June 7, 2026

Last year I found a new artist whose music and lyrics

I adore. Her name is Lauren Mayberry from Scotland. Her band is Chvrches.

My favorite song right now is Change Shapes:

?si=g5CHfuMOmiZGhN3n

I love the lyrics:
It's exhausting trying so hard all the time
Performative hypocrisy took over my mind
I'm a doll inside a box
With a ball and a chain
I bend over backwards, tiptoe along every wire
Guess I'm quite the actress, no one knows I'm a liar
I'm preaching to the choir
I'm a body for hire
And I think you should know

I change shapes 'til I get what I want from you
It's your game, now you're mad that I learned the rules
I change shapes, I change shapes for you (ooh, ah)
I change shapes 'til I get what I need from you
We're all snakes, but what else is a girl supposed to do?
I change shapes, but you never do (ooh)

It makes me nauseous waiting for slips of the tongue
God, I know you love it when you're eating your young
It's a really bad habit
Playing dead and dumb
It's a precaution, playing a smile on a loop
Specific choreography for jumping through hoops
I'm a masochist, a martyr
Who won't stop turning the screw
And I think you should know

I change shapes 'til I get what I want from you
It's your game, now you're mad that I learned the rules
I change shapes, I change shapes for you (ooh, ah)
I change shapes 'til I get what I need from you
We're all snakes, but what else is a girl supposed to do?
I change shapes, but you never do (ooh)
I've been foolish, let you fool me twice
Wonder what would happen if you learned to play nice
So now I'm running, gonna roll that dice
Wonder what would happen if you changed
Yeah, right
I change shapes 'til I get what I want from you
It's your game, now you're mad that I learned the rules
I change shapes, I change shapes for you (ooh, ah)
I change shapes 'til I get what I need from you
We're all snakes, but what else is a girl supposed to do?
I change shapes, but you never do

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Cleo Tighe / Evan Blair / Lauren Mayberry / Matthew Koma

June 6, 2026

Trump has more plans for reno:

?xmt=AQG0U-uhiheunikAuTnToLXp1s7lwtE57oNqImW3niI-2Vtq0URX1YrzXUFxj7893dlBGara&slof=1

June 5, 2026

My dog died this morning.

I was becoming convinced that my brother's spirit passed on, and I was starting feel more emotionally normal. But I knew my dog's time was coming. I spent alot of time with him and helped him get around outside, and he brought himself back into the house. He quietly passed away.

I miss him already. He was a lab-mix rescue, and very protective of me. He would body block my autistic son if he was coming to hit me. He would bark to warn my other son.

I hate cranking up the grief process again.

June 4, 2026

Albanian anti-corruption prosecutors have frozen Kushner's bank accounts!

https://www.occrp.org/en/news/albania-freezes-assets-in-kushner-resort-probe

Albanian anti-corruption prosecutors on Tuesday froze the bank accounts of a landholding company tied to a controversial $4 billion luxury resort project backed by Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. The escalating crisis over the coastal development has triggered mass protests, a sharp diplomatic rift with neighboring Greece, and stern warnings from the European Union.

The preventive seizure, ordered by the Special Prosecution Against Corruption and Organized Crime, targeted Albania Land Development amid a widening investigation into allegedly fraudulent property titles. The company, owned by the prominent Qatari entrepreneurs Moutaz and Ramez Al-Khayyat, recently purchased beachfront plots in Zvërnec. The protected coastal area along the Adriatic Sea, near the southern city of Vlora, is where Kushner’s investment firm, Affinity Partners, plans to build an elite mega-resort.

The legal intervention follows days of intense public unrest. Over the weekend, thousands of demonstrators marched through the capital, Tirana, under the banner “Albania Is Not for Sale.” Environmental groups and local residents are protesting the development’s encroachment on the Pishë-Poro-Nartë protected area, a sensitive Mediterranean wetland critical for flamingos and nesting sea turtles.
snip

This is great news! The resort was supposed to be $1.2 billion, but this article says it's a $4 billion project.

I like what someone on Substack said about the billionaires:
https://substack.com/profile/34385622-bigredchunk/note/c-270492137?r=cb5zc

May 16, 2026

I feel like I need to clarify something about Texas Towelie's

life and passing.

I was single and no kids (SANK!) for ages, with a good job and orderly life when my parents requested my help in looking after Paul. But after I had a family, the majority of his physical and daily care fell on our brother after 2012. Their personality differences made that partnership very difficult for both of them, but it was hardest on Paul. After our parents' "estate" was settled, I was mostly providing emotional support to both brothers.

I didn't want to leave anyone with the impression that I'm a superhero.

All of your kind words have really helped. I've been able to have multiple good cries which gave me so much relief.

May 16, 2026

I've been dreading having to write this post since yesterday.

I feel physically ill trying to get the words out. My heart hurts.

My brother, DU's Texas Towelie, passed away yesterday.

Decades ago my parents tasked me with looking after my younger brother. One sibling was 1500 miles away. Another was out of the country. And the other was too stressed all of the time to participate. He was my brother, and I wouldn't let them down. My younger brother was intelligent and bipolar. He was well-educated, but never had money, even with a good paying job. He had some problems with decision-making. He grew up with us in a horrible small town in south Texas with rattlesnakes, javelinas, cowboys, and bullies. I can't imagine how rough it was for him. He was more suited for a genteel life.

Paul (Towelie) had several chronic health problems for decades that finally caught up with him. I think he was dreading what could have come next. He passed away overnight on May 14. He was living with our brother in Texas who had PTSD from the Gulf War. Neither would be easy to live with, but I couldn't convince Towelie to leave Texas when he could like I did when I moved to Georgia.

Over the years I have sought out Paul's posts to keep an eye on him, trying to assess his emotional state after several suicide attempts. I also looked for his absence from DU as it might have meant he was hospitalized and our brother forgot to tell me. Over these decades I was married with a traveling husband, a severely autistic teen son, and a MIL with dementia. I couldn't do everything from 1000 miles away and people here depending on my help. I think he might have figured out "Ilsa" was his sis, but I hope he's forgiven me for not being upfront about it. If he was angry for me trying to look out for him, I can live with that. Paul and I have always been more alike in our interests and politics.

A few years before he joined DU, I invited him here, hoping he could make friends here and find purpose. I think he took his time and found you on his own. I'm so glad he made friends with so many of you. I know he appreciated every kind word you had for him, as do I. Please forgive me for my deception.

My heart aches for him, that he had so many physical and emotional problems over the years, and endured so much suffering.

I need to go mourn for my beloved brother. I've been doing a lot of that over the last 3½ years having lost my husband, my MIL afterwards, my dog, my son's caregiver after 2 years, and about 4 or 5 aunts and uncles. I'll try to answer questions if you have any.

April 1, 2026

Magats are getting bad news from Alex Jones

Nicole Wallace had the video clip on Deadline White House. Here's an aol news link with an article from The Independent:
https://www.aol.com/articles/wing-conspiracy-theorist-alex-jones-090006697.html

Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones doubles down on criticism of former ally Trump: ‘We’re in free fall’

snip

Jones told listeners that it was time to “cut bait” on the president ahead of the midterm elections.

During Trump’s second term, Jones has repeatedly criticized the president over his handling of the release of the Epstein files and the ongoing conflict in Iran.

On Tuesday’s episode of The Alex Jones Show, the host took aim at Trump’s health, comparing the president’s current state to his late grandfather’s decline due to dementia.

snip

“But he’s gone. And that’s it. And all the people rallied around him, you can see, Hegseth’s freaked out,” Jones added. “You can see, the press secretary’s freaked out.

snip

Jones also suggested that Trump’s brain is “not doing too hot” and claimed that the swelling seen around the president’s ankles is a sign of heart failure.

Snip

March 20, 2026

I love the First Round of the tournament. Watching UK & Santa Clara

in OT. Kentucky tied the game with less than 7 seconds. Santa Clara sunk a 3 with only 2.6 sec remaining. UK's Oweh made is shot just after crossing midcourt. Buzzer sounded while the ball arced and was heading downward. He made the 3, tying the game.

I love these moments in NCAA tournament that create lore. I love the upsets, busted brackets, all of it.

March 16, 2026

Trump thinks he's gamed out the war.

He must think that if he sends 5,000 Marines to take Khark, that so many of their deaths will force Americans to "rally behind the war effort" which might politically save his ass, even though it does nothing to bring NATO in.

But too many of us older citizens witnessed this "in for a penny, in for a pound" macabre exercise in the 1960s and early 70s. The patriotic thing to do is to not spend our military on his vanity projects or Epstein distractions, while leaving us vulnerable to real threats.

Please tell me if my brain isn't sorting through this reasonably.

March 15, 2026

A cousin who is a veteran got a letter from the Army

telling him they want him to re-up, even though he's 60, sick, and partially disabled. He said other career army, now retired, are getting letters trying to call them up for service.

Is this typical, or is the military this desperate?