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I ended up watching the Republican Presidential Debates – just wow

~ gracelessnessover40 ~ 2 Comments

So I chose to watch some of the Republican Presidential debate. Oh wow. It is a scary thing to view but there seems to be a common thread, they don’t like Hillary Clinton or too many members of the Democratic Party!

Since Fabulously Gracelessness is not wanting to get into a political debate or have folk bash me let me say I am just doing my research for the upcoming elections.

I am watching “the weeding” earlier than I think I have watched in a long time. I am totally fascinated. Of course I had to share my thoughts and observations.

I am the first to admit I do not know all the facts about everything that is going on in this world, nor all of the players who are running for the office of the President of the United States.

I do try to read up and learn more about world issues as well as problems and issues in our own country and my home state.

Watching the debate it is interesting to see how these men and the one woman respect each other, or not. They all cut each other off at times but how it is done and the words they use is different depending who they are addressing, snubbing or if they agree with another candidate, how they respond to them. Their body language and eye contact speaks volume of the person inside. It’s entertaining to see some of them gang up on others. Like they will leap frog over one, a wolf in sheep’s clothing agreeing, smiling, talking nice before they attempt their aggression and sparring amongst themselves. I enjoy watching the ones who can shut the others ones down. I like hearing the ones who truly know what is going on and seem to be respectful to those they are running against.

Of course before I write anything I have to fact check and do a bit of research. So I pulled up the website 2016.republican-candidates.org and the site had crashed. Seriously, so many people were looking it up apparently the site couldn’t handle the traffic, so I went to my trusty Wikipedia. I looked up the people who are running on the republican side, they were on the TV so it’s not like I am disregarding the Democratic Party candidates they were just not on at the moment. After reading about them and watching tonight I have a feeling I will be keeping a close eye on this election.

It’s fascinating to see how some people truly think they have a chance. For some of them I would love to see them get closer, if nothing else to be able to prove their worth or show their true colors. While others I feel are wasting time and shoving out people who may have otherwise had a shot.

I have laughed out loud at some and shouted at others. Seriously I wonder what medication a few were on. My 5 year old tells stories I can follow better than some of the folks running for our country’s highest office. At least follow the path from point A to point B. At first I thought it was me not understanding the topic, however the looks of the other candidates and the commentator made me feel better about that person having no idea what they were talking about.

We live in a scary world. I am raising my child in this world. I was enchanted by politics in my younger years, but was also somewhat rebellious citing “my vote doesn’t count”. I also did not moan and complain about our President like a lot of people did. I still participated in the states and communities lived in but when it came to national matters, I stayed quiet. I have voted in the last 4 elections and still don’t feel like my vote “matters” as much but I feel like I have done something more to help better society by raising my voice and saying “this is my opinion and this person is the closest match to how I feel about things.” Sadly I do feel like I can only chose the lesser of the two evils.

I remember how I would get so excited with the possibilities of the candidates and then when the final election came to pass I felt cheated. Even if the person I voted for (whether locally or nationally) won, I still felt like the ones who would have done a better job were shut out and shut down early on.

2 of the candidates are in my age bracket. That was such a sobering moment for me I actually had a few sips of an adult beverage!

I know I am an adult and I know that this is a possibility but to see it and hear it from the mouths of my generation kind of put a different perspective on things for me.

I have been more active in my community and state in a broader capacity than I ever was before. Maybe it’s my age or the fact I now have a child who will be living in the world we help mold, I don’t know but it scares the hell out of me. I now understand how my parents and grandparents felt and why it could get so volatile in conversations between the Democrats and Republicans in my family.

When in conversations with people I tread very, very lightly on the topic of politics and religion. I have seen first-hand how innocent comments can start heated debates. I have seen people who were friends look at each other with complete disgust due to their opinions and beliefs. It’s just as bad as Alabama and Auburn football feuds but on a bigger scale.

We ALL have different opinions, beliefs and feelings. Some are more personal than others. The problem is we forget our manners, as do politicians, and begin the judging and mudslinging more suited to high school than running for the office of President of the United States.

Maybe as I age I am more cynical but I am not sure that is it.

I truly do have hope. I continue my motto of Keep Hope Alive.

Sometimes hope is all we have.

I am sure I will have a few more thoughts on these topics as the elections continue.

I will keep watching the “weeding” following up to the primaries. It is always interesting and entertaining. Also a bit scary.

Keep Hope Alive!

Have a wonderfully fabulous day my graceless friends.

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Me and the “smart phone”

~ gracelessnessover40 ~ Leave a comment

 It has now been 2 1/2 years since I got my first smart phone.
Prior to that I did have a cell phone but I only had a cell phone that was for calls & limited texts only for the last 12 years!
I went kicking and screaming into getting a smart phone and now I don’t know how I lived without it! Sadly I am serious!

I mean not only can I call and text, but I can check emails, the weather, get directions and the recipe for that awesome cake I need! I even have robot Suri who lives in my phone and who has a dude’s voice because I mean I had a phone that talked to me why not make the voice male if I am female?!

And no, I have no idea how I changed the voice!

I have a few apps but I am too OCD to have all those icons on that little screen and I don’t need to keep looking at my dang phone!
My first phone was gifted to me by a close friend because I desperately needed a phone as I was very financially challenged.

One week into it I broke it.

I had no idea how costly they were and my first response when told the cost, was why in the hell would you buy me a $600 phone or get me a $600 phone even if it is insured?

And for the love of all that is holy tell me how much it costs even if we are not “technically” paying for it! I am klutzy but do try to be extra careful with costly items! (Vehicles, nice clothes, appliances, etc.).

I ended up buying it one of those otter box case devices for it so that I could at least drop it without the screen shattering.

I have smaller heart attacks now every time it gets bumped, or god forbid, accidentally dropped.

I should have known.

There are times I feel like I am a slave to my phone.

I know I do not use it to the full extent of what it can do but then, I don’t think I really want to!

The fact that I could, if I desired, to download MS Word and Excel freaks me out.

I want more screen to do that kind of stuff on! My eyes don’t see so good!

It’s bad enough that I can not only type to text message, but also to respond to emails.

The screen of my iPhone isn’t large enough to really type paragraphs.

No I won’t upgrade to those small notepad size “phones”. It is not for me. I can only imagine how much that costs and again, size, me and klutz factor… Not good!

I have recently, like in the past 2 months, realized how handy that talk to text button is. I have also learned Suri and I need a communication class so he doesn’t make up new words to replace the words he obviously can’t understand! I speak just fine with maybe a tish of a southern drawl.

I have found fun apps but don’t have anywhere near as many as most of my friends do.

I also got an iPad several years ago for Christmas.

Did you know you can link those two devices?!

They have a fluffy cloud that stores all of your info too, but there are glitches in that!

I don’t want my boy watching movies on my phone for instance.

That is iPad only.

I do a decent job of keeping them separate since he basically commandeered the iPad! It has more games on it but the majority of those he actually learns things, but don’t tell him that!

It isn’t the Jetsons yet but we are pretty darn close.

I about freaked out when I did face time for the first time with my parents after my son was born. So very cool!

I do actually do a lot of research on my phone. I love the ease of it.

It is smarter than me!

But, you see, I have a confession.

I love my computer, and yes it’s a PC.

I know they have issues, I have dealt with them since the early 90’s but it’s like an old car I know how to repair.

I have a lap top that is so much easier for me to write on.

Plus I can see the screen on a larger detail!

I love typing.

I grew up in the age of typewriters – yes the electric ones that were not computerized!

I have also used an old school typewriter.

Maybe I am a geek but I love putting my fingers on the keys and writing!

Just as I still love putting pen to paper.

I will admit that the “smart phone” has made my life easier.

I will also admit I don’t totally trust it!

I will say that the ratio of wanting to throw it out the window due to malfunction is much less than it was with the old school phones!

I still regularly think of tossing it.

I wish life wasn’t so complicated because we literally have the world at our fingertips.

We forget to slow down, and sometimes we have to even schedule “down time.”

That’s pretty sad.

So while I do love my smarter-than-me phone and I am very, very grateful for it, I miss the old school world.

The ones where you wrote letters, called on the land line phone and if you didn’t get someone, had to call back.

The world where you had to drive around to find places or if you’re feeling adventurous and use a real honest to God map with latitude and longitude.

You went to the library to research information.

Video games were Atari and Nintendo. Yes I am that old and I wasn’t a gamer.

But life is about changes and how we adapt to the world around us.

We now have smart watches, smart homes and all kinds of smart gadgets.

For now I am sticking to the phone, iPad and computer.

I may go dig the old Wii out of the attic for the boy and me to play on rainy days when we are done drawing or crafting and I am sick of movies.

He will have plenty of technology growing up.

He already has way more than I did at his age!

So I try to slow it down when he’s with me.

Watching a movie, mostly on TV but sometimes the iPad, is my worst offense.

And we recently got Netflix!

I do have to keep up with technology so that I can keep up with him.

Like I will need one more pass word to remember!

The boy can already figure out stuff faster on the smart phones and iPads than most adults.

It’s scary but exciting in the big brother/aliens kind of way.

I can do it.

But I can still turn it off whenever I chose.

I am glad we’ve moved “forward” but sometimes we need to take the time to remember the “now.”

How smart is That?!

Stay fabulous my graceless peeps!

P.S. I am listening to the waves crash into shore… we made it to the beach!!!!