FW: Happy Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

If youve been paying attention, you might have noticed that I like American history, especially strange and little-known facts. A lot of our history, particularly the stuff they dont teach you in school, is about Civil Rights and peoples desire not for a great life, but simply to have an equal chance at a great life... to be judged by the content of their character, as it were.

We still have a way to go, but we are getting there. Some of us have been here for decades, building on the good works of our forefathers and foremothers for a better future. Some of us are young and stepping up to pick up the torch. (We old-timers are proud of you for it.) Together we continue to try to make this great country great in whole new ways, and occasionally we even make history. Despite its faults, America is a good and hopeful place to be.

*****

The picture above is what Bubba, Dinky and I did Friday night -- saw Big Brother And The Holding Company, Janis Joplins old band, in concert. They had a lovely young female singer who really did justice to Janis Joplins songs. I got a little choked up. :,)

FW: Multimedia message

Well looky what I found while aimlessly surfing the net. These (except the Uncle Sam one) are old World War 2 posters urging people to work, work, work. The Tokio Kid posters are particularly racist and offensive, yet oddly fascinating. I think there were sixteen in all, created and distributed by Douglas Aircraft. The government liked them so much it took over distribution and also used the character to advertise war bonds.

I have to ask myself who benefits from these posters. I hope the posters did what they appear to have been intended to do, which is motivate people to work together to make the war situation the least bad possible... But maybe, just maybe, a few manipulative employers benefited too.

FW: fremont Street Flag

Photo of the week:
This is part of a music video of -We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions- by Queen, playing on the movie screen ceiling of The Fremont Street Experience. I think the pictures going by must be fallen members of the military; a lot of them are in uniform.

Whine of the week:
I have a cold. Great googly-moogly, do I have a cold. I tried and liked Mucinex, which honestly has the very same chemicals as many other medicines, but in different and much larger proportions. I like better still the generic (cheaper) version.

Ive been drinking lots of fluids and eating up all of Dinkys gummy multi vitamins. Yummy. Which brings us to the...

Word of the week:
Sarap. Pronounced sa-RAP, kind of reminds me of Saran Wrap. Rrrroll the R if you can. It means yummy or delicious in Tagalog. As in -Joey looks sarap,- which my friend Emily said about the Pinoy cutie who taught me...

The other word of the week:
Salamat. Pronounced sa-LA-mat, sounds kind of like salami. It means thank you in Tagalog. At this rate, I ought to be able to understand a conversation in Tagalog by the time Im a hundred years old. ;D

Meme of the week:
This comes from the lurvely Orhan Kahn. All I have to do is fill in the blank. Consider yourself tagged if you want.

IM ALL ABOUT...

Learning. The universe is so full of amazing things, theres no way we could ever run out of things to learn.

Truth - I cant stand being lied to, and I dont understand why anyone would ever NOT want to know something.

Politeness - rudeness is a major pet peeve of mine. Im not worried about which fork to eat with. I mean treating other human beings with dignity and showing some class. Offer your seat to that old lady, dont say rude things to people, Throw your trash in a trash can. Dont act like you were raised by wolves.
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I will lay your soul to waste.

FW: Werewolf? THERE Wolf!

Yesterday my Store Manager told me to keep my head up - he could see that Im losing my focus and getting frustrated.

Before leaving home I prayed for strength and that I would learn something new. I locked the door behind me and started optimistically on my way.

I was headed for the bus stop just before dawn. A tall dark slim stranger stood alone on a corner and asked me for a cigarette. A mouthful of gold and jewels and largeish fangs glistened in the dull yellow street light. The strangers mouth was so filled with gold, in fact, that he had trouble closing it and sounded as if he were talking with a mouth full of food.

As I searched my purse for a cigarette he told me that everyone else he had asked had ignored him and kept walking.
I tried to make excuses for them: -Youre kind of hard to understand.-
-Im a real werewolf- he said.
Looking up at him from an angle I glimpsed what did indeed look like an extraordinarily large, thick, curved and rotting fang behind the bling.

The werewolf started to give me a handful of coins.
-Keep your change,- I said. -Im not stingy.-
-Thank you, Maam. I wont forget you. One day somebody will walk up to you and give you money. That will be me.-
-Just do something nice for someone else,- I answered as I walked away.

I smiled at the thought that I now have a friend who is a werewolf. I dont really believe in werewolves, but he does, and thats what counts.

Later I pondered if Im not afraid of a werewolf (whether he really is man or beast) why am I so intimidated by my supervisor who is a condescending, spoiled woman half my size? The answer is of course that I shouldnt be, and she suddenly lost a lot of her power. Oddly, she was spotted leaving the Store Managers office crying, and was unusually quiet and polite the rest if the day. Hmmm...

FW: Multimedia message

Continuing to explore Las Vegas and reporting back to you...

This is how the Stratosphere looks during the day. The boys and I rode to the top of it Saturday. There is a super fast elevator that can travel the 866 foot height in about ten seconds. Our ears popped on the way up and on the way down because of the elevation, same as they would on a mountain or in an airplane. It was pretty weird.

There is a very pricey revolving restaurant, which we didnt go to. A bit higher is a glass-enclosed observation deck with souvenir and snack shops. Going up a set of stairs, we can go out onto a deck that is not enclosed except for a chest-high wall. It was beautiful up there on top if the world. They have three roller coaster type rides above that, that go up to a height of over 900 feet, but Im not brave enough to go on those.

(Scroll down for more.)