Hi! Are you new here? Well, welcome to my house! Stroll around, kick off your shoes, make yourself comfortable. There is coffee and baked goods in the kitchen. Help yourself.

However, there are just a couple of ( rulesCollapse )

Turns out, the guy arrested for Charlie Kirk's assassination wasn't black. He wasn't an immigrant. He wasn't trans or gay. And he sure wasn't a "Leftist".

Turns out he was a straight, white MAGA dude. Huh. It's almost like the MAGAsphere breeds hateful, dangerous assholes. And you can bet the Right is turning themselves into knots, trying to say, "He's not one of us! He's not one our ours!"
Sorry, Sparky, but he is. Just like the people who tried to assassinate Trump were. Just like the majority of politically-motivated acts of violence have been. No more screaming about "Reichstag fire" now. When a few try to argue, they twist into logic pretzels, make laughing stocks of themselves. Most have shut up and slunk back under their rocks. I'm still waiting to hear from Nancy Mace, who was sure yesterday that the gun man was a "leftist trannie". What you think today, Nance? Ready to withdraw your knee-jerk accusation? Yeah. I didn't think so.

And MAGA leaders are still trying to make this fit their narrative. They are so desperate to other Democrats and people on the Left, they are falling back onto their old saw, "Don't believe what your eyes are telling you. Only we have the truth."

And MAGA falls for it every time. They are so deep in their delusion, they can't see it. MAGA has become their whole personality. Some are coming around. Those folks need to reach into the hole and pull their brethren out. Hopefully, that will happen.

I'm so tired of the crazy.

Charlie Kirk was assassinated. I have thoughts.

The Reich Wing is losing their minds, screaming about "This is our Reichstag Fire! We need to label the Left as a terrorist organization and arrest them all!"

#1, we don't know anything about the assassin. May I remind you that the other two people arrested for trying to assassinate Trump were from the Right?

#2, are you the Nazis in the above example?

#3, funny, I don't recall the Left calling for the arrest of all on the Right after the Minnesota assassinations or any other acts recently committed by Right Wing terrorists.

Am I sad that Charlie Kirk is dead? No. He spewed hateful, vicious rhetoric. Am I glad he was assassinated? Also no. No one deserves to be killed for their political beliefs. Even though people on the Right seem to have a problem with that notion. I have the same feeling about his death as I do about Brian Thompson. While my heart aches for their families, I'm afraid their deaths in particular require compassion that it outside my network.

I hope they find whoever did this and prosecute them. Kirk's family didn't deserve this. It's a terrible situation. But until people stop screaming and start using their brains, this is going to happen again. And again. And again.

Morons on the internet are a dime a dozen. But every once in a while, Teh Crazy surprises even me.

CBL = Crazy Bible Lady
Me = me

On the topic of Trump looking weak and scared, CBL wanted to chime in.

CBL: He's showing his grace to our good Lord because he knows it is in him that we are the greatest country on Earth because of him were able to do these deeds without massive casualties and. he's heroic he's stoic he's everything that you will never be. God bless Donald Trump, and Glory goes to the most high because it's with him that we are standing tried and true and for the ones that just don't get it with the ignorance and their voice God bless you as well.. *prayer hands*

Me: CBL, you cannot follow Trump and Jesus at the same time. Trump is the antithesis of everything Jesus taught. By following Trump, you are spitting on Christ's sacrifice for you. You don't worship God. You worship Trump and yourself. You want to convince yourself that it's okay but my understanding is the God takes a very dim view of people who ignore His Son for their own selfish interests. When you pray, it's not going to heaven. It's going to a much darker place where you new master lives.

CBL: dear heavenly father I pray for your guidance and love be bestowed upon Carrie so she can speak your truth and not try to put her name ignorance on others and God's name amen.

CBL: may God's warmth and love always be with you and I really truly believe you maybe twisted my words. I went back and read what I wrote and I could see how it could be twisted very easily but God bless you... Glory always goes to the… See more

Me: CBL, sweetheart, as I mentioned, your prayers don't go to God. Your worship Trump, not God. You've let Satan into your heart. You've turned your face from God. It would appear that I understand Christianity better than you do. Donald Trump is not stoic. He has the emotional stability of a toddler. And he is an evil man who has done so many evil deeds. The fact that he hates all the same people you do is not going to help you in the afterlife. Hell is stuffed full of people who claimed to be a Christian but weren't.

Then it starts to get weird and fun.

CBL:I would be careful of what you speak on to the Lord's anointed The chosen I am a Divine being it's not going to go well for you. And there's nothing I can do to help at this point

We’ve gone from “I love the sinner but hate the sin” to threats. *snork *

Me: CBL, oh, gosh, sorry. I didn't recognize your anointed divine awesomeness. With this summer weather, you are probably overheated. You might need to lay down for a bit. I can get you a glass of water.

Last night, after I logged out, Oscar hopped into my lap. He had been bashing his skull against me (his version of bunting) and he was eager for lap. But we hadn’t been sitting for 15 minutes when he suddenly became alert. I looked where he was looking. Something was moving.

Now, we have these bugs. They look like mutant cockroaches. They are about 1-1.5 inches long. They are very flat and have huge wings. They are gross. Every once in a while, one crawls into my overhead kitchen light to die. *shudder*

Oscar went over to investigate. I grabbed my glasses and followed him. Turns out, it was a tiny lizard. I’m pretty sure it was a zebra tail lizard. Just a little guy. About 5 inches long. Slender and pale. He was missing his tail because I think he’s been in the apartment for a day or two and one of the kitties tried to grab him.

Oscar kept wanting to sniff and paw. I was going to grab the little lizard with my hand but I was afraid I would squish him. So, I went to the kitchen. I grabbed a glass and a piece of folded paper. When I went back to living room, Oscar was sniffing and the lizard was frozen in place. I shooed Oscar away and put the glass down over the lizard. He didn’t move. I gently slid the paper under the glass, giving him a chance to step onto it carefully. Then I took my new friend outside.

I set my capture contraption down and lifted the glass. The poor little lizard was so scared and not moving. “Go on, little buddy,” I said softly. The lizard scrambled to about a foot away and looked back at me. “Go on. You’re okay.” The lizard scrambled into the plants.

I have no idea how this guy got into my apartment. I still don’t know how those damn mutant cockroaches manage to get into my ceiling light. Flies, yes. I get those regularly. Then I have a fly dive bombing me for a day or two until the damn thing eventually dies. I don’t get too many mosquitoes inside (mostly because I’m not opening my door at dusk). But, I hope my new friend grows his tail back And that he has a good life.

Some thing I notice as I age. Last week was the reverse puberty spasm. My appetite is back to “normal”, which means I don’t eat much at a time. I’m not hungry most of the time again. Which, I’m not overly concerned about. I’ve mostly been drinking lots of water and tea.

My eyes have become more sensitive. I don’t see better. But bright light really makes me wince now. Like outside light. Like the sun. The sun is extraordinarily bright and hurts my eyes. Which is why I have wrap-around sunglasses because the bright light really hurts my eyes.

Yes, I have considered that I may be turning into a vampire.

I also notice that I have to be careful with task lighting. Being on the computer all day, the only light going to my eyes cannot be just from the computer. I have 3 overhead lights around me on while I work. I also have the screens on both my work and home computers set to very low contrast. With my TV, when I am watching regular TV, my set does this thing where it reads the ambient light and adjusts the brightness of the screen accordingly. This is a very nice feature.

I don’t have that feature when I switch over to use the DVR or internet programming. The screen is always very bright. When all-white screens come on, it’s actually painful. So, when I’m using those features on my TV, I watch with my sunglasses on. It makes a huge difference. I don’t have aching eyeballs or brain anymore.

Same with my hearing. I mean, I’ve always had good hearing. Despite my abuse of my poor ears in my youth. Loud music, concerts, and parties. But I still can hear quite well. But my hearing is sensitive now. I find high-pitched noises very uncomfortable. As well as loud volume. I keep the volume on my TV or radio at home pretty low because loud volume can give me a headache. I like a piano as much as anymore but if the piece is very what I call “plinky”, I have to turn the volume way down.

I struggle with my headset at work. One call has perfect volume. The next call rings in so loud I nearly jump out of my seat. I’m constantly adjusting the volume on my work headset.

It’s weird. I always thought you lose certain senses when you age. Eyesight fades, hearing gets worse, etc. I’m not having those issues. My senses are just changing a lot. I also have misfiring nerves in my now-sensitive skin. Nothing dramatic. I’ll be loading the dishwasher or doing something else and it will suddenly feel like a bug bit me. Just a little, quick peck. There’s never a bug or a bite. Just nerves being sensitive. I try to keep lotioned up but my skin will let me know when I need to slather. I start getting mildly itchy all over. I’m very sensitive to anything in my shoe. The world stops until my shoe is clear.

It’s all very odd. It wasn’t something I expected. It’s not good or bad. Just...odd.

Ahhhhh! It rained!

It’s been an all-day thing, too. Which in the desert is rare. Yesterday was VERY blustery. Holy cow, I took the trash out and almost had the bag blow back in my face when I heaved it into the dumpster. And because I went outside with all the blustery, I came inside and immediately, my nose was dripping and I sneezed repeatedly. I have some nasal allergy spray, which helped. But holy Furiosa!

Today, I woke up to to the sound of rain. It sprinkled steadily all day. Not hard but steady. Of course, the desert rats were panicking, sure this was a sign of the Apocalypse (they can not drive in rain damn it). I had to run out (more coffee). But mostly, I just stayed in. And I had to work so there was that.

People who live in places where is rains normally understand that there are different degrees of rain. There is what I can “spitting”, which is just random drops. Then there’s “drizzle”, which is wet mist and tiny rain. Then there’s “sprinkles” which is a bit stronger. “Light rain” is regular drops just not that fast until it becomes normal “rain”. Serious, “heavy rain” is due to some kind of storm. When there is big wind involved, it can be a “squall”.

“Hurricanes” are just the heavens dumping cosmic-sized buckets of water into a giant vortex. Then the “monsoon”, which can send so much rain so fast it’s like looking at a silvery white sheet. You can’t see through it. If you’re in your car, you are lucky to see the paint of your car. If you’re out in it...well, you can’t be out in it. It’s like standing under a firehose. These last two are Act-of-God territory. But to desert rats, EVERY kind of rain is Act-of-God.

But, oh! To go outside and just stand there, listening to pitter-patter. The air is fresh and feels soft. All those negative ions don’t hurt, either. It was lovely. It seems to have pettered off, which is sad. I wanted to be around more rain.

I was just thinking the other day that it’s been a long time since I remembered my dreams. I used to remember at least one per night, but my brain doesn’t work that well anymore. Last night, I remembered a dream. I think it was because I was waking up because when you are in REM sleep, your brain paralyzes your body so you don’t act out your dreams and hurt yourself. Like I did last night.

Someone (I don’t know who) was trying to take something of mine. There was an argument and they just grabbed the item and started to leave. I stopped them and grabbed the item as well. There was a tug of war with all hands on the item (I don’t remember what it was). Since my hands were occupied, I decided to kick them in the shin.

I kicked the wall. My foot making contact woke me up. I kicked the wall pretty hard. My foot doesn’t hurt but I do have a little bruise on my big toe. There was about 20 minutes of me laying there, saying, “Ow!” while I flexed my foot to make sure I hadn’t done too much damage.

It doesn’t hurt today. I can walk on it fine. But this is why your brain paralyzes you while you are in REM sleep. So you won’t do something like kick a wall.

You will recall the drama that occurred when Oscar, being the big, strong, protective boy, got his undies in a twist when Kiki brushed by him. And how Kiki proceeded to kick his ass (orange tufts of fur all over the bed) and terrorize him for 3 days after.

I remember this. You remember this. I guess Oscar does, too.

The other night, I was all settled in bed. Comfy. Propped up just so. I have the cat tree in my bedroom because the top is two pillars with little platforms on them. Puts the kitties right at ground level to the parking lot. Fascinating things happen out there all day. I don’t know what, but I’ve seen either cat staring raptly out the window.

Anyway, one platform is closer to the window. Oscar likes that one. Except Oscar got down and Kiki decided she wanted to sniff the night air. She hopped up and got comfy. A little while later, I feel Oscar use my bed to get onto the cat tree. It took about 15 seconds for me to hear the first soft hiss from Kiki.

I didn’t even open my eyes. “Oscar. Knock it off.” It was quiet for about 10 more seconds and I hear the second, slightly louder hiss from Kiki. I look up. Kiki is not moving from her spot but she had turned to face him. Oscar is sitting up with one limp paw hanging in the air. Like he wants to poke her again. I am not in the mood for this.

“Oscar! Stop!” My sharp tone got his attention. He put his paw down. “Leave your mother alone. She is sitting there now. You need to share.” And the little weirdo actually hunkered down and tucked his front paws under himself. He listened to me.

I’m glad I didn’t have to remind him that if he pushes his mother too far, she will and has kicked his ass.

I saw an ad for charcuterie boards for Valentine’s Day. “Women DO NOT want chocolate for Valentine’s Day.”

Well, we don’t just want chocolate.

Although, I can see some guy, looking at this stuff on these boards, thinking of it as a “we” Valentine’s Day gift. Buddy, you hand me a lovely charcuterie board and think I’m sharing with you, you’re out of your mind. Go ahead. Reach for something. You’ll be pulling back a stump.

I would also like those nice butter cookies that have been decorated in chocolate. And a big thermos of cocoa. And chocolate. Oh! And maybe some nice exotic fruit to be healthy. Also, chocolate.

I think I’ll just end up buying myself a Lunchables and a packet of M&Ms and calling it a day.