Happy Mother's Daughter's Day

 Today in the US it's Mother's Day and in Japan it's my daughter's birthday. This is quite a day for reflection and celebration.

When I became a mother and realized that Mother's Day and Mollie's birthday were always going to come at the same time, I chose to make Mother's Day unimportant. To me, I remember many birthday's being ruined as a child because my narcissist mother made it about her. I wanted it to be about Mollie. It was so important that she feel special.

But it was never quite that way. Mollie always celebrated Mother's Day and I've never had her make it less. And it's never taken away from her birthday because it just doesn't work that way. I guess when you're emotionally healthy you can make these choices.

Anyway, Mollie is 23 years old today. She has a party planned for next Saturday which is going to be amazing. She rented a "conference room" which has sitting areas and make-up tables. There will be cosplay, food and alcohol. Karaoke and games and pictures. 

She's going through some challenges right now: she gave notice at work and is currently interviewing. It's going to be okay. And her getting out of a really toxic environment is so important. 

Anyway, it's a special day. Being Mollie's mom has been the most joyful part of my life and still being her mom and sharing her life is wonderful and exciting. I celebrate her daily but on a joint celebration day like today I'm filled with happiness and gratitude.

Let Them Eat Cake

 Why? For God's sakes, why would another person do it? The CEO of Kellogg's tried and hurt his company. And now Haylee Baylee, a former model with 10 million TikTok followers went to the Met Gala dressed as a floral Marie Antoinette, said "let them eat cake" and became the last straw for a whole lot of pissed off Americans.

It was only a day after Kim Kardashian got solidly booed at the Netflix roast of Tom Brady. Not even a full year after Oprah and the Rock's missteps after the Lahaina fires. People are still furious with Elon Musk for destroying Twitter and our government for threatening to Musk TikTok and don't forget Diddy and Ashton and Mila and Lizzo and omg, JLo (who hasn't learned a thing).

So after the Kellogg's cereal killer said Let Them Eat Cereal and people agreed to eat anything but Kellogg's cereal (a boycott still taking place) what did anyone think was going to happen? In this instance: it's now Welcome to the Blocking Party.

The Met Gala was on Monday and today is Saturday and Kim Kardashian has lost 9 million followers. Taylor Swift, Beyonce, all of them... blocked. Mass blockings by the millions of ordinary Americans (who happen to be figuring out how to make their grocery money last longer when the prices have gone up and the content has gone down). 

People are tired. When millionaires are replaced by billionaires. When the housing market is no longer a place where "regular Americans" can buy a home because Zillow has bought entire neighborhoods and are driving property values out of people's reach.

I can hear my brother's voice in my head saying "so what? What does blocking Ryan Gosling on social media do?"

It blocks their access to you. You, yes you, are what they need. They need to get in front of you to sell. They sell themselves. They sell their projects and their products. Selena Gomez can't sell Rare Beauty cosmetics if her customers have blocked access. How do you know about Ryan Gosling's new movie? How do you know that Lady Gaga is selling mascara? You know because they have open channels to tell you.

And the thing is: nobody is saying that blocking Ryan Gosling means you can't go see his new movie. Go see it. Enjoy it. Enjoy the art. Admire the artist's skill. But break this shit down. Taylor Swift writes songs I like. I buy her album. But she doesn't deserve nor has she earned a larger place in my life besides that.

As a society this is something we need to do anyway. We need to stop elevating people who haven't earned it. That whole Kardashian clan needs to go. Someone making a movie shouldn't hold higher esteem in this world than your child's teacher. Taylor Swift can date an entire football team if she wants to and we need to not care.

Celebrity culture is ridiculous. And honestly while our world is burning, we need to step up and start demanding that we are the ones with power and price. If you have $27 million in the bank, you can afford to help Palestinians who are being bombed out of their homes, who have no food, whose families are on the edge of extinction.

When Lizzo is called out for being at the $75,000 a ticket Met Gala and she responds by telling people to give money to a Go Fund Me, no baby. You pay off that Go Fund Me. Pay a few of them off. Stop asking other people to carry your load.

Geez, I could go on so much here. I have been a follower of so many celebrities so much of my life. I need to start unpacking some of that myself. 

However, I unfollowed all the celebs I used to follow (but not my K-Pop boys. I know I should buy I just can't yet.) I was sad saying goodbye to Jack Black. But it's simply time to walk away. 

Let them eat cake. 

Explain the Scam

 So today in my mailbox there were the 10,000 mailings from my insurance company (I swear to whatever, they send 3 mail pieces a week), my Protect Trans Kids t-shirt and a fake diamond ring from China.

I did not order a fake diamond ring. I did not pay for a fake diamond ring. I thought maybe Lea got me a fake diamond ring since we claim to be frouses (friend/spouse) but she said it was not from her. Now was it from Carolyn or Mollie.

Online search turned up ... a scam? Other people have received the same ring with the same information and the same reference number. It says it's a 1 carat moissanite ring and although the stone looks really good, the ring part is like a 2 dollar band.

So it's a scam of some sort. But it's a nice ring. What exactly is the scam? 

Bits and Bobs and Knotty Knobs

It's Saturday morning and I'm trying to psych myself up into productivity. Which isn't really working because it's Saturday morning and I don't have to be productive. I can sit here and sip my iced coffee and let my mind wander.

What I do want to do today is go to a local gym and check it out. I'm feeling really disconnected from my physical self in a lot of ways. I've always been a sedentary person but at 65 it isn't exactly a good thing. In fact, interestingly, my appetite has decreased tremendously but I'm slowly gaining weight because of lack of movement.

I decided to try out a gym. I've gone previous times in my life and have had mixed results. My best experience was at a women's only gym and my worst was at a place that just had too many gym bros. I don't think I'm going to find a place around here that isn't full of men, but if there's a quieter time or a quieter corner...  We'll see. That's what I'm looking for.

And I need to buy shoes. Murder vomited in my shoes that were old, old, old and it made no sense to keep them. But now I own one pair of flip-flops and one pair of crocs. That's um, not feasible.

Let's see: I finished Funny Story by Emily Henry which was really good. The heroine's fiancée left her for the hero's girlfriend and now the 2 of them are living together and pretending to be in love while falling in love. It has great humor, good back stories and a slow burn that sparks perfectly.

Anyway, not much to say/write. Hope to do a little cooking this weekend and laundry. Hope to get shoes. 

Stay safe out there.