Oh, I Went Back To Work On Thursday

My luck finally ran out, sadly.  Thursday morning, as I was checking my phone after my alarm went off, my boss told me a shipment was in and that we had to go in.  And it looked like the courier was well on its way to getting things up and running; Thursday we got three times the number of forms we usually get, which makes me think that got back on track on Thursday.

On Thursday I worked overtime to get all the stuff I think I needed to get done done.  Stayed longer yesterday/Friday because I was pulled from my work in The Fourth Department to do data entry.  That meant some of the stuff I could have done yesterday/Friday got pushed to today/Saturday.  And yes, I am coming in on a Saturday to work -- partly to help the department catch up, partly to take back all the paid time off I gave because I didn't work Monday through Wednesday.  I am suddenly getting close to going under with that.  I think I can actually "go into debt" and borrow up to 40 hours of paid time off in advance, but I would rather save that up for a time I need it, like a couple days in February and March.

Still, like I said, I was kind of sad Thursday morning when I didn't get the message that I could stay home.  I like not working.  It reminds me of the fallow periods inbetween temp jobs, where I was actually happy.  But since such happiness always ends, and because that feeling of everything crashing down is so hard for me, I would rather not enjoy happiness.  I want my vacations permanent, not temporary.

The Laundry/Mud Room Has Diarrhea

So the past two times I've washed some laundry, the second of which was Tuesday night, the floor has flooded.  Not bad; in fact, I don't know if this usually happens in houses.  But I went down to check if the washing machine was done and, for the second time in a row, there was a fairly large but extremely shallow puddle that I didn't want to step in.

The strainer in the basin, through which water flows underneath and, apparently, up through the grate on the floor in this room, is completely clean.  When it has been stuffed up with gunk, the back-up of water coming out of the washing machine drain hose (I think most houses connect that hose into the house's drain pipe directly, but we just nose that hose into the sink in that room because we're poor-thinking like that) makes the water fill up in the basin.  Sometimes when I go down there I freak out because the water is about to spill over the huge sink, so I'm grabbing cups to bail it out of that side of the basin and into the other side.  Maybe that's why I'm freaking out over seeing the pool of water on the floor; for that not to happen, the water would have to fill the basin, and I'd be having a heart attack over that instead.

Come to think of it, why can't the water just run into the sink, through the strainer, then underneath the grate and out?  In other words, why can't it just be normal?  Why do I have to worry about either flooding the mud room or the water overtopping the basin?  But because of this clean strainer and, I guess, something backed up underneath the floor, the entire room has, like, diarrhea or something.

Whatever, man.  Unless it starts to truly flood, I'm not going to care about water coming out of the floor.  Yet.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -3).  I don't want to keep harshing on hearing their collapse to Maryland at Williams early last Month.  That wouldn't be fair because as of now, I think their spot in the NCAA Tournament is all but assured.  They are enjoying a three-Game winning streak after dominating both Games they played this past Week, 88-53 over Wisconsin at The Barn Sunday afternoon, then 87-66 at Penn St. last/Wednesday night.  Turns out this is a pretty neat team this Year.  Hopefully they'll make some noise in The Big Dance.

And unlike most other teams on this list, their upcoming screening Week is light.  They play only once, hosting Purdue Sunday afternoon.

#-2: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -1).  Took both ends of a home-and-home against St. Cloud St., 8-1 there Friday, 5-1 here Saturday.  Yeah, but can they beat, say, Wisconsin, an actual good team?  Well, shit -- we're gonna find out this weekend as the Gophers host the Badgers, the unanimous #1-ranked team in the land, this weekend!

#-3: Wild (Last Week: -2).  All three Games the Wild played this Week were all at home, and they all went past regulation, which is something this club needs to stop allowing.  However, they won two of them eventually, defeating Detroit Thursday in Overtime and Chicago Tuesday in a Shootout.  Inbetween them, however, was an OT Loss to Florida.

And yet, somehow, the Wild have surpassed The Bastard North Stars, even if it's by only by a Point, for second place in the top-heavy Central Division.  I think they've played much better earlier this season than over this current stretch, and yet they've risen in the standings.  Go figure!

They have a busy screening Week coming up.  Tonight/Thursday night they finish a four-Game homestand hosting The Bastard Atlanta Flames.  They then go to Edmonton, come home to host Montreal, then play at Nashville.

#-4: Timberwolves (Last Week: -7).  Things haven't gone well for the Woofs, especially on the court but also of the court.  Losses early in the screening Week to Chicago and Golden State (both at home) stretched their losing streak to five.  The last defeat, to The Bastard Philadelphia Warriors on Sunday by 26, and that was delayed by a day because ICE executed Alex Pretti Saturday morning.  When it comes to unrest at home (and I'm thinking of George Floyd), it appears as if the Timberwolves (and I'll include the Lynx, too), it seems as if the local pro basketball team has to be the sounding board, and it looks as though both the global sports world and Twin Cities sports fans expect them to say something -- and will judge them if they don't react the way they and we want them to react.

That's a lot to bear when your job is to play basketball.  And so, and I am psychoanalyzing this, I can see this squad buckle under the weight.  But, they won the second tilt of the two-contest series against the Warriors Monday by 25, then went to Dallas and then, despite not having Anthony Edwards, pulled away and beat the Mavericks (who were without seven players, including Cooper Flagg and Anthony Davis) by 13 last/Wednesday night.  They are in sixth in the West, just a half-Game above The Bastard Minneapolis Lakers and the Play-In Tournament, and yet they're only three Games behind San Antonio for second.  They've been through a rough stretch, and they need a Point Guard and bench scoring, and they're back to not jelling when they should be.  But ... I guess it could be worse ... ?

Another busy Week for the T-Wolves as well: Home to The Bastard Seattle SuperSonics, two at The Bastard Vancouver Grizzlies, then at Toronto.

#-5: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: -5).  I don't ever remember seeing Ohio St. ranked second in the country in wrestling, ever.  Well, the second-ranked Buckeyes came into the Sports Pavilion and whooped dat ass, 29-9.  How in the fuckety-fuck has Ohio St. lapped Minnesota as a wrestling power?  They came back to slaughter Wisconsin in Madison, 26-10, but still -- Ohio St.??

At Iowa Friday.

#-6: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -4).  I need to keep saying to myself that Niko Medved is turning this ship around.  I didn't notice till now that his Goofers have now lost six in a row after getting blown out by 19 at sudden juggernaut Nebraska (!) Saturday afternoon, then more than doubling up Wisconsin at Halftime, 35-17, before shitting the bed at Madison in the Second Half, losing 67-63 last/Wednesday night.  Goddamn, I'm glad I didn't listen to that piece of shit.  Geez.

The losing streak might continue: This screening Week they play at Penn St. Sunday afternoon, then host Michigan St. Wednesday evening.

#-7: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -6).  The Goofer male icers also lost a pair, this past weekend Michigan St., by scores of 3-1 and 3-2.  The Spartans were (and are) ranked second in the country.  The U. is playing a brutal stretch of Games: They got swept by Penn St. when they were ninth in the country, and then by Michigan when they were (and are) ranked first in the nation.  Also, these tilts were in East Lansing.  However, I put this sorry-ass squad at the bottom of this Week's survey for two reasons: 1) They have a longer losing streak than the Gopher men's basketball team with seven; and 2) they don't have the excuse of a first-Year Head Coach.  Minnesota is patient (some might say plodding) when it comes to changing coaches, but this has been a humbling season for Bob Motzko.

These young men will play a fourth straight ranked team.  And it's a border battle -- eighth-or-seventh-ranked Wisconsin comes to town this Friday and Saturday.

And Another Snow Day!!!

This is more than ridiculous; this is fucking absurd.  Either this is one fucking monstrous snowstorm or Southerners really don't know how to deal with snow and ice, because when I woke up and checked my texts, my boss said there wasn't a shipment again this morning.  Third day in a row.  We've never had two days of no work, let alone three.  So, another snow day!!!

Not to complain too much, but you really can't enjoy a surprise day off if you have to wake up assuming you don't have the day off.  Compounding that annoyance is that today, because I was scheduled to go in and cut packages open, I had to wake up early.  Then, once I saw that someone was going to go in to work and do everything for the rest of us, I tried to go back to sleep but couldn't.  (This despite having only, at most, 90 minutes of shuteye overnight.)

Unlike yesterday, today I had planned on going out: There's a volunteer event my financial planner is putting on very close to my house.  And since he's treating everyone to dinner afterward, hell yeah, I'm going.  And since I am taking the car out today, I might as well go to the Walker today and use that offer to see the museum for free after buying a ticket to the Arrows.  I had planned on going Saturday, but the chances are now very good that I will be working that day, so I switched plans and went just today.

You know, I know I'm not enjoying these surprise days off as much as I should because one day, this will all be over and we will have to go back to work.  Something good will be taken from me, and anticipating that will happen makes me very, very sad.  But that day wasn't today.  And, to be fair, I really thought that it would be yesterday and it wasn't.  So I'm riding on free money.

The one thing I'm lacking right now is sleep.  I have to end this blog post now in order to try and get a nap in before I go to this volunteer event.

The Gas Company Has Asked Us To Ration

Never seen this before: Our gas company has asked us to turn down our thermostat to 65 degrees until Friday.  The extended polar vortex apparently has all of us cranking our thermostats up, and it's both testing the utility and causing our rates to rise spectacularly.  (I didn't notice until I re-checked my e-mail just now; the company e-mailed back on Friday asking us to lower our thermostats to 65 degrees until Monday.  Man, if they have asked us to extend this rationing, we're doing a real number on their grid.)

The amount of money I have to pay for natural gas this month is about nine times that of the month with the lowest amount.  I think it went up $60 or $80 from the previous month, which was also either a $60 or $80 increase from the previous month.  Dear God.

Like a sucker conscientious customer, I did it.  But damn, it is cold.  I have tried turning it down to 65 when I sleep, like people recommend, but it was too cold for me to sleep, so I put it back up to 68, which is my evening/doing stuff around the house temperature.  (They say that you want it colder when you turn in than when you're up and about, but do you really?)  Anyway, I'll do it.  I'll bring it down to 65.  But sometimes I use my space heater when I'm cold.  I used it just now, and I reserve the right to use it again -- till Friday and, hell, after Friday.  Which, come to think of it, will rocket my electricity bill.  Oh, well -- damned if you do, damned if you don't!

Another Snow Day!!!

Alright, now this is getting ridiculous.  I wake up at my normal weekday time expecting to come in.  I check my phone, of course ... and I see that there has been a group text created with my boss and co-workers.  I still didn't quite understand it (or maybe I just didn't believe it), but apparently the shipment was expected to be so meager again this morning that not everyone had to come in today, either.  This text chain started a quarter after 4 this morning, so obviously I was late to the party, but from what I picked up, it was determined that there was such little work that, like yesterday, one person could come in and do my job and another person's.  It looks as though one of my co-workers volunteered to do that, and, after I texted my boss and another co-worker to make sure I'm seeing what I'm seeing, I asked, and was granted, today off.

Woo-hoo!!!  Hell yeah!!!  But damn, how bad is the storm down there?  Given the work we get is important, I thought they would need Sunday to recover, then be back fully functioning, or at least get up off the mat, by yesterday afternoon so they could at least start getting caught up with giving us a sizable shipment (if not more than a full day's shipment) this morning so we could, you know, work.  Guess not.

So we might get two days' worth of work tomorrow morning, and tomorrow is when I have to cut open packages.  I probably (unless the mid-South needs yet another day to recuperate) will be opening so many packages that I'll get carpal tunnel syndrome.  But that's tomorrow.  I have an interesting (at least to me) dilemma right now: Whether to work out at my gym.  When I got the day off today, I thought it would be a good time to finally get out and exercise.  But then I fell asleep again from around 10 till a bit before 2 -- much needed, by the way -- and now, I don't know.  It's above zero, which is miles warmer than what it was before, but it's still pretty cold.  I just saw on the map that these motherfuckers are still here; they just took a Latina woman this morning.  Finally, if I surprisingly don't have to work, do I want to start up my car?  Do I even leave the house?  You know, I think I should take advantage of this serendipity and stay at home -- completely at home, a one-day lockdown, like the weekend.  There's a bike that Mother used as a clothesline, but started using as a bike to help heal her knee.  I should get on it and just exercise here.  Yeah, I'll do that.  And I'll go out to the gym this weekend.

I Still Live In A Safe, Peaceful Neighborhood

So I ended my lockdown -- which, once I stepped a bit after 9 at night, totalled a bit more than 75 hours -- I was confronted with a very nice surprise.  Not one but two of my packages, comprising of several of the many items I ordered online at once, were at my stoop.  I thought they would get here after my lockdown, but apparently that wasn't the case.

So I checked online.  As is often the case, their initial days of delivery were moved up.  One package, which were two windshield wipers, came, according to them, on Thursday.  The other package, a two-pack of water filters, arrived Saturday.  So, if they're right about when they actually arrived, I had two packages, one stacked on top of the other, sitting outside my front door, for one and three days?  And no one stole them???  I've heard of the rampant scourge of package thieves, and I don't doubt it, but I have to be honest with you, it's never happened to me, at least not yet.  I've come home late into the night to see packages at my stoop and I've wondered how no one has taken them.  But one day would be a record.  Three days, though?  It's pretty much a miracle that both packages were still there.

Or, maybe I live in a neighborhood where people respect other people's stuff, and don't feel the urge to take things that are not theirs because they have stuff of their own.  For as unsafe and scared I have felt these days, that's a reminder that this place is still pretty safe and peaceful, Buddha bless it.

Snow Day!!!

I hate surprises, but when the surprise is an unplanned day off, I love surprises.  Well, it wasn't quite unplanned.  There's that huge snowstorm just south of us (I think that's the reason we've had below-zero weather for the past four days) that is (or was) dropping inches of snow and tenths of inches of ice.  That's where we get our work from every day.  There was a very good chance that no work would come in today since the mid-South is still dealing with the cold and ice and digging out of the snow.

And, as far as I know, that is what's happening.  I woke up at my normal time, like I would be going in to work like normal, but I texted my co-worker, who works early, if there is any work.  I waited a while but, just before I headed out, I got a voicemail from my boss saying that there isn't work (or at least no work when she checked this morning), so she said I could take the day off.  And I am!

Now, for all I know, a shipment came later this morning.  But even if there was, the number of forms has to be so meager that my co-worker could take care of it by herself.  But assuming the South will rise by tomorrow, we are going to have to play catch-up.  That means longer hours, and it may be so much work that the day off I am enjoying now I will make up later this week.  But hey, until then, I am enjoying my day off here ... where I am taking naps, cleaning the humidifier, and getting scared they're going to knock on my door.

What Would I Do?

Maybe I have to face the truth.  Maybe the reason I avoid venturing out during the day, or fear getting stopped by these assholes while driving, or run through my mind what I would do if I see someone getting abducted, is because I am scared of what I would say and do ... or not say or do.

I have proof that I am a citizen.  But it looks like these motherfuckers don't give a solitary fuck about that.  If they don't, and they decide to haul me in, what would I do then?  But there's something way more sinister than that.  It sounds as though these pricks insult you to your face in an effort to get you going.  I have a temper.  Could I be baited into saying something or doing something that'll be justification for getting taken away?  Absolutely.  Now, I have to remember that these pieces of shit have guns and therefore hold all the cards.  It might not matter what I say or do, or don't say or do.  They'll do whatever they want, at that time, just because they fucking want to.  And yet, I wonder if some of it would be "my fault" if I lose it.

And then there's the other side.  What if I get stopped in my car or on the street, and when they ask for proof of citizenship, even though I don't have to (and I have heard conflicting advice on this), I give them that proof?  And let's say they let me go.  Frankly, I would be relieved I wouldn't be kidnapped.  But what I did in order to remain a free man is to knuckle under this fascist régime's orders.  I would be complicit.  I just decided to give them what they want because I didn't want to get my ass kicked.

So what kind of a man, what kind of an American, what kind of a patriot would I truly be if I did what these Republican shitstains tell me to do?  And am I going to look the other way if someone gets spirited away into a plateless SUV to points unknown?  I'm afraid the answer to that last question is yes.  That murder Saturday morning really frightens me.  The first one here a couple weeks ago was bad enough.  But I am a big believer in that once you do something unfathomable and heinous, doing it again is much easier.  I'm afraid I can see a rash of killings by these racist government thugs.  Hey, in for a penny, in for a pound, right?  And it's that backdrop of these goddamn bullies threatening your life if they don't get their way that makes me scared that I will not be courageous when the time comes for me to be brave.

So, who will I be -- or maybe more to the point, what side will I show -- when these sons-of-bitches come for me -- the chickenshit too meek to do anything so he can go home in one piece, or the dead man who had to stand up to someone because it's the right thing to do?  I don't think I want to know.  And that's why I stay home as much as I can.  And that's why I hate myself right now.

Of Drips And Noisy Furnaces

I need to talk about something else.

This has happened for as long as I can remember, but this personal, multi-day lockdown has put me alone with the appliances in this house -- in particular, how creaky they sound.  For example, every single sink and toilet seems to drip.  Right now, I'm bothered whenever I flush the upstairs toilet because it always drips loud enough that I could hear it from my bedroom.  That's been going on for years, so that means that at some point, it'll, I don't know, warp the wall or floor or ceiling or something.  I'm by myself, plus it's cold outside, plus we're living under fascist rule right now, so bad luck will almost demand that the shit hit the fan when it comes to this bad drip-drip-drip.

As much as I need water, I need heat more right now, and my furnace rattles as it's working.  Sometimes it rattles when it starts up, sometimes it sounds alright until the middle of its cycle.  But it is nerve-racking to hear that rattle because it makes me feel like the furnace is struggling, and it's about to give out.  And obviously, I can't have it give out.

Things are fine, or at least tolerable, on both fronts.  But I just saw the website; they are concentrating on this neighborhood today.  Don't know why.  I was hoping I could dash out, grab some food, then come home and enjoy the football Games -- you know, live my life.  But these motherfuckers are depriving me of that simple joy.  Do I stay home, or do I go for it?  Well, in the meantime, I am hoping that there isn't a catastrophic water leak or furnace breakdown.

Goddamn, they murdered another one.  They don't care.  He was no threat, but they say he was a threat, and because we have some stupid, stupid people living in this country, they're going to get away with it.

I'm even more scared now.  Truth doesn't matter anymore.  It's not that people aren't hearing past the lies.  There is a significant population in America, in my humble opinion, that don't care about facts.  They will believe any bullshit that comes out of any motherfucker from this installed administration because they want to hear what they are hearing.

I have to ask again: How is non-violence going to get us out of this?

Anyone Want A Water Filter?

It's not good that I can't track stuff that I've already bought.  I got water filters delivered because I know it's been about a year since it's been changed.  After I ordered some, I went into my storage unit and saw that I have about three left over from a previous order.  I think I will now have four extra once I get around to putting a new one in.  Oops.

Now, to be fair, I might have changed it in the fall and thus checked whether I had extra in my unit, but my parents were here and Mother had a bad knee, so I was preoccupied with that.  Also, maybe not in my defense, storing these in my unit makes for an "out of sight, out of mind" situation where I wouldn't've remembered ever buying these extra filters until I bought more.  Finally, for some reason, Father turned off the humidifier last year.  In fact, it may have been over a year in which he didn't turn it on.  However, inexplicably, it looks as though he turned it back on some time during my parents' extended stay back at home.  I noticed, and then I got around to remembering the filter needed changing when I got an alarm last week that water was leaking from the humidifier while I was at work.  I went home, opened everything up and, beyond needing to clean the apparatus of limescale and calcium deposits, the water filter needs to be replaced.  This was an instance of "out of sight, out of mind," but in plain sight.

Anyway, I have to change my water filter, then store the extras back in my unit.  Great.

About non-violent resistance: I don't know if that's enough.  Apparently (and I could be wrong), protestors are observing and not getting in the way as they do what they're doing.  But what they're doing is violent -- abducting people based on race, separating adults from children, making those kids bait by forcing them to ask adults in a house to come out so they can be abducted too, and then pepper-spraying those protestors who aren't getting in the way.  What good is blowing whistles and recording them when the people getting kidnapped are being detained, tortured, and then thrown out of the country?

Yes, intervening is illegal.  But so is what they're doing.  And you say non-violence is going to stop this?

My Own Personal Lockdown

So I got home, without incident, at around 5:45 last/Thursday night.  I had to open the door again because I got a delivery.  But, once I shut my door at around 5:50 p.m., I did so with the firm intention of not opening it until Sunday afternoon.

Yeah, so like I said in a previous blog post, since I didn't get the Wild gig I thought I was going to get, that opened up the possibility that I could take today/Friday off in solidarity with the general strike (which is also in the vein of a nationwide walkout for which I did my best to participate in by leaving work Tuesday afternoon).  And, it just so happens that the most brutal cold snap in what seems to be at least a few winters is descending on us this weekend, the worst of which is happening right now through this/Friday afternoon.  When there is more than one sign pointing you in a certain direction, you best pay heed.  And so, with the blessing of my new boss and my co-workers, I am staying in from now through the weekend (which means that not getting the Wild job is a blessing in disguise; I would otherwise have to be running around the tunnels underneath Grand Casino Arena and driving around town, and then I would have to hang out during the Game at the compound where there is no heat while temperatures plummet).

I'll admit it: I don't want to get my ass kicked.  But how can I show my support against fascism without sticking my neck out?  By not working or shopping today, which many faith leaders in the Twin Cities has asked us to do in order to get these motherfuckers out of our safe, diverse community.  I could march downtown Minneapolis like a lot of people are planning to do, but dammit, the government will get my face, plus it's brutally cold.  (And I wonder if it would have been better to march through a part of the city where more immigrants reside, but I'm not marching, so who am I to scold?)  So I get to protest by going to bed late, getting up late, and not working?  That's a win-win!

I am in awe of the list of local businesses (as well a few places in Duluth and Rochester) that are shutting down in solidarity, which are listed courtesy of Bring Me The News.  You know this economic blackout (coming on a Friday, natch) is getting to be pretty fucking serious when even Dreamgirls, the downtown strip club where I have had a lot of fun before (even though it's been years), is participating in the shutdown.  I think people are getting the message that a lot of places they would go to shop and dine and, well, get lap dances won't be open today/Friday.  So, for those businesses, especially the local ones, that will remain open, will they make enough money to justify being open?  Remember that there is a polar vortex happening right now.  A shop or a restaurant may not care one way or the other about what's happening in our community, but it might not be worth it to open because it's so goddamn cold.  And I think there will be brownie points given if they choose not to open.  Does it matter if it's really because to save money when you can just say you're standing with your neighbors in the face of federal occupation?  It may not be for the right reason, but that's a compromise I'm willing to take.

As for myself, I intend to just chill for the next, oh, 66 hours or so ... and hope that these people don't knock on my door.  I have thought about just not answering, which is what I hear more and more people are doing when they hear a knock on the door.  But that might not matter because these pricks have been given permission to violate the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution and just bust the door down.  You know, I hate guns, but this is the point where I have to consider invoking my Second Amendment rights.  Maybe more on that later, if this siege continues.

It is profoundly sad that, as much as I want to feel safe at home, I don't feel 100% safe here right now.  I can't even enjoy sanctuary where I live because of this out-of-control Republican government?  We don't live in a democracy anymore.  And I hope my personal lockdown expressing that anger is a valuable contribution to the Resistance.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -1).  Swept Bemidji St. in Bemidji over the weekend by scores of 5-3 and, eek, 11-1.  Great, but like I continually say, beat Ohio St. or Wisconsin and then get back to me.  A home-and-home with St. Cloud St. this weekend.

#-2: Wild (Last Week: -5).  Not only has The Quinn Hughes Honeymoon worn off, the bloom seems to have blown off the rose, too.  A 4-4 Week for the pro hockey club in town: Got tripled up by The Bastard Atlanta Thrashers at the Gica, then won in Overtime at red-hot Buffalo, then doubled up the Maple Leafs in Toronto, then gave up the Game-winning Goal in Montreal with just 15 Seconds left.

And yet they now are tied with The Bastard North Stars for second place in the Central.  (To put this in greater context, however, the talk that The Three Best Teams In The NHL all come from The Central Division should cool down because Tampa Bay, Detroit and The Bastard Hartford Whalers all have one more Point than both Minnesota and The Team That Was Stolen From Us.)  To be tied for second in the Division despite having a rocky screening Week?  You have to take that.

They begin a four-Game homestand with contests versus said Red Wings, Florida, and Chicago.

#-3: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -4).  Got drubbed Sunday evening in Washington by a baker's dozen, but came back with a notable 65-60 Win at Oregon last/Wednesday night.  Charlie Creme still has the Gophers in The Big Dance, and this Quad 1 victory is a solid marker in keeping them in there.  And they can continue to burnish their resume with Games at home against Wisconsin Sunday afternoon and at Penn St. Wednesday evening.

#-4: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -6).  A ten-Point Loss at Illinois followed by an eight-Point defeat at Ohio St. in Overtime extends this squad's losing streak to four.  But hey, it's Niko Medved's first Year as Head Coach -- don't worry about it!  This Week they host seventh-ranked Nebraska (!!!) early Saturday afternoon and go to Wisconsin Wednesday night.

#-5: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: -2).  The then-seventh-ranked Gophers lost at Maturi Friday night to sixth-ranked Nebraska, 20-12.  The Cornhuskers won six of the ten Matches, including a Fall from the fifth-ranked grappler at 157 Pounds, Antrell Taylor.  Hrmph.  I don't think it's too much to assume that the U. wins a Dual like this, one at home against a team similar in strength to theirs.

These guys are finishing a three-Game homestand; Ohio St. and Wisconsin come to town this weekend.

#-6: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -7).  Let's see ... when you host the top-ranked team in the country, you're just hoping you don't get pantsed.  And I don't think this team got pantsed, even though the Gophs had a chance Saturday evening to clip a Win over the juggernaut Wolverines, only to give up a Goal to Michigan's Jayden Perron about two Minutes into OT and lose, 3-2.  Oh, and on Friday night the Goofers got destroyed by the Wolverines by a 5-1 score.

This is a retrenching year, just like with the U. football squad.  And looky-here -- right as the #1-ranked Michigan Wolverines leave, the #2-ranked club in the country, Michigan's hated Little Brother, Michigan St., blows into town for two this weekend.  Minnesota is already on a five-Game losing streak.  This could get ugly.

#-7: Timberwolves (Last Week: -3).  And the Woofie Dogs are in trouble again.  Believe it or not, they went winless this Week, losing on the road to Houston, San Antonio, and The Bastard New Orleans Jazz.  And because The Western Conference is so competitive, that three-Game losing skid has dropped them into seventh, even though they are tied with Phoenix, tied in Winning Percentage with The Bastard Minneapolis Lakers, and a half-Game out of fourth.  Oof.  They host Chicago tonight/Thursday night, then host The Bastard Philadelphia Warriors for a pair of tilts before heading off to Dallas.

Of All The Times I Needed A Half-Day ...

Getting yesterday/Tuesday afternoon off turned out to be a godsend.  I woke up from my evening nap Monday night at around 11:45 p.m., so I didn't get a wink of sleep through the overnight.  With my body dragging, me spending the morning cutting open packages and dealing with a particularly nasty leaked bag of piss, and seeing my city still being besieged by our own federal "government," I was so looking forward to not working in the same afternoon we were all supposed to walk out.  I was even assigned to data entry, but I didn't do it; instead, I worked on figuring out this new software we are supposed to know in a couple weeks.

And I didn't make much headway into that, either.  No, I was into doing ... nothing.  Well, I take that back; I had a lot of chores I felt I had to do.  I had to:

• use my haircut coupon before it expired;
• get my photo taken for passport purposes;
• buy groceries to hunker down for this cold, cold weekend we're about to have;
• finally drag some stuff out of my storage unit
• and do something for Mother at the bank

Now, come to think of it, I was really busy, and productive.  I didn't finish all of these things before 2 p.m., which was the scheduled time we were all supposed to "walk out," but around 2:30 I shut the door with no intention of opening it unit this/Wednesday morning.  I took a shower and then, while fully naked, settled into my bed because my body was finally tired.

And I woke up around 8:30.  Wow!  Five hours of hard sleep to reset my body.  Felt really, really good, even if this continues to throw my body clock out of whack.  And my "slangriness" has completely left me.  The anxiety over these people abducting me, however and unfortunately, remains.

A Gig Or Democracy (Or Neither)?

I anticipated working a Wild Game this week.  I signed up for it and everything.  But I have yet to hear back from them confirming I would be working for them.  At some point, if I don't hear anything from them (and I swear I looked everywhere -- e-mails, texts, and especially the junk boxes for both just in case their messages went there), I have to figure they're not going to hire me.

I decided that yesterday/Monday afternoon was the deadline.  I checked everywhere one more time, but no one said, "Hey, can you work the Wild Game this week?"  I knew this was a Game for which they could use a runner, so a few months ago I blocked off two days this week at work.  Well, I'm not going to work the Game even if I get a late-night, desperation text right now asking me if I could work it.  Too late, you know?

That means I now can work this week ... however, you may have heard that there is not one but two walkouts planned for this week, one today/Tuesday and one on Friday.  I want to support democracy and protest our fascist regime in my own passive-aggressive way ... by taking those days off.  And I might as well give up the ghost to illustrate the absurd irony of this situation: The two days I had to block off to work the Wild Game are tomorrow/Wednesday and Thursday.  So I am going from taking tomorrow/Wednesday and Thursday off to taking today/Tuesday and Friday off ... well, seeing as last-minute as this change is, taking this/Tuesday afternoon off, which would coincide with a planned nationwide walkout this/Tuesday afternoon.

And, well, wanting to take today/Tuesday and Friday off.  This is very last-minute, but I tried reaching out to my new boss about flipping my days off this week.  I haven't heard back from her yet.  I hope I can still do it, and I hope this change doesn't affect all the plans she and my co-workers may have had when it comes to where they're working.  But, well, if I can't work a hockey Game, I may as well protest our freedoms being taken from us, right?

The Main Reason I Think I Hate MLS' "Flip"

Back in mid-November, Major League Soccer announced that they are going to change the schedule of the league.  Ever since its inception in 1996, they started play some time in the spring (in '96 it was April; now it begins late February or early March) and ends some time in early December.  But this Year, the 30th Year of MLS, will be the last under this calendar year format.  After playing a four-month "spring season" in the spring of 2027, MLS will align its year with pretty much every soccer league in every country on Earth, where they start late summer and end around Memorial Weekend.

Not too long ago, I heard the Commissioner for MLS say that he didn't think that would be a good idea, and I think his main reason was that so many northern cities (such as Minnesota United) would be affected by figuring out how to deal with a part of the summer-to-spring season that makes outdoor Matches well nigh impossible to stage in the winter.  Guess he changed his mind, and I guess that not sticking out like an outlier, especially when it comes to trying to bring in players through Transfer Windows that are, right now, a bit awkward, was enough of a reason to do this wholesale change.

At first blush, I hate this as a season-ticket holder.  The idea that players didn't want to join a club in MLS during the middle of our season or the middle of the season of the league they're coming from is still too abstract for me to care about.  But another plus the Commissioner claimed would make the new calendar better is that Major League Soccer would get away from having its postseason run right into the National Football League and college football.  True -- and I still don't think it's a good enough reason to do, as some people are calling it, "The Flip."  Yes, football (mostly professional but college matters too) is the most popular sport in the country.  But it's their regular season; MLS has conducted its postseason late in the fall.  I will go to lengths to see a postseason Loons Match in person (I have skipped out on Game-watching events in the past) because they are the most important Matches on the schedule, and I think diehard fans of other MLS squads have done and would do the same.

Conversely, the commish also says that putting MLS' playoffs in May is a lot less crowded.  No, it isn't.  The NBA Playoffs and The NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs are also played in May.  Basketball and hockey are not the behemoth that American football is.  But you cannot convince me that soccer has a chance to stick out and rise above the din at a time those two leagues also have their postseasons.  When the Games matter most, MLS will take a backseat to both the NBA and NHL, every Year.  (And hell, to be honest with you, the NHL takes a backseat to the NBA every May, too.)  Major League Soccer is not running from a crowded part of the year; it's running to a crowded part of the year.  And I don't think it's going to work.  So on second blush, I still hate this.

Another point I considered: I thought that there would be Matches played through the winter, and we would thus have to have a few or even several of them played during the holidays.  Then MLS announced that there will be an annual two-Month Winter Break from mid-December to mid-February, and then on top of that there will be special considerations to limit the number of Games played here in December and February to one or two.

But I decided to think further.  What about this Winter Break?  It's good for the safety of players and fans, no doubt.  But what sports league do you know builds in a two-Month break in its season?  Wouldn't that feel like two separate seasons?  And what happens if, for example, MNUFC just sucks for the first part of the Year?  Would anyone want to come back and see the final part of the season if the Loons blow?  (Major League Soccer anticipates that 2/3 of the season is completed before Winter Break and the final third is completed once play resumes and into the end of April, which is supposed to be when the regular season will end.)  This has the potential to be a momentum killer.

Another point of concern comes in the fall.  I am very busy during American football season.  I work Vikings and Golden Gophers Games, and I organize Game-watching parties for my alma mater.  These conflicts have been in place since Minnesota United started MLS play in 2017, so it's nothing new.  Still, it's a pain in the ass to, for example, wait for when my alma mater announces the time of their Game in two Weeks and figure out whether I could travel from downtown Minneapolis to Midway to see my Loons, or if it's worth it to catch only the Second Half of the MNUFC Match, or if I need to sell my ticket.  Usually, one to three of my season tickets are casualties to these circumstances each year.

The announcement didn't say, but I wonder, assuming there will be at least as many Matches in a regular season as there currently are now, if there will be more Matches played in the fall.  So I have looked at the upcoming season, looked through my Franklin Quests for the past few years, and jotted down how many autumn Matches there have been from 2022 to this season, which would be ones subject to either work or play conflicts due to American football.

2026 home Games in the fall I have to worry about skipping: 5

2025: 3

2024: 3

2023: 4

2022: 1

There are tons of caveats here.  Major League Soccer has frequently shifted their seasons, and put in breaks during the middle of them, if there have been other worldwide soccer conflicts, such as the World Cup and continental tournaments, so there will be years more Matches had to be piled into the autumn.  Also, I wanted to go back all the way to 2017, but I realized that 2021 and 2020 were severely impacted by the pandemic -- I couldn't go at all in 2020, and I think I started going to Games late in the summer of 2021 -- and so it didn't make sense to go back even further.  Finally, we don't have the 2027-8 schedule out yet, of course, so we don't know if there will be a concentration of Matches in the fall.  Still, while I have no evidence this will get worse under the new calendar, I will go with my gut and believe it will be.

But I realized something further. It may not be the fall that impacts my season-ticket status the most, but the summer.  Major League Soccer says it'll conduct its postseason in May, and the league will begin its new season in mid-July.  Assuming MNUFC won't host Games for the playoffs or even make the playoffs (and I would contend that the league is rapidly creating a Haves/Have-nots hierarchy not unlike The English Premier League, and undoubtedly my Loons ain't gonna be a Have), there won't be Matches for me to go to between May and mid-July.

How many Matches have taken place in that time period?  I went back through my FQs and checked:

2026 home Games between May (the scheduled month for postseason, which the Loons obviously are not guaranteed to play, let alone play any home Matches) and mid-July (the approximate start of the new season format): 3

2025: 6

2024: 6

2023: 6

2022: 5

More caveats here.  The three Matches this season is because MLS needs to take a break for the World Cup.  Also, Minnesota United FC salespeople have been trying to emphasize they are going to fill this hole with pre-season Matches and Friendlies against clubs from other countries, which should be easier once MLS' preseason aligns with so many other leagues' preseasons.  But you can tell that it's not the same.  I actually love going to Loons Games during the late spring and early summer.  There's not much to do, the weather is heating up, and I have enjoyed many Matches with other Loons fans this time of Year.

And then I realized that this is the part of the season that I will miss, and that this is the reason why this new calendar sucks.  And there is little to no chance that there will be any attempt that will be adequate to fill this hole.  So now what?  Well, first of all, because I care about the integrity of the season, I would like to suggest a split-season not unlike what Mexico's Liga MX does.  Every Year they have, basically, two Years: An "Apertura" (opening) season that goes from July to just before the holidays, and a "Clausura" (closing) season that goes from early January to Memorial Weekend.  OK, so you have two champions a Year.  Big deal; that means there is no yawning two-Month gap in a season you're determined to say lasts ten Months.  For this to happen, Major League Soccer would have to have only a one-Month break, and Minnesota United would probably have to play a few Matches in January and February.  Would I watch them in person?  Maybe, maybe not.  But at least the season would make a whole lot more sense.

Beyond that, I don't know what to think.  Well, I said a long time ago that unless I die, move, lose my job, or determine the organization has done something that so offends my moral code, I won't be dropping my season ticket.  I didn't add some sort of force majeure clause when I declared that, but I sure as hell didn't think they'd do The Flip, either.  So I think I'll give it a year, to see how many more Matches I might have to miss in the fall, and how many times from May to mid-July I'll be bored out of my skull because there's no important MNUFC Game to go to.  If it doesn't make sense to spend money on a season ticket -- and that price keeps going up every Year -- maybe I'll be forced to downgrade my season ticket package ... or say goodbye.

Hadn't gotten eight hours of sleep in some time.  But I did that this morning.

Hadn't stayed up till almost 6 in the morning in a long time.  But I did that today.

Don't think I've woken up past 2 in the afternoon in decades.  But I did that this afternoon.

There are some great things to living alone.  This is certainly one of them.

Now I have to worry about the snow that fell.  More fell than I thought it would.

Expenses Without Receipts

Starting from Saturday, January 17:

• We go back to Wednesday, January 14, when I summoned up the courage and went down to My Favorite Stripclub (Cover Division) to see my ATF, whom I hadn't seen in a while because my parents were in town.  Cover, tips, drinks for her and for me and 19 table dances that I rounded up to 20 to make the money exchange easier and I spent: $233.
• On Saturday the 10th I took my friend, who was in town for work, to my favorite speakeasy.  I feel like I need to impress people when I take them there, but I hope they like it.  I think my friend did.  There was a jazz band there and I wanted to tip them even though I mainly wanted to speak with my friend.  I tipped the band: $5.
• Tuesday, January 6 ... after I took my parents to the airport, I went over to ****e's place and fucked her.  She didn't go after my cock a second time in the living room like she did the time before.  But she seemed really enthusiastic when I finally got inside her.  Well, first I really ate her meat curtains, which looked really, really full.  Then, while I was plunging into her, she sounded really, really enthusiastic, like she really needed to be nailed.  I tried arcing her back (she was on the bed and I was doing her missionary style) and lifting her up and into me.  It probably wasn't smooth, but she acted like she loved it, and therefore I loved it.  Cost: $120.
• So now we go back to 2025, specifically Tuesday, December 23, when my parents paid me back for grabbing both Kentucky Fried Chicken and lottery tickets.  Mother gave me ten bucks when I came home that night with KFC, and either Mother or Father left a pair of $20's for me when I came back from shopping.  All told, this was an Infusion of: $50.
• Oh, and before I shopped I went downtown to make sure our watering hole was cool with us watching our Game down there.  With tip, I spent for a little snack and drink there: $10.
• To Sunday the 21st ... Father paid me back for more Powerball tickets I got for him.  And Infusion of: $11.
• And early that afternoon I went to my downtown watering hole (the same place I'd be going to on Tuesday) because I wanted to finally put in for new glasses with my new prescription, and I wanted to see the Vikings Game at a place besides my bedroom, and Warby Parker was just around the corner.  I was going to go to Warby Parker first, but I thought they would open at 11, and they opened at noon, which is when the Vikings Game kicked off, so I went to watch and eat first before ordering my new eyeglasses.  Anyway, with tip I spent at the bar: $38.
• To Friday, December 19 -- went to order in-person at Caribou a small ho ho mint mocha.  With tip it came out to an expensive: $7.38.
• Tuesday the 16th I had off because that's when I brought my car in for service.  Once it got a clean bill of health and routine maintenance was the only thing(s) it needed, I went to get it washed for all the snow, salt and gunk that had accumulated.  Charged the wash so the cash is for the tip only: $5.
• With my car being as brand new as it could be, I had the confidence (as well as the time; if there was something major that needed to be replaced, I would have had to spend my day at the shop) to call up *****y and say if I and my penis could make a house call.  She had moved to her new place close to the border, but my car could make it the morning after getting new oil and its tires rotated.  The apartment she shares with her son feels more like a cottage.  No matter; unlike the townhome she used to live in, where we had to hide in her bedroom, she wanked me on the couch in the living room, right where the front door is.  If the blinds weren't closed, someone would have been able to see *****y pull up her sweater to show her big tits inside her bra, me getting hard from seeing that, me slipping out of my jeans and her jacking me off.  I don't know if I would drive all the way to see her again, but maybe!  Total: $150.
• Later, when I came back home for dinner with Kentucky Fried Chicken in tow, Father paid me back for the chicken and for Powerball tickets.  An Infusion of: $31.

This list was getting long in the tooth, but I did this EWR faster than the past couple ones.  Good through January 17.

My Needy Psychotherapist

Going to call my shrink in a bit.  I am doing so because he fucking called me just now.  I should have ignored him, but I am still nervous over what is going on in my city right now, and I can't lie that I'm not going anywhere for the time being.

There's something wrong with him.  Why is he calling me on the weekend?  He's supposed to be my psychotherapist, not a friend (and I know that sounds cold, but I can't consider him a friend ... that's really weird!)  I know he wants to help, but the strange and indecipherable texts keep coming.  And a week ago he sent me a graphic that says, "I love you."  Huh?

If he wants to hear my anxiety over what's going on right now, I'll talk for a few minutes.  But I do want to leave eventually.  Plus, I don't want to talk too much or else he'll be fucking calling me every goddamn weekend.  Don't want that.

The TV Just Up And Helped Me

So the television set in my bedroom, the one that I got for free from my friend's friends, the one that My Father put in my bedroom when My Fucking Parents decided to redo my whole goddamn room ... well, it's been a challenge.  My Father replaced my TV set (and put the one I had, the one I bought, in the den that he would use once in a blue moon) probably because this one I got was bigger than the one I bought.  It has become clear since I started using it, however, that the I bought, even though it's much smaller, is more technologically advanced.  Beyond its old age, there are very small, first-world issues that make me not like this TV as much as the one I got for myself.  It takes more than ten seconds for it to come on, for example.  Also, sometimes the remote control doesn't work and I have to tap it on the back a few times; these guys really took this television through its paces over the years.  Finally, it doesn't have a "recall" or "back" button in the traditional sense.

What it does have instead is a feature whereby you can see up to the last six channels you were on (or fewer; it stores in memory the channels you were watching since you turned on the television).  You hit this TV's version of a "recall" or "back" button and six squares pop up on the bottom of the television screen.  They're all blank, and for a while there it pissed me off that I couldn't toggle between two channels.  But then I hit the remote's down arrow and voila, that's where up to the last six channels appeared in those boxes.  (You hit the down arrow again and the, I guess, "third" row are all the channels you have programmed onto the TV, and you can use the left and right arrows to scroll through them.)  So I finally understood how I could flip back and forth through channels; it's certainly not as fast as just hitting one button, but if I wanted to go through three or more, I can't really think of a faster way to do that.  So, it's a compromise.

Another thing so bothersome about this TV's interface comes from those six squares.  They always appear on the bottom.  If I'm watching a game on TV, the scorebug (the graphic that shows all the pertinent information on the game you're watching, such as score, which quarter/half/period is it, how much time is left, etc.) usually is on the bottom third of the screen.  So when a channel pops up and I want to just quickly see were in the game that game is before I go back to the other game, I can't see the score; instead, I see those stupid six boxes.  Yes, I guess I could wait the five-to-ten seconds to check the scorebug, but like I said, doing that is not in my nature.

Another graphic that popped up at the bottom of the television screen is the channel graphic.  You know, whenever you flip to a channel, you will see graphics that state what it is, like "41-2," or something.  So, if I want to use the "recall" or "back" button to toggle between channels, what happens is you select that channel from one of the on-screen boxes, the channel comes on with these six blank boxes obscuring your screen for four seconds or so, then the channel graphic obscures your screen for another four seconds or so.  Highly annoying, and not very user-friendly.

But then, maybe a few weeks ago, the damndest thing happened.  The channel box, the graphic that first appears when you get onto a channel, jumped from the bottom of the TV screen to the top.  Now, the graphics don't block my view of the score for as long as it did.  I have no idea how it happened.  I played with the settings, but I'm sure I didn't select anything unless I knew I wanted it.  It looks as though this TV, even though I'm sure it predates artificial intelligence, understood intuitively how upset I was that this graphic was blocking the scorebug, so it knew to place it on the top of the screen.  Now, why it couldn't do the same thing with the three rows of six squares, I don't know.

Still, I'll take it.  I'm glad the TV "got" me.  But is it good that it has a mind of its own, like HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey?  Honestly, with the way the country is right now, being spat out into space to die because AI was afraid it was going to be killed isn't the worst way to go.

Living Like This

I just heard that there is an application that can pinpoint where people of color live in a given neighborhood.  All the information we have given through the Internet and our cellphones has finally been weaponized against us under this installed government.  Finally comes the surveillance state.  Meanwhile, the "small government" militias should be taking up arms now, but they're awfully quiet.  Turns out some of us knew all along: They're only small government when the people they don't like are in charge.  When people they do like are in charge, they're totally cool with that.  Shit, they might just take arms and become the hatchet men of the government.  Fucking posers.

---

I gave myself a nightmare whereby I have just shut the door on my way to my car in the morning and two of these pricks, standing against my house, jump me and try to hustle me into their SUV.  But I resist, punching and kicking and biting all the way.  Finally, I reach for some guy's gun and blast the two fuckers who were holding me down ... only to get shot by reinforcements standing a few feet away.

That might be how I go.

---

They got really close today.  These monsters were hanging out at the hospital, trying to get in.  Luckily, if I heard correctly, they weren't allowed in.  But they keep coming at us like this.

And now I hear they're vulturing around the elementary school.  What they're doing is kidnapping.  It's not lawful no matter what anyone says, it's kidnapping.  And kidnapping kids?  I don't care who they are, and I don't care what happens to them if, Lord willing, we the people finally stop them.  Disgusting.

---

I was invited to a party this weekend.  Want to, mostly because one of my ATFs is going, but I won't attend.  For one thing, it's at an area that feels as though it'll be visited.  For another, there's football, and I want to watch both Games.  But I have to tell you, the stripper organizing the house party has turned into a fucking MAGAt.  I had no idea she was so racist, but ever since he was installed a second time last year, she hasn't been shy about sharing memes on her Facebook that make my stomach turn.  And I'm very surprised it's coming from her because she's mixed.  Who does she think she is, White?

I have dropped on occasional comment on her Facebook implying what she's posting is wrong and/or Republican, but she hasn't said anything back to me on that front.  But when I told her I couldn't go to her party, she gave me a sad emoticon.  Does she understand how racist she is, and I'm not really digging that shit?  But why am I being so strident?  If this fascism dies down, I'll probably go to one of her parties again.

---

It seems as though there wasn't a whole lot of activity yesterday/Thursday, attempted invasion of the hospital aside.  I could be imagining things.  Maybe this is a lull before another surge.  Or, they might be hesitating because it turned cold yesterday/Thursday.  It'll get even colder today/Friday, and it'll be that way for the next week or so.  By God, if this gives these assholes a second thought, we just might get out of this.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

I've gotta be honest: I don't really feel like doing a survey this Week because the government is trying to burn the city down.  I spent the past hour looking at lawyers in case I get snatched up.  It's no fun feeling besieged like this, so if you don't mind, I will do this WMNSS in a slapdash manner:

#-1: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -1).  It would have been much, much better for the female icers to have swept all four Games this season from Minnesota State-Mankato.  In fact, coming into last weekend, it was the Mavericks poised for the season sweep.  But it's obvious these Gophs remembered the shocking Losses they took in November and vowed, "Never again."  And boy howdy, they absolutely beat the shit out of the Mavs -- 11-3 Friday in Mankato, 6-3 Saturday at Ridder.  They were scoring so many Goals, they were hoping some of those Goals could be counted in the Losses earlier in the season.  Now that's the type of petty vengeance I want to see, in both sports and, well, now.

At Bemidji St. for a pair this weekend.  The Gophers can get the four-tilt season sweep against the Beavers.

#-2: Gopher wrestling (Re-Entry!).  OK, this is impressive: The seventh-ranked Gophers went into Champaign and tripled eleventh-ranked Illinois Saturday, 27-9, to begin conference play.  It's their seventh-straight Win over the Illini, their biggest margin of victory against Illinois since 1968, and it kept Head Coach Brandon Eggum perfect against them (7-0).  Defeating a good, ranked team on the road isn't something I can say much about the program these days.  Home to Nebraska Friday.

#-3: Timberwolves (Last Week: -2).  Split a home-and-home with Cleveland, stormed back from a Fourth Quarter deficit to defeat San Antonio at home on Sunday by a score of 104-103, then, without Anthony Edwards (nursing a hamstring, I think) and Rudy Gobert (suspension for getting too many Technicals), they walloped a tired Bucks outfit in Milwaukee Tuesday, 139-106.  I was at my game-watch bar when that Game started; the Timberwolves were making shots like they were throwing dimes into the ocean.

They might be gelling; they are now fourth in the West, and just one Game from second-place Denver.  But this Week they are finishing a four-Game roadtrip vs. Houston, the Spurs (these contests are back-to-back), and Utah.

#-4: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -4).  Despite being 3-3 in the B1G, it looks like the Gophers are making a credible-enough case to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time under Dawn Plitzuweit.  In a Week where they played all three of their Matches at Williams, they routed Northwestern by 32 Thursday, outlasted my alma mater Sunday afternoon (they couldn't rebound worth shit, goddammit, and seeing that in person really pissed me off ... oh, I should add that that triumph snapped a losing streak of 36 Games against ranked teams), but couldn't withstand third-ranked UCLA last/Wednesday night, falling 76-58.  Still, Charlie Creme says the U. would make it in, and safely, as an 8-Seed.  Now, can they survive a West Coast swing this screening Week and play the other two Pac-12 refugees, Washington and Oregon, on the road?

#-5: Wild (Last Week: -3).  Not good; they're stumbling a bit, losing four of their last five and five of their last seven.  This screening Week they blew a two-Goal lead at Seattle before winning in Overtime, then came home to the Gica and lost to The New York Islanders in OT and get blown out by The Bastard Colorado Rockies.  They're in no danger to fall into the Wild Card spots, but the Quinn Hughes honeymoon effect is over.

This Week is a busy one: They finish a three-Game homestand tonight/Thursday night hosting The Bastard Atlanta Thrashers, then go on a three-Game roadtrip versus Buffalo, Toronto and Montreal (the last two back-to-back).

#-6: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: 0).  Yes, they lost both Games this Week.  But you get the feeling that Niko Medved has this team prepared and confident in a way that, unfortunately, Ben Johnson rarely demonstrated when he was Head Coach.  They came back from a double-digit Second Half deficit before falling to my alma mater by a Point in Overtime Friday night.  On Tuesday, the Gophers coughed up a double-digit lead early in the Second Half to Wisconsin, then battled back from a deficit that got as high as nine, before a Cade Tyson Three-Pointer to tie the Game with five Seconds left was answered by a John Blackwell deep Three at the buzzer to give the Badgers a thrilling 78-75 Win.  You're not supposed to accept moral victories, but you can't help but think things are moving in the right direction for this club, you know?

On the road this Week -- Illinois Saturday, Ohio St. Tuesday.

#-7: Gopher men's hockey (Re-Entry!).  This young, possibly NIL-less squad just doesn't have it this season.  Getting swept at Penn St. over the weekend by three-Goal margins (3-0 Friday, 5-2 Saturday) is a testament to that.  And they'll have the top-ranked team in the nation, Michigan, coming into town this weekend.  Good luck taking away lessons!

Hottest Babe In The Hooters Calendar: December 2025

Pretty good.  Maybe even great, now that I think about it.  Out of the dozen waitresses for this month, I will single out five of them for notable beauty, and I'm not reaching or being charitable about that number.

In fifth place is Natalia, hailing from Doral, Fla.  Straight black hair, wearing a very light pink two-piece.  She is posing with her right side to the camera and is sticking her ass up against ... something.  It's the ass that qualifies her for this list: Even though we could only see it from the side, from the little top of the bikini bottom I can see, I can confidently conclude that she is wearing a bikini bottom that exposes a lot of her (what I presume to be) nice ass.  Can I see it?  No.  But I think she's wearing something risque, so I am putting her here in fifth.  For a Hooters woman really showing ass, read all the way to the bottom.

In fourth place is The Main Girl, Sara, out of Daytona Beach, Fla.  Blonde hair parted in the middle, falling just below her breasts.  She is leaning up against ... uh, wood of some kind, and she throws her left arm above her head.  At three-quarters angle she sports a nice body.  Her smile and face are also nice.  What I like best is her two-piece bikini, a lively and very detailed one, with chains and jewelry festooning both its top and bottom.  Haven't seen a bikini quite like that in the calendar ever.

In third place is Selena, from Pembroke Pines, Fla.  Not a fan of her holding her left arm in front of her because it obscures her stomach.  Otherwise, there are a couple unique things I really like about this babe.  For one, you don't see Hooters girls with curly hair, like you see from this brunette.  For two, while the top of her white (or is it very faint pink?) two-piece is a banded one so you don't see cleavage or a whole lot of her tits, both the top and bottoms are decorated with balls attached by short pieces of string.  This is another bikini the likes of which I haven't seen before in this calendar.  And oh yeah -- her smile beams!

In second place is Mckenzie, hailing from Weston, Fla.  Dark brown hair that lands on her shoulders, she is wearing a hot pink two-piece bikini where the top looks like a vest.  It is pressed so tightly against her boobs that it's created cleavage deeper than the Little Colorado River Gorge.  Add that she's looking like she's pulling down on the almost-completely-open zipper holding the vest top together, this is a winning look.  And oh yeah -- her smile is also radiant!

Finally, in first place is Orlando's Alyssa.  Deep brown hair that gets down to the middle of her back, she is sporting a solid red two-piece.  She seems to be posed like she's manning the wheel of a speedboat.  Not a fan of her posing with her right side towards us.  In fact, if you want to get technical, she is posing a bit away from the camera.  However, that pose gives us a good peek at her bikini bottom, and you can clearly see that bottom is cut to show off 75-80% her soft ass.

So, congratulations to Alyssa and all the other fine honeys for December 2025.  This was a really good end to the calendar.  And oh yeah -- I jerked off to these lovely ladies tonight just before I did this!

Should I See Her?

With my parents now gone, I feel free to see my All-Time Favorite at My Favorite Stripclub (Cover Division).  I tell her on Sunday I want to see her this week.

Big mistake now that these fuckers are trying to push us around.  I started to see videos on websites, applications, social media and the news about people getting kidnapped by faceless thugs, who then push and teargas onlookers, protestors and patriots trying to film their illegal kidnappings.  And I have heard that these motherfuckers have been on my street the past couple days.

So yeah, I'm freaking out.  I don't know if I should be out and about these days.  And I told my ATF so, apologizing for possibly changing my mind.  But I thought about this too: If I am afraid these assholes are going door to door ... do I feel safe at home?  If so, should I be home?  Could I, in fact, be safer somewhere besides my house?  (I realized when I was working yesterday/Monday that I, to my astonishment, felt safer there than I have felt the past several days.)  If that's the case, would it be better for me to go to the strip club?  I know it's bad odds, but maybe I will be out on a night where these assholes are invading our street.

I've been looking up a website that tracks this vermin wherever they go and whatever they do, whether it's detaining some poor guy who got caught up at the wrong place at the wrong time or if they're just eating shit at some gas station.  No doubt they're here, and they have been extremely close in the area.  So I am looking at how frequently they are where I need to be and would like to go (work, strip club, parks, where I exercise) and see, over the next couple days, if it's safe or not.  (One observation I have made: These pricks are avoiding both downtowns, at least for now.)  And still I know it's a crapshoot that wherever I go and whatever I do, I still might get attacked.

When I told her I am having second thoughts, she said, "Do what you think is best for you."  I am sad that she sounds disappointed.  I hope she understands what I'm going through.  But when I told her why I was hesitating, she asked, "Do you think you look like what they're looking for?"  And I am disappointed that she doesn't appear to think that what is happening to other people of color could happen to me.  That "First They Came" poem?  I hope she read it.

Shit, I might just give her the poem when I see her this week.

Apparently, They're Here

None of these reports are verified, but I have seen on websites and heard from friends of mine that they are in the neighborhood now.  One said they're going door to door.  I saw a video taken at the trailer park nearby that shows two guys wearing winter masks, those fuckers.

I've downloaded transcription and recording applications, just in case.  I kind of wish I have a dashcam now, but, well, it may be too late for that.

I am trying to balance my fear of getting round up in all of this with my need to stand up to bullies -- for my neighbors, for my community, for my state, for the good people governing it, and for myself.  Frankly, though, I don't know if I can do it.  I have thought about texting my brother, at least letting him know that these assholes are in the area.  You know, just in case.

So afraid going out the past few days.  Am glad I was still able to see my friend without getting hassled.  But with this fascist vice tightening, there's no telling if, for example, I'll get stopped on the way to work.

Goddamn this world.

Hate Zynga Poker (Right Now)

The last two times I've played Zynga Poker I busted.  And both times I played in order to avoid relegation back down to Stage III.  That's probably an inevitability now.  And to think I used some coins to get up to the $2 billion minimum to play Omaha, which is the way I play now because of the easier format and the potential billions you can "make" in a short period of time.  I lost it all in a short period of time, that's what I did.  Hate this.

Too Much To Do This Week, And I'm Not Doing That Much Because Of ... Well

I totally am happy with seeing my friend who's in town.  She would be, absolutely and every time, my main priority if I have other things I want to do.  And dammit, there are a couple other things I could do this weekend, and I am blog posting about how much I fucking hate that all three goddamn things are here at the same time.

My friend travels for her job.  She was back here in the early fall, but for some family obligations.  That's when she told me she would be in town to work the first full week of January.  That's when I was already formulating in my mind what we could and do when she was back and maybe had more time to do things.

I do not know if it was made before or after my friend told me she would be back in town now, but around this time (I guess) I realized that my alma mater's basketball teams would be playing the U. here this weekend.  First of all, I don't understand how both of my teams are playing here at the same weekend; that's a weird scheduling quirk that I can't believe just lined up that way.  Second, with that, "uh," opportunity, does that mean that both teams travelled here and will travel back on the same plane so they can save money?  But I've gone off on a tangent.  I have to see my alma mater's teams when they play in town ... unless my friend wants to do something else.  But luckily for me, we both went to the same college, so maybe she would want to go to these Games, too?  She said she had time for the men's Game, which was last/Friday night, but not the women's Game, which is tomorrow/Sunday afternoon.  I will presume she can't make it tomorrow because she is busy with work.

Again, I wish these things happened on separate weeks, but I am managing to both go to the Games I want to go to and see my friend.  But there is another thing that I realized is also happening this week, and this I think was scheduled for a year: The Twin Cities Auto Show.  This show was in March for as long as I can remember, with the exception of the COVID years, where I think I didn't go one year and the other year I went when it was held at the State Fairgrounds late spring or early summer.  I always go, but by the time I realized it was happening the same week as my alma mater's b-ball teams and my friend being here for work, I quickly concluded that I can't go.  I'm just too busy and tired.  And (and this could be rationalizing) the auto show has changed since the manufacturers stopped printing out brochures for us to take.  Not saying that I no longer have any fun there, but my stays at the show have shortened because I can't pamphlet-hunt.  I'm not upset that I am passing this up.

Now, all this ICE bullshit is complicating everything.  I haven't yet heard they are in downtown Minneapolis, but I am spooked enough that, if I had the time to go, I would hesitate.  Meanwhile, I invited my friend to this speakeasy tonight.  She might be busy hanging out with another friend.  But I have to be honest and say I am nervous because this place is much closer to the site of that murder by that ICE incel on Wednesday.  Finally, even though I went to the U. last/Friday night and will tomorrow/Sunday afternoon, I am scared of going there too because, who knows, I could be stopped, or worse.

So maybe I shouldn't kvetch over three things all happening at the same time because of fascism.  To be candid, I didn't think my blog post would veer this way.  Oh well.

I'm scared now.  Heard that yesterday/Friday, two school systems shut down for the day because of fucking ICE.  They seem to be in the neighborhood; I heard a rumor that they were staging at the parking lot of the Target.  How scary, and how disgraceful.

I went to a sporting event last/Friday night.  On my way back from the Game (which my alma mater won), I looked at my Bluesky.  Apparently, police and/or ICE are pulling cars off the exit ramps around the Twin Cities.  That's when all this bullshit hits home with me.  These ICE-holes are flagging and possibly detaining anyone, and not because they're enforcing a law; they're doing that because Dear Leader told them to, and you don't want to displease Dear Leader, do you?

So, instead of going to Taco Bell, I hightailed it into my house, where I am safe ... for now.

Hottest Babe In The Hooters Calendar: November 2025

Gosh, I am so, so late to do this one.  I just wanted to wait till my parents were out of the house, but maybe I should've done this in December anyway.

Maybe I could've used more time looking at this month on my wall, but of the dozen servers for this month, I will single out only three of them in what is a below-average month.

In third place is The Main Girl, Chicago's Alyssa.  Dark brown hair that ends at the bottom of her breasts, I like best her light pink two-piece bikini, which looks as though it's been knitted.  Her Mona Lisa smile and figure (she's just standing and completely facing the camera) are pretty good, too.

In second place is Riley, from Sarasota, Fla.  She also has dark brown hair, though it ends just a tad above the bottom of her boobs.  She is posing at an angle, but she's also tugging up the bottoms of her hot pink two-piece, which I like, as if, if I get to look real close, I can see her pussy.  I really like her slight grin as well.

Finally, in first place is Gracie, out of Brandon, Fla.  Also dark brown hair, but hers stops below the shoulders.  Standing straight at the camera, she fits her left thumb through the ring that connects the bottoms to the tops of what becomes a black one-piece bikini.  The top is more like an athletic top, not like what you expect from a traditional bikini top, so don't get to see too much titty or cleavage.  But the open hole of her bikini exposes her slim tummy, and that's nice.  Also, she shifts her body weight to her right leg, so that "S" bend gives her figure a sexy shape.  Finally, she gives a devastating Mona Lisa smile.

So, congratulations to Gracie and to the others whom I've talked about.  If I am still a free man and get home tonight/Friday night, I might have time to touch myself to all of you!

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

A reminder that because we have flipped into a new year, I am changing the day of the week The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey is published.  These will, or at least should, come out on Thursdays, the day of the week January 8, 2026 falls on:

#0: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -4).  I can't remember the last time the Gopher male b-ballers had as good of a week.  Following up a six-Point victory over Northwestern in Evanston, the club traveled home to face an imposing 19th-ranked Iowa squad.  But the Gophs were able to hold onto their big Fourth Quarter lead and make Free Throws late to keep the Hawkeyes far enough away to notch a 70-67 Win.  I know it's his first Year at the helm, but Niko Medved is instilling an element of toughness to this group of players that his predecessor, Ben Johnson, simply wasn't able to do.

This screening Week they finish their three-Game homestand playing my alma mater and Wisconsin.

#-1: Gopher women's hockey (Re-Entry!).  This team is back in action as they went to Fairfield, Conn., over the weekend and annihilated Sacred Heart by scores of 4-0 and, egad, 14-2.  Impressive to beat up on squads that can't defend themselves, but hey, they also got swept by Minnesota State-Mankato earlier in the Year ... and would you look at that!  The Goofers have another home-and-home series with the Mavericks this weekend??  I've never seen a college hockey program play a pair of home-and-homes against the same club in the same season.

#-2: Timberwolves (Last Week: -5).  A Week that began with a 24-Point drubbing in Atlanta New Year's Eve continued in to '26 with the Timberwolves sandwiching a sweep over Miami in a home-and-home around a 26- (talk about ironic) Point ass-kicking in Washington.  Maybe the Defense is finally tightening up.  People have noticed how Rudy Gobert is showing a little more fight and range in his shooting this Year.  Finally, don't look now, but the T-Wolves have the best record in The National Basketball Association since November 29.

Busy Week ahead -- they do a home-and-home with Cleveland, host Victor Wembanyama and The San Antonio Spurs Sunday, then visit Milwaukee Tuesday.

#-3: Wild (Last Week: -1).  Hit a speed bump in the screening Week that bridges 2025 and 2026.  Lost in a Shootout at San Jose New Year's Eve, bounced back by trouncing the Ducks in Anaheim Friday, 5-2, then getting swept in two contests in Los Angeles, 5-4 and 4-2.  That doesn't hurt too much because they remain third in the Central, a mere two Points behind The Bastard North Stars.  But they haven't been in great form as of late.

Like with the Timberwolves, the Wild have a busy schedule.  They finish off their seven-Game roadtrip (necessitated with Minnesota hosting the World Juniors) in Seattle tonight/Thursday night.  They then have a three-Game homestand vs. The New York Islanders, The Bastard Colorado Rockies, and The Bastard Atlanta Thrashers.

#-4: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -2).  Michigan is considered to be one of, like, five or six teams that have separated themselves from the rest of us and will contend for the national title.  So it stands to reason that, even though the Gophers led by nine after one Quarter and by one at Halftime, the Wolverines put their feet down and outscored the U. 42-31 in the Second Half to win by ten.  Just stay on the good side of the bubble, please.

Very busy Week for this team: They play Northwestern, my alma mater, and UCLA.  The great benefit is that all three Games this Week will be played at Williams Arena.

#-Infinity: Vikings (Last Week: -3).  It's funny, but even though the Vikings aren't making the playoffs, I feel kind of ... good about the team overall ... maybe?  For those complaining that these guys are incompetent for not tanking (and maybe I blog posted about this already), winning five in a row (albeit against teams set on tanking or throttling it down because they've already made the postseason and don't want to get any of their players hurt before then) shows, in my opinion, a lot of competence.

It may or may not be a good thing that the Vikes had the best stretch of the season once they were eliminated.  Throughout a lot of the year but especially the past several weeks, I thought the Defense played well, and at times really well, especially against the run.  (Harrison Smith, who, along with C. J. Ham, was feted during Sunday's Win at home versus Green Bay as if he is going to retire, was named NFC Defensive Player Of The Week for his heroics over Detroit the Week before.  Does that sound like someone who should retire?)  On Offense, despite a patchwork line, they were able to run a little more than they did last year.  (Jordan Mason almost ran for 100 Yards against the Packers, and he was a great and underrated pickup before the season.)

Unfortunately, the main question coming into this season -- is J. J. McCarthy the future Quarterback of the Vikings -- is still unanswered.  His hand hurt again, and even though I didn't see it this way, McCarthy actually pulled himself out of the Game early in The Third Quarter.  We have to worry about McCarthy being an injury liability, but now, if this departure was McCarthy's idea, we now have to wonder if he has the drive to be the QB1 for this franchise.  I am encouraged by some parts of his game and discouraged by others, but we didn't get too much evidence to think he should either stay or go.  So this big unknown, which hovered over and ultimately doomed the Vikings' season, is lurking again for 2026.

(Another person to be iffy about, potentially: Left Tackle Christian Darrisaw.  He has played superbly for stretches in his career, but there was a nagging injury that pulled him out of Games and important times in Games, and he, possibly like McCarthy, said he needed a breather.  Is the front office OK with dealing with what sounds like a headache of a player to deal with?  Remember that the Vikings are well over the salary cap.  I'm not saying they would cut Darrisaw in order to get under the cap, but I'm not not saying that.)

But the biggest possible change is at Defensive Coordinator, where Brian Flores, who still has that racial discrimination lawsuit against The National Football League pending in court, might move on.  His players allowed the occasional big play, but overall, he has been really, really good.  And so it'll be sad to see if and when he gets a Head Coaching job (at, say, Las Vegas), necessitating Kevin O'Connell, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, et al., to find a suitable replacement.

Hey, at least they get to relish in a third-place-in-the-Division finish.

Goddammit, the first day they're gone and there's a fucking leak in the house.  I know this would fucking happen.  I'm mad at them for not fixing this properly, and I'm mad at the world for such cruel timing.

I tightened up the screw and it may have slowed the leak.  I am hoping that the drip-drip-drip is slow and low enough that I can go an entire workday and still empty the pail that is now underneath the leak, and that was before I tightened up the screw.  But shit, I can't go on like this.  I want them gone for at least eight months, and now I need to do something that only my parents can fucking do?  Fuck me ...

Addendum To: On Money -- When I Spend It And When I Complain About Spending It

OK, so this is what I did on Sunday.

I was still feeling the pull of the Megamall.  Moreover, I was feeling the pull of Grand Casino Arena, which was staging both Semifinals of the World Juniors.  I stay pretty late after Vikings Games to make sure the traffic thins out, but I could move it up and still leave without getting stuck.  So I formulated a plan to go down to the Mall Of America, buy some stuff at the pop-up store, eat at Popeye's (I had this digital coupon of three tenders for a buck), then drive to downtown St. Paul.  If I could find parking close enough to the arena (parking meters aren't enforced in St. Paul on Sundays, so yay for me), I would park, buy a ticket, then see the second Semi at 7:30.

That last bit was buoyed in part by the prices I saw at scalper sites.  I checked after Friday night's Quarterfinals, which included the United States losing to Finland in Overtime.  I thought the prices would crater because the host U. S. was no longer in it, but prices were too high for me to entertain.  In fact, I think StubHub told me there were no tickets to sell.  But I checked again Saturday, and not only were there many tickets, prices were falling like a stone.  SeatGeek's cheapest ticket Friday night was $93; it became about $50 Saturday, and while at work, I checked again and it fell to $39.  That's it, man; even though I was tired as hell and I would be driving all around the Twin Cities, I decided to do all this.

Well, first of all, me eating so much after the Game that I had to shit really bad threw the Popeye's deal out the window.  I felt this push out of my asshole while I was driving down to MOA, and if you know that feeling, it feels like you're about to fucking shit your pants so bad everyone will see and point at you and laugh.  Scariest feeling in the world, am I right?

But I made it to the public men's room next to the doors at MOA, aka the last place I would want to evacuate my bowels, but of course, I had no choice.  This diarrhea attack made me second-guess if I should even try and go to the Game.  Good thing, then, that I didn't plan on buying a ticket unless I found a space to park in St. Paul.

Systems back to normal, I went to the pop-up.  That orange quarter-zip that probably was going to be the thing I buy?  Well, it went from one or two of those to six or seven.  Unfortunately, the only sizes available were small and extra-large.  This was something I saw with several popular items while I was browsing for World Juniors clothing.  I couldn't buy that, and nothing else there interested me.  So I didn't buy anything there, like I thought I would.  Yeah, it was kind of a waste driving down there.  But I had to know.

Didn't feel the urge to crap after that excretory meltdown when I cashed in the winning Powerball tickets I bought (oh yeah, I did that, too) on my way out to the car, so I felt good going to the arena.  And maybe I shouldn't be surprised considering the half-empty crowds at Mariucci Arena for group and Quarterfinal Games, but I found a spot easy-peasy.  And so I turned off the car, leaned my seat back, and looked at SeatGeek and StubHub for a ticket to that 7:30 Game.  And I was surprised, and disappointed, that somehow prices for that Game went back up.  It can't be demand; these scalper sites are running fucking algorithms to maximize prices.  Makes me so goddamn frustrated.  But hey, I got there, and I wanted to go, so I bought a ticket for Canada-Czechia for, hrmph, $50.

By the way, great Game.  Back and forth, but the Czechs got the upset (even though this is the third straight year the country eliminated the Canadians), 6-4.  (That Semifinal, by the way, was delayed from its scheduled start because the first Semi went past Overtime into a Shootout, where Sweden slipped past Finland, 4-3.)  I'm glad I went, and this is the World Juniors, so maybe I shouldn't bitch so much over the price of the ticket.  Anyway, I had plenty of time to check out the merchandise tables at the "Gicka."  You remember my obsession/fear about "exclusivity," buying items that I could only find at Mariucci or the pop-up store at the Mall Of America?  Well, that OCD blew up in my face.  That hoodie with the huge 2026 IIHF World Juniors logo right on the front that I bought at Mariucci?  Saw it there.  And I also saw the Paul Bunyan & Babe t-shirts I also bought at Mariucci, as well as the first pair of t-shirts I bought, the ones that had the flags on the hockey blades on the front I bought at the pop-up.  Oh, and the pin, too.

So, when it comes to buying things that appeared to be at only one place, I got the scarf that I bought down at MOA and the winter hat with the logo on a plate stitched on it at Mariucci.  All the other stuff I bought I could've bought at any of the three places.  And the scarf and hat, for all I know, were being sold at the other two places before they sold out.  I'll rest in the peace of my ignorance.  But I think I could've been more judicious about what I would've bought if I could've went to Grand Casino Arena for that Sunday group stage Game if not for the snowstorm that blew in that day.  I think I would've gone up to the merch tables, realize that most if not all the items were the same as that at Mariucci, realize that some of the things I saw down at the Megamall I didn't see there (and vice versa), and purchased accordingly.  But now I have a lot of things that, right now, I'm not cool with (see Title of blog post).

But hey, it was the World Juniors!

Oh, Just Leave Me And My Shit Alone

You know, giving me tea is OK, especially if it's sweet as the lemon-flavored one Father's given me a couple times over the past couple weeks.  But he gave the tea to me because he thought I was coughing too much.  The first time yes, the second time no.

And yes, I have thought from time to time that I could use a light cord in my closet so I could actually look through my clothing.  I didn't ask My Fucking Father for one.  Now I know that he went through my closet.  Why the fuck would he be going through my closet?  He would not know at all that I can't light the light in my closet without opening it and going through my shit.  So that scares the fucking daylights out of me.  I can't shove my cum towel in there anymore because one day, he'll see fit to look through my closet just because he has fuck all to do and see my cum towel.

All these two motherfuckers have done is break every boundary I have and done things within my circle of privacy that is up to me alone.  This goes beyond meaning well.  This is them thinking they can do whatever they want with me and my stuff because they have no respect for me.  I guess I could punch them, but they'll be leaving soon, so maybe I'll just say good riddance to their meddling asses.

(And yes, I take back all the good things I said about them in this blog post.  For now.)