Tag / Rants!

by Lexine

Tuesday Random Thoughts

I had to move this little rant from my previous entry as I feel like it distracts from the poem, but I still stand by this:

I’m pretty disappointed over the absence of posts condemning the attacks from some so-called “pro-Democracy”/”anti-Trump” accounts on Bluesky. Not even a repost from those accounts that condemned the attacks! I work Sundays and had a long, busy AF day at work, yet I managed to repost some things (I legit didn’t have the words at the time), throw up this entry, and also check in on a very good friend of mine who happens to be Jewish. Those same accounts were more eager to repost about the hero of the shooting and the awful deaths of Rob Reiner and his wife. Reiner is a legendary director no question, and his death was horrific…but–and you’ll hate me for reminding you this awful truth–he also called for Biden to step down last year. (And Biden still gave him grace.) Those accounts can keep blabbering about how shitty Trump is (what’s new) and demand to “release the Epstein files now!”, but them staying silent on the latest antisemitic incident in Australia says a LOT. You cannot be “for peace” or “kindness” in your bios and straight-up ignore the senseless murders of a community that continues to go through more hell thanks to your blatant/low-key antisemitism.

***Not from the rant, but it’s a sad coincidence that the Democratic party’s two biggest voting blocs (black people and Jewish people) have also been two of the most-targeted communities this year, whether it’s in the job market, vile malpractice in healthcare, or from more violent attacks. Going into 2026 and the midterms, I’m making sure the candidate I vote for fully supports (among other things) the black and Jewish (and the LGBTQ+) communities.

*******

If I could give pop culture a New Year’s resolution for 2026, it’s to stop making Sydney Sweeney happen. She’s unapologetically MAGA and I hear she’s wooden in her acting. I am not surprised another mid AF blonde girl has gotten more shine than deserved, but couldn’t Hollywood hype up a boring blonde who’s not MAGA?

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It’s now less than 10 days till Christmas?!

One weird way I stay sane during the holidays: not listening to almost all Christmas songs! Having worked in retail a long time ago, an Xmas song during the holidays can be triggering. I feel for those who work in retail and have been subjected to non-stop Xmas-themed aural assaults since November (on top of dealing with rude/foolish customers and demanding bosses/supervisors and working long hours).

I say “almost all” as there are some Xmas songs I truly enjoy, but I’ll post them in another entry.

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Yes, I’ve been doing Duolingo for a year now, please clap. No, I doubt I’ll make it two years. My subscription ends in a few weeks, and with the app’s admitted use of AI and inconsistencies with translations, I’m most likely going to delete that damn owl off my phone. I originally used it to brush up on my Spanish that I thought I’d be using for a job opportunity I was interested a year ago, but those plans fell apart. Yet I still kept using the app–the game-ification of it can be addicting. While sé cómo hablar algo de español, it’s not something I need to use in my day job right now, and it’s also been cutting into my book-writing time.

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Speaking of my work, my eBook is still on sale at Smashwords! Now until Jan. 1st!

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Controversial opinion, but Sephora >>> Ulta because Ulta carries some brands associated with toxic, shitty celebs. I went to an Ulta yesterday and the very first things I saw were displays of perfumes featuring a plastic grifter and that groomer Drake. I ended up going to a Sephora (who have their own controversies, I know) for eye bleach. I saw on the Ulta app that I’m $80-something away from being a Platinum member, but after being reminded of the trash-ass celeb brands they sell, I’d rather keep my money.

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Of course I did not win Powerball’s billion-dollar jackpot yesterday. If I did, I wouldn’t be writing this entry, but in my 20th straight hour of doing this around my apartment:

I did win $4–got the Powerball number right. #blessed

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I got 17–I saw #2, #6, and #13 in my household and elsewhere as a wee one, but I never used them. I think us elder millennials were the very last group to have at least seen all these things and use most of them. *pops a Werthers* My childhood bestie had a waterbed and sleepovers were fun…until we jumped on her bed, of course.

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The last installment of my Toronto trip will be up…when I get to it and I’m aiming for it to be soon, I swear. In the meantime, here are some pics of my recent visit to the Bancroft Gardens’ “Garden of D’Lights” holiday event:

Lit-up trees and plants at the Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, CA
Plants basking in the holiday lighting at the Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, CA
Lights and more seen at the Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, CA
Rocks in holiday lights at the Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, CA
A garden pathway
Holiday palm tree

Going to Garden of D’Lights has been a holiday tradition of mine since 2022, and there’s always something new with every visit. For instance, this is the first time I’ve seen this there:

A poisonous grape plant at the Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, CA
close-up of the poisonous plant’s warning sign

TIL there’s a grape plant in existence that bites you back!

by Lexine

I Miss

— Physicians for a Healthy Democracy (@physiciandemocracy.medsky.social) 2025-07-07T15:32:20.925Z

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. 

by Lexine

Why Me Worry?

I once heard that aging would bless one with the gift of not giving a fuck as much, and I looked forward to enjoying that gift when I entered my fourth century decade on this planet in late October last year. Then came the elections a week later and I guess that gift doesn’t work on everyone because hoo boy did I give a lot of fucks about things that day.

Six months after that election, I think I’ve been giving a fuck about things more than ever. Particularly my safety, well-being, and future here. Will I still have any rights as a single bisexual woman of color by the end of this year? Is the modern-day Gestapo gonna hunt down “illegal” immigrants in my blue city? Will social security and Medicare still exist when I need it 25-ish years from now? Will California still stay blue? Will my immigrant/LGBTQ+/POC friends also be safe? Is my measles vaccine from childhood still good? And then there are usual worries (money, bills, making sure I have a working car, my stupid eczema, etc.) piled onto that. So much for that gift.

It’s wild; just a year ago I felt relatively safe here in the States. I even had hopes that all who hated TFG (and it seemed like a majority of people) would vote against him and not look back. Now here I am watching politicians who are supposed to protect us voting in inept clowns who will ruin us and what’s left of our freedoms in this forsaken country. When I’m doing more research lately on where/how I can immigrate (my day job happens to be in demand in at least two countries I wouldn’t mind moving to) over writing my latest work-in-progress, that means shit is getting serious.

I seek out escapism from the madness, like watching movies on TCM and hitting up beaches and cat lounges. But I also see others casually shopping from Target and Amazon and posting on those other social media sites as if there’s no madness at all. I should have found some escapism from that annual event of gauche known as the Met Gala earlier this month, but not only was I not feeling it this year, it looked a lot more tone deaf than ever. It’s a shame because I saw some of my faves attend it. (Some people on Bluesky defended the Gala saying it’s all to raise money for the costume institute of the museum. OK. PBS still needs funding and I’m not seeing any big-name celebs wearing high-end couture to support that program.) I’m still fighting for good causes…but after seeing this, I now question: who am I protesting with? Is it with someone who did their best to save democracy last year by voting for Harris, or someone who willingly fucked around and just found out that their Medicare is being gutted and are now pissed?

When Roe v Wade was overturned three years ago, I (who had already chosen to be childfree) chose to get back at the conservative asshats of the Supreme Court by opting for sterilization. If they were going to take my reproductive rights away, I might as well exercise mines while I still have them. The current regime wants to go after birth control and turn women into baby-makers and nothing more; meanwhile, my choice to get that bisalp continues to age well. But now I stare down a far greater threat to my well-being and future in this country. I may not have the gift of not giving a fuck as much as I age. But if being aware of things is a gift, then I got it, and it’s a pretty nice gift. It’s far better than being ignorant.