[177] Screed City

[177]

08/07/2022 Sunday. Milk Crate. Stabbin' Cabin. Worlando Beach, Wyoming.

A little bit of a rough day. Some exhaustion, I guess. I mean, I didn't wake up until 10a. Which, I mean, I went to bed at 10:30p. Granted I woke up quite a few times in the night. Dreams. Lots of dreams. I only remember one of them. I had switched out this electric thing at work at BMI. The action didn't go well. Then when the thing didn't work right someone said: "I guess we can just tell them that you didn't do it right, no big deal, we can just move on." I was livid. I started screaming: "No, we will not be doing that! Look, I only had so much time to do the thing and look at how I had to do it! There wasn't even a ladder, how the hell else was I supposed to do it?! I will not take the blame for this!" Then I woke up with a boner. I thought that meant I had to piss. I mean, I got up and went to the bathroom, but I didn't really have to go to the bathroom. The boner was because I was in a very deep sleep and my dream woke me up. I mean, work. Getting blamed for shit I did wrong when I didn't actually do it wrong. I had been set up to fail. And then, being working class, I was given all the blame for it failing. I mean, the boss is always right. Right? I should be ashamed of myself. I mean, when is all this hard work going to pay off? I mean, I am building a nice foundation for my grave stone:

"Here lies an idiot that thought hard work would pay off. And it did. Look at how well his head stone is secured! #workingclassboob"

I mean, I got up and drank some coffee. Looked at some things. An hour later G and Cousin A got up. They wanted to make French toast. I fried some bacon. Then G made some delicious French toast. The bacon was good. I was still hungry so I ate my leftovers from Asian Fusion. And then I was too full that I regretted that decision. What can you do. I talked to Professor Curly. She is doing better. Recovering okay. I mean, all morning long PegLeg could be seen out front, working on the garden. The day was cool. I mean, until about 1p. When G and Cousin A decided to go to the Walmart in Cody for some reason. I mean, me and PegLeg has some conversations. I was being inconsiderate about her boundaries. Which, I think I have learned some lessons. Lessons about planning and communication. I mean, she took a nap and I went into town. I went to the ACE Hardware looking to get the door sweep that was going to keep the sunlight out from under the front door. I mean, I went to the bathroom first. Which, I mean, back when the place was a Pamida, I was working for this guy Bart. He got hired to redo the bathrooms there. And therefore I was hired by extension. I mean, we put up some fiberglass board. Which, if you know anything about that nonsense, the adhesive is deadly. And Bart was an idiot about safety. He grew up with the toxic boot-strap mentality that work should kill you before you complained about it. And, I mean, the dude was paying me $7 dollars an hour. And the fuck I was going to die for seven dollars an hour. For Pamida. I mean, I let him do the entire adhesive job himself. Checking in on him every now and again to make sure he hadn't passed out. I am sure he was annoyed with me, but he can suck it then, and he can suck it now. I wonder how he is doing? I mean, that guy loved two things, Jesus and the Eagles. When the Eagles played on the radio he would turn them up so loud that it was impossible to talk. And when the song was over he would turn it down like nothing had happened. I mean, I think the guy was around 30 years old when I was working for him, and he already had messed up shoulders so bad from doing drywall that he needed cortisone shots monthly. I mean, I was a little startled today when I walked in the bathroom and saw they had taken that fiberglass board down. I mean, ironically, I guess. Because, I mean, he had risked his life to put it up, and for someone later to just take it down like it meant nothing? Capitalism, baby.

I went to the door section of the store. Spent some time looking at things. Nothing doing. I needed more information. So I left. Feeling like I always do when I leave a store in Wyoming without buying something. Like they were about to call the cops on me. I mean, I am starting to think that everyone is just too exhausted to even care anymore. I mean, as far as I can tell I am still sketchy as hell. Maybe that haircut the G and Cousin A gave me is paying dividends? I mean, after that I drove across the street and went into the Blair's. Not to get butter, because I think I already got that yesterday, but to buy stuff to make Cubby Bubbys. I mean, it was nice. I slowly walked around, pushing the shopping cart, looking at things, putting onions and American cheese in the thing. Ground beef, mushrooms. I mean, spent about five minutes in the spice aisle looking for decent bouillon. I mean, the best stuff I found was insanely expensive. Organic and not what I wanted. All the other stuff was crap. Then I was just standing there looking and who do you think showed up out of nowhere? I mean, it was Nick B, but what was funny was I just stood there looking at him, he must have thought I couldn't get by him because he said: "Oh, excuse me." And I just stood there, looking. Then he looked up. Then he stood there looking at me. I mean, it took a few seconds and then he recognized me. We hugged and spent about 15 minutes shooting the breeze in the spices aisle. I mean, it was nice to catch up. To get some information on some private matters that, thank god, are taking a turn for the better. I mean, I think that is kind of a past-time around here. The run-in at the grocery store that leads to a long conversation catch-up. It's what passes for social life. We made plans to meet up later this week. Get Kevy Wevy involved. I mean, maybe I will walk down to town and drink some beers with the guys. For old time's sake. I mean, I sure as shit aint driving the rental to town to drink beer. I mean, I noticed a little chip in the windshield today. It is very small, but it is there. I mean, if I have to replace a fucking windshield on this scam of a rental I am suing these fuckers.

I mean, we split ways. I kept shopping. Then I finished and checked. Out. I drove back to PegLeg's and started cooking. Five lbs of ground beef and three lbs of mushrooms. Eight sliced onions that hurt my eyes. I mean, I know better than to just cut the things without having a plan, but I do it anyway. And then halfway through I have to pivot and do the thing I should have done in the first place. I mean, recipe for slicing onions:

Slicing Onions To Reduce Irritating Your Eyes:

What you need:

Onions

Large bowl, like a salad bowl sized

Knife

Cutting board

Trash can or container for food scraps

Process:

Fill bowl 3/4s the way up with water. Cold water. Put next to cutting board. Have the trash can/container nearby. Cut the ends off of the onions. The top and the bottom. Discard immediately. Then cut the onions in half and immediately put in the bowl of water. Do this to all of the onions you are cutting. Then immediately rinse the cutting board off. Put it next to the bowl of water again. Take one half of an onion at a time and peel the outer skin off. The darker part. Trying to retain as much of the inside of the onion as possible. Slice the onion half. Then repeat with all of the other onion halves. I mean, what happens when you are cutting onions is the first two cuts that remove the top and bottom, the release a bunch of oils into the air. So just by getting rid of those immediately you greatly reduce the amount of oils floating around. This happens again when you cut the onion in half. However, when you put the things in the water, the water grabs the oils instead of the air. And then, when you do finally start slicing the onions, they will be wet, and therefore that wetness will collect the oils. I mean, it makes a little bit of a mess, but it is just a water mess, and that is better than not being able to see because you are basically pepper sprayed by the oils. I mean, they are attracted to moisture. And your eyes are the most moist things that are there, that is, unless you have that bowl of water.

I mean, the other ways of dealing with this all seem like nonsense to me. Like burning a candle or whatever, wearing goggles, I mean, I feel like once I heard a method that involved endless paper towels and a large fan and basically treating the things like dynamite. I mean, onions can suck. That is why I use the racist onions. The vadelia onion. It is the most mild with respect to the eyes. And onion taste is all the same. Mostly. It is a question of sharpness. And white onions and red onions are the worst when it comes to eye irritation. Yellow onions can be bad. That is what I was cutting today. Slicing. And the fewer onions you cut the less likely they will irritate your eyes, so it is also a numbers game. But, I don't know. Maybe you could slather the fuckers in balm or something, or maybe cut them under water at the swimming pool, or whatever, but in my experience, just lots of water does the trick. I mean, it's not like that will reduce the onion "Flavor," because things don't work that way. And also, onions are the cheap version of garlic, as Marty M used to say. I mean, this trick works for hot peppers too. I mean, the idea is just to localize the vapors. And the main reason I know it works is because sometimes I will slice 40 onions at a time with zero problems. So put that in your pipe and smoke it ATMBS.

I mean, I cooked all the stuff and whatever. I strained the beef and the mushrooms. Then PegLeg got up from her nap. We decided to go to town to get some baking stuff. Mostly just cooling racks and parchment paper. We got into the rental and headed in. For the second time that day I found myself in ACE Hardware. Looking at stuff. We found some cooling racks with the help of an employee. Who was very funny. She was very helpful, almost too helpful. I mean, that store, the more I think about it, is kind of hilarious. At any given time there is far more employees working than costumers. I mean, this lady had nothing else to do than help us find the stuff we were looking for. I mean, had we other things we needed she would have been our personal shopper. Which was great. I mean, maybe not the best use of her time, but maybe not. I mean, maybe that was her entire job. Just helping people find things? I mean, usually in places like this finding someone to help you is nearly impossible. Because mostly you are interrupting them from doing the other job they are doing. I mean, considering how businesses around here seem to go under pretty quick, it makes me wonder if there is something else going on? Like that guy that owns CostCo and how he insists the hot dog stays the same price no matter what? I mean, is there some guy or whatever, the owner, for ACE Hardware, that insists that there is X amount of helpful employees on the floor at any given time? Even if there is only like three people in the store? I mean, I am not saying it is a bad idea, I am just asking if maybe that guy is actually reading the room right now? That having employees and treating them well is kind of good for business? Even if it means they aren't "Maximum Efficiency?" I mean, that is the future. Because, fuck, if nobody has a job and therefore they don't have money to buy your bullshit cheap goods, then how the fuck do you sell your bullshit cheap goods? I mean, I really thought that Amazon would solve this conundrum, but like I have said all along, I really don't think that Uncle Bezos is the genius that everyone pretends he is. He was smart in the beginning, but now he is just a boob with a small wiener trying to maintain his primacy. And I think he miscalculated. Because he has refused to embrace redundancy. Which is the entire nature of being a human being. We are all redundancy incarnate. There is nothing more smart or good looking about me that isn't also smart and good looking about you. I mean, we all need to buy stuff, consume stuff, and then we die. If we are not in the equation, there is no Amazon or ACE Hardware, because who the fuck is going to buy your bullshit? Nobody. I mean, I guess you could train robots to buy things. But then what is the point of that? If nobody can see how big your wallet is, how can your ego get stroked? And I hate to tell you, but most people just want to live their lives. They could give two shits about how efficiently you make your billions, soon to be trillions. And, frankly, treating them well in the first place just boosts the amount of money you make. I mean, am I stupid for thinking this? I mean, they, meaning all the rich fuckers, their money just makes money, so at what point does it even matter whether they treat employees well or not? They have crested the labor curve. Where labor is no longer the biggest cost. And if the labor is also the buyer, does it not make sense to put more money in the pocket of the same people that buy your bullshit? I mean, they have full inundation at this point. There is no outside market. It is all coming from within the warehouse. Meaning us. We are our own momentum spiral. I mean, Amazon could shut down tomorrow and it would still take decades before the impact would be felt on Society, because the machine is that large.

I mean, me and PegLeg then checked out the door sweeps. I got the one that seemed to be the best one. For the project. We paid and left. Drove over to Blair's. For the second time today. As we were pulling into the parking lot PegLeg saw a van and said: "Is that Jade?" It was Brother Jade, and Sister Athena. I honked the horn a few times. Then we got out and went over to them. They were buying beer. We talked to them for a while. Making plans for tomorrow. Swimming at 1:30p. Then a barbeque after. Hamburgers and such. Then some guy peeled out suddenly in the parking lot. He drove over and parked near a light pole. It was very odd. Luckily no kids were around. So nobody got run over. Eventually some very decrepit old man got out of the truck and limped his way inside. He must have hit the accelerator instead of the brake. I mean, it was quite intense. I mean, this town is nothing but oldsters at this point. Nobody moving in. Just people dying to get out. I mean, Vermont doesn't have this problem. Because nobody is really born there in the first place. It is just people that move there, hoping to get away from the nonsense of daily life in other parts of the world. And then, if they can last through three Winters, they stick around until they croak. In Wyoming, however, people get born here and can't stand it, so they leave. Then the ageing population just gets older and older. I mean, maybe some of the kids come back, after they fail everywhere else in the world. But as that is happening, the economy just slowly degrades until there is nothing but cheap houses and minimum wage jobs. Which, I mean, McDonald's is now equal to almost any other job you could get around here. Which, I mean, what the hell? Go to college, get big debt and get a job that pays barely a little more than fast food? Even if you get benefits, I mean, you are young, you don't need the healthcare or whatever, why bother? If it is all the same anyway? At least with hourly jobs you can pick up and leave at any point. Why tether yourself to a dying community? With no culture, no fun, no nothing? Just weird ass racist fucks screaming at you about CRT? I mean, I left for a reason, and that was back in the 90's. I mean, Wyoming is going to age out like a bad wart that falls off because it can't get any blood flow. And then guess what? Rich people will come in and buy up everything and suddenly it will be impossible to live here. Which was the whole point all along. A soft Feudalism where the only people that live here are people working for the rich people. And they will be glad about it because by the time that happens they will have convinced all the idiots that think this is what freedom looks like to vote away any personal rights that they have because the Commies are coming for their guns and suddenly there will be a State's Right Utopia of a tiered system of government. Where it doesn't matter what you think because you are living on my land and therefore you follow my rules. And suddenly you are watching your child being eaten by dogs because he threw a rock at one of them. And there is nothing you can do about it.

I mean, we shopped some stuff at Blair's. The second time I had been there today. We even checked out with the same two girls from before. Then we drove over to Arby's. To get a lemonade for PegLeg. When we got to the window I called G. They were just down the street. Having come back from Cody and the Walmart. They and Cousin A. I mean, we ordered both of them a peach lemonade. Then we drove back to PegLeg's. Giving them the drinks when we got there. Because they had parked at one of the entrances. They opened the gate for us. We went inside. It was later. I mean, as far as the day was concerned. I cooked some beans and made some tacos for everyone. Then G and Cousin A hauled ass to TenSleep. Then me and PegLeg moved some rocks around. Then we went out back and moved some gravel around. I mean, I called her Scoops because I had the wheelbarrow and she was scooping gravel into it with a snow shovel. It was fun. We moved about 27 wheelbarrows of gravel. I mean, it was a lot of work and PegLeg's ability to scoop the gravel was impressive. I mean, she did a great job. We did like between eight and 10 scoops per load. The wheelbarrow's wheel was quite low, air-wise, so the action was hard work. So if you think I was getting the easy end of the stick, you are wrong. I mean, I probably should have done it all myself, but we were having a good time. I mean, that was that. I guess tomorrow we will go swimming around 1:30p. I will make Cubby Bubbys in the morning. Then we will do some barbeque after the swimming.

[Insert House Photos]