Now for something completely different....

 

Years ago, I saw this turkey of a movie because it was then associated with Mad Magazine.  Boy, was it bad!  In fact, Mad removed its name from the movie, as well as Alfred E. Neuman waving to the audience at the end of the film.

Recently, I watched the never-aired pilot for an animated show based on Mad Magazine, and I can see why it never made it to TV - it was good, but not commercial.  It captured the spirit of the magazine too well, but neglected the need for TV stations to sell ads.  However, when Mad gave its name to a sketch comedy show, it survived for several seasons.

I miss the idea of a magazine that would skewer everyone.  Today's closest equivalent might be the South Park animated show.  They skewered Scientology, losing one of its voice cast members (Isaac Hayes as Chef) in the process.  Mad in its prime could do the same thing in newsprint.  I remember their spoofs of Star Trek, Star Wars, and other movies.  But they were at their best when spoofing everyday hypocrisy in life - especially in politics.  

Right now, today's comedians are still able to exercise their first amendment rights. As long as we can laugh at people in power, we are safe.  The minute that comedians are unable to skewer the people in power (especially, the Orange Snowflake), then it will be time to leave this country.  So, if you want to preserve your civil rights, help today's comics speak truth to power by attending their shows.

Taxes - AARGH!!!! (An expensive, but short post.)

 

Today, I ended up calling my tax lady and found out what I owe this year.  OUCH!  Due to the fact that I have income from the family homestead from which taxes aren't deducted, I owe the State and Federal government several thousand dollars.  No, I have not paid estimated taxes, and I might need to next year.  Too bad that my old tax lady has retired, as she used to send me forms to make these payments in advance.  Well, that's another thing I will need to talk to the tax lady about when I see her again.

As you can guess, I hate the yearly ritual of paying taxes.  Owning a rental house is a big pain for me.  But I appreciate the extra income it beings in when it is rented out. At least, I am lucky enough to be able to say that I can afford to pay these taxes (at least for now).  However, if the GOP gets its way, they will bankrupt Social Security and destroy the lives of many Americans living hand to mouth.  With their design to debase the currency, many people who have pensions will become impoverished.  As for me, I have a third leg of retirement assets which they intend to screw up - my 401K which is mostly invested in the stock market.

Unlike most GOP'ers, I feel that taxes are payments for services from the government.  Yes, there is waste.  But Musk's DOGE will not find it.  Instead, they will claim success while destroying the country.  Hopefully, I'll have my escape route ready before America's collapse, and that my "Letters of Transit" will be ready then as well.

Game night: Pleasant, but not exciting (A short post)

 

The most interesting thing on today's docket was game night in Yonkers.  But that's not as exciting as it used to be, as there are fewer and fewer people coming to these bi-monthly sessions.  Part of this is due to the event being taken off the formal Meetup schedule.  And another part is that many of the people who used to attend have found new things to do on Thursday nights.  Soon, I'll have to start looking for new things to occupy my Thursdays, as there are fewer reasons for me to attend any more.

Tonight, I had to hunt for something to wear from my closet.  I have a small number of winter dresses that I can wear as tunics over leggings.  And I had some trouble finding one of them.  But I did find one, and made it out the door in time to fill up my gas take and still make it to Yonkers before the first game of the night.

It was a nice excuse to present as Marian and enjoy myself.  But soon, I expect that this venue will be gone, and I'll have to find something else I can do during the week.  Do I want to volunteer again?  I'm not sure.  My skills were poorly used when I volunteered at one place, and I'm not sure if I want to do it again.  I'd like something more social in nature, but what should I do?  At least I have some time to figure it out.

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.

 

I have to resist temptation these days.

 

In this uncertain age, I am easily tempted to write more about the crap that is going on in Washington, DC, and what is happening in my life as a transgender person.  It's all too easy to write about the breakdown in the administration of Law and Order, as evidenced by the actions of the Orange Snowflake, his cabinet, "his" congress, and his MAGA supporters.  These people are eager to make us transgender people the first of many whipping girls for the crimes being committed by his regime.  Yet, given how boring a non-op transgender person's life can be, I could easily go on for hours writing about politics, something I don't intend for this blog to be about.

Like many women, I enjoy shopping for, and buying new clothes.  My late wife would be amazed to see how many dresses I have fit in to what was her side of the closet. She'd probably tease me a little and then choose a dress for me to wear out - except when celebrating our wedding anniversary.  It's been almost 30 years since she passed away, and I still miss her presence.  No, I'm not putting her on a pedestal.  She had serious faults.  But I liked her as a person, and I miss the things that attracted me to her.

If I felt that I looked good in female clothing other than dresses, I'd have loaded up my closet with these garments.  Assuming that I lose a dress size or two, I will likely build a more varied feminine wardrobe which includes nicer tops, skirts, and trouser like garments. My ideal life would be to be able to go out in anything from my closet or dresser and only be seen as a woman and not a trans-woman. And this would include being able to travel, present my documents, and have no one hassle me on account of any gender marker on my documents.

This leads me back to politics.  The GOP doesn't give a damn about how it treats transgender people. The GOP congress has written rules for the capitol building which prevents a representative from Delaware from relieving herself in the facilities meant for women.  Should Sarah McBride suffer the indignity of being forced to use the men's room for her bio-breaks?  No.  But this is what the GOP thinks is important right now.

Months ago, my congressional representative, Mike Lawler, NY-17, said that he'd oppose any attempt to harm social security.  Yet, once the "DOGE" department started to decapitate Social Security, all we heard was crickets - he won't oppose anything being done to harm his constituents.  You can guess who is not getting my vote when next he runs.  Strangely enough, he may be looking to run for governor next year.  I hope we have someone strong running against him, with all the financial resources needed to retire him before he can cause even more damage to my district.

My goal is to be able to live as Marian full time and to be able to travel as Marian whenever I want.  Although I'll talk to people who support the GOP, I won't trust them to do the right thing when it counts. So, I'll have to do what I can within the law to stop them from taking away my human rights....

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.

Sometimes, one has to sort through a big mess

 

The above chest was owned by my late wife, and had been here for almost 40 years now.  It is an awkward piece of furniture, as it is not a perfect rectangular shape.  Instead, from the side, it looks like a slice pf pizza after most of the slice has been eaten, leaving only the crust and a little bit of tasty stuff.  It's a solid piece of furniture that has a bit of wear and tear, needing some restoration to make it look nice again.  And it's taken me a while to create a path to access this chest, so that it could go to some needy person.

Why did I mention this?

Well, my computer desk has the same degree of mess that the rest of my apartment has.  And tonight, I ended up emptying it, so that I could toss out CD-Roms for software that I no longer use.  While sorting through the mess, I found several things, including a $50 bill, a book of forever stamps, a bottle of Opium perfume bought on one of my first cruises as Marian, and a few other things.  It's amazing what one might find when one starts to tackle a mess.

As usual, it's 2 steps forward, and one step back.  But it is progress, even if it is imperceptible to others.  Soon, I will go back to eliminating clutter from my closets, and I expect that I will find enough old clothes that I won't use that will go in another donation bag.  Ideally, I will eventually wind up with a capsule wardrobe for both Marian and Mario, having eliminated the stuff I no longer need to wear, want to wear, or enjoy wearing.

It has taken me roughly 40 years to accumulate everything in the apartment.  But I hope that it will take me much less time to clean it up.  Do you know of anyone in the Northern NYC suburbs who'd like to take this chest off of my hands?