Another Day and a bit of a Rant in Everyday Ramblings

Jasmine in the local glare. Yep, very fragrant. We have been able to see the mountains a couple of times this week but mostly in has been gloomy and cool at night. Some plant somewhere nearby must be very happy. It has threatened rain for days but not actually rained and that leaves a general sense of unease in the air.

Most Honorable is healing and doing okay but it hasn’t been fun. The MOHS procedure took almost all day and traffic both ways was just awful. He should be able to go outside tomorrow if he is prudent about sun exposure.

I feel so blessed that for all my dental work I could walk there. Everyone is anxious before these things; two hours in stalled traffic and the possibility of being bumped because one is late cannot help.

Kes and Most Honorable still are living under the water alert because of the cytotoxins generated by an algae bloom in their water supply as well. One is supposed to give only bottled water to pets, children under 6 and those that are immune compromised. Except now even though the alert is still in place they say that the levels found a couple of days ago were below EPA standard warning levels.

With crazy (Koch brothers backed) Scott Pruitt as the head of the EPA I would not be too confident about their safety warnings.

My favorite news story this last week here though is the story about the two federal government career civil servants being tasked last year with taking clear tape and taping back together documents ripped up by our 45th President so that they can be preserved. Apparently he has been doing this for years (and he doesn’t use a computer), when he has looked at a document and feels like he is done with it he tears it up and throws it in the trash or on the floor!

Unlike the policy of separating children from their asylum-seeking parents, (which is not a law but an interpretation of a policy, and is not written in the Bible as our Attorney General says it is); it is against the law to destroy Presidential records.

When I was listening to the Great Courses lecture series early last year on the intersection between world events and memorable classical music there were all these stories about kings and rulers who were certifiable nut jobs and I often wondered when I would hear about them how people’s lives were influenced and affected by living under that kind of rule.

I think I am beginning to get a feel for it.

Oh and speaking of the Koch brothers, this is not a conspiracy theory. They lobbied and placed people in the government that made the big tax cut legislation not self-funding. They want to increase the Federal Deficit so much, (this is an actual strategy) so that Congress will have no choice but to cut Social Security and Medicare and Food Stamps and Medicaid.

The good news is that all these people I am talking about (except Scott Pruitt, who is sadly only 50) are old men. Old men that can afford extraordinary medical care and all the things that prolong life but still they are old men and they won’t be around that much longer.

And where the heck is Melania?

I am so sick of being lied to and talked down to and generally I am sick of the whole thing and cannot wait to vote and to retire so I can get more active and involved.

Sometime between the end of class last night (the yoga class I am taking for me) and the time I got home I lost my class card. I had paid for 10 classes and had only taken two. That means I am out $120 as they are not refundable. I walked the path I took again this afternoon looking for it and my big hope is someone found it and turned it in.

I felt so stupid when I realized I had lost it I had trouble sleeping last night.

But it has been a good opportunity to practice self-compassion and to experiment with not judging myself harshly. We all make mistakes and the good thing about time is that it softens the feelings of embarrassment and self-blame.

I wonder if there is anyway I can turn that compassion outwards towards these men that I see as royally messing with the world with self-righteous and narcissistic fervor.

May we manage to get through this with the least possible damage even though real people are suffering right this moment from the cruelty and hubris at play.

Good thing tomorrow is another day.

Last updated June 16, 2018