World of mine Wednesday’s Ws.

What’s top of my mind:  The state of the nation. It is a painful topic to consider. I keep wondering (as many do) is there ever going to be a tipping point, a step gone to far, that finally makes the current political situation implode like a house of cards, or will it keep worsening and no one and nothing can stop the decline into dictatorship in all but name? I don’t have much hope. The suck ups to The Felon have to stiffen their spines (and develop scruples) and say ‘no’ to the evil man. Fat chance of that, alas

Where I’ve been:  The mall. Last weekend we went to the mall in Scottsdale. I cannot remember when we were last in one – certainly before the directory signs went ‘digital’ viz. you press the screen to find the shop in question and it points the path just like a cellphone It was a sunny Sunday morning but there weren’t many folks and it seemed many stores we covered suggesting the mall had past its zenith and was in decline. We went to Macy’s and to Dillards, trying to find khaki paints and new shoes. We finally found some but we were rawther exhausted from all the walking and searching. I get fatigued in department stores similar to art museums viz. all the visual information is too much and makes me tired. I see why people prefer to stay home and shop on line.

When was the last time you went to the mall? Is yours doing well?

Where I’m going: The Apple Store (or something like it). The personal laptop and the office laptop and the cellphone will not connect as they all have ‘holes’ of different shapes and sizes and while we have a drawerful of cords, none of these have the right endings to connect any of them. Oh the pain. I hate to do so but it looks like I need to go to The Apple Store to get new cords with different endings to make this happen. I strongly suspect they do this on purpose to force you to keep buying things. Stirges.

What I’m watching:  A.I. generated talking bears. Duolingo has a new feature of a talking bear who appears and starts conversing in Spanish or German and it expects you to respond in kind. I really need to do this to improve my abilities to converse. After all isn’t that the point to learning a language? I suppose if I am going to stammer, bungle, and freeze while deducing what I am hearing and I am supposed to say, better to do so with an AI object than a real person. The Duolingo bear’s name is Falstaff, which happens to be the ‘safety word’ for a teacher friend of mine (English literature) during his S&M romps.

What I’m reading:  Roman Ivory. A friend of mine, a professor of architecture. has written several books on the subject, so I was surprised to hear he wrote a work of fiction, about a young man in Victorian England who learns of his late father’s shenanigans of the love that dares not speak its name. I started reading it the other day and was pleased as Punch he has written a good story. The novel takes a lurid turn around chapter six when the protagonist discovers he too has Greek tendencies and the author holds nothing back portraying the lad’s romps through Cupid’s grove. Patience above! I wonder if my late mother’s harlequin romance novels were as detailed. I stopped reading choice paragraphs out loud to Someone in public lest we are arrested.

What I’m listening to: My new playlist of Broadways tunes. Sunday night when I should have been reading and not using my phone to avoid going to sleep it dawned on me to make (another) playlist on Spotify. This one has the title ‘Broadway tunes’, a precise but unoriginal name for a list of show tunes. I tried to think of every musical I’ve seen and pick one song from it to add to the list. Someone got involved and provided all sorts of shows I had not thought of. As of today there are over eighty songs, can you imagine?

What is your favorite Broadway musical and what is your favorite song from it?

What I’m eating: Mexican food. We consume more and more of the stuff as time passes. Mind! We do so as it is delicious. The problem is an increase consumption in chilies and hot sauces is correlated with worsening innards. Oh the pain. I should change to a diet of French or Midwest cuisines, known for lack of spice and flavor.

Who needs a good slap: The Overlords. Just as I settled into a routine of familiarity The Overlords decided to change the billing codes – again. It will take some time (and an idiot-print out next to me) to get the swing how to bill properly. This latest list conjures up the innkeeper song from ‘Les Miserables’, you know the one:

Charge ’em for the lice, extra for the mice
Two percent for looking in the mirror twice (Hand it over!)
Here a little slice, there a little cut
Three percent for sleeping with the window shut
When it comes to fixing prices
There are a lot of tricks I knows
How it all increases, all those bits and pieces
Jesus! It’s amazing how it grows!

Curious! There are a whole lot of codes of ‘telephone only’ types of encounters, the likes that were forbidden in 2024. Are they back? No one seems to know. If they are not back, why on earth are there codes for such?

On my 1-5 scale, I give two slaps for confusion and another for greed.

Who gets a fist bump:  A little girl selling cookies. Last Sunday the doorbell rang and I went to the door itching for a fight to tell the pesky salesman or the JWs to go away. I opened the door to see no one at eye level, then I looked down to see a little girl quite small. Cindyloo Who came to mind. She stammered she was selling Girl Scout cookies and would I like to buy some? Not too far behind her her mother was helping her remember the lines and giving her encouragement she was doing a good job. Well hells bells and f-ck me no way am I going to say no to this brave tot. I fetched my wallet and asked about the cookies, which ones she liked most and I bought three boxes. Good for her!

What I’m planning: Another loaf of bread. I suppose if I am ever going to succeed in making a loaf of bread I need to practice. I am pursing easier recipes the type labeled ‘bread making for idiots’. My next attempt has the encouraging description ‘even you can’t blow it’. Fingers crossed.

What’s making me smile:  New shoes and trousers. Despite the exhaustion of the mall experience, I got two sets of black shoes and two pairs of khakis, one brown and the other black. I wore my new shoes and trousers to work the other day, and while no one saw them (video from the chest up) I felt sharp and good looking.