I am decidedly ecstatic, decidedly. I spoke to Mara the leasing agent this morning, she made it all so easy and I got the apartment – paid the first and last months rent and everything. So if I was in bliss before, I am in bigger, busier bliss now. It is in Hayes Valley and this is my favourite neighbourhood on earth. The apartment overlooks a row of Victorian houses so it seems like you are living in San Francisco (which you are). But the people that live in the Victorians look across the street to this new building and to them it does not seem like San Francisco (I am sure). Those are the breaks guys, last come – last serve. Move in is not until later this month but the security of knowing that I will have a home is so reassuring. These last few months have been utter chaos, the state of homelessness is far from relaxing, let me tell you. Plans are to be in Marin until move in time as there are more doctor appointments and there is not the need to be in the City to apartment hunt when I already have an apartment. So it will be a chance to relax and take care of myself – the pool and jacuzzi will be good for the knee. So it will be Marin, move into the apartment and then off to Las Vegas for Grandson’s wedding. He is so happy to have me there. Not to share too many of his intimate shots but he wrote: “G.ma thank u so much for just being a happy and genuine soul. U have put a big smile across my face many times. Specially when I feel down at times. We are almost there. A toast to good friends new family and wonderful beginnings.”
I met Grandson through Instagram but other encounters with Instagram folk have not been delightful. Faithful readers will know that I received not one, but two wedding proposals from guys who did not turn out to be who they said they were. But recently I figured out how they do it, how they snag women. They go to the victim’s Instagram posts and “Like” pn a post, then the victim gets a Follow box – if it is clicked then the scammer gets the address and Direct Mails the intended victim. Then the “conversation” begins:
He: How are you?
Me: Great thanks.
He: Nice to meet you.
He: Where are you from?
Then the beat goes on. Seldom do these guys respond to posts they just use direct mail – entrapping the victim in a 1:1 conversation. Now I just truthfully say:
Me: I do not want a conversation with a stranger. I have a blog and write every day.
Usually they persist, then I block them. They appear to be social isolates, shrugging off the community aspects of Instagram just wanting the victim all to themselves. Some can be good looking and splash their photos all over their site, but is that really them and not some model or stolen pictures? They are evil as they are corrupting a site that can and does serve a useful and productive function. Once a scamming man instantly took down all his photos and his profile when confronted – that was a major victory. What is a social isolate? On the other hand was is the antithesis is a social isolate? Alexis McBride, she laughingly said.
Now, as a precaution, never follow anyone without checking their site and head for the hills immediately when the typical “conversation” begins. But they can always paste on another persona and try again. Perhaps these guys are one man and perhaps I know him. Who knows?
But onto a more uplifting topic. My destiny to live forever. Recently, during lunch with a 33 year old young man the following conversation took place.
Me: My doctor says I am going to live forever.
He: I don’t know if I could stand that, Alexis.
Of course I laughed but recently another study buoyed the accuracy of the prediction. This reported on the NPR email site. “Having a sense of purpose may decrease your risk of dying early, according to an analysis of nearly 7,000 Americans who answered a question about life purpose. People who didn’t have a strong life purpose were more than twice and likely to die than those who had one, It appeared to be more important for decreasing risk of death than whether people drank, smoked or exercised regularly. Purpose “is the deepest driver of well-being thee is,” says Alan Rozanski, a professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai”
Life purpose was defined as “a self-organizing life aim that stimulates goals” “The need for meaning and purpose is No. 1,” Rozanski adds. “It’s the deepest driver of well-being there is.”
It does not appear to matter what one’s life purpose is – it is an individual matter.
So I ask myself: “Do I have a strong life purpose?” Yes, I am going to live as long as possible, as living well is the best revenge. I am horrid. Do let us make horrid the world of the day: nasty, disagreeable, unpleasant, horrid, awful, dreadful, terrible, appalling, horrendous, disgusting, foul, revolting, repulsive, repellent, ghastly; obnoxious, hateful, odious, objectionable, offensive, insufferable, vile, loathsome, abhorrent; informal frightful, lousy, God-awful, hellish; British informal beastly, grotty, bitchy, catty; ANTONYMS pleasant; agreeable.
Who wants to be pleasant and agreeable? Not Alexis McBride. She finds it far more fun to be ghastly, obnoxious, God-awful and grotty – more interesting. Ask any guy that has had anything to do with me – boy, am I ever grotty!
Me: Liar, Liar your pants are on fire and your penis will melt.
But one must say this for this man. At one point he did concede (after I said I was sorry)
He: No worries. Everyone looses their temper sometimes. Pretty understandable under the circumstances.
Now television is on – these are the final moments of the NBA finals and I cannot stand to watch – it is making me too nervous and I SO WANT TORONTO TO WIN for all kinds of reasons. I am a wreck. It is one of those situations where you have GOT to believe in GOD. Difficult to explain, actually impossible to explain. God works in mysterious ways – that is all I have to say. I think that this game has huge repercussions for me. OK I will look up repercussions: consequences, result, effect, outcome, by-product; reverberation, backlash, ripple, shock wave; aftermath, footprint, fallout.. I am not watching – the excitement is pitched, It is taking place in Toronto so I definitely know by the excitement of the fans what is taking place. It seems my life is In the balance – perhaps it is. I received a strange very veiled posting on Instagram. Sometimes you have GOT to leave things up to God and I have. Did I tell you that I am an atheist? Well, perhaps was for many, many years. I have a strange belief system at the present that works for me, but to be perfectly clear I do not believe that Jesus is the son of God. I do believe he existed, that he was a prophet but not the Son of God. During my residency in London, the woman poet, co-author of the Tate book, marvelled as everyone was trying to save me. There was a major campaign by Buddhists, Catholics, Church of England folks, you name it – all were vying for my soul. This was followed by a different approach when I resided in Vancouver.
This pitched battle reminds me of the saying: to the victor goes the spoils. Of course, I look it up. “The spoils of victory are the extra bonuses, perks, and treasure you get for winning.
In the old days of war, the winning army pretty much got to loot the countryside and take what they wanted–wealth, harvest, women, whatever. Those would be the spoils of victory.
In a relatively civilized setting, we use it more symbolically or metaphorically. The winner (victor, the victorious one, the one who gets the victory) gets whatever benefits go with the actual winning of the title, prize, award, office, or event. They could be formal or informal–that is, they could be a designated part of the prize (a gold medal, a contract with an athletic equipment manufacturer) or just tag along with it (celebrity status, free gifts, media attention, boost in their love life).” I would like to thank Urban Dictionary for this wisdom.
Questions remain in my life – is the fight over me or am I the spoils?
It is now early morning. Toronto lost, victory was conceded. But after ‘sleeping on it’ this truth became self evident. It just means that the game will go on and back to Oakland the teams will come. The Warriors got a second chance, Was that the message I was supposed to get? To give a second chance to somebody? OK, I will.
The photo is one posted on Instagram. It is me in borrowed glasses holding onto a unicorn. The caption read: Here at See Saw Seen with borrowed glasses and a uniform.- horny guy. Just found out I got my apartment so that I will be living in this wonderful Hayes Valley. I am happy, happy, happy.
