Friday, November 26, 2021

Our Holly Trees ...

 

So one of the reasons we chose this particular apartment was the beautiful birch tree, with its sweeping branches and lush leaves, teeming with life (tree frogs, birch-loving birds, squirrels, etc.) near the balcony, which I've shown prior pictures of many times. 

However, the birch tree is actually positioned between two holly trees.  Now, typically, the robins raid it so that it loses all of its berries in about 2 days - and I'm not even kidding - 2 days lol.   In fact, I've wanted to snap a picture before, but they've already raided the top half by midday!

However, this year, with the cold spell, the robins are now scares with the colder weather, and berries managed to survive through Thanksgiving!

Some pretty color in fall/winter to view, from our balcony :)














The second holly tree, in relation to the first, with the birch tree (with its leaves nearly gone) in the middle ... 








Thursday, November 25, 2021

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Almost ready ... 





Methinks the turkey just needs to go back in for about 15 minutes, just to be sure  ;)





Very grateful for where my life is now, versus not so very long ago :)


Wishing you all the best of God's blessings today :)





Wednesday, November 24, 2021

More Thanksgiving Baking Underway :)



 

So I'm baking like a crazy woman, to do as much as I can so as not to leave everything for tomorrow.   


Pumpkin pie ...




 

Our traditional Spinach, Bacon, and Swiss Cheese Breakfast Quiche, which I now make the day before Thanksgiving (and Christmas), so we can have breakfast ready for tomorrow a.m., while the turkey is then goes into the oven first thing in the morning :)





Cranberry-Brie-Maple Tarts ...





Lord knows I'm not the best pastry chef anyway, and this is a new addition to my Thanksgiving meal (only the second time I've made them) - I think it's the maple syrup weighing them down too much, perhaps I need to spread it a bit thinner next time?

However, believe me when I say they taste much better than they look lol.    

In fact, Mark, my taste-tester, says these are actually his favorite-tasting treat thus far.



Corn Pudding (a Kentucky tradition) with cornbread crumbles ... 




After taste-testing it, we both agreed that adding cornbread crumbles was a great idea, and thus, this was likely the best I've ever made.  

(Sorry, grandma - it's hard to improve on the perfection that is your corn pudding recipe, but the cornbread crumbles managed to do it, just adding a little extra taste and texture oomph ;)


Yummy treats underway today, folks :)

Tomorrow will be the roasted turkey with rosemary and sage, of course, brined overnight to retain moisture); cornbread dressing/stuffing, white and sweet potato au gratin, green beans with bacon, and roasted butternut squash with brown sugar :)


PS - Because I'm prediabetic (with my A1c dropping lately), I can't eat most of this stuff, or at least more than a tablespoon lol.  

I don't eat sweets anyway, never have - bread and pop was my thing - but I won't spoil everyone else's fun - enjoy!








Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Received the Pfizer Booster Yesterday ...

 


... and feeling fine.  No side effects at all, just a sore arm -  exactly like the flu shot (which I also received in October) :)

In fact, I did a lot of baking yesterday, feeling great - actually, even better than after the second shot, where I felt a little tired later for just a few hours - but this time, nothing at all - guess my body has adjusted to it :)


Get it, don't get it, whatever  - but seriously, it's not a big deal.


Remember that most people are like me and do not have serious side effects, adverse events, or complications. 

Also remember that no drug or vaccine is perfect - there is always a small percentage people with side effects or adverse reactions to any medication - even over-the-counter stuff.

Also remember that the intention of the vaccine from its inception was not to (necessarily) prevent infection, but to limit the severity of infection (although vaccines do seem to be actually preventing infections, at to a certain degree, possibly combined with mask-wearing).


We really need to stop the melodramatic making of mountains out of a molehills out of political paranoia, as well as do a better job at weighing the benefits versus the risks of our choices.


And by that I mean actual known and nominal clinical risks from reliable data, meaning reading the actual clinical-trial studies yourselves -  not trusting some nobody on Twitter you've never met and may not truly exist, either with a meme they made themselves or a simply passed along without verifying it (or it cannot be verified) - or gossip from somebody's neighbor's cousin's coworker, that more than likely had something else going on that they blamed the vaccine for, or else contracted COVID just before they got the shot and it was already in the symptomless incubation phase before they ever received the shot  ;) 


Sometimes things are exactly as they appear or claim to be -  "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." :)










Sunday, November 21, 2021

All The Light We Cannot See ...

 



Just now finishing this Pulitzer-Prize-winning book, and without giving the entire plot away, I can say that it certainly earned the Pulitzer - and I'm hoping the forthcoming Netflix adaptation into a movie version lives up to the quality of the novel.

Keep in mind, it's written in the current popular back-and-forth-through-time style, which some people struggle with - try to focus anyway, Twitter people with the attention span of gnats - it's worth it :)

Also keep in mind, though Doerr can and does write in very descriptive, detailed sentences, especially about scientific principles, he very often also writes as our brains think - like musical notes, in a rhythm - and sometimes in short, staccato notes, particularly when a character feels threatened, or in one or two-word phrases, as well as advice spoken to us by others, long ago, that stuck with us, for better or worse.


I'll try not to give too many spoilers, but as for the title, it has several meanings.

It not only refers to the progressive blindness of the the French girl in occupied Saint-Malo, France, as well as the obvious symbolism of finding hope as light during darkness, of course - but also to the light and color our brains create in our imagination, even in total darkness.


Most importantly, we know that colors are actually forms of light and heat which exist along a very broad spectrum, and that actually, the human eye cannot see the entire spectrum, even in the most well-sighted individuals (thus why we have infrared binoculars, etc.)

This of course has a deeper philosophical meaning in the book,  rather than just scientific - referring to the fact that people are often more complex than we make them, we often cannot see them in their full spectrum of light and dark, we just see snapshots along their spectrum, especially when we use social media as a gauge of who they are, but often even in real life.

Humans rarely come with neat little black-and-white labels, though we try to make them fit into these boxes (and despite attempts to self-identify into these boxes -  meaning black and white not only in terms of skin, eye, and/or hair color, but who we think they are/ appear to be to our own subjective imaginations as opposed to reality.


As for the plot, it follows two seemingly very different young people from childhood, on opposite sides of a war, who's lives become briefly intertwined, who have much more in common than we think.


The first main protagonist is Marie-Laure LeBlanc   - a highly intelligent young Parisian blind girl, who "escaped" with her father to his brother's home in Saint Malo, after Nazi bomb raid during WWII, only to find themselves later in occupied Nazi territory.  Her father was a brilliant locksmith and puzzle master for a Parisian museum that houses rare precious gems, and carries a stone, which they are unsure is the original blue diamond or a decoy fake, which one particularly nasty Nazi-gone-rogue is obsessed with trying to locate.


The second protagonist is Werner Pfenning, a young German orphan, raised in an orphanage with his sister, who despite being highly intelligent, will never be properly educated, and has no choice but to become a coal miner and dying young like his father, despite his intelligence - until - the Nazi regime comes along, and he fixes a radio for a prominent Nazi colonel that no one else could fix, and he is sent off to Nazi youth school to become properly educated - and ends up becoming the top radio-transmitting investigator for the Nazis.

He doesn't fully buy into the Nazi mentality, especially at first -  he thinks it's absurd and monstrous, unjustifiably cruel and merciless, even to those within their own German ranks and race, to those deemed "weak"  or who don't fully adhere/aren't best representative of the Aryan race.

However, he plays along, knowing it's his only chance at a way out of his current life, so that he can provide for his little sister and the only mother he has known, Frau Elena, the French nun who runs the orphanage.


*That's not an excuse for Werner becoming a Nazi, but it was survival reality for at least some smaller percentage of Nazi soldiers.  

And in fact, the longer he's a Nazi, the more he tries to convince himself of the ideology to justify his actions and ease his conscience.


Now - partial spoiler alert.


Imagine you were an 8-year-old orphan who likely would never receive a formal education, and you found a broken radio that you figured out how to fix and listened to international broadcasts, particularly being inspired by a particular French scientific broadcast that taught you everything you needed to know about electricity, about how electromagnetic waves, sound waves and radio waves travel, and your imagination of how the flow of energy from one place to another works is the reason you can not only fix radios so well, but can calculate and triangulate where enemy radio transmissions are coming from so well.


What would you do if you, as a pretending-Nazi-for-survival  - not that you would be, but let's say you were -  discover that your latest radio transmission investigation of a French resistance transmission of German artillery coordinates is actually coming from the same French transmitter you heard as an uneducated orphan child, who taught you everything you needed to know about radio waves and science?


Would you sell them out and turn them over to be murdered?

Would you lie, commit treason, and protect them, knowing certain torture and death await you, if found out?


I guess it would depend on how bought into the Nazi ideology you are, or you had become.

To find out, read the book :)


Also, for all of you currently living as though you are in some sort of wartime or post-apocalyptic society as a result of your own overactive imaginations, as if it's about just your own survival and that of your family in an "us versus them" mentality, against some threat which may or may not really exist except along the spectrum of light and darkness that exists solely in your own mind ...

... might I suggest reading this book (or wait for the Netflix version) = so you can find out what true survival-living is really like versus choosing to live like that now, though it's not warranted  ;)






Yes, I'm Aware of the Kyle Rittenhouse Verdict ...

 

It's not that I'm ignoring it, it's just that ...


1)  I wrote on the situation extensively when it happened.

 

2)  I've been busier than usual with the upcoming holiday. 

 

3)  I expected this outcome -  especially when the first charge of illegal possession of a firearm by a minor was dismissed when the trial began.  If even that charge wasn't going to stick, then there was no hope for even an  manslaughter charge, or even reckless endangerment.

 

4)  I realized long ago that there is no such thing as true blind justice in America - American justice is too political, too racist, and above all, too greedy -  we've got the best justice (white male) money can buy.  

 

Additionally, the Trump era exposed just how often white males - often as politicians or heads of corporations - tie up the court system (and thus our tax money) with frivolous lawsuits -  not over actual truth and justice, but just to intimidate others.

In fact, our overly litigious society in general is no longer about truth and justice - it's become just another form of bullying and intimidation. 

 

 

5)  His supporters want our reaction, they want us to get upset, they live for it - they want another civil war - so let's not make honest people of them, stoop to their level, and give them one? :) 


 




In fact, I'd even venture to guess some even want us to protest now, so they can justifiably shoot, then claim they were only acting in self-defense, just like Kyle Rittenhouse.



Despite the fact that they know if this were a black 17-year-old stalking behind a group of white protestors marching in the other direction, the verdict would've been different and they'd feel very differently about it.


- AND -


In America, given the amount of mass shootings, protestors will not know in advance if a kid stalking behind them with an AR-15 is a mass shooter (which is actually why people jumped Kyle.)

 

  

They want to upset us, they enjoy it -  because that's what bullies and psychopaths do.

They objectify us libs, much like the Nazis did Jews -  to them, we're just "evil, subhuman scum" who "don't deserve to live in their world."

And when they do get a reaction, they will do what such mentalities have always done - reverse the order of events and make themselves the "innocent victims," just "defending themselves" from "thugs and rioters." 

But make no mistake - even those with the least centered moral compass know this was wrong and this isn't something to celebrate - in fact, it's sad, all the way around.

They know this verdict is wrong and racist -  they just don't care.



All they care about is winning, gaining power, and using unfair and subjective metrics in attempt to prove their superiority -  as if this is a basketball game, instead of people's lives and livelihoods - as if it won't impact and complicate our interpretation of law and justice in this country, going forward.


If this is truly the sort of thing they want to celebrate and be thankful for, this Thanksgiving, let them - it only reveals how skewed their morality actually is, as well as secures their status as being the worst representatives of Christianity in modern history.

In fact, actually celebrating this verdict reminds me of thanking God that Native Americans helped us not to starve, that first Thanksgiving, only to turn around and force them onto reservations and into Christianity or kill them - just so we could take their land in "manifest destiny" - then thanking God for our survival at their expense, each Thanksgiving on.

Imagining, out of our own arrogance and vanity, that God blessed us more, that we were more deserving of his grace, and that God had anything to do with it whatsoever - instead of the truth, which is we  misused our free will to forcefully take their land and murder them over it, and it is they who were the victims, defending themselves - rather than us.


I can only hope - and pray - that if Kyle Rittenhouse himself is thankful, this Thanksgiving, it's not because he got away it - but because he has an opportunity to change his life for the better and see things and people differently - but it's not looking too good

 I'm praying that Kyle realizes this second chance in life and the opportunity he's been given to change it - as well as that he never becomes a cop.


However, mostly, I'm praying for the families of his victims, that they may find some comfort despite not having these loved ones at their Thanksgiving table, this year :(


I'm also being thankful for what I have in my own life, knowing that God typically doesn't bless us in the form of "prosperity" - and praying that I will remember to use the rest of my life, to the best of my ability, to give opportunities to those who have none, and continuing to support social justice where I can.

We'll simply bide our time,  in the hopes that we will eventually look back on cases like this one with shame, thankful that we know better now, and that most of these morally skewed and racist dinosaurs will have become extinct -  hoping that the extinction of our species as a whole does not come first, because we can't seem to find a way to live together. 


Amen :)




Friday, November 19, 2021

So The FDA Just Approved the 3rd/Booster Shot for ALL Adults ...


The FDA just approved the booster for ALL adults, based on the previously-mentioned Moderna study, which unlike the small Pfizer study, definitively proved that efficacy does wane for all three of the "big 3" vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J), and the booster does provide an immunity boost. 

Whew, glad they did it early this morning, because as I mentioned two posts below, I was wondering how billing was going to work, since Governor Beshear authorized and encouraged getting them to avoid a repeat of last year's Thanksgiving surge -  but they weren't officially "on label" yet -  thus the initial claims before official approval might be rejected?   

Because the way the billing works for these vaccines, at this point, is your private insurance is reimbursed for them by the state government, which is funded by the federal government.


I spoke with the pharmacy-claims department with my insurance company, last night, and they didn't even have a billing code for them yet unless you were one of the prior select groups.

Also, Walgreens didn't have an option to schedule for them yet, since it's a national corporation, thus they were also waiting on the FDA decision.


Well, you can bet they will now, and pronto lol.




Just Adding Simu Liu to My List of Fantasy Celebrity Co-Husbands Now :)

 

Ya know, to replace Aaron Rodgers, who had to go. 

So I already added Patrick Mahomes to replace him in sports last week, but I've now gotta add Simu Liu now, for both sports and acting, because I have a mad crush, after watching Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings.

I already dug him in Kim's Convenience, but watching his mad agile martial arts skills and agility in Shang-Chi, it's now full on crush!

(Shh, I know, he's young enough to be my son, but this is a fantasy celebrity marriage anyway! lol.)

Btw, he's hosting Saturday Night Live, this Saturday, November 20th :)




Welcome to superstardom, Simu, you're not in Canada anymore - you're in the big leagues now!

And look at him on Jimmy Fallon playing the Beat Saber virtual-reality game with flare.  

The game goes on forever and Jimmy goes first, and Simu is second at about 3:10 -  but look how he does it with style :)

At first, he dances a little, then when he gets used to it, he's got some serious sword moves (and drummer moves) lol.




Of course he won, he crushed it :)

Note to Marvel/Disney for the sequel - give this man a jian sword! :)





Thursday, November 18, 2021

Governor Beshear Authorized the 3rd/Booster Shot for ALL Adults in Kentucky, Effective Immediately, BUT ...

 

... here's the thing - the FDA has not yet officially approved the booster for all adults yet, just select groups -  so "all adults" aren't officially on the labeled indication or "on label"  - just 65 and older, 50+ with health conditions, and residing in a long-term facility.


 


So because of what I do for a living, here's my concern - insurance companies do not authorize payment of pharmaceuticals that are not "on label" - meaning according to FDA-approved labeled indications and/or CDC guidance.

Although private insurance is not ultimately paying for the vaccines, at present, they are initially billed through your insurance and then file the claims with the government for reimbursement.

So if we get the booster before FDA approval, what happens with billing?

Are our insurance companies going to reject those claims because they're "off'-label" and there's no billing code?

And if they reject coverage, then who pays for it, because the government will never receive the claim from your insurance company to reimburse them?


Definitely don't want to get stuck with a bill for the booster, they're not cheap.


Also, Walgreen's has just told me that their corporate office hasn't released them to give the Pfizer booster yet.

My doctor's office has Moderna - and the FDA did authorize "mix-and-matching" of the vaccines -  but still only for select populations.

Regardless, though we wanted Moderna to begin with, we're going to stick with Pfizer just because we already know what to expect. 


Either way, how will these claims be billed/handled if the shot is given before official FDA label approval?


However, I do know even the uninsured are covered for vaccines, but I don't know how that billing works.

So the CSR with my insurance company does not know - I'm on hold right now, as he's speaking with his supervisor to get clarification on that. 

Okay, he just came back and his supervisor doesn't know - they're transferring me to the pharmacy-claims team.

I'll update if/when I know more. 


________________________________


UPDATE:      The pharmacy-claims team does not know either.  

 

I then called the local news station (WLEX-18) which announced Governor Beshear's authorization, to see if they had any more info on how the billing will be handled. 

They said they didn't know either, it's a good question.


HOWEVER -  they said FDA is scheduled to make that decision to add all adults to the labeled indication for the booster tomorrow, Friday, November 19th - and the feeling is it's likely to get approved for all adults, thus why Governor Beshear went ahead and announced his authorization.

(Of course, that's if there's  no delay in that FDA decision via debate, like last time.)


Thus, here's what I'm going to do/my advice wait until the FDA official approves all adults on its labeled indication - which hopefully is tomorrow -  THEN get the booster -  that should avoid any billing hassles.


I know we wanted the booster before Thanksgiving to avoid the Thanksgiving surge, like we had last year, but I'd still wait just to avoid any possibly billing issues.


Otherwise, posting will be light as I'm preparing for the Thanksgiving holiday :)





Sunday, November 14, 2021

"Ted Cruz Street" on SNL



For those who don't know,  Ted Cruz spoke out on Twitter against  Big Bird - a fictional character on Sesame Street - for "being part of the government's woke propaganda," after Big Bird announced he was vaccinated and encouraged children to get vaccinated.

All this despite the fact that Ted Cruz is vaccinated himself - AND - all state laws already mandate that children must be vaccinated before school entrance for measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, typhus, and pertussis (though some states have religious exemption).

Also, wokeness has literally nothing to do with vaccination, it has to do with social justice and socioeconomic inequality, especially in terms of race.

Then SNL had a field day over it - well, just watch  :)

An alternative to the "liberal wokeness" of Sesame Street (for the last 50 years), it's "Ted Cruz Street" - with special guest quacks - erm - I mean stars - Marjorie Taylor Green (Cecily Strong) and Joe Rogan (Pete Davidson), and Oscar the Liberal Grouch Trash Can Monster (Chris Redd).



 

Hahahaha!  


No, wait ... hahaha!


OMG, you would think real life was an SNL parody, right now, but people really believe/say things like this, so the skit pretty much writes itself - SNL just succinctly captures it!




Friday, November 12, 2021

Just Finished Watching Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings ...




 

... which is finally streaming (on Disney Plus, to which I re-subscribed to, after a great deal) .... and WOW!

It ... was ... AWESOME!  

No, seriously -  IMO, it's the best Marvel movie yet!

(And remember, I've been tired of all the superhero stuff for a while now, saying that.) 


The story-telling, the dialogue, the cultural beauty,  the "magical" martial arts, the special effects and CGI - and of course, well-acted, from some of our favorite people being in the film helps - Simu Liu, Awkwafina (LOVE her, she makes everything funny), Ben Kingsley, Tsai Chin, and one of my husband's fantasy co-wives, Michelle Yeoh.  

Hey, as mentioned previously, I have my fantasy celebrity co-husbands and Mark has his fantasy celebrity co-wives - AND - I approve of Michelle, she's a beautiful, graceful ... martial arts bad-ass. (In other words, SO not me lol.)






(She's actually a trained dancer, like Jackie Chan, because on film, dancers  make the best martial artists visually, and the steps of Chinese dance and Wu Shu martial arts are closely related.)


... AND ... there be dragons!!!





And I'm pretty sure that Morris, the faceless, furry, roly-poly mythical creature with wings - was based on a fawn pug? :)










Wednesday, November 10, 2021

Why Is My Addict-O-Meter (Substance Abuse Radar) Going Off With Aaron Rodgers?

 

I promise this will be my last post on this issue, since the NFL decision has now (unfortunately) been made  - unless something new happens.

Sorry, it just shocked me/made me so mad that this white-male power abuse stuff is still going on, and being enabled, in 2021. 


Now, flash back - once upon a time, 5 years ago, Rodgers openly and outspokenly supported  Colin Kaepernick, social injustice, and antiracism- HOWEVER - considering he just inaccurately attacked the "woke mob" in a way that didn't even make sense, conflating the social justice issue with the vaccine issue, I think we can safely say he's done a 180 since.



Now - I don't know why, but my Addict-O-Radar is now going off with Aaron Rodgers, big time?

I developed this instinct meter after having had my share of relationships previously with substance abusers, witnessing their selfish,  erratic,  sometimes reckless, 180-shifting behavior, rapid mood changes, as well as dulled insight, judgment, and even logic, despite actually possessing superior intellect.


HOWEVER, this doesn't mean the person is actively using -  because remember, not only does the "brain saturation" take years to clear, but addiction is also a behavioral mindset - which is sometimes even found in those that have never used or abuse substances, i.e., the children of alcoholics/addicts and dysfunctional families - but it is nevertheless a symptom of untreated or partially treated mental health disease.


Now, has this meter has steered me wrong before?

Yes, but it's rare.  

Let's put it this way  - I've been right more times than I've been wrong.


Regardless, let's just say that even though I have no actual proof, I now strongly suspect an addiction of some sort with Aaron Rodgers.

But then again, he may not be currently or actively be using at all -  but he certainly is displaying some addiction/dysfunctional-family, muddled-mindset symptoms.


Because in addition to his 180s, as well as almost appearing chemically sedated lately, even in his newer State Farm commercials, his logic was that of a 10-year-old, in that Pat McAfee interview.  

I mean, he literally appeared stupid, when he hadn't previously, and we can't blame a positive COVID-19 test for that. 


Also, as I've said before, it appears to me that a large proportion of Trump-ish agenda supporters have addiction issues and thus cannot see things clearly.


Lastly and most importantly, his inability to take responsibility/feel remorse for his choices and behavior, blaming everybody else - that's substance abuse indicator #1 (or again, also found in dysfunctional families).  In fact, untreated addicts can even behave exactly like narcissists, in false-confidence, though they're not.


If that is actually the case, it would make me less mad, yes - at least at him personally, but still mad at the NFL and society for enabling it - but I wouldn't feel sorry for him. 

I do have compassion for addicts, but I don't have proof that's the case yet.

Regardless, addicts would still need consequences and limits, not enabling - lest they never figure out how destructive to others/self-destructive their addiction really is.

Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know -  but my Addict-O-Radar is nevertheless going off, big time lol.






Tuesday, November 9, 2021

As I Predicted, No Suspension, Just a Small Personal Fine; However, Aaron's Team - Whom He Supposedly Misled/Lied to - Was Fined 20x His Amount :/


 (Edited - content added)


As I predicted below, a few days ago, Aaron Rodgers was not suspended - he just received a small fine of $14,000 for misleading /lying to his team, opposing teams, his union, the NFL, and the American public.


Mind you, he just signed a new 4-year contract totaling over $40 million dollars a year - 2021 base salary of $1.1 million, signing bonus  of $14,464,706, roster bonus of $6,800,000,  and he has a cap hit of $27,073,568 spread over the 4 years, which has the potential to increase based on record.

The Green Bay Packers -  Aaron's team, whom he lied to/misled, mind you - was fined $300,000  for Aaron's behavior - which is 20x as much as Aaron himself had to pay as consequence.


That's not a consequence for bad behavior from a spoiled brat  - it's a reward :/


I don't understand why the NFL made his team - whom he supposedly lied to - pay 20x as much as Aaron himself - UNLESS - they proved the team owners did know and lied about it, too? 




Regardless, just 5 years ago, Colin Kaepernick took a stand and protested, too.

Only his protest wasn't selfish and he lied to no one.

His protest was against exactly this kind of double-standard justice and inequity based on race - and he didn't lie to his team, other teams, his union, the NFL, or the American people - all he did was kneel for the flag rather than stand up :/

As a consequence, he was never signed to another NFL team again, his football career was ruined - game over.



At that time, Rodgers openly supported Kaepernick, social injustice, and antiracism - but considering he just inaccurately attacked the "woke mob" in a way that didn't even make sense, conflating the social justice issue with the vaccine issue, I think we can safely say he's done a 180 since (see my new post for my theory on that).


Regardless, whether he realizes this or not, his power abuse just proved Colin Kaepernick's point - which is not only that double-standard justice based on race/politics is still  very much alive and well -  but that our society has now gone past simply making excuses for bad behavior from white men, straight into actually rewarding them for it, since Trump :/


Absolutely disgusted :/

Thus, a prayer of sorts? lol


Dear God,

Once again, just like with Trump, please help me to not literally loathe this man, for becoming the latest poster child for whiny, falsely-entitled, white-male privilege and power abuse, as well as double-standard justice for white males versus others? lol.  

I'm sure I'll get over it, but at the moment, I'm fighting hard against negativity, because I'm pretty upset/angry about this sort of white-male power abuse BS still going on in 2021, recognizing the all-too-familiar feeling of powerlessness with injustice - nothing we nobodys can do about it - and when you protest, it just makes it worse :/


So I just pray for your blessings upon people of color - I don't know how they deal with so much injustice, inequity, and chronic powerlessness, so well, for the most part - I guess because if they don't, then people say it's "in their nature"  rather than the frustration-straw that broke the camel's back :/

I've had my fair share of powerlessness in my life, of course, but it pales in comparison.

As you know, I'm not very vindictive or revenge-minded - I just walk away.   In fact, I've walked away from injustice without a word, more times than I can count, letting go and letting you. 

And yet I wonder how many times anyone can keep doing that - how do they do that? 

And yet most of people of color do, they have to - they continue to rise up, rise above it, and still manage to find their joy :)

Help me to learn from them how to better deal with powerlessness?  

 

And again, I pray for your blessings upon them for doing so - that their reward in heaven will be great - because your son promised that unlike here, in the Kingdom of Heaven, the first shall be last, and the last shall be first :) 

 

As I said, and you know, I'm not vindictive - but as you also know, I AM a fan of justice - in fact,  I get more riled with injustice against others than I do for myself lol. 
So would you tolerate a more petty human-natured request on this one?

 

Only this next request isn't really to you - it's to the defensive linemen for the Seattle Seahawks this Sunday (or whatever  opposing team plays  when Aaron returns) lol.


SACK...THAT...QUARTERBACK!!! :)


Not a career-ending injury, mind you, Gentlemen Avengers - just rendering him a consequence everyone lets him escape, while showing him the mercy. (He will still play the victim regardless, as we know.)

Also, Gentlemen Avengers -  do NOT get a targeting penalty - especially if you're a person of color - because you know you won't just receive a tiny fine in comparison to your salary, like Aaron did - you'll get fired or suspended,  and never signed in the NFL again :/)   

Amen? 

lol



PS - We are now told that the small fine wasn't even because he lied/misled his team, but because he defied COVID restrictions by going to a Halloween Party.


Sigh, Lord-a-mercy, the power abuse. 



Update - 11/11/2021


I'm not alone - this meme is now being shared on Twitter ...











Howard Stern on Aaron Rodgers ...

 

(PS added)





I'm not a huge Howard Stern fan, but what he said about Aaron Rodgers made me laugh: 


"Next time this f--- head gets injured on the field, they should bring in Joe Rogan to fix the bones."



HAHAHA! 



Can you imagine?

"Aaron Rodgers just tore his ACL - stand back, MDs - because Joe Rogan and Donald Trump are now on the field, with Ivermectin - only they can save him!"

???

LOL.

Well, maybe they should - if for nothing else, to rid themselves of the parasitic worms they've apparently allowed to invade their brains? lol ;)


It kills me - these people listen to doctors for everything else - diabetes, heart disease, stroke, even sinus infections - everything but COVID -  which should tell sane and smart people how much political BS this actually is.


Same with climate science - people trust their meteorologists with the daily weather, at least to a certain degree - but God forbid those same educated, seasoned professionals tell you that all of the corporate-sponsored pollution to our environment is speeding up degradation of our planet.


Now, let's pretend it's November 2024, and there's a pending Category 5 hurricane that threatens in-person voting on election day. 


I can hear it now ...

"Shut up, Al Roker and Jim Cantore, you deep-state puppets and liars!" 
"You and your fancy-schmantsy FAKE Doppler radar images! You just colored maps with magic markers, because there's no hurricane!" 
"Our messiah, Donald Trump, said it's going to be a mild shower on election day, and all of this hurricane noise is a Democrat hoax - get out there and vote in person anyway!"


Then, the day after the hurricane - when they're buried under the rubble that was once their home, now reduced to a pile of matchsticks -  instead of realizing Trump doesn't know everything and might've been lying to get himself elected  -  they instead look up and the sky and say:

"Well, Trump must've just gotten bad intel from the people around him, poor man, it's not his fault."

;)

LOL!

Hey, considering our current political environment, it's not that far-fetched - anything goes and anything's possible. 


________________________________________


PS - Now, look at Shailene Woodley, defending her fiance by attacking the press, though he dug his own grave with his own words -  on video.

Shailene, honey, I'd think more carefully about what you're saying  publicly, right now, if I were you.

Two words for you, Shailene - Olivia Munn. 






When this calms down, Aaron will still be fine, receiving little or no consequences.

You, on the other hand, would be effed - you could kiss your Hollywood career goodbye.

Don't imagine for one second that what happened to Olivia can't happen to you, too, in the blink of an eye. 


Well, on second thought, no one is sure he didn't cheat on Danica Patrick with you anyway, when you two were supposed to be friends and she introduced you to him, so who knows what kind of character you've got, I can't really say one way or the other.


You know, Aaron ougghta be glad he never dated Taylor Swift lol.






Because she'd write a song about him, it'd become a number one hit, and that'd be all she wrote lol.

Taylor is about the only female American celebrity with enough public power behind her to be able to at least make a dent in the falsely-entitled, white-male power trip.



In fact, I daresay she'd be the only female American celebrity  who could enter the political arena and probably win the presidency, were she so inclined. 


But then she would never date Aaron Rogers anyway -  because whatever flaws Taylor or her former boyfriends may have, one thing we can say about  her is - Taylor Swift doesn't date stupid people lol.












Monday, November 8, 2021

"Yellowstone" Has Now Officially "Jumped the Shark" ...

 

So we watched the premiere of Season 4 of Yellowstone, last night ... 




... and I was very non-plused - in fact, even disappointed.  

My husband, Mark, enjoyed it more than I did, but agreed that it had too many "WTF?" moments and appeared disjointed. 


Just a forewarning - spoiler alerts for this post.


Okay, so when a show has become a caricature of itself and resorts to implausible stunts to draw in viewers, but it's so absurd that it actually results in the opposite effect, we say it has "jumped the shark."


This show-business phrase originated from that time that Fonzie literally jumped a shark in a pool on water skis of the latter episodes of Happy Days lol 





So essentially, "jumping the shark" means you can only suspend the disbelief of your audience so far, before you start to lose them.


In other words, the two-hour premiere was not only disjointed,  but highly implausible, too anticlimactic, led us on wild goose chases, repeated story lines, and focused more on gunfights and explosions than it did substance - how these events and struggles emotionally affected the characters other than more calls for gun battles and revenge, which is the last thing that anyone in the situation needs.


For example, for starters, exactly how many times is Jimmy going to fall off his horse and become nearly paralyzed, but instead makes a miraculous recovery?


And after little man Tate shoots an intruder attacking his mother, Monica, both then just disappear from the show completely, for the next two hours?

Now, as we know,  Kayce, Monica, and Tate are the only moral centers of the show - when they're missing, we notice.





We see Kayce later, but Monica and Tate - where are they are, after Tate shot the intruder, what happened to them, and why, again, is Kayce now wondering the fields in a Gilly suit?  (More on that below.)


And there was no way Beth could've survived that explosion at all, much less with one small strategically-placed, cheekbone-enhancing scratch on her face?

Yes, her back was severely burned, but how is a minor cheekbone-enhancing facial scratch and a severe back burn even possible, since  Beth was standing only a feet a way from the explosive package, directly facing it? 




And she sure did heal awfully quick, didn't she?  

As did John from being shot several times.

As did Kayce, who we already knew was prepared and survived the initial round due to his special forces training, but is later shot and down on the ground, after chasing down the two guys in the van that shot his dad.

When we next see Kayce, it's apparently months later, but he's now inexplicably traipsing through the field in a Gilly suit with a high-powered rifle, like a crazy man, and as if he was never hurt.




We have no idea where he was shot, how many times, nor what the extent of his injuries were, nor do we fully understand why he's dressed like that, months after the attack?


So we're like, "Oh - I guess he's okay - other than he looks like the Grass Man/Sasquatch of Montana, in that ridiculous camouflage, which actually makes him more conspicuous, instead of less, in that environment." 


And again, I didn't fully understand why he was wearing that - because John was coming home from the hospital and he was trying to protect him?

Or because he was being overly cautious/vigilant and exhibiting his PTSD on full display, months after the attack?


By the way, SPOILER ALERT ...


Yes, implausibly, everybody survived the Dutton family hit - even though there's no way a couple of them would have survived in real life.


Except apparently that poor mom with a flat tire that was gunned down simply for witnessing the hit on John - right  in front of her child, mind you - or Beth's assistant that opened the explosion box -  neither of whom were ever mentioned later. 

Guess their  lives weren't important to mention because they're not Duttons or Dutton-branded hands?


Okay, so - what I initially liked about the show, in addition to complex characters, was their ability to find justice outside of the  American plague that is frivolous corporate and political lawsuits, filed by people with more money than God based on BS, simply  to try to intimidate and obtain even more money and power - even though truth be told, if the Duttons themselves weren't rich, white people, too, there's no way they could get away with their particular brand of justice, doing what they do :/


However, another American sickness that plagues us is concern just  for ourselves and our own families, behaving as if we are living in some post-apocalyptic society, though we are not - and that aspect of the show has actually gotten worse this season.

Apparently, it's only important that the Duttons survive and eff everyone else, including innocent single moms and lowly assistants?


And let's face it, the Duttons aren't exactly a Norman Rockwell painting, and have engaged in some pretty nasty, illegal stuff themselves, and have not themselves been above murder, when all else fails, in order to keep that ranch - not to mention branding your ranch hands as if human beings are your property? 


And if John would just sell half of his 500,000 acres to Rainwater, the tribal chief, already, to do with as he pleased and have to deal with corporations himself, this would all be over anyway, but he won't.


And the emotional reactions of the Duttons themselves,  and their branded, after the attacks was just like, "I nearly died, haha,  oh well, next."

???


I felt like I was watching a Michael Bay film rather than Yellowstone ...




... long on big explosions and gunfights, short on substance. 


The only aspects I liked were these two ... 

First, the way that Mo -  Rainwater's bodyguard/casino security, - handles that racist A-hole, who in addition to telling the Native American Blackjack dealer that we "gave" and "allowed" Native Americans casinos - also stupidly bragged, truthfully or not, about his part in the Dutton hit, captured on casino security footage - and then demanded a "thank you" for both.

We love Mo - he's a quiet, spiritual bad ass :)





I also liked the introduction of the new  potentially adopted "Little Rip"  character, although Rip himself is initially unnecessarily cruel/verbally abusive to him at first.  





Beth was harsh to him at first, but changes her tune and finds her heart, after she learns more about his situation, which reminds her of a young Rip -  but Rip himself was just merciless and unnecessarily verbally abusive, at first, until he realizes he's a little him, 20 years ago, deserves a chance, and that he can be taught.


Hoping it gets better, but it's like they tried to pack too much into too little time?

I realize COVID was a hindrance, but other people figured it out, so-?

I'm wondering if show creator/chief screenwriter, Taylor Sheridan, just didn't try very hard, because he's too busy now working on several new shows, particularly his other 2 series about to premiere - the prequel, "Yellowstone: 1883" and "The Mayor of Kingstown?"




However, that premiere certainly did NOT change my previous list of my top 5 best streaming shows of the year and at least thus far, won't be added, that's for sure.  

Sorry, folks, I hate to be so negative about it, but I was sorely disappointed - they can do better!