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I’m finally on the last set of video lessons for the last class that I needed to view before I get my online Google/Coursera certificate in IT. I should’ve been done weeks ago but I’ve been taking this class much slower than the others. I’m on the borderline between: Option A—saying fuck it all and just enjoy whatever is left of my life and Option B—continuing with the program because I’m very close to being completely done and there’s a chance that I might not die soon so I really need to find a regular job where I could support myself while doing art on the side. So far Option B is winning out and I’m forcing myself to take the video classes at a much slower pace than before.
I also decided to be slow in taking this class because I have recently gotten involved with helping the Poor People’s Campaign with promoting its upcoming March on Washington on June 18. This march and rally had been scheduled since last year. Originally it was a tie-in with the Juneteenth holiday, the impact that the COVID-19 epidemic has had on poor and low-income people, and the upcoming midterm elections where we are encouraging get out the vote effort among poor and low-income people. But then things happened and the march has now grown to be more than just about elections, the Coronavirus, and voting. Democracy itself is on the line. And now this march is has become more than just about the United States. The entire world seems to have gone mad.
I started my cybersecurity class just a day or two before Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then there has been all kinds of horrors unleashed on that country while Putin keeps on threatening any NATO country who helps Ukraine with a nuclear bomb. My country has been giving Ukraine tons of weapons despite Putin’s threats because the U.S. has nuclear weapons aimed at Moscow so if Putin actually launches nuclear missiles at Washington, DC, the U.S. could always retaliate by launching nuclear missiles at Moscow. Of course that’s cold comfort because it would literally be the end of the world with millions of dead people and animals and a permanently ruined climate.
The irony is that the class I’m taking is about cybersecurity while this current war also has a cyber warfare component. I’m seeing cybersecurity being played out in real life while I’m learning theoretical stuff in my class. Here’s a real-life example that is definitely not being covered in my online course (mainly because it was created before the Russian invasion of Ukraine). One day I came across this tweet from the Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Federov announcing the formation of the IT Army of Ukraine, which is something anyone can join from anywhere in the world.
Basically I ended up learning how to use Telegram so now I’m in this surreal situation where I’m learning how to prevent cyberattacks while conducting cyberattacks at the same time. Basically I’m using an open source program called avtomat_dos (which is available for both Mac and Windows and can be downloaded from GitHub). I’ve installed it on this cheap $300 Kano PC laptop that I purchased last year because it was one of those DIY kits where you assemble a laptop from scratch and I thought it would be useful for me to try to assemble a computer at least once in my life (especially since I’m going for an IT certificate).
avtomat_dos is incredibly easy to use. All you have to do is just click on it, click the green Start button at the dialogue box, and let the program do its thing. When you’re ready to quit, just click the red Stop button then quit out of the program.
I don’t run this program on a constant basis. I basically take it with me if I’m going to go to a place with free Wi-Fi and I intend to spend at least a half-an-hour or longer there. I don’t want to elaborate further on where I go because I’m not sure if these places would appreciate me using their free Wi-Fi to launch denial of service attacks on various websites located in Russia and Belarus.
On the nights when I’m doing either texting or phone banking for the Poor People’s Campaign’s June 18 protest march, I’ll bring two laptops to my chosen public place that offers free Wi-Fi (I tend to change locations frequently so no one place is burdened with my side project) where I use one laptop to run the avtomat_dos program and the other for the texting/phone banking. (For some reason I can’t use avtomat_dos with Zoom because the two programs tend to interfere with each other. So that’s why I have to use two laptops.) I even made a video called Multitasking for Justice where I show how I do this, which I uploaded on to TikTok, Clapper, and YouTube.
I know that what I’m doing is legally murky but I haven’t received any blowback from my online postings on this topic yet. These days I feel like Katniss Everdeen with a computer instead of a bow and arrow.
But then I feel like the U.S. is on the verge of experiencing its own horrors. There is the leak of the rough draft of the Supreme Court decision that could not only overturn Roe vs. Wade (which legalized abortion) but it also indicates that it wants to take a hard look at other decisions that legalized birth control, same-sex marriage, and interracial marriage. I already wrote about it so I’m not going to go into it here.
Some radical Republicans are starting to call for a second American Civil War and Donald Trump had even reposted someone else’s post calling for such a thing on his own Truth Social (which was started for him after he was unable to get back on Twitter due to being permanently banned for his role in the January 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol building).
Then there are the mass shootings that now seem to happen on a regular basis. You have these men (and, yes, they are all men) with these dangerous AK-47 guns shooting at random innocent people. It started with this white guy who traveled three hours to a supermarket in Buffalo located in a majority African-American neighborhood killing people.
Then there was that horrendous mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Once again children have been senselessly slaughtered. I’m infuriated that once again, there was a mass school shooting in the United States. I think it really hit me when I came across this tweet by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressing his sadness at the shooting in Uvalde. I feel very touched that a leader of a country that’s being invaded by Russia has taken the time to tweet this out towards the people in Uvalde while, at the same time, I feel very embarrassed that a leader of a country that’s being invaded by Russia has taken the time to tweet this out towards the people in Uvalde.
Here’s why I feel very embarrassed. I’m old enough to remember the shooting at Columbine High School. Something should have been done to implement common sense gun regulations back then but the National Rifle Association (NRA) have successfully stopped politicians from passing any kind of meaningful legislation.
Then there was the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. You’d think that the killing of younger children would’ve been enough to get some kind of common sense gun reform legislation but, in the end, it seems like there are too many lawmakers who care more about seeing an embryo coming to full-term and actually being born than about already-born children and teens who are being brutally shot to death. Unfortunately I now live in a country where embryos are more important than living people and the lives of living people are basically expendable.
In the wake of the Uvalde shooting, I saw plenty of videos on YouTube and TikTok from people giving their opinions about what happened. I thought about doing something myself until I found some footage from Democratic Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke where he tried to confront his rival, current Texas Governor Greg Abbott over Gov. Abbott’s gun policies that made the shooting in Uvalde possible. There was nothing I could have said that could top O’Rourke’s powerful commentary so I just made a video where I combined a short slideshow of how things have literally not changed since the Columbine shooting back in 1999 with O’Rourke’s powerful words. I uploaded it on to TikTok, Clapper, and YouTube.
It seems like Ukraine, the calls for a new American Civil War, and mass shootings are just awful coincidences. But are they? Vladimir Putin is the one who has ordered his Russian troops to invade Ukraine. It’s long been noted that Donald Trump has received money from the Russians and he has expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin. The NRA had acted as a “foreign asset” to Russia before the 2016 election.
I recommend reading these two multi-part tweets by Dave Troy for more details about this (Tweet 1, Tweet 2). He makes a convincing case for Ukraine/new American Civil War/mass shootings/the potential repeal of Roe vs. Wade being all related.
And if all this weren’t enough, we are now going through inflation. These days I shop at discount grocery stores like Aldi and Lidl and I noticed some of the price increases. A few days ago I underwent sticker shock as I paid $50 to fill up my small Toyota Yaris hatchback. (I normally pay somewhere between $27-29 to fill up my gas tank.) I shudder to think what someone who owns a regular sedan or an SUV now pays at the pump. There are charges that corporate greed is driving up the prices on everything.
It just seems that there seems to be a sort of dread these days and I’m not the only one who feels this. I’ve had friends admit to me that they also have similar feelings. I think going through a pandemic for over two years with no end in sight along with the war in Ukraine, democracy on the edge, and a whole host of other bad news have taken its toll among us. It’s like there’s constant new drama happening all the time.
Meanwhile the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have taken a backseat to the other drama that’s currently going on despite the fact that there is another surge that’s currently going on. As of this writing, a total of 1.01 million Americans are now dead from the Coronavirus.
How the world’s only feudal lord outclassed the Nazis to save her people.
An undulating sculpture recreates Hokusai’s Great Wave in 50,000 LEGO pieces.
Woman used five 20-foot shipping containers to build extraordinary off-the-grid home.
What lies beneath: The curious underworld of hobby tunneling.
A look inside of the New York Public Library’s last secret apartments.
I’m going to set the tone for this blog post by embedding this music video for a song that’s about Ocean City, Maryland. It’s called “It’s a Shore Thing” and it was written by my late high school guitar teacher, Tim Landers, who was also the lead singer and guitarist on this track.
If you like “It’s a Shore Thing,” you can either download it or stream it online (depending on the platform in question) from AllMusic, Amazon, Apple Music, Shazam, Spotify, and Qobuz. If you’re more interested in learning about the life and music of Tim Landers as well as my days when I was one of his high school guitar pupils, you can read this blog post I wrote back in 2017.
I’ve wanted to make a return trip to Ocean City for the first time since my marriage ended for a long time but I wasn’t able to do it until recently. The first few years were due to tight finances. Last year I received the payout from my late mother’s life insurance policy and I was working on the 2020 Census so I was able to feel financially secure enough to consider making at least a one-day trip. But then the Coronavirus arrived followed by reports that several bars and restaurants in Ocean City were closed due to employees testing positive for COVID-19 and I decided against going there.
This year I got vaccinated and I decided that it was time for me to revive my dream of returning to Ocean City. The main reason why making a return trip was on my mind is because of what happened the last time I was there back in 2011 (which was just five months before my husband literally ran away from home). And my last trip had been under a dark cloud for me. Starting in 2001 my husband and I used to take an annual week-long trip to Ocean City with his sister, her son, and another person. (Some years it was a friend of my nephew while other years it was a friend of my sister-in-law.) This went on until my nephew graduated from high school then joined the Navy. From then on until 2011 it alternated between just the three of us some years and being joined by a friend of my sister-in-law’s other years. My husband especially looked forward to making that trip and he wanted me to come along. Even in 2008, when my hip began to deteriorate so much that I ended up getting a hip replacement that year, my husband was adamant that I went to Ocean City despite the fact that I had a hard time walking around. I really wanted to stay home that year but he pressured me so much that I gave in. I really didn’t enjoy the trip that year because of my hip.
After my hip replacement we continued to make the annual trip and I felt well enough to enjoy that trip. But then early in 2011 I had two falls over a one-week period. The first fall (which happened during a trip to Florida) I managed to recuperate from but it was the second one (where I slipped on a patch of ice during a trip to Annapolis) that had really started to affect my walking. I really didn’t want to go to Ocean City that year because of my health problems but, once again, my husband pressured me into going. By then I had started this blog and I wrote this blog post about how my health problems had affected my ability to enjoy going to the beach. It didn’t help that before I left for the trip the doctor diagnosed me with a bad back. However, that turned out to be a misdiagnosis and after the trip I was initially diagnosed with the fact that the two falls I went through had misaligned my hip replacement by the surgeon who did the original hip replacement back in 2008. That surgeon said that I would need more surgery but, for some reason, he was very reluctant to perform it on me while also saying that I was a big girl. (Yeah, he was an asshole.) So I got a second opinion from a different orthopedic surgeon who agreed with the initial diagnosis and he ended up being the one who did the second hip surgery. I underwent hip revision surgery in late 2011 in order to put my hip replacement back into alignment.
And if all that weren’t enough for that 2011 trip to Ocean City, I ended up with a buildup of excessive ear wax, which wasn’t as bad as my mobility issues but it added to the misery I felt throughout most of this trip. Plus the weather was frequently rainy during that trip. And then there was an unexpected encounter on the Boardwalk from someone who had recognized me from my high school days but I had lied to her about attending that high school because I wasn’t sure who she was and I didn’t want to risk the possibility that she might have been someone whom I never wanted to speak with again.
Then there were the times in the condo when I felt like the third wheel as my husband and his sister cooked these elaborate meals that required lots of prep work, which was the opposite of when I used to go to Ocean City as a child and we basically ate cereal, Pop Tarts, and frozen meals that could be prepared very quickly. While they were preparing these elaborate meals my husband and his sister would reminisce about their childhoods, which I couldn’t get into because I didn’t know them until my early 20’s.
In any case, I really regretted letting my husband pressure me into going to Ocean City that year. It felt like he valued that trip more than my own well-being. I’ve always felt that had I been diagnosed with a terminal illness where the doctors warned my husband against making me travel because it would shorten my lifespan, he would’ve had me go to Ocean City anyway because that annual family vacation was THAT important to him.
So for the past few years I’ve really wanted to go back to Ocean City so I could replace those crappy memories with something better. I was encouraged in making an effort to travel on my own while I attended weekly meetings of the support group for people who are separated or divorced and I was told that traveling alone could really increase my self-esteem while learning how to have fun on my own.
In addition, for years I would see posts from my friends on Facebook about their cool trips to places like Myrtle Beach, the Jersey Shore, Greece, Italy, and so on. I would secretly get envious and jealous of them because they were having the time of their lives going on these carefree trips and for years I was too broke to do anything like that. I had to make do with taking day trips to places like North Beach while returning home by sunset.
Finally I decided to go on that trip to Ocean City. Due to uncertain finances and the ongoing pandemic, staying there for a full week was out of the question but, thanks to the life insurance payment, I could actually afford to stay at least one night in a cheap motel instead of trying to make a day trip out of it. (It would’ve meant getting up between 5-6 a.m., getting out the door between 7-8 a.m., make the four-hour drive to Ocean City, spend the full day there, then leave no later than between 7-8 p.m. in order to return home by a reasonable hour.) I also decided to take a break from my online IT program after finishing my second course on networking because I just didn’t want to deal with taking video lessons and exams while I was at the beach because it would’ve detracted from my enjoyment of this trip.
Basically I waited until I finished with my second IT course (on networking) before I made the arrangements. Due to things like room availability, I wasn’t able to book anything until the last week in August. I decided to make my trip from August 31-September 2. I timed it where I would leave Ocean City the day before the start of the Labor Day weekend because I know that holiday is among the worst times to be in Ocean City due to the increased crowds everywhere, complete with difficulty in finding parking or an uncrowded restaurant to eat a meal. (The other two worst times are Memorial Day weekend and the Fourth of July.) And being in a crowded situation in the middle of a major pandemic would even be a far worse idea than usual.
It would be only the second time in my life I had made hotel arrangements myself. That’s because when I was growing up, my parents used to make all of the arrangements. I got married just 10 months after graduating from college and my husband became the one who made all the arrangements. It wasn’t until 10 years ago that I finally did it myself. It was before my husband abruptly left me. What happened was that my husband had made arrangements to go to Phoenix to go through some more of his deceased mother’s things because his step-father (who has also since passed away himself) decided to move to a retirement community. I would stay behind due to my bad left hip. But then Hurricane Irene abruptly showed up and it was heading towards our area. I really wanted my husband to postpone the trip because I didn’t want to face a hurricane with a bad hip by myself but he refused and flew out to Phoenix just before Hurricane Irene arrived. So I was home alone when the power outage happened. I decided to spend the night in a local hotel that still had power because I didn’t want to spend the night by myself in a darkened home with a bad left hip. My night at the hotel went pretty smoothly as I booked my stay there using the wi-fi from a nearby Wegmans (which still had power). The power was restored at my home by the next day so I was able to return. The worst of Hurricane Irene was over by the time my husband returned from Phoenix.
This time I booked a motel through Expedia, where I got a bargain at around $50 per night so I booked a two-night stay. The big irony is that I booked a room on my own around the same time as another hurricane decided to show up.
Basically Hurricane Ida had showed up to wreck havoc on Louisiana and Mississippi just a couple of days before my trip. I didn’t pay it any mind since I was in Maryland. I was just looking forward to a nice laid-back trip. So here’s a rundown of what I did on my first multi-day trip by myself since my divorce.
Day 1-August 31, 2021
I spent the last few days trying to prepare for everything. The biggest change on this trip is that, for the first time in my life, I had to pack face masks along with my clothes and swimsuit. That’s the cost of traveling during a major pandemic. I received an email from the motel after I booked a room saying that I would need to wear a mask when I went to the office to check in and check out. And I know that there will be other indoor places where wearing masks is required so it made sense to pack masks.
Then I learned that taking Route 50 to the Bay Bridge had totally changed since my last trip to the Eastern Shore 10 years earlier. The bridge now only accepts the EZ Pass transponder instead of cash like before. I once had an EZ Pass when I was married but my husband took custody of that one as part of the divorce settlement. The EZ Pass Maryland website mentioned that Giant carried the transponders but when I went to the Giant located near me, I was told that they hadn’t received any new EZ Pass transponders in over six months.
I could’ve gone to the MVA in Beltsville but I got diverted with taking my online classes and I didn’t purchase one in time for the trip. I learned on this website of an alternate way of getting to Ocean City without taking the Bay Bridge. It involved taking I-95 until you reach the Christiana Mall in Delaware then take Delaware Route 1 South until Dover then get on US 113 South until you reach the Eastern Shore. I thought I would take that route instead. I knew from a previous one-day trip to Hershey back in 2013 that there are some stretches of I-95 North that are toll roads so I packed a small bag full of coins that I would dole out as I reached the toll booths.
After I ate breakfast at home I hit the road. As I traveled on I-95 North I realized to my horror that all of the toll booths in Maryland are now EZ Pass only. I had no transponder on me so I had no other choice but to go through those EZ Pass gates. It’s only a matter of time until the MVA tracks me down and I’ll probably have to pay a fine.
I ate lunch at one of those fast food places in Maryland House, which is one of those giant travel plazas located in Aberdeen then I went back on I-95 North where I had to endure going through a couple of more EZ Pass gates without a transponder.
It wasn’t until I reached Delaware that I had a choice of either the EZ Pass lane or the traditional toll booth. I chose the toll booth at each of the Delaware toll roads and I felt relieved that I could at least pay those tolls.
So I went through Dover and took US 113 South until I hit the town of Berlin, Maryland, whose greatest claim to fame is that the 1999 Richard Geere-Julia Roberts movie Runaway Bride was filmed on location there. I had heard about a new museum that had recently opened known as the Mermaid Museum and I hoped to visit it while I was there. Unfortunately I had arrived late enough that the museum had closed for the day. In fact, a lot of the local shops tend not to stay open after 5 or 6 p.m. I found Berlin to be such a charming town that’s full of art so I took a couple of quick photographs before I decided to head on to Ocean City.
So I headed on to Ocean City where I stayed at the Thunderbird Beach Motel. I found it to be a nice motel for the price. I wanted a basic room without the extra fancy trimmings of a 4-star hotel but still relatively clean and I got it. I would definitely stay there again.
This motel had all the basic amenities, including free wifi, a TV with basic cable, a safe where I could lock my valuables, a small refrigerator, and even a microwave oven. I was so thrilled by the refrigerator that the first thing I did was to go to a local grocery store where I purchased a box of Cocoa Puffs cereal and a small quart of milk. Even though both were expensive compared to what I could find back home, they were still cheaper and much quicker to prepare and consume than eating breakfast at restaurants so I was able to eat in my motel room in the morning.
The most charming thing about my motel room was this tile in the bathroom that had a single tile depicting a fish in the middle.
Once I settled in my motel room I went to the nearby OC Wasabi restaurant where I had a sushi dinner. I loved the fact that it was so artfully arranged, complete with a flower. (The food was also excellent.)
After dinner I returned to the motel room where I did some web surfing and read a library book that I brought with me until I went to sleep. I thought it was important for me to rest up from a long day of driving since tomorrow I had planned an extended beach and boardwalk day and I wanted to be well-rested for that.
Day 2-September 1, 2021
My original vacation plan for that day was to eat breakfast in my motel room with the cereal and milk that I purchased the day before, go on a morning walk along the beach in my street clothes where I would dip my feet into the ocean, then eat lunch, followed by going on an early afternoon driving tour followed by going back to the beach in my swimsuit where I would do a full body immersion into the ocean. After that I would take a shower, dress back into my street clothes, eat dinner at a nearby restaurant, then spend the evening on the Boardwalk. It was a great plan. The only thing was that I didn’t include any kind of contingency plans for dealing potential monkey wrenches that would interfere with that vacation plan, such as the arrival of the remnants of a major hurricane.
So breakfast went off okay. Afterwards I took the walk along the beach. The weather was very sunny and it was already hot and humid. It was also incredibly windy, which was annoying at times, but still manageable. I felt this incredible joy at being able to dip my toes into the ocean at long last and I felt thrilled. I also took a few beach shots that morning, which showed how the day started off very lovely.
I had packed my 15-inch Ariel the Little Mermaid doll mainly because the package she came in indicated that one could take a bath with that doll. (You can even see the original package that indicated that she could be plunged in water in this video I shot when I originally purchased that doll.) I thought it would be a bit wacky to plunge that doll into the ocean while filming it for a short video. I ended up just placing the doll along the edge of the shore and let the ocean waves roll over her while I shot the video. Then I ran quickly to scoop up the doll before the next wave arrived because I didn’t want to risk having the doll swept out to sea. Once I finished with making the video, I dipped my feet into the ocean a few more times before I decided to return to the motel room where I quickly edited that video and uploaded it on to TikTok and YouTube.
For lunch I went to Shmagels Bagels, which was located in the same shopping center as OC Wasabi (where I ate dinner the night before). I had a bagel with cream cheese, a bag of chips, and a diet soda. The bagel place didn’t offer indoor seating due to the pandemic but it had a couple of tables outside where I was able to eat lunch and soak up some sunshine.
After lunch I wanted to take a digestion break before going back to the beach. I decided to use that time to take a driving trip around the island. I traveled north on Coastal Highway until I crossed the state line into Fenwick Island, Delaware. I went to Fisher’s Popcorn, where I treated myself to a bucket of caramel popcorn without having to pay sales tax. (That’s the main allure of shopping in Delaware.)
I originally thought about going to Sea Shell City where I would browse whatever that shop had for sale and I would go to the upper level where the DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum is located. I always went to that place at least once on previous trips so I thought it would be good to revisit it for old time’s sake. Except I arrived and I discovered that the entire place was now closed on Wednesdays, which was a bummer. I don’t ever recall that place being closed at all during the summer season but now that is the case.
As a consolation I stopped at a nearby Sunsations where I purchased a souvenir t-shirt for myself.
I decided to return back to Maryland. On the way back I stopped off at one of the many lighthouses that dot the Delaware shoreline where I took these pictures.
By that point the direct sunlight along with the constant wind, the high heat, and the high humidity was getting to me. I decided to go back to the motel and rest for about a half an hour then get dressed in my swimsuit and head down to the beach. When I went inside of my motel room it was still sunny outside and it looked like a great day for swimming. I had the curtains drawn while I was in my motel room for privacy reasons so naturally I assumed that the weather would remain the same. After I rested for a little while I changed into my swimsuit and coverup, grabbed my beach bag, chair, and towel and stepped outside of my room.
I soon became shocked at what I saw. These intense grey storm clouds suddenly came and it was even windier than before. In any other situation, I would just go back inside of my room and cancel the idea of going on the beach. However I only had one day in Ocean City and I really wanted to experience the beach as much as possible. I began to hope that these clouds would just be fleeting and the sun would come back. So I continued on to the beach. On the way there I saw this sign urging people to practice social distancing, which was yet another reminder that we were still in a major pandemic.
When I arrived at the beach, I saw how bad the situation was. Many people were starting to leave and I saw no one swimming in the ocean. I also saw the waves getting way rougher, as this next picture shows.
The wind was blowing even harder than before. In fact, the wind was kicking up so hard that it was starting to blow up sand. Grains of sand was hitting my skin so hard that they literally stung. I tried reading my book along the beach but the wind and stinging sand made it impossible. When I got up from my chair, the wind had knocked it down. I also noticed that the seagulls weren’t flying at all. They basically stayed on the beach. In fact, there was one seagull that was very close to me.
I took that chair being knocked over as a sign that I should just give up on doing any kind of swimming in the ocean on that day (or any other kind of beach-related activity for that matter) and just return to my motel room. The first thing I did was take a shower. Afterwards I decided to eat an early dinner then go out to the Boardwalk since that was another thing I wanted to do while I was in Ocean City. I saw that there was a crab place called Higgins Crab House located across the street from the motel. I decided to give that place a try so I walked over.
I ordered the soft-shell crab sandwich with french fries and a diet soda. I found the whole meal delicious and the service was excellent as well.
After dinner I walked back across the street, got in my car, and decided to head towards the Boardwalk. The wind was so high that it was blowing my hair around to the point where I was totally annoyed. I decided to stop at CVS and buy a pack of scrunchies so I could tie my hair back. I managed to tie my hair back but the wind was still determined to blow my tied up hair around while I was still on the Boardwalk. At least it was better than not having my hair tied back at all.
So I parked at the Boardwalk and started my walk at the inlet, where I took this sunset photo. The giant wave on the left side of the photo is the only indication of how bad the weather had become.
The only ride I went on that night was the Haunted House ride. It was running that night because most of the ride is indoors so it wasn’t affected by the high wind. The last time I rode it was back in 2009. At that time I felt that the ride was a pale reflection of my earlier memories of going on that same ride as a child. I shot a video titled Lame Haunted House Ride on the Boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland and uploaded on to YouTube. It had gotten a lot of views over the past 12 years along with a lot of comments, some of which are hostile. I still stand by my assertion that it was a lame ride when I last rode it in 2009.
Anyway, I saw this sign that said that the ride was refurbished in 2012. I decided to ride it again partly for old time’s sake and partly to see if the ride was still lame or if it had improved.
Having gone on the ride I have to say that it has improved a lot since my last ride in 2009. They added some really cool effects, including ones that looked like ghosts were about to approach you. I really enjoyed that ride. I didn’t shoot any video because I just wanted to see for myself what the ride was like and I just wanted to enjoy myself. I could have ridden it again a second time just to shoot video but I really wasn’t in the mood that night. Having the high wind constantly whip around me had put a damper on my mood. If I ever make it back out to Ocean City again, I will shoot a new video showing how improved this ride had become.
I was determined to enjoy the Boardwalk despite the weather-related obstacles. I noticed that the Boardwalk Train that usually carried passengers up and down the Boardwalk wasn’t running at all that night. I suspected that the wind had a lot to do with that. As I walked I noticed that there were far fewer people than there would be on a late summer evening.
I stopped in a few stores and I purchased a couple of Ocean City souvenir face masks at one of them. I also stopped at Dumser’s Dairyland where I purchased a soft vanilla ice cream cone with a chocolate dip top. I sat on a bench and ate my ice cream as the wind was whipping around me.
After I finished my ice cream cone I decided that I needed a break from the constant heavy wind whipping around me so I decided to ditch inside of the indoor part of the Trimpers Amusements amusement park. The only rides that were operating that night were the indoor rides (such as the aforementioned Haunted House). These rides were mainly kiddie rides along with warped mirrors and trashcans like this clown one in the next photo.
I sat on a bench while I was recuperating from outdoors. I also took a look at the carousel, which is the same carousel that I used to ride on as a child (when my family used to take vacations in Ocean City). As an adult I can appreciate the artistry of the carousel, which not only has horses but also different type of animals like a giraffe and a sea monster.
I decided to go to one of the video arcades. In the past I would spend quarters playing the various video games, some of which were the vintage video games from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s (such as Space Invaders and Donkey Kong). But I saw that the arcades on the Boardwalk have changed. They decided to emulate the newer arcades like Dave & Busters and The Main Event by now requiring people to get a plastic card where you’d load it with cash then use it to swipe the machines in order to play the game. I didn’t think that it made sense for me to get a plastic card just to play a few games since I was leaving Ocean City the following day and I’m not going to be able to return there too often. Here is one of the machines where one can get the plastic card.
Most of the stores and restaurants on the Boardwalk were open despite the weather although there were a few places that were closed down, such as these two fast food places.
All of the outdoor amusement park rides weren’t running due to the intense wind. But they still kept the lights on despite that.
A lot of stores were starting to close down around 9 p.m. I was getting so tired of having the wind whip around me that I decided to go back to the motel. My decision was further solidified when it started to drizzle. I arrived at my car and proceeded to drive back to the motel. At that point, the heavens opened up and it began to rain really hard. I drove my car very slowly in order to avoid any accidents and fortunately most of the other cars on the same road were also driving slow as well. I was so glad that I had a relatively short commute because that rain was intense. By the time I reached the motel, the heavy storm had slowed down to a drizzle once again. I was so glad to reach my motel room.
Here are a couple of photos of the stuff that I purchased that day, including a tub of Fisher’s Popcorn, a the-dye souvenir Ocean City t-shirt, two souvenir Ocean City face masks, and a pack of scrunchies.
I wound down from the crazy weather by surfing the Internet. I learned that the crazy weather in Ocean City was caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida that struck the Gulf Coast states a few days earlier. So I was frolicking around Ocean City in the middle of a hurricane remnant. But I have to admit that Ocean City was pretty much unscathed despite the high wind and the bouts of rain. I later learned that Annapolis and Edgewater bore the brunt of Hurricane Ida as a tornado struck the area. Here’s a tweet from Governor Larry Hogan as he checked out the area on the following day.
As the remnants of Hurricane Ida went north, there was even more damage. Here is what happened to Philadelphia.
Here is how the remnants of Hurricane Ida impacted New Jersey.
New York also suffered heavy damage from Hurricane Ida.
Those reports of what happened in other parts of the Mid-Atlantic Region really made me pause and think that I was relatively lucky that day. Had one of the more damaging remnants of Hurricane Ida hit Ocean City, I’m sure I would’ve seen flooding and other kinds of life-threatening situations. I was so lucky that Ocean City was unscathed. The Wikipedia has listed Hurricane Ida as being the second most-damaging and intense hurricane to make landfall in Louisiana and the sixth-costliest cyclone on record.
Day 3-September 2, 2021
I admit that I was disappointed that I couldn’t do a full swim yesterday due to Hurricane Ida. I had thought about making up for it by doing another walk along the beach in my full clothes while I dip my toes into the ocean just like I did on the morning before. I ate breakfast inside of the hotel room then I started to pack thinking that I would make my walk once I loaded everything in the car and formally check out of the motel.
But when I stepped outside to load my things into the car I saw that the weather had dramatically changed. The weather was very sunny but the temperature was much cooler and the humidity was also way lower than the last few days. The temperature had gone no higher than 73 degrees Fahrenheit. It was a lovely day to be outdoors but it felt way too cold to be doing any kind of barefoot walking along the shoreline. I decided to just give up on doing any kind of ocean plunges on this trip and get out of Ocean City.
Since it was such a lovely day I thought it would be a cool idea to eat an al fresco lunch outside somewhere. I decided to stop at Shmagels Bagels once again and get a bagel with cream cheese, a bag of chips, and a bottle of diet soda to go.
Once I got the food I drove the car along Philadelphia Avenue then I crossed the Route 50 bridge to West Ocean City. The first thing I did was stop at Candy Kitchen, which has a big store in West Ocean City. It is also dotted with some candy-themed sculptures outside.
As you can guess by the name, Candy Kitchen is full of candy. (I purchased a bag of chocolate licorice, a bag of dark chocolate nonpareils, and a bag of pretzels covered in dark chocolate.) Candy Kitchen was also loaded with all kinds of stuffed animals, especially the currently popular Squishmallows.
Candy Kitchen also carried Squishmallow-like plushes made by other manufacturers, which was how I learned that Ty, the company responsible for the 1990s Beanie Babies craze, have its own line known as Squish-A-Boos.
Candy Kitchen was located near the White Marlin Mall, which I briefly stopped at but it was mostly the same chain stores that I could find back home. It even had a Five Below, which I actually went inside but I didn’t stay long because it sold pretty much the same stuff as the Five Below stores located close to my house.
I decided to drive back to Berlin just so I could visit the Mermaid Museum, which was closed when I previously went there just two days earlier. This time the museum was open so I was able to visit.
The Mermaid Museum opened last year and it bills itself as the first museum dedicated to mermaids. Unfortunately I don’t have too many pictures mainly because I saw a sign saying that photography and videography was prohibited with the exception of two designated selfie areas. The museum takes up just one large room and I was able to go through it in an hour. There is plenty of mermaid art including a few sculptures, drawings, and paintings. They had one of P.T. Barnum’s notorious Fiji Mermaids (which is really the upper half of a monkey sewn on to a fish tail). They had one wall that listed mermaids as they appeared in various cultures (such as ancient Greece, Haiti, Africa, and Asia) along with books (such as Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid) and movies (such as Disney’s adaption of The Little Mermaid). Another wall listed people who claimed to have actually seen mermaids. They had smaller display cases with a few mermaid-related items, such as a photo of actress Darryl Hannah when she famously portrayed Madison the mermaid in the film Splash and it was autographed by Hannah herself.
There was even a movie screen that showed two mermaid-themed shorts on a constant rotating basis. Both of those shorts can be found on YouTube in case you’re interested. One is the 1904 film La Sirène made by the early French director Georges Méliès.
The other is a vintage 1961 promotional film for the mermaids at the Weeki Wachee Springs in Florida.
One of the designated selfie areas had a bathtub that one could crawl into in an effort to recreate Darryl Hannah’s famous bathtub scene in Splash. I decided not to try going in because I was feeling a bit on the stiff side after doing a lot of walking along the Boardwalk the night before. But it was a cool selfie staging area that would make a great Instagram post.
The other designated selfie area was larger and it was located near the front entrance. It featured a wall that invited visitors to draw a mermaid.
Even though there were provided art supplies that people could use, I ended up not drawing anything because that wall was so completely filled with drawings that I had a hard time finding an empty space.
That designated selfie area had a small altar made from seashells and a starfish with a sign inviting people to place their hands over it to receive a “mermaid’s blessing.”
When I placed my hand over it, I got a puff of water. I thought it was quite cute!
The Mermaid Museum had a tiny gift shop located just outside of the front door of the museum. They had mostly t-shirts and postcards although I did purchase this hardcover book because I fell in love with it. It’s called The Mermaid Handbook, which is written by Carolyn Turgeon, and it features a mix of mermaid literature, mermaid-themed recipes, and mermaid craft projects. I’m currently reading it now and, so far, I’m enjoying it.
After my visit with the Mermaid Museum I stepped back outside where I saw a couple of wooden adirondack chairs. I decided to eat my bag lunch from Schmagels Bagels there while I enjoyed the lovely weather. After lunch I briefly walked around the downtown Berlin area and even stopped in a few stores before I decided to head out of town.
I took US 113 North into Delaware then I merged on to Delaware Route 1. I headed to Dover where I visited this really neat little museum called the Johnson Victrola Museum.
Eldridge Reeves Johnson was a Delaware native who co-founded the Victor Talking Machine Company and was instrumental in popularizing the Victrola (which was an early record player). That museum had plenty of Victrolas on display.
The museum also had stuff related to the famous dog Nipper. He was originally a mascot of the Victor Talking Machine Company in the United States until that company was sold to RCA and RCA subsequently adopted Nipper as its own mascot.
I was given a guided tour by a young man who demonstrated one of the Victrolas. I also learned that the phrase “put a sock in it” originated with the fact that if one wanted to lower the volume of a Victrola, the only way to do it was to place a rolled-up sock into the horn, which muffled the sound. That’s a pretty cool piece of trivia that I can drop at a future party. (LOL!)
The upper level of the museum had later Victrolas that were redesigned as pieces of decorative furniture. The tour guide told me that the company felt that making the Victrolas that way would entice more women to consider buying Victrolas. (Apparently men were more likely to purchase a Victrola than women.) The company even offered Victrolas in cabinets that could be customized and painted to what the buyer wanted. These one-of-a-kind Victrolas were far more expensive than the mass-produced models.
As I was doing some research for this blog post, I found that the Library of Congress has digitized many of the records that were released by the Victor Talking Machine Company through its Victor Records subsidiary and one can listen to them online for free at the National Jukebox website.
After my visit to the museum I decided to hit the road again. I traveled north until I reached Newark where I decided to stop at the massive Christiana Mall. This particular mall is located close to the Maryland border and the big allure of this mall is the opportunity to do some sales tax-free shopping. The only thing is that if you’re expecting locally-owned stores, you’ll be disappointed. All of the stores in that mall are chain stores, such as Spencers Gifts, Target, Nordstrom, JC Penney, Pottery Barn, Lolli & Pops, and H&M. I walked around hoping to find a place where I could eat dinner but I found the food court to be very lacking.
So I got back in my car and drove to the Christiana Fashion Center, which is a giant open-air shopping center that’s located across from Christiana Mall. That shopping center had more chain stores, such as Trader Joe’s, Best Buy, REI, Ultra Beauty, and Famous Footwear. I ended up eating at the Shake Shack.
My take on both the Christiana Mall and the Christiana Fashion Center is that both places have many of the same chain stores and restaurants as elsewhere. The only real appeal is the chance to go shopping without paying sales tax. But, to be honest, unless you are planning to spend a huge amount of money in one day (at least $500 or more), I don’t think it’s really worth the effort to make the two-hour drive from the DC area. The gas and tolls would erase whatever money you saved on not paying sales tax unless you end up buying a huge amount of stuff.
While I was at the Shake Shack I went into Google Maps on my smartphone in order to figure out a way of going back home while avoiding toll booths because I just didn’t want a repeat of driving through EZ Pass lanes without a transponder once I was back in Maryland. Basically it involved taking the direct exit from the mall on to I-95 South then getting on the Baltimore Beltway and, finally, going on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. It added an extra half-an-hour on the trip but at least I didn’t have to deal with gritting my teeth as I drove through an EZ Pass gate without a transponder.
So I arrived home at around 8 p.m. where I felt tired but happy because I finally made it back to Ocean City. I wished that Hurricane Ida hadn’t showed up but, otherwise, I was content with my trip and I arrived just in time for the start of the Labor Day holiday weekend.
UPDATE (December 14, 2021): As I wrote earlier in this post, I ended up going through a few EZ Pass gates in Maryland despite not having a transponder. I didn’t get a notice from the State of Maryland until just a couple of weeks ago when the envelope finally arrived. Today I managed to pay the tolls online, which turned out to be a total of $18. I’m definitely going to get an EZ Pass transponder for any future trips since EZ Pass seems to be the wave of the future.
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Forty years ago this month I was in my final semester in high school before I graduated. At the same time I was watching the Winter Olympics on TV, which were held in Lake Placid, New York that year. I was totally psyched to watch those games. In fact, I even did this poster for an art class that earned me an “A”.
The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union was still going on at the time and the Olympics became sort of a metaphor for a battle between the two superpowers. It was against this backdrop that the U.S. hockey team defeated the Soviet team. Later on the U.S. defeated Finland, which earned that team the gold medal. The Soviets defeated Sweden, which earned them the silver medal. The U.S. team’s victory became known as the “Miracle on Ice.”
For me it was such a memorable thing seeing the U.S. beat the Soviets and I recall many commentators at the time making metaphors to the ongoing Cold War. I was thrilled to see my country win the gold. It was an amazing thing to see on television at the time then going to school the next day to hear my fellow students and teachers talking about that game.
In the years since that hockey game the Cold War ended with the breakup of the Soviet Union. Some states (such as Lithuania and Estonia) opted for independence while the largest of those states is now known as Russia.
Last November those fond memories of the 1980 U.S. hockey team came back to me when I went to a fundraising auction and dinner for my support group for people who are separated or divorced. Among the big ticket items that were available for auction was this large framed photograph of the 1980 U.S. hockey team making the final goal that earned them the gold medal that was signed by all of the members of that team. I took a few pictures of that framed picture since that was about as close as I would ever get to owning something like that.
I was too cash-strapped to bid on it. Someone else ultimately bought it although I forgot how much the winning bid was. (I think the bidding went up to $200 and it may have gone higher.)
Today I came across something on Twitter that, in a way, now makes me glad that I was too broke to buy that framed autographed picture. Here’s the gist: Like I wrote earlier, this month is the 40th anniversary of the U.S. hockey team winning the gold medal. Of course such a lofty anniversary would be worth celebrating. But then it quickly turned sour when I saw this tweet by Soledad O’Brien.
President Donald Trump decided to get in on the celebration with the original U.S. hockey team and it turned into a total shitfest.
It’s not unusual to have a president celebrate a certain championship with a certain team. Normally the president would invite the victorious team to the White House for a celebration that’s supposed to be apolitical and totally focused on the team while providing a photo op of the president and the team members standing together. Had Donald Trump done a typical apolitical White House reception in honor of what the U.S. hockey team had achieved 40 years ago, I would not have said anything.
Instead Trump held a political rally in Las Vegas where he invited the U.S. hockey team to stand alongside him. Despite the uneasy nature of having the team attend a partisan political rally, I might have turned a blind eye to this had the team simply worn their original 1980 jerseys while standing behind Trump while I would’ve made the excuse that Trump is devoting a portion of his political rally to honoring the team. But this happened instead:
Members of the gold medal-winning “Miracle on Ice” squad, including team captain Mike Eruzione, appeared on stage at a Las Vegas rally Friday night for President Donald Trump wearing red hats emblazoned with Trump’s “Keep America Great” slogan.
That didn’t sit well with Trump opponents, who criticized a team that once unified a nation.
What was worse was this:
Kelly Brooks, the daughter of the late head hockey coach Herb Brooks, wiped away tears when being introduced at the rally. She said her father “would be proud to be here with you all and in my personal opinion, he would’ve been a Trump fan.”
When the U.S. hockey team played in Lake Placid back in 1980, they were originally supposed to represent the United States of America as a nation—not a particular political party or politician. The idea was that all Americans shared in the hockey team’s gold medal victory regardless of political beliefs or anything like that.
Thanks to the team’s appearance at a Trump political rally wearing “Keep America Great” hats that are closely associated with Trump’s re-election campaign, that team now convey a different symbolism. They no longer represent all Americans of all political beliefs (or lack thereof). They now only represent the Donald Trump wing of the Republican Party and anyone who is a patriotic American who doesn’t support Trump no longer matters to them.
What was worse was that yesterday there was a parade that was scheduled in St. Paul that honored the team and its late coach (and St. Paul native) Herb Brooks. According to Twitter user Poppy, the team decided to skip that parade in order to attend the Trump rally in Las Vegas instead.
The biggest irony is that the same team who once defeated the Soviet Union is now backing a president who has been linked with Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin, so closely.
Like I wrote earlier, had the team simply gone to an apolitical reception at the White House where the focus was on what the team had achieved 40 years ago, I would not have said anything. But now the team has completely tarnished their own reputation by being closely associated with Donald Trump. They allowed themselves to be used as props for Trump’s re-election campaign. This is why I’ve completely lost all respect for the 1980 U.S. hockey team. Their 1980 victory has now turned sour thanks to being closely associated with Donald Trump. I’m completely done with them. I’m definitely going to ignore the 50th anniversary of that team’s victory in 2030.
Now I’m glad that I missed out on bidding on that framed autographed photograph of the team at that auction last November.
Yes, I’m doing it again this year! Starting tomorrow I’m going to post online one new drawing per day until New Year’s Eve.
What’s more, I’m going to share drawings using a new sketchbook that I recently received. Here’s some background that I previously wrote about last month. Back in October, while I was uploading daily drawings for Inktober, I had a neighbor who is also one of my Facebook friends notice them. She told me that earlier this year she had decided to participate in this art project known as The Sketchbook Project at Brooklyn Art Library. The idea is to fill out a sketchbook then mail it to the Brooklyn Art Library in New York City where it will be part of the permanent collection. The only thing is that she apparently grew too busy to even begin that project so she asked me if I would like to have her project for free.
So I accepted and she gave me a blank notebook along with a few ink pens that she received along with the notebook. She also gave me her online account and password. The idea is to fill in the notebook then mail it back to the Brooklyn Art Library. This particular notebook has a February 1 deadline so I decided to use this notebook for my 12 Drawings of Christmas series just so I would have something filled in.
Tomorrow is the first day that you’ll get to see what I’ve drawn in this notebook.
The one thing about actually having a day job this year is that I was able to afford to do a few more things than previous years. One was the annual big gala that’s sponsored by Changing Focus, which is the name of my support group for people who are separated or divorced. In the past I couldn’t even afford to pay the entrance fee. This year I could afford the entrance fee but I was still limited mostly to playing the Chinese auction because I couldn’t really afford to bid on the really big ticket items (such as a stay in someone’s vacation home next summer). I managed to take a few pictures instead.
The event was held at the Annapolis Moose Lodge. Here’s my entrance ticket with my bid number for both the Silent Auction and Live Auction parts of the event. While I couldn’t afford to bid on much, I was able to enjoy a tasty dinner.
One of the Silent Auction items was this pen that was made from an illegal gun. The bid on this one went up to $100.
The Live Auction items included this picture that was actually signed by members of the 1980 U.S. hockey team that won the gold medal in Lake Placid that year.
There were a few gift baskets that were available as part of the Silent Auction.
There was this cute winter/Christmas themed picture that included flickering lights.
There were also Kiss pens that were available for auction. I attempted to bid on a couple of them but I was outbid by others.
The only auction I was able to safely afford to participate in was the Chinese Auction. For only $10 I got a bunch of tickets where I placed in a few baskets. Here is one of my tickets. (All of my tickets had the same number.)
I ended up winning the Chinese Auction twice. One was on this jewelry set.
My other prize was a different jewelry set. So I won a bunch of jewelry that night. At least they are different designs and colors.
And here is a photo of both sets of jewelry that I won that night along with the winning ticket number.
After the auction ended it was time for the dance part to begin. I didn’t do any dancing with anyone that night. I basically shot this short people of people dancing along with the deejay who kept the music going all night.
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Sagittarius Dolly 
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