Life of Wry

Every Sunday morning for years, and I do mean years, Jim’s ordered the French toast at Bernardo’s. And because I’m not as habitual, I order different things every time — sometimes eggs, sometimes oatmeal, sometimes pancakes… everything but French toast, because that’s Jim’s order.

A couple months ago, I thought, why the heck not try the French toast?! So I did. And now I see what all the hoopla’s about. Bernardo’s has got the best French toast ever.

I’ve been ordering it ever since.

They say Biden’s got an age problem. I am among those who wish the dems had a more vibrant leader, but I sure don’t question his capacity to do the job.

This guy, on the other hand, gives me great anxiety…. in his own confused and unintelligible words, I present the likely republican nominee for leader of the free world (from a “speech” at a rally last night in New Hampshire):

“By the way, they never report the crowd on January 6th,” Trump told the audience. “You know, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, you know they, do you know they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything, deleted and destroyed all of it. All of it because of lots of things, like Nikki Haley is in charge of security. We offered her 10,000 people. Soldiers, National Guards, whatever they want. They turned it down.”

(Nikki Haley was nowhere near Washington that day. He is confusing her with Nancy Pelosi, about whom he’s lying anyway; she was not in charge of security.)

“We’re…going to place strong protections to stop banks and regulators from trying to debank you from your—you know, your political beliefs, what they do. They want to debank you, and we’re going to debank—think of this. They want to take away your rights. They want to take away your country. The things they’re doing. All electric cars.”

Get that man a cognitive test, stat.

No picture today, because that would just make y’all sick.

Reaching back into the archives, yet again, as I don’t have anything to blog about.

So… on January 19, 2009, we were deep into Obamamania, following the November 2008 election of our nation’s first black president. One of the symbols of his campaign was this.. remember?

Apparently, we were all making customized Obamicons. There was a website where you could upload a photo and they’d Obamacize it for you… I made these:

And, since I’d just retired.. I also made this one:

And oh man… I wish we could be in that heady state of political-societal-patriotic bliss again! A time when we were so inspired and proud of our country. Remembering Obama’s messages of hope and unity. It was a time when we felt moved by the depth of our president’s intelligence and humanity, and comfort in his honor and dignity. We felt like we were in good hands.

Having not too much to blog about today, I went hunting in my photo archives for a suitable on-this-day photo and found this one from six years ago.. January 18, 2018.

Deep, deep sigh. We’ve been in this hell for a long time.

But/and on the subject of staying engaged in the political process because our democracy is in a world of hurt, today I…..

1) attended a Zoom meeting with Lachrecse Aird, a candidate in Virginia who we helped elect who addressed her constituents (and me) this afternoon just days ahead of the opening session of the VA State Senate. I was interested in seeing her in action after raising money for her, writing postcards for her, making phone calls for her, and meeting her for breakfast when I was in VA last Fall. She is a rock star! After seeing her conduct this meeting and discuss the bills she’s already drafted and the committee’s she’s been assigned to and the progressive priorities she’s got for the upcoming legislative session (sensible gun laws, reproductive rights, climate action, health care, etc), I am so pleased to have spent my valuable time getting her elected. Never mind she was part of the Blue Wave that regained both houses of the VA state house this past November! Go progressives!

2) gathered information for a friendraising/fundraising letter that I am drafting that will be sent to about 200-300 people locally that will raise money to support two exceptional organizations that are on the ground in Michigan dedicated to educating and registering voters who will support progressive causes and candidates. These letters typically raises thousands of dollars that we give directly to these orgs so they can be max effective in their fantastic efforts!

3) joined the IndivisibleYolo phone banking group which will meet every Thursday evening from today until election day and which will be focusing on six California central valley congressional races. These races were chosen because there is a very real chance — even a likely one — that a strong ground game will successfully flip these seats from red to blue. Our calls — known as voter touches — are part of that needed ground game. That will go a long way toward flipping the US House of Representatives, which today is controlled by the most non-functional grandstanding republicans in history. These republicans care not a wit about governing; time to put the dems back in charge! These six seats in California WILL make a difference in the critical effort.

So… I feel good about that.

I’ve sure been spending a lot of time indoors these past three weeks. In part bc I’m too self-conscious to go out with my face all aflame, in part bc I’m supposed to avoid any sun exposure and it’s too hard to put sunscreen on chapped, tender skin, and a few other reasons having to do with the timing of the applications.. but mostly the self-conscious one.

No matter. It’s over.. now just healing. But I’m still super spotty and scary looking… so still hiding out inside. I look longingly at the sunshine streaming through the windows.. wanting to be out and about. The view from my chair this late afternoon…. sun streams…

Who said it’s a cult?

Listened to a story today about a place in Boones Mill, Virginia where a pathetic strange, Kool-aid drinking man has turned an old church into a trump store. People pour in to buy all kinds of trump paraphernalia, from the political to the profane (you can buy trump decorative balls, for example — little sliver replicas of dangling scrotum sacks). People go there to acquire those gigantic flags that wave over farmlands, or roof banners that are visible to low-flying airplanes. They sell life-size cardboard cut outs of trump and melania, too, because how nice that would be to have in your home. And of course mugs and hats and shirts. Etcetera, ad nauseam. Truly, anything you can imagine has been branded with the guy’s name and stuff just flies off the shelf. Because, if you’re a cult member fan, you want the world to know.

Sad, right?

Things to report on four fronts.

Front #1: Peter and Maya are coming with us to the Dolomites later in the year! Jim and I booked the trip a few months ago and invited P&M to come along. There’s no question they wanted to join us but it’s complicated. Maya’s a working woman now and her available vacation time is limited. Peter never met a vacation he didn’t want to take and seems to be able to work vacations into his workload just fine, but going without Maya was not going to be as appealing. Somehow they worked it out. (Side note: Peter requested a deadline from us for their decision, which turned out to be a great strategy.. for all of us. That deadline was today. I was over the moon when they called this afternoon with this incredible decision. I can hardly wait.)

Front #2: I just applied the 42nd and final layer of Efudex on my aching, chapped, stiff skin. Twenty one days, two applications a day… and now I’m done and can begin the healing process. From the looks of it, the chemicals found a lot to react to (the redness suggests all kinds of cancer cells were simmering below the surface). So I guess I can assume mission accomplished and all the discomfort is not for naught. I can feel good about that as unpleasant as this last three weeks has been.

Front #3: Related to last night’s post about Guatemala’s presidential transition… it happened. It may not have been without drama, but as Lance told me, elections in Central America are always a bit dicey. Also this morning, Lance’s good friend and our tour guide Rufino was sworn in as mayor of his small (I presume) town (which one, I’m not sure). He’s also now an anti-corruption official (he ran for mayor on an anti-corruption platform which was well received, evidently). This would seem to signal good things for Guatemala. I’m happy about that.

Front #4: Oh my.. the Iowa caucuses were tonight. Not a surprising outcome, though mightily disappointing: trump won 98 of 99 counties and ended up with 51+ percent of the vote. Ugh. Haley and DeSantis more or less tied, some 30+ percentage points behind. I mean. I still believe it’s better for Biden to run against a sociopath and hope he’s the nominee, but I just hate what it says about our fellow citizens. I’m just gobsmacked. As shocking as a runaway victory for a twice-impeached guy with four indictments and 91 criminal charges, are the results of the “entrance polls” conducted of caucus goers as they showed up for tonight’s votes. Listen to this: two thirds said they still thought that Biden’s election was illegitimate! That’s just bananas. Worse than that, again, two thirds said they’d still vote to elect trump if he were found guilty of any of his upcoming charges. Like, sure! I’d elect a felon to serve as president! And not just any felon…. a guy who tried to overturn a free and fair election (fact) and encouraged (and watched) an invasion of our state Capitol, and stole top secret government documents containing sensitive states secrets and stored them in a publicly accessible bathroom at his resort and first lied that he didn’t have them then refused to give them back when asked over the course of a year and a half. And has sexually assaulted numerous women (presently on trial for defaming one of them, after have been proven guilty of rape), and engaged in fraudulent business practices.. you know, but that’s just who he is. That’s my kinda pres! As gobsmacking, Republican officials are already falling all over themselves coming out with enthusiastic endorsements because none of them possesses balls or backbones. I just can’t.

So….

The score on the day: 3 really great things and 1 horrible thing. Focussing on the good.

I’m tempted to post a pic of the efudex effect…. oh.. hell, why not. I’ll make it small picture:

You can see why I’ve stayed at home for the last few weeks.

I started reading this book today…

I’m still in the introduction with twenty chapters and an epilogue to go, but so far, it’s a gorgeously, poetically written love story to the land, people and culture of Guatemala.

Reading it because I leave for Guatemala in about 3 1/2 weeks (yeow!). It’ll be a trip that focuses on exactly those things — the land, people and culture of the country. I expect to have my socks knocked off.

Lots more to come on that topic.

~~

Today, though, I read that protests and demonstrations were robust in Guatemala City (capital) against the recently beaten former president (Giammattei) who seems to be pulling a trump – refusing to leave office. The Reuters headline I read said, “Tensions high outside Guatemala Congress as inauguration sessions delayed.” I don’t know a lot yet, but what I understand is that the guy who won the election four or five months ago (Arevalo, who heads the Semilla party – a social democratic, environmentalist and progressive party) represents a new for-the-people vision of the future, and importantly, a less corrupt vision of government. From the article:

Vowing to restore democracy and banish deep-rooted corruption in Guatemala, the most populous country in Central America with 17.1 million people, Arevalo, 65, won the August presidential run-off in a sweeping victory.

Today, I believe, was inauguration day and it looks like the attorney general and the justice system — in cahoots with the outgoing corrupt guy — are throwing all kinds of roadblocks in front of the new guy, weakening his authority. Also from the article:

The “coup” attempt, as Arevalo terms it, has drawn tens of thousands of Guatemalans to the streets and the international community, including the United States, has piled vast pressure on Giammattei’s administration to proceed with the transition of power.

And I thought this was also interesting in light of our immigration stresses:

Arevalo, a career diplomat, sociologist and son of former President Juan Jose Arevalo, will grapple with a country with half its population living in poverty, rising costs of living and violence that is a main driver of Central American migrants to the United States.

Anyway, I’m not sure what all this means. I contacted Lance who said he’s been in touch with his people in Guatemala and, so far, it’s not as bad as the media is suggesting. He said the locals feel all will be cleared up shortly and nobody should worry about travel to and around the country. In his words:

Yes, I have been on the phone on and off all weekend monitoring events closely.

I just talked 5 minutes ago with the owner of the villa we will be staying at. He just drove by the Capitol building and said there were some delays as the outgoing Government tries to make things difficult for the incoming administration. He said things were quiet at the moment. Elections in Central America are always a bit dicey. He expressed great confidence that things will be fine.

I am told that issues should not escalate. Time obviously will tell, but of the three local sources I have who are quite “connected” to the news, they consistently tell me things will be OK.

Stay tuned.

Not unlike how I feel. Not as cute, of course, but my face feels like it’s shrinking down to the center where it’ll get pulled into some black hole and never come back. Yep, feels like that. Dry, hard, immoveable in the middle.

Just two more days….

I have been on Efudex (also known as fluorouracil cream) for eighteen days now. Efudex is a topical chemotherapy cream used in the treatment (elimination) of skin pre-cancers (actinic keratoses). I think I’m in what they call the skin erosion phase, which means my face feels like a stiff mask. It’s red, splotchy, a bit crusty in parts. No pictures to share. You’re welcome.

I just spent a bunch of time in the googles reading other people’s experience of it and am feeling some solidarity and comfort in group misery. I’m in good company with other efudex users world wide, at least. Oddly reassuring. In fact, I just bought some cream that a lot of people in Australia seem to think works miracles in easing the discomfort. Thank you internet.

I even read that efudex is useful in treating small wrinkles, brown spots, and other pigmentation and texture irregularities (like a chemical peel, they say). That is a superb bunch of benefits, if true. If it does even a little bit of any of that, it makes this almost worth it. I’m dubious, but we shall see.

I also read numerous instructions that are different than the protocol I’m following which is concerning (like, don’t wash it off for at least 8 hours, don’t apply to your nose, or that 3 weeks is a minimum but 4 weeks is better). I’ll take this up with my Kaiser guy next week.

Anyway, I’m extremely cranky. Just doused myself in Aquafor and heading for the barn.