Beauty

[aprilskies]

You know lately, I have been trying to watch either a movie or tv series that I can settle in and just enjoy. Everything these days just show the most deprived or gross interactions. I cannot find something that doesnt show someone throwing up, on the toilet making noises, playing with themselves, etc etc etc etc. .....and/or the same tired and predictable plots. I think I am going to start watching the old movies again.

What has happened to creativity and originality? 

[just bee]

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@geezerette wrote:

Sorry I'm a little late.  It's been a strange week.  Might take me a while to catch up.

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@geezerette 

I was wondering if you, Carla and the kitties were in the bunker.  It's been strange all over, but take as much time as you need to catch up.

The place just isn't the same without you.

[just bee]

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@aprilskies wrote:

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@just bee wrote:

@rnmom 

You mentioned suicides.  Our local paper, The Albuquerque Urinal -- er, Journal, just published a story: New Mexico's Suicide Rate is Highest in the Nation.

But it looks like these are numbers from 2018.

Just wait 'til they get the 2019 and 2020 data.

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@just bee @rnmom, So tragic though.

I cant even imagine the data for the US from this year alone. So many people will come out of this with severe mental or social issues.  And we have only just begun. Between finanical and health concerns, what hope do the majority of people have. 

Yesterday, I went over my folks complex. As I was pulling into a parking spot, one lady was taking her trash to the dumpster. By the time that I got out of my car, I expected her to be way ahead of me. Instead, she turned back around and went wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy out of her way to go to another dumpster. I was dumbfounded. She could of held back for a minute or two until I walked away but it doesnt even seem like she wanted to breathe in the same air. That was my first extreme experience. I mean, that much fear cannot be good for anyone. 

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@aprilskies 

FUD.  Fear, uncertainty and doubt.  Toss some paranoia into the mix and you have one nasty soup.

[just bee]

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@aprilskies wrote:

You know lately, I have been trying to watch either a movie or tv series that I can settle in and just enjoy. Everything these days just show the most deprived or gross interactions. I cannot find something that doesnt show someone throwing up, on the toilet making noises, playing with themselves, etc etc etc etc. .....and/or the same tired and predictable plots. I think I am going to start watching the old movies again.

What has happened to creativity and originality? 

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@aprilskies 

Went the same way as objectivity, facts and the Bill of Rights.

Don't get me started on the lack of creativity and originality.  I still feel nauseous every time I think about the West Side Story remake.

Colleges churn out graduates with degrees in the liberal arts every year, so where is the fruit of their labor?

I can't watch network television at all and cable is quickly becoming unwatchable, too.  I never thought, as a double major in English and Theatre/Film, that I would avoid new novels, plays and films.

Yes, watch the older films and read the classics.  Someone has to.

[geezerette]

First it was "social distancing".

Now my new pet peeve is "contract tracing".  It's "con-TACT tracing"!  😖

It probably goes without saying that the worst offenders are usually so-called "journalists".

[just bee]

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@geezerette wrote:

First it was "social distancing".

Now my new pet peeve is "contract tracing".  It's "con-TACT tracing"!  😖

It probably goes without saying that the worst offenders are usually so-called "journalists".

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@geezerette 

I still struggle to keep my lunch down when I hear conversate.  Yes, it is a word and it's been around for a couple hundred years, but it still grates on my nerves.

Especially since no one I know is actually conversating lately.

[KaySD]

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@aprilskies wrote:

You know lately, I have been trying to watch either a movie or tv series that I can settle in and just enjoy. Everything these days just show the most deprived or gross interactions. I cannot find something that doesnt show someone throwing up, on the toilet making noises, playing with themselves, etc etc etc etc. .....and/or the same tired and predictable plots. I think I am going to start watching the old movies again.

What has happened to creativity and originality? 

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@aprilskies @I've been discourage about shows and movies, too. I want something intelligent, but not violent or too dark or stressful. Is that too much to ask? My solution is to rewatch things I know will feel good. Kinda dumb, but there it is. And I can do other things at the same time, so that's a plus. I just binged The Good Place, and that was fun. I may have to break out Casablanca soon. 

[rnmom]

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@just bee wrote:

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@rnmom wrote:

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@just bee wrote:

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@rnmom wrote:

I hope that everyone had a nice 4th of July. I will admit, I haven't been feeling terribly patriotic lately with everything that's going on in our country. But I did get a slight reprieve for one night. 

Our family decided to take an overnight trip, on friday night, to Shipshewana in Indiana. We haven't left overnight in probably about 4 years because of the dogs, but we found a dog sitter and decided to take a chance. I knew I didn't want to just "go up north", everyone does that, and I wanted to get out of Michigan. Wonder why. Never been to Indiana so we decided to try it. 

So we hit the road Friday morning and found the country's largest flea market. We shopped during the day and spent the night. They had fireworks (everything around here was cancelled) that we were able to actually see very well from the car in the hotel parking lot so when they were done we able to just walk back up to our room.

We ate in a restaurant and the kids got to swim in the hotel pool and we played ping pong, air hockey and video games in the small arcade. Saturday we shopped some more and headed home. It was so darn hot, by around 12:30 we just couldn't stand it anymore so even though I didn't really want to leave, we did.

We had such a nice time. Everyone was acting almost "normal". A few masks, but definitely the minority, whereas up here, almost everyone wears one and we feel out of place because we don't. I did not want to leave and come back at all, I felt like I was coming back to jail. Just being able to do those little things, that we all take for granted, is what makes life worth living. I didn't realize how much we missed it. If we have to be locked in forever, when we didn't even do anything wrong, then what's the point of even being here?

Anyway, we bought lots of stuff at the flea market, some of it we actually needed, most of it we didn't. We ate lots of food, I probably gained a pound back in 2 days. But it was needed so badly. We had such a good time that I'm already planning to go back in about a month when I have another small stretch off work, before hubby goes back in the fall. (If he goes back, might end up doing all online teaching again if we get locked back up). 

I don't know how many times the kids told me how much fun they were having, how much they enjoyed being out. They thanked me more times than I can remember. And this is two teenage, almost teenage boys, remember. They were asking me when we could go back and didn't want to come home either. It was actually kind of sad. Made it worth every single penny and makes me want to do it again. This lockdown is terribly hard on them too. Maybe worse than on the grownups. So it was bittersweet. We had a fun, but didn't want to come home. 

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@rnmom 

This is something that should be published and read because it just says so much.  You summed things up when you said...

If we have to be locked in forever, when we didn't even do anything wrong, then what's the point of even being here?

And that's how it feels here.  We're being punished.  Every time our governor speaks, it's punitive.  And it's always a threat.  If you don't comply and do what we're telling you to do, you will pay.  We'll shut it all down again.

The annual Independence Day celebration at Balloon Fiesta Park was canceled, of course.  No fireworks at Isotopes Park because the baseball season has also been canceled.

Instead, the city planned fireworks displays at a handful of parks and then told us not to come to the parks.  Instructions were to stay home.  We were told that we could watch from our backyards.

Call me crazy, but how was this supposed to work in a city this size?  I can guarantee that a lot of people weren't able to see them.

But I can tell you what did happen.

It's been terribly dry and fire danger is extremely high.  The governor discouraged illegal fireworks this year.  And guess what?  There were more than ever.  They've been going off every night and even during the day for the past week.

I stood outside last night and there were explosions all over the city and in my neighborhood.  The dog has been terrorized all week.

I don't even know how to interpret this.  I'm out there, in my driveway, every year watching the display at Balloon Fiesta Park and there are a few going off around the city and in the neighborhood, but last night was different.  I have a view of the mountains and most of the city and it looked like it was one giant display.

I've never seen or heard this many in the 25 years I've lived here.

Again, I'm not sure what it means.

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@just bee - I know, you have it just as bad where you're at as I do, both of our governors are devil's spawn. We are always being punished and threatened too. She sounds just like I imagine Hitler would. 

We too, had every single fireworks display cancelled. We had one small town that still had some planned but then they had to cancel it the night before because the AG threatened the town with citations, etc for going against the governor's EO. I'm glad I left the state, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. 

And us too, we had more personal fireworks than we've ever had before. Ours are legal up here now, and we always hear some, but there have been tons this year. I was worried about fire here too, it's been super dry for us and hot, almost 100, for a week or two now. My grass is totally burned up and brown. There were a couple fires in neighboring towns, but nothing really close by thank goodness. 

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@rnmom 

Did you see the WalletHub survey, States with the Fewest Coronavirus Restrictions?

New Mexico is the most restrictive state when it comes to COVID.

Our wineries are still closed.  Why?  Still no explanation.

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@just bee - I did not see that survey, I should look it up. 

[just bee]

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@KaySD wrote:

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@aprilskies wrote:

You know lately, I have been trying to watch either a movie or tv series that I can settle in and just enjoy. Everything these days just show the most deprived or gross interactions. I cannot find something that doesnt show someone throwing up, on the toilet making noises, playing with themselves, etc etc etc etc. .....and/or the same tired and predictable plots. I think I am going to start watching the old movies again.

What has happened to creativity and originality? 

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@aprilskies @I've been discourage about shows and movies, too. I want something intelligent, but not violent or too dark or stressful. Is that too much to ask? My solution is to rewatch things I know will feel good. Kinda dumb, but there it is. And I can do other things at the same time, so that's a plus. I just binged The Good Place, and that was fun. I may have to break out Casablanca soon. 

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@KaySD 

I appreciate a good story, well-written dialogue and characters that I actually care about.

Sometimes I get to the end of a film and think: There wasn't one person in that movie I liked.  

Ever watch a movie and you're halfway through it and you still don't know the names of the characters?

I have no problem watching favorites endlessly.

[just bee]

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@rnmom wrote:

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@just bee - I did not see that survey, I should look it up. 

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@rnmom 

They've revised their original data as of July 6.  New Mexico is now ranked 47 instead of 51 (51 because they included District of Columbia).

Michigan is 32.