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Met some friends last night that we hadn’t connected since the pandemic started! Back then both our daughters attended the same preschool and were close friends. While driving there this was our conversation with kid:

*Me: Do you remember X? You both used to be best friends! Are you excited to connect with her again?*

*R: Yeah. I’ll see if she matches my standards!*

*Me: What do you mean standards?*

*R: Well I have standards you know. Like I’ll decide if I want to continue being her friend or not after today.*

*Me: Well thats not nice. If you have a high standards and act like this you will not make friends.*

*R: Dont worry dad, I said I have standards, not high standards. Anyway my standards are pretty low thats why I have a lot of friends!*

The level of practice in the swim team has picked up significantly in the last few months. Preciously I used to feel maybe I could attempt to do as many laps as the kid in maybe twice the time. Now I don’t even think I can do as many laps as their practice in half a day. I’d probably just collapse.

Major changes and reorgs at work today. Most likely will lead to increased work for next few months. Or maybe land grabs and politics. Who knows. Will keep a close eye on my paychecks each month.

The kid had a debate in the class yesterday it seems. The topic: *Should Trump remain on ballot or not?*. My kid argued that he should not remain on ballot because of the insurrection and whether he said the words or not, he implied to his followers to do the needful – and that itself was enough. I was proud of her. Then I asked her so who spoke in support of Trump in the debate on the other side and said he should remain on ballot? Her response: **No one**. I asked, not one kid in the class? Nope, she said. I was like well, that wasn’t really a debate then, was it. Her response was *yeah, thats why the teacher called it off in 15 minutes because nobody had a counter argument*. Even the 12 year old and her entire class gets it, but our fucking SCOTUS is a clown show.

I lost my grandma 15 years ago. I have no idea though what day she actually died except I’ll tell you she died in the first two weeks of February. If you ask my dad what day did my mom die 13 years ago he’ll simply tell you mahashivratri which could be sometime February or sometime March. If you press him for an actual Gregorian date, he won’t remember. Criticizing an 80 year old man for not remembering the exact day of his son’s death is so below the belt and low; as if grief and loss can only be measured by how well you remember the date and not what it means. This obsession with dates to remember/symbolize grief is such Western thing (& perhaps even American). And yes, the fact that Hur even exemplifies it in his report is worthy enough to earn Biden’s fury (and I am so glad he was in fact furious!). Seriously, you can put an pile of animal feces on one side and a republican on other side and I can guarantee the animal feces will smell & look better than the average republican on the other side.

I can’t wait for Hur to eventually write multiple books explaining it to us why he was compelled to talk about Biden’s memory because he had to in an election year, however he did note that nothing was wrong with Biden (which obviously he did not put in report). Just like Comey, republicans will stand up for their teams whatever it takes. I wish more democrats learnt this art. Glad Biden shot back.

Look, I don’t disagree that Biden is old and like all old people may have a few issues. My issue is Trump is not that much younger (literally 4!) and in worse health that republicans can actually claim there is a difference. Their current candidate is 100x worse mentally and physically, except our so called librul media won’t report on it or create the drama they do around Biden. This country is in such a shameful shape.

If Nikki Haley is smart she should stay in the race as long as she can. If there is even the remotest chance that our famed SCOTUS will rule that Trump cannot be on ballot, she is the slam dunk choice for republican nominee and I will go as far as to say even the presidency. In a way I am sure the democratic think tank might actually be hoping for SCOTUS to rule that Trump stay on ballot to energize the democratic base. I am also 100% confident that SCOTUS will find some random excuse and let him stay on ballot anyway. Of course what do I know, I am not a political strategist.

There is a social hierarchy at work with people who get away with anything I feel. Obviously, while white men are at the top of the queue, I dont think *white* women realize how much they can also get away with when compared to men or women of color. Somehow white women feel they are one of us – no you are not. While your struggles, however real, they are not comparable to struggles of people of color, particularly women of color. When I pointed this out to someone this week (white woman) she was legitimately offended and even said I am very offended by what you said. Then i had to give an example of how just 30 minutes earlier in the day she had gone ahead and berated me in front of other people in the team, which she obviously didn’t feel that, and brushed it off as *I thought we were close!*. I asked her to reflect on herself that there were multiple people of color in the room who have difficulty advocating for themselves, are not combative and pause a lot before speaking anything. I gave her feedback if she truly wants to feel like *one of us*, start by actually understanding people across the aisle instead of using us as your gunnysack to fight your own battle with white men. And no, she hasn’t apologized to me yet.

This was a fun watch and way better than I thought it would be! Perfect airline watch.

Nothing beats the deep and cozy sleep you get at home. Denver was nice the second time around too but I definitely feel altitude and dry air messes my sleep. And add to that hotel beds ugh. As I am getting older business trips no longer hold the same interest as it used to before.