By Andrea M
Sad News. Even the iconic people have dark times.
Category: Road Trip News
Road Trip News
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Xymox Show Baltimore
By Andrea Menzies
I got tickets to Xymox a band I have two records and countless songs from on CD! I would like to thank the Baltimore Soundstage for putting on this great show of the band I have loved since I was a kid. Too bad it was almost too expensive to do, as corporations have made going out an expensive nightmare. The Xymox band are a big hit amongst Siouxie and the Banshees band fans as they are a famous European band.
I have also seen the Sisters of Mercy play at Baltimore Soundstage on September 17 of 2024, and VNV Nation April 1, 2024, and Depeche Mode September 7, 2017 in the area so I know it will be a good show. All the above listed bands are top 40 popular bands from Europe. Virginia only has horrible garbage music playing so I know I will have to get an apartment near Baltimore to hear any good music.
Full review https://www.FH7publishing.com
See Patreon link.
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Smart Ironic
By Andrea Menzies
There is no such thing as a person who NEVER makes mistakes even if they make few mistakes on school papers and tests. It is always ironic that people good at school are called “smart” people. The professor on the TV show Gilligan’s Island could make an energy plant out of coconuts but he could not fix a five foot hole in a boat. How weird is it that no one noticed that as the show was on TV for many years? The Far Side has a famous cartoon of a kid at an honors gifted school pushing a door that says pull. Many people have noticed that school work and perfection are far from the same thing. I am starting a new class for a Master’s Degree program tonight, and the irony of learning is really powerful every first day of class.
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Could not fix a five foot boat hole. 
Could not stop pushing the pull door. 
School uses up a life time. 
You must use time in a wise way to make good grades.
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Easter Bonfire
By Andrea M
Alexandria Menzies, and Anne Brockett, and I went to the Easter Mass at Saint Augustine Church. They had a bonfire, candles, and holiday music for the event. Then we ate Chinese food. I was having a bad spring break holiday due to pneumonia and needing to go to the hospital. I could not travel or see music with that going on. At least I was able to go to family dinner by the end of the break.
Easter Saturday night service. 
Sunset on the way. 
Bonfire before the church mass. 
Bonfire before church on Easter. 
I have been there more often than 6 times but don’t always have photos. 
The bonfire lit candles and people walked to seats at mass. 
Alexandria got the first candle of the group. 
Chinese restaurant after the music. 
Latin Market restaurant as well for holiday dinner. 
Me making “ohh” noises at amazement due to huge crowds. 
Me helping Anne sit for mass at Easter.
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Arm Price
By Andrea Menzies
Part of why I am not going to Saint Patrick’s Day events this weekend is the high gas prices. Here are some funny jokes I saw about it online. It is strangely comforting to know I am not the only person cancelling plans due to high gas prices.
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Festival Envy
By Andrea Menzies
I feel music festival envy in spring as Mardi Gras and SXSW are in Louisiana and Texas in February and March. People are desperately trying to get to New Orleans and Austin areas I used to live in, and my timeline is filled with fun photos making me desperately home sick while Virginia is completely garbage.
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Elephant vs Alien
By Andrea M.
Every alien show says humans could not build large monolith buildings so aliens may have done it. They never mention many cultures had HUGE workhorse animals by the hundreds. Some even had trained elephants hauling wood and stones. Due to lack of antibiotics and food large human cities had only 50 or 60 people in most cultures 200 years ago or more. Each man could usually only lift around 200 pounds so HUMAN labor could not move things. However, huge stables of tamed horses, deer, elephants and other donkeys and llama existed all over the world humans could get animals to drag stones with large harnesses and ropes. Alien shows are fun to watch for pretty camera images, and pretty photos of interesting tourist destinations. I wish I could travel more frequently. I also think the government has been caught being less than truthful about many things, and we live in a time of caution and paranoia. I have watched a few alien shows, and I always detect the logic flaw of “only high tech can move things” which is never addressed. Without fossil fuel technology far more work animals were used in the past. With leverage, fulcrums, rope wheels, wooden rollers mixed in with the construction monolith stones could get moved, and they never mention this idea at all. Work horse transport had a second advantage, and there were few fatal wrecks. Horses have instincts that make them avoid running into other horses, and cars have none at all. With war being a modern problem with fossil fuel I almost envy times when loving furry animals for transportation was a social normalcy and not pollution making gasoline guzzling cars.
Old breeds of work horses and elephants are super huge and can lift large objects. -
Car Better
By Andrea Menzies
Many thanks to my family and friends which helped me get my car fixed this week. That is the one good part about this area is I have my mom, daughter, and a few cousins that are great at fixing cars in the area. The super cold weather has been hard on cars, and my sick car has been a challenge. I wish I did not live in a car dependent area with no buses available. I lived in France and Germany as a child when my American citizen family worked there, and public transportation was so clean, maintained, and on time transportation was never a problem. I lived in New Orleans for University and street cars and buses were easy to take, and running day and night. Car manufacturing leaders lobbied the governments in many U.S. areas to make roads non-walkable in the 1940s saying it would promote car manufacturing jobs. Now most of the jobs are gone overseas, and we are stuck with roads with few sidewalks and bike lanes. Many bike lanes are painted in this area that only run near parks, and don’t run the full street. House rental and sale websites want to list property as “near walk and bike trails” as the trails go nowhere and lead to dead-end roads constantly. The problem is people trying to go to work, school, and weekend social activities have limited transportation. Uber, other rideshare, and taxi rides are super expensive, often slow, and destroy a work-day’s profit margin for their personal profits. Cars use fossil fuel which makes pollution, are dangerous for wrecks, and cause many social problems. Forcing people in the U.S. to be dependent on cars destroys the ability to be productive many days.
The car was sick.
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Gun No-No
By Andrea Menzies
I have not gone out in Virginia in years and drive to Maryland because downtown is a giant gun No-No. Local news just said they had ANOTHER mass shooting. I have no boyfriend, or husband, and have not even had a kiss on the cheek in years. When I tried the singles nights in Virginia not only was the music horrible, but a hail of gunfire made everyone hit the ground hiding every two nights. This did NOT happen when I went out in Texas and Louisiana. My social life was constantly better in both states. Virginia really is a bad place to live in horrible ways. Lifting gun restrictions as the American economy goes to crap was a really bad idea.
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Car Broken
By Andrea Menzies
I cannot make it to see video-game, University student, and concert friends this weekend. Just as my life was taking a better turn with friends my car broke down. I live in an area with NO bus service for many miles, so I am unable to get to work as a teacher as well as weekend friend meet-up groups. I am looking at Google maps to find bike routes to nearby stores. It is a really good thing I have taken up bike riding as a hobby at this point as it is emergency back up transportation as well as a fitness gimmick.
Frozen History 7 Publishing Book Review Podcast 