UpperWestside

I walked out about 45-1 hour in. This was, well, this was a movie that should never have been made. I really Sam Rockwell so it was not fun walking out of a movie he’s in. I am loathe to criticize movies as a whole because not everyone likes the same kind of style of movie or genre, but this was a trainwreck of a movie from what I watched.

Last night while I was at work one of the people I work with received a call. He immediately looked crushed. I asked him what happened and he said that the woman who helped raised him, his grandmother, passed away. It seemed like this was completely unexpected. All I knew to do was give him a hug and let him cry for awhile. I am not much on hugs and physical contact with people, but I can recognize when someone really needs that. I got his number and told him to just text or call to talk. His mom and dad had no part in his upbringing and it was an aunt and uncle and grandmother who raised him. I worry about him because I do not want him to go overboard and drink heavily. I know he had one last night before he left. I just told him to try and gather his thoughts and grieve for as long as he wants in whatever way he wants. He’s a really good guy, but this just hit him like a rock.

https://defector.com/point-counterpoint-senator-kyrsten-sinema-retires I have met one of the two authors of this piece at Defector’s annual birthday celebration. David Roth would fit in around here. He is someone that I am sure others read with their Defector subscription. It’s mostly sports, but he’s a great read on any topic he writes about, even when it’s his Mets failing him again. Albert Burneko is also a great read. That man knows a con artist since he’s a fan of all the Washington sports teams.

I feel for your cousin as no one should ever be in that position. I hope that he gets some good guidance through what will be some rough sailing. Man that’s so hard to read and I really feel sad for him right now. Better days will eventually come, but right now that doesn’t help him much. Be there for him and call him regularly to give him an ear that’ll listen to him.

I realize everyone can score in the NBA now, but getting beat by 52 points means you are just not really trying. I do not watch the NBA like I once did due to other interests in life, but man lopsided beatdowns like this seem far more common now.

I went to a 2am showing on opening night because I worked late. Seeing this in IMAX is definitely the way to do it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the pacing was good. The battle scenes were really, really well done. Javier Bardem is still really cool in whatever he does and his character is my favorite. A manager at work started reading the Dune books again (big sci-fi fan apparently) because myself and another co-worker read a lot of books in general (said he felt like he should be reading something because of how much we read) and I told him to go see the movie as it wouldn’t disappoint. If you have an aversion to long movies just stay home. It’ll save you having to come here to complain about three hours you had to spend around people in a theater. If you can handle sitting for three hours then go see this and enjoy a wonderful movie.

Well he told me his wife enjoys the macabre so it fits her personality. Honestly the book was really engaging and written in a way that does make me eventually want to reread it myself. Showing the various iterations of the plague and how and where they originated (And still survive at) made for some pretty compelling storytelling. So many different things had to happen all at once for the plague to be as deadly as it was. It was a perfect storm of unfortunate events. Again this is outside of my normal reading, but I’m glad I read it and learned a good bit about a really brutal period of history.

A manager at work recommended this book to me recently. He lent me the copy that he said his wife reads at least once a year. It’s outside of what I normally read about, but I found it really interesting and engaging to read. I see why his wife enjoys reading it regularly. I would recommend this one, especially when thinking about what we went through with COVID.

It is. Only one stop across. She has a waterfront apartment last I remember. She grew up in Jersey from the time her parents moved the family from Nigeria to the US when she was 7. She still has one of the best stories I’ve ever heard about being an undocumented immigrant and not realizing it until she needed to apply for college. Work wise she was completely stressed by her old job that she was at for several years. Loved the patients she had, but the stress of pushing people in and out so quickly wore on her a whole bunch it seemed.

I know a pediatrician who got completely fed up with overbooking at a hospital she worked for in New Jersey. She left and last I know she was working in a hospital in Manhattan in a newborn ward and also teaches there as well. She enjoys that more than the constantly overbooked days she had before. Still lives in Weehawken I believe and makes the commute over here.

Ukraine will continue to be supplied by us and other NATO countries. What would be of zero shock to me is that eventually we do not just have the CIA and Special OPS being the only US presence there. I think war is a terrible thing, but we’ve crossed a bridge in this situation to where we are not going to let Ukraine fall.

I am glad this was successful. We need to be doing more of this as a country because it promotes and produces highly intelligent people who push us forward into a hopefully better future. I have no doubt that we have people who want to contribute their expertise in science and space to the greater good, but they need ample opportunities to be able to do that.

I completely agree with relating to complete strangers through a sporting event, perhaps a music festival or even ComicCon or something of that nature. You have an opportunity to open up about your life to someone you did not know prior to that moment because you each have a common interest. The common interest here is everyone listening to each other as we share in our hardships and some of the joys in life as well. Please continue to vent and share all that you want to. We may not all respond with a text here because sometimes words will not suffice. We’re here for you and if you want to chat off of here I believe that many of us will gladly do that. Hope the traffic was better today for you.

The Solomon Islands can still attest to this 80 years later.

Yesterday I wanted to watch a movie because I had a day off so I thought about seeing the new movie about Bob Marley. While I’m scrolling through the movies that were showing I see a movie that was a foreign film called Perfect Days. It is from Japan and focuses on a man’s everyday life cleaning toilets in Tokyo. I know that probably doesn’t sound like something that anyone would rush out to see, but that wasn’t the point of the movie. The focus was on living in the now. A quote from a scene in it was “Now is now. Next time is next time.” I wasn’t expecting to be able to see such a beautiful movie yesterday, but this was so serene and peaceful. I mention it here because I have read what @Doc Daneeka has shared about losing the love of his life. I cannot fathom that level of hurt and I am incredibly sorry your time was cut so short with such an amazing person. Seeing this movie was a beautiful two hours. When your mind is ready to let go for a bit I would suggest watching this just for the peace and calm it might at least temporarily bring you. I would suggest it to everyone else here as well. Films can be so powerful and great reminders of our own lives.

When I got the diagnosis 11 years ago that I had inherited gout, my childhood doctor prescribed me hydrocodone. He gave me a 30 pill bottle with a refill. Best two months of sleep I had in my life up to that point. Never took them again after that. Had a friend try to buy them from me, but I quickly said no. I hope for a speedy recovery for your son and that he makes it home safe and sound.

Texas, Ohio, Florida and Wisconsin are definitely all on point. Some pretty funny ones interspersed in there overall.

He did. Would almost have wanted to ask him about that movie when I worked where he goes for his weekly breakfast.

They have Mahomes. That automatically makes them a favorite to win every single year until he retires. A all-time great QB can cover a multitude of issues a team can encounter.

I notice this A LOT, but again I spend an inordinate amount of time looking at prices and portion sizes in grocery stores so I instantly recognize when companies do this. I am glad the President is filling in the gap here to do something to stop this farce.

You don’t have many options in NYC to pay less. The grocery stores geared toward Hispanics gouge the most here charging right now 5 or 6 dollars for a dozen. They do it because they know their customers do not have the means to travel somewhere cheaper or to a place where the employees also speak the language. It’s infuriating how these people are kept poor on purpose.

The Knicks seem like they have a pretty deep roster now. It is great for the NBA that the Knicks are both good and have a group of guys that are likeable as well. Jalen Brunson is just a force of nature and gosh his leadership qualities are incredible. Absolutely the perfect point guard for Thibodeaux.

My mother recently was able to get off the medication she has been taking for five plus years for chronic myeloid leukemia. She will get checked out every three months or so to see if she needs to go back on it. The biggest benefit for her is she no longer has issues with going to the bathroom constantly. It was hard to be able to take her to do things when she would visit New York because of that. Now she can exercise more again and not feel so worn down. I’m happy for her because she should get to enjoy her two grandkids (Brother is raising his family in the same house our parents built for us 40 years ago.) without having to go through all of the extra stuff that medication put her through. When I call to talk to her in the evenings on FaceTime you can see a noticeable difference in her energy level, which is pretty awesome.

Oh you can count on a few Trumpers in your building.

Where I live there’s no chance of violence. God willing I’ll be living in the Pacific at this time next year so I can be as far away from this current brand of crazy as possible. I honestly would not care if I ever set foot in the continental US again once I am gone. Edit: Biden will be re-elected, but I am just ready to be away from the mainland.