Welcome to Chaos !!

Started today with a boring day at work. Very uneventful.....kind of like this.



Did errands afterwards. Got cleaning vinegar. So everybody knows that you can use vinegar for cleaning stuff....for example floors, coffee and tea pots, faucets. But did you know that there is CLEANING vinegar? I didn't until recently. Cleaning vinegar has a higher level of acidity than regular white vinegar. Well I got some of that today since I like to clean. It is therapeutic.
Then I went for a walk. It looked something like this.



I can't get enough of the amazing cherry blossoms. They are SO pretty.



Hello, is it me you're looking for?



And now I am going to talk about some stuff. That is why you are here reading right.....cause you want to know my thoughts on stuff. And I have plenty to say about a lot.
I can't remember last time I watched the Oscars. Does not interest me, feels stuffy, outdated and full of annoying ass-kissing hypocrites.
But of course this year's debacle blew up larger than things that really matter, like wars and injustices and people and animals getting hurt.
I am not surprised.
My thoughts on the drama? My initial reaction was that it must had been fake or staged when Will Smith indignantly stomped up on the podium and slapped Chris Rock. But I guess it wasn't fake. And if it was indeed fake then everybody should cancel Hollywood, enough of that bullshit already. I should add here that I only watched the slap incident once. So I do not care for either Will or his wife Jada, their kids are annoying as well. That whole family is CRINGE. I am pretty sure that Jada can defend herself, she has mused about her past drug and alcohol issues and she used to hang with Tupac after all so she is not a defenseless fragile flower. The stuff she has revealed about her and Will's marriage is kind of embarrassing so no wonder Will has lots of pent up rage. I would too if my significant other looked outside the relationship constantly. And the alopecia.....really now? You are a millionaire and openly talking and complaining about hair loss that might actually be due to the way you have been treating your hair for the last 40 years. Put a wig on, or one of the head wraps you claim you love wearing or be bald and fab, now sit down and shut up. And not everybody is aware of your sorry traction alopecia issues.
Perhaps Rock wasn't, did that occur to you? A guy that produced a documentary called Good Hair (and yes I watched it) so he is not completely unaware about hair struggles in the black community.
And the joke wasn't even that shocking, I consider it mild, nothing to raise an eyebrow over, certainly didn't warrant Smith's outburst.
The Hollywood crowd is so fake. Ten years ago they were all kissing Harvey Weinstein's ass knowing damn well that he made the ladies go the ole' casting couch route to win a role in one of his productions, which the ladies also did but later on when the Me Too movement swept the globe he was suddenly a pariah. Hypocrites. They should have somebody like Ricky Gervais hosting the Oscars but the hypocrites are too scared to be outed for the sorry hypocrites they are. There are wars going on and Smith decides to lead by example and slap somebody. So I am team Rock all the way on this one.
Sit down Will Smith. Good that Zelensky was kept out of the Oscars.....he does not have time for that kind of Hollyweird stupidity.
And speaking of Zelensky. I feel that he should allow Russia to have Donbass and declare Ukraine a neutral country. Enough of death, suffering and destruction. It is not worth it. What other solution can there be to put an end to this? I am so disappointed at Putin at this point. He too needs to sit down.
And I think that was it for me tonight. Shower and Wordle next.
Then sleep.

I got a milk frother. A Breville Milk Café frother to be exact. So this evening I made a London Fog at home! I am excited!
I am going to learn how to make more foam but yeay now I can make my lattes and London Fogs at home. And I got some vanilla syrup and I will also look for lavender syrup. I like my London Fogs with vanilla and lavender syrup. I saw that there is an oat milk by a brand called Califia Farms called Barista Blend. I will try that next.



Although will miss my baristas at the coffee shop I have been going to almost every day. They are my girls. So I will have to swing by once in a while and get a latte.

Today the ticket registration for Burning Man opened. What I did not realize back in 2012 when I decided that I was for sure going to Burning Man that year (or so I thought) is that getting a ticket is a rather complicated matter. Tickets are not sold at the gate. You can't just show up and hope for the best although there are brave souls that do just that every year and I guess it works out for some of them. Maybe tickets used to be sold at the gate at some point but not anymore! So since I had not educated myself on how to get a ticket back then I missed out and instead 2013 became my Birgin year. Birgin = a first timer at Burning Man.
The first time I heard about Burning Man was around 2004. I was at Ash Springs hot springs in Nevada with my ex boyfriend David and a person there told us about this event up by Reno. We thought it sounded amazing then but didn't go for all those years and we lived in Nevada too. Well I didn't go until almost a decade later. I wish (of course) that I would had went sooner than 2013. I know I missed out on all those earlier years, so that is a regret of mine.
This year it will be a fight to get a ticket. The number of overall tickets decreased by about 20 000 and the number of tickets in the main sale, the sale I register for, are reduced to ONLY about 10 000 tickets.
A serious reduction from the 2019 main sale that had, if I recall it right about 30 000 tickets. Had I belonged to a theme camp my chances of getting a ticket would increase but I do no affiliate with a camp at Burning Man. I like to do my own thing. This year Burning Man decided to drastically reduce the amount of tickets in the main sale and instead increase the tickets allotted to the different registered camps.
You can also get a FOMO ticket but those are expensive, $2,500/ticket and then there are some for $1,500/ticket. Plus fees and taxes added on top of that. The main sale ticket cost is $575.00, plus fees and taxes.
So....I am hoping for the best.

A big change this year at Burning Man is NO MORE Center Camp Coffee Shop. Here is what Mango writes in The Burning Man Journal about the beloved Coffee Shop.
"In 1995, the Center Camp Coffee Shop was born as a single espresso machine sitting on top of hay bales. Rumor has it that a storm took out the bedouin-style tent that housed the bales, but the espresso machine and its offerings persevered — an early testament to the dedication and resilience of Burner culture. In 2000, the Center Camp Coffee Shop moved under a huge structure that can withstand 120 mph winds, truly an engineering feat. Since then, the Center Camp Coffee Shop has grown to over 1,000 volunteers and into a vibrant community.
Black Rock City is a continuously evolving, living experiment. As we shared at the end of last year, we will no longer do coffee sales at Center Camp in 2022. There are other big changes to our city, as well. This decision is ever so bittersweet, and it was not made lightly.
Center Camp Coffee Shop volunteers, you have for many years contributed to Larry’s idea. Under the guidance of Center Camp managers P Segal, Dana Harrison, and Marcia Crosby, you created a culture and an organic community. The Center Camp Coffee Shop is a beloved chamber of the beating heart of Black Rock City, and will forever be a part of our history. The memories and deeply-rooted value of your quarter century (!) of service is not taken lightly, or for granted. You have been inspirational and welcoming, and we can’t wait to see where and how you bring your energies, joy, and playfulness next. People like you are what makes Black Rock City… well, Black Rock City. From the entire Burning Man community, we offer a deep bow of gratitude to the thousands of the volunteers who have made the operation of Center Camp Coffee Shop what it has been."

Read the whole "Love Letter to the Center Camp Coffee Shop" here,
https://journal.burningman.org/2022/02/black-rock-city/building-brc/center-camp-coffee/

It IS bittersweet. I get tears in my eyes when I read that. I am sad that the Coffee Shop is no more. I LOVE that place and I started volunteering as a barista there in 2016 and did it through 2019. And it was amazing. I will miss everything about the Coffee Shop. Perhaps I will make my own coffee shop at Black Rock City. Many camps serve coffee and I did notice a decrease of people coming by the Coffee Shop starting in 2018. I understand Burning Man's decision to put an end to the Coffee Shop but yes bittersweet is a good word to describe the feeling.
I am hoping to find another place to volunteer at Burning Man. ❤️
The Man burns in 164 days.

The cherry blossoms are in full bloom and Portland is pink and pretty. The trees look like fluffy pink clouds and make everything feel better. The time to see them is now before the petals fall to the ground, they don't stay fluffy and pink forever, it is a fleeting moment albeit a yearly moment.
It rained all day yesterday so my plan was to go to the Waterfront Park today but I did not make it down there until after sundown. So I am hoping for another visit later this week.....before it is too late.

Hi.....checking in. I had a pretty crappy week but today was a good day so the week ended on a good note. But my crappy problems are nothing compared to what some people are going through so I should not complain.
What I can say is something that I have said before, people suck. People are fake, some are hypocrites and I hate humans in general.
Of course not all humans. There are some good ones. Like my friends.
I recently got Roku so now I have all kinds of stuff to watch. It is nice to watch a movie on a rainy Sunday evening. So tonight I watched Footloose. First time for me. Did you know that the movie is based on a true story? When I hear the song Footloose which might be the worst song in that movie btw, it is actually. Well when I hear it I think of a club I worked at for a bit a long time ago in South Dakota called Holiday House. The DJ played Footloose for me a few times. The first time I was like whatever. But after the third time I went up to him and told him to stop playing it for me. Play some Rihanna or something. Footloose? No thanks.
This week will be interesting. I have a few phone calls to make and emails to write. A couple of meetings to go on and see what develops out of those. And work aka sit in the dressing room for four hours and talk with my girlfriends or read and spend about an hour total going on stage. And if it stops raining I want a picture with a cherry blossom tree, they are blooming now and are a sight. This was me last night. And now I am going to play Wordle and read.

Today I have been dealing with car problems. I get very stressed when my car has an issue, car problems are some of the most stressful things that can happen to me. This problem included two tows and no car for a week. Well, not my own car for a week at least. There is a place in Portland where you can take your car to and fix it yourself, there are lifts (?) that hoist the vehicle up and all kinds of other tools available for use. Super great place and a super nice guy, Mike owns and runs the place. Today me and my mechanic used a transmission jack. I have the best and most patient mechanic ever, he is also my friend. So I had the fuel pump replaced on my car. And while doing that, we put in a new fuel filter. Then the oil got changed and the oil filter of course. I have some more things to fix on my car but they can wait for another time. It is an older car but it is perfect for me. I have replaced and repaired a lot on it BUT I am not in the market to purchase a new car and I think that if I get another used car things will break down sooner or later so I am sticking to my car while it works.
I like watching and learning plus helping out with smaller tasks while my mechanic works on my car.
I had a long day and I am about to go to sleep. Monday tomorrow.
If you are reading this - have a great week!