Shipwrecked & Comatose

The human population of Planet Earth seems to be in agreement that 2020 has been a horrible year.  The year began with Australian wildfires and the catastrophes never stopped coming.  We had murder hornets in the US and locust swarms in Africa.  We lost Kobe Bryant, Alex Trebek, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  Wildfires didn't stop with Australia; California also had its share.  The stock market and US oil prices crashed.  We had a close call with Iran after the US took out an Iranian general and their retaliation included a missile strike taking out US military bases.  A Ukrainian plane was shot down.  England suffers from the effects of a botched "Brexit".  More innocent people of color were killed by police in the US, causing nationwide protests. The property damage is being blamed on both sides.  The demagogue who seems to do little more than sit in the Oval Office and angrily Tweet turned tear gas and rubber bullets on peaceful protestors...

Today is the official start of winter - my most hated season.  The only upside to it is the fact that days will grow longer as the weather grows more miserable.  I also still have Christmas (such as it is this year) to look forward to.   I have friends in Florida and other warm climates who remind me that if I hate winter, I don't have to live in the northeast.  I can live someplace where it's never winter.  In this day and age I can work from anywhere and not be tied to the location of my job (although I am also voluntarily tied to my family).  Why not move and kiss winter goodbye forever? One of the reasons I don't move is I don't know if I would be happy in a world of perpetual summer (although I suppose if I could find a practical way to move to Hawaii, I might give it a shot).  There is something about the changing of seasons that speaks to me.  The fact that I have to live through the short days and miserable weather of winter makes sum...

Here is something that has perplexed me for years.  If you are going to shorten my name down to one syllable, how should it be spelled?  To me, it makes sense to spell it "Rache" because leaving the E on the end of the name gives the A at the beginning a long "ay" sound.  However, most people seem to spell it "Rach".  When I see it spelled that way, it looks to me like it should rhyme with "catch" rather than sound like the first syllable of my name.  I have seen it spelled "Rache" in some publications (for example, in the script of Inherit the Wind when Kevin performed in it*), but it's not the norm. I'm not going to argue about how one should spell the shortened version of my name. For this one, you can spell it however you want.  I have enough trouble trying to stop people from   spelling my full name without that stupid, extra, unnecessary "a" at the end.  (Curse you Rachael Ray for popularizing the dumb incorrect...

If you know me, then you know I am not someone to rush the Christmas season.  You won't see me decorating as soon as Halloween is over.    I prefer to find other ways to celebrate and find joy  in my life.  However, it's late November now, so the time has come for me to start planning my Christmas celebrations. Well, it would be under normal circumstances, but these are not normal circumstances. In a normal holiday season, I would buy a tree in early December.  I like to buy one from a nursery where I can pretend I'm walking through a forest as I browse the selection (a holdover from childhood).  Prior to purchasing the tree I head to my storage locker to make sure the ornaments and lights are waiting for the tree when it comes home.  Kevin and I will spend a Saturday evening listening to Christmas music (but not the cheesy repetitive annoying songs you hear on soft rock radio for weeks on end and we don't listen to it at home other times) while w...

One of the most common defenses I hear of Donald Trump from his evangelical supporters, and even some of his more casual Christian supporters (those who are not terribly religious in their daily lives, but staunchly defend Christianity and "moral values" even if they rarely set foot in a church) is that he will put a Supreme Court justice on the bench who will support a Christian agenda.  This includes striking down gay rights and overturning Roe v. Wade.  With the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Religious Right began to salivate.  Now that Amy Coney Barrett has replaced her, she is ready to do battle against the movement that allowed her to rise to her current position in the first place.  There was once a time in this country that abortion wasn't on the minds of Protestant evangelicals.  It wasn't part of their political agenda at all.  The pet issue of the Evangelical south was to maintain some forms of segregation, particularly in their private, Chris...

As most people know, I am not a big coffee aficionado.  I liken coffee to vanilla.  Coffee, like vanilla, can be a good flavor enhancer for desserts (but is not a good standalone flavor such as in vanilla ice cream - BORING), but a straight up cup of the stuff can be a bit   unpleasant tasting, just as drinking vanilla extract or eating the contents of a vanilla bean isn't an enjoyable experience. A plain cup of mere coffee is a foul tasting cup of mud.   More importantly, I have never wanted to be the kind of person who is dependent on coffee to get through the day.  I see too many people caught up in the endless cycle of needing that constant jolt to the nervous system to avoid crashing.  I know it's harmless, but to me that's no way to live your life.  I don’t want to live from cup to cup.   It's funny how when I tell people that, they wonder how I function.  Do I drink tea instead?  Am I a soda junkie?  I must get my e...

I suspect some readers will start reading this and feel offended.  Before you take offense, please read this post through to the end . I am a cisgendered woman.  I am a cisgendered woman.  There is only one of me.  If you don't address me as Rachel, you can more generically refer to me as she.  You can point me out as her.  There is no reason to call me they or them, and yet people do. I see memes like this online and it makes me stabby even though the video itself is uplifting and fun. A single cisgendered woman is not a "they". How has it become acceptable for a single person to be referred to as they or them?  These are plural pronouns. My best guess is it started because of confusion over indefinite pronouns.  I remember the day my English teacher talked about this in Eleventh Grade English class with such clarity.  We see words such as "someone" or "somebody" as a group.  We also don’t see a gender in these pronouns.  That’s...

I noticed something about working out at home instead of at the gym.  When I squat I always want to face the window.  When I deadlift, I always face the kitchen.  Why is that?  Am I showing off my butt to the neighbors subconsciously?  I hate it when people call spaghetti "spaghetti noodles".  Do you understand how redundant that is?  You know what I find interesting?  The icon to save files in most software programs is a 3.5" floppy dish graphic.  Do people under the age of 40 even know what that is?  Do young people look at those icons and wonder what they are supposed to represent?  I am sure humans will go extinct one day, but I don't think it's going to be through nuclear war or an asteroid the way most people speculate.  We are a species that is being done in by its own stupidity.  We are dying of our own willful ignorance and denial of facts.  Think about how stupid people are.  We have known for over 60 y...

I suppose the mere fact that I am writing this blog post qualifies me as a "Karen".  That's how far this whole Karen meme has gone. When I first saw Karen memes on social media, I assumed I missed out on some pop culture reference.  For example, I didn't know the origin of "Bye Felicia," for a long time, so I assumed "Karen" was a reference to a movie or TV show I never saw.  I have no problem admitting I'm unhip and not always current with what the kids are watching.  I had to research it.  The results were problematic to me. I learned a "Karen" is a selfish, entitled, woman,  who makes unreasonable demands and will always ask to speak to a higher authority if not given what she wants.  The meme often includes snarky requests to "speak to the manager".  Karen is always white, and often blond with a strange or expensive haircut, and usually middle-aged.  Karen thinks she is superior to you, and she is old enough to think she...

Can someone explain this one to me?   Why do citizen of the United States, citizens who call themselves patriots, care so much about statues of Civil War "heroes" and the Confederate flag?  If you love your country, why are you so passionate about the glorification of such a violent act of treason against our beloved nation?  Why do you care so much about a "country" that was only in existence for five years before it was defeated and became part of the United States again?   Before you say, "Because it's history," tell me this: How many Confederate memorials have you encountered in your life?  Up until I was eighteen years old, I never ventured south of Washington DC.  I never saw a Confederate memorial.  I don't even think I saw a Confederate memorial in any of my travels in the south (or if I saw one, I didn't pay much attention to it).  Would you believe I knew all about the Civil War?  I knew about Robert E. Lee and Stonewall J...

Why do some people feel the need to dictate what others can and can't be offended by?  Just because something doesn't bother you doesn't mean it invalidates the way others feel.  Even if that person's view is unsupported by facts or ethics, the correct reaction is to educate, not berate. In the past three months I have done a lot of quarantine baking.  I baked less than many of my peers, but I'm home much more than I used to be, so I'm baking much more often than I was before the lockdown.  So far I made blondies, scones, sticky buns, sweet biscuits, savory biscuits, a pie (sort of), pizza, cupcakes, and a layer cake.     My upcoming plans for baking projects include sesame bars, tiramisu, and coconut cake. You know what I haven't made?  I haven't made banana bread.  I have not baked a single loaf of banana bread. It's not even on my list.  Am I the only COVID-19 Quarantine baker who hasn't made banana bread yet? You know what is t...

Two years ago I wrote a post on this blog titled What If He Goes Down .  It speculated about the dangerous place this country would become if Trump were removed from office, or not reelected, or imprisoned for treason.  His supporters are militant and don't hesitate to tell the rest of us they are armed. I wondered if there is a risk of armed rebellion if Trump had to leave office. He survived the many investigations, and even an impeachment trial, and now the country faces his possible reelection.  Today I'm not certain the country won’t be in more danger if Trump wins the election than he will be if he loses it. I have plenty of things to fear if he is reelected.  I fear his economy will continue to favor his wealthiest supporters and push more Americans at the bottom into poverty wages with no health insurance.  I fear his constant diplomatic missteps.  I fear his mental instability.  I fear he will trash the planet.  I don't want him reele...

Have you heard the one about how much liberals hate the police?  Liberals hate the police.  Depending on whom you speak to, liberals want to abolish the police and give hugs and therapy to all criminals.  Then there are also the liberals who are terrorist thugs who want to destroy law and order with their own arsenal of bombs and guns. This is why being a liberal sometimes gives me an identity crisis. In the din of angry voices we hear liberals trying to speak up.  "I respect law enforcement," they say.  "Police are heroes.  A few bad apples don't spoil the whole bushel.  I have friends who are police officers.  I have close family members who are police officers.  They are good people.  They only want to serve and protect their communities.  They aren't racists." Their social media feeds are filled with photos of police officers helping others and receiving hugs from civilians. Not every liberal feels this way and that scares...