Winter Warfare

“People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy.”~ Anton Chekhov

Welcome to 2018, everyone!

It is mid-January, which means just a few days until my next birthday. And also time for a new blog post. Since there were none in December.

If you have been keeping up with recent weather events, you’ll know that a majority of the United States of America is pretty darn cold right now. Including right here in Austin!!

As a matter of fact, the entire city has been shut down. Monday was a federal holiday and Tuesday’s weather got really cold. A TRUE winter time here in Austin. It was going to be a shorter week, but due to the fact that temperatures were way below zero, and there was the threat of freezing rain/sleet/ice/snow, Austin just basically said “Screw it! We’re closed.”

Now it is Wednesday. Here at the SGC, we’ve not had much in the way of events since Thursday because staff chickened out and left early last Friday. But today, Wednesday the 17th, staff returned. The doors were open.

And glory glory hallelujah…. for most of us, that meant free hot coffee and something to kill the monotony!! I took advantage of it because I have been suffering cabin fever really bad.

But the temperatures are below 20°F/-6°C this morning with the promise of getting up above freezing sometime this afternoon.

Here I was this morning though, triple layers up top and single layer below. And suddenly I realized I am not the brightest bulb. But I got to the coffee before what I thought would be a mad scramble.

The usual “suspects” were already in the building. A meeting of the slow minds, if you will. Which is nothing against them, it is what it is.

As I sat there enjoying the warm cup of life, another woman walked in screaming at the top of her lungs, inquiring if anyone in the room had the flu.

To me that didn’t make sense. These are mostly elderly people. What in the world would make her think that anyone would be out of their homes if they were stricken with the flu? How many of them would honestly have the strength to get out of their homes if they were sick to begin with??

But there she was, insisting on answers in the most obnoxious way. Hanging around the door way with her mask on her face.

When nobody proclaimed to be ill, she removed the mask and made her way to the nearest available chair to sit in.

Minutes later she got up and left, only to return to start shouting again. This time she inquired about who was doing their laundry. And one of the slower neighbors said that he had something going on.

She cried out, “It’s done!”

The gentleman thanked her for her notice and went back to his conversation and coffee.

This pissed off the woman.

She cried out again, “Go get it so I can put my things in the machine.”

To which he responded with “I’ll get it here in a minute.”

And that was not good enough for her. He had already acknowledged what she had said to him. But like I said, he’s a bit slow. So it wasn’t like he was going to leap up from where he was sitting and skip merrily into the laundry room to change his clothes from the washer to the dryer. He just was in no hurry at all. And she was!

His lacking response caused the fight bell to ring as she literally shouted and screamed at him. “I need that machine NOW!!”

She was met with the same response of acknowledgement and the promise to get the progression moving “…in a minute.”

There was an eerie silence. I looked up and found her face turning a deep red.

She then left once more to go back into the laundry room, and she mumbled under her breath (loud enough for me to hear) that she was just going to do it FOR him. And that meant removing his clothes and discarding them elsewhere to where they were out of her way. And this was also going to be mean that she was not going to be all that concerned with where she put them, as long as they were free and clear of the washing machine that she wanted to use.

But her own physical capabilities are extremely limited due to her morbid obesity. So she realized that she wouldn’t have the stamina to go through with it.

She did the next best thing: Tattled on the guy with the one staff member present.

Staff came into the room to make a general “announcement” that when laundry machines are finished working that residents need to take care of it, so that the machines are open and available for other residents to use. It was also said that the apartment manager would be informed of this altercation when he arrived.

I think that was the appropriate response from staff.

The woman walked out into the hallway with an evil smirk on her face, realizing that she got her way. And the man who was slow in all senses of the word, attempted his best to get up from his chair so that he could go switch his laundry from washer to dryer. It did in fact, take him quite some time to get up to his feet and move towards the door. And she just couldn’t stand it any more.

She verbally attacked as he limped by her. And from what I think, she lost the upper hand when she followed him outside, berating him every slow, limping step of the way.

I was on my way out the door myself after finishing my cup of coffee and what happened next hasn’t happened since the great  Strawberry Milk Fight of 2011.

Oh Yes Indeed!!!

To put it plainly, he had enough of her shit talking and he retaliated with a physical vengeance. And due to her own physical shortcomings, she didn’t have a chance.

The battle was swift. And it left her retreating back inside as he continued his way to the laundry room to switch his laundry. The last words I heard was him in frustration as he walked into the laundry room grumbling, “Damn Fucking Bitch!”

Yeah, don’t let the fact that the elderly are cute fool you at all. Especially not around here.

Try To Mind Your Own Business

“Don’t spend so much time analyzing me and my life. Worry about your own, that is obviously where the real issues lie.”~ Brittany Marcum

So now here’s a listen for all of you boys and girls out there.

On my back home from SXSW Festival today, we were traveling through the area of the University of Texas and I spotted this jogging female seen here in this photograph.

She was pretty much hauling ass! I mean she was really going. And I couldn’t help but note how very little she was wearing. Being that in the area of town that she was in and the time of day and all of these factors where these safety people tell you NOT to do, she’s breaking down each and every rule. The only one she didn’t break was don’t jog after dark.

Without a thing on her body in the clothing department of life, I took this photograph to share with someone that I was conversing with via text messages.

A different bus passenger noticed that I took the photograph and immediately began to harp and shout and call me names… telling me that I was dirty, perverted, and a pig.

Well, I could see how she could come up with that mistake. But that’s exactly what she made- a mistake.

It was because of that fact that I originally ignored her.

I slipped on my earphones and blasted SIX MINUTE CENTURY’s newest album into my ears. But the woman on the bus continued on and kept calling me names. It got to the point where she would get up from her seat just to tap me on the body to get my attention. And it was the tapping that pushed me over the edge.

Her insults and vulgarity continued. And I just attempted to stay in the conversation that I was having via text message because you know, I’m funny…. and this woman would keep telling me to “STOP IT! STOP IT!” because she assumed that I took the photograph of the female jogger and was sending it to my guy buddies to oggle her body.

And that was wrong of her too.

Finally when she went through her streams of yelling “STOP IT!” the bus driver looked up to observe the situation as to why one of his passengers was getting unruly and loud. He then continued to drive.

And at long last I opened my mouth when she kept yelling “STOP IT!” and I went in the for the kill by insulting her and her grandparents.

Everyone and anyone and their dog can go after someone’s momma. But nobody really thinks about doing it with shaming the grandparents.

I nailed her grandpa first and she sat there with her jaw hitting the floor. Then I attacked her grandma and that’s when she stood up to do something about it.

Yeah, you don’t need to tell me that what I had said was wrong. I got that part. It was intended to piss her off and it worked. Game over for  Dambreaker.

She stood up in the aisle and the bus driver noticed it again and about the same time the bus driver applied the brakes to slow down, this woman took a swing at me to punch me. But the bus losing steam and momentum caused her to trip, stumble, fall, and lose her entire balance to where she swung at me but missed. Then her body went with the flow and landed on someone who was sitting there peacefully and taking a cat nap.

The bus driver had seen enough.

He told the woman to get off the bus and of course she had to argue her case that she didn’t do anything. But these bus drivers, especially now that they are dealing with patrons from all over the world here for SXSW Festival… they are taking no crap from any one.

He removed her and I learned how to get rid of annoying people who are bugging you on the bus.

People need to re-learn how to mind their own business.

There’s Gotta Be Something In The Water

“A woman’s mind is cleaner than a man’s: She changes it more often.”~ Oliver Herford

I was having a really nice day. “Was” being the key word there in that sentence.

I think there’s something going on and there are only two logical explanations that I have come up with.

People have either lost it and have gone insane. Or there is something in the water.

I am trying to give the benefit of the doubt and say that there’s something in the water.

Nonetheless, I am still quite frustrated and angry over the events of this afternoon. Just when I am only hours away of going back to the Dirty Dog for music by BEAUTIFUL DISTURBANCE tonight.

My neighbors and I share the same attendant. The attendant actually is helpful in doing things around the house that I am simply either unable to do or have great difficulty doing on my own. It actually is a great help.

But I had to fire my last one because of stupidity and struggled through hell to get the one that I have now who happens to be helping a neighbor in the morning and then she comes to help me in the afternoon.

I think it works out well.

Until today when my attendant came to work for me.

The neighbor that she works for in the morning has had the fortitude to sit there and tell the attendant what to do in MY home. And tell her how to do HER job when it comes to MY home. And today is the biggest straw that was broken because now the neighbor is just so upset that I flipped the bird the other day in humor and she took great offense to that. And suddenly now, I’m the devil and “I’ve changed” and now the attendant either needs to watch out or actually quit working for me, because I am the one that isn’t doing right.

What business is it of hers? What business is it of ANYONE around here what happens in my home??

So now I’m pissed. And there’s gotta be something done. I know that I need to confront this neighbor and unfortunately, its not going to be pretty and definitely will not end well for someone.  

It is ridiculous that this neighbor is just talk-talk-talking about me the way she has been. Its not right.

And they wonder why I wanna move outta here??

I’ve had enough.

A Thanksgiving Only For One: Flying The Enemy Skies

“The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”~ Douglas Adams

So I received this just in the nickname of time from LISAFAYECHARDONNAY.

This should have you crying and in stitches. But you have to read the entire article.

Enjoy:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/29/annoying-airplane-passenger_n_4360667.html

Brushing Off And Keep Moving

“There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.”~ Malcolm X

Now that this battle is over, I can actually talk about it.

In the past couple of years, I have been fighting for creative control over a writing project that I had been in 2009.

I had started writing a short story about a woman who was adopted as a child and faced a lifetime abuse, and finally as a woman on her own she snapped and pretty much turn the town upside, slaughtering her abusers and killing anyone who dared to harm her again.

But I had trouble writing this story as I really didn’t have a lot of knowledge of the subject matter. Plus with the ethical problems of whether or not I should write this story at all.

So I had put it away to think about.

In late 2008, I was talking to someone in my social circles about this story and about the problems I was having writing it, much less finishing it. And they became interested and pretended to be concerned. So I shared the unfinished draft with them by e-mailing the document to them.

Shortly afterwards, I lost contact with that person. And about a year later, I found them again on a website that was there for young and beginning authors to share their creative stories.

I found my own story already posted by that old colleague. Names were changed and what not, but it was still the same story.

I contacted them to remove it, and I kicked and screamed like a child feeling so much hurt from the betrayal. But then the other person decided to fight it.

They copyrighted the story and even had it published in a small book. The story that I wrote was mixed in with a bunch of other compositions that they had written.

I fought back. Stating that it was MY story that was being used and plagiarized.

But today came the end of this battle. I lost. I only had a document file of a story that was similar to theirs, and I was unable to prove that I had written it first or had been the original author.

It sucks but I am looking on the bright side.

The ethical problems that I had with writing it in the first place, I can let go of. Neither am I responsible in any way to have to pay the other author anything over this matter.

It sucks knowing that the idea that I came up with was stolen in such a manner of deceit. Pretending that they wanted to see it, to see if they could help come up with something that I could get through it and finish the story and then their pledge that they would assist in getting in published somewhere because they liked what they read. Only to have them take original character names and places and replace those with their own and have it published.

I haven’t shared anything that wasn’t completed since then. Nor will I.

I have other projects that I can work on that I believe would actually make a good book, screenplay, or even film.

So I’m brushing off being knocked on my butt and moving on with other things.

A New Low

“Why would anyone steal a shopping cart? It’s like stealing a two-year-old.”~ Erna Bombeck

We have a new Family Dollar store in the neighborhood. Most were happy. Others excited to be able to obtain what they need at seriously low prices.

That is until this morning.

I totally agree with Erna Bombeck, after what I and about a dozen other neighbors witnessed.

This tall gentleman walked through the front door and proceeded out the back door of the main office building where many residents were sitting peacefully in the community room, having coffee and chit-chat.

Within moments, the man roared into the apartment manager’s office. Then he was seen walking side by side with the apartment manager for a brief moment out the back door again before they returned to the front of the building.

Several minutes later, no less than FOUR vehicles from the local police department had descended upon the property.

Nobody had a clue what was going on. Even one resident saw that many police cruisers and that many men in law uniforms that it made him very nervous. Most of the others were just curious as hell.

Personally I had thought that they were getting ready to forcibly evict someone from the premises. I know that has happened here in the past, but I never actually was an eye witness to it.

Soon, the large presence of police was diminishing. But they were still in force as one of the biggest, baddest looking cops was going wherever the apartment manager went.

Here’s what happened: 

This gentleman or whoever he was… came on to OUR property (which is private) and accused the residence of stealing shopping carts from the Family Dollar store that just moved in two months ago. Located across the street at the end of the block in the corner shopping plaza.

The fact of the matter is that SGC has had a huge collection of dozens of shopping carts for the usage of its residents. Many use it to keep their balance, others use it as a helpful device to carry things back and forth on the property.

This collection of shopping carts have been here on the property since anyone can remember. Far longer of a time since before even I moved in in 2005.

And this guy comes from across the street, representing this Family Dollar and accuses the apartment manager of harboring residents who are stealing shopping carts.

Telling this guy that they had been there for years just didn’t fly with this guy. But the apartment manager wasn’t just going to let him walk off with them. So then he threatened to call the police. And that was the explanation of their presence here earlier today.

The apartment manager was asked then to call his boss to see if they could produce some kind of documentation stating that SGC has had these carts for a while, but nothing was kept on file. And so the police told the apartment manager to surrender the shopping carts.

This jerk walked away with three shopping carts that actually had “Family Dollar” printed on them. And that was the only case this guy had.

The joke is on him though. There’s more “Family Dollar” shopping carts on the property that neighbors have kept near their front doors for whatever reasons. But still, this was totally ridiculous!! Getting the police involved in something so stupid, wasting their time and efforts and the money spent of the tax payer.

It is so stupid that its for real. I could not make this stuff up!!

Question is: Do I boycott this particular store or not???

 

American Idol Feud Solution

“Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.”~ Chief Joseph

I don’t know about you, but personally I’ve reached my limits of hearing about this feud between Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey on the set of American Idol.

This thing blew up months ago, and I immediately figured that this “feud” was nothing more than a plot to gain attention for both each of their careers and the show. But it just doesn’t stop in the media.

Now the new season of American Idol has started this week, and I have not watched a single second of it. Not sure if I ever will. My thoughts about American Idol as a whole, is rather unsavory.

And of course, they are bringing up the fighting some more.

So now what?

I’ve spoken to a few people, and they’ve all said that I am off of my rocker for coming up with the solution that I have. And because they all think that I am nuts, I’m just going to throw it out here.

In order to move on from this boring, senseless drama, I think that the two of them should meet up and gather their attorneys and draw up a contract on this.

Nicki and Mariah should meet somewhere with cameras rolling, and be dressed in bikinis or whatever slinky sexy outfits that they should choose to wear, and just make out for several minutes. Yep, KISS AND MAKE UP!!

Now with those cameras going, put it on Pay-Per-View. Charge anywhere from $100 and up and just let them go at it.

Then when its all said and done, put it out on DVD and Blu-ray and charge outrageously for it.

Now I know that this idea is totally absurd. However, so is talking about this story still.

Will it happen? No. But at least the media can go off and annoy us about something else, rather than this ridiculous nonsense.

Locked Doors, Part I

Thursday, the 12th of July will probably go down in the history books. I don’t know if whether I am excited to watch the fireworks or if I will regret getting in the middle of everything. 

It will be time for our usual monthly resident meeting where I live, and the tension is already building. And so far for some it is not a pretty sight.

The long struggle between residents and what they perceive is their enemy, staff members of this apartment complex.

If you have kept up with me for any length of time, you know already that there’s been this battle about keeping the doors open to the community room on the weekends. This hasn’t been allowed to happen in AT LEAST five years. The community room was remodeled and since that point, its been closed on weekends.

My own feelings about the situation is that if it is closed, then it is closed. I’ve learned to deal with it throughout the years. Granted that sometimes my weekends can get extremely boring, but I have just dealt with it and found something else to do to fill my time.

But others are crying foul. They want the community room open for their own reasons. They keep hounding the fact that we are responsible enough to take  care of things on our own. For the very, very few times that it has been open on Saturdays (i.e. private parties) the ones that want it open for all time take advantage of it. But then the Board of Directors who take care of things have insisted that at least one member of staff be present if the community room is open.

Residents get totally psycho about it too. They cry out that we are all adults and that we don’t need a babysitter. But I’ve come to learn that the reasons for having one staff member present is for insurance reasons.

So about a month ago, we had learned that a member from the Board of Directors was going to come to our resident meeting and personally explain their decision to keep the community room closed. However, that doesn’t really work well. That would mean that someone from the Board would have to leave their job in the middle of the day and come talk to us. Some of them cannot afford that type of luxury.

To the Board of Directors, this entire idea has made them sick and tired. They said “NO” and they are frustrated to the max with the residents as to why they seem that they cannot understand that answer. For years and years they’ve repeated themselves to exhaustion.

And since none of the Board members are able to come in personally to the resident meeting, and they are no longer willing to discuss this issue with the residents, it has been put upon the shoulders of the apartment manager to squash the matter once and for all.

I remember making the suggestion that since nobody can come to the meeting, that they put something in writing such as an e-mail or an official letter stating that it came from the Board of Directors. But again, they are tired of dealing with it. Their answer is their answer and they will not bend.

I also learned this morning that the apartment manager got totally reemed by his boss about the matter. And he doesn’t like having that happen. So, I think (for him) that this is now a personal matter and he’s not going to mess with it any more. He is going to make his statements for himself and for the Board of Directors. And once he has finished that, he will no longer talk about it with anyone.

I expect there to be some kind of a reaction. I honestly do! It won’t change things, but it’s about to get VERY interesting around here. My feeling is that some are still not going to accept the Board’s answer and will keep fighting this until their last breath. It sounds as if staff members are going to stand firm, and once this “announcement” is made, they are going to walk away because the matter will then be closed. Will the residents finally “get it”? Or will staff members crumble?

So when I return from the meeting, I’ll be sure to post a follow-up blog.

Hang on to your hats people!! The storm is here!!!

 

 

Stick in the Mud

Stick in the mud!

“I’m a perfect example of the grumpy, old man. I’m really good at it.”~Ned Beatty

Can it for a second there, Ned!!

There is a really big problem in the world that there are those kinds of people that just cannot seem to have any joy and peace in their lives. And not only that, but they just cannot allow anyone ELSE to be happy either.

I live around many of those such people.

Today I was finally, finally, FINALLY able to make some progress in planning that trip to Houston at the end of this month. I think that I will make it, although it might not be as fun as the trip that I took in April. At least on the personal side of the trip, by that time I am going to be broke as a joke like a poke with no smoke.

Still though, I can do my best and make what I can of it. The whole idea that I now can see the light at the end of the tunnel after fighting and battling for two long months over this, just overwhelms me with happiness.

When that realization struck me, I exploded with joy! And I ran out into the 102°F heat and decided to tell anyone that would listen. But of course, there’s always gotta be some stupid jerk-off that lives a miserable life and has for many years, and just won’t let anyone else around them do as much as crack a smile around them. Why they are so bitter, I do not know!

I wasn’t even talking to these people directly in the first place. I was talking with someone and telling them of my excitement, and then these “gems of glory” chime in with their down-putting and negativity.

Geez!! I probably could ask the rhetorical question of whatever did I do to them, but I know for a fact that I have done nothing to them. Lousy, stinking, no fun-having neighbors I live with, I swear.

But you know what??? NO!! They are not going to do this. Not to me, not this time. I don’t care what they’ve said about Houston and their poor experiences back when they were a toddler, I am going to go. I have to go, I need to go. The business side of this trip is very much depending on me to show up.

And I WILL have my fun. As much as I can. And nothing that these people can or will say is going to stop me from doing it.

There’s a lot of people in our lives who are just terrible at being a big stick in the mud. They don’t ever wanna bend from their ways and they don’t even want you to be who you are, because you are the one that is bending- living your life the way you want to, and not the way that they want you to.

People need to stop bowing to the wills of those people who are simply out to stop others from being happy. We need to quit allowing others to run over our lives. And yet we need to learn how to live for ourselves, and not always for others. Compromise is one thing, slavery is another.

If we make the wrong choices in life, we’ll pay for it. Not them. They are not going to be the ones taking the hit. We are. And if we make the right choices in life, then we’re going to be so much happier that we did it in the first place.

Our lives… our decisions… our consequences.

But there’s one thing that is for sure. I know for a fact that I have scores of people who will be happy for me that I am going back to Houston. Some to the point of extreme happiness that they are losing their minds just thinking about it. Yep, I’m serious. Total loss of self-control over an extreme sense of jubilation.

For the rest of them, they will simply be happy because “I” am happy. Those scores of people are the TRUE friends. And you can bet your last dollar that they are the ones that are going to be there if I get pushed over and fall. They are the ones that are going to catch me and help me stand up again and always watch over me so I will not slip again.

These people who are relentless to be the stereotypical stick in the mud, have nobody. And they always fall. So in the end, whom do you think is going to be happier??

Look out, Houston. Here I come!!!

Independence Day

“The day will be most memorable in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival…It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade…bonfires and illuminations (fireworks) from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore.” ~John Adams, July 3, 1776

The words of one of our founding fathers to this great nation. And future President of the United States of America.

Everyone across the United States will have their entire weekend filled with fun activities. Many of them will include fireworks. Many of us will go watch a local display of fireworks. And others will relax in the summer heat while enjoying the company of family, relatives, and friends.

So why do we have fireworks and why do we use them? Well for one, that is how our founding fathers celebrated. Fireworks were brought over to this country from Europe and they were used mainly to celebrate as well as intimidate the native Indians who were there at the time. A show of force, if you will.

Fireworks dazzle all of us. Every woman, child, and man. The young and the old. It does not matter who you are, as soon as you hear that first great big BOOM!! of the evening, your heart nearly skips a beat and you’re filled with wonder and gaze into the night sky beyond the stars to see what amazing colors will fill the air for that one glorious moment.

But I think that a few of us tend to forget that fireworks also are a representation of the Revoluntary War. The bombs and canons going off as we struggled to become a free country and gain our independence. We should not take our freedoms for granted. It came with a price. And even on that first Fourth of July, our nation’s future was unknown. We did not know if we would end up winning the battle. But it was something in which we believed in, and so we stood up and fought for it. That was our price.

And our men and women in the military service still fight for those same freedoms that we have today over two centuries later. They fight because we wish to preserve those freedoms for everyone, and we will never allow anyone to take them away from us.

As we celebrate the 235th birthday of our country, remember those who have fought and died for our country. Remember those who still fight.

Relax and enjoy our freedoms to be able to gather with loved ones and celebrate. Try to thank those people whom you know have served in our nation’s military. Everybody stay safe and have fun.

Happy Independence Day!!!!