Lunch with another Vicki - transgender issues were the theme of the day

 

Unlike yesterday's dinner with Vicki #1 (Tall Vicki), today's lunch was with Vicki #2 (Short Vicki)..  It's hard to keep my Vickis straight without a scorecard.  With that being said, we went to Chazz Palmenteri's restaurant in White Plains for a Restaurant Week meal.

Vicki ended up shoehorning me into her schedule, as unplanned things got in her way.  First, her 21-y/o TG offspring had to be picked up from college, as they had a power outage and were operating remotely for the day.  Since he had no power at school, he couldn't attend a virtual class without power and the internet.  So she ended up driving up to Purchase, back to Dobbs Ferry, and back to White plains to meet me.  While at lunch, she described the issues going on with her wife (who is transgender, and whose issues I won't mention here), as well as the vacation they plan to take next month.  All too soon, we had to go.  She had to take her offspring back to campus, reversing her morning's drives.

As for me, I took a long drive to stay out of the house.  I could have gone to Queens for a TG voice session at the LGBT center there, but I didn't want to risk getting caught in the rain.  So, I stayed home and rested. 

Zooming with my niece & Dinner with Vicki

 

My niece and I try to chat with each other via Zoom, as we live in separate time zones, separate nations, and separate continents.  She, like me, is wary of what is happening in the USA, and is worried about what will happen when she and her husband visit the US this month to see her brother compete in a sporting event.  So today's chat had American politics as a dominant theme, instead of what we prefer talking about.  

To deal with her visit to the US, she has deleted virtually all of her emails which reference US politics, as well as removing any social media from her phone.  She isn't too worried about her husband's phone, as he doesn't use social media.  However, she is concerned about him, simply because of the current xenophobic attitude of the regime currently in power.  

I discussed the conversation I had with her dad regarding how he treats her mom, as well as the conversation her mom had with me.  But I did not go into details, as I didn't want to make her a middle person.  However, I suggested that she keep tabs on her dad, as he is going through a lot of stress these days.  She is also being careful not to be caught in the middle of her dad and mom, as no one wins in these situations.

Hopefully, she and her hubby will have a pleasant visit to the US. 

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A few hours later, Vicki picked me up to go to eat at one of the Hudson Valley Restaurant Week (HVRW) restaurants.  Coordinating our schedules isn't always easy.  But now that she's semi-retired (she'll work if a good job comes her way), she has much more freedom to schedule things like HVRW dinners than in the past.

Today, we went to a new restaurant, Saint George, in Hastings.  I wanted to love this place, as it had the ambience and service that I would normally rave about.  However, the Beef Bourguignon left a lot to be desired, as it was presented as if it were a Shepard's Pie - and tasted the same.  This was not the French dish I was expecting.  And it caused both Vicki and I to give the place a "Thumbs  Down".  Maybe, if one of us had ordered something different, we'd have had a different opinion of the place.  But for now, we'll skip this place and go to other places in the area.

 

 

PS: We may be seeing Martin Sexton in June.  I wonder whether she will like his cover of the Beatles' Abbey Road album. (Unlike me, she is not a Beatles' fan.  I wish I could have been in Vegas to see Cheap Trick cover the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album about 20 years ago.  It was a better performance than I expect Martin Sexton's performance will be.)

 

Our Viper Holiday (420 Day) falls on Easter Sunday this year.

 

Those of you who know me know that I am moderate in my vices.  Although I have partaken in Snoop Dogg's favorite "Medicine", I am far from being a Viper like Snoop and Willie Nelson.  With maybe a couple of exceptions, the last time I partook of the the wonderful herb was in 1983.  Yet, I have always been a strong advocate for its legalization, and am glad that I can get it legally (according to New York State) in a convenient dispensary near me.

One year, the Transgender Day of Remembrance fell on Easter Sunday, and then the GOP hypocrites condemned President Biden for recognizing the Transgender community.  These are the same jerks who tried to deny the American public the right to enjoy the mind altering substance of their choice while smoking their "Tea" in private.  There is something they don't like about other people having the same freedoms that they want to reserve for themselves.

I can't say too much for the intelligence of the average MAGAloon.  Like many people, they aren't able to articulate why they support the conservative movement in this country, nor can they justify their beliefs with objective evidence.  I'll admit that the person in the above linked discussion is likely an uneducated person who follows their political and religious leaders without question.  Even when I was in therapy, my therapist would argue against the legalization of cannabis while smoking it in private.  Like many in the conservative movement, there is a blatant inconsistency in his reasoning that offended me; and I was glad to end my therapy sessions when he retired.

Although I doubt that I will partake of any cannabis on Easter, I will be glad that we are no longer putting people in jail in my state for enjoying their smoke of choice.  Hopefully, it will soon be legal in all 50 states, so that no one need worry about being arrested for illegal possession if they cross state lines.

Another day down, and I did nothing of note (a quick post)

 

I enjoy the days where I have nothing that I absolutely have to do.  Today was one of those days.  Could I have done my laundry?  Could I have gotten dressed and gone out?  Could I have finished my paperwork for a second passport?  The answer is NO to all of these questions.

 

After having to run to Long Island and back, it was time to relax - today was that day.  I'll be out as Marian for the next two days, and then I'll be in Mario mode for the better park of a week.  Two days of this will be spent with RQS, two days will be spent at the family homestead, and another day will be spent at the co-op's open shareholder meeting.

 

Rest was the order of the day, and they only thing I did was to shower to feel fresh.  And then it was back in my jammies for the rest of the day.  At least, I'll have two days out as Marian before being stuck as Mario for a while....

A trip I was glad not to make (a short post)

 

As I've previously written, I own a rental property with my brother, and he is managing repairs to it before it is rented out again.  This past weekend, my brother would have liked for me to help him with work on repairing the foundation walls - patching the holes with new concrete and possibly applying a new coat of paint as a sealer.  Well, I wasn't available because of RQS's birthday, and he had to make other plans.

My brother is well connected with the fire department, and can usually get a few friends to help him for couple of C-Notes each per day.  This weekend, his friends weren't available, and he had to reach out to my step-nephew, B, for help.  To me, B is as useful as the Pope's balls - they both have the potential of doing something useful, but because of individual choices, they have vestigial existences.  So, my brother figured that he'd try to get some use out of B, and avoid losing a week by using B as a laborer.

The plan for the day was for my brother and B to do some work in the basement.  Once the walls had been power washed again, my brother sent B out in the yard to do some minor landscaping while he patched walls with concrete.  Four hours later, work was done and our account was $100 lighter.  Sadly, the concrete my brother used was found to be bad, and we will need to repeat this work next weekend.

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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.