Small Talk: The Prayer Closet

[andromeda331]

59 minutes ago, louannems said:

I just unknowingly and stupidly spent $386.00 for tickets for a program that promotes a religious cult.

 I watch a lot of YouTube.  And I have recently received a lot of advertisements on YouTube for this Chinese ballet production.  It looked like something I really wanted to see so I watched the entire ad, which was quite long and showed the strict and strenuous training of these dancers.

I was very excited about them coming to Seattle and I quickly purchased two really good tickets.  $180.00 each plus $26.00 ticket fees.  Really good seats in the Seattle Opera house.

 I have never been to a professional ballet, or opera, and I was so excited.  Then further reading about the dance company, Shen Yen, says the owner is a cult leader who actually donated big money to the Trump campaign and was somehow involved in the lies about Hilary Clinton.

The dancers aren’t even necessarily from China but instead are from all over the world.  They are headquartered in rural New York.

The tickets are non-refundable so of course we will go and enjoy the ballet and acrobatics. Even though some reviewers say the show really pushes their beliefs.

Has anyone else ever gone to a Shen Yen ballet and what did you think of it?

 

Wow, I had no idea. I always assumed it was a Chinese ballet from the commercials too. 

[Notabug]

2 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Wow, I had no idea. I always assumed it was a Chinese ballet from the commercials too. 

Me three.  They've come to Cleveland every year for the past several years and they have extravagant TV commercials showing beautiful dancing and gorgeous costumes.  I just thought they were some sort of cultural folk dance sort of troupe, and, of course, actually Chinese.

Wow!  I did a little googling and it seems the actual show is a combination of dance, music and propaganda.  The cult's founder is anti-communist which is fine by me, but also anti-science, which is not.  Apparently each of the performances is based on some principal of their beliefs.

I guess that explains why the testimonials at the end of their commercials are kind of odd with all sorts of people talking about how the show changed their lives and revolutionizing their thinking.  I always thought that was a little extreme for a dance performance.

https://www.insider.com/shen-yun-show-falun-gong-2019-3

[oliviabenson]

Happy new year everyone! 

Hope this year is better than the last one. Cheers!

[SunnyBeBe]

57 minutes ago, oliviabenson said:

Happy new year everyone! 

Hope this year is better than the last one. Cheers!

Happy New Year!  I welcome 2024!!!  🥳🥳🥳⭐️⭐️⭐️🥂🥂👏🏻👏🏻

It seems 2023 kicked my butt!  A lot happened, but I’m grateful to have gotten through it.  Happy to see 2024!  

21 hours ago, wilsie said:

For everyone who is suffering from loss, I follow Betty White on FB and this beautiful letter was there.  I hope you can find comfort in it.  

That is so touching.  Thank you for posting it.  There’s much to reflect upon at this time of the year.  

[ChiCricket]

To everyone!💕

[BetyBee]

I was sound asleep when 2024 rolled in. I wish every small talker a very Happy New Year and hope for a peaceful 2024, filled with love and personal growth. Lots of hugs too!

[Salacious Kitty]

[BetyBee]

Our cat just scared the life out of us! He's almost 19 and very set in his ways. Normally at this time of day, he would be sleeping on either the loveseat or our bed. My husband looked everywhere. Then I looked everywhere, opening closets and the garage door, though he rarely goes in either. We sat down to eat breakfast and suddenly he came strolling out of the laundry room, where his litter box is. I had looked in there! He's black, so he's easy to miss. Last night I was folding clothes and I put some black leggings on top of him and laughed, because I thought HE was black leggings! I have a friend who found her cat dead under the dining room table one morning, so it's always been a fear of mine! Anyway, he might not be in the best of health, but he's hanging in there and I'm so glad! I can't take another loss right now. 

[zoomama]

happy new year, friends.  we are home from our week in texas with the grands. it was fun to see them, especially the surprise on their faces christmas morning when we waltzed in their house unannounced. it got down to freezing weather when i had brought with me a lightweight sweater only. the weather report had said mild 60 degrees. guess i missed the freezing lows at night and mornings -- the afternoons were warm enough.

i think i either have tendonitis in my thumb down to my wrist or acute arthritis  because my hand does not want to work correctly without extreme pain. i cant take NSAIDS so i bought a splint and am going to wear that for a bit and see if it helps. its so inconvenient.

well, i am off to a late christmas party (rescheduled due to covid) at church. then a meeting tonight. i hope to sleep a good amount tomorrow. again friends, New  Year Blessings and Wishes!

 

 

[jcbrown]

Happy New Year, everyone! We had a good holiday here. My sister came from Indiana for nine days and our mutual friend came from the Sacramento area for four so it was a lot of socializing for this introvert. But I love the holidays so it was great, albeit exhausting. My sister did not wear a mask on the plane home and now has tested positive for symptomatic COVID so our last holiday gift will be COVID testing every few days starting this Thursday, since we were three days from seeing her when she tested positive (we will follow the CDC's current guidance). She is feeling pretty crappy--this is her third bout. At least all who were at our celebration are fully vaxxed and boosted.

[Love2dance]

Happy New Year Small Talkers. 

[Minivanessa]

Good morning friends! I've come here to the Prayer Closet with a confession. The last day or so I've watched episodes of a few trashy old British TV docu-series on YouTube. One was about "spendaholics." 

Another series is called "Benefits Britain" and I think aired in 2014. It was derided as "poverty p*rn" by some people at the time. Obviously, the choice of subjects and editing in any documentary is up to the producers and reflects whatever slant they want to use on the subject. The episodes I watched followed three or four people drawing benefits (welfare) in different places within the UK. Some of the subjects were shown as doing their best to cope in hard times, others were crass lazy entitled jerks, and almost every one of them smoked cigarettes like it was 1955. Ugh.

A few episodes were enough, but I did learn of an episode with a title that cracked me up: "Benefits Special: 18 Kids and Claiming." ("Claiming" seems to be used in the UK as shorthand for "collecting benefits," i.e., government assistance of various kinds.) I couldn't find a link to it online but I also heard a promo in one of the videos for a show called "26 kids and claiming." Yikes. I've now watched more footage of free-spenders, hoarders, and people floundering around in the UK benefits system, than I ever should have. I'm stepping away from the computer. 

Edited January 3 by Jeeves
grammar

[BetyBee]

Sometimes @Jeeves we all watch a little trash tv! In fact, that is how we small talkers wound up here! 

[ginger90]

Could be a just me thing….

We are required to complete inservice requirements online, a change I’m grateful for instead of hours of nonsensical in person inservice crap of years ago.

They typically went out the beginning of January and were due by the end of the year. I always had them completed before the middle of January.

This year they went out yesterday, I completed them and submitted them this morning. The change that gets me is they are due by the end of February now. However, if they are submitted before January 31st you get entered into a drawing for a gift card. Big whoop!

If they aren’t completed by the end of February your name is removed from the schedule, because you would be out of compliance. They must be looking to clean house because in previous years emails went out to everyone regardless of status, reminding people to get them done. This went on for the whole year, people just waited until the last minute. 
 

Now that I typed it out it sounds silly, but I can’t stand nonsense. And I have no idea how this counts as an inservice for the year. It used to be once a month in person. Doesn’t sound right to have to do a years worth in 2 months. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[crazy8s]

44 minutes ago, ginger90 said:

Could be a just me thing….

Now that I typed it out it sounds silly, but I can’t stand nonsense. And I have no idea how this counts as an inservice for the year. It used to be once a month in person. Doesn’t sound right to have to do a years worth in 2 months. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Oh mrcrazy8s would be right there with you on the ridiculousness of performative compliance requirements. He had to review all employees that report to him by year end and have things in last week. But got everything sent back yesterday because said employees didn't "self review" on take the proper number of online courses and submit them. But the deadline has passed for his report. Per the stupid system they have he cannot see or have access to what they submit or what online training the completed.

He is so frustrated and this is totally a culling of employees by a new company. He says at this point they can fire him, offer him a buy out, severance, or whatever and he can just be done.

[BetyBee]

@crazy8s - I can see why your husband is frustrated!

[GeeGolly]

Did y'all know there's a place called Bay of Fundy in Canada?

I don't know about you all but my first thought was of these crazy families we snark on. I'm permanently broken. 🤣

[CalicoKitty]

OK.  The site is up and I can access the forums without any delay.  Except the past 2 days of posts are gone.  This is becoming quite an adventure.

 

[Salacious Kitty]

1 minute ago, CalicoKitty said:

OK.  The site is up and I can access the forums without any delay.  Except the past 2 days of posts are gone.  This is becoming quite an adventure.

 

There's a note about that on my curated forums page. They noted that posts were lost while doing an update today. 

Edited January 6 by Salacious Kitty
Autofill got me again!

[CalicoKitty]

2 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

There's a note about that on my curated forums page. They noted that posts were lost while doing an update today. 

Thanks.  I guessed as much.  I'm just so happy that I can access the site quickly now without long, long waits. I'm speedy now, and I hope it lasts.

[oliviabenson]

This site is buggy. Makes me want to quit. 

[Salacious Kitty]

22 minutes ago, oliviabenson said:

This site is buggy. Makes me want to quit. 

It's better now. I don't know what the fuck they were trying to do today that made accessing the site unpleasant. 

Edited January 6 by Salacious Kitty

[SunnyBeBe]

Wrong thread.

Edited January 6 by SunnyBeBe

[BetyBee]

My annoying narc sister-in-law keeps writing about her great friendship (untrue) with my recently deceased Mom on my Mom's FB page. I feel like replying "I'm so sorry for your loss." But I just ignore her, knowing that we'll soon be closing down Mom's page anyway to avoid hackers. I really feel that some people think that FB is a historical record and they want to curate it to read the way they want. 😠

[Scarlett45]

2 hours ago, BetyBee said:

My annoying narc sister-in-law keeps writing about her great friendship (untrue) with my recently deceased Mom on my Mom's FB page. I feel like replying "I'm so sorry for your loss." But I just ignore her, knowing that we'll soon be closing down Mom's page anyway to avoid hackers. I really feel that some people think that FB is a historical record and they want to curate it to read the way they want. 😠

I’m so sorry you have to deal with this in your grief. 
 

I don’t know if you’re aware but you can turn a deceased persons Facebook into a memorial page to share information on services, memories, photos etc and either keep it up or shut it down when it suits you. 

[BetyBee]

6 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

I’m so sorry you have to deal with this in your grief. 
 

I don’t know if you’re aware but you can turn a deceased persons Facebook into a memorial page to share information on services, memories, photos etc and either keep it up or shut it down when it suits you. 

Thank you. We're going to discuss that next weekend when we get together to plan the service. 

[oliviabenson]

Did posts disappear or am I imagining things?

[ginger90]

6 minutes ago, oliviabenson said:

Did posts disappear or am I imagining things?

During the update some went poof!

[BetyBee]

1 hour ago, ginger90 said:

During the update some went poof!

Yes, they did. @Scarlett45 - didn't you post that your Mom was in the hospital? How is she? And how are you?

[oliviabenson]

1 minute ago, BetyBee said:

Yes, they did. @Scarlett45 - didn't you post that your Mom was in the hospital? How is she? And how are you?

Oh I didn’t see that one. Oh no! 

[Scarlett45]

2 hours ago, BetyBee said:

Yes, they did. @Scarlett45 - didn't you post that your Mom was in the hospital? How is she? And how are you?

 

2 hours ago, oliviabenson said:

Oh I didn’t see that one. Oh no! 

Yes I did post- cliff notes: my Mom is in the hospital, one where she still has privileges so she is with all her friends and former colleagues. She is stable and headed to rehab when she is discharged but she’s going to be able to come home. I trust them all to look after her and I have gotten daily updates. Given her change in health it’s time to have my sister’s guardianship changed which I’m working on in the “down time” she is gone. I could file the papers myself but I have enough on my plate I am going to hire someone. I’d rather give the money to an attorney in my network so I’m waiting on a referral. 
 

Of course my sister is fine, as it was Christmas and we are celebrating her bday tomorrow so she has tons of new things. 
 

@BetyBee I miss my Mommy already. I keep checking her location which feels so far away. I got really upset when I realized she didn’t have her glasses and I couldn’t find them (M had kept the safe, I will take them to her with street clothes and skin care in a few days).

 

I’m glad I watch her as closely as I do, because you know Drs make awful patients. I’m looking forward to going back into the office Monday for “normal” activity. 
 

I knew these years were coming. My Grandfather who was ill and 100% blind from glaucoma lived with us until he died at age 89- he was going through dementia as my sister was going through puberty. This ain’t my first rodeo.
 

Things should be more settled by the time I head to Morocco end of February. Thank goodness for M who is getting a much deserved raise. We are lucky to have her. 

[Mindthinkr]

@Scarlett45 Iam glad your Mom has a good support system in the hospital and hope she makes a full recovery. 
Happy birthday to you sister who I’m glad isn’t acting out while your Mom is absent and glad she has many new things to focus on. 
I'm very happy to hear you have a much deserved vacation on the horizon. 
You deserve the break and that you can count on M to keep the peace when you are away. Hugs 🧸

[oliviabenson]

https://www.reddit.com/r/primetimerchitchat/s/aAn1jVfDu2
 

join my subreddit we can chat about anything and the rod family 

[BetyBee]

That sounds really interesting, @oliviabenson! Count me in! 

I have to buckle down and try to finish my book club book by Wednesday. It's called Endurance and is very informative, making me feel what it's like to be shipwrecked in Antarctica. But it's just not grabbing me. It feels like homework that I don't want to do! I almost always finish the book, so I guess I'll put down my laptop and try again. Wish me luck!

[graybrown bird]

6 hours ago, BetyBee said:

That sounds really interesting, @oliviabenson! Count me in! 

I have to buckle down and try to finish my book club book by Wednesday. It's called Endurance and is very informative, making me feel what it's like to be shipwrecked in Antarctica. But it's just not grabbing me. It feels like homework that I don't want to do! I almost always finish the book, so I guess I'll put down my laptop and try again. Wish me luck!

BetyBee, I too am having difficulty reading my book club book for January -- and for remarkably similar reasons.  It's called "The Indifferent Stars Above: the Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride."  I have learned far more than I want to about what it's like to starve to death while trapped by deep snow in the high Sierras.  WHY did we pick this book for January??  And we're expecting a blizzard here on Tuesday.....

[Scarlett45]

I FaceTimed with my Mom. She’s weak but all there. I told her I’d be by Tuesday with skin care, clothes and her glasses. She proclaimed “my glasses!!”

Shes sappy right now, but so am I. I think the last time I went this long without a text from her was 2005 when she took a two week trip to Europe before unlimited text and data. I remember I got a 2 line email and thought “they must be having fun”- turns out they stopped at a Internet cafe and she wrote this long explanation of their travels and then she timed out!! 

[Absolom]

How was your sister's birthday?

[Scarlett45]

10 hours ago, Absolom said:

How was your sister's birthday?

I thought a lot of Mrs B yesterday (caregiver to my sister and grandfather during my middle school/HS years) she started the tradition of the singing cake plate. She died 2011. 
 

We had a situation where some wrapping paper caught on a candle but it was remedied quickly. 
 

I bought some Disney princess plushies from my 9yrs old god daughter, my sister looked at her new Belle and Aurora in her blue dress (very rare) with such love my heart swelled three sizes. She will be 36 this week, and is actually starting to look older (she’s losing her hair like my mom did). 

[ozziemom]

Gosh I’m having trouble with my book for book club too! It was my suggestion so I have to lead the discussion. I guess you should never pick a book you haven’t read yet……

[oliviabenson]

I tried joining book clubs but I never actually go through joining one. Usually It’s a book the library has A very long waiting list. I’m not in the mood buying books. 

[oliviabenson]

And why is my phone randomly capitalizing letters/words? Major pet peeve 

[BetyBee]

56 minutes ago, oliviabenson said:

I tried joining book clubs but I never actually go through joining one. Usually It’s a book the library has A very long waiting list. I’m not in the mood buying books. 

I love my book club! I joined it to make some new friends when we moved to this town and it worked! I've had to read some stinker books, but that is balanced by reading some good books I never would have chosen for myself. My BC is sponsored by a local small bookstore. I like supporting them, though I do understand about not wanting to fill my house with more books! 

[oliviabenson]

20 minutes ago, BetyBee said:

I love my book club! I joined it to make some new friends when we moved to this town and it worked! I've had to read some stinker books, but that is balanced by reading some good books I never would have chosen for myself. My BC is sponsored by a local small bookstore. I like supporting them, though I do understand about not wanting to fill my house with more books! 

I adore bookstores!!! I just don’t need any more books or have as much $ to buy them anymore 😢😢😢.

[Mindthinkr]

I’m fortunate to have a used bookstore about 15 minutes away. It’s great for when things come out in paperback. They have stopped accepting hard covers due to space issues, although there are still some in there for sale. I especially like going to pick up some vacation reads as I don’t mind giving them away and saving the room in my suitcase for things I pick up while traveling.  My BC runs on themes so I usually able to find something that fits. 

[Zella]

4 hours ago, ozziemom said:

Gosh I’m having trouble with my book for book club too! It was my suggestion so I have to lead the discussion. I guess you should never pick a book you haven’t read yet……

Which book are you reading? 

[ozziemom]

1 hour ago, Zella said:

Which book are you reading? 

The Secret life of sunflowers, it’s about Johanna, sister in law of Vincent Van Gogh. It’s good but I’m having a hard time getting into it.

[BetyBee]

I finished my book! It was pretty good and it made me cry because I really did care about these men in nearly impossible circumstances. It would make quite a movie! I'm ready to read something lighter though.

[Zella]

2 hours ago, ozziemom said:

The Secret life of sunflowers, it’s about Johanna, sister in law of Vincent Van Gogh. It’s good but I’m having a hard time getting into it.

I've not heard of that one. I started reading a bio of Van Gogh years ago and had to give it up because it was so depressing. I read a lot of really grim material, but even I have limits!

[Scarlett45]

I went to see my Mom today because of the snow due in Chicago-land tomorrow afternoon. She looks weak and her skin is dry, but it’s the right tone and she’s 100% herself!!

She said she felt so bad on Thursday she said “God just take me, I know Scarlett45 will look after P, I can go in peace.” But she’s very happy she did not die!!

My mom consented to inpatient rehab after I told her if she didn’t she would be sitting on the curb because we weren’t carrying her in- it’s 8 stairs to her unit she must navigate safely. I left a message with the social worker and called her pcp to fill her in. 

The hospital will keep her a few more days and they would handle locating a placement. 
She asked did I pay M and did I put in the Costco order for my sister’s food and supplies like she normally does at the start of the month. 
(No mommy I just didn’t pay M and my sister will starve to death😂😂) 

She thinks UM (my bff’s retired firefighter uncle who carried her down the stairs) is good looking and she often forgets because she doesn’t see him often😂😂😂. I cannot think of UM that way. 
 

My little Mommy is back and I’m so happy. A load off of my heart. I did take her tea, gum, lip balm, foot balm, her glasses and a few clothes. And shoes. I’m always after her to exfoliate because her skin is so dry and she was teasing me to leave her toes alone. She needs a pedicure after all this!! 

[Love2dance]

Good recommendation, @ozziemom, to read the book before choosing it for your book club. Several people in my club commented they were in the mood for a romantic/spicy theme, and it was my turn to choose our next title. I chose a book that I had not read, but was quite popular on Amazon, that I thought would fit the bill. Turns out it was very heavy into very explicit sexual content, with a good amount of SM. 🤦🏻‍♀️. Luckily, they are all still speaking to me, but they say they will never look at me the same again. 🤣😂