Tag: rants

I probably should relearn how to do “text behind a cut”

Here’s a serious and overlong one, and I don’t know yet if there’s a photo to go along with it: pretty, engaging, or whatever else. Most of the photos that apply to my state of mind on this matter reflect an unhappiness or impatience IN REGARD TO THIS TOPIC (it could happen with other topics, but I will try to limit it to one today). For the most part, I’m as cool and composed as anyone can be on a planet savaged by climate change during a pandemic with the need to somehow manage my budget and my health in a way that serves the ones I love while all around me, people are fighting and fucking and failing and flourishing, as people do.

Guess what? I figured it out.

Continue reading “I probably should relearn how to do “text behind a cut””

The scrap yard

I’m constantly screen capping things on my phone as I wander through social media, and then every few weeks I wonder why I have so many freaking photos on my phone. But then I don’t really want to delete them because they spoke to me in a moment for a reason.

Here are a few of them to get them off my phone and into the scrap yard that is part of the service to my brain this blog provides.

Who knows. You may be having a moment, too.

Do you keep your visions to yourself?

Every single day, you’ll see a reminder. Whether it’s on social media, or in the unfinished project on the table in a room of your house or on your laptop or legal pad or journal, or in a note from a friend who asks, or in the work of someone else, or in the lyrics of a song.

The message is, “Do it. Do that thing you want to do. Create that thing. Believe in yourself. Do it because you have to/need to/want to/love to. DO IT.”

Why don’t you? Yeah, sure, sometimes it’s the voices in your head of self-doubt. Thinking it doesn’t matter, anyway. Persuading yourself other priorities are more important.

You weren’t born with those voices in your head. You were born with the urge and the gift to create. Creation is the natural order of things. Birth. Rebirth. Struggling. Achieving. Struggling again. It’s in the rise of the sun and its setting, the shimmer of the changing moon, the turn of the earth on its axis, the movement of tides, the change of seasons, the paths of all the planets and brilliance of all the stars that we can see and that we can’t see.

No. Those voices came from others and took hold in your brain, and they will continue all your life, whatever you accomplish, whatever drives you to create, whatever reasons you find to keep going. Whether they were meant to be practical or reasonable. Whether they were meant to tear you down or keep you in a place that was comfortable for them. Whether they were voices of indifference, disbelief, disapproval, mockery, jealousy, or fear. Whether they measured success only by the money you didn’t make and the acclaim you didn’t receive. They’ll always be in your head. You can’t silence them.

Make them part of what you create. And keep creating. Keep creating.

Tiny Tuesday!


Tiny leaf dish, with tiny stone hearts: carnelian for empowerment and amazonite for authenticity, plus a tiny cone of nag champa incense. All of these are from my favorite Houston store, Body Mind and Soul. Crystals and stones, incense, aromatherapy and candles, the right music–these are helping keep me focused on writing and positive things.

I’ve found that I can’t read right now. It’s frustrating, and yesterday for an Instagram post, I counted 31(derful) books in my to-be-read pile. Since I’m not routinely a TV viewer, I do that in only limited doses. As much as I love other people’s creativity, for some reason during this time, reading and viewing has become harder. Music is still fantastic, especially some of the musicians I’ve met via social media.

I’ll talk a bit more about stress at the end of this post.

I’m not much of a shopper. I usually go to stores only with a specific purpose, and I’m in and out quickly. But the stores I love most take more time: record stores, bookstores, antique stores, and especially Body Mind and Soul. We are able now to book in-store shopping appointments there in thirty-minute increments. I’ll be glad to shop that way if it helps keep this Houston treasure open.

So many businesses have closed, especially restaurants. Even franchises of chain restaurants. I think so far our favorite locally-owned eateries are hanging in there, and we do get takeout a couple of times a week to be supportive. We have to budget that wisely since I’ve been laid off.

I try to imagine when I can travel again. I didn’t go many places for so long because of work. This past weekend, we Zoomed with the Tom side of the family for his mother’s birthday. It was my first Zoom meeting and was a lot of fun. We got to see people and kids (shit, they’re all almost grown now) and dogs.

One day when the pandemic is under control, I won’t have the income for travel. I try not to think about the future a lot. It makes the present situation seem bleak. I can say that staying home for seven months during a pandemic while the worst administration I’ve experienced in my lifetime is so dishonest and dangerously inept is not something I ever anticipated or want to repeat.

So… stress. There are topics I.don’t.want.to.talk.about. Ever. Has nothing to do with the current situation we’re in. One time someone who knows me well called me a finely-tuned instrument who strongly reacts to the vibrations put off by the planet, events, and humans. She taught me many ways to protect myself, and I still use those. I caution people that when I say, “Stop,” it’s a good idea to stop. It’s not personal. It’s the topic + me. When I get frustrated or reactive, it’s no longer the topic. It’s personal. This is one of my least favorite ways to be. Why would anyone want to provoke it?

So…crystals and stones. Aromatherapy. Candles. Music. Social media avoidance. Coloring. Writing scenes in my head and then into my manuscript. Everybody has their ways to cope and minimize stress. I hope. If not, there’s an entire Internet filled with ideas. Find what works, and know I wish you peace.

Mood: Monday


I think every Monday I should steal borrow someone’s photo from the Internet and give it this caption.

Came back to add the below thread, because damn. This is roughly what my brain yells daily.

‘For years during Obama/Biden, you Trumpers claimed “AMERICA!” like you were cowboys or had stormed the beach at Normandy. You screamed that Obama, the constitutional law attorney, was violating the constitution. You claimed to be patriots, constantly. You bitched about…

‘Executive orders, Benghazi where four Americans died in a terrorist attack but then mocked a president who shed tears after 22 little kids died at Sandy Hook. You called these kids parents “crisis actors” while they grieved for their children. When 600 were shot in Vegas…

’58 killed, you just pounded out excuses why we need MORE GUNS! Our country is about freedom of religion, yet You wanted to ban Muslims. You hold up the flag like it’s a deity, but wear it as a shirt, or size 48 cargo shorts so your armpit sweat and ball-cheese desecrate it…

‘We are all watching the unraveling of this wild experiment, America. Trump has cheated, lied, stolen, does it daily. He’s gotten people killed, pulling the troops out of Syria got Kurds, our allies slaughtered. The Russian army has a base WE BUILT. You don’t care. From day one..

‘..with that crazy ass Edgar Allen Poe inaugural speech, to lying about the crowd size. He’s lied 22000 times, your leader. He’s lied about the wall, taxes, infrastructure, job numbers, Epstein, Cohen, Parness, so many have come forward and told you who this failure really is…

‘You shrug it off, he’s killed our free press, at least to you. You think you’re “American?” Seriously? The same people you believed about Obama/Biden, Nixon, whenever they fukd up, you call “fake news.” About a 7 time bankrupt multiple business failure who paid off a pornstar

‘he raw dogged while his illegal immigrant wife was raising their newborn. You claim to follow Christ?! He was sued for raping a 13 year old. Case got dropped 16 days before the election. Wonder what that check looked like. Russian Bounties on our troops, you still have his back..

‘You think you’re Patriots? You make me gag. 200 thousand of your countrymen are dead because he wouldn’t do anything, and Dr. Fauci, a man that was instrumental in stopping AIDS, gets death threats for telling the truth. You pick a man WHO CANT READ, over a genius virologist. Wow.

‘You like him because as many of you say “he’s like me!” Is he? A man who was handed 400 million dollars when daddy died? That sound like you? He’s like you in some ways, he’s not smart, he’s out of shape, he doesn’t give a shit about anyone but himself. Like you. That’s not US…

‘at all. The greatest generation worked together to beat Germany, and Japan and all who tried to roll over and kill democracy and freedom. We were liberators of concentration camps, now we have concentration camps. And you are fine with it, obedient cult members. With nothing to

‘…show WHY you believe in him. WHY you’re okay with his racism, misogyny, lying, incompetence and destroying an economy that Obama and Biden built back after W’s and Cheney’s destruction of it. No evidence, unless you own stock in coffins and eviction notices. You give reasons…

‘…why it’s okay for our black brothers and sisters to be shot by some asshole teenager wilding with a AR-15. You back him up while a man gets shot seven times. in front of his three kids. “HE HAD A KNIFE!” Bullshit. Or a woman, a nurse, just sleeping, cops bust in, kill her…

‘…against everything this country stands for. It’s unbelievable, unconscionable, unGodly and like you Trump supporters, UnAmerican.
You’re okay with him breaking the post office, filling his pockets with your tax dollars, saying he’d date his daughter. Cuz U wanna date yours?

‘His buddies have been convicted of felonies, he pardons them, you paid for the trial, you paid the cops, the investigators, the judges, and he let em go. Our rule of law, just a history lesson. You’re not American, you don’t give a fuck about America. You’re ready to go into the

‘…street and shoot, pepper spray and run over your countrymen, people who are protesting injustice FOR THIS ASSHOLE? A man that let 200k die, wants you to inject disinfectant and thinks that because he can remember Person Woman Man Camera TV. He’s a genius. Do me a favor because

‘I love this country, what it stands for, the free speech it affords, the opportunity it presents, the freedom it provides, I’ve only done well because of the promise that is America. You say you’re Americans, but you just live here. You don’t cherish it, you sold out cheap

‘to a bankrupt used car salesman who smiles and says “you’re getting the best deal” but the car breaks down on the ride home. Call yourselves what you like, Trumpers, Magats, Deplorables. I don’t give a shit but NEVER call yourselves “AMERICANS” you don’t know what the word means.’

Christopher Titus

Mood: Monday


Near sunset recently: That’s a POW-MIA flag flying beneath the American flag at a Houston post office.

Never say to me that you support the troops or the military or veterans if you are not screaming at your representatives right now to stop the administration’s attack on the USPS so they can commit voter suppression.

  • Do you know how many veterans work for the USPS and depend on that income while hours and jobs are being slashed?
  • Do you know how many veterans count on the US mail to get the prescriptions that save their lives and keep them healthy or treat the PTSD they got serving this country?
  • Do you know how many people, civic groups, churches, and other organizations use the US mail to help families and supporters communicate with those currently serving in the military?

Go ahead and be blindly loyal or believe the lies or pretend it’s not real. Your choice. But never do that and say to me that you support our troops or our vets. That makes you a liar, too.

Caveat emptor

Because I have done almost no local retail shopping during quarantine (grocery store, drug store, and maybe three times anywhere else), I have ordered a few things online. Most were fine, even the ones that took a long, long, long, long time to get here.

But I was completely misled on two of those purchases. One was finally fully refunded after my complaint. The other complaint is in progress, so I shall see.

No more buying online unless I absolutely know and trust the source. Caveat emptor: Let the buyer beware, indeed.

If you are looking for rare or collectible books; or need trustworthy sources for face masks; or want to indulge your metaphysical needs/wants (books, jewelry, music, stones and crystals); or would like home-canned jellies and jams; or organically grown herbs and products made from them; as well as reputable independent book dealers; or art suppliers local to Houston who will ship to you–I can totally hook you up with contact info/websites.

Tough Talk

I need y’all to brace yourselves because I’m about to tell you some hard truths AND YOU SHOULD HEED THEM.


1. Pinterest is the research cockblocker of the Internet. If you are a writer, and you want to research something from some distant year like, say, 1937 or 1969 or 1958 or 2019, about the most arcane, random shit, for which you are willing to spend a goodly portion of your time for ONE SINGLE SENTENCE in your work-in-progress, the truth is out there, but good luck getting past Pinterest, especially if you want a damn image with your information. Do you need to know if there were phone booths on the streets of Niagara Falls (Canadian side) in a certain year? And what they looked like? Hafuckingha. No matter what your key words are for a search, you are going to pull up thousands of pictures from Pinterest users of “my favorite phone booths ever” or “people crammed in phone booths” or “serial killers and phone booths” or “my top ten sexiest phone booth scenes from the movies” or “every picture since Alexander Graham Bell of every dog who hiked his leg on a phone booth.” There is no subject this does not apply to, and the Pinterest users won’t give you any actual information that’s of use to you.

2. BLESS YouTube. I don’t care about your issues with it, every song since dinosaurs bit it is on there. You can identify that obscure band from 1962 and that one song you sort of remember by putting one single snippet of a lyric (sometimes even mis-remembered) in a search engine, and YouTube WILL HAVE IT. And you can HEAR it. You will no longer wish you still had your albums that were drowned in the flood or that your one roommate or possibly bitter, vindictive ex stole. THE SONG IS THERE. But here is the warning you must heed. Somewhere in the comments, someone will say, “BEST SONG FROM BEST ALBUM EVER*.” And you’re thinking (but NOT REPLYING, FFS), Dude, I loved this song and most of the album it was on, but it isn’t even the 1032nd best album ever. Then you remember the mantra we’ve all learned the hard way and yet ignore and that’s probably why 2020 happened to us: DO NOT READ THE COMMENTS. No good can come of it.

You’re welcome.

*”Freebird” excluded is always implied.