LGBTQIA2S

Lesbian
Gay
Bisexual
Transgender
Queer and/or Questioning
Intersex
Asexual
Two-Spirit

Lesbian and Gay - check, I get it. Except, they're both homosexual. I mean, a woman can say she's gay but a man can't say he's lesbian. See, even in the gay community the sexes have to be divided.

Bisexual - check, I know what that is too.

Transgender - ok, so you're transgender if you want to dress like the opposite sex and/or you want to be the opposite sex. Actually, they want you to say if they "identify" as the opposite sex. This one still confuses me.

Queer and/or Questioning - yep, losing me now. Isn't queer the same as gay? And what the hell is questioning? You want to be special because you're questioning your sexuality? Oy.

Intersex - The is a person who is born with certain traits of both male and female. Is that right? I'm actually not sure. I looked it up but I'm still not sure.

Asexual - this means that you don't have sexual feelings for either sex. That makes you special? I think that just makes you different. 

2 Spirit - Ummm, yeah. I didn't make that up. It defines two-spirit as a cultural and spiritual identity for indigenous people who embody both female and male spirits.

Wait, I think they forgot Pansexual. That means you're attracted to everyone! Like a sex addict?

Wouldn't it just be easier to say, heterosexual and non-heterosexual? Or is this just another way to keep everybody divided. Seriously. I used to work for a gay doctor. I've had gay friends. I have gay co-workers. For the most part, they could care less if I know they're gay. Why does the media want us to care?

Pandemic life 2021

2/3/20 - US Declares Public Health Emergency 

3/11/20 - WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic. 

3/13/20 - US declares a National Emergency

The world shuts down. Countries seal their borders; sports teams cancel seasons; schools close and employees go home.

April 2020 - Businesses shut down, leading to massive job losses. By the end of April, 26.5 million Americans have filed for unemployment. We were told that if everyone just stayed home for 2 weeks, we could flatten the curve. Since then, we've been told so many different things.

June 2020 - The curve is not flattening. 5 million people have lost their health care insurance. Life is pretty much canceled. And it will continue through the end of the year.

July 2020 - There's a significant uptick in mental health cases/issues.

And on and on it goes and goes. Here we are, JUNE 2021. Most mask mandates have been lifted now. You're still required to wear one on public transportation, prisons and hospitals. Sometimes I wonder why. Did it help? How about social distancing? Did that help?

Still, after a year and a half, I see a lot of this; 
studies suggest
the CDC worries
we now believe
there could be

it might mean
a new study predicts

All of which just means the same things as, I/we think. Does that make all the precautions worth it?

In my life, traffic on my daily commute has picked up significantly. Drivers are worse than ever! Mostly because there haven't been so many cars in their way before now so they've forgotten. 

There are more and more people outside downtown. Portions of the mall are still closed though. Some restaurants are still only doing take out - labor shortages prevail. In general, we're going more places. That's nice for sure. 

Where I work, we've all been told to be back in the office by July 6th. I was really enjoying the quiet and the drama free environment. Most of these people are not happy about coming back to work either. For over a year, they've gotten to sit in the comfort of their homes, barefooted, in sweats or leggins and dorky t-shirts, temperature controlled to their liking, listening to music, smoking when they want, eating when they want, doing their laundry, playing with the dog, visiting with other family members who are home, saving a TON of $$ on gas and eating out. Yeah, it's been a pretty sweet gig for a lot of folks.

So, what's it going to be like for all of the people, everywhere, that have to go back "in" to work? They have to get use to each other again, seeing faces. Their routines are about to change drastically! It's going to be just as hard as when they all had to go home to work. I only have to give up 2 days at home and I hate it!!! I'm seriously going to miss that extra hour of sleep, loud music, a home cooked breakfast! and chatting with my fella when ever I wanted. Poop

It's been a helluva road, hasn't it? So much anger and sadness and loss. So much negativity and resentment. 

sigh

People, people, people!

I was really starting to feel like the pandemic population and traffic was normal. It was nice. You know, because I don't like people. But now that things really are getting back to normal, there are just too many people and too many cars in the world! They're everywhere!!! ick

Did you know, as of March 2020 there were 7.8 billion people in the world? It took 2 million years for the world's population to reach 1 billion, and only 200 years more to reach 7 billion. Wow! Conservationist claim that the Earth can only support 1.5 billion people. Hmmm. I wonder at what point will they know they were wrong? Granted, there are plenty of poor countries in the world but 6.3 billion people can't survive? According to Science Daily, 95% of the world's population lives on 10% of the world's land. But if you add in agriculture, we take up 1/2 of Earth's land.

China = 1.4 billion. That's 153 people per kilometer (.62 mile)

    China lost 348,399 migrants last yr
India = 1.3 billion. That's 464 people per kilometer

    India lost 532,687 migrants
USA = 331 million. (only 4.25% of the world's population) That's 36 people per kilometer

    USA gained 954,806 

Indonesia = 274 million. That's 151 per kilometer

    Indonesia lost 98,955

Pakistan = 221 million. That's 287 people per kilometer

    Pakistan lost 233,379

But!...A little country called Monaco has a population density of 26,337 people per kilometer. Is that even possible?! Monaco's total population is only 39,242!

The top 5 most populated states in the US are;

California = 39,613,493. That's 254 people per square mile
Texas = 29,730,311. That's 144 people per square mile

Florida = 21,944,577. That's 409 people per square mile

New York = 19,299,981. That's 410 people per square mile

Pennsylvania = 12,804,123. That's 286 people per square mile

The Hoosier state has a population of 6,805,663. That's 190 people per square mile.

US cities are home to 63% of the population but comprise only 3.5% of land area.

Apparently I should quit complaining about how many people there are out there in my daily life.

Vacation!

When we planned our vacation for the end of May, there was no sign of the pandemic abating. People were/are being vaccinated but most of the country was still under a mask and social distancing mandate. I knew we would have to wear our masks at the airports and on the planes. I was ok with that.

We had no idea though, that so many states would have lifted those mandates by the time we left! 

We were heading out west; Vegas, Utah, So Cal. Holy WOW! The airport was packed. Busier than any other time we've ever left at 6:30 AM. The plane was full. It was just nuts. We changed planes going, in Phoenix and coming home, in Denver. Indy has a nice airport. That's why it's been given the title of BEST airport for several years running now. We flew on Southwest. While I like Southwest's prices, I wonder if other airlines are similarly cramped in their cabins. It's hard to be uncomfortable for 3+ hours. But...the flights were uneventful, so there's that.

Our first stop was a day in Las Vegas. That's what this post will be about, Las Vegas. I don't even know where to begin. Their mask mandates had been lifted just a few days before we arrived. I want to preface this by saying, I grew up in the 70's. I lived the 70's, in every way you might think. I'm pretty far from being a prude. I'm pretty open minded, about most things. It's been 12 years since I've been to Vegas. OK, now that I've said that...Vegas is a horrid place. I use to really enjoy going to Vegas. The people watching was fun. The hotel lobbies and casinos were cool. Cheap and endless food. Cheap and fun shows and museums. Except that I got to see some family there, I can't think of a single good thing to say about it. You know that saying, "sin city?" It's no longer just a term of endearment. It really IS sin city now. I saw girls walking down the street wearing pasties. I saw girls wearing fishnet stockings and thongs with crop tops. I saw very little that required any kind of imagination. Lots of foreign speaking people. LOTS of people. Lots and lots of them. It feels a little grimy and it smells. I can't put my finger on it either. My brother said it's like a cross between stale beer and dirty underwear. Yeah, that's gross. If any of us weren't exposed to COVID, I'd be shocked. If any of us weren't exposed to any other vile behavior, I don't know what it was. Ewwww. Maybe it was just the freedom everyone was trying to experience after being cooped up for a year.

I don't think I'm that old. Maybe I am. I don't know. I know for sure though, that I wouldn't go back to Las Vegas to have any kind of fun. Maybe it's just the strip. Maybe if you go and stay in a nice hotel/resort and never go out to the strip, you'd have a good time? I thought it could be fun to go to Freemont Street buy my brother said, no, don't do that. It's like the Vegas ghetto now. That's a bummer.

Greed is the most powerful source of evil. I'm convinced.