Life According to Steph: Thursday Thoughts - I'll just keep on throwing middle fingers in the air

1. If the way you support police is by saying "he should have" every time a black man is the victim of excessive violence that plays out over and over and over again in all forms of media, what you are actually supporting are not the community peace keepers police should be, but a law and order justice system that was born from slave patrols, specifically formed to control the movements and behavior of enslaved populations (that's a direct link from the Law Enforcement Museum). It was considered a civic duty to beat and terrorize enslaved people. How can the system born from that not be systemically racist? After all that has happened and all we have been shown, how can you not see that it is systemically racist? How can you support that? Blindly supporting police working in a system that is systemically racist and, because of that and where we are at this point in our nation's growth, dangerous to ALL people, needs to be acknowledged, addressed, and changed. If you personally know a good cop like most of us do, they are at risk working in this system. If you actually think the lives of police officers matter, blind support and Back the Blue is not the way to show that. I used to say "he should just stop/put his hands up" do this do that. I have been where you are. Normal evolutionary behavior is changing opinions when presented with new information.

2. What else. California is on fire, Colorado too, Laura is about to devastate people. Weather is dog pile on the 2020 rabbit. Hang in there, everyone. I am extremely worried about these things with the current federal government that is unresponsive and unwilling to coordinate federal response to anything, which is crippling our entire country and is responsible for 180,000 Covid-19 deaths. Because yes, there's still a global pandemic happening, even though an increasing number of people I personally know seem to have ingested the QAnon Koolaid and I don't even know what to say. If you think this is a hoax there is a problem in your brain. I'm not sure how to say that nicely.

3. I am unsure how to say anything nicely because I'm fresh out of fucks and niceties today. Yesterday at 11 am I got an email from the person who was checking into the shore on Saturday wanting a refund because I changed my listing. Here's how I changed it: added a line that one of our few house rules is no eating in bedrooms and that going forward I will keep a security deposit over finding food or food wrappers. I have never kept a dime of a security deposit in the five years we've been renting despite bedding being ruined, carpet being ruined, lamps/dishes/furniture/toilets/shower pans being broken, so that should tell you how many people have allowed their kids to eat in my third floor bedrooms this year. She was also upset that I added a photo of the exterior of the house...and that I do not own the house next to me. I'm not kidding. Even though it's clear in my listing that we're a side by side like so very many rentals in Ocean City (that or a top/bottom). It is my prerogative (and marketing-wise, actually the correct thing to do) to update my listings at any time and I am not required to inform people when I change text or photos unless I am removing access to a service or amenity. I could have been a total fucking asshole because she clearly wanted to get out of it and kept her money, or forced her to come but who wants someone like that in their house full of resentment? I am just trying to get out of this summer alive with my karma intact so I gave her money back and peaced the fuck out of that. For a few hours I had my calendar open before saying fuck it, blocking it off, and immediately feeling relief. Peace of mind has a price and it is the cost of this week's rental and we're paying it. This summer has been absolutely brutal property management-wise and I have to stop. People are not operating normally under this pandemic so I get it, but at a certain point it's enough. Our first year in we stopped the week before Labor Day so it's like old times LOL. So my last weekly check-in was last Saturday. I have a few weekend rentals in the fall, but they are typically much easier and if they're not in 2020 because absolutely nothing is, at least they'll be shorter.

4. Now that all that's vomited out, I came back to Philly on Tuesday morning early, and I've had myself a nice little week. I got an awesome massage from my sister-in-law Sarah and got to see my dog nephew Harry. Today I have acupuncture, which is an important part of my wellness and which I've been without since freaking February.

5. I had my tattoo consultation at Jaybird's Tattoos last night, where I got my first tattoo when I was freaking 19. It's of the character I most identify with from Star Wars. Just kidding.

6. I met up with our guest from last week to give her sheets her girls left and chatted with them. also tried to find this bed in a local Marshalls with no luck. My dogs love it.

7. I returned spray paint I've had since March. I mailed out a bunch of books to people. I got a lot of work done at my dining room table, did a lot of laundry, got a hoagie from Reen's, even cooked a little. Everything I've done, I've done with a mask and without a complaint. We can live through this if we stop being assholes. Mask up. Wash your hands. Maintain distance.