The Internet Has Won, I'm DeFeated.

 I wrote this back on June 21 after we attended the Gay Men's Chorus. You may find it amusing. Or you will conclude that I've lost my mental faculties.

I don't consider myself completely technologically challenged but I had a nightmare of a time trying to purchase tickets to the Gay Men's Chorus for tomorrow evening. I wasn't sure if I already had an "account" with the theater so I tried opening one. 

Had to identify the pictures with motorcycles. I clicked on a wrong square by mistake. Then had to identify all the squares with things made by humans. So that got me to the log in screen. "That email is already associated with an account" Tried logging in with that email but didn't remember the password (it's been years). "Incorrect password. Create new password." 

Tried creating a new password. "Password must be at least 13 characters, an upper case and lower case and a number and a symbol. Typed it in. Kept getting incorrect password message. There was no little eyeball to click on to see what I was doing/typing wrong. Closed the screen. 

Had to start over again. "Select the squares with images similar to the one at the top" I selected all the basketballs. Was that blurry squirrel holding a basketball or is he holding an acorn? It must be an acorn. Wrong. 

"Select the squares with images similar to the one at the top" Ah, the squirrels again. I got this. So I clicked on all the pictures of basketballs and squirrels with basketballs. 

"Choose a new password" I typed in very carefully, then realized the caps lock was on. WELL IF YOU TICKET PEOPLE HAD PUT A WAY FOR ME TO ACTUALLY SEE WHAT I WAS TYPING I WOULD HAVE CAUGHT THE CAPS LOCK!!! 

For your security, an eight digit security verification code will be sent to the email address you supplied. No email. Went back to the previous screen. Clicked on send code again. Two emails arrived with codes. Entered the newest code. 

"Welcome to your account." Meanwhile other windows are popping up asking if I want to save this username and password. Clicked them away. Not now. So I navigated to the show I wanted to buy tickets for and finally got to where I could select our seats. But the thingy went round and round and round - no seat selection screen. 

Clicked on the back button. "Click here and we will assign the best available seats." Click. Click to view price. Click to continue. Click to view cart. Where is the pay now? 

Went back to previous screen to see if I missed something. Selected the tickets again. "Continue" Now I have selected 4 tickets instead of 2. Delete 2 tickets. Continue to cart. Two tickets plus fees. OK. Continue to check out. 

Enter credit card information. Did something wrong. Credit card info disappeared. 

Entered credit card again. (I'm sure there was another security verification code but I really can't remember as I was so angry and frustrated. Continue. Order Confirmation: Customer number etc. Then this cryptic note: 

"If you selected digital tickets as your delivery method (default option) you can access your tickets within minutes after purchasing them at (website) Log in with the same email and password you use for (the theater) account, or you can request a one time access code via email. From there you can share tickets with your guests and save the tickets to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet." 

I DON'T HAVE APPLE WALLET OR GOOGLE WALLET! 

I went to the ticket website to access my tickets and viewed the tickets. They had all the info except a QR Code and this Note: "Your refreshing QR code will display at 5:30 PM on Sat, June 20, 2026."

DISPLAY WHERE? I AM NOT GOING TO TRY TO ACCESS MY ACCOUNT ON MY PHONE! I WILL BE AT DINNER AT 5:30 AND WON'T HAVE MY COMPUTER AND PRINTER. 

I printed EVERYTHING out (5 yes FIVE pages but are any of them valid tickets? NO.) By this point I had cursed, swore, screamed and yelled so loud they could have heard me across town. 

It was more than an hour trying to buy two tickets. NEVER AGAIN. 

I tried calling the Box Office to make sure I could use my receipt and print outs, but of course they were closed for the holiday Juneteenth. 

I can go on other websites, select an item, place it in the cart, choose "Pay Now", enter my credit card and I'm DONE. No pictures of motorcycles, or basketballs, or squirrels holding basketballs that look like acorns, no security verification codes, no QR codes no Apple Wallets or Google Wallets. 

This whole process was ridiculous and a waste of time. And dare I say “PRETENTIOUS".

P.S. Even my Credit Union doesn’t have this many “Security Verification Codes” … I can pay bills in minutes without these hassles. I can order groceries at Smith’s hassle free and pick up within hours. I can go to a website I’ve never used, order t-shirts and check out with my credit card, no security codes or verification “select the pictures” puzzles. UGH!

Happy Pride MONTH

 

Memorial Service and Mexican Food

 Hubs and I went to a memorial service of a friend today. He was just nine months older than me. He and his husband had been together for 46 years. It was love at first sight for both of them. He had been married to a woman prior to meeting his husband and had children. His ex-wife and children remained a part of his and his husband’s life as did his grandchildren, nieces and nephews and great-grand children.

He had a business for many years, was a hospice volunteer during the height of the AIDS crisis, worked with special education students and made friends in many places throughout the country. We did not know them when they were young and I would not have recognized either of them from the old photos being shown on the monitor above the remains at the funeral chapel.

There were 75 or more people at the memorial. Several offered eulogies. Seems everyone loved, cherished and admired him. If they had been Catholics, they would have made him a Saint right then and there.

I could not help but imagine my own memorial (which I hope not to have). There might be a handful of friends, maybe a relative or two. I’ve never been that close to my brother (we are 6 years apart) or with my niece and nephew, for whatever reason. My parents and sister, aunts and uncles and many of my cousins are deceased.

I’m not sure who would eulogize me, perhaps my husband, brother or an acquaintance. They would use words like: “too sensitive” “cranky” “stubborn” “hot-headed” “anxious” “bipolar” “reclusive” “quick to curse and swear” “hated crowds” “hates talking on the phone” “impatient” “opinionated” “hates Mexican food”.

They would struggle to find some positive attributes: “a pretty good husband” “a good cook” “an interesting sense of humor” “a good writer” “liked the beach and the ocean” and would try to make my work history sound better by not mentioning the quits and fireds: “worked with children with behavioral problems” “worked in HIV/AIDS health care” “ran a group for LGBTQ young people” “wrote grants for nonprofits”.

All in all they would be remembering me in all my earthy, irreverent humanity, not as a saintly person who had led a particularly “heroically virtuous life, or martyred for the faith, or worthy of imitation.”
So the memorial was not only thought provoking for me but, as I am just about at the edge of the grave myself, somewhat personally depressing.

To make matters worse we were all invited to a restaurant for luncheon buffet: chicken and beef enchiladas, rice, beans, sopapillas. The sopapillas were ok.

Our Next President?

 https://youtube.com/live/MCc-ipWVShY?si=RJG_KWmcZ1AqGuZr

Country Joe Dead at 84 "What Are We Fightin' For?"

 Country Joe has died at age 84 from complications of Parkinson's. Condolences to all his family and friends everywhere.

I can't say he or the Fish were among my favorite singers back in the 60s but I do remember his anti-war protest song. Now the regime is hinting at reinstating the draft so this will be relevant once again.

 In the spirit of the song and it's anti-establishment rhetoric, I've taken some liberty to update "Vietnam" to "old Iran" "commie" to "Jihadi".  We are back to where we started...but worse.

Well come on all of you big strong men, Uncle Sam needs your help again,
he got himself in a terrible jam, way down yonder in OLD IRAN,
put down your books and pick up a gun, we're gunna have a whole lotta fun.

CHORUS
and its 1,2,3 what are we fightin for?
don't ask me i don't give a damn, the next stop is OLD IRAN
and its 5,6,7 open up the pearly gates. 

Well there aint no time to wonder why...WHOPEE we're all gunna die.

now come on wall street don't be slow, why man this's war a-go-go,
there's plenty good money to be made, supplyin' the army with the tools of the trade,
just hope and pray that when they drop the bomb, they drop it on the OLD IRAN.

CHORUS

now come on generals lets move fast, your big chance is here at last.
nite you go out and get those guys cuz the only good Jihadi is one that's dead,
you know that peace can only be won, when you blow em all to kingdom come.


CHORUS

now come on mothers throughout the land, pack your boys off to OLD IRAN
come on fathers don't hesitate, send your sons off before its too late,
be the first one on your block, to have your boy come home in a box

CHORUS  

There’s No Re-wind.

And there's also this tidbit about Hegseth's religious warmongering:

U.S. Troops Were Told Iran War Is for “Armageddon,” Return of Jesus

 https://jonathanlarsen.substack.com/p/us-troops-were-told-iran-war-is-for?utm_medium=ios

Back So Soon?

 I guess I will have to eat my words now because I think this is too good not to pass on. 

Never say never.

 

And for some contrast, I will share these thoughts: 

We watched “The Golden Girls 40 Years of Laughter and Friendship” last night. It was an ABC special that we TiVo-ed when it aired back in November I believe. It actually brought tears to my eyes and not from laughter.

What I was feeling was grief. Not necessarily grief for the loss of the wonderful women who stared in the show, but more for the times in which the show took place. We were fighting for our rights and freedom and our lives - and we were invincible and strong and steadfast. And as difficult as things were for us and others we were winning and making progress. We were high on our pride and confidence.

Today is dark with an evil my generation has not seen, not even during the height of the AIDS crisis and there certainly was evil directed at us then.

Today we are on the verge of losing it all.

I grieve for what we have already lost; I grieve for those happier times and the laughter; and I grieve for what is being destroyed by our own government. I grieve for the loss of innocence and safety and reality as we knew it.

We have a disease that even the Golden Girls cannot cure.

Update

 I haven't been posting and my checking in on other blogs has been sporadic. Not for any particular reason except I probably spend too much time on JMG and YouTube and putting myself together in the morning. 

After the morning oblations and hearing aids and exercises for the knee and shoulder and whatever ails me at the moment (I am not one for exercises) and doctor, dentist, pharmacy trips and grocery shopping and cooking and laundry....And the fact that I've kind of run out of things to talk about: New Mexico is monotonous, and nothing of importance has happened (or if it did, it wasn't that interesting), family, food, friends, hubby, rants, politics, outrage, LGBTQ, even the trip to California this past September - I've been there, done that.  I've written it all before. 

To take it one step further, I'm going through Reluctant Rebel past posts from the oldest to newest, saving what I like in a separate file and reverting them all to "draft" status. Eventually I will probably be deleting the entire blog for good. Just so you won't wonder what happened to me...

There is a slogan that reminds hikers to "Leave No Trace".  As a hiker on this earth, I'm afraid that will be impossible, but as a hiker on this internet thing, perhaps I will leave behind fewer breadcrumbs and so be a bit harder to find.

I will leave you with this:

May we all survive the insanity of these frightening and horrific times. I appreciate all of you, your comments, your stopping by now and then, and visiting you on your own Blogs. 

Thank you all and PEACE, my friends. 

Wall Art and Other Stuff

Just a post about nothing serious. 

Neither Leon nor I are sophisticated art collectors by any stretch of the meaning of those words. Most of the "art" on our walls is by family members, some by me, some from thrift stores or flea markets, some were gifts, some are photos and others actually t-shirts and postcards and stuff from the junk drawer. 

Here, in no particular order, are the fine art items from our gallery (house) walls. Complete with reflections on the glass or plastic in the frames.

An ink drawing I did circa 1986, Cape Cod, MA

A photo of Nubble Lighthouse Leon bought in Maine

A photo I took of the Pismo Dunes 2017

A photo I took of the Tidal Marsh, Provincetown, Cape Cod, MA

A wool weaving by Trujillo's NM

A wool weaving by Truillo's NM

A garage sale item on our back deck

One of those things Leon had to have from some artsy store

I think this came from Re-Store or a thrift shop

We bought this at an antique/flea market (it's out in the courtyard and it's beginning to chip)

I bought this at an estate sale after swearing I never buy stuff and was just going to "look" around.

My dad painted this in 1947

Dad painted this around a magazine picture in the center - as an art project at the Senior Citizen Center 

A blurry print of someplace in Paris?

William Michael Harnett "Just Dessert" Print that I got from Aunt Mary's estate

 

 

     On the internet a digital print of this is under $5 and a framed one like this goes for $125 up to $295

Italian cypress from a thrift shop

My dad painted this in 1928 at the age of 14

My dad painted this in 1933 (I always found this one somewhat intriguing) 

Another of dad's senior citizen art class paintings

This was a gift from neighbors. Signed Susan Birdsong

This was a fading Black and White Photo poster that I painted over with acrylics many years ago.  I couldn't do this again if my life depended on it

                                        

Another gift from a neighbor "Blue Door" signed Wolly Salsberg (?)

                                     A commissioned work from a dog owner friend, Dottie in CT.                             Our dog Benni and Dottie's dog Katija "Best Friends" Signed Nicoletta Poli

 

                                                    

Another of dad's senior art class paintings. Looks like San Luis Obispo CA or any other mission church.

                                   

A gift from Leon's mom that graces the bathroom wall

Photos from Ptown the also inbathroom

A t-shirt that was almost worn out

An artsy-craftsy thingy

Just a postcard and sunglasses (I love the beach, don'tcha know)

Found this card of Gardner McKay (who I had the hots for when I was like 12 or 14) at a flea market

The card I got for Leon when we got our first camper (no more tents)

The logo from a t-shirt

A photo of the "ruins" of Provincetown Theatre

A Provincetown photo 

A photo of a display in a shop window, Provincetown

A photo of a car sticker and reflection of Provincetown architecture

Photo, lone sailboat, Provinctown

A collection of "Jazz" postcards from New Orleans I tediously framed

Junk drawer junk in clear acrylic

Leon bought this years ago. A photo montage(?) of when they imploded some building in Hartford, CT

A t-shirt I got in Rome, 1968 "Romulus, Remus and the Wolf, S.P.Q.R". (Senatus PopulusQue Romanus)

My sister Sr. MaryAnn's watercolor of a greenhouse at the convent where she last lived

Leon and me and Benni painted by Leon's sister Brenda

Bought these prints in Rome 1968 and framed them

Some thrift shop wall art

Lisa Minelli in Cabaret painted by my brother Mike

"Cars in Parking Lot at Sunset" Another of dad's senior citizen paintings. Leon loves it because of the cars

I think this print is of Morro Bay. Leon bought it or acquired it.

Another of dad's senior paintings. I love the beach.

Senior citizen Dad painted this from a picture in National Geographic, I think. Something weird with the bridge railing.