I'm so sorry Aurelia.

• ****

Said here bc I cannot elsewhere; Olympics : Bob Costas, what is wrong with your EYE. They said don't use the water.

---

That's so awful, Aurelia. I'm sorry.

---

Thanks, everyone.

There's a power outage and a minor derailment at the Howard CTA station.

Ugh. I hope they get that fixed by the time I get out of here.

---

I'm sorry Aurelia. So hard.

Yes, I am watching Olympics. I can't help myself. There are some things I have to watch. Award shows. State of the Union addresses (even when I want to throw stuff at the screen. The Olympics. I also watch the finals of most sports like the Super Bowl, the NBA finals and so forth. It is the regularly scheduled series that I don't find time for anymore.

---

[link]

Basically he has pinkeye. :)

---

Huh, unexpected tax thingie. This year they finally(!) discharged Hubby's student loans due to his disability (his and his ex-wife's loans, the bitch). They kept asking "Are you still disabled? Are you sure you're not working so we can garnish your wages?" Now we have a tax document listing the interest on that loan. This will probably make a nice difference in this year's taxes.

---

So, people living in the future (by which I mean time zones to the east of me) - do I want to watch the Olympic Opening Ceremonies or stick with my recorded TV from earlier in the week?

---

Anyone want to come clean my kitchen?

My birthday is Sunday and I have zero plans. I don't want to make plans and have to deal with the mess that is my relationship with my daughter. But I want to get out of the house. I'm so tired of my bedroom. The living room is onmy comfy in short bursts. Sorry, having a rough evening.

---

I wouldn't mind cleaning your kitchen or taking you out for fun times on Sunday. Stupid distance.

---

I think I might've just saw your friend's bit, Suzi. Floating onion domes? I love Russia, but nsm the politics. I helped restore a monastery there. Genuine babushkas doted on us and brought us fresh veggies. I learned the evil that is stinging nettles.

Taxes are filed.

Local social media has been abuzz with...stuff. Stuff I was lamenting recently. The best piece I've read so far was in response to one with a good title, but cringeworthy privilege island nimby-or-I'll-move Anyway: [link]

The “other Baltimore,” which I assume she’s referring to when she says “they go do that shit somewhere else” (and where I assume she believes “they” are coming from) has been scared to death for decades. That other Baltimore is mostly black. There’s a lot of poverty there; but there are also a lot of working people surviving day to day, trying to get their kids a good education and keep them off the streets. There’s a lot of crime there, but there are also a lot of people who have to deal with that crime every day and have been working for decades to pull their community out of an intractable spiral.

And you know what? Despite all that, if you actually talk to them, many of them love Baltimore, too.

And this is what I love about Baltimore. Cause I see that too. This city, by books and stats, should have sunk by now. It hasn't. Parts are a goddamn hellhole, but it isn't Hopkins or Guilford or the inner harbor conglomerates that have those in marginal and worse blocks hanging on by fingernails. It's not them reaching out to slumlord watch to paint murals on abandoned properties. It's the people who live there. It's shitty odds, but it is odds.

---