Impressions: slc

much more liberal than I expected (tho, really, it is the biggest city in the state, so of course it's going to be more liberal?)

people are very friendly!! 

so many big letters in mountains (usually first letter of neighboring city)

actual spring weather lol (rain, big swings in temps)

few porch lights

half basement homes (i'm guessing to keep warm in the winter, and cool in the summer)

south of slc, it's new tract housing as far as the eye can see in 4 shades of gray, ugh

can wave at pedestrian crossings instead of pushing the button

many personalized license plates

flashing yellow for left turn yield lights

so many local print publications

no glass recycling in city bins, instead has dedicated drop off locations

not many people bring own reusable bags, etc.

lots of local artist sticker [gumball] machines 

 

lots of [city sponsored] murals

 

great street naming system (as least in the center of SLC because of the church, which is the center of it all)

 

love how the state capitol building is situated in the city. it's on top of the hill, at the very top of state street. when driving up state street, for at least a couple miles, you can see the capitol building and it's such a lovely view.

 

love the beehive iconography all over the place :) including it being used on their state higshway signs! (speaking of which, did you know that the california state highway shape represent the spades / shovels used by miners during the gold rush?)

loyalties

i've been wondering about this lately, because j and i are friends, and i've never had a boyfriend be friends with my best friend's boyfriend before. so the question i have is, who do you owe your loyalties to?

let's say the boys hang out. your boy comes back and tells you something you know your best friend would not like. could be serious, or maybe not. do you always keep that between you and your boyfriend, or do you at some point tell your girlfriend? 

the discovery

the discovery is a netflix movie from 2017. in it, a scientist discovers proof of an "afterlife." that is, some part of us goes somewhere after we die. he isn't sure what it is that goes, or where it goes to, but millions of people kill themselves anyway.

which i think is crazy. because even outside the "what" it is that goes, "where" is more important, no? lots of religious people believe that if you kill yourself, you don't go to heaven (or its equivalent), even if you would have if you'd just died. wouldn't that be the same in this the discovery world?

i feel like there may be a slight increase in suicides, but not that many more. the biggest change would be more religious people. and that the religious would be more religious.

another interesting idea is that murder may become more prevalent. because you're not ending their life, you're just... transferring them elsewhere. this makes a lot more sense to me. i think mercy killings would spike like a mofo. not sure about regular murder though, because it's not as if people who would but don't currently commit murder only don't do it because they're worried the victim has no afterlife. plus, there would still be legal consequences to murder. there would probably be more murder, but only a small increase. 

in case you cared: the movie plot summary

"chinese" clothing

the adidas tang jacket has gone viral: article with pictures

personally, I think it's super cute and would totally wear one. tho i recently saw this short tiktok video saying there is some controversy about the jacket among Chinese people.  

that led me to a much longer video deep diving into the history of this style.  

tl;dr: this style of jacket with a mandarin collar and frog closure is taken from the Manchu peoples, which some Han Chinese do not like since they blame the Manchu for the Century of Humiliation. Also, these Han Chinese also don't prefer this style to be representative of Chinese clothing since it has a much shorter history within the country.

 

lack of goodwill

people suck. they really do. i've been saying this for a long time but like, what are some people even doing?

few stories, mostly rants.

1. how are you living your life that you think all your coworkers and bosses are either incompetent or racist?
like, i don't care if everyone likes me, but i do try to be a likeable coworker because that shit's important. i may have a question, need help, need covering, whatever. and also cause i spend 40 hours a week with my coworkers, which is a lot of time, and i want to be able to enjoy that time. 

2. how are you living your life that you think your next door neighbors hold you (a frail 70 year old lady who rarely has guests over) responsible for their house robbery and installed cameras pointed at your house after the break-in?
either way, if you're right that your neighbors do think that, or if you're wrong and you neighbors don't actually think that, how are you living your life?
i generally try to get to know my neighbors and be kind (take their packages and trashcans in) because that shit is also important! i want them to want to call me if they see something/someone suspicious at my place. i also want to bring in my packages and trashcans if they get to them first. like... how can you not trust the people you directly live next to? i want my home, my safe space, to extend outside the actual physical walls of my home, you know?

3. how are you living your life that you can't be bothered to read or follow any instructions for things you want that are free?
i had some new medical stuff to give away on buy nothing. i'm only in town a few hours each week so in my post, i provide that time frame and ask that people comment with when they could come. many people did not comment with time of proposed pick-up. i ignored those comments, and someone actually dm-ed me without my asking them to first (which is against the buy nothing group rules). like UGH. you can't be bothered to read my post NOR follow group rules?

4. how are you living your life that you're such a fucking flake?
you didn't have to have a full on conversation with me about what you wanted and when and where we could meet then suddenly do a no call / no show. like... just let me know you changed your mind? 
for a few things, rather than have to match up schedules, i've literally just set them outside, provided my address, and told the person to come at their convenience. and STILL i've  had people flake! like.. what the fuck is the point of you?! is this a new way of trolling people? like... i'm giving things away for free, go troll someone selling something for way more than it ought to be?

3 and 4 are basically the same in that people are so fucking disrespectful of other people's time and energy. like. jesus, i wanted to give away the stuff for free since they can be necessary objects, can be expensive for some people, and i got them for free but like after so much fucking run around i really wanted to sell them just to make up for some of my lost time! (it's medical stuff [commodes, walkers, etc] so goodwill / savers won't take them, at least, not the ones i went to and talked to the workers about?)

january 2026 donation

this month's news has been taken over by all the bullshit going on in minnesota, but we should not forget that ICE is still here in la too. so this month i donated to the los angeles neighbor's support fund organized by the california community foundation. 

also want to help those in la affected by ice? here's a list of different orgs you can you donate to, or go find a different org that speaks to you!

speaking of, why did i donate specifically to this org rather than one of the many others doing similar work? because the california community foundation does a lot of really great work in la. it's sort of like a non-profit for non-profits. they provide resources and grants for la based non-profits. local cities also work with them, so i feel pretty good about my donation going towards whatever they say it's going to go to.