It’s day 5 of my long weekend aka the last day of my long weekend. I’ve been off since Thursday because I wanted to be home on Thursday to watch the New Zealand play Uruguay in their last match of group stage in the Rugby World Cup. The All Blacks won 73-0. SWEET! Now it’s on to the quarter finals, where they will face Ireland. Yikes! I think I’m pretty much cheering for the southern hemisphere teams at this point but most especially for the All Blacks. Of course.
LUNCH WITH THE FESTIVAL CREW
Saturday afternoon, we headed out to Livermore so that I could meet up with some of my friends from my movie theatre working days. Decades ago, we all worked together at a place called Festival Cinemas in Hayward. The theatre is long gone but we’re all still around and whenever we get the chance, we meet up for a meal and conversation together. (Thank you, Sam!) It’s always so lovely to see old friends and catch up. Social media only tells a little of our stories, eh? I look at our faces in these pictures and I still see how we looked back in our uniforms, behind the concessions stand or sweeping up in the auditoriums. I’m thankful that we all see each other now and again.
We met up at Sauced. The food was good but it was pretty loud there. We all sort of had to yell a bit to talk but it was still fun! My food was delicious and everyone seemed to enjoy their choices for the most part. Later on, I realized that I was the only one without kids. They’re all parents. Hmm…
TV & MOVIES
Ahsoka – I liked this show well enough but if I hadn’t watched all those recap videos on YouTube, I would have been a little confused. I think the show suffers from drawing much too much from previous shows (Rebels and Clone Wars), which is great for those folks who watched those shows but not so great for casual viewers. I think a show or a movie, no matter how connected it might be to a larger story, should be a good story in of itself. For me, Ahsoka missed on that mark. And the way it ended made it seem as though the season was just an in between moment, part of a larger whole. Do I care what happens next? I don’t know if there was enough in the show for me to answer yes…
Loki – I am so glad this show is back. I hope this show sticks to the character moments and twisty plot points like the first season. The first episode of the second season was good! It was exciting and funny and had me on the edge of my seat. I cannot wait to see what happens next!
Strays – This movie was silly but hilarious. It’s fun watching dogs talk and go on crazy adventures…
SOCIAL MEDIA
Honestly, I will only slightly mourn the final demise of Twitter (@walelia). I am staying there until the bitter end but most of my posts are Wordle or telling people where else you can find me. 😛 I don’t post much else there and I don’t spend a lot of time there either. I don’t see a lot of the weird crap that is apparently there because I have fine tuned my feed and no one cares enough to try and antagonize me. I do, however, see things from a few people I follow that just make me sad.
So how am I faring on the three new networks I’m using? Read on…
Threads (@kiari) – I do like how this one is tied to my IG account. Of the three that I’m using (mostly) daily, this one is the one that has more people I care about following. A lot of the YouTube tech folks I follow seem to use Threads more than the other two I’m checking out and it’s fun to get replies or likes when commenting on their posts. Threads is honestly pretty chill though there are those folks who think they need to tell their followers about what’s going in the world as though they’re not smart enough to look elsewhere for that stuff. I do want Threads to succeed and even if it doesn’t, I think I will keep using it.
Spoutible (@valerie) – Honestly, this one is the most stable of the three I’m using. The people there have started to chill out a little and there’s more balance. I follow a good group of people of differing backgrounds but similar viewpoints. They are the most “real” and it honestly feels like the early days of social media networks– people finding connection in their differences and exploring new perspectives. The folks behind the scenes are working constantly on new features and rolling them out when stable. I think Spoutible is a sleeper in the new social media realm. Also, how can I not love a place where I get to use my actual name as my handle?
Bluesky (@kiari.com) – This one feels the most Twitter-cloney. I don’t say that as a bad thing and it could even be a good thing except they are suffering from a super slow rollout to users. I try and look for users to follow but when I try the “discover” or “popular with friends” feeds, they end up being mostly posts of people I already follow! I was so excited to get my invite that I just started using it but it’s a little boring. I put in the effort because that’s what I like to do– I like to try new things.
Things that make my eyes roll when reading at different socials about other socials:
- “Is anyone using this?” – This is a familiar refrain on Threads. Why are you posting on Threads yet asking if anyone is using it? YOU ARE USING IT by posting! Lord.
- “The other platforms aren’t as good as this one…” – Or something of the like. This one seems to happen regularly on Spoutible. I roll my eyes and refrain from saying, “Just focus on this social network and don’t worry about the others. They can all exist together.”
- “The place formerly known as Twitter is a cesspool and using it means you’re supporting EVIL.” This one happens everywhere. People post thought essays with this thesis and I just shake my head. If you don’t want to post on Twitter, then don’t. But just because people still post there doesn’t mean they’re supporting evil, etc. STFU on that.
- “All these social networks needs to support real time news.” No they don’t, people on Threads who keep belaboring this point. Social networks are supposed to be about people. If WE want to share news, then let’s post a link to a legitimate news site. But I don’t need my social media to be constant news. There are other networks for that AND legitimate news sites. If those news sites want to have profiles on the different social networks, that’s on them but I should have a choice on whether or not to follow them.
As mentioned at the top, today is my last day of a long weekend. I got up early, got ready, and was on the road to Kaiser to get my COVID and flu shots of the season. I was at the right place before 8:45 AM and waited along with mostly older folks. It was funny listening to a couple of those older folks:
Older man: Is this where I get my COVID and flu shot?
Staff member: No, you’ll line up over there.
Older man: Over where?
Staff member: Over there.
OM: So I get my shots over there?
SM: Yes.
OM: So what is this place?
SM: This is adult injection.
OM: So I get my COVID and flu shot here?
SM: No, you get in line over there.
OM: So what what is this place? I thought I had to check in here.
SM: No, you don’t have to check in here. You wait in line over there. This is where you get other shots.
OM: I want my COVID and flu shot.
SM: You’ll wait in line over there.
OM: The sign says COVID and flu shots here.
SM: Yes, over there.
Or something like that. It was excruciating to hear and amusing too. The staff member was SUPER PATIENT and I thought, “Damn, I don’t know that I would have that much patience!”
I ended up sixth in line for my shots. They took three people in at a time and OMG, I had to listen to the nurse tell the patient in her chair that they only have Pfizer, they don’t have Moderna yet. The patient had only ever gotten Moderna before and must have asked the nurse if she should take the Pzifer. The nurse told her that she couldn’t make the decision for her, that she could only tell her that they had no Moderna. The patient ended up getting the Pfizer. When it was my turn, I had my card in hand, answered her questions, then had to wait for her to get the vials. It was over soon after and I walked out to a line longer than when I got there. I was so glad to get it done!
I drove back to Brentwood and ended up at Mabuhay to order the longsilog and pork adobe plate. I had to wait for the longsilog! But I didn’t care since I didn’t have anything else to do. I went down a few shops and bought some Starbread as well. I actually had my longsilog for breakfast as opposed to dinner, like I usually do. Breakfast for breakfast, what a concept! 😉
I only have to work three days this week so I’m not too sad about my long weekend ending. Hopefully the work days pass peacefully enough. Maybe I’ll watch a movie on Friday…
I’ll end this here.
Get your shots when you can!
Let yourself feel those little moments of joy.
🙂