I have something I refer to as The List. I don't have it written down anywhere, I just keep an ongoing mental tally. On The List are the places I no longer patronize. If you are anti-union, that's a good way to get on The List. If you are run by billionaires and treat your workers poorly (like being anti-union, or providing wages so low your workers receive public aid), you're on the list. If you have massively contributed to the Republican party, you are probably on The List. You can support who you want - I also have the right not to support your decisions with my dollars! (I use Goods Unite Us and Open Secrets to help me figure that out.) These are some of the places on The List:

I'm lucky in that I live in an area that has more than a Walmart for my shopping needs and I'm also very lucky in that, for now, I have the ability to pay a bit more for a product that doesn't come from somewhere like Amazon.

I'm beginning to think YouTube should go on The List for giving in to the absolutley meritless lawsuit filed by our demented president. I am both so mad but also completely unsurprised at that. I watch a lot of YouTube. I even pay the $15/month for premium in order to avoid ads since I mainly watch on the Roku which doesn't have the ability to use add ons or extensions. But I'm irritated enough about this that I'm thinking maybe I'll just go through the hassle of hooking up the laptop to the TV with the HDMI cable. That way I can use something to avoid the ads and not support their corporate capitulation.

I'm also thinking T-Mobile (my wireless provider for over 20 years) needs to go on The List for their partnership with Starlink. I don't need YouTube and I can find alternate sources for items but there are only like 4 wireless providers in the country and they all have their issues. There isn't a good option. Where's the pirate cell service?? I hate that cell phones are being made practically indispensible yet are a monopolized service. I know, welcome to a capitalist society.

On a brighter note, I have Ceelo the cat again for the weekend! We spent a long time yesterday hanging out on the couch and he snuggled with me at night when I went to sleep which was very nice! He didn't do that during his last visit. His mama is picking him up again tomorrow night and he won't need catsitting again until December. It's been really nice having a kitty again, even temporarily. Once I'm more mobile (meaning, once I get the hips replaced) I'm definitely going to look into something like fostering. I miss having a kitty around!

Listening

Some podcasts I've listened to this week:

It was Bandcamp Friday and I pulled a few more things off of my wishlist!

Reading

I finished The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England by Dan Jones and started on Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution by Caroline Weber, which is the actual physical book that I picked up from the library last week. I'm a few chapters in and so far I feel really sorry for Marie Antoinette! One thing I don't understand is that her mother, Maria Theresa, was the ruler of the Habsburg empire for 40 years. She was a strong ruler who was given an education in statecraft and had a successful reign. Given her history, and knowing that any children she had would be used politically to further the goals of the Habsburgs, I really wonder why she didn't educate Marie Antoinette in any kind of statecraft. She was so completely unprepared for the circumstances she found herself in at the French court! I mean, she was a young teen when she was sent over but I still feel like more could have been done to make her more politically aware.

In the midst of reading that book I have also finished 2 other books this past week! Mort by Terry Pratchett and The Ladies of Mandrigyn by Barbara Hambly. It's been a while since I've read multiple books at the same time - not sure what got into me but these 2 books were fun quick reads. Mort is the first book in the Discworld series featuring Death and The Ladies of Mandrigyn is the first in the Sun Wolf and Starhawk series, a great 80s sword and sorcery book. I have read both of these books before but it's been quite a while and it was almost like reading them for the first time.

Watching

Still watching Babylon 5, although I've switched from watching it on the Tubi channel to watching it on the Roku Channel because I found out that Tubi is owned by Fox, purveyors of fake news and the reason half the country believes the lies from the right. Yes, Tubi is now also on The List. Anyway, I'm a little more than halfway through the 4th season. At the end of episode 14 Sheriden has found more allies in his fight against President Clark. I feel so much like I'm watching an allegory of the current times!

I've been trying to just watch one episode a week of Big Cats 24/7 but the last one I watched ended on a cliffhanger which I think will not bode well for the cheetah mom Pobe and her cubs, Bo and Kea. It was so hard to resist and not dive into the next episode! I'm trying to hold out until Wednesday.

OK, time for me and Ceelo to go chill on the couch!

When I first started using Zonelets I had Disqus set up as a commenting system but it looked obnoxiously ugly and I ditched it. Some people are happy to not have blog interaction but I'd love to hear from you if you have any thoughts you want to share! You can respond through my guestbook or email. If you found this link on Discord or the 32-Bit Cafe Discourse, you can message me there or leave a message on my Neocities profile page.