The Monday Peeve 27

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the #TMP tag, and link back to me (or not ~ I dgaf), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen! I have feelings!

*

What is up with the WordPress app? Not only do we still have that pesky post gap overnight and during other random times where hours of lovely, tasty bloggery gets nommed up by the langoliers or some other scary time monsters, but now we have new glitches. First, they changed the whole look of the “splash page” and put buttons at the top. Grrrr changes. Bad! But more than that, the buttons require more stabbiness than the links below, and I don’t remember this until I’ve attempted to stab them a few times. Annoying. 🙄

Also, my notifications are screwed up at least once a day. The dot is on telling me I have new likes or comments, but then I can’t see them. Not only that, but I can’t switch between menus of likes, comments, and follows. To see these things, I have to go to a browser. Ughhh! The point of using an app is to avoid going to a browser! 😡

Stop screwing up my WP app, Happiness Engineers! 😛

~*~

Image originally from Pixabay.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Wow What A Week

I touch my face a billion times per day. Yes, I counted, which is why I haven’t been around much this week. I have itchy eyes and am aways messing with my hair and rubbing my achy neck and just generally transferring germs to my face and from my face to everywhere else. But now that’s a crime and also it’s scary to think that all this time people weren’t washing their hands or cleaning their houses. Gross! 🦠

Just when I think I’ve adjusted to the latest barrage of news about THE THING, here comes a new assault of information. Well, not information so much as stuff we’re not supposed to do anymore. First, it was hey quit hooking up with random men from the internet and I was all no problem been on that diet for over three years now. 👍🏻

Wash hands 87 times per day, got it. Clean everything all the time. Sure, okay. Unlike some of you lunatics, I already had Lysol and wipes and alcohol. Don’t go to China or Italy. Lol, okay. Don’t fly at all. Wait, what? Grrrr, okay… I canceled my trip to Vegas this week. Don’t sit in bars and restaurants. Sigh… I canceled Friday night plans and changed Saturday’s.

Tonight I read that Mayor Garcetti has shut all entertainment in Los Angeles ~ bars, gyms, libraries, museums, etc. Grocery stores are allowed to remain open and you can get restaurant takeout only. Governor Newsom says if you’re over 65 you should self-isolate. Luckily, I’m “only” 58, yet I plan to stay inside most of the time, basically go to work, then come home to work more and read/write/blog, and not do much else.

Oh, that’s actually my normal life! 🤣

Joking, sort of. Even though I’m not the most social of butterflies 🦋 I do make some plans… and I don’t enjoy being told I’m not allowed to. But I get it, I get it. I intend to comply with these guidelines in order to help myself and others too. It’s important.

Happily, we’re not really that isolated now, are we? There are so many ways we can stay connected without sitting next to each other in the same room. I’m looking at the bright side of this situation and saying, okay, how can I optimize my time? Well… read and write more obviously. I have lots of partially finished works in progress that I’d love to get on my Kindle shelf for you guys to buy, hehe. In a previous post, I mentioned that I plan to work on Ghosted this year again. Great opportunity!

And I definitely want to stay connected to Blogville! 💕 I know some of us have been drifting a bit or slowing down some, but I have every intention of soldiering on. My Monday Peeve and Thursday Inspiration posts will continue. I’ll do Jim’s Song Lyric Sundays as long as he hosts them. It’s rare I miss a (new) Wednesday Fandango FPQ, and I enjoy the Friday Flashbacks he began as well. I enjoy the weekly SOCS. Other prompts will happen as the mood moves me…

That brings us to the April A-Z Challenge. Last year, I said I wouldn’t do it again for a variety of reasons, but I’ve changed my mind. What’s funny is that I went to the website and was immediately annoyed just like last year! Oh, here’s one reason why I said I wouldn’t do it again… their ridiculous forms, etc. Well, ya know what? I’m going to do it without linking to them at all or jumping through hoops to get myself listed. I don’t care about trying to get more views here. If new peeps come by, great! But if the only readers I have are my “regulars,” I’m fine with that too. 😻

My theme is gonna be games. But I’m not gonna jabber on boringly about rules and game pieces and game theory and the history of chess or any crap like that you could go google for yourself. No. I’m gonna talk about how a game affected me. This blog is about ME! Me me me me!

~*~

Images credited to Bitmoji.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

FEXIT Anniversary

Somewhere around this week or so, two years ago, I exited Facebook. I don’t mean I took a break; I mean I deleted my account (Instagram too). Not only don’t I miss the endless flamewars, fake news, intrusive ads, hacking, privacy invasions, creepy scams, and daily time wasting blabber, but from what I hear, it’s only gotten worse.

I received grief for this, natch. Certain people were unhappy with me ~ they felt rejected and refused to communicate with me via other means. They did not share my concerns about the hacking, etc. I didn’t judge them for staying and still don’t; my daughters remain on Facebook, after all. It makes sense to be where everyone else is. I just don’t want to. I lack the willpower to resist jumping into the flames myself, and there goes my free time.

Others thought I’d feel isolated and return. I do feel isolated, but in a good way. There are times I get a tiny reminder of FB via Messenger, which unfortunately I still have due to some friends’ refusal to text. People like to form various Messenger groups and occasionally there are minor kerfuffles, like during the past few weeks over COVID-19.

Isn’t human behavior fascinating? On the one side we have doctors and scientists; and on the other we have… “but I wanna!” I believe I have summed up the entirety of the fussing with that, though I am positive that on FB it goes on and on and on. You log on and bam! You’re hit with those tags for another 127 comments… and who can resist reading them? Not me. Suddenly, you find yourself angry with friends and vice versa, over garbage some politician said who couldn’t give a crap about any of you.

But hey, if you still enjoy the place… great! I bet it’ll be booming this weekend since the USA has shut down and we have nowhere to go and no sports to watch. Please allow me to make a humble suggestion. Between ranting over other people hoarding TP and Lysol wipes, running to Costco (just one more time), telling your kids to move their junk out of the spare room cuz you’re working from home now, etc… why not buy my book? There’s no reason not to! It’s cheap, it’s fun, and it mocks everyone! Yay!

Thanks in advance! Please don’t forget to leave a review. ❤️💙

~*~

Images from Google and Pexels.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Monday Peeve 26

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the #TMP tag, and link back to me (or not ~ I dgaf), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen! I have feelings!

*

Men in parking lots who, when they are done parking, get angry that other people are… GET THIS!… attempting to park! Take this entitled white middle-aged man yesterday (please). I’ll just call him “Michael” to make things easier. Michael was finished shopping at Savers and wanted to hurry off to his next errand, which was meeting his probation officer, probably.

Now, I actually was finished shopping too and had pulled out of my spot, but I saw in my mirror that my friend was having trouble squashing the chair she’d bought into her Element, so I circled back around to help. As I backed up to take a spot near her, and watched for a sec, Michael honked at me. Wtf? I stopped and glanced around. Oh! Someone’s brake lights were on. My goodness, I had delayed them from exiting their spot for a couple seconds! The horror. I hurried into a spot so they could take off.

I got out of my car and walked over to where my friend was. Michael yelled at me out of his window: “Didn’t you see me?!?!”

You know, it wasn’t a biggie that he beeped at me to move when he was waiting to exit his spot. I had been just sitting there. But what cracks me up is that he was so upset I hadn’t noticed a superior being in the vicinity. Omg a Michael is near and needs something… I’d better jump like a trained dog to see what he wants. That’s what these Michaels are used to. They can’t bear their new irrelevance and increasing invisibility. Hey baby welcome to the party!

I’m so GD tired of these Michaels. Their day is over and they know it.

~*~

Image originally from Pixabay.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Monday Peeve 25

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the #TMP tag, and link back to me (or not ~ I dgaf), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen! I have feelings!

*

SURVEYS ARGGHHHH! Last week it was videos driving me bonkers and this week it’s surveys. They are everywhere, aren’t they? You can’t do anything nowadays without some irritating follow-up pestering you with questions. How do I know my answers mean anything, go anywhere, or will be read rather than deleted? Only once did I ever get a reply to a complaint I made in a survey.

I’m starting to delete them all because they take too much of my time. Over the years, I’ve found customer service to be worse and worse, while surveys have increased in volume, so there must be a correlation.

My idea: surveys cause crappy service. Let’s create a pile of questions on that concept and email them to a million corporate addresses. 😡😡😡

~*~

Image originally from Pixabay.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Monday Peeve 24

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the #TMP tag, and link back to me (or not ~ I dgaf), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen! I have feelings!

*

VIDEOS ARGGHHHH! I don’t want to watch videos about every damn thing! When I look up a song on YouTube, that’s when I like to see a video… but for everything else? Write it in words. I don’t want to listen to some idiot yapping about how to download a form or get published or make chocolate cinnamon candy. Just write it the eff down! I hate listening to people talk! It makes me so angry when I think I’m going to read an interesting article and the dreaded red button pops up.

Look at how we have a text-based medium here with lovely letters appearing on the screen. Let’s keep it that way!

PS: After I scheduled this post, my bank sent me a video to watch about how I can save more money next year. How about I spend the time working that I would have watched their stupid video?!?

~*~

Image originally from Pixabay.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Monday Peeve 23

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the #TMP tag, and link back to me (or not ~ I dgaf), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen! I have feelings!

*

So the freaking phone company amirite? It doesn’t matter which one cuz they all suck. You think yours doesn’t? Just wait. Anyway, I had to contact mine last week regarding misdirected email.

This has been a recurring issue. Some other Paula purchased Direct TV using my email address (or someone mistyped it). I didn’t confirm delivery, but it was installed. I am not paying (obviously) and now it will be shut off. I don’t really care, but it would be great if the annoying emails would stop.

The first bozo on the phone connected me to an outside vendor who tried to get me to purchase a security plan. WTF? Idiots.

The second guy “Tim” seemed much more helpful. At first. He had a southern accent and was super friendly. I felt I could trust Tim to take care of the problem. He kept me on the line a long time, but I figured he was just taking care of biz. Finally, Tim said he could save me a whole bunch of money on my plan and upgrade me to a “free” iPhone 8. 🙄

When I told Tim I didn’t want to change my plan or get an OLD MODEL PHONE, he completely lost interest in helping me with my actual issue! 😡😡😡

I called back a third time and got Krista who supposedly fixed the problem without sending me to a vendor or trying to sell me an obsolete phone, but I don’t trust them. I switched to a different email to solve the problem myself, even though I didn’t want to. As it turns out, it was the only solution because I’m still getting emails from Direct TV, which I’ve now filtered into the trash so I never have to see another one.

Gahhh!

~*~

Image originally from Pixabay.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Monday Peeve 22

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the #TMP tag, and link back to me (or not ~ I dgaf), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen! I have feelings!

*

What’s with the dickheads who respond to me in other bloggers’ comments? Rarely, if ever, do they have anything nice to say. They only pop up like demented clowns to criticize. Um, hello, jerko, I don’t know you, so what makes you think I care what you have to say about my response to Fandango or Lydia or whomever?

I’ll tell you why they don’t simply write a new comment directly to the blogger ~ it’s because they’re attention whores. They need me to see that they have something critical to say about what I wrote, so they make sure I get a notification. Idiots. I try never to engage with them.

This is part of the reason I left Facebook: friends of friends who insisted on arguing with me over scraps of nothing. I had some friends who collected these people like garden weasels, ready to snap at anyone’s ankles who wandered by. I’d block them, but there were always new ones. It made the entire experience unpleasant, aside from the constant privacy and data issues.

Strangers with opinions! Grrrrr. Go away. No, I don’t want to turn these strangers into friends, thanks. I already have enough friends with annoying opinions. 🤣

~*~

Image originally from Pixabay.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Monday Peeve 21

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the #TMP tag, and link back to me (or not ~ I dgaf), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen! I have feelings!

*

One of my “guilty pleasures” is reading advice columns even though they never apply to my current life in any way. Sometimes I like to say, whew, at least I avoided that particular kind of mess! There is a consistent theme that irks me though and that’s what I’m peeving about today. This is the idea that traditional monogamous relationships must be open to the idea of each party having “friend dates” with other people, including exes. If you aren’t open to this, there’s something wrong with you, say the “experts.”

Whaaaaaaaaat? I’m sorry, but no. No nope nuh uh no way. (But if both parties agree this is cool, then there’s no issue.) I recall an OKC question about sleeping at an ex’s on a trip to another city ~ okay or no way? I say no. Many say it’s fine, gotta trust. Sure, I see that. And I still say no. Am I not allowed to have preferences?

According to the advice columnists, and a lot of men, and some women too, who like to keep exes as friends, close friends (just in case, amirite?)… I’m a terrible prude. No, I’m not. I’m realistic. I’ve read so many stories of exes getting back together (and I too have done so) because they were lonely and in the right place in the right time.

It’s wonderful to think that your love is so strong it can withstand any challenge at any point by any homewrecking vixen, but that’s romance novel fluffery. In real life, people get tempted and they fall. What’s the best way not to cheat on your diet?

Don’t keep temptations around.

~*~

Image originally from Pixabay.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Monday Peeve 20

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the #TMP tag, and link back to me (or not ~ I dgaf), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen! I have feelings!

*

Morons! So annoying, amirite? And idiots, omg grrrr! Could do a whole peeve on ’em, but instead I’m gonna peeve about people who are so darn quick to label others not only stupid but implying they somehow deserve their fate because they just weren’t savvy enough to catch on to some piece of technology. Tough luck, Grandma. Too bad about your life savings, eh? You shoulda been smarter, like a 22 year old knowitall.

I see this online all the time… people gloating about how they would never fall for a scam and shrugging at all the idiots who did. Great, so you’re rooting for the criminals? Congratulations.

Who knows why someone makes a dumb mistake in the heat of the moment. Maybe they are mentally impaired or ill. Maybe they were sleepy or stressed. Maybe they clicked the button inadvertently. Do they “deserve” to then be fleeced by a crook? I say no!

It hasn’t happened to me, but it could. I’ve done other dumb things. And my father, a very smart man in his prime, got taken advantage of by con artists when he was old and incapacitated. Did he deserve that? No! He did not and neither do all the other confused old folks who are victims of crime every day.

It pisses me off when I read these smug people calling others morons because they were victims of a scam. Just wait. If you’re lucky enough to make it to 80, you might end up “moronic” one day yourself.

~*~

Image originally from Pixabay.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.