March Words of Wisdom

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind. --Dr. Seuss

As I watch this generation try to rewrite history, one thing I'm sure of...it will be misspelled and have no punctuation. --Unknown

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. --W.M. Morris

The trouble with practical jokes is that very often they get elected. --Will Rogers

Understand me. I'm not like an ordinary world. I have my madness, I live in another dimension and I do not have time for things that have no soul. 
--Charles Bukowski

Truth is not what you want it to be; it is what it is, and you must bend to its power or live a lie. --Miyamoto Musashi

You're right. I am more than a little weird and a bit awkward. No, I don't fit in and most people don't understand me. But at least I'm being real and I think the world needs more people who are brave enough to be real. --Brooke Hampton

Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster, and what has happened once in 6,000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, because if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world. --Daniel Webster

Don't waste your energy on the ugly. Save it for the beautiful. --Harold Arlen

Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness - all of them due to the offender's ignorance of what is good or evil. --Marcus Aurelius

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. --Albert Einstein

World peace sounds great and all but at this point, I'd settle for less government control. --Brooke Hampton

They can never take away from you...what you know to be true. You are a warrior, you are fighting your own battle that no one really knows about, it is not over, you are more alive today than you ever were. Every loss and win, has made you exactly who you are at this moment. This is your journey and this path is being paved specifically for you. Breathe, today is the first day of the rest of your life. It is going to be ok, even when it feels like it's not. Focus. Move forward. --Gina Carano

One of the painful signs of years of dumbed-down education is how many people are unable to make a coherent argument. They can vent their emotions, question other people's motives, make bold assertions, repeat slogans - anything except reason. --Thomas Sowell

Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game. --Babe Ruth

Stop finding the ways that you can't do something, and find all the ways that you can. --Issa Rae

Classy is when you have a lot to say, but you choose to remain silent in the company of fools. --Unknown

Evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant, then it tries to silence good. 

--Archbishop Charles J. Chaput

All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the fraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force. --George Orwell

Too many people in the media cannot seem to tell the difference between reporting the news and creating propaganda. --Thomas Sowell

Life is complicated. It's filled with nuance. It's unsatisfying. ...If I believe in anything, it is doubt. The root cause of all life's problems is looking for a simple fucking answer. --Anthony Bourdain

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly. --Albert Einstein

To escape from the world means that one's mind is not concerned with the opinions of the world --Dogen Zenji

When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind. --C.S. Lewis

Buuuuuuuurrrrrrnnnnn

Get that boy some aloe vera!

Yes, what would Jesus do? Probably would have owned this pinhead just like Britton Wolf did.

This reminds me of a meme I saw a few years back: "Jesus loves you. The rest of us think you're an asshole." Heh.

Funny and sad at the same time

This is a recording: The Babylon Bee strikes again!

Poor bebes.

In case you were wondering

A few months back Best Brother in the World was out shopping and came across a true crime desk calendar and of course immediately thought of me. Good call, because I was thrilled to get it. 

Yesterday's entry was "Musical Murderers" - match up notorious serial killers with what they like to listen to. 

No, you're not the only one surprised to see REO Speedwagon in there.

Recent reading: "Los Angeles Noir"

Los Angeles Noir (Edited by Denise Hamilton)

Part of the Akashic Noir series, this collection includes contributions by the likes of Michael Connelly and Naomi Hirahara. One of the stories, Susan Straight's "The Golden Gopher" earned an Edgar Award. Two additional stories, Connelly's "Mulholland Drive" and Robert Ferrigno's "The Hour When the Ship Comes In" were included in Best American Mystery Stories 2008. 

For me the standouts were "Mulholland Drive" with its double-whammy of a twist regarding the protagonist and some serious karmic retribution, Hamilton's "Midnight in Silicon Alley", set near my old place in Arcadia, "Kinship" by Brian Ascalon Roley, and "What You See" by Diana Wagman. 

There is also a Los Angeles Noir 2 featuring classic stories by legendary L.A. writers including Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, James Ellroy, Ross MacDonald, and Walter Mosley, also edited by Hamilton.

The, uh, thing...

My first thought was to include this in the month-end Words of Wisdom post as a joke. Except that when you consider what's at stake, it just isn't funny. 

More than two months after his inauguration (a longer wait than any other president) Joe Biden finally deigned to hold a press conference. I can see why his handlers didn't want him out there. Here's a quote from his first press conference:

"So the best way to get something done...if you...if you, uh, hold something near and dear to you that you uh...that you like to be able...uh, anyway...I'm...we're going to get a lot done."

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea that there are people who actually believe that the senile guy who couldn't draw 100 people to his "rallies" got more votes than any previous presidential candidate, including Barack Obama. Riiiiiight. And just to make this even better, his successor (because there's no way this poor guy makes it through his term - elder abuse, anyone?) is a candidate who had to drop out of the Presidential race while polling at only three percent support from her own party. 

Biden also stated that he is unifying the country (when many people would agree we've never been more at odds) and that he entered the Senate 120 years ago. Let's be honest, Trump would have been eviscerated if he'd made these kind of bumbling comments, and rightly so. So it's equally non-amusing seeing how certain media outlets are twisting themselves like manic pretzels trying to portray this press conference in a not just positive, but triumphant light. It's not like anyone takes them seriously for news anymore, but still, come on guys. Who are we supposed to believe - the media, or our lying eyes and ears. I even saw a headline yesterday that described Biden as sailing through the press conference. If this was sailing then the Titanic's maiden voyage was a resounding success. 

This is just so sad. This country deserves so much better. Like this guy.

Nobody expects The Spanish Inquisition...

If you're not a Python fan, you're totally not going to get this. But those of us who do get it, really get it.

H/T to All Things Monty Python on FB.

A bit 'o the Irish

I know very little about my ethnic background other than I'm quarter Italian (great-grandparents via Mom and grandma were Italian immigrants - hello fellow Massinos!). That family settled in the Boston area and most of them stayed there. My grandmother came out to Southern California at some point and here we are. 

With that in mind I just love that the Irish seem to love having everyone participate in St. Patrick's Day, cultural appropriation be damned. With that in mind, I got a kick out of my "Leprechaun name":

Sprinkles O'Bourbon it is!

Tip 'o the Tam to Smart Girl Politics on FB.

Loss Prevention

As I mentioned in this post, I haven't been doing much writing so far this year, and since the move last Monday I've been unpacking and setting up the beautiful new apartment. This afternoon I had the first "I could use this in a story" experience that I've had in a long, long time. 

At my new local Pavilions they have two entrances (one on either end of the store) and because of the lockdown have designated one door for entering only and the other for exiting only. As I was entering, a woman was coming out of the same doorway with a full cart. She had a bunch of stuff, including a couple cases of dog food and most notably four very large bottles of tequila. The cart got stuck on the door track and I assumed she was just having trouble pushing the cart over it, so I stepped back to give her room. Just then a guy came up behind her and I assumed he was going to assist her. That's not what happened.

The guy told her "nice try" and she proceeded to stride away into the parking lot. It turns out the guy was an employee and he was holding a device that locked the cart as she was trying to leave with a cartful of groceries she hadn't paid for. They didn't go after her, and the guy and another female employee who was stationed at the door seemed almost amused at the brazen attempt.

Once I realized what had just happened, I was shocked that someone would try to just waltz out of the store with stolen items and not even panic when caught. I asked the female employee, "People actually do that?" Her response: "All day long."

I'm thinking loss prevention might be a bit more exciting job than people realize. Years ago, at a Guitar Center, one of the employees told me a story about a guy who tried to steal an $11,000 guitar by shoving the neck down one of his pant legs, then covering the body with his shirt. And then he tried to nonchalantly walk stiff-legged out of the store. People are crazy. And stupid.

The Babylon Bee strikes again!

Be sure to check out the article. In addition to the book cover, they also provided some of the "revised text". As usual it's pretty damn funny.

Three years

It goes so fast.

  

Almost home

This time next week I'll be spending my first night in my new home!