We went to Costco on Saturday, a very bad idea, although Costco was handling the crowd pretty well — all checkout lanes open, and as always, the ruckus was in the fresh-foods section, where people were lined up for Lunch at Costco, i.e. all the samples they were giving out.
To be sure, one of those people was me, although only in the less-busy stations. I ate a bite of plant-based pasta, some sort of savory pastry, chicken Alfredo and cherry cheesecake. Mea culpa.
That said, it was kinda festive, because everyone, and I mean everyone except the Derringers, was outfitted in festive Detroit Lions merch, and spirits were high. Go Lions! We’re Super Bowl-bound!
Alas, that didn’t work out. This is why I, generally speaking, don’t follow sports. Isn’t life full of enough disappointment? Isn’t the idea of facing the next four years misery enough? Do we have to layer our crushing moods like a party dip? I say leave that to others. In return, I promise I won’t bandwagon when your team is having a great year.
This was the Costco in Macomb County, i.e. Trump country, so it’s possible all the smiles and go-teams were also about Monday’s events, and I’m not talking about the King holiday. Perhaps it just wore Lions merch instead of MAGA hats. Entirely possible, but at this point I don’t care. I put down the NYT in despair today, unable to read anything more troubling than a short piece on Jamie Leigh Curtis. But it won’t last. I’m only practicing self-care, and only for a while.
This very interesting data tool shows that I’m among friends in my precinct — Harris by 28 — and the metro area in general is still blue enough for comfort. For now. Anyway, I ain’t giving up.
That said, if you’re feeling fragile at the moment, you probably don’t want to read this, but here’s a taste. It’s about Trump’s phone call with the Danish prime minister last week:
In private discussions, the adjective that was most frequently used to describe the Trump phone call was rough. The verb most frequently used was threaten. The reaction most frequently expressed was confusion. Trump made it clear to Frederiksen that he is serious about Greenland: He sees it, apparently, as a real-estate deal. But Greenland is not a beachfront property. The world’s largest island is an autonomous territory of Denmark, inhabited by people who are Danish citizens, vote in Danish elections, and have representatives in the Danish Parliament. Denmark also has politics, and a Danish prime minister cannot sell Greenland any more than an American president can sell Florida.
At the same time, Denmark is also a country whose global companies—among them Lego, the shipping giant Maersk, and Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic—do billions of dollars worth of trade with the United States, and have major American investments too. They thought these were positive aspects of the Danish-American relationship. Denmark and the United States are also founding members of NATO, and Danish leaders would be forgiven for believing that this matters in Washington too. Instead, these links turn out to be a vulnerability. On Thursday afternoon Frederiksen emerged and, flanked by her foreign minister and her defense minister, made a statement. “It has been suggested from the American side,” she said, “that unfortunately a situation may arise where we work less together than we do today in the economic area.”
If you voted for this, then, well, you voted for this.
I will be practicing self-care all day Monday, i.e. not watching the new administration goose-stepping into the White House. If anything happens, I’ll hear about it later and there will be multiple camera angles. My house needs cleaning. That’s what I’ll be doing. How about you?
David C said on January 19, 2025 at 11:26 am
My neighborhood was +16 for Kamala but was +21 for Biden. So good, but not great.
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susan said on January 19, 2025 at 11:53 am
Music. I will be listening to Schubert piano & chamber… Dvorak chamber….Beethoven chamber & piano….maybe The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart edition
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jim h said on January 19, 2025 at 1:46 pm
A brief call back to the Neil Gaiman allegations. As background, growing up I loved Bill Cosby records, and saw him in performance. Anyone who is a serious fan of someone’s work struggle when that person is revealed o have done awful things (Cosby, Alice Munro) or is alleged to have done so (Gaiman). I found this NPR essay helpful in my own struggles with such art. https://www.npr.org/2025/01/18/nx-s1-5265623/neil-gaiman-sexual-abuse-allegations
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Julie Robinson said on January 19, 2025 at 1:46 pm
Monday mornings are spent at our trainer’s, where she will work us hard enough to get some good endorphins. Then we’re going to IKEA, which I no longer love, but I do like their pegboard systems. Tomorrow is the last day of the sale. I’ve done a reorg of my tiny sewing area, and a new Skadis is just what I need.
Sitting at my machine with music will be good for me, and I’m determined to carve out some time. The local animal rescue always needs mats for cages, so I won’t just be indulging myself. Being a helper also lifts my own spirits.
Let’s remember it’s MLK day too. Reading his words is good for the soul.
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Jeff Borden said on January 19, 2025 at 2:10 pm
Music, music, music for me tomorrow.
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Jakash said on January 19, 2025 at 2:37 pm
I realize that it’s not until long after the primary goose-stepping will have been avoided, but it’s almost as if nobody cares that there’s a much bigger football game tomorrow night than anything taking place in the NFL this weekend.
Teams supported by two of the most obnoxious fan bases in the country face off. (Though selecting the most obnoxious fan base among college sports followers is a fool’s errand, needless to say.)
As a one-time altar boy who grew up in Ohio, I’m a lifelong supporter of both Notre Dame and Ohio State, so I’ll be happy either way. Though the Irish have suffered through a much more lengthy and bitter drought to get here and upsetting the Buckeyes, who are 8 or 9 point favorites, would be quite the way to end it.
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Dorothy said on January 19, 2025 at 2:42 pm
I must be in some kind of fugue state these day. On my way out of Kroger I barely even registered that the guy coming toward me was wearing a MAGA hat. He was probably at least 5 or 10 years older than me. I used to glare at anyone I passed by who was decked out in that identifier. Today I just blew past him.
Jamie Lee’s next movie is another one I want to see before it disappears. I have heard raves about her performance and also Pamela Anderson’s. Did anyone watch a series on Netflix called Sticky? Jamie Lee suggested Margo Martindale for the lead role, and Jamie has a small part in it, too. We did and I wasn’t bowled over by it. Thought it was just okay.
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Michael said on January 19, 2025 at 3:32 pm
Sticky was a disappointment. Peak Margo Martindale is still Justified s. 2.
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nancy said on January 19, 2025 at 3:47 pm
So much of what’s on Netflix these days is just OK. It’s like they’re aiming for the just-OK demographic that half-watches while folding laundry or cooking. Nothing too challenging.
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alex said on January 19, 2025 at 4:10 pm
The data tool has no data from my ZIP code or even from my entire state. But I’m happy to report that some neighbors I wasn’t sure about told us that they didn’t vote for Trump and are as anxious about things as we are.
My hubby’s going to be home all week after two weeks on the road, and I’ve got home repairs/improvements planned for the day tomorrow, and possibly making a big dinner and having family over.
I went and got Prime TV and Paramount Plus with Showtime but I click through it all just like I did back when I had cable, landing on nothing I like and regretting the time I’ve wasted even trying to find something to watch. What an assortment of dreck.
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tajalli said on January 19, 2025 at 4:52 pm
The painting/water-proofing that began Oct 30 has finally finished so I’ve begun the process of moving my plants back out onto the balcony from the kitchen floor where they were blocking everything, particularly my sewing and general projects table.
On the upside, the snow peas began germinating while inside and the babies are now outside again. Gave away 5 pots of ferns used as a screen. Will probably replace them with some seasonal daikon and bougainvillea cuttings in peach and raspberry.
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Julie Robinson said on January 19, 2025 at 5:51 pm
Good idea, tajalli, let’s all talk about our home improvement projects. We just finished, and when I say we, I actually mean our handyman*, a lanai and pool deck refresh. The lanai ceiling needed a new coat of stain, and the pool deck needed its paint redone. Parts were peeling off and one area was still bare concrete. You use a very pricey paint with texture and cooling properties.
The important part of all this is that the kitties and doggy had to stay inside for two whole weeks while all this was happening/setting up/drying, and much mischief was made whilst energy couldn’t be burned off by running around outside. They kitties especially missed their daily gecko intake, so have had to triple up since then. They torment the geckos, bring them inside to eat the head, then barf them back up. Oh how we’ve missed it. Oh, and the dog missed crapping on the concrete so she did it inside, lol.
*Our handyman is actually an architect from Colombia, who is here legally but was unable to pass the licensure exam, is a true gem. Sometimes it takes three of us to understand what he’s saying, but he always has better ideas of how to fix something, and we’ve decided home repairs is not how we want to spend our retirement. The downside is that he works on mañana time.
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Deborah said on January 19, 2025 at 6:21 pm
The grifting is outrageous, there’s a new bitcoin scam called $Melania. I read that as Smellania. The corruption is going to be so horrendous. I mean the guy has total immunity, he’s going to get away with murder and the GOP will be twiddling their thumbs or getting away with murder themselves.
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SusanG said on January 19, 2025 at 6:47 pm
In this time of despair, I’ve cleaned and organized closets and drawers. Tomorrow I’m going bougie prepper. I’m making dark rye bread, sesame butter, Martha Stewart’s olive oil granola and homemade yogurt. The new polar vortex is coming, so it’s going to be too cold to walk the dogs. Think I’ll take them for a ride.
A friend in Indianapolis told me that St. Monica’s (a Catholic Church with predominantly Afro-American parishioners) is holding a special service for those who are having trouble with what is about to come.
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Carter Cleland said on January 19, 2025 at 9:30 pm
Alex @ 16, and all, Try and screen Jimmy Carter: Rock N’ Roll President, as I suggested in an earlier post. It’s on MAX and AppleTV for sure, and possibly on Prime, Kanopy, and others. Great music and great memories of an honest, patriotic American. Perfect antidote to the inauspicious inaugural.
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NancyF said on January 19, 2025 at 9:44 pm
Dorothy @7 et al: “The Last Showgirl” is excellent, with strong performances by Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, and the supporting cast. Bonus: It’s a tight 89 minutes, unlike some of the bloated new releases I won’t name here.
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