An Entry, Mundane.

War is still raging in Ukraine, I fear the West's sanctions and condemnations have only stiffened Putin's resolve and have given him now way out. Although, this entire exercise was sheer madness from the very beginning. There was no reason to invade Ukraine to begin with and now that he's done so, I fear for the Ukrainian people that Putin is committed to see it done to it's bitter and bloody end. 

I finally visited Sally, my 'step-mother' (although I don't really think of her that way), after her hip-replacement surgery. She's in great spirits and seems to be healing nicely. She's currently on oxygen and she had some post-op blistering on her right foot but she can walk around for short bursts without a cane and I was happy to see her recovering so quickly. I may take her reclining chair that she's using right now to sleep in, she can't sleep in the bed yet. Got to see my father as well, he's doing well. Everytime I go he offers me something odd, this time it was a CD player. I declined. But as he often jokes, I'm going to have to go through all of their stuff anyway when they croak (his words). And I invariably look around after he says that and shudder at the thought of sorting through their collection of... things.
As Scarlett O'Hara says, 'I'll think about it tomorrow.'

I am concerned, though, about an incident they both told me about separately. Evidently, some young kids have been harassing them, banging on the house, throwing their basketball on their roof, making mischief. In one incident, the police were called. My father is hot headed, even now in his 80's, and although he's spry he's not a young man. I may have to talk to some AC cop friends to keep an eye on their house. 

The weather has been rollercoasting, each day is completely different, sometimes very warm, sometimes bitterly cold. As much as I love my winter, I wish Mother Nature would make up her mind and stick to one season. Right now it's in the twenties, in two days it will be in the seventies. That's ridiculous. 

I'm reading an article in The New Yorker about an author who's genre is autofiction, a mix of autobiography and fiction. I remember about a decade or so ago that more than a few authors were taken to task for 'embellishing' their autobiographical novels. The truth will out, so to speak. This new-to-me genre is intriguing to me, since I naturally embellish many stories I tell about my past. I'm gay. And a former drag queen. And a bartender. It's my nature. I'm thinking that it's nice cheat to writing that book I've always contemplated but have yet to do. This way, I can say it's autofiction and make half of it up! Win/Win. 

Today finds me hitting the gym again (third time this week!) and taking care of Charity's cats. I also HAVE to go to the bank so I can pay the rent/bills. I can not wait to find a second job, although the weekends have been very good at the Distillery, one bad Saturday could doom me. 

Miss Patti sent over a packet of photos from the early nineties, mostly involving my drag shows, specifically Mortimer's Cafe. That was a time in my life where I never was seen out of drag, especially in the clubs. I've posted a few of them on Facebook and Instagram. The memory lane they took me on was nice to travel down. 

The Present World And My Possible Future

The war in Ukraine is still raging on, the videos and photos coming out of the country are heartbreaking. I fear it's going to get much, much worse before anything changes. What shocks me are all the different reports that the Ukrainian people seem to have been taken by surprise. Not many of them have prepared for an invasion, even with hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers massed at their borders. I suppose I can understand, to a point, we haven't had a European conflict in many decades, and the thought of one seemed almost ludacris. The very fact that Putin has even considered doing this almost unfathomable. And yet, knowing that they were right on the border and weren't leaving would have caused me grave concern. I would have, at the very least, stockpiled food and maybe found a way to get a weapon for protection. 
I don't know. I can hardly imagine something like that happening. Living here in the United States has afforded me a very different outlook on things. Aside from 9/11, and the constant mass shootings all over the country, it's pretty stable here. I've never felt the fear of invasion and I don't know how I would react. 
Probably like those Ukrainians who couldn't conceive of something this terrible happening. 

Back to my back pain; it's not as bad but I am still having a hard time going from sitting to standing. The sitting position seems to lock up my muscles and nerves and when I go to stand, it takes a few minutes to walk without pain. I probably need surgery, I'm sure it's something fixable but that isn't going to happen anytime soon. It hasn't stopped me from going to the gym. My desire to look better is stronger than the pain in my lower back. I may take it easy today, I have to work tonight and being on my feet for so long doesn't do any good, either. 

I keep getting casting notices for productions in NYC and I am itching to go up and act again, but the covid-19 protocols would make it financially improbable for me to do it. The CDC has just issued new guidelines today about masking and such, I'm hoping that, by the time The Gilded Age resumes production, most of the restrictions will be lifted and I can just shoot up to film like I did for Boardwalk Empire and The Knick. My little stint in drag last October made me realize how much I miss performing.

I've never talked about this publicly before but, I'm having a hard time reading. The best way I can explain it is that I've developed a form of dyslexia, words jumble, letters go missing, it's damned frustrating. I don't know what to do about it, or even if it's fixable. I have been reading books since I was a small child, reading was what got me through a very troubled childhood of growing up gay and the painful divorce of my parents. I escaped into the worlds of science fiction and fantasy and now this simple but important pleasure is being robbed of me. I can read, but only for very short bursts. I have so many books waiting for me but they take forever to get through and I'm not retaining the info as well since I can only read small bits at a time. I'll have to research it although that requires... reading! 
And considering I've started practice writing again to maybe, finally, hopefully, write a book, this is going to be a very difficult process. 

I guess it's time to get something done.   

War Is Stupid

 What everyone knew and what was stupidly but seemingly inevitable, Russian 'President' Vladimir Putin has invaded Ukraine overnight and they are now at war. Predictably, the stock markets are plunging, non-military targets are getting hit, people are dying over there, hemming, hawing, and the far-Republican right is... cheering Russia on. Some of the stranger justifications; Russia only has two genders. The Russian army doesn't have sensitivity training. The gays! I'm not sure how they take these leaps from culture wars to actual geo-political warfare where people are dying because some old dude is sad the U.S.S.R. broke into smaller bits but the GOP/far right lost their minds a while ago so justifications are unnecessary and futile. 
My fear, although I may be sounding a bit like Chicken Little, is that this small regional war will somehow morph into the first global conflict of the new millennia. China, thankfully, seems to want to ignore what's going on, and our NATO allies are all aligned, it seems the only people happy this is happening is Putin, Fox News and the red half of the United States. 
In hindsight, assigning red to the political right was prescient. 

I managed to injure my back yesterday at the gym, and I knew right away that I shouldn't do the extra weight but I was feeling my oats and did it anyway. I managed to finish my workout but the pain is noticeable. I'm not completely disabled but don't ask me to pick anything up that I might drop on the floor. It'll either take a while or it'll just have to stay there. 
And yes, I'm still going to the gym today. Tomorrow is a wash-out for the most part so this is my only clear window the get another workout in. I'll rest tomorrow and hopefully be much better by Saturday for an early morning workout before work. Sadly, my little injury forced me to miss that little taste of spring we had yesterday, I pretty much stayed in bed chewing Advil. Meh, summer and the sweltering heat will be here soon enough. 

Joe cleaned the flat yesterday, so, of course, the landlord decided to fix/replace the back screen door. It needed to be done, and the repairman was very polite and efficient, he even fretted about Oliver getting out and running away. Joe reassured him that Oliver knows he's royalty in this house and will never leave willingly! I'm actually happy with the new door, it's got a replaceable screen for summer and he adjusted the closing mechanism to make sure it shuts completely every single time, no more wind gusts blowing it open and bending it our of frame. 
On a side note, I'm do happy the Joe is learning to use the Alexa dot in the kitchen. He's learned to play music and sometimes asks it questions. If you know Joe, you know what a big technological step this is for him. 

My cousin Dawn is in Florida visiting the parents, I had made tentative plans to join her but I'm too poor right now. I really need to find a little mid-week job, I miss having fun money. 

To whomever is reading my little blog, Thanks! and sorry for the drudgery. It'll get better, I promise.