[130] Screed City

[130]

04/27/2022 Wednesday. Kitchen Microwave. Beaver Haus. Lower Granville, Vermont.

Bad hip. How the hell did I get a bad hip? I mean, it's official. Three days straight. I mean, something tells me I can do stretches and exercises to relieve some of the pain, but still. I mean, it came out of nowhere. Was it because I slept so long on Sunday and then went for a 10 mile hike the next day? Is it because I am now officially old? All the standing I do? The years and years and years of ceaseless walking to curb my anxiety? Do I need to fortify the Ticklers with calcium? I mean, nothing has changed. For me. I mean, I have been losing weight. I mean, a while back when I rode the train from Harlem to Sunset Park every day my thigh would go numb from just standing in one spot on the subway for probably five hours every day. And it was the right side thigh. And it is the right side hip. I mean, who knows. I guess I should do some research and find some stretches. I mean, it's not like I have been going around doing touch-improv or something. I mean, I did watch those two dance pieces at PS/NY the other day. Can you get hip problems via osmosis? Isn't osmosis a water thing? Do I need to drink more water then?

I mean, I drove to New Ham today to get my oil changed. I mean, that was kind of an impossible decision. I wanted to go to Middlebury to get it done, but I called the guy and he told me it would be a 40 minute wait if I showed up just then. Then I asked, "What if I show up in 30 minutes?" And he was like "I mean, if you are the first person in line it will take ten minutes." I mean, I thought about it. I could go there, drop off the car. Walk into town to buy some onions and habanero peppers and walk back. But then I looked outside and it was raining pretty good. So I thought about it some more. I thought about going to Burlington or Montpelier. But that seemed stupid to drive an hour and a half to Burlington and Montpelier doesn't really have a Jiffy Lube or whatever. I mean, at that point it would be the same as driving to Middlebury, so I decided to go to the place I went to last time where the dude up-sold me the synthetic oil that probably either caused my gaskets some great distress or cleaned my pipes. I mean, the oil change dilemma is just as contested as the tire changing dilemma or, apparently, how to soak beans good, or the vinegar dilemma. I mean, everyone has an asshole. Or whatever it is the bridesmaids say.

I mean, when I got there, to the Jiffy Lube, I had to wait in line for 30 minutes. Which, I mean, last time I didn't have to wait at all, and frankly that wait combined with the extra 20 minutes of driving kind of mooted everything, but such is Vermont living. I mean, there is just no way to tell about almost everything. I mean, I drove into the car slot or whatever you call it, the bay I guess. The guy guided me in. Like last time he had me back up and reposition because of where my oil filter was. I mean, whatever. That is just a detail I guess. But then the guy asked me if I had been there before and I said yes. He pulled my file up somehow. I mean, I guess from my license plate? I didn't give him any information aside from "Yes, I have been here before." I waited a while. Then this other dude comes over. He asks me if I am getting an oil change. I say yes. And he asks if I want the same oil and I say "No, I got full synthetic last time, I think I need to switch back to the other stuff, my car is kind of old." Then he said "Well, once you switch over you can't really switch back, but I will do that for you." I mean, he made it seem like it was illegal and he was doing me a favor. I kind of wanted to argue with him, but then he said "Every time I hear that noise I expect to hear a loud crashing afterward." I had no idea what he was talking about. Maybe somebody was backing up or something? He left and went and did some stuff.

I pulled the hood lever and waited for more instructions. Another guy came over and lifted the hood. Then I listened to the employees banter. They seemed really odd. Like something had happened recently. Like the turnover rate was very high at this place because they seemed very unprofessional. Talking shit about the company. Talking about some girl that just got fired for giving everyone a military discount. Everyone. Apparently. And apparently she did it because "She couldn't bring herself to charge anyone the full price." I mean, I had some questions, but nobody asked me my opinion. After a while the oil got changed and the second guy, the one that told me it was illegal to change oil kinds shut the hood. But it didn't shut right. I mean, the holder for the rod that keeps the hood up broke back in January when I put some wiper fluid in. Because it was so cold and the thing was plastic. So now it just kind of bonks around under the hood when you close it. I mean, this gave the guy some difficulty. Then the thing wouldn't shut right. So instead of asking me about it, or having me take a look he started working on the latch. Which made me nervous as hell. I reached down and pulled the lever back. There was slack at first, and then it engaged. I mean, that is all that happened, the thing didn't go back to it's position. But for some dumb reason I let him keep trying to make the thing work. Which, I mean, he was squirting all sorts of lubes and what not, moving things around with a screwdriver. I mean, he was clueless. I knew that. But I was hoping he would just do the right thing and give up and try to shut it again. Which he eventually did. And the thing shut just fine.

After that he started to guide me out. I paused. I mean, I had a way out had I been a different person I would have taken it. But because of my morals I had to tell him that I hadn't paid. I mean, it was slightly a dilemma. Not the idea of not paying a huge corporation overpriced monies for what is basically a convenience scam, but because I know that it would be on them, the employees to cover whatever loss that would have occurred. I mean, it wasn't really a dilemma, there was no way I was not going to pay, but for a second I considered it. I mean, it was more about being gaslit, I guess. I mean, I didn't remember paying the guy and my card was out of my wallet, so it is possible that I got distracted and forgot handing someone my card. I mean, there was a lot going on. I mean, this one guy told me to change my dust shield on my brakes. And then I was like "Yeah, there is this noise sometimes when I turn to the right, do you think that is what's causing it? " And he was like "Yeah, probably." And then the guy that was trying to fix the latch chimed in and said that was because of some pulley thing that was causing it. I mean, bless their hearts, but I don't think they should be going around giving unsolicited advice about certain things your car may or may not be going through. I mean, it was like taking legal advice from a podcast. You just don't do it. I mean, I paid and left. The guy guided me out like I was driving an airplane. It was kind of funny. Very dramatic. I pulled over in the parking lot and checked my bank account. To make sure I hadn't been gaslit and been charged twice. I hadn't. I drove next door and parked.

I mean, this is where the hip comes back in. Why I told you that story in the first place. When I got out of the car I could barely walk. I had been sitting down for probably two hours at this point. I mean, maybe that is it? I did do a lot of driving on Saturday. Six hours of driving. Then on Sunday I did all that sleeping. Then on Monday I did all that walking. I mean, I think combine that with all the standing I do, I mean, the issue here is I need to walk more. I guess, or my hip is just fucked, which is also a possibility. Which, ugh. I guess I will need to get some insurance and then go see a fucking doctor. Has anyone else noticed that the healthcare system in America blows balls? Why am I the only one that has noticed this? The idea that something could be horribly wrong but in order to even see a doctor I need to be fully insured just in case? Because this would fall under the previous conditions guidelines? Which, as far as everything I have ever read or heard that hasn't actually been sorted out yet? I mean, lucky for me I am poor as shit, so hopefully my premiums won't be too high, but I don't know that. All I know is that if something is actually wrong I could easily just be fucked. I mean, it is one thing to get swindled by Big Oil Change but it is an entirely different thing to get swindled by Big Hospital. I mean, I made the mistake the other day to listen to the radio about this very topic. About the history of healthcare in America. About how we could have easily done Medicare for all in the New Deal but the AMA, the fucking doctors of America were so worried about losing control of getting money from patients that they lobbied successfully to kill the legislation like nearly a century ago and now here we are. Fucked.

Butwhatever. I have been banned from doing politics so you will never hear my solutions. Sucks to be you.

[Note: This Diatribe is kind of epic. Beware.]

I limped into the Hannaford's in Lebanon, New Ham. Looking for habaneros. But because New Ham is somehow a more White Vermont I found nothing. I limped around the store for a while but I was too distracted by my hip that I just left. Got back in Junior Mint with his fresh oils. Drove across the street to the Shaw's. Limped inside. They had habaneros, but most of them were unripe. Whatever. I put a bunch in a little plastic bag. I grabbed a mesh bag of yellow onions. Limped around the store some. Went down the soaps aisle. Remembered I needed bar soap. Grabbed a six pack of Dove's shea butter soaps. Limped to the check out line. A woman in front of me was limping the same way. I almost said "Hey! Same limp! You and I." But that seemed like a really dumb thing to do. I kept my mouth shut. I got in line behind her. She put her things on the conveyor. And then I watched the clerk check her out. I mean, whatever. That is not what was interesting, what was interesting though was that she started putting her groceries in plastic bags. Those thin single use ones. I mean, what the hell? Live Free Or Die? I mean, this is not on the woman with the limp, it is on the Shaw's. Why don't they just give people reusable bags? I mean, they are already factoring the cost of the plastic bags into their prices, what possible reason do they have for not getting with the times? Even paper bags, I mean. The cashier might as well have been smoking. I mean, I am all about freedoms as these assholes pretend, but that is not freedom, that is just stupid business practices. It's just gross. I mean, it is just gross watching it. All I can ever thing about is some poor dolphin with a stomach full of this bullshit. For no fucking reason. And who knows? Maybe the multiple use bags aren't that much better or the paper bags, but I know that these single use things are the worst. The very worst. I mean, all of it, every single decision these corporations make are for short term profits. Which, okay, sure. Make some money. Everybody knows we live in a Capitalism, but that is just not sustainable. I mean, I refuse, REFUSE to go to Price Chopper for this reason. The hidden cost of cheap shit is too much anymore. Shaw's itself is having some identity issues, I know this, I know this very well. I make a note of it all the time. The difference between the Shaw's in Waitsfield with the 50% beef and the Shaw's in Bristol with the 150% beef. I mean, I get it, they have a business. And that business is a corporation, but they will not win the plastic bag debate. They just won't. Slowly, or maybe not slowly, but consistently they will lose more and more customers over time because of this shit. And it won't be surprising. And then what? They start cutting workers wages to pay for the loss of costumers? And suddenly they have the ragtag group of two weeks at a time employees like they do at the Shaw's in Waitsfield? Where everyone is either some college kid on break or some 60 year old broken down pensioner getting fucked by the government? I mean, the writing is on the fucking wall, man. Get with the times, man. I mean, I don't get it. I mean, it is just more proof that the game is rigged in a way that as long as the money keeps flowing you can still be insanely, INSANELY wealthy and be entirely broke at the same time. Oh, but a $15 dollar minimum wage will both crater the economy and at the same time create inflation so bad that America will, I don't know, suddenly become something that it is impossible of becoming. A socialist state. Give me a fucking break. America is a close to becoming a socialist state as it is getting rid of the second amendment. Unless, ironically, we keep electing these Freedems goons that only think about the next election cycle. I mean, isn't it funny how the stock market goes down once the employment goes up? I mean, I should start making note about that again because I don't think average people know this. I mean, not that you guys are average. You are all exceptional in your own beautiful way. Like unique butterflies floating in sunshine warmed flower gardens. I mean, those other average people that don't seem to care that we are being fleeced by the mega-super-Corporations that are using the Corporate media to launder their gouging by calling it "Inflation." I mean, gas prices? It is not the gas stations that are making money on that. Not really. They get the same amount of money irregardless. It is not percentage based. In fact they probably make less money when gas prices are high because fewer people buy gas. I mean, JD is an asshole, but he wasn't wrong that high gas prices suck. But it is not because of the current president. Which is where his anger is sadly misplaced to. It is the greed from the corporations that make those prices surge. That is who we should be pissed off at. And for some reason, I mean, I say that with my tongue in my butt-cheeks as the bridesmaids say. I mean, for some reason, we, meaning anyone that actually cares about shit, meaning anyone left of say, Average Politician with a D next to their name, I mean, how the fuck is this even an issue? And, I mean, if I hear the terms "Swamp" or "Deep State" one more time to describe these problems I may have to run for city congress, because it all comes back to those fucking single use plastic bags. It comes back to the rent on this house being $1,200 dollars a month when I know for a fact that the New Landlord paid barely $50,000 dollars for this house. I mean, we have already paid them $21,600 dollars since moving in October 2020. I guarantee they haven't paid that much in taxes on the place. Or their mortgage or whatever. I mean, just doing any math at all you kind of feel very gross about it. And so what? I mean, this is where I differ in the scheme of things. Where I think that maybe I should have just driven away from the Jiffy Lube. Unpaid. Because it is not the corporations that suffer or the landlords that are using a basic necessity of life to make money, but the people that live at these places or the workers that work at these places that suffer. I mean, inflation? My ass. Yes, we need a correction to how much shit costs. And I have said this before. Nobody in America knows how poor we actually are. And it's not because we are poor, it is because we think we are rich. We think that just buying cheap shit is somehow good for us. But the hidden costs of everything really means that we are in the same boat as about, I don't know, the 99% of other people in the world. You remember that number? The 1%? How revolutionary that was during Occupy Wall Street? Yet, here we are, a decade later and nothing has changed. Somehow "Inflation" is just too much to bear. We need to drive down wages so our coffee will be cheaper, our gas will be cheaper, our ground beef, but yet the rents keep going up? I mean, sorry, I don't mean to get so involved with this argument, but it really makes me insane to think that there is just no solution. That so what? Housing prices are what controls the economy, what can you do? And then somehow, SOMEHOW, everyone at the top is just raking in money hand over fist? But what can you do? Capitalism, right? No! Not right! Regulate the fuck out of these assholes. Make billionaires pay their fucking taxes. Make corporations bleed when they don't consider the environment. I mean, it is all so very simple. Rent should not be tied to market rates. That is ridiculous. That means that rich people have all the power and poor people are essentially homeless. Sound familiar? Feudalism much? I mean, that is what this shift to Freedems is all about. Landowners making the laws that keep everyone that doesn't have money under the thumb of poverty. I mean, what the fuck? I don't care that I get charged rent. I think that owning property is immoral, in a sense. I mean, nobody owns anything. But sure. Own a house, that is cool, but using somebody else's labor to pay your taxes? That is not right. I mean, okay, people need to be housed. Charge rent. But to make a profit on that rent. Far and above the amount of money you need to just keep the building going? I mean, that is bullshit. And it is the same with wages. I mean, we have this misunderstanding that every time anyone enters a new employment it is some sort of bartering. Like I say "Hey, I will work for you for this amount of money." And then the employer comes back with "Yeah, but how about this amount?" I mean, that is not how it works. It is more like "This is the job, this is the money, take it or leave it." Then "Okay." I mean, it is pretty simple. It is not like we all have infinite options. But this is why the stock market goes down when employment goes up. It is also very simple. When people have options suddenly the employers don't have options. Which means that the worker has power. Which means the conversation changes. And suddenly disposable labor is no longer a thing. Which, I mean, if these assholes have to actually consider the working people in Society then suddenly they have to make changes. And changes are bad for business because changes are unpredictable. I mean, they are not. They are just as simple. The outcome, I mean. But for the immediate returns and the stock prices. I mean, the one thing I have learned about the stock market in the last few years is that it only cares about one thing. Which is the illusion of wealth. Which, I mean, the worst thing in the world as far as these corporations are concerned is for us to stop relying on them. Once that happens the whole system collapses. Which is whatever. Money is a construct. And it is best to keep these things going, but still, we should actually be very pissed off that we are getting fleeced right now. And all the culture war distractions shouldn't get a single ounce of our attention. We should be out on the streets rioting. Calling our congress people. They should be investigating this bullshit. Because you can't have a collapse of the world's economy on the average person while the Corporations are making record profit. I mean, the fact that Elon Musk is the richest man in the world right now. For zero reason. Jeff Bezo's, yes. His company actually does shit. As shitty as it is. I mean, if everything is just a Ponzi scheme and yet we all have to work 40-70 hours a week just to get by? I mean, to me, either we all benefit or nobody benefits. Because otherwise this is all just bullshit.

[End Diatribe]

I mean, I don't know. I guess I will do some looking around to see what stretches will help my hip. I ordered some beans today. A 25 lb bag. As well as some torts and some tinfoil. I have some beans soaking right now. I added some baking soda to the things. Some salt. I mean, if I do it right I can make a $4 dollar burrito cost about $1 dollar. Which, I mean, I am fighting the good fight. I refuse to price gouge. I mean, the Farmers Market is already a price gouge, but whatever. I refuse. I mean, we will see how it goes. The irony being that people have to want to buy my shit before I can gouge them. And right now, I don't see that happening. But who knows? I can do 30 Breakfast Bubbies and 30 Bean Burritos. $180 plus $120. Sell them all and I do alright. $300 bucks. I mean, I still am working on the recipe for the beans. But I ate a Breakfast Bubby from last October today. That had been in the freezer the whole time. I won't lie, very tasty. Like, really tasty. I mean, I got some ideas. My food has good flavor. I just need to commit. I mean, I guess I have to change oils though. But I have all the bacon grease. I don't know. I really don't. And butter is too expensive. But canola oil? Do I even need oil? I mean, life is hard. Tomorrow I will see what happens without oil. Garlic and salt. I mean, what can you do?