The Continuing Restoration Project

Now that there is blue tile in the kitchen, the new HQ is really starting to feel like MY place.  The old HQ on Central Park West had similar tile in the kitchen.  It was a deeper blue, more like a irises and the ocean, and a little iridescent.  I might have repeated it here, but this one that reminds me of old bluejeans was discontinued so the tile store was selling it cheap.

The guys have to come back one afternoon next week to install the shelves, then Phase One of the kitchen will be complete.  I can't move on to Phase 2 without the help of the Super on account of nobody knows exactly why this ancient, capped-off pipe  is under my refrigerator.

Until this mystery is solved and somebody can cut off the pipe so that it's under the floor, the refrigerator will remain on a platform. I hate the platform for lots of reasons, but I can't afford a new refrigerator now anyway.  The old one that came with the apartment can sit on the platform for a few months.  The super will take at least that long to get around to the question of the pipe.  I'm going to keep the old stove, however, and will probably put a shelf on the wall behind it for cooking supplies.

As for the backsplash, the area used to look like this:

Then it looked like this:

Now it looks like this:

The same fellow in the middle picture put up the tile.  I suppose he'll be back to install the shelf under the cabinets.  It will be about 10" down, so that the toaster oven will plug into the outlet tI requested specifically for that purpose, although when they put in the outlet, I thought I'd have a microwave there.  I decided to stick with the toaster oven.  There will be another shelf over the sink, running at the same level as the bottom of the cabinets.

The stainless steel oscillating fan currently on top of the pantry by the stove will go up on the shelf, just to the left of the electric meter.  I don't know what I'll wind up putting on top of the pantry.  In case anyone is wondering, this is what is inside the cabinet:

The guys finished up Phase One of the bathroom, too, so there is finally a medicine cabinet:

 The obligatory shot of me in the mirror:

The jazzy articulated triple hook on the bathroom door:

And double hooks for towels on the wall behind the door:

I like describing the Restoration Project and sharing photo illustrations, and I always try to protect my privacy - but sometimes I worry about pervs and other stalker-types.  Growing up female, you learn early on that anything you say, do or wear will be construed as an invitation by some people so that if, God Forbid, something violent should happen to you, half the world will say you brought it on yourself (and not just the male half).  When Granny was about 12 and was raped by her uncle the Deacon, plenty of folks blamed Granny.  Plenty blamed alcohol too, but nobody blamed the Deacon until a few months later when he went after another little girl who wasn't related.

That stuff has been on my mind again lately.  I've been following the fallout from Seth MacFarlane's controversial production number about Boobs.  Normally, I don't pay attention to anything connected with Hollywood.  Before Velvet was born, I spent a year in the New York office of an entertainment PR firm based in LA, mostly as the office manager doing things like copying articles on jet lag for Mick Jagger and acting as secretary to a dottering old partner when he came to town.  I even had to dial the phone for him and say, "Please hold for Mr. C---n."

When you've had a job like that, you fully appreciate just how deep the bullshit is in the entertainment business.  You also have a pretty clear idea of your place in the food chain.  Mr. C---n was much more into being taken care of like a little boy than anything else.  I'm surprised he didn't ask me to button his overcoat and tie his muffler before he went downstairs to get into his limo.   So it's been over 20 years since I paid a bit of attention to any celebrity bullshit.

Seth MacFarlane wound up on my radar because my friend Manny, managing editor of The BQ Brew, posted a statement on Facebook expressing his outrage at all the dumb ass men defending rape jokes and telling women to "get over it."  Another buddy from Roundtree7, Mike, took some shit in a thread because he tried to make a distinction between misogyny and sexism - at least rhetorically.  When you're talking about patriarchal attitudes, the level of dismissiveness and arrogance displayed by some men points to an underlying contempt for everyone they consider inferior to themselves that could be considered misogyny, but the contempt is too pervasive to be that specific.  They hate other religions and races, and most likely homosexuals too - so it's not simply misogyny.  It's ass-wholery (complete and total asshole = Ass Whole h/t Konopak).

Whatever anyone has to say about the Boob song, it does highlight the objectification of women.  The writers knew very well people would be pissed which is why they set up the whole thing with Captain Kirk coming back from the future to show MacFarlane how he fucked up the Oscars with the dang song in the first place. (*Note* I didn't watch the Oscars.  I saw the number online at JustJared)  If those same writers had put as much thought into the lyrics of the song as they did to the set up, they might have left out the references to tits that were part of rape scenes and avoided articles like this one: "We Saw Your Boobs"celebrates rape on film.

Whatever about MacFarlane.  That was all just bullshit for the camera.  What resulted in Facebook threads, however, was much more troubling.  A lot of guys were dismissive and contemptuous of the women who tried to explain why they were bent about the song.  While some of those women really might not have a sense of humor, it's more likely that many of the women who were making noise about Rape Culture had been sexually abused themselves.  Thirty percent of women are abused at some point in their lives, after all.  It would be nice if more men understood that.  Then maybe they'd listen when women are trying to explain why some stupid sexist bullshit is problematic instead of being stupidly sexist themselves.