It’s Monday catch up time. Get ready for a LONNNNNGGGGG blog post. Grab a cup of coffee or tea and sit down in a super comfortable chair! You won’t regret it! (I regret not sitting in a super comfortable chair while I did this for over three freaking hours, all told, including reviewing it all before hitting “publish”.)
Here we go!
(Referring to my handwritten notes and transferring over whatever is worthy or semi-worthy before I crumple up the original and toss them out.)
On Wednesday June 3 I wrote:
My neighbor and I took the bus to Grecia to get our weekly Subway half sandwiches. That’s always fun. We were back in our respective homes by 11, which was a good thing because it rained for the rest of the day.
My sister Laurel checked in to be sure she has my correct email addresses (she does) because she hasn’t heard from me since Lisa was here in February and she doesn’t want to lose touch.
Heck, Laurel and I were so rarely in touch when we lived within 50 miles of each other that I really didn’t notice. I don’t think we ever got together more than once a year (if then!) or to exchange virtual birthday cards on our natal days, both of which we did after I moved here last September, so everything seemed “status quo” to me! Maybe she has decided to retire finally and has more time to connect now. We’ll see!
Sonia has sent me 11 of her 13 stories
I’ll look them over in the next day or so and see what they need in the way of editing. I hope they need at least some editing because I’d love to bolster my savings while getting back into the swing of things as a Creative for Hire.
Have walked 8423 steps so far today (at 6:11 pm).
I texted some fun stuff to Lisa briefly
That was a hoot. She has been shown by Dr. Bob Wright at Lakewood Vet how to give Harmony (her oldest cat at close to 15) IV fluids. He told her that if she panics, she can always bring Harmony back between 5 and 5:30 p.m. and they’ll do it together.
Lisa thinks Dr. Bob is adorable, so I joked, “Now, don’t you dare panic just so you can go ‘do it’ with Dr. Bob! I will KNOW!” And then I added, “Aw, hell! Go for it!!!” and included a kissy face meme. She got a big kick out of that! (A little levity helps when you’re faced with a stressful situation.)
Charli Has The Zoomies Right Now
She has been asleep most of the day so she’s being a goofball right now. She uses the long rug next to the bed as her “magic carpet ride.” I love it when she flips out, which is usually at least once a day. It means she’s happy, healthy, and still very much a kitten at heart.
Here in Costa Rica she doesn’t need or develop a winter coat. Her fur is all guard hair so she looks like she has longer hair than most shorthaired cats do in the States. She doesn’t shed much, either. She’s an easy care critter.
She sure has become chatty down here, though.
More than ever before. We have conversations and she wakes me a couple times every night for “kitty kisses” (patting and purring). She’s dog-like in many ways. She stays close, monitors my activities, and usually responds when I beckon her for any reason. She’s the purrfect companion.
GRRR!! I’m Ticked Off!
I can’t get over how nasty, cruel and meanspirited the MAGA people are who are “reviewing” (trashing!) without even reading Jill Biden’s new book VIEW FROM THE EAST WING. Their comments turn my stomach. I’ve written a positive review and it’s still heading the reviews right now even though I wrote and posted it 24 hours ago. Almost 20 people have marked it “helpful,” so that’s good.
The 1-star reviewers all appear to be written by raving lunatics who haven’t bought or read a word of it (reviewers who have bought it from Amazon get a “verified buyer” designation there), so I’ve flagged and reported them as fraudulent and brutally offensive. I hope all of the unverified reviews get deleted and their posters blocked.
They make me sick. What bastards. They don’t deserve the oxygen they’re breathing. What reprobates of humanity they are. I despise them. Blind, deaf, unaware imbeciles. And to think they probably breed like rabbits and vote. God help us all!
THAT was no way to end this day or start this night, is it?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DR. JILL BIDEN.
I love you (and Joe and your whole family). I hope you read ONLY the verified reviews and don’t give those pukes a moment of your thoughts except to pity them for their small-mindedness and the disinformation they’ve swallowed about your family.
It has to be hell to be mired in such ignorance and pettiness. Truly! It can’t feel right or be easy to be that hard-hearted and arrogant.
On June 4th I wrote:
7864 steps so far today (1:16 p.m.) Walked around the futbol field in San Isidro de Grecia seven times this morning for the first time in possibly a month. (I’ve stayed on the porch to walk since there was no real reason to walk down and back other than for exercise. The biting dog is still out and about between me and town.) That was FUN! I bought a package of bacon on the way back.
Visited with Laurel on WhatsApp for at least 40 minutes this morning before she had to run off to make it to a lunchtime appointment on time. THAT was fun. I mostly listened while she caught me up on her doings, because this blog always keeps anyone who’s interested caught up on mine.
I’m feeling relaxed and good today. (Usually do feel this way, but especially so today.) Have eaten three meals today, the first one at 5:30 a.m. after Charli insisted that I get up. The next meal was rice and beans chicken soup, and finally, a piece of toast with peanut butter and honey on it. My tummy feels good. Weighed 148 this morning.
Heard a different kind of critter this morning
Couldn’t see it to identify it so have no idea what it was. Bird? Mammal? It was loud, I know that much!
Probably Won’t Be Doing the Feria or Lunch tomorrow
Can’t really afford both this week and don’t want anything other than a fresh head of lettuce which my neighbor will gladly pick up for me if I ask.
Children’s Book Project is Confirmed
I’m waiting to get funds from Sonia and editable copies of her 13 stories so I can start working on them. I’ve read three of them; they’re super descriptive, imaginative and engaging, but not quite ready for prime time.
I’m astounded that Sonia writes so amazingly well in English, since Spanish is her native language. She sounds and “reads” fluent in English, for sure. I’ve estimated seven hours for editing what she presently has sent me, but there will be additional passages that she has yet to write, so the number of hours will increase accordingly.
There will be additional charges for communication/consultation time, but at a substantially lower rate than the basic editing. Lisa will get the lion’s share of the project, as she will be formatting the anthology and creating the illustrations.
8039 total steps today as of 3:13 p.m.
It’s a little chilly here today
Neither of my two fans is on and I’m wrapped in a blanket. I don’t think it’s even 70 degrees F outside or in here. This is NUTS! But I’m liking it! How lucky I am to be here. Laurel told me it was 56 degrees in Rochester WA when we spoke, with 65% humidity. That’s barely above cave temperature! I’m in my Looney Tunes nightgown, my legs bare. Cool, but not chilled.
It is Very Quiet Here
No hammering or power tools are happening next door. (Some kind of complex is going up over there.) And there are no planes within earshot. Very few bird calls. No rain or wind. Like the dawn of time. Super peaceful!
Jill Biden came on Facebook to tout her book being available in brick and mortar stores as of yesterday. So I responded, saying that I got and read it on her birthday and have already given it a five-star review on Amazon.
I could’ve mentioned my recent Biden Dream blog post, too, but didn’t think to do that. And that might’ve sounded arrogant anyway, although I interpreted the dream as aspirational — as wish fulfillment, sorta.
I have always wanted to meet the Bidens up close and personal.
My dreams of them mirror the dreams I had about DeForest and Carolyn Kelley (for years!) after I met them briefly in Wenatchee. Those dreams, too, were aspirational. They just turned out to be a little bit prophetic, too, based on how things turned out!
So, when I dream of someone repeatedly, it begins to feel like a sign from the Universal Mind saying, “These are your people: CONNECT!!!” It has only happened with the Kelleys, the Bidens, the Obamas, and Robert F. Kennedy Senior, a very small handful of well-known people.
And although I dream of my junior high English teacher Alpha Rossetti less frequently, I do it often enough that she remains very much alive in my heart and memories. It’s like summoning her essence when I dream of her. I adored her, and still do. Always will!
There are certain people that just nestle into your heart and abide there forever, whether you actually met them or not. Among mine are Mark Twain, Jesus — not the red hat one, and I no longer believe he was any more (or less) God’s child than any of us are. I no longer believe in God in the way I was taught at all.
I don’t think we have a clue about deities, but every culture has (or has had) a belief in one of more of them.
Mysticism fascinates me, for sure!
The Mystery of the Divine
…does intrigue me. It’s seeks to explain/codify the presently unexplainable. Our brains have the capacity and apparently the drive/need to worship the ineffable, the unknown, the unknowable.
Why?!!! That is the question!
I don’t think it originated in the quest for power and control of others, which is what organized religion has morphed into. I think it originated in the quest to find meaning and value in our hardscrabble day to day existences, or to connect with our earliest progenitors and absent first protectors, mothers and fathers.
We got our examples of nurture, safety and security (or the lack thereof) from our birth parents. We seek provision, safety and security all our lives. By imagining an eternal all-seeing, all-knowing, always loving Parent, we feel less insecure and vulnerable, like someone unassailable has our back. I think that may have been the origin of our concept of a Loving Creator, as opposed to an impersonal, impassionate, disinterested cosmos.
Earlier Deities Weren’t Always Benevolent
Nor is the God of the Old Testament! He is capricious, jealous, and punitive as often as (or more often than) he is protective and provisional. He’s a bigot, too. (“Kill e’m all! Dash their infants brains against rocks if they aren’t of your tribe!”)
So… Do Humans Create Gods In our Own Image?
Look at who MAGA has all but deified, for the answer!
Have we created flawed, dysfunctional deities to mirror and excuse our own shortcomings?
This Doesn’t Prove That There is No God/Creator, of Course
It just tends to prove (at least to my satisfaction) that the ones we’ve conjured up aren’t the real McCoy’s. They’re knock-offs, exalted human extrapolations in the same way that T-Wrecks and Jim Jones are/were exalted by far too many gullible fools.
Jesus, Buddha, The Dalai Lama
…seem, to me, to be truly evolved spiritual masters. Again, not gods, but prototypes of human potential. Others have been, too: DeForest Kelley, Fred Rogers, Maya Angelou, Jane Goodall, Steve Irwin, and more. They are/were compassionate, understanding, kind and patient. They were grateful.
Undamaged Human Beings Have the Ability to be Noble and Civil
That’s why it’s so frustrating to witness human cruelty and depravity. I think it’s decidedly against our nature to be willfully awful to others and to the ecosystem that sustains us all.
It’s Especially Bad in the United States of America
Too many people behave like privileged spoiled brats, and not just the ones presently in charge of the current fiasco. THEIR attitude has trickled down to their uneducated, low-information supporters, who used to at least have the “decency” (or sufficient fear) to hide under hoods while burning crosses and lynching people. Nowadays, they’re out, loud and proud…
Calling them civilized is a bastardization of the term. They’re feral, dangerous and depraved. A far cry from HUMAN.
Enough of that! I segued from The Search for God to The Spawn of Satan in just over 250 words!
T-Wrecks is as close to the biblical Anti-Christ as a human being can get, IMO. He, Hitler, and Caligula are prime examples of fallen angels like Satan.
Just my opinion, but millions upon millions of people across the globe very likely agree with me. There are far more good/sane/civil/equitable people on Earth/Terra than ingrates, fortunately. MOST of the people I know personally (and know of impersonally) are worth the air they’re breathing and the resources they’re consuming (and doing their best to conserve by reusing, reducing and recycling). But there are those who no one (or very few) will mourn or miss when they croak. THOSE are the thorns, the biblical goats, the flotsam of humanity.
Most people just wanna live and let live
…love and let love, be and let be. Those are the undamaged, unindoctrinated souls, the salt of the earth, the do no harm folks. Those are my tribe, my people.
We’re all in this together. Getting along is Job #1 if we want to survive any longer as a viable species.
On Friday, June 5th I Wrote
This is the 58th anniversary of Robert F. Kennedy’s Senior’s assassination. I remember it like it was yesterday. My heart will always ache for what might have been and for what his presidency would have done to eliminate the crap show that followed…
It’s 9:01 a.m. and I’ve already walked 8156 steps.
Charli got me up at 5:30 so I got busy right away walking and apartment cleaning.
I was sneezing a lot last night so figured maybe it was time to dust bust again. Pulled everything off the kitchen and bedroom shelves and all tables and the wardrobe closet and went to work. Only thing is, it’s the rainy season and there wasn’t any appreciable dust anywhere except above the wardrobe closet, and there wasn’t all that much there — certainly not enough to account for numerous sneezing spells! Nor is there any mold or mildew in this apartment; I have dehumidifying crystals every ten feet or so throughout to mitigate against those.
So, now I’m guessing that seasonal allergies are the culprit, which makes perfect sense. It’s green, lush, growing and wet/humid outside. But the sneezing isn’t bad, and is intermittent, so I don’t need to take Claritin or anything to stay comfortable. I just wanted to track down and eliminate any other possible cause before settling on this one!
Ate crockpot soup for breakfast and am listening to classical music now. My neighbor will get me a head of iceberg lettuce at the feria today. I’ll pick it up tomorrow morning.
I’m very relaxed now that I’ve finished being a merry maid!
Slept great last night
Dreamed about swimming with a friend’s “pet” orca and dolphin, and cuddled a newborn goat, too. My favorite kind of dreams!
I rarely have unsettling or disquieting dreams, luckily. Even my political dreams are lovely because, in them, I’m always hanging out with my favorites. The jerks haven’t made it far enough into my subconscious to give me any trouble, probably because real life has been nightmarish enough when it comes to them. And I got outta Dodge and far away before they could sea lamprey themselves to my subconscious mind. I’m very grateful for that. I feel relatively safe from them here but they are f—–g with my finances with their policies. (That’s happening globally. It’s damned difficult to escape them entirely.)
It’s cool here again today
About 78 degrees F. Very pleasant up here in the heights. I sure did pick the right microclimate!
What else?
I keep hoping to see some baby mammals around here soon
Coatis/pizotes, etc. So far, though, no luck. WAAAHHH!
I have seen three dead, tail-less lizards (about 5″ long) since moving here in February. Don’t know who’s dining on Lizard Tail but I suspect it’s Mao, since the remaining carcasses are always pretty close to Deb’s back door.
I’m so freaking relaxed I could fall back asleep right now. If Charli hadn’t rushed me out of bed at 5:30 I could probably have slept until 7. But I did get enough sleep last night.
My Social Security Deposit Arrives on Wednesday
I hope to put $200 of it into savings. And when the editing gets done, that much more will go into savings, as will the two weeks of dog sitting in July. So hopefully I’ll have close to $4K in liquid savings by the end of July. I have almost $3K there now. (I’m just $50 short of that.)
Little by little, I’m bolstering my liquid assets!
Laurel and I had a great chat via WhatsApp Yesterday
She did most of the talking. She’s still lawyering at least half a day every weekday even though she can afford to retire. It’s hard to let go of a profession you LOVE. (I know the feeling, so now I usually write for FREE! Pretty please, send me a small donation if you’re enjoying these posts! I think I’ve earned a little something. Yes? No?)
As you know, AI forced me out of my profession three years ago unless I want to prostitute myself and take work teaching AI how to write like a human pro (impossible to teach to a mindless algorithm, by the way!) and put even more writers out of work. No, thanks!
And the opportunities to teach AI pay peanuts — less than I make for basic editing. Going from $125-$250/hour to $30/hour isn’t terribly alluring, as you can well imagine!
The powers that be want serfs, not service providers who can walk away if they aren’t paid what they’re worth to millionaires, billionaires and corporations. They don’t want to adequately pay independent agents and they won’t hire fulltime workers because they don’t want to pay for health care, pensions and other required perks anymore.
FUCK ‘EM! Life is too short to live paycheck to paycheck without a safety net…
Enough of that. I’ve retired from the rat race because only the sea lampreys (life-sucking oligarchs) are winning under the present system. The rest are racing to nervous breakdowns and early graves.
The Reality the Oligarchs Aren’t Considering
It there are no longer enough wage earners with enough money to buy products (even essentials like food, gas, clothes, mortgage/rent, etc.) the sea lampreys will have nothing to survive on. They’re killing their hosts and their ecosystem. They’ve let the quest for power and money hijack their brains. They aren’t behaving in a sustainable manner. Unless things change, we can’t survive as a viable species. The sociopaths are calling the shots. It’s truly an existential crisis.
But I Need to Focus on NOW
I don’t have an endless supply of NOW left and I’ve earned the right to focus on what’s possible and positive for myself. I’ve been on the front lines for justice for humans and animals since I was eight or nine years old. I will VOTE and share INFO but that’s gonna be where I draw the line. My peace of mind has become sacred to me. Other people, younger people must take the baton and carry it forward because, frankly, I’m exhausted.
I’m with Mark Twain who famously said,
“People call me a pessimist in my old age,
but I’m not. I am an optimist who did not arrive.”
I remain an optimist! It’s in my bones, in my DNA. I believe humans can extricate themselves from the dystopian nightmare that the United States find itself in, and I believe they will, because the alternative is both unthinkable and un-survivable. The nation’s — hell, the world’s!!! — very existence hangs in the balance.
And this is the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding. What better time to reaffirm our dedication that it will remain (er, return to) a government of the people, by the people, and for the people? (ALL the people, not just the originally covered white, rich, landowning males!)
Things have changed and white male supremacists
need to come to terms with that in ways
that don’t try to return the U.S. to the unequal past for
everyone but them.
It will take generations to recover what has been lost in the past 18 months, but it can and must be done.
1:08 p.m. 8700 steps so far today
Just ate a piece of unfrosted chocolate cake. YUM!
My neighbor who’s traveling to the States called. I reminded her to pick me up a bottle of acetominophen. It’s crazy expensive down here, from what I hear. She says she will get it tomorrow.
At three I can take my kidney pill and at 5 my warfarin. I think the kidney pill is doing a lot of good. Will know for sure when I get my renal function tested again in July.
I will still need to find a local kidney doctor so I can have semi-annual bloodwork done and analyzed by them. But hopefully I’ll be with CAJA by then and my tests and any meds I may need will be covered.
When I Cleaned and Dusted
… I stored away a number of Deb’s items in a cupboard — extra cups, glasses, serving trays, a massive cutlery wooden block, and more. That will allow me to clean and dust easier and faster next time. And the place looks less cluttered too.
I’m Borderline Chilly
We are definitely in the rainy/cloudy season. I’ve turned both fans off and shut the sliding glass door most of the way. Have on my flannel winter nightshirt and pajama bottoms. Feel just about right this way.
Backup Dog Sitter
My neighbors are going to find a substitute dog sitter in case I get sick or injured while they’re away. I more or less insisted. It’s a huge relief. I’m sure they’ll feel good about having a backup, too.
At 75 years old, I can’t trust that I’m gonna be 100% for two weeks running. Deb can always easily look in on Charli if anything ever happens to me, and my neighbors (and I) need to feel that their precious pet has a backup caretaker, too, in case I can’t serve all of the time for some reason.
On Saturday June 6 I Wrote
8161 steps as of 10:52 a.m.
Walked to three corners to get olive oil, frijoles, Tang, and sourdough bread for myself and milk for my neighbor. Then I stopped at the neighbor’s to give him the milk and collect the iceberg lettuce he picked up for me yesterday at the feria. We visited for about an hour because he’s thinking about collaborating with me to write his memoir.
On the way down to the store, I finally met Cindy Winder (with two of her dogs, yappy perros bravas — tiny chihuahuas, LOL!). I thought we put her into my WhatsApp phone list but when I got home I found it hadn’t stayed there, so I texted Kathy Neckar to ask if she knows Cindy and might have her number. She does and did so she gave it to me so I could send a text to Cindy. We will probably meet this coming week or next at her place so I can meet her eight dogs. I’ve seen pix of some of them already.
I sent WOMB MAN to my neighbor to read. He liked it and said he learned a lot.
Lisa Has Weighed In on Sonia’s Stories, Too
Great minds think alike. We both spotted the same anomalies and sent some insights and instructions on how to do some course correcting.
Sonia wants the anthology to be in both English and Spanish, I think under the same cover. That seems a wee bit problematic to me, but Lisa may have a solution.
I asked Sonia to translate to Spanish any finals she gets from me in Reverso because I think it’s the best translation app and I want her to compare the two and see if she agrees. (She says Google’s translation app is lame, and I agree.)
I’m cooking more rice, which I do every two to three days.
It’s cool again today. Love it. (Heck, I love all temps here in the heights!)
My neighbor says I’m really growing on him since I’ve become more open about my past. (It’s nothing I haven’t reported to y’all before in these many, many posts, but he isn’t an avid reader, so it’s all new to him!). That’s why he now feels comfortable talking to me about collaborating with him on his memoir. It’s a gay man’s history sixty years in the making, so we’re just getting comfortable with each other, like confidantes. To write a riveting book, the collaboration has to feel safe … and fun. And he is a hoot to listen to, so it will definitely be a lot of fun if we commit to moving forward with it.
On Sunday I Wrote:
Slept well last night. Will make more crockpot soup tomorrow. Will do Subway and the bank with my neighbor and possibly the feria and lunch on Friday with my three favorite Costa Rica hermanos honorarios. I may get an INR check on Wednesday or wait until the following week to do that. It was well within range last time and doesn’t take wild swings into dangerous territory ever.
Sonia loved what I did with the first and second stories that she sent me to edit
One of them is still a work in progress but she very much prefers what I did with it as opposed to what AI did to it when she submitted it there. AI tried to change her story and it didn’t sound a thing like her voice. A real, live editor retains the author’s voice; AI doesn’t have the chops to discern vision, intent, or style.
Sure am glad I’m still decidedly superior to AI as an editor!
I know I’m superior to AI as a writer, but I’ve never taken the time (or had the desire) to try comparing AI as an editor of my work to see how well (or how little) I liked it.
8864 steps 4:45 p.m.
My porkchop soup is in the freezer, the dishes are washed up and put away and I’m squared away for the night! YAHOO!
Took my vitals again today
Blood pressure: 116/52, pulse 60 bpm, blood oxygen 98%. Perfecto! Sound of wind and limb!
Just ate two pieces of sourdough toast for dinner. That was plenty since I had a plate of crockpot soup for lunch later in the day than usual (about 3 o’clock).
Working on Sonia’s Children’s Stories is a Joy
I have Christmas Tree Brain now because I’m collaborating with two Creatives — Sonia and Lisa — on a fun project. I have soooo missed being in this field of endeavor. Writing/editing is my happy place. Even when I’m walking on the back porch I’m editing in my mind. When I’m in bed, before I fall asleep and as I wake up, my mind is on The Sonia Project.
In fact, I’m having a bit of a challenge to stop obsessing over it. Turning off my brain when it’s this happy and invested isn’t easy! But it’s necessary or I’ll start to lose sleep. But I so rarely have anything better or more interesting to think about. It’s just very, very cool! I have seriously missed being needed in this way!!!
Today Monday June 8
WHOOPSIE DOO!!
7892 steps 2:09 p.m.
Just finished this update but have one more anecdote to share.
This morning I was walking down the slope toward the garden to get a photo of a chachalaca in a treetop who had its wings spread wide open, drying off, when I hit a patch of algae and my feet slipped out from under me. I landed on my right forearm and flat onto my buttocks, not tailbone (the way a thrown wrestler slaps down against the mat as he falls backward onto it) and avoided hitting my head.
In fact, I laughed, because it felt more like an airplane gliding to a landing spot on a runway than a fall — smooth as silk, controlled. There was no whiplash, no injury to any other part of my anatomy. There were just a few raised pinpoint welts on the forearm I slid down onto.
In short, it was close to a perfect stuntman’s fall. I just looked at the purple welts again and they’re gone and all but invisible already.
That’s thanks to the fact that I’ve been walking, balancing, lifting weights, and actively working to retain my ability to react when something unexpected happens.
And now you can understand why it’s always good practice to have a backup caregiver for your loved ones, animal and human. Because you never know when someone you’re relying on can find themselves unable to do what they said they would.