I need to be dazzling, I need to be rainbow high (Part 814)....

 Pride Prisms

Today we have my friend Colin in front of a pair of neon, rainbow wings!

POLT

I drive my mini-Cooper and I'm feeling super-dooper (Part 888)....

 Superman Sundays

This week, we have Superman Wifebeaters!

POLT

Pink elephants, and lemonade, dear Jessie (Part 727)...

 Real Men Wear Pink

Sometimes, Real Men, like my friend Cameroon, sometimes like to wear a thin, sleek pink wifebeater, which allows their massive biceps, pecs and other muscles to be clearly displayed. 

POLT

My baby's got a secret (Part 1010)....

 Secret Saturdays

My "work mom" died this week, and she was a Catholic, so this week in her honor, we have Secrets And Catholics!

POLT

Just found out my "work mom" died yesterday.

She was 86 years old and not in the best of health, though she wasn't ill.  She was maybe 5 feet tall and mighta weighed, the last time I saw 95 pounds.  She was still living in her own apartment.  

She was one of the first people there who befriended me, despite being 28 years older than me.  She was also one of the few proud Democrats working in a VERY Republican work environment, so that's another reason we bonded.  

She retired a few years ago, maybe three or four, after having medical emergency that put her in the hospital for several months.  But as I said, she was home and thriving, as far as I knew. 

We had occasional contact after she left: sending a card now and then, we got together less than a half dozen times for a meal and to catch up, messaging on Facebook, that sorta stuff. 

As she was my dad's age, born just 6 weeks after him, and as she has a daughter that is my age, she was my "work mom" and I was her "work son". 

She was a good woman.   She worked until almost 80 years old, and never missed a day (until she had that medical emergency).  God rest her soul.   

They just don't make 'em like Lil Mary anymore. 

POLT

If I were a hero, I'd be Martin Luther (Part 4670)....

 Superhero Anydays

These are the Watchmen sketch cards as drawn by Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons. 

Dr. Manhattan, Silk Spectre, Comedian

Rorschach, Nite Owl, Ozymandias

********************

And today we also have some gender bent Harley Quinn cosplay as done by internet celeb and my online friend HITCosplay (back when he was still a twink and hadn't got all buff and muscled yet).

POLT

Cut their hair short, wear shirts and boots (Part 948)....

 Wifebeater Wednesdays

This week, we have Wifebeaters With Lettering On Them!

POLT

You're wantin' my body, I don't mind (Part 1063).......

 MONDAY'S HOT SHIRTLESS GUY PHOTOS

This week, we have Hot Shirtless Guys In Glasses!

POLT

That night in Toronto, with it's checkerboard floors (Part 134)....

 Toronto Time!

Today, we're looking north towards Toronto, from over the lake, and the Toronto islands in front. 

One of my last times in Toronto, I took the ferry over to the islands with Michelle.  It was off season, (April) and so the recreation area was not busy, it was in fact, since we were there during a weekday, pretty deserted.   But anyway, she and I were actually on the pier in the front.

POLT

Rita Hayworth, gave good face (Part 1141).....

 Fetching Faces

POLT

I need to be dazzling, I need to be rainbow high (Part 764)....

 Pride Prisms

Today we have a very pretty rainbow cake!

I'm not 100% positive, but I'm pretty sure I took this pic when by friend Michelle and I were in a local restaurant several years ago.  And if that's the case, in addition to being pretty to look at, it was pretty darn good tasting too.

POLT

 SO...

I posted last August about all the people I personally knew who had died since May of last year (when I posted about a bunch of people I personally knew who had died in the year previous).   And that number came up to ten. 

Well, since August, more people I personally knew died. 

- One of mom's cousins.  When I was a kid, we hang out with them, either at our place or at their place in Greencastle, at least once, usually two weekends a month.  

- Phoenix's grandmother

- Johnnie's grandmother

- My uncle's second wife's father

- A former coworker who had had repeated bouts of cancer after he retired

- A new coworker's father

- The second in command at my job when I started there 30 years ago.

So that's put us up to 17 people.  All in roughly 2 years!

I know as you get older, you know more people who die.  And all of the people I just listed were older than me.  And death is not such a surprise for people over 70 or so years each.  But still, to have so many people dropped so close together...

It's disturbing. And unsettling.  And it's not likely to stop as I age.

POLT

I need to be dazzling, I need to be rainbow high (Part 755)....

 Pride Prisms

Today we have a pair of rainbow bunny ears on my lil friend Jack!

POLT

Rita Hayworth, gave good face (Part 1089).....

 Fetching Faces

This is the cute, fetching face of my....friend Ryan. 

POLT

In my city, I'm a vibe girl, I'm a Top Ten.....

 As it's now the last day of 2025, it's time for....

The Top Ten Things Of 2025

There were other things that occurred this year that didn't make the Top Ten list.  Things like weird weather (sub zero temps in January, Autumn temps and conditions in August); renewing my passport and getting it back in the mail in only 3 weeks!; reading the new Dragonlance Books and re-reading the old ones from 40 years ago; anxiety, depression and apathy at various times throughout the years; stomach issues (nausea, diarrhea, cramps) which I'm attributing to the Ozempic, happening at various times during the year; binging the first 17 seasons of Law & Order and binging all 8 seasons of Bewitched.  Things like those.  But onto the top ten list.... 

10. Mom Fell

Earlier this year, on a Sunday, I got a call from mom that she fell out at one of the buildings in the retirement village she lives in.  I hurried my way there and got her, she seemed okay except for her shoulder and said I needed to take her to the hospital.  The end result was that she was fine, except for a bruised shoulder and arm where she landed.   They gave her a sling and some pain killers and sent her home.    Thankfully, that's all it was.  (that's a generic pic by the way, not mom or what happened.)

9. Retina Study Ends

Back in 2021 I was sent to the Retina Specialist and they told me I had a retina edema and I was a perfect candidate for a study they were conducting.  So, I got a port put in my right eye and it got refilled every six months as part of the study, which I still had to get a shot in my left eye every month. 

Well after 4 years, they told me study was over.  Once the study ended however the company running he study would no longer pay for anything.   So while over the last four years I had everything done for free now I'd have to pay.  And the FDA had approved the port, so that was all good, but since it was new my insurance said they would not cover treatments for the port.  So it's a shot in both eyeballs now, which insurance will pay for, but there's a copay now.   So I suppose there's both good and bad news  for this result.

8. Deaths

This year had some deaths of people I knew, some more disturbing than others.   There was Puntabupeep Mikey.  There was Sis, the grandmother of a good friend of mine who, 37 years ago, I spent a LOT of time with at his grandparents house, especially on Sundays when she cooked dinner and the whole family was there to eat and play cards and stuff.   There was my mom's cousin Bonnie, who was her age and who had grown up with her.  Also, when I was a younger, they, their husbands and their kids would get together at each other's houses at least once a month.    There were other deaths, but these hit the closest and hardest.  Sadly, as I get older, there will be more of them.

7.  New Doors

When I bought the house the front and back doors (and upstairs balcony door) were all old and wood and drafty.  Finally, after all these years here, I decided to get them replaced.  The new doors are metal and have new door frames so they fit perfectly, no drafts.   They lock a lot easier and unlike the old ones, they have to BE locked, they don't automatically lock when I shut the door behind me, so no more accidentally locking myself out of the house.

6. Reconnecting with Borders' Friends!

I worked at Borders bookstore from 2000-2003, and not only was it the best job I've ever had but I met some amazing people.   The ParisPekings and Ghostie are all from Borders. I still keep in touch, online, with others.   Well this year, one of them, Candace contacted me about going to see Ken Burns give a speech in Gettysburg.  And we went and had a great time together.  Then another one, Kristen, saw me post about it online and since she lives in town, contacted me and we went to the Waynesburger, had a meal and caught up.  It was great fun, too!  I hope to keep in touch with them more this year. 

5. Tooth Issues

Once again, I've had a bunch of tooth issues: problems with a bridge, a big cavity between two teeth, part of a tooth cracked and I had a filling put in, which dropped out, and I had a replacement put in, which later fell out, so I decided to a crown put on it...which I'm still waiting to get put on.  So yeah, like every year, my teeth are crap. 

4. Colonoscopy(s)

So this year, it was time for my second colonoscopy.  After my prep in January I wasn't cleaned out enough so we had to reschedule.  At the reschedule in March, and after a TWO DAY fast and a different prep...I STILL wasn't cleaned out enough.  But after TWO enemas later, I was good to go.  However, one of my nurses said the problem may be that I'm on Ozempic.  So even though I went off it a week beforehand both times, the next time I have one, I'm gonna see if I can stop it for a month, so that i CAN get cleaned out properly.  But on the positive side, they found nothing, not even polyps like last time.  So that's all good.  In the end.  (ba-dum-DUM!)

3. Work Changes

So at work, there's been some changes.  A few people retired.  A few people left under....less than ideal circumstances.  And some 'linear' movements.  One of the other two people in my department decided she wanted to move to a different department.  Which is fine, good for her.  But what it did is open up that position in my department.  Which meant that now, in my last couple years here, I'd have to retrain a new person, and wait for them to hire a new one, and while I waited for that to happen, two of us would have to do that work of three people.   How horrible.  But luckily, there was a guy in another department who had experience in the things MY department does, and he took the open position.  SO I didn't have to totally retrain him, as he already knew quite a few things.  And he's been working out very well. Thankfully. 

2. tRump Clown Circus

I refuse to spend a lot time on these deplorables, but the damage they've done to this country, and in fact the world, will last for years for not decades.  And who knows how long it will take to correct once we've finally rid ourselves of them.  America has a very BIG reckoning coming to it, and I don't believe it will be pretty.  And it WILL get worse before it gets better here.  Sadly.

1. Cedrik

 

Of course he's number one.  He made my year, and changed my life.  He's the first man I dated that I introduced to mom as my boyfriend.  He's the first man I introduced to my closest cousin and her son.  We spent most weekends together.  And then, well then it became clear it wasn't going to work. At least now.  So we split.  But that doesn't change how I (and I assume he) feel.  And maybe sometime in the future we can make it work.  But regardless, he's had the biggest impact on my year. 

POLT