tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81244808844941864872024-03-14T01:21:32.134-04:00Menopausal StonersSocial Commentary with particular emphasis on relationships, education, parenting, and cannabinoids.PENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.comBlogger583125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-55045320411384471442021-07-22T12:56:00.006-04:002021-07-22T17:25:28.302-04:00Six Years Later . . .It has come to my attention that I've spent all our discretionary income and more on staying in Airbnbs in Massachusetts where I can easily buy cannabis products. I have enough of a stash of vape cartridges, chocolate bars and assorted gummies to face a zombie apocalypse, which is a good thing since we're heading into the zombie apocalypse for sure. By Zombie Apocalypse, I mean the PENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-49797146716972078982015-07-27T08:44:00.003-04:002015-07-27T11:26:28.933-04:00Becoming an AllyLast night, I was chatting with a friend from Texas. She and I don't see eye to eye on a lot of political things since she's a Republican (gasp). Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if she were a Libertarian - but more like those old school libertarian who formed their socio-political thinking before Ayn Rand convinced a lot of people who believed communities can take care of themselvesPENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-51261334607840943402015-07-26T13:51:00.001-04:002015-07-26T19:21:55.884-04:00Blinding WhitenessI'm not sure when it happened. In June, Velvet was enthusiastically describing some obscure moments in the history of westward expansion at the time of the Revolutionary War, specifically in Vermont, to some dinner guests over at Cupcake's parents' house who primarily spoke Hungarian. The guests spoke enough English to know when they were supposed to nod. Cupcake's father, who came toPENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-60389779845464953422015-05-19T07:57:00.004-04:002015-05-19T08:16:21.927-04:00Chauffeurs, Torture and Other Material Conditions at the End of EmpireSomehow, Velvet has become a mouthy socialist. I was a bit dismayed when he started going to John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a CUNY college that is an easy commute from Buzz Kill's apartment, because it seemed like an unlikely fit for Velvet considering his history up at Tree Hugger U, but it was his only option. John Jay was the only school in town that would accept Velvet withPENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-31904827847519765862015-05-17T15:35:00.001-04:002015-05-17T16:03:15.668-04:00Ice Cream, Solitaire and other coping mechanismsLately, I've been spending most of my discretionary time playing various solitaire games on a little internet game site. I've played these games for years and years, and before I started with the Pogo website, I played The Sims. Actually, I'm pretty sure that I relied on The Sims to get through my divorce. I enjoyed making characters that resembled people in my life, like my PENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-44743240103255536432015-02-08T20:00:00.000-05:002015-02-09T07:40:22.292-05:00The New Normal in the TriciasphereWhen you're working with the Law of Attraction, one of the things you learn is that we get that to which we give our attention, focus and energy. So if you're dating, as I used to be, and so focused on not getting stuck with another asshole that all you do is endlessly rerun scenes of past assholery in your mind, you can be certain you will be going out with another asshole (or asswhole, asPENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-23946447147683188472015-01-26T21:39:00.000-05:002015-01-27T18:19:38.477-05:00Good Dogs and Card Carrying CommiesPinko may very well be a card-carrying communist soon since he's begun the process to officially join Workers World Party (history on Wiki). I don't know if they actually have a card. I hope they do, though, because if you're going to be a communist, you might as well be a card-carrying-communist. It's the best kind.
I'm excited for him because of all the organizations he's PENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-87297611754350984192015-01-07T22:06:00.001-05:002015-01-22T07:03:35.337-05:00Pinko and the Giant BoobBefore Christmas, Pinko was fretful, agitated and generally unhappy because some people in the world had declared him to be a gold digger, a freeloader and, worse, a grifter like Gayle the Hillbilly Hustler. He was particularly distressed one night at bedtime, so I scratched his back until he was relaxed enough to get to sleep, which is what good partners do (at least in this house. PENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-69235292483022285642014-11-13T07:03:00.003-05:002014-11-13T07:35:12.425-05:00In Which I Address the Notion that I am an EnablerIt has come to my attention that some readers might look at the previous dispatch from Menopausal Stoners World Headquarters and conclude that my man ABear, aka Pinko the Bear, is a freeloading boozer. I can see how that would happen especially since pretty much everyone I know, besides Pinko, has remarked that it's unusual for a grown person to go for several weeks or months (depending on PENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-44534759570542804992014-11-08T09:23:00.000-05:002014-11-08T12:34:33.132-05:00Red Wine, Rose Trees and Bank BalancesPeriods of frustration and worry in the financial arena have occasionally disturbed our happy little world at Menopausal Stoners World Headquarters. I'm pretty sure that almost everyone in these united states experiences occasional bouts of financial worry and frustration here at the end of empire - many of us experience it every single day. That I experience it only occasionally is &PENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-48478791613280270422014-10-06T15:56:00.003-04:002014-10-06T20:59:48.044-04:00Travel Plans and Resistance at the End of Empire, Thing of Beauty #078-101
I've been trying to get a grip on our travel plans for the Christmas holidays in order to lock in decent air fares. This process has been troublesome because Velvet can't seem to find the note he thinks he made regarding the final project in one of his classes. And then there is the issue of traveling around the holidays in the first place because PENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-34778984417887051612014-09-26T14:43:00.001-04:002014-09-26T16:15:36.971-04:00Hippies' DespairI think I've got another case of Hippies' Despair. I first noticed this syndrome years ago while pondering how my good friend, comrade and compatriot, Woody Konopak, could possibly be so dramatically, completely and thoroughly stuck in a vortex of doom. Woody finds a reason to say "Ba Humbug," at just about everything, while most people can look at things like a parade of liberals PENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-52107086163536339662014-09-20T10:38:00.000-04:002014-09-20T18:23:23.499-04:00Climate MarchingEverybody in the world is supposed to be going to the climate change march tomorrow, and that's probably why I don't feel like going. I feel a little guilty because I don't feel like participating in a march that some people have traveled uncomfortably for days to attend, but facts are facts. I'm sick to death of all this talking, talking, talking.
I'm particularly sick of PENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-28844786186492953722014-07-22T11:17:00.004-04:002014-07-22T20:09:43.637-04:00Pinko's Problems, Naked Hippies and Yelling FireI've been missing my bear since he left to drive a taxi in Reno last week, and he's been missing me. I suspect he misses me more because he started having troubles as soon as preparations for his departure began - specifically, the power in the basement of our building went off while our clothes were in the dryer, so that a simple task that usually takes about 90 minutes took all damn PENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-7454755331482330872014-07-04T23:49:00.002-04:002014-07-04T23:58:14.433-04:00Pondering Vocabulary on the Fourth of JulyI suppose every couple must reconcile Sex and Money issues. That's three issues, really - issues around sexuality, issues around finances and the way the two influence and have an impact on each other. How ever you choose to identify the topics, they certainly have been spinning around in the spiritual and romantic alchemy between PENolan and Pinko the Bear as we've been establishing who wePENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-2553418424263628382014-04-13T11:21:00.001-04:002014-04-13T11:25:21.232-04:00Thing of Beauty #077-101: Just Askin'For the last couple of weeks, I've been playing so many silly video games from a website that my index finger hurts. Most likely, this situation is a result of trying to avoid saying that my dad has cancer.
It's only prostate cancer - and I say "only" intentionally because I keep hearing that if you have to have cancer, then prostate cancer is a good one to get because it's typically PENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-77859894037305064542014-03-21T11:05:00.004-04:002014-03-21T16:57:41.847-04:00The New NormalPinko, aka ABear, and I are in the process of establishing ourselves as domestic partners. Once we meet certain criteria, we can declare ourselves as such to my employer, Dog bless them, and he can be on my health insurance for $14 a month. $19 with dental.
We might have gone out yesterday to perform one of the institutional tasks required to satisfy that criteria, but we decided to PENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-64646518209673732242014-02-19T23:03:00.001-05:002014-02-24T07:50:22.843-05:00Click Bait and The Decline of Empire - a Pinko ValentineFor Valentines Day, I gave Pinko my cold. He's sleeping through his cold, but my cold turned into one of those lingering, loose coughs. I blame the NYC Department of Education, since I had to trudge through the blowing snow and ice, over mounds of frozen sludge to climb onto the bus to get to school. Our school stayed open because DOE was open.
I get it that the Department ofPENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-72743676114251345772014-02-10T07:50:00.002-05:002014-02-10T08:10:26.834-05:00Developing a New Domesticity
Pinko is joining the NYC Light Brigade for this action tomorrow (thedaywefightback.org).
He was with the Light Brigade last fall for the Living Wage thing, and he enjoyed it so much he's stayed in touch to volunteer. He'll probably be holding a sign again.
I'm proud of him. It hasn't been three weeks since he moved in for good on January 22nd when we got back from Reno, and he'sPENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-32705698365155489002014-01-14T08:02:00.004-05:002014-01-14T08:05:35.274-05:00The iPottyAs someone who has worked with very young children for nearly 25 years, during which I have participated in the potty training of hundreds of children, I need to say that this potty iPad is a very, very bad idea.
http://www.amazon.com/CTA-Digital-iPotty-Activity-Seat/dp/B00B3G8UGQ/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t?tag=ohmy0c-20
Over the last couple of years, numerous early childhood educators have noticed PENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-25483258562008084392014-01-13T19:18:00.003-05:002014-01-14T20:31:44.596-05:00Eleven ElevenEarlier today, a friend asked for my mailing address, and as I was writing it down, I realized that in a few days, my address will be Pinko's address too. For the record, I've never cohabited with a man before except for Buzz Kill, and when I moved to New York, it was with the understanding that we were considering marriage.
Pinko and I are not considering marriage. Or at PENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-54206410536222495602013-12-31T16:52:00.000-05:002013-12-31T16:57:40.463-05:00A Great SpiritI'm missing my buddy ABear in a way that's making me eat as much chocolate as I can find.
There are only three more Hershey's Nuggets in the canister on my mother's kitchen counter which was full a few days ago. Yesterday, when it turned out that he would be coming to New York in three weeks instead of three months - and that his dad was taking care of the air fare instead of me - I was so PENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-36745044906086441352013-12-30T23:35:00.005-05:002013-12-31T09:11:04.931-05:00Quantum Shift, A Thing of Beauty and a New AdventureSome months ago, Gwendolyn Holden Barry sent my mother a Quantum Shift mister because I thought it would facilitate the sale of her house. This opinion was based on the fact that every time Mudgie (short for Curmudgeon) and my dad, whom we call "Spot," invariably engaged in some level of hostilities any time they had to clean up and clear out so an agent could show the place. Mudgie PENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-65193480645158955412013-12-23T10:25:00.004-05:002013-12-23T12:20:54.326-05:00The Longest NightThe other night, after a delicious candlelit solstice dinner, Pinko and I found ourselves in a conflict that lasted 'til six in the morning. Since it was the longest night of the year, it didn't last until dawn, but still, midnight 'til six is long time to remain in a heated discussion.
It all started over chakras, of all things, but really the argument centered on the same issue I was concernedPENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8124480884494186487.post-90018979165087492992013-12-23T07:42:00.002-05:002013-12-23T07:42:37.788-05:00Fire in the NightBack in October, before ABear aka Pinko got here, I mentioned that my chakras seemed to be in better alignment since I spent a week with him at Burning Man (On Clearing Chakras and Taking the Edge Off Empire, Stonerdate 10.12.13). At the time, I was impressed because it looked like the power of Pinko's mojo had entered my body at the root chakra, traveled up a line roughly PENolanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17920921974302444898noreply@blogger.com0