IrishAyes
IrishAyes's JournalOne of the fun parts about my short stature:
Sometimes I'm literally overlooked by bigger people, most of whom around here are loudmouth rednecks. Maybe I'll be standing behind them or even just around the corner of a store aisle, whatever. But I can tell from the startled look on their face that they didn't know I was there before they barfed up their usual mental vomit. On a rare visit to a 'big' town where most don't know me, they clearly don't expect any backtalk from a tiny little old lady; my generation is assumed to be mostly in their camp.
Once in a box store some creep popped off about how the President should be and probably would be shot, how he'd like to do it himself even. His eyes popped when I got in his face and used my DI voice to demand, "YOU AND WHAT ARMY, FOOL?" Then I held forward a big disc earring I was wearing as if it might be a hidden microphone and just dared him to "...go ahead and say that again, you *^_*! so I can be sure it's on the record!" He shut up and left the store in a rage. I went and hid in the ladies bathroom for half an hour in case he had plans to return. I also kept a close watch out for him the rest of that shopping trip.
But if God wanted me dead, somebody would've popped me a long time ago.
Something else funny to me anyway: at Sunday School we got a new couple who used to be lay pastors elsewhere. They thought they were going to be met with unanimous approval when they started making political statements. Because of where we were, I didn't want to see a nasty scene develop, but they got their ears pinned back even so. My standard show stopper which works on virtually anyone at church:
"Did we come here to worship our Maker or to hold a Tea Party rally? Can't have both."
I might not get around to taking the test - it's late - but
I haven't ever been told I had some degree of ASD. I have been described as a subconscious, partial, involuntary empath. It doesn't always work. Yet when I'm in public, if a stranger needs help, they often seek me out. I think it's because I present soft. Non-threatening, etc. Being a small female reinforces that. In NY and L.A., even people who didn't speak English would latch onto me when they had a problem. But I enjoyed helping.
My ex thought I could read his mind - honestly. I said no, I read your heart and that tells me what you're going to do or have done. But he still thought it was spooky.
One picture's worth a thousand words.
You can never tell which one will grow up to become a famous artist either.
I committed one act of graffiti myself as late as my early 20's. First time I bought a car entirely on my own; did pretty well but still didn't appreciate all the stunts they tried to pull, so on my way out the door I stopped at a big poster of the Lakers coach and drew a moustace and goatee on it. Heard somebody coming before I had a chance to add horns.
Which eventually leads me around to ask if you ever saw the movie 'Basquiat'. It was one of my favorites of all time.
It helps if there's at least a barrier around the trampoline,
but too many don't even have that, and an adult should be present at all times - which they usually aren't.
People around here (and lots of other places) are woefully lacking in common sense. They amass huge piles of leaves at the curb, strike a match, and go back indoors to their ball games. Nobody in my area has a built-in pool, but there are several above ground pools. None are fenced. None have covers. Nobody even removes the ladder at night. If some child drowned, it wouldn't change a thing.
My family took reasonable precautions; we even told little kids that a crocodile lived in the plumbing and would come out and eat them unless there were big adults there to protect them. Some adults would even go out and perform an elaborate penning ceremony complete with yelling and slapping the water with an oar while the kids hung back. After the all clear call, kids would run jump in the pool. Little ones really looked up to their parents.
We all grew up okay, if a little strained by some measures.
Done to a turn, are ye?
I've always said that's the way to find out what a person's really like under all the social masks worn by the best of us. Congratulations. I hope you didn't suffer for it this morning.
re Rising Asset Prices
Sometimes people wonder how I can own a decent house free and clear on such a tiny income. Besides other factors, I was fortunate enough to buy my first one eons ago. For most of the time since, including now, I can't afford to rent. If I did, at best it might be one of the fancier cardboard boxes in some urban jungle. I constantly moan and groan because I find the social/political/religious atmosphere of the remote Midwest distasteful - but all the while I remember that if I had retired anywhere else that did have culture and diversity, most of the perks would still be entirely out of reach for me and I'd be subject to the most crushing effects of poverty. At least here very little I want is near enough to rub salt in the wound.
Capitalism? Not my cuppa tea at all.
Well, if thou wert right about my machine of choice, I would be wrong.
But unfortunately for this occasion at least, I've never so much as touched a Mac. It's my friend who inherited one and doesn't know anything at all about any computer. All she knows is that her sticky-fingered nephew put his own admin password on it, so now she's afraid to even turn it off. Nearest Mac store almost a hundred miles away, no installation disk available etc. We'll have to nail that admin password change on the first try or she might be worse off than before. If she had any $ to put on the project, I'd tell her to buy a new Lenovo.
ABJECT APOLOGY! EGG ON MY FACE
It's a lot easier to notice if you accidentally wind up in a thread not on the topic you want to address, because then there's already an OP there you should read before posting yourself.
A little dicier if you're doing the OP yourself, though. I honestly aimed for the Computer Help and Support area - how I ended up in Politics 2014 is a mystery best solved by my opthomologist, I guess. No wonder a poster told me there was a Mac group! But at that stage, after I'd stayed up overnight with the 102-yr-old mother of a friend in the hospital, the import never even registered.
If anything so off the wall ever happens again, don't hint - feel free to drop me a specific PM about it ASAP as a very kind mod did after I'd already signed off. I'll correct my error the minute I'm aware of it and you can pretend it never happened.
Carry on.
Well, I for one certainly DON'T want you to hush!
Not that you or anyone else needs my blessing or validation either. Regardless, you do have an excellent point. I wish more people would realize and remember that 'an injury to one is an injury to all'. Any form of marginalization violates that principle. People who can't accept any degree of valid correction are full of themselves.
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHome country: US
Current location: retired to MidWest
Member since: Mon Feb 18, 2013, 10:15 PM
Number of posts: 6,151