Listen to these videos.... heartbreaking.
Here.
And Then She Went Rambo all over my Ass for three blocks...
I haven't done a 'riding the busses' edition for some time now. But today made up for it, I guess...
Peter and I were still upset about Giselle's passing, and we held our own 'wake', remembering the very funny things, and a lot of the sad things, and wondering why she even kept her own funeral a secret. And Peter had an unpaid telephone bill, so they cut off his service, so he can't call out, except he did pay it too late... And I was supposed to find a place to fax the bill and receipt so they will turn it back on.
And was basically pissed off, and not in a good frame of mind, will grant you....
So I got on the bus at Jacki to go to the Turk place to fax it in to the Telekom. Across from me was the largest child I have ever seen. She doesn't even come up to my shoulder, and I am five nine... and easily weighs over two hundred pounds. Easily. And as with most kids nowadays, she was wired for sound, iPod, I assume... Well she got off before me at the stop I needed, and the straps of her school back pack slapped me in the face. Hard.
Now if there is one single thing I can't abide, and can turn me into a raging mean oldie, it is getting hit in the face. And then just get out of my way, because I get so angry I could burst a blood vessel.
So this 'butterball' (let's face it, she was the most obese child I have seen in years...) was ahead of me on the sidewalk, so I accelerated, and said loudly, 'If you EVER hit me in the face again, I will hit you back.' Yes, I was that angry.
Whereupon she turned into 'Ramboette'. She followed me screaming like a bloody harpy, hey. Threatening me with how her step-father is a big politician in this burgh, and I am going to be so fucking sorry I threatened her. And on and on... it was near pointless.
Facit? Don't mess with twelve year old girls nowadays, even if they hit you in the FACE. Their up-bringing seems to be lacking and all they think of is themselves. A lot of them, at any rate.
Little Ramboette is in for a lot of heartbreak, believe me....
Sometimes people leave you... half-way through the wood....
My friend, my dear friend 'Giselle' passed away on the 20th of this month. I had been afraid of finding her, to tell the truth. Because I was afraid of what I was going to find out, and I feared the worst.
Losing one's only child when pushing ninety is bitter, very bitter.
And it was as I thought... she had the strength to bury him, but went downhill afterward, and was put in a senior care home I hadn't heard of. She refused to eat or drink, being torn out of her home, and died on October 20th.
That sounds like her, all right. She was stubborn, and very funny at the same time, but she never gave an inch if she believed anything. And I am one very fortunate SOB to have known this fine woman, and carry her memory within me for as long as I live.
Thanksgiving and Christmas have never been the same since she couldn't get out of the house. For me she was family, and she loved being with us, and she made me laugh. And I loved delighting that woman.
I am going to ruin my keyboard, because I am getting a delayed reaction, and beginning to cry. And flooded with memories of a wonderful person who has now left us.
Am glad I didn't find her... it would have been pitiful in comparison to the lady I knew....
Update: I called her closest friend in Frankfurt. Charlotte. She just lost her best friend after over eighty years. She is going to be ninety on July 4th. It was a sad telephone call, and also funny at times. Talking about funerals, and methods thereof.... And I discovered that Giselle is gonna be burned, and her ashes set in the family grave, because there isn't enough space there to take another full coffin.
Somewhere.... up in infinity... there is a very angry Giselle, because she wanted the whole thing, the coffin, being put in the grave, and so on. I think it is horrible not to attend to the wishes of the dying.
Kabuki, Act Three....an interminable drama in who knows how many acts...
First a review of acts one and two.
Long ago, and far away, there was a land which had a court of advisors, you see... Their main function was to guard all the treasure of the land, and were led by a reedy, thin man, who had seemingly gotten long in the tooth. The court had become corrupted by their own advisors, who began convincing the high court to rule in ways which would hurt their own interests, which again, was to protect their nation's treasure.
Over time, they had allowed and advised measures which became grievious, and one of those treasures, Princess National Health, became direly ill. And if a national treasure became ill in that land, it would, might, be the downfall of the nation! So the reedy man decided he might call in a medical guy to heal her, and employ some new rules....
Except, you see, there were forces.... dark forces... who wanted to stop the reedy man from getting anything beneficial done. The dark forces were so evil and clever, they were able to sway the masses, and make them take their side against their own interests, and run through the village squares of the kingdom with torches and pitch-forks, yelling up a storm, and threatening violence against the King.
But the reedy man had some inner strength... and tried to go on and save the Princess.
(End synopsis Act One and Two.)
Begin Act Three: The Villain Comes Out Of The Shadows....
Now, on this Court of Advisors in a Land called 'Might Have Been', there was one who was very shady indeed. His name was Lye-Berrman, and he had often been treacherous, but the other advisors always excused his behaviour, saying he was 'original', or something. They were blind to his true nature.
Even the King pardoned him, in the land of 'Might Have Been'. And in Act Three, Lye decides to take measures to constrict the called in doctor to administer the correct dosage to save the life of Princess National Health, because he wants her to die in order to become enormously rich. Which he was anyway, but even richer, because that is all he cares about. And in his creepy-crawly way, he worms his way into some other court advisors' hearts, and engenders greed in them. So they try to decide what side they are on...
Now, during this performance, which is very, very long... the audience hasn't had an intermission. All the seats have bed-pans, however, but the venue is beginning to stink quite horribly. Vendors come in at times and serve the viewers mush. The exit doors to the theater are locked, and no one is allowed to leave.
How the third act goes on? I have no idea, at the moment. This is just the result of sleeping badly, and cooking up yet another 'fractured fairy tale' upon waking. A so-called 'fig-mint' of my imagination. Thank goodness it was just a nightmare. I mean really.... who ever heard of a place called 'Might Have Been'????? Dreams can turn terribly nightmarish, you know?
I was just on YouTube....
You will like this. I had forgotten.... The choreography is wonderful, for the time it was made...
Oh, too bad, hey... I was hoping for a hit....
After 50 years, the musical 'Bye Bye Birdie' got a revival on Broadway.
And the critic of the New York Times just ripped it apart, unfortunately. Tja... you can find it HERE.
Tja, when I read about it beforehand, it brought back some fond memories. I'd only seen it on film, and I was about sixteen. (Back then, they milked the productions and the tours so that a film version came fairly well later than the original production.) So I was wishing the production good luck, because in our star-crazed culture, (world-wide), I think it would be easy to bring it up to something very good indeed.
For those of you young people who have never heard of it... it was about the Elvis Presley craze and a send up of his being drafted into the Army. The musical has a similar main character, and the premise is that 'Conrad Birdie' is gonna find a young girl in the US before he goes to basic training, and give her a symbolic kiss which will be for all the young girls in America. On the Ed Sullivan show, of course. I can't remember how, but the young girl chosen lives in a burgh in Ohio, and the musical is about how all hell breaks loose in her family when she gets chosen.... from 'Sweet Apple, Ohio'. Yup.....
The film had an all-star cast, and Dick van Dyke and Chita Rivera had been in the original production. But there was also the crazy Paul Lynde, and I 'think' Maureen Stapleton as a domineering mother in a mink coat and sneakers that kept squeaking on linoleum floors in hallways as if she were on a basketball court. I could be wrong about the latter lady, but will soon find out. Yes, Wikipedia just confirmed that for me. She had me on the floor, laughing.
But what the hell, I was about sixteen, and you find lots of things funny at that age, so go figure.
The fun thing was about where I saw it... and only once, mind you. It was on an Air Force base, in their movie theater, and I was doing a two-week exercise for the Civil Air Patrol. As above, was only sixteen or so....
So all the regular soldiers were in there, the credits rolled up, and there was Ann Margaret shaking her boobs at the camera for the title song, and the service people went nuts, I tell you, nuts. I thought it was kinda crass.
(That should have told me something...)
Whatever.... I will leave you with a fun story about my mother. When the real Elvis first appeared... on the Ed Sullivan show... we were at my paternal grandparents house, there were screaming girls in the audience, (and yeah, I think it was live), and he sang 'Hound Dog', with the twisting pelvis... oooo...
After the number, everyone in the room was in shocked silence. A long silence. And my mother said, 'Well, he'll never last...'
Later, at the end of the Sixties, I come home from my college seminars, and find her dusting, and singing along to 'In the Ghetto'. Which surprised me. So I said, 'I thought you didn't like Elvis.' And she got all indignant, and said, 'Are you kidding?' Those were the days!'
So when I see these fads come along, and the adulation, well, I often think of that, although I believe that Frank Sinatra was the first one to drive his female public absolutely nuts. As far as I know....
Not having seen the current production, I really cannot tell if the review is justified or not. But I do think, if it were handled correctly, it might have gone gold. Whatever, I found a really cheap deal on the movie on Amazon last night, and thought, what the hell, take another look. We shall see. Oh yes, and the music? Nice, if sometimes a little sappy, as I remember...
It will be interesting to see how it does at the box-office now on Broadway....
Hmmm. I remember this...
But then again, I usuallly find time to pay attention. Yup. Faux News, and how what's good for the goose is not good for the gander.
Link HERE.
I got such a kick out of this post.....
Tja, Margaret and Helen. Hadn't tuned in for some weeks, and new posts aren't always coming so fast and furious as in other places.
But try THIS post. It will make you smile at the tone, and be very frustrated at the content.
Now here's a story I never heard... remarkable
Of course, it did happen a few months before I was born... but odd... because for the time, it was very unsual... And I wonder if the film took this as their model when they filmed 'Falling Down'.
Whatever, the man is dead at 83. It's a grisly story. And by the way... Unruh is a German word for Unease. Nomen est omen, as they say...
The article is HERE.
Fair and balanced, ok
I don't know how anyone can stand listening to this idiocy for more than ten minutes. These people are heinous.
And now they are whining because the White house is 'mean'. Did you ever hear of a guy by the name of Josef propaganda minister of Germany? Under 'he who shall not be named?' (I do not want call ups on my site from that sort, so am using the euphemism.) This goes way beyond what is acceptable, but by gawwd, they seem to be really effective.
This stuff is desgusting.
This is just outrageous. OUTRAGEOUS
I don't care that Franken introduced the legislation. It is what is RIGHT. As in 'correct', and 'just'. The ammendment which he introduced... may be eliminated... don't like the word 'stripped' from the bill due to yet another asshole who has his nose and tongue up Halliburton's arse, to get a reward, because the US government gave those companies carte blanche. Which is never a good idea, but such slime actually help to hurt people, whatever the motive was... there should be accountability.
I'm gonna have to take a blood pressure pill. Some people stop at absolutely nothing, just to line their pockets. But this is audacious, and disgusting.
Link here.
And I thought Jon Stewart shamed them last week....
It was on the Hufington Post, and I saw it the day after the broadcast, and it was gooood.
He explained it all, so go here.
And then tell me why this arsehole is justified in even thinking about 'stripping' it from the bill.
And that on the day the Matthew Shepard act finally made it out of the House and Senate, after over a decade...
Disgusting. And oh wow... the White House opposes it? Does Obama think it is ok to rape women, and have it in the contract to pay them 'hush money'? Well, now THAT is a really bad call.
Their shit doesn't stink, in other words. I do not get this at all.
If I had a daughter of nineteen, and she gets a job, probably lucrative, but the atmosphere is so bad, she gets gang-raped, and then locked in a shipping container after she complains, has to get a congressman to get her the fuck out of there, and then is denied access to sue the company.... because it was in the contract, and you do arbitration, like settling out of court.... what the fuck is this world, and what has it become?
Ok, I didn't procreate, never will. But I can imagine it... And if that had happened to a child of mine... I would go fuckin' Charles Bronson on anyone who would stop justice.
Billionaires for Wealthcare....
This has to be seen to be believed. God bless the activists, and they even sing well. It is nice to wake up and see something so wonderfully funny.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#33456098
A World-Wide 'conspiracy'....
Something nefarious is going on. And it has to do with banks....
I know, I know... we all tend to think of Wall Street, and the mortgage bust in the US, and so on and so on... but it really is world-wide, seemingly....
I had to take Peter to the bank today. His 'Minister of Finance' is a very likeable person. I get such a kick out of his first name, I have been known to break out into a Hawaian song wheeling him over there, thanks to Bette Midler...
But this isn't a 'fun' post.
He is a very nice, earnest 'young' man... mid thirties, I would guess... married, wanted to build a house... like so many other people here. And earlier this year, the crisis hit. He was having a house built, and his contractor went bankrupt just at about the time he was supposed to move into it, and it never got finished.
So for the better part of a year, he and his wife are holed up in an 'appartment' that is 23 square meters big. Well, as my 'bio-mom' used to say... 'Let ME tell YOU...' that will either cement you, or it will kill your relationship.
Having lived in a space of 17 square meters alone... with bath and wc shared outside with four other parties.... just the idea gives me the horrors.
Somehow, he is holding up ok, it seems, which is all to the good. Whatever... he is a bit morose, which is not to be wondered at.
So he asked his employers for a loan in order to get over what was a horrible situation. And the request was denied, hey... just like that. So he and his wife have been scrimping, and he has a social net of family who help, and can move into the finished house in January.
Oooo, nice month to move, hey...
At least he has a date where he knows his agony will be at an end...
No thanks to his employers....
Over the past months, there are so many things I have read about greedy banks 'recovering', but dealing out billions in bonuses for the top tier. Seems to me it is a world-wide problem, and am mystified as to what the hell they are thinking, if they can think at all....
So... no loans to 'small' people. Nope. But'cha better move your fucking ass on the job, friend, or you are OUT.
I was with that institute ages ago, and got treated so badly, I moved to another. Yes, that was possible then.
So here is a person on the middle level, and his own bank, whom he fucking WORKS for, won't give him a loan....
I do not wish to know how they screw other people who do not work for them.
And that is shameful.
Kabuki.... there are so many steps to the dance...
Just to get real health care reform. I was crossing the square this afternoon, and there was this American, pushing a bike, with his approximately eight year old son behind me, and the kid was going ON. Wound up from school, I guess, and too high a sugar level...
And he was going on about health care! I was astounded. 'But doesn't that mean we could all die???'
They were way faster than me, I sort of drag these days... so I do not know what they talk about at the dinner table, but it must be sorta kinda interesting...
The Snowe blower finally showed her hand like it was a poker game yesterday. Nice. Not.
And in so doing, made herself a bit player where she belongs.
Except she acheived what her 'massa's' wanted. Delay, obfuscate, and sow great uncertainty. Brava, 'Lympi'... well done.
In further news, Faux News really went off the charts, because left-wing journalists were invited to the White House, and they weren't.
She rightly pointed out that the people on the left under Booosh got shut out, but that Obama met with the right-wing mouth pieces privately, and listened.
Faux is just so crazy, you end up not being able to think straight. I got inflicted with them for six months in 2001, and was so happy when they got pulled from our programming...
Otherwise.... it isn't a good day for me, so will just shut up.
I do not know why.....
But sometimes you befriend someone, and you lose sight of them, and all of a sudden they are in your mind.
Maybe being a pensioner has something to do with it.
Pensioners are always 'busy', but that is a crock.
And one of my friends got lost somewhere along the line... Peter set agendas, things got so screwed up I couldn't find one minute's peace to be the friend I used to be... It was saddening.
So I called.
I think it was the nicest call I have conducted in a very long time.
The warmth and niceness floored me.
It is always nice to know that you are liked....
And we talked about God and the World, so to speak, as we used to when we were young.
I owe this person and his family SO much...
And they have always remained kind.
K. you know whom I am speaking of...
Ok, the Germans are the pits... really....
I have been getting e-mails from people wondering why the fuck hell I would send them an invitation to participate in a german language face-book thing, and some of them were angry.
Except I DIDN'T.
I haven't been there in over two years, and now I'm gonna do a Mark Sanford, ok, so get yourselves your panties so you can twist them!
Netlog.de went rogue, seemingly....
I can't figure out another reason for that....
The background?
About three or four years ago, I had sex. Yeah, shudder...
It wasn't so remarkable that I can pinpoint the date, you know? It was boring, and he didn't know about deoderant yet...
And a couple of weeks later... I got this invite, to join that site. And I shrugged.... he was nice enough and interesting... and asked me to join this site, you see, and I thought, 'Ok, maybe he wants to talk.' Except it never happened and I forgot about it.
And all of a sudden, this website is sending 'invitations' to my mail lists, and it freaked me out.
I deleted my account there this evening, and will send a screed to them.
The F'acebook thing was bad enough, but Netlog????
I can't find words bad enough... So I didn't do it. I have enough troubles.
I have been holding back on this, because it is hurtful
Queens. No, not cross-dressers, the place in New Yawk....
There is a place there called College Point. Really, I have seen it.
It was the first place I ever got to outside my white-bread, insulated town.
It was so exciting. I packed for a two day visit as if I were going abroad for three months.
I was fifteen. I read a lot, you see, and thought that New Yawkers changed three times a day, so I packed accordingly... and my cousin's mother said, 'what the hell is he thinking????!!!!'
I always wanted to fit in...
Is all....
Yup... College Point, and am still so thankful. It was beautiful. And my cousins spoiled me? You can't imagine. It was surburbia... but oh boy, they took me to Manhattan! I was spitless....
Well, time passes, things run down, and you get left speechless in other ways.
There was this video that went viral...
And a lot of other things.... There was a rally in College Point. There was a counter rally, which is asking for 'understanding' for the people who did what they did in the video. The father of the perpetrator is on YouTube for Chrissakes!
Have read a lot of negative things about College Point, and it is upsetting for me....
It was the first place I ever got to fly out of the nest, so to speak.
The World Fair was about to be held there, and I was so hoping I could go, saved my coca-cola caps to see it....
In the hope I would win a trip.... I was very naive...
So what the fuck happened?
Everything about the story saddens me.
Did the wash machine and dishwasher emancipate women?
John Aravosis at Americablog put that question up for discussion, after some pundit contended that.
The discussion is actually interesting. You can find the link HERE, with the comments.
After a cursory view of them, and just sort of scanned them....
Well, I guess he has a lot of readers my age. Who remember the old washers with ringers, for instance. We had one... And when it gave up the ghost, I got to go to the laundrymat every week, which was sort of a pain. I remember having an ice box in Portland Maine. And the guy would deliver a big block of ice in a horse-drawn carriage, break of a piece the right size, and deliver it upstairs. But the milk would go sour anyway....
I really do not think that women's emancipation was helped or promoted in any way by the invention of 'machines'. That is sort of silly... In the Fifties, if you were of a certain class, your parents worked, and you were expected to help out and ease the burden. So you got taught to iron, for example, and that was one of your 'chores'. Just as a for instance.
So I guess it is a silly supposition... but interesting to see how one looks back on that now.
And now for some levity... Germans...
trying to say 'Massachusetts'... I'd love to hear them go at 'Winnepesaukee'.. Just saying....
It's a political ad from SE Germany, and sort of weird.
Update: ok, now I get it. The institute of technology in Karlsruhe is trying to get people to enroll in their institute of Technology, and MIT is 'the best'. So yes, clever advertising....
I have been thinking a lot lately....
About the futility of just spouting off about health care reform in the US...
Yes, I just do. That is how I am, I care...
But I get fucking discouraged. I can go Dickensian for 'outrage'.
Yup. Just happens... can't do anything about it, and go for anger.
Now, I don't know what the term 'Kabuki Theater' means. But you can find it here.
And it seems to me... the people who called it that, well, they were correct.
My former 'couch critter', W. used to criticise me for watching the developments there, and he knew why I cared so much, used to start lamming into me. 'It's show business! Haven't you understood that yet? Show business!'
Now, I can be one stubborn bastard when it comes to what I believe.
And it hurts right to the bone, when I have to say 'I was wrong, you are right.' Oooo that hurts....
It is Kabuki.
If we take the events of the past week into account... First the health insurance people and big pharma think they are gonna get a HUGE increase in income, and then there is a feint move from Harry Reid, 'we are gonna penalise you.'
But they won't....
It is a sylised 'dance' they all do, and I don't want to go into the corrupt assholes who promote all that shit.
So yes, it is Kabuki... a stylised arcane dance that makes everybody miserable in the end. I feel so sorry at the moment.
When an insurance company decides to cancel ALL policies because they have one person on it who is costing them too much... which I saw this morning on the net...
Keith Olberman... HERE
it disgusts me.
I do not know if everyone saw what KO did last week. It was remarkable.
So....
What are Murkin's gonna do, the troglodyte, knuckle-dragging Neandertals sucking at the teat of government till they go dry, and use the energy to be able to give billions to their little turd offspring?
Seems like we have a new species here...
That is NOT the country I grew up in. Those are NOT the values I was taught. And I just watch what happens in horror.
Because that isn't what I was taught.
Where is the empathy, where is caring for your fellow neighbor even if you don't agree with his views, but he is in trouble, Where the fuck did that country go?
This whole thing upsets me to the max.
And it makes me sad...
Kabuki Theater.... going through theatrical motions...
But in the end... it really does seem to be show...
How come a four month old baby...
gets denied health care, because he is to 'fat'.
Seems to me that the health care people there expect you to pop out Twiggy in both sexes, and maybe they will cover you...
What the fuck is WRONG with those people?
Oh yes, they love making money..... uh-huh.... right. Disgusting.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/ Or the first segment of Colbert.... Now where are my low carbs
http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=252661
Oooo... I have heating in my apt. praise whomever...
The last nights were so cold, my digs were chilly, and I got out my second blankie...
And now my house witch turned it on...
I'd like to torture her for cruel and unusual punishment.
The last nights were cold, and I turned up the thermostats, but nada. And got out my second duvet. A duvet is a thermo-blanket that can save your life, believe me. They are wonderful.
Now I have 21 degrees, as i like it...
So it works, and was pretty sure it wouldn't.
Yay!
Can I go throw up now?
Of all that went on in DC----
This speech really spoke to me.
F0r those of you who were sleeping or otherwise engaged... there was a march on Washington....
Of people who want their rights too.
And the President presented the usual placebos.
And the people who were promised the same rights everyone else has got told to 'wait'.
Even though the solutions aren't so difficult.
Oh, they'll throw you a bone if you don't shut up. They always do, and that isn't very 'funny'. It was Clinton, after all, who invented don't ask don't tell. And the fucking Defense of Marriage Act. (Who the fuck is threatening the breeders, please tell? Oh, he was really, really good on social issues...)
To come out and present a hate crime decision after THIRTEEN years, is a feather in their cap... they think.... I am pretty sure the Shepards have a different opinion... Their son got crucified on a fence in Montana, and died.
What in the world parallel universe do these people live on? And Barney Frank wanting no march because 'all it is going to acheive is crushing their lawn????' I didn't hear him saying that when the tea-baggers ran all over Washington, so what is in it for him? HUD? Some people are speculating......
I always thought that if lifting up your voice and make it loud, that would help.
It seems, they got you coming and going. President Obama gave a 'rousing' speech to a lot of white affluent men in Washington who will give a lot of money to the Democratic party two nights ago, and yesterday a 'source' dissed the commutity, dissing the 'bloggers', the people who gave lots of money to his election campaign, comparing them to teenagers in pajamas in their parent's basements, stained with Cheetos, saying they should get dressed and go out and do something, so to speak.
And THAT is just unacceptable.
I think it time to stand up, and put an end to the nonsense. And believe me, I do so, in my own way, and I sign petitions, and I do make calls.
Not because I have such an affinity to my former country. But because I want people to be considered equal there. And because NO ONE ever EVER hurt me personally because of my sexual orientation here and saw me as a complete person. I want that for all those people.
David Mixner... I had never heard of him before. The other activists were shrill. But he moved me very much. Because he is of my generation, and went through the horrors I went through, and his speech is excellent, and speaks to my heart.
Please listen
While looking for what I really wanted to find...
I ran across this clip which makes me laugh out loud every time I have seen it.
I love when she lovingly integrates the reactions of her family into her act, and brings her mother into it. It is an old clip, but after all the anger and activism in Washington D.C. ths past weekend, and you probably haven't seen the wonderful speeches so far on your 'normal' news, it is something that is good.
Have fun, and I hope you can laugh....
Ok, it is ick week, and the full moon is just beginning to wane... and I shit my pants, yup...
And I just had the most humiliating thing happen...
ok, I tripped on a throw rug on Saturday, nearly knocked myself out, got a slight concussion, which the horsepital confirmed, and had to stay in bed two days. WTF, it was the weekend, so that was ok...
And today... I ventured out.
Now the last time this happened, my father was visiting me and we went to Vienna. And usually I have a good nose for good restaurants, and took him to a polish specialty place. I wanted him to see the diversity of all the cuisines in Central Europe, more or less.
And I made the mistake of ordering a dish that had a side-dish of Sauerkraut. Which doesn't agree with me. In other words, it goes through my body like shit through a goose, as they say.
Afterward, we meandered over toward the famous Prater park, where the giant ferris wheel is. It is only a twenty minute walk.... And there is a huge circular intersection, with underground passages to get to the other side. And half-way through, I thought I had to let out some 'air'.... and shit my pants. Not much, but it was enough to be fully embarrassing.
And he found that hilarious and was curious as to what I would do.
Well, there are WC's down there, so I went to the men's room, got rid of the gook, cleaned myself up, threw my undies away, and came back out CHAGRINED, I tell you, CHAGRINED....
I think it still throws him into spasms of full hilarity, to this day....
But he shouldn't get uppity, his flatulence can be legendary.
Whatever... today I was coming home and chattered too long with shop people, and realised, 'Ooo, I have to GO...' And RAN to my house, not far away, and missed the pot by three seconds!
I'd feel bad if it wasn't for the comedienne Mararet Cho. She always said there is a 20 minute 'window of opportunity'.
So I cleaned up, and the clothes are in the wash, and my father will probably have some hilarity for this....
I can't find the clip I wanted to add to this, but will do so after shopping around YouTube. It was very funny. Driving along the freeways in Hell-A, and needing to go, and not finding an exit ramp.
Yup, that is how I felt today...
Sheesh...
Alan Grayson has some platinum balls.....
This guy is super. In one interview, he told the public about how he was sickly as a youngster, and being afraid that his parent's insurance would somehow not cover him after some time.
I love this guy's guts. Anthony Weiner is also an interesting voice. But Grayson is a firebrand, and I think we are seeing a real firebrand here. Well done.
This is what it is about... and what bad health insurance
does to everyday people, with their horrible decisions. The story upset me at the time...
I am so glad that they aren't giving up, and fighting.
This clip is heart-breaking to me.
Have I ever told you how MUCH I hate throw rugs???
Well, after just cleaning up a lot of blood, let me just say I do. Very much.
For the second time in my life, I got a renegade one. They decide to curl up or something, and attack you if you don't pick up your feet, you see.... So I was about to turn in for the night, and came back in intending to turn off the pc and get some sleep, as I was very tired.
And I am very stubborn when it comes to turning on a light. I hardly ever do. Unless I'm having a bad cataract night blindness day. I just sleep-walk about...
My nicest one decided to trip me up last night. I tried to catch myself, disrupting the telephone, knocking my modem onto the floor, tripped over my stool in front of the pc and hit the hard-wood floor face first, whereupon there was a sickening 'crunch' sound, and blood started coming out of my nose onto my freshly washed floor. (I really don't know which bothered me more.) I guess I was K.O. for a few moments....
I did manage to get myself back to the bed, and slept a little. And now, at midnight, just cleaned up the fucking mess.
I only have one mirror in the house, in the WC, so went to do damage assessment. Well, the honker is swollen, but so far it doesn't look like I'm going to be a racoon for a few days... But that is always iffy...
The same thing happened a few decades ago... was hurrying to the window on a very hot summer's day, as the place I was living in was unbearably hot, slid on a throw rug, got ko'd and broke my nose.
This time, am just glad nothing else got broken. And they don't call them throw rugs for nothing.
They'll throw you, all right... for a loop. I never wanted any of the four I have. Peter more or less forced me to take them when I moved. Accursed things... think twice before you decide to get any.
Today....
I walked into Peter's apt, dumped the groceries started the soup, and decided to turn on the tee-vee. Because it was time for Larry King from yesterday, and he fucking hates Larry King....
Except!!! as so often, the show was pre-empted for 'breaking news' over here on the european version. Which is usually so lame, you could barf. It is always, 'well, there is this story, and something happened, and we don't know exactly what yet, but stay tuned because this might be big.'
Note to CNN: either you know what is happening or you shut the fuck up. Till you know. And deliver facts. I know it is difficult running a 24 hour news channel, but keeping people salivating, and then delivering no facts is so bloody lame, you should be ashamed of yourselves.
I had a course on journalism in school. I got an A+. I would give CNN a D-.
Today was a little different. The 'breaking news' was that President Obama was given the Nobel Peace Prize.
And I said, 'WHAAAA???'
Not that am envious or anything, but my first thought was 'what did he DO?'
I really couldn't wrap my head around the reasoning for it. And went into shock.
I always thought it was for acheivements, not good intentions....
Which called Bertha von Suttner to mind. Yeah, I know, her name won't ring a bell with you... but she was an interesting woman.
She was one of the first women to ever receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1904. She wrote a tract to abolish weapons. She was a suffragette, and many other things. And fought for world peace. She was the fifth recipient of that recognition.
She died of cancer shortly before the outbreak of WWI in 1914. And on our 'old' money, the Schilling, she was on our one thousand Schilling note. Everyone knew who she was, and what she had acheived.
So... upon thinking it over... maybe it wasn't such a bad call.. if someone can reach out, and get people to be civil, and begin a discourse... that IS an acheivement, and I hope he can keep it on that level.
Obviously, the level of discourse over the eight years before January riled and sowed hatred among many countries in this world, if they decided to award Obama such an honour. So whatever has gone on behind the scenes must have been right so far.
In other words, after the initial shock... ok, can understand... she was awarded because she was a moral compass, and influenced some people's thinking. I think that is what is at work here.... And oh yes, she was Austrian.
And in other news...
This is important. You can sign a petition. It is about health care. Go read. Here. Tell Harry Reid how you really feel.
Ya know, democracy isn't just about sitting back with some popcorn and watching what all the players are doing like in a football game. It is about voting, participating, and putting the pressure on when you see people going in the wrong direction.
I HATE german films.... and I hate German men who are cowardly
The end credits are just rolling up, and I am.... pissed off.
It is 'Der Vorleser'. It is about someone who reads to someone because she can't read or write.
So ok, this fifteen year old kid falls in love with an older woman. In the Fifties in Germany, which was even more stifling than in the US, and NO ONE at that time would ever admit having been a part of anything political in the decade before.
That was subtly, but nicely done.
And the production values were top-notch without coming to the fore, which was what USED to be the thing behind the quality, and not the thing itself. So far so good.
So... it is this mysterious woman who seduces a young kid, and has sex with him, but only after he reads to her. Because she can't. Lovely, lyric, gritty, and so on.
(No, it really was pretty... and yes, full nudity, which doesn't frighten the horses here... it propelled the story and wasn't gratuitous.)
Whatever, one day the woman disappears, the young man goes into law school later...
And HERE is where my boxer shorts started getting in a twist. Her former lover... who never got over her...is in law school. Attending a seminar, a very exclusive one. And gets to see his former lover accused of being a witch in the concentration camps.
Except she probably wasn't and gets made the scapegoat of the guards at Auschwitz.
And I started becoming really, really angry.
Because the young guy turned into 'tormented' Ralph Fiennes, looking back, and his younger self is at the trial, and knows that the woman charged couldn't ever have done what her co-accused said she did, because... she couldn't read or write.
And the younger version doesn't make one peep in protest, so she goes to jail for twenty years.
No THAT is typical German male behaviour. Cowardly. So skeered that they won't advance on the food chain.
By then my boxers looked like a thong.
Whatever, the guy's life is totally fucked, he never gets over it, and after this woman gets out of prison after 20 years, he is the only one who can take resposibility for her because he sent her tapes, reading books to her, but was too cowardly to see her personally.
And the day that is supposed to happen, she hangs herself.
It was not a satisfying experience, in other words.
Now, I know... the theme is very touchy, especially here.
But this was so fucked up, I didn't know where the fuck I was supposed to be thinking.
Who is 'to blame'? Who just gets caught up in things? Where does the guilt lie?
Important questions.
I have known someone who really did such a number on his wife that I will never ever forgive him.
Germans can really be cowards, believe me....
obviously, the film riled me up. It is a good film, and Kate Blanchett was wonderful, and deserved that Oscar nomination.
But on the whole?
Well, it is a good film for a rainy day if you want to get depressed.
just when you think something got buried for good...
It comes baaack!
Ok, ok, I have an allergy, or am algerian against this piece. It keeps coming back to haunt me over and over and over again..l. The music is lovely. Really. Some of it is such kitsch, you could retch. And now they are putting it on at the local opera house, and I am pissed off!
Now there are several reasons why I really get a bee in my bonnet about this. My godmother took me to see it when I was nine, and evening performance... ooo, that was cool. And we came away feeling cheered up and singing some songs from it. But that was at NINE...
That piece of treacle ran en suite for six months in a town of one hundred thousand people. It was cult.
Eventually, I forgot about it, of course. Till I arrived in Salzburg to find a place to stay in the Fall to study. Arrived in pouring rain, drenched to the skin at two in the a.m. with luggage for a year, and a receptionist took pity on me and gave me a room at the Hotel Pitter.
Next morning, I called my friend Susan to arrange a meeting, and fix a room for the Fall. My inner clock was so fucked up, my body didn't know where it was, but that is another story.
And btw... Salzburg gets an average of 265 days of rain a year. You can imagine what it does to the dispositions of the average citizen there. Sour....
BUT.... it was a lovely day after, and you could even see the mountains. Glorious view. So I followed instructions and headed across the park across the street, the Mirabelle Gardens... And was struck nearly blind with dejà vu. 'I've been here before', I thought...
There was a hill with a beautiful fortress on it, and the park before me, and I thought, 'why in the world does this look so familiar????' And then I went a little further, and I saw it... Two naked guys with their arms outstretched, pointing to one another over the exit. (Yeah, even subliminally, it caught my attention when I was NINE.)
And I thought, 'Oh shit, 'The Sound of Music. This is where I landed?'
I will not torture you with the nonsense I had to face every day in that city when it came to the 'true believers', and fanatics who were crazy about that film.
But it got weirder. I had a roommate who was very quiet. And one day in the Fall he asked me to go to dinner with him where his family used to work. He was a quiet, unpreposessing young man, we worked in Munich together, but he never talked about his past, you see.
So I just said 'ok..', was curious... and we bussed out to behind the hill with the fortress, and the place where he used to live... was the Palace of Leopoldskron, set on a small lake. The US took it over after the war, and held seminars for the brightest students in Europe on the most diverse topics.
His parents used to run those seminars. We had lunch on the terrace, overlooking the lake, with those horses just like in the fucking movie? And looked left and there was the glass summer house? Gawwd. Color me speechless.... Turns out his parents had run the program during the filming, and he knew Julie Andrews, and played ping-pong with the kids in it. At which point I was spitless. And THEN he showed me the sneakret door that led from the library to the then archbishop's bedroom.
It was a bit much to take in, believe me.
When I got back from my year abroad, what was the first thing I had to do at my work in a cinema? Being on duty inside the theater. And what was playing? 'The (Fucking) Sound of Music!) It was a curse, somehow...
Over the decades, I have had to deal with groupies who really truly believe that the song 'Edelweiß' from that is our national anthem. It is NOT. Ours is from Haydn.
And... 'The Sound of Music' flopped badly in Austria...just so you know... People still wrinkle their nose if you mention it. And Salzburg named a tiny street in Aigen after the von Trapp family... begrudgingly.
So... I cannot figure out why the local opera would want to put this on now, I really can't.
I am half-tempted to get a standing-room ticket and watch them burst into flames and crash.... And I still think the flash-mob version in Atwerp Begium was brilliant, and I know, I have posted it before, but it is a joy to watch.
It might even be worth it.
This is must-see tee-vee
I usually start my morning by watching Countdown. He developed one segment over the past year giving special comments.
Yesterday his entire show was on health insurance, and his on-going experiences in the system, as his father is in the hospital.
This is must-see. You can click here to see it all. or over at Daily Kos here.
Riveting stuff.
You have to be of a certain age....
to really appreciate this monologue by comedian Lewis Black. It certainly mirrors my experience in grade school, so I guess we are the same age. But it is so 'true'... Enjoy an aspect of every day stuff in those schools at the height of the nuclear threat in the Fifties. Cracked me up. The other boogey man thing was the repub teachers telling you that the Russians are coming. But I already explained that.
you know how you get at a cross-roads, and aren't sure
what path to take next?
That is where I am at at the moment.
Had a horrendous 'moment' with what seems to be a nice lady today at Peter's place.
Just after I had an asthma attack and threw up.
He can really make me so upset....
But the aggrievance on the others' parts is really understandable, and totally upsetting, but that has upset me for a long time now.
It has to do with personal hygiene, and the fact that his bladder leaks all over the place.
And oh yes, I was cleaning it all up. Till the other week when he let me call the police unnecessarily.. And he 'thinks' she is going to come down and clean up after him, and I went negative.
It had nothing at all to do with feeling 'slighted'. He is so going into Alzi-land, and I am so not going with him.
His latest folly? Buying a pc and internet connection so that he can see the dvd's he'd bought per telephone, so he can watch them.... instead of a new dvd player. That is so fucked up, I do not know where to begin.
It wouldn't have cost a tenth of what he paid for the new set-up.
And he has no idea how to do a pc, and isn't interested.
He just wants to see his dvd's....
But cleaning up after himself? Don't ask...
I had an asthma attack this morning and threw up.
And then had to face a neighbour, going out. She is friendly, and ok. She isn't angry, she was concerned. And wanted to warn me. Others in the house are complaining that it stinks of urine when they go out. Because he doesn't make it to the toilet on time at night, and doesn't clean it up. If I go in it gags me.
Well, all I can say, is let the house people come and check up on what he has done, and stick him in a home, hey. I know that sounds very crass, but you can only take so much.
And you can only DO so much, and then you get worn down.
And I can't take that any more.
And I can't take all the stress any more, and thought that the Serbian bitch would come down and do the cleaning, because I have enough to do at my place. He said that was part of the 'deal'.
You'd think....
So... am just going to let everything take its' course.
That sounds very hard of me, I know... but have been the 'protector' for too long, have put up with the whole shit for so long, have paid for his idiocy for way too long.
I'm not going to lift a finger.
I risked too much, lost too much, got hurt too much.... and really don't know what I should do any more, I really don't.
So... you see?
You can fall in lurv... And then you aren't really yourself. Till one day you wake up and find you spent way too much time, and got fucked over in every way possible. You can tell yourself that you meant well, you can tell yourself that things would become better, and hope... but you can also end up being the idjit.
Because you just loved....
And that isn't just because he became ill. I did so much.... I saved his life more than once.. But if I was ill, he treated that as if it were treason on my part. And my ideas weren't reasonable or me being accountable.
Everyone is accountable for themselves. Period.
Relationships....
People just end up hurting people. And the party who cares gets cut to ribbons with psychical razor blades.
Just don't come at me with gay marriage, or marriage of any sort.
I haven't seen ONE that was something to attain to.
Oh.. it's Bush's fault?
That Chicago lost the Olympics bid?
Hmmm.... now, I have heard low rumbling murmurs over here for quite some time now, about how no one is all too eager to travel to the US. Only if they 'had' to, and then they weren't happy about it.
I did know about the fingerprinting and the photos, but missed the thing about paying $130.00 extra for a visa just to enter. Expensive club, hey. If we did that here, we'd have hopping off-the-charts angry tourists telling us we were facsists. And given the 'quality' of some of the ones who do come here, the 'new Romans', as I call them, with their breathtaking arrogance, it would be more than justified.
And then the stating the 'intent' to leave after proposed visit, now that is just idiocy... Who would want to stay there? Talk about overestimating oneself....
Entry being 'harrowing'? Well, have been on both sides of that fence, and can truly say... the authorities treat everyone equally badly on entering the country. From being intimidated on re-entry after a year abroad in 1973 by an agent who printed out a computer list and recited everything I did while gone and studying for a year, to entering as a 'ferner' to visit my father, and being harrassed about it to get a visa to get in in Boston. Now, that latter was really 'fun'. Not.
The official put me on tenterhooks, studying my nearly pristine passport. It had two stamps in it... from Slovenia. How very spooky for him. I live an hours' drive from the border, and used to join some friends to go to the town of Maribor and visit their fine fish restaurants. Fun times...
So I drily said, 'I have a return ticket'.
'Oh, we KNOW that...'
Till I said the magic words... 'Listen, I'm just here to visit my family, and then I have to return and go back to work.'
He drew out the suspense, and then stamped my pass with a visa. And I don't even want to BEGIN with describing the customs people.
And all that was way before 9/11. I do not even want to imagine what it is like now. Not to misunderstand, please. Once in, everyone was nice. But entering? Jeebus H. Christ on a crutch, hey.
For comparison, every time I entered then Yugoslavia, and later Slovenia, there was always an uproar when they found my US passport in the pile of Austrian ones. It annoyed my friends for the ten minute delay at the border, and sent the guards into high activity.
'An American! What are you doing here?' 'Errrm, going to a restaurant with some friends...' And they would run my data through their computers three times in their little toll booth sort of huts, muttering and shaking their heads.
Good times, hey... We came to expect that little show. After all, it was a )))communist country((( ... oooo. Shudder... But at least they were correct, and never impolite.
Entering the US was far more frightening.
And the rudeness was far worse.
So maybe the person quoted in this article was correct.
And I guess I am not alone... read the last part of this article.
I have no experience to quash that theory... Click on the link.
You have never lived...
Till you get molested by a parrot.
I have always said I love Rachel Maddow.
She shows unexpected things.
And to see THIS at five thirty in the morning, and watch her fall apart for hilarity and hardly catch herself to be serious.....
Well, sometimes we like to be just caught off guard, and look at something amusing....
Remind me not to go to New Zealand. It would fuck up my head. Have fun with this...
So... Chi-town lost the bid to hold the Olympics....
I nearly wished they would win just for creating jobs there... and there would be a mess of jobs, believe me.
What I don't understand is the cheering and jeering on the right. How patriotic are they when they gloat? And think that is a fine thing? What sort of 'patriosim' is that? It would have generated a mess of jobs and sparked the economy.
So if Obama hadn't gone overseas to plug it, and it lost, it would have been his fault. He did go over, and Chicago didn't get it, so of course it is his fault.
How sick is that?
Well, now we know what else Vicks Vapo rub is good for...
I have always said I do not like clowns...
And another 'spy' on Sitemeter
Everything 'unknown', but a German-language pc system...
And hit on my health-care posts...
Now that s fairly odd....
(Shrug)
But what the hell, I have other things to worry about right now.
Like finding out what happened to Giselle, for instance. Or Peter brightly telling me Horst will be home on the weekend, and he can ask him, whereupon my blood froze in my veins... and I said, 'What?' Horst died months ago, he is dead!' 'Oh yeah, I forgot...'
Uh-huh....
And oh boy... This will not be fun.
Hmmm... did I hit a nerve? I would really REALLY like to know....
There is some activity going on on my Site Meter. And no, am not a media whore, just curious as to the few people who tune in...
After working long and hard on being Johnny One Note when it comes to health care.... why in the world would someone from Blue Cross Blue Shield in Ohio decide to check out what I am doing????
Did I finally get something 'too' right?
Sheesh, now I KNOW I can't go for a visit, if they targeted me. That is as good as getting a badge of honour for something or other...
Take a look...
| Underground Facades By Location > Visit Detail Visit 3,027 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Domain Name | (Unknown) | |||||||||||||||||||
| IP Address | 162.95.159.# (Community Mutual Blue Cross & Blue Shield) | |||||||||||||||||||
| ISP | Community Mutual Blue Cross & Blue Shield | |||||||||||||||||||
| Location |
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| Language | English (U.S.) en-us | |||||||||||||||||||
| Operating System | Microsoft WinXP | |||||||||||||||||||
| Browser | Internet Explorer 6.0 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; InfoPath.1; MS-RTC LM 8; .NET CLR 2.0.50727) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Javascript | version 1.3 | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Time of Visit | Sep 30 2009 7:44:06 am | |||||||||||||||||||
| Last Page View | Sep 30 2009 7:44:06 am | |||||||||||||||||||
| Visit Length | 0 seconds | |||||||||||||||||||
| Page Views | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Referring URL | http://anntichristsc...9_03_01_archive.html | |||||||||||||||||||
| Visit Entry Page | http://just-when-you...-fucking-enough.html | |||||||||||||||||||
| Visit Exit Page | http://just-when-you...-fucking-enough.html | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Time Zone | UTC-8:00 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Visitor's Time | Sep 29 2009 10:44:06 pm | |||||||||||||||||||
| Visit Number | 3,027 | |||||||||||||||||||
Shucks, (shuffles feet), I feel so proud... really...
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