"If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear" - Joseph Goebbels

quick recap -
Friday - Dinner at the new Del Frisco's up at Shops at Legacy with the friends - nice upstairs bar with open windows - otherwise it's just overrated IMO. Most steakhouses are really.

Saturday - Went to Houston (bleh) to visit mom.

Saw the SB4 protests in Austin online Monday -
*again our Texas representatives make global news*
In a way.... it's almost a relief for true colors to be displayed. Maybe then people can stop pretending.

I'm glad they stood up against Rinaldi's instigation...on the other hand, reps (especially hispanic reps with the obvious extra obstacles) should remember they are on the floor of the Texas capital.
Be smarter. Defense isn't always defensive. Represent.
How could it have been handled better?

It's interesting too -
how some people say nothing about Rinaldi's instigation but just jump to justify his actions...
Really, it's just chilling to read so many "normal" people saying things (even outside of this incidence)  that I've read in history books - variations of hateful things that have been said during wars etc.

Like just right now (in this SB4, racial profiling, Rinaldi/Romero/Blanco, immigration etc debacle on the floor for instance.)
All kinds of people spewing things
And this post stood out:

If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear"  - Joseph Goebbels 

and people were agreeing with it!
in this case I'm not sure if the person who posted it meant it insidiously or he was trying to open peoples eyes. Either way,  for people agreeing/liking it,  I really hope that it's just them being ignorant not knowing who Joseph Goebbels was.  seriously....chilling. 

Heard there's a protest outside of Rinaldi's office today at 4.
There was a "die-in" protest outside of Cornyn's office today too....

Finished
Fever Song - KMM - this finally ends. I'll never again read a series like this...i dropped out of Nalini Singh's Angles and I think I should've dropped out of this one a long time ago. Not that it was bad. It's just not necessary to keep throwing every dilemma in to extend a story. It's really not. And does this mean Dani's story ends here too? I'm almost wishing it does.
Silent Melody - Mary Balogh - i'm catching on to her writing style again. she writes well but it's just missing a small bit of sass for me. And throwing in the villian thing...eh.
Between Devil and Duke - Kelly Bowen - i'm almost finished here. Another historical that's not bad, it's just missing something. It's like i'm catching her at her beginning and once she gets a few more under her belt (and does away with the "hmm's) she'll be close to Eloisa James/Sarah MacLean level for me. 

annnd this gal is officially not cut out to be a Southern gal.

annnd this gal is officially not cut out to be a Southern gal.
(Not that I didn't like it...good food, people were super nice -  especially in Alabama. )

Flew in, had breakfast at Fife's Birmingham - Good. it was packed on a Thursday morning!
Then drove 2.5 hours into East Mississippi.

So...I've been to several college towns - Mississippi State is definitely different.
Granted, school's out - but..... they.  have.  no.  bars.  there. 

Seriously....no bars and hardly any restaurants.
What kids do is join the greek system and have house parties.
trying not to judge here -  but how utterly boring that must get after a while.

39 kids in the nephew's graduating class....
They all look the same.
Serious - especially the girls, thin-ish, prettyish/plainish,  light brown straight hair just passed the shoulders.
It took an hour to graduate them...nice.
Little Dooey's - top level chicken tenders.
No bars. to bed.
Good luck at MSU nephew.

Tuscaloosa/University of Alabama -  It feels like the whole state of Alabama routes their money (and hopes and dreams) here. nice, BIG campus. Crimson, A's and elephants everywhere. Rama Jama for the staple place.

Back to Birmingham - constantly feels of "trying to revive after being deserted", town feel.
Collins bar - good cocktails (though just a little pretentious bartenders).
Galley and Garden - good food. Generic on the ambiance.  Tryin' a little hard to be cool?
Holler and Dash - biscuits and gravy - yes. good. only weird that they couldn't make an egg over easy. "must be over hard per State Law"....who the heckfire eats an over hard breakfast egg?!!!
Iron City venue - good venue. They started at 8am on the dot! Mini Bomb Factory-esque. Strange crowd for Old 97's/Turnpike - they didn't hardly know Old 97s...definitely into TT. 
Saw's BBQ has no ribs

still they redeemed by their chicken and banana pudding. I'm gonna crave the banana pudding.
No idea how people bear the heat of standing in line/sitting outside in summer times?
The humidity is killer ...

I can't handle any more fried food
more... where we went (cities and town in both states) it feels almost ghosttown-ish with basically only the school/football pride as is it's lifeblood.
Also, it has a strong feel of people sticking to "their own"....i mean racial divide here is super evident.
Now that I think about it  - I saw one Latino man at a gas station (in the middle of no where between the two states) He kept looking at me like I was a unicorn.
Really...we got in the car and Jamie was like "Did you see that guy looking at you like that?" umm...yes Jamie yes...poor guy must miss his people . heh...smh. 

re-read Kristan Higgins mostly but did read a Balogh - Heartless - not that I didn't like it, I just have read so many of the "obsessed villian" story. I'm curious about the deaf sister path. We'll see.

hello Alabama (and Mississippi)

Of course I feel like doodoo right now ...we leave for Birmingham tomorrow -
2.5 hour drive into Mississippi for the nephew's high school graduation of 39 kids in his class.

Talk about the middle of no where -

still...might be interesting to see for this "only ever lived in the city-gal" to go see real country life...

I'm just glad the kid settled over there and is graduating...he is/was not suited to handle all the bad influences of living in Dallas.
We'll see how he handles college (where most everyone else loses their minds) oy. 

Then we back to Birmingham to see Turnpike Troubadours and Old 97's together - yay fun times!

my favorite Alabaman! (Alabamian? Alabamite?) -
we'll see how we like the feel....

time(s) in history.

Yep Jamie and I got in a big ol' argument Friday - went to sleep pissed off at each other
...first time ever it wasn't because one (or both) of us had been drinkin' (heh...smh).

Based on most of my previous posts, not hard to figure out what it was about. 
I get so freaking frustrated with him though...where I see it as an open conversation stress-reliever - he's seeing it as a stressful and contentious exchange.
But so...i guess for the sake of the relationship, I'm gonna try to avoid the discussion altogether.

Pick my battles, lay off the "dark" stuff and all that shit. 
I've decided not to resent him for it since I'm well aware I'm the one who's changed direction (and lord knows he doesn't adjust to change quickly)
Plus I've found other outlets - don't need him to always be my sounding board, there are other things to talk about -  but seriously....I can totally see how people divorce over this. Just sayin'.

umm what else - finished Kathleen Grissom's - The Kitchen House, my boss told me about -
i think it could've been edited a little more overall,
still...it flowed pretty well. oy... deep/dark...heavy - so many terrible stories...and even from people you sometimes felt you shouldn't've wanted to feel sorry for.
what a horrible horrible time in history.

and so Charley Crockett kinda mood -
and this song he said he wrote about his sister who died while his sister's son was in the audience....*feels*

racing

Jamie didn't like my post about Texas last week.
I asked him if he thinks that I liked finding it necessary to post it.

In reality - he has no idea how much I hold my tongue/thoughts....most especially lately.
bleh - being in a bubble is so frustrating now that I know how much it's really there. 

ANNNND  I just saw that less than 12% of registered voters in my county voted in last week's local elections.
11.88% freaking percent !!!

People died for this right...seriously....i don't understand how they can't take 20 minutes out of a day to vote on people making decisions on their behalf (and most especially the school board that make decisions that affect YOUR CHILDREN!).
ugh

and so - moving on - cause that's all i can do-
1.5 hours at the DMV - almost failed my eye exam. I don't remember there being letter vison test like that?!

the Derby - fun day, long day - 70ish ppl -  $1k+ in bets...not bad atall
i wore a fun fruit print dress. I'm not sure people knew what to think of me...one guy said "you look very... citrusy" ha.  yay. Not sure how much $ we've put into it (too much I'm sure)  but it seemed everyone had a good time.

re-read Mercy's story in Psy-Changeling - a real book (not kindle) from my library. this makes me happy. Not sure why holding a real book every once in a while makes me happy. I also love that I have 1k+ books easily accessible in my kindle in my purse. It's fun.

I’m disappointed to be from Texas today

(Canada late 1980s) a girl is escorted to her new first grade class, “Where are you from?” the teacher asks,
the girl proudly says “Texas!”.
“Oh, so it’s not even “United States”, it’s “Texas”? the teacher says smiling.
The girl nods her head.
“Well okay , welcome. Take your seat.”

Fast forward, 6th grade (El Paso - Lower valley) –
a group of kids ask “where are you from? why do you talk so funny way?”.
The girl responds “I’m from here again and no, YOU talk funny. I bet I can beat you at jump rope!”
(To mom and sister later that day: What does “way” mean?)

She moves to Dallas, goes to college, marries, travels.

Not once - never once - has she not been proud of who she was and where she’s come from….until today.

With the passing of SB4, I’m disappointed to be from Texas today.

“But it will never affect you.” “What’s the problem? You’re not illegal.” “But you don’t look like a criminal”, “You’re lighter skinned.” “You look rich” “You don’t have an accent”, “You listen to country music” “You have a white husband” “You don’t look Mexican...like "those" kinds of Mexican...you know what I mean” “Most of your friends are white” “You drive a MINI”

Ahh but it could affect me – Who I know. People I’ve talked to. What I feel is wrong or right.
By the color of my eyes, by the darkness of my hair – the fact that it’s okay for my very presence can be questioned just by what I look like.
Yes it could affect me.
It already has.
Have your opinions - this one's mine.

if you hesitate between the other person and me, don't pick me.

we didn't do much this weekend - scary to think how tornadoes (yet again) missed us by about 60 miles.

Finished Mariana - I vacillate between liking the surprise ending and not - kinda left hanging ...but maybe that's ok? I was definitely surprised.

KColes Wicked Abyss - beauty and the beast feel yeah...i liked it. Didn't love it. 

Heat Wave - Karina Halle - it's well enough written in that I'm close to finishing. Not a one-shot from me though basically from the beginning -
 cause seriously, I just read a quote that read "if you hesitate between the other person and me, don't pick me." This should always hold true.

with all the chaos since EO Jan. I've had LOTS of opinions but I decided to try educate myself as much as I could about just one bill going through the Texas house/senate (to hopefully satisfy my ocd to have one complete thought not doubting myself)
I chose SB4 - and now I almost wish I didn't know how awful,  totally off-base and in a lot of cases just plain racist some people with their opinions are when it comes to this bill -
then I could just be ignorant
and maybe better off?
It's seems like more and more - agendas are hidden behind words like safety, military or women/children. (super "1984"-like)

Then I heard the news that a  frat at Baylor - yes the school that my nephew is going to in the Fall - threw a cinco de mayo party. Awesome right ?- sombreros and margaritas...and margaritas and fun!
Well apparently several  decided to dress as construction workers and maids,  paint their face brown and chant "Build that wall" as part of their "fun" ....
ugh...why'd they gotta cross that line like that *smh* bleh.
That's all I'll say about that...for now

And so we No Doubt - my Mini Sheldonita played it this morning - I swear it's like she knows what I want to hear