Happy Birthday, Playgirl

My 1st eBook…in your two years of existence, you’ve gone through now four different covers, a slew of freebie giveaways just to get you out there, and I still await your first written review on that jungle site that I really shouldn’t be doing business with anymore. (Last time I checked, all my reviews on that site were all star ratings–no written review just yet.) I’m currently working on a baby sister for you *hint hint*, but I never forget my first-borns. Here’s to you on your special born day, Playgirl!  🥳🥂

And if you want to celebrate, go and give her a read today on any of these sites. She’s also on sale (till end of this month), exclusively at Smashwords! 

Happy Bastille Day 🇫🇷

“Why are today’s French so hell-bent on defending their civil liberties? Perhaps it has something to do with their heritage of overcoming abuse of power to earn their freedom.”Rick Steves, from Rick Steves Europe, 2014

Maybe one day in the not-too-distant future will similar words be said about Americans.

Between this entry and this from two weeks ago, I think I’ll be celebrating special days of countries I admire (and would like to immigrate to if I win a big lottery jackpot) on this blog from here on out. Because what is there to celebrate in the States these days?

I Miss

I miss the days where I can live my life without worrying if my gender, sexual orientation, or/and skin color would make me a prime target for the modern-day Gestapo (even if I was born in the States). 

I miss having a proper, competent government at the federal level, where their social media posts were not written by 4Chan exiles. 

I miss having a competent Supreme Court that didn’t bow down to oligarchs. (Just three judges siding with democracy ain’t enough!) 

I miss the days when politics were boring and not “BREAKING NEWS” every damn day.

I miss knowing a time when the US was not associated with concentration camps.

I miss the days when Nazi/fascism shit was a vile thing to do, and you’d only catch glimpses of it being parodied on shows like South Park

I miss satire being satire and not an actual New York Times headline. 

I miss mainstream media being factual, objective, unbiased, boring, and informative. I think it was before Faux News arrived. 

I also miss news channels not being 24-7. I’m old enough to remember CNN not being all news all the time, and when they aired other programs, like Style With Elsa Klensch. 

I miss seeing people feeling genuine shame when they fucked up. 

I miss the Biden days. And the Obama days. And the Clinton days. And, dare I say it, the W. Bush days. As much as I still loathe W. Bush, things were quite bad then, but not as catastrophically bad as it is now. The person that throws shoes at Putin’s puppet will be considered an international hero. 

I miss the days when the US was one of the places people sought refuge in after fleeing from the violence in their native land. Now, the States is becoming one of those violent countries!

I miss escapism. I’ll get back to that soon. 

I miss destressing at the beach. Crowds, work, and other things are keeping me away from them at the moment. 

*pops a Werthers* 

I miss the days when young girls bought their makeup/skincare at the drugstores and not at Sephora because TikTok told them to go get their makeup/skincare at Sephora. I think I should be glad I grew up with Seventeen magazine (which hyped brands like Cover Girl and Neutrogena to us teens in the 90s) instead of social media. I also grew up in a town where we didn’t have a Sephora or Ulta, and that makeup at Macy’s (which we had) was “for old ladies”. 

I miss life before social media. Blogging here is my tie to the pre-SM days, since blogging existed before SM blew up. Also, I tend to write a lot, and you can only fit so many characters in a SM post. 

I miss pop culture before 2008. I don’t think pop culture really died in 2009, but it started getting mid when the 2010s arrived. I blame that fake AF family. 

I miss it when “celebrity” meant an entertainer or public figure who got famous through talent & hard work and sustained it all over the years, and not some who-dat who has a bunch of social media followers and blew up after one of their TikToks went viral. “Famous influencer”? “TikTok celebrity”?? I don’t know them and get off my lawn. 

I miss craftsmanship in fashion. Some of the outfits I see on fashion runways these days would make Yves Saint Laurent spin in his grave. 

I miss riot grrl rock, new jack swing R&B, and socially conscious messages in mainstream music. 

I miss being a cat mom. Even if I wasn’t thinking about fleeing the country, the rules in my apartment only permit service animals. *pouts* 

I kinda miss hash browns. There’s no low-carb equivalent for it! 

I will not miss the times I’m currently stuck in. I aim to be a survivor of these times, however. 

A Christina Summer

Christina Aguilera on Rolling Stone magazine, Double Issue, July 2000

This cover is oh-so 2000. The first Best New Artist Grammy winner of the new millennium on the cover, wearing low-rise bottoms and a playful smile with a CD player in tow, and headlines on Napster (IYKYK) and Slipknot. And if you’re wondering, yes, a Boy Scout can be gay. 

Seeing that Christina has been reviving her Genie In A Bottle days lately, from bringing back her wardrobe from that era to revamping her debut album on its 25th anniversary last year, I wonder if she’ll do something for the 25th anniversary of her first Rolling Stone cover this month.

Also, I want her shirt! 

Birth Month Sale!

Some happy news for fans of The Playgirl: my eBook will be part of Smashwords’ Summer/Winter sale! Throughout all of July, you can get a copy of it for half-off its original sale price! (It’s fitting that the sale takes place on her birth month.) The sale is exclusive to Smashwords.com, and if you’re up for a good modern-day naughty,  soap opera-esque drama that’s also LGBTQ+ & POC-friendly, get your copy today!

***Link to my eBook***