready to go on a summer 10-day cruise. Now, I had to repack, pulling out all but a couple of short sleeve shirts, replacing them with warmer garb. There was no way I was going to travel as Marian, given the current political climate.  Certain minorities are being rounded up (legal residents and non-legal residents), and ICE is treating many of them worse than we treated the Japanese-Americans sent to internment camps during World War 2.  Cruelty is a trademark of this authoritarian administration, and I don't want to be one of his victims trying to travel as Marian through any CBP checkpoints.  Luckily, it made much more sense for me to dress as Mario on the Alaska cruise, so much of the packing I did for the cruise we did not take made it easier for me to repack for this cruise. 

For the most part, repacking for Alaska is relatively simple.  Replace most summery gear with wintry gear and assume you'll have autumn weather often interrupted by rain  Even if we lived in "normal" times, I'd still be traveling in trouser-like garments in Marian mode (if I were full-time), as Alaska is a very informal place to visit.

- - - - - -

On other matters....

Right now, my brother's availability may be the weakest link in us getting the rental permit for the family homestead completed. Officially, someone has to inspect the place.  However, the place has already been through 2 inspections by the same fellow working for the town, and it will be up to my brother to take care of things.

Sle's leaving home, bye.... bye....

 

When I started writing this entry, the Beatles' song, "She's Leaving Home" came to mind.  It often feels like RQS and I have second homes at each other's apartments, and that we miss each other as soon as the other leaves for home.  Although we'll be on the phone with each other every night, and that I'll be going down to her place this weekend, there is still a void around here.  But that's not what I want to talk about today.

- - - - - -

Neither of us had that much energy this morning, and I dropped RQS off at the station an hour later than planned.  Given that I was presenting as Marian (as I prefer to do), I figured that it would be a good day to browse the racks at Lane Bryant.  So, I drove down to Pelham Manor instead of driving up to Poughkeepsie.  On the way there, I decided to get a car wash.  And yes, the car needed it!  I would have been happy with an exterior wash, but the standard wash included cleaning the inside of the car as well.  When the attendants were done, my trash bag had been disposed of, and all of the nooks and crannies I don't bother to keep clean were cleaned!  Can't complain much for $25.

Browsing through Lane Bryant, I saw only two things I'd want to buy.  The first was a sturdier denim jacket than the one I have now.  The second was a robe that coordinates well with one of the nighties I like to wear.  Neither of them said "buy me" given the price and sale type (BOGO, 50% off on the second piece.) I never buy at this price point as they expect you to buy 2 items at a combined discount of 25%.  Instead, I wait until I see things at 33% off (which tends to be a standard markdown), and preferably 40%-50% off.  It's a shame that the stores have trained people to shop for discounts instead of only having "Occasional Sales" from a standard price maintained through the season.  (J.C.Penney tried to shift customers to my way of seeing prices several years ago, and it backfired.  But then, the CEO at the time thought he could shift Penney's to a more upscale model and trashed the core business.)

Once done browsing, I returned home.  When I laid down for a short nap, my brother called.  He did well on his interview.  Hopefully, he will have a job offer within the next couple of weeks.  Keep your fingers crossed. 

It was almost the perfect weather to be wearing a short dress. (a short post)

 

I wasn't sure that I'd like the above dress.  However, I decided to buy it because it is inexpensive, and because I wanted one more dress in this style.  Today, I had the first chance to wear it when I picked RQS up at the train station.

We didn't have much scheduled for the day, so we first went to eat. After lunch, it was off to Uncle Giuseppe's to do a little shopping. Entering the store, we were greeted with the sounds of a man singing to a karaoke soundtrack.  His music filled the store, and I have to admit that he was very good.  Could he a professional taking up any type of gig needed to pay the bills?  I have no idea, but it was much better than the muzak that fills many stores.  Regarding what we bought, little is the key word here, as we didn't fill up a single bag and were able to spend less than $40.  One of the things I bought was a crumb cake, minus the cake.  The label said it all: "Just Crumbs."  I haven't had anything like this since I was a kid, when my mother called this a "Pizza Crumb Cake."  And that's the best description of this delicacy. Yum!

After our supermarket run, we went home for the night and had some salmon I had in the freezer.  Given how much food I have in the freezer, it's time to rotate old food out (and into our stomachs) and replace it with new frozen food. Did I care much for the salmon?  Not so much.  But I think this was related to the seasoning on the salmon, and not the quality of the fish.

Then, the day was over.  Not much to say for the day, and then it's just as well.... 

Today didn't go as planned - and it's just as well.

 

Yesterday, I sent out two pieces of paper by snail mail.  The first was a form my brother needs to have notarized so that we can send it in to the town for a rental permit.  The second was to my best friend from college, trying to find out why his special email account was disconnected.  (Given that he had a stroke a few years ago, I assume the worst - he passed away, and both his email account and his domain (blueroan.com) were shut down.)  Hopefully, my brother will be able to get the first piece of paper taken care of before his vacation, and I will get notice that my friend is alive and well in Florida.

- - - - - -

Today, I planned to get some passport photos taken, fill out the form to register my overseas birth with a foreign registrar.  This would allow me to get my second passport, something I might need if things go "impossibly" wrong here for us transgenders.  Well, I got those photos taken, but I didn't fill out the form, as I wanted to make sure I could get things notarized and a paperwork package in international mail on the same day. Next, I wanted to do some laundry, so that I would have fresh clothes for an upcoming trip.  (This I did later on in the day.)  Then, things went wrong - I knocked over a lamp in my bedroom and glass was scattered on the floor on RQS's side of the bed.  Now, I had to take care of two things: (1) Clean off the carpet as best I could and vacuum the remaining glass fragments out of the carpet; (2) Buy a replacement lamp, so that I have enough light in the room when I'm not sleeping.

If I had gotten everything done as planned, I would have switched into female presentation to close out the day, and consider going to the movies where I'd be entertained for the evening.  Given that I needed to be male presentation for the passport photos and it was in the 90's outside, it wasn't worth switching into Marian's presentation to go shopping.  At least, tomorrow I will be able to get into Marian mode again.

An afternoon with Vicki

 

Although I dropped RQS off at the train station today, I don't have much to say about it except that she will return in a coupe of days.  Instead, my focus will be on the time I spent with Vicki nd my thoughts about that lunch date.

- - - - - - 

Once I dropped RQS off at the station, I killed a little time before Vicki came to pick me up for our lunch date.  The first thing on our docket was a stop at J.Jill to return two garments that she mail ordered but didn't want to keep. So it was off to the Westchester mall in White Plains.  Vicki thought she could get in and out of the mall within 20 minutes, and not get charged the $4 for parking.  (She's losing a sense of time, now that she's not working. But that's something that gradually happens to retirees.)  Neither of us saw anything we were interested in the mall, both of us feeling a sense of sterility about the place.  Hardly anyone was there, and neither of us wanted to spend any more time there than we had to.

Vicki was in a mood today, taking control of the conversation when I wanted to explain my feelings.  She has stronger feelings about my exes and my late wife than I do - and she is likely projecting her feelings about her past relationships onto mine in this conversation.  Later on, she mentioned that she sees me as being authentic in my living life as a woman. She noted that for me, it's not putting on an act like Drag performers.  It is truly wanting to be seen and treated as a woman.  She disagrees with me about the things I need to do (partial facial feminization surgery, FFS), noting that my face isn't strongly as masculine as I feel it is.

After lunch, we drove back to Croton (with a stop at the Blue Pig for ice cream), and she dropped me off at my apartment.  Shortly afterward, I went to Walmart in search of pillow protectors and pillowcases for a new pillow I bought the other day.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find the pillow protectors and will need to buy them from Amazon.  At least, this wasn't a totally wasted trip.  

 

 

 

 

 

A trip to the Amazon fulfillment center

 

Recently, I went on a tour of an Amazon Fulfillment Center in Edison, NJ. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take photos.  But I will use similar photos from Business Insider to illustrate some of the things we saw today.

- - - - - -

This was a day I was glad to be traveling as Mario.  No, I wasn't concerned about having to expose myself as a non-op TG who hasn't had her ID updated.  Instead, I was more concerned about the heat inside the fulfillment center building - and I was right

RQS and I left the Croton area at 11:30, and started off towards Edison after a quick pit stop for a breakfast sandwich. Google Maps originally directed us to take the George Washington Bridge to get to New Jersey, but we took the Tappan Zee Bridge, cruising down the Garden State Parkway to Edison. We arrived at the fulfillment center around 1:30, and killed some time before entering the building.

After our legal IDs were checked against Amazon's list, we were given visitor passes and brough to a room where we were given headsets to protect our ears against the loudness of Amazon's operations area. The tour guide showed us the steps which a product takes from the point it enters the building, and then brought us to the floor where these processes take pace.

Amazon operates 24x7, 363 days each year, only being closed for Christmas and New Year. Our guide had never seen a day where the fulfillment center was closed, although there was a time that the center was temporarily out of operation due to a water main break. First, we went to the station where product is placed into inventory.  The 4-sided storage shelves above each weigh up to 1,500 pounds, and are moved around by robots each of which weigh 300 pounds.  As one can easily surmise, it can be very dangerous for a human to be on the other side of the area where these robots operate.

Humans load prod product into inventory in a special area where robots move these storage shelves into a neutral (safe) zone where people can reach into these shelves and store products.  Each product is registered one item at a time, and when no more items can be loaded, the human sends the robot on its way and a new storage shelf is moved into position.  One should note that items are stored at random, and tracked in its associated bin on the storage shelves until it is picked for customer delivery.

Occasionally, there are problems in the robots-only area, and they must be fixed by humans.  Amazon has a special procedure for this, where a special person wearing a "anti-robot" vest is able to resolve the problem without risk of injury from the robots and storage shelves.  (Who wants to get hit by 1,800 pounds of merchandise and equipment while on the job?)  I can only imagine what it took to design the safety process that separates human areas from robot areas.

Eventually, a human picks items from the storage shelves and sends them along to packing areas.  Robots move storage shelves to the interface area, and computers tell the human from which bin to pick an item for shipping, which item to be picked, and which bin to be sent for packing and shipping. This is also done under computer control, as items are routed to packing stations.  From these stations, packed boxes are routed to labeling stations, then to carts which then get loaded on trucks for delivery to Amazon delivery centers, or other delivery services.

It was over a mile of walking with a few pauses to tell us what was being done in each place.  Compared to what we used to do to process checks inside our bank, this was at least an order of magnitude more complex.  

- - - - - -

 

On our way home, we got stuck in traffic jams, and I made it worse by taking side roads.  In the end this was a blessing,  I didn't plan this, but I would pass by one of the Jackson Hole diners and stop in for a good burger with RQS.  So, I made a quick turn onto a side street and parked in their lot.  When one enters the place, one sees an ancient pay phone, along with the memorabilia on the Northern side of the building. Both of us ordered burgers, and we had a hard time eating them - there was too much tasty meat on each burger without making a mess of ourselves.  RQS saved half of her burger, while I ate it with a knife and fork.  Yum!

At this time, it was close to 7, and I wanted to make it across the bridge while it was still light.  Taking side roads North, we made it to the bridge and then home with a stop along the way.... 

I have a problem with a website that I can't solve - so I'm cloning it

 

For the life of me, I can't fix what went wrong with the Blogger Website I set up for the co-op.  I bought a domain name and successfully connected it to the Co-Op site.  Unfortunately, I flipped a switch and everything stopped working.  Even after I reset things to the default settings and repeating the process to connect this site and the domain that once worked, I couldn't get things to work.  So I tried a second domain, and had the same result. At this point, I knew I was going to need to clone the site and try again with the two domains the co-op owned.   Today, I started the process of cloning the original site.

As much as I am the technical expert for our co-op, I am far from up to date with today's technology.  I figure that I will learn as much as possible doing things for the co-op, and then build my own site for the Cruise Blog/Vlog I have been working on for a while. Luckily, I have no time constraints for either of these projects.  And I care more that I get my personal project done correctly, as I will have more at stake once I set it up.

Eventually, I will purchase a domain for this site as well, and make it easy to find via search engines.  Who knows, I might even get a wider readership than I have now. 

The Late Show Must Go - Oh No!

 

Steven Colbert and the Late Show.  It's a sad thing when the "Tiffany Network" cancels a great show because of the Orange Snowflake.  Yet, the economics behind this makes sense: Paramount/CBS needs to merge with Skydance to deal with financial losses from its movie and streaming businesses, and they can't do this unless they curry favor with the snowflake.  It's cheaper to kill a profit making show and keep the business alive, than to stand on principle and tell the snowflake to F-off!  I'm not worried about Colbert.  He'll likely use the remaining months he has left on his contract to hammer away at our president, and make him rue the day that he took on a comedian. 

What I am worried about is big business's capitulation to fascist power.  In the past, we had a lot of small businesses who could (and would) stand up for principle, as they had no fiduciary duties to others.  They could run their businesses to the ground on principle, and as such, had great power.  Now, with the consolidation of corporate identities, CEOs must look out for the health of their businesses, and not worry about the principles that they as individuals may hold.  This is a shame.  But we did it to ourselves by accepting corporate consolidation as a norm.

No one has to say much about the snowflake's flaws:  He is vindictive to a San Andreas Fault.  He could teach Satan cruelty lessons.  And an Amoeba has more brain cells than he has.  I could go on and on about this, but I'd bore the readers of this blog. The other day, he posted a series of insults involving all of the late night TV show hosts, showing how much he hates what they saying about him.  Instead of taking their zingers from these court jesters with grace, he wants to shut them down - as if he's afraid they are right and he is wrong. 

There is a saying that whatever this man touches, dies.  For God's sake, I hope he stops touching America soon.  There is a joke about a man who went to the newsstand every day and looked at every newspaper's front page.  

Eventually, the newsstand owner asks:

"Why do you look at every newspaper's front page and put it back on the rack?" 

The customer replies:

"I am looking for an obituary."

The owner responds:

"Obituaries are usually inside the back of the newspapers."

The customer replies:

"This one will be on the front page."

No one needs to ask whose obituary we are talking about here.

Sadly, even a broken clock can be right twice each day, and there are some points on which I will agree with the snowflake, but not his methods for correcting things, such as we have let too much manufacturing move to China.  In case of a conflict between the US and China, we might only be able to win a short war.  But they will win a long war, as we no longer manufacture the goods we need to keep an economy running. One can't shift manufacturing back to the US overnight.  It will take decades to do so.  Supply chains must be rebuilt, and American labor must be willing to get its hands dirty again.  We no longer have the project management skills in the USA needed to manage the supply chains, the way China does.  So, why start a trade war that we can not win?

 
Recently, one Democratic congressperson was asked why GOP congresspeople hate what the snowflake is calling for them to do, and still doing it?  She answered: Fear!  Given what happened to Nancy Pelosi's husband in her own house, why should they risk their families to the actions of unruly members of his mob?

We saw this 90 years ago, and I'd hate the same thing happen to America.  If we don't stand up now, we will see history repeat itself - with the same ending.

 

Lunch with TCL

 

I was semiconscious for part of the morning, and I didn't start getting ready to see TCL until 11 am.  My original plans were to get some paperwork taken care of, get passport photos taken, go to the bank to notarize a form, and then send it in for my second passport - all before driving to TCL's place.  None of these things took place - all I could do was to shave, shower, and dress as Mario before driving to New Jersey.

The usual trip to TCL's place has been getting longer over the past few years, as more traffic than ever is on Route 287. Making note of the Eastbound traffic on the bridge, I made plans to return home via the Bear Mountain Bridge.  Just before my intended exit, there was some road construction that backed up the highway for 1 1/2 miles.  So I was glad to have built in some extra time to get to TCL's place, as I barely got there on time at 1 pm.

TCL took a few minutes to get ready, and we first drove to the mechanic's shop to pick up her car.  And then, we went to lunch in town.  TCL treated me to lunch, as my birthday was earlier in the month, so I was a little bit ahead of the game today. However, my mind wasn't in sync with our conversation, as I was still a bit out of things until lunch was halfway over. This was just as well, as she has some of the same judgemental habits that she doesn't like in others.  After lunch, we went back to her place, and I took care of hanging some pictures for her. 

Around 3 pm, I left TCL's place and drove home via the Bear Mountain Bridge, arriving home at 4 pm.  At this point, I needed a nap, and didn't regain a form of consciousness until 7 pm.  At least some paperwork I requested for our family homestead was ready and I'm now ready to submit the next set of paperwork, so that we can rent out the house.... 

At least, after taking care of some more paperwork, I will be able to switch back into Marian Mode tomorrow. 

A day trip to Olana

 

RQS and I planned to visit Olana for a long time, but couldn't get out of bed early enough to make the drive to Hudson, NY.  Today was the day we finally made it.

- - - - - -

The first thing on my docket for the day was a Zoom meeting that took up the better part of an hour.  I had gotten dresses in a red floral dress I bought from Target a year or two ago.   When I had come out of my bedroom (this is where I usually work on the computer), I found that RQS had decided to wear the exact same dress in her size!  Today, we would look like the Bobsey Twins whether we planned to or not. This would be my first time at Olana since I was there with XGFJ several years ago.  My visit with RQS would be different - we'd be able to see the second floor of the house as well as the main floor. 

Instead of driving straight up Route 9, I decided to cross over the Hudson at Newburgh, and then speed up to Catskill on the Thruway, instead of getting caught in slower traffic on the East side of the river. This was a wise choice, as we were able to make it to Olana by 2 pm.  Given that the house tours end at 3:45 pm, I figured that we needed the extra time on site if things were busy.

For those unfamiliar with Olana, it is a 250+ acre site that was landscaped and developed by one of the leaders of the Hudson River School of painting.  Frederic Church was extremely successful at his craft, and had the money to make this site both a work of art, and a masterpiece of site location - it is impossible to get a scenic view that isn't fantastic from this property.

With Olana's setting in mind, Church's house is priceless.  .For the most part, it looks exactly like when it was lived in by the Church family, and New York State was lucky to acquire it when it did.  (Could you imagine Church's artistic studies and his own art collection being sold off at auction?  I can't.)  

However, the house was very warm when we visited, and I needed to cool down within an hour of starting the tour.  (Don't worry, I saw everything, missed nothing, and chatted with the docents quite a bit.) So RQS and I got in the car, and started our drive home through scenic rural landscapes.  Eventually, we reached Poughkeepsie, where we stopped to eat (too much), then drove home.

All in all, it was a good summer day, and we had a great time together.... 

A chat with my niece

 

It's been a while since I've been able to chat with my niece.  So it was a refreshing opportunity to talk with her again.  

- - - - - -

One of the things we always seem to be talking about is how the Orange Snowflake is F'ing up America.  Now that she's living overseas, she's relatively immune from the insanity that's hit this country.  This chat was no different.  One of the things I mentioned was how a former Fundamentalist Christian, Benjamin Covey, could argue that the Orange Snowflake is the Antichrist. Her dad still accepts the rhetoric that the snowflake has successfully closed off the borders to illegal immigration, when statistics showed that things were slowing down before he took power.  We talked about the random sweeps of immigrant communities, where any person of color is rounded up - not just those who are here illegally.  Foreign citizen legal residents are being rounded up, detained, and illegally sent to foreign prisons without justification.  In short, America has become a police state.

We talked about family issues as well.   Luckily, my brother was away from home, as this was a video call and I was already dressed as Marian, as we were going out for the day and I wanted to wear a nice, comfortable dress in the warm weather.  All too soon, the call had to end, and we scheduled something for next month.

 

Game Night - and I won a game for a change!

 

If anyone decided to organize a 43 Man Squamish league, I'd be first to buy season tickets.  Mind you, with the history of this fictitious sport, the league would have to pay me to attend its games - if they were ever played. 

- - - - - -

Tonight was Game Night in Yonkers.  Our host and his family took June off to have a nice vacation.  I was surprised to find them scheduling 2 nights for this month.  So, I marked myself as going, and made sure to keep my schedule up to date.

My niece called me up at the last minute and asked if I wanted to drive down to Long Island for dinner with her and her dad.  I'd normally have done so, as she's in town for only a couple of days before she flies home.  But, I made commitments with others, and apologized profusely.  So we'll do a zoom meeting in the AM.  

There was supposed to be two meetups going on tonight, and I planned to only attend the dinner one, as I had already seen the movie people would go to afterwards.  Well, the meetup was cancelled, and DS suggested we meet for dinner before game night.  I said yes, and we split a pizza at Frank Pepe's in Yonkers.  Being that this was a Thursday night, we had our choice of tables, and we caught up on what was going on in each other's lives.

When we were done with our pizza, I drove to Stew Leonard's to pick up a cheesecake for Game Night.  And then, I was off to play games.  Arriving there at 7:30, the host and hostess brought out some games, and I won the first game, and then was on the winning team for the second.  This was a pleasant change for me.  But what I was most interested in was the conversation.  The host's family had gone to Europe, and we talked about cruising for a bit before the games started.  After the games ended, I chatted with the hostess about how her family was affected by what's going on in DC.  (She's more afraid than I am, and has an equally good reason to be this way.)  I said that if things go really sour, I'd be glad to help take care of things I won't mention here.

The gathering ended up early, and I was chatting with RQS on the way home.  It's nice to know that she'll be here tomorrow.  But it will be a short weekend for us for the next 2 weeks.  Such is life. 

Another lunch, another friend....

 

Today, I had another lunch date on my docket.  This time, it was with CCS, my friend from the Census. One wouldn't know it looking at her, but she and her husband have had successful careers.  They just live modestly, save for the upper middle class area in which they live.  (She's a perfect person to have as a friend, as I'll bet that she could smell pretentiousness and BS from miles away.)

- - - - - -

I got dresses and met CCS at the Mexican restaurant down the hill.  And as usual, we caught each other up on what has been going on in our lives.  Again, I recounted the story of our "Moved Over" cruise, and dealing with the summer heat.  While having lunch, I received a call from our co-op's managing agent.  They didn't have copies of our meeting minutes for 2025.  So I left lunch more quickly than I'd have liked and sent 7 months' of minutes to him 15 minutes later.

Now that I had nothing to do until a zoom meeting later in the evening, I decided to look for a summer weight cotton blanket for my bed.  It's hard to believe that after Bed, Bath and Beyond closed its stores, that these blankets seem to be only available on Amazon.  So, another item will get added to my Amazon shopping cart soon.

Once home for the night, I started up a Zoom meeting with our Texas friends. First, I told the story of our "Moved Over" cruise, then I encouraged RQS to recount the trip into NYC to see Rakugo.  Later on, RQS noted that it was much more lively than usual, one of our friends opening up more than usual  It was good to know that I could lay back a little and let someone else chat for a change.... 

Lunch with a friend who I used to work with.

 

The docket for the day had me lunching with SJM.  We skipped our monthly lunch in June, as she had too many things pop up that got in the way - right before the cruise we were supposed to take.  So we had a lot more to say than usual, but less time than we wanted.

- - - - - -

For some reason, my CPAP turned itself off last night, and it wouldn't turn back on.  I wondered why it did.  So, I switched the transformer and power cord (I have an extra in my CPAP travel bag) and it worked.  Now, I had to check out the original transformer and power cord.  This time, I plugged it into a different outlet - and everything worked!  Because I can't explain why things happened, I will need to swap the original back to my CPAP machine and make sure it works - then keep it that way for a while.

Now that I was wide awake, I decided to eat breakfast and nap until 11 am.  At 11:15, I started to get showered and dressed for lunch.  Making it to lunch at 1 pm, I met SJM and sat down for our meal.  I told her about my cruises, and she told me about what was going on with her, her sons, her husband, and her "headaches" with everything.  Her older son has the problems that one would expect from someone who needs more real-world experience before he can safely be completely on his own in life.  The other is willing to take on more challenges than his mom is comfortable with.  All of her problems share one detail - she is not a superwoman who has a solution for every problem. 

All too soon, lunch had to end and we parted.  I then checked in with my brother and found out that I still needed to get a document so that we can submit paperwork needed to rent out our house.  Tomorrow, I'll call up the town, and get things done.  But first, I would stop by the local Walmart to buy myself some anti-chafe slip shorts to wear under my dresses.  By the time I was home for the night, it was 7:30 - just enough time to get a load of laundry done.

It was a nice day to spend as Marian.  Soon, I'll have to switch back to Mario mode to get some paperwork notarized.... 

Donner und Blitzen (That's "Thunder and Lightning" to us Yanks.)

 

The "Highlight" of the day was the thunderstorm.  Although I had lots of things I could have done today, I decided to do only a small number of them.  And I'm glad that I did what I did....

- - - - - -

I started off the day with the "Blahs".  Nothing seemed to interest me that much, and all I wanted to do was watch videos on YouTube.  The most interesting of these was a cruise blogger talking about her Northern European cruise to the land where the sun never sets in the summer.  Both RQS and I wish we were cruising there this summer.  Yet, we are grateful to have been able to sail to the most interesting of the Norwegian ports before they were shut down to conventionally powered ships. 

Why did I watch YouTube videos instead of my "normal" news channels?  Well, I get sick when I see the Orange Snowflake make an ass of himself and show how America has fallen. As I've said in other posts, I try to limit my exposure to the evil this man sows, so that I retain my sanity.  These days, he keeps trying to distract people from  his association with the Pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and even his base is calling him out on it.  Are there any files or not?  Either way, he will be caught in a lie.  And when it involves underage females, even his base has a line that it will not cross.

- - - - - -

Originally, I was supposed to go to TCL's place and have lunch.  With today's rain, it was smart of me not to drive to her place.  It was raining "Cats and Dogs", and I hate driving in this kind of weather.  The last thing I would need is a flat and have to call for help in this weather.  Instead, I stayed home and waited for an Amazon delivery to come.  Now, I have a new wig stand, more breast form cleaner, and a new shaver for my female "to go" kit.  (Next, I need to find a cheap carry-on to finish my female "to go" setup.)

While at home, I started taking care of paperwork needed to formally rent out the family homestead again.  Although it's not complete, I'm hoping that we'll have the house rented by September, and that I can again focus on issues in which I have no emotional interest.

In short, it was a "Blah" day kept "Blah" by rain, thunder and lightning. 

The return home (a short post)

 

Since my car was parked on the wrong side of the street (for alternate side of the street parking rules) and that I had things to take care of at home, I had to leave RQS's place today.  However, this didn't mean that RQS and I couldn't take advantage of this.  My car could be used in a shopping run, as long as I didn't have to park it again.

Around 2 pm, RQS and I drove over to the local supermarket.   The market was packed to the gills, but the quality of the meat and fish on display made me wish I had this kind of food store near me. (If I'm willing to drive 30 minutes, I can always go to H-Mart or Wegman's, but that's a headache for me.)  We found everything RQS needed, but it took forever to make it through the checkout lanes - the cashiers were also bagging the groceries.  This is very inefficient, but it can make a perverted kind of sense in preventing shrinkage.  Eventually, RQS and her groceries made it to the car, and I dropped her off at her apartment.

Driving home, I knew I would want to take off my dress and rest a while.  But I knew I had something to take care of - my own shopping.  After a chance to rest, I did just that.  $95 later, I was on my way home for the night. Tomorrow will likely be a Mario day, so sometime tonight I will have to change wallets for the day.

Rakugo

 

Rakugo - a form of Japanese verbal entertainment, specifically comedic storytelling. Performers, known as rakugo-ka, sit on a cushion and narrate stories, often acting out multiple characters with only a fan and a hand towel as props.

- - - - - -

I've been looking to see this show in Manhattan for a while.  Last month, I could have seen it when RQS was in Philadelphia visiting her cousin.  I decided not to do so for 2 reasons: (1) It was too hot last month, and (2) RQS could get the tickets cheaper than I could get them.  So, why not wait a month, and both of us could have a great day in the city?

This weekend, the weather was expected to be in the mid 80's, and that meant that the subways would be miserable. (That prediction was spot-on.)  But we had tickets, and I braved the heat in my feminine best (I'm not talking about the formality of what I was wearing, only the attitude that women take in regarding to making no excuses when things have to get done.) Around 5 pm, RQS and I prepared to go to Manhattan, and we went to the subway station at 6:10.  It was warm, but we were tolerably comfortable in the air-conditioned train.

When we arrived in Manhattan, we had to change trains at an overcrowded station.  If it was 85 degrees above ground, it was easily 100 degrees underground.  And when the train came, it was overcrowded. Making it to 50th street, we went above ground with 2 1/2 blocks to walk, and RQS was exhausted.  Although I have more stamina than she does, I knew I had to take a break and down the bottle of seltzer I had with me.  Thankfully, we made it to the theater with 30 minutes to spare before the show.

- - - - - -

Sitting down at our seats (thankfully we were on the aisle), I noticed that every tune played on the PA system before the show was a version of "You are my sunshine."  (How Appropriate!)   The setting was sparse as one would expect, and I knew we'd be entertained given the reviews that RQS had read about this show.

First, an apprentice Rakugo-ka came on stage and told her story.  Then Katsura Sunshine came on to tell his stories.  (This video clip from YouTube should give you an idea about what Rakugo is all about.)  After one story was told in English, he noted that he was learning both Italian and Chinese, then told the same story in both languages, Italian used for "the apprentice" and Chinese used for "the master".  This time, it was language and mannerisms from the storyteller that made one laugh.  Truly, Rakugo is an art which was a worldwide art.

Eventually, the show ended, and we had to go home.  First, we stopped for some cheesecake before going underground.  We missed the train by 30 seconds and would have to wait 12 minutes for the next one.  I remembered that an express train was coming, and that we might overtake the local.  But that didn't happen.  Again, we missed the local by 30 seconds.  So we still ended up waiting those 12 minutes, and then had to transfer one more time.  At least, we found seats on the train to RQS's place.

We were both exhausted by the time we returned to RQS's place, and I needed to take a shower before going to bed.  At least, I had the forethought to leave some pretty night wear at her place for me to wear that evening....
 

 

Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes it eats you.

 

If there's flashing lights in the middle of a NYC street, one has to wonder: Do I risk doing down that narrow one-way street, or do I take my chances on finding a parking spot on another street.  Today, I made the wrong decision, and got stuck behind an ambulance for 45 minutes waiting for them to clear the street and allow traffic to pass.

- - - - - -

Summer is one of those times where it is much easier for me to reach RQS's place.  I was on schedule for a 3 pm arrival at her place, and turned onto her street and noticed an ambulance going down the street.  When I could have backed out of the street and tried my luck elsewhere, I didn't.  And just before the corner, the ambulance stopped, blocking traffic for 45 minutes on a hot summer's day.

If one looks closely at the above photo, there was not enough room to squeeze around the ambulance into the open parking spot, and I didn't want to leave my car to relieve myself before the EMT people came back and freed up traffic.  Immediately behind me were 4 or 5 buses, all stuck on their route to the terminal, as well as some cars who had no way to escape the log jam. The rescue efforts seemed to take forever, and a fire truck came with more personnel to help take someone out to the ambulance. I had to feel sorry for the woman being carried out to the ambulance, she looked like death warmed over, but she was still alive. At least, once the woman was in the ambulance (and in stable condition) they moved the ambulance out of the way, and I grabbed the free parking spot before anyone else came by to take it.

Finally making it to RQS's apartment, I brought my changes of clothes into the apartment.  This weekend, I'd be in full Marian mode, and it was nice to be able to wear dresses for the entire weekend.  Since I was not in the mood to stay inside for dinner, we walked over to a nearby Thai restaurant for dinner before checking in for the night.

It's nice to have a girlfriend/partner who accepts me for who I am, and whatever way I choose to present myself.