Dragon Food & Democrats: Where the Friday takes you

This past Friday was my sixth anniversary of leaving the corporate world behind to pursue early retirement.  To celebrate said event, my good friend (and former coworker) Danielle got together with me for dinner. 

It was great seeing her, the last time I saw Dani in person was in August 2019 when I met her & her husband Josh at Lincoln Brewery.  That was before the pandemic, which makes it seem even longer ago than it was.

Anyway, we got General Tso & crab rangoons from Dragon-Town up the street from my apartment, and Danielle brought along some very fresh cupcakes from the bakery. 

We ate in my apartment, and since my small dining table is being used by my ceramic Christmas tree, and I’ve yet to assemble that coffee table under my bed, I asked if she wouldn’t mind sitting on the floor and eating off a blanket like a couple of hippies.  Can you believe what I put my guests through?

She presented me with this (very heavy) 5 starred coin, and said it was in recognition of my many years of hard work at UPMC Healthplan.  I said “Wow, for real?  They’re giving this to me after all these years?”  She said “Of course not, no one remembers you!  All of us got one of these recently, and I’m giving mine to you.”  I felt like the Cowardly Lion getting that hand-me-down medal of courage from the wizard’s bag in Wizard of Oz.  Oh well, I always liked getting company branded stuff—I still have a pair of dark blue coffee mugs we got when UPMC Healthplan hit 25,000 members umpteen years ago.  I use them to this day.

While we ate we talked about estate planning and who we should leave our stuff to, the various streaming platforms on tv (we agreed that Netflix has too much junk and Hulu is our favorite) and Michelle Obama.  We still love her, wished she had run for President in 2020 but her motto “When they go low we go high” needs tossed out with the baby’s bath water.

I’m sorry Michelle, but it hasn’t gotten us anywhere.  We think Dems should go lower instead, and hey—we should have a couple crazy low-lifes like Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress too, they pull no punches!

To be honest, as our chatting turned more animated (and more political) I felt the “old me” emerging again, someone I’ve been trying to keep buried in a shallow grave.  It seems the more bloggers  I’ve gotten to know online, the more I worry about stepping on toes.  A few weeks ago an old friend—well, not old but I’ve known this person since we were 9 years old—told me 1) they were Republican 2) they read my blog 3) I caused them discomfort over the anti-GOP stuff I’ve written here.

We haven’t talked much since, mainly because it left me tongue-tied.  The last thing I want to do is offend my friend, but it’s not like I’ve written anything I feel the need to apologize for either.  I’m a Liberal, dammit!  In fact, I have one liberal friend who keeps asking if I’ve gone over to the dark side yet because I never write anything here anymore.  I know he’s kidding, at least I hope he is.

Anyway, I’m just sitting here babbling.  I always get down in the dumps this time of year to the point it’s become a holiday tradition, and right now I’m not feeling motivated to do much of anything, let alone come up with an entertaining blog.  But I need to post something, I’m tired of looking at that photo of the two coats. 

Well, I think I’m going to close this up and make myself a cup of coffee, or maybe a cup of hot cocoa.  At least with my pair of vintage work mugs, I can have both.