Scottsdale, Arizona Part II

The desert in the spring really is a beautiful thing.  The place I'm at has a lot of snob wannabees, but I'm not going to let that ruin my stay.  Most of the women (cough, cough girls) come into the bar order a glass of white wine and then send it back -- like they "know" wine.  Really?  They just want to pretend they are a sommelier and think they are impressing people.  Not.  Go get your hair bleached and add another 2" to the heels of tacky shoes you're wearing.  We all laugh after you've had a few and try to walk as you look like a newborn fawn all wobbly-legged and such.

I can walk in my heels;)  LOL

Switching gears to my stay here at the resort.  No, I'm not a photographer and I don't try to pretend to be one.  I snapped a couple of pics on the fly upon check-in with my crappy iPhone as this place really does have some incredible beauty.  Montelucia translates to 'mountain of light' and it's magical to watch how the colors of the mountain change with the angles of the sun during the day. 

Switching gears yet again, I just *had* to include a visual of how sometimes the FBI, who is all cocky now that they cracked the iPhone codes, can turn around and be incredibly DUMB.  Yeah guys, you're sooooooooo stealth. 

Scottsdale, Arizona

Heading off to Scottsdale tomorrow for work.  I think I'll catch a little baseball spring training.  I know spring training is nearing the end but I think the SF Giants still have something going on as I was invited to some sort of event with their name on it.  My daughter knows the players more than I do, so I should get her Cliff's notes before I leave in the morning. 

Me?  I want to place my ear against Arizona's chest and listen to their political banter.  Whether or not you agree with their politics they do have something important to share with the rest of the US being the brunt of the border wars with Mexico. 

Getting back to baseball.  Baseball is fun and all, but I'm more of a dancer at heart.  It's pretty apparent when I can do the Oakland A's "bernie lean" but be oblivious to the actual score of the game.  Hey, where are Bernie Sander's people in this?  They should capitalize on the Bernie Lean song and have it blaring from every speaker everywhere.

I'll stop politics for now.  I'm going to bring it back in.  Back to simple things I love... like dancing.  Know how to tell a dancer?  We can only count to eight and it sounds something like this:  Oney-and-a-twoey...three...four....five...six...seven-and-eight. 

That's it.  Brain cells spent.  G'night.

Catty Politics

Politics are catty.  I mean for real when I say catty.  It's not just humans who are getting nasty with the claws out.  To share with you the how nasty the political climate is these days just look no further than to my my cat, Mr. Mayor.

Mr. Mayor has been a long-time favorite in da hood.  He has personality plus and has been seated as the mayor for quite a while...until last night when he sneaked out.  There was a ruckus on the front porch that sounded like WWIII was going on.  Mr. Mayor got into a scuffle with a contender.  Fur was flying and that's not just a saying.  My cat is a big boy and he held off the contender, but I have a feeling the contender will be back once he licks his wounds.

Poor Mr. Mayor.  He's been awfully humble and still today and hiding behind the couch.  If only human politicians could be so smart.

Easter Sunday

I think I will start cooking holiday dinners for the homeless.  At least they will be a tad appreciative of the effort I put forth for putting together a five-star meal.  I go all out.  Nothing I make comes from a box or a take out window.  Everything is made from scratch...even the Sonoma County 4H ham, the centerpiece of the Easter Sunday meal,  is home grown.

Yes, I like to cook.  Just because I like to do something please do not take it for granted.  That is what's happening.  I get unannounced and uninvited guests showing up, invited guests who nonchalantly flake without word, and every gamut of merry-go-round quasi-guests in between who have no consideration for the hosts.  No wonder hospitality is under such duress in the modern age.  People treat your home and efforts of putting together something special like it's expected and that they are doing YOU a favor if they show up at all thinking they are gracing you with their presence.

I'm getting impatient with my 20-something nieces and nephews who think they can just stroll into Auntie's house with two or three co-workers/classmates who had no where else to go today to suck down my food and then leave -- without even saying good bye or even thanking me.  They just slip out the door.

Whaaaaaaaat?????  Auntie LOVES cooking!!!  Auntie ALWAYS has a houseful of people on each and every holiday!  She LOVES hosting!!!  WTF is her PROBLEM!!!!!  Why is she PISSED????  Is she going through menopause? 

Here's my problem, you little shits...don't use me like your on demand In-n-Out drive thru window.  Show some respect and at least acknowledge your hostess by at least thanking her upon entering her home, eating her food, and exiting..even if she IS your auntie.  That goes for your free-loading friends, too. 

Late Bloomers

Both my kids are late bloomers.  It took my son a little more time than his peers to launch, but when he did it was a successful rocket launch.  Now in his late 20's he's set with a life path that he could not envision for himself a decade ago thanks to society beating the self-esteem right out of him because he did not mature at the same rate of his peers. 

Same with my daughter.  She was not the first of her peers for anything.  I was constantly reminding her not to compare herself to others as it's futile and will always leave her wanting.  I told both my kids many times, over and over again, that not everybody's life timeline lines up perfectly with the timeline of others.  Not everybody does things in the same sequence and at the same age.  The best analogy I could think of was to remind them that not all the fruit on the tree ripens on the same day.

That's where the similarities with my kids stop.  They are both late bloomers.  Other than that, they are opposite in every way imaginable.  My son is so different from his father that at one point my son questioned if his father was really his biological father.  Yes, he is the biological father -- sorry.  LOL.

Seriously, I had a premonition about 2-3 years ago that my kids would be living on opposite ends of the United States - my son in Washington, D.C., and my daughter in Hawaii.  At the time my son was living in Washington, D.C. and my daughter was going to go to school in Hawaii.  Then life happened.  My son was relocated to San Diego and my daughter's plan to go to Hawaii dissipated as she was not ready to live on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. 

I thought that perhaps my intuition was off on my feeling that they would be living on opposite ends of the US.  Well, as of today it's changed and my intuition is really in tune after all.  My son is looking again at Washington, D.C. for a career move, and my daughter is going to Hawaii to play D-1 sports. 

Both of them have unfinished business in Washington D.C., and also Hawaii.  Not all of the unfinished business is from this lifetime.  Me?  Thank goddesses for frequent flyer miles. 

Galileo's Thermometer

Check this out.  Little gifts keep coming out of nowhere that intrigue my inner science geek.  When I was a young girl I was fascinated with my older brother's chemistry set.  I used to be really good at science - then i was directed to home ec and office procedures.  Girls were not supposed to be interested in science.  I don't know what made them think typing, shorthand (does anybody even use that anymore?) the 10 key calculator, and the Burroughs word processor (yes, I'm dating myself - this was the dawn of the computer age) were more interesting.  Yes, we even learned how to greet your boss's (always male) clients and serve coffee. 

Ahhhhhhh, high school.  I still had the time of my life even if we were pegged into gender-specific education.  I would not trade the experience for anything.  I suppose I should give the education system credit being that women in the 1980's only recently gained the right to even vote some 50-60 years prior. 

Galileo.  I love your thermometer.  It's very mesmerizing...like watching a lava lamp.

Good Friday

It's Good Friday.  What that means for recovering Catholics like myself is praying the stations of the cross from noon until 3 o'clock.  No music.  No laughter.  No speaking.  It's a time of reflecting on the suffering of Jesus Christ while the Romans tortured and killed him.  The huge cathedral-like church my mother would drag us to was designed in beautifully intricate European fashion.  That was the one thing I really liked about that church.  It was incredibly beautiful.

I always liked Easter.  It's a time of renewal and hope.  I find it kind of humorous that all the Christian holidays kind of mimic the ancient Pagan ones.  If you really think about it, all holidays from all religions kind of mimic each other.  Are we figuring out that we really are ONE?

ONE is the answer to the advanced algebraic equation of life.  I don't care how we humans complicate the equation thinking we are so smart.   The answer is always ONE.  Here's the cheat sheet for life:  In algebra both sides of the equation must ALWAYS equal the other.  You can't do something to one side of the equation without it affecting other.   No matter what we do or how we do it, there will be re-balancing of political/social/environmental impact at some point.  Nothing we do is without consequence.  The consequences may not be immediate, but they are there nonetheless even if it takes several generations.  Nothing is exempt as we are all part of this equation.  We are all in this together - whether we like it or not. 

Think about that before you all vote. 

Sick of the Middle East

...even top level US military intel is sick of the middle east.  Yeah, it sounds cold but it's the truth.  The public gets the lite version of what's really going on.  To put this into perspective, tell me of another immigrant group that kills the people who takes them in?  Wait.  That sounds like what Europeans did to the Native Americans. 

I never said I had any answers. 

Have we really evolved?  No.  Not really.  I see evidence of knuckle-dragging daily.  We can blend some past and present and have a little fun with it.  Let's add a little humor as bad news is such a downer.  The below song will forever remind me of my older brother.  He used to play it over and over again on a 45.  RIGHHHHHT ONNNN!

From Korea to Belgium to France

I blogged back in October-ish about how I'm going to Europe this summer for a while.  I even wrote that neither hell nor high water was going to stop this trip even if WWIII breaks out.  Well, I'm afraid that's not too nuts of an assessment to make.

I'm not surprised by anything that's going on in the world scene.  My employer has had France and Belgium slated for a destination way before the proverbial feces hit the fan to the public this past 4 months with the Paris bombings and now Brussels.  It was just a matter of time.

Like Kim Jung-un and North Korea isn't enough to keep us all occupied.  However, I think Kim Jung-un runs on a slightly different wave of mentally ill and military structure than ISIS.

Now it's the texts asking me if I'm scared to go to France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

Watch the presidential republican candidate of he-who-shall-not-be-named have a field day with this as today is Arizona's primary.  Porous borders is Arizona's battle cry.  I can't sit here and say they are without merit in their concern about what slimes up north into the US from the Mexican border. 

Spring Break

Spring Break.  Yes, indeed.  The hormones are running a muck with the college-age crew and now they are all wondering back to Sonoma County after being away with their new love interests in tow.  
This is where the love merry-go-round begins and I'm not certain how to tell them it's nearly impossible to ever get off.  This is life.  Nobody has figured out how to operate the relationship escape hatch...unless you have a totally stone cold hart. 

Some college kids coming home have announced their homosexual preferences, some their bi-sexual preferences, and some are not announcing anything (they the smart ones).  See, most of the kids have had a serious love interest in high school of some kind.  Now this is where jealousy and letting go comes into play.  The high school relationships have ended and new ones are budding.  The problem is that feelings still linger for the old relationships despite having new partners of whatever sex.  Some are dating each others relationship cast-offs, and it's causing hard feelings despite that an official "break up" has happened. 

Now it's the Facebook/Instagram/social media whatever drama of spring break pictures gloating with their new relationships to get a 'dig' in at the old high school lovers and how they have moved on.  What makes matters worse is that even if you choose to ignore the social media postings just know that your 'friends' will report to you that so-and-so is with so-in-so and they were seen lovey-dovey at the movie theatre kissing and sharing popcorn.  

My daughter has been strong through this rite of passage of her first real taste of the adult love merry-go-round.   Relationships and feelings are complicated and messy.  There is no logic to it and no magic answer.  I wish I could tell her that the merry-go-round will stop and she can get off.  I can't. 

St. Patrick's Day

..i know I'm about an hour and 15 minutes early, but St. Patrick's Day is upon us.  I'm not really entirely certain what this holiday is about, but I think it's an excuse to get drunk.  Wait.  Isn't that what Cinco de Mayo is for?  Fourth of July?  Columbus Day?  Passover?  I've lost track of the drunken, pseudo-holidays we celebrate in the name of our esteemed forefathers/mothers from the homeland.  Whatever. 

I can't claim 100% Irish ancestry, but I know there is a sizable chunk of Gaelic in me.  The DNA testing sample I have submitted is in progress will tell all, so I'll share the results when I get them.  I'm certain that back in the day the Scots had something to say about the Irish and how we all got eventually muddled into the "Scotch-Irish" same name label category when emigrating to America (sigh).  I suppose it's all Gaelic at its core.  Just like we are all African if you dig deeply enough.. LOL.

Here's my FAVORITE Irish party song.  House of Pain - Jump Around!  I find Irish rappers amusing..wish they would come to Oakland;)  Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! 

1848

As if my dreams could not get any stranger...  It's frustrating to have such vivid dreams each night as I don't ever feel like I get a good night's sleep.  Here's my dream from last night...and yes, my brain is used for research.

I was in a dark cabin with a boy sitting at a wooden table desk with an oil lamp.  The glow from the oil lamp was the only light in the room.  I would guess the boy to be about 10 years of age.  He was writing with a pen and ink well, and his hand was smeared with smudged ink on the bottom pinky side of his palm.  He seemed to me a kid with a very active imagination and really no outlet other than writing to express it.  I got the feeling I was his 'imaginary friend' and we started talking.

I looked around the room and knew the time period was not present day.  I asked the boy what year it was.  He replied that it was 1848.  I then said it was antebellum, and that the Civil War was coming.  The boy gave me a funny look and said to me flatly as he kept on writing, "Yeah, I've heard people talk about somethin' like that comin."

It then dawned on me that this kid knew nothing about what was coming in 1861.  I told him that initially the south would have a strong showing in the beginning, but that the north would eventually win.  I went on to tell him that in the future there would be horseless carriages, talking wires, running water inside homes, lamps without oil, and all the modern conveniences that we take for granted in terms he could wrap his head around.

His hand could hardly keep up writing down what I was telling him.

What really blew his mind was when I told him people could get from New York to California in 5 hours flying through the air, and that man would someday walk on the moon.

End of dream. 

Korean Adventure

You have exactly .002 seconds to guess the country this flag flies over.  Failure to answer correctly will result in immediate death by Kim Jong-un.  There is a HUGE difference between North and South Korea.  Don't get caught on the wrong side of the border.  BTW, Kim Jong-un is exactly like the movie "The Interview" depicts....only worse. 

Materity Leave is NOT vacation

Here's the thought process from actual enlisted women in the military.  Sadly, this same thought process flourishes throughout the civilian sector as well. 

Maternity leave = vacation

Are you kidding me?  Having a baby is no vacation. You will not have a moment to yourself for the next 25 years.  I know of women in the military who can't pass their PE tests.  What's their answer for being out of shape and avoiding exercise?  Get pregnant to get a pass -- and then get leave for having a baby.

If the reason you're bringing another human being into this world is to avoid doing sit-ups and getting a job, please tie your tubes immediately.  You are too selfish and short sighted to be a mother. 

I can't make this stuff up, people.