Isolation, again

We are in isolation again.  This morning my wife woke with a persistent cough and so we went for testing in Ipswich again.  She has rested for a lot of the day, but her cough improved once she had her swab.  She loved me having mine!

I had locked myself out of my work laptop last week and did not have time to correct this matter then, so I had to have that fixed before I was able to work from home.  And that took time.  Using my mobile to make calls, and my headphones to preserve patient anonymity I was able to see my call lengths easier, and many take longer than ten minutes now.  When I started in quarantine many months ago, the issues we had to deal with her so much easier.  Now they are back to the usual complexity along with additional diagnostic uncertainty due to COVID meaning we are not assessing all face to face.

Cultural Appropriation and Cultural Segregation

Can anyone tell me if the following are examples of cultural appropriation?

Chicken Tikka Masala.
The Hello Kitty video by Avril Lavigne.
Stuffed crust pizza’s.
People who appear not to be black wearing dreadlocks & Bantu knots.
The use of henna by those with no visible ancestry from the Arabian Peninsula, Indian subcontinent.
Near and Middle East, Carthage, other parts of North Africa or the Horn of Africa.
The Jai Ho music video by The Pussycat dolls.
Eating Haggis on Burns night if you have no Scottish heritage.
Wearing a Kimono if you have no Japanese heritage.
Eminem, Vanilla Ice, Iggy Azalea, UB40 & Madness.
The use of Tartan by those without significant Scottish ancestry.
The video for Romeo by Basement Jaxx.
Dressing as another ethnicity for a fancy dress party.
Drinking Guinness if you have no Irish heritage.
Someone with no South Asian heritage wearing a bindi (or anything like it).
Having an opinion on liking a dish if you are not from the ethnic group it is from.

I do think that trying to trademark certain names, such as Kimono is unacceptable.  Issues like Jamie Oliver using a name for food that has been inspired by dishes like paella are a grey area along with food inspired by a nation.  But he is not wrong to use such foods in the creation of new dishes.    

It may be best to prevent offence if we segregate different communities to prevent cultures mixing.  But that is what people like the BNP want, and I like how the society I live in has been, and continues to be influenced it’s multicultural history.

But, I would like to know what is and what is not cultural appropriation and I welcome comments about what people think on this matter.

Bank holiday Monday

We relaxed today.  I went into work to do some telephone work.  In my drive to get fitter, I took a slight detour and I think that my fitness levels may be improving.  After work when home I found that my wife was not as well as she had hoped.  She rested, I ironed and helped her prepare some food that she had cooked.  But I forgot to do it properly.  Fortunately she and my son helped salvage the food.

I also got to go for a walk with my daughter as well as watching Star Wars Rebels with my son.  He loves watching the Simpsons but took time to not watch that and instead spend some time with me.  Rebels is a kids cartoon, but there was a reason cited in one of the episodes we watched as to why stormtroopers cannot shoot properly.  And we had a slight disagreement about how The Clone Wars ended.  I was right, but he will not accept that. All in all, it was a good end to the weekend, so long as my wife is better tomorrow.  

The US right and cucks

I have had an interesting debate with a US lady who supports Trump on Twitter.  Sadly, it resulted in her using her second account to try and troll me.  While I understand that she was annoyed with a poster who I had mostly supported (there were a few posts which I felt were racist and I did point out that I considered them to be unacceptable), it was interesting when she turned her attention to me.  Needless to say, she tried to be more annoying than me, and as my wife said, she was doomed.  My children later agreed with this.

What is fascinating, are the terms that she tried to use to insult me.

One was calling me a beta male.  I actually do not want to be an alpha male.  I associate such a term with a lot of negative issues.  Needless to say, one is heart disease.  There are other issues associated with it.  Growing up, I was given mixed messages about what a man should be.  People would tell me that women wanted kind caring men, but growing up, they were not the men they went for.  Or rather I should say, that alpha males attracted a sort of female and like other boys growing up, we assumed that all women and girls wanted that.        

The other insults were when she called me a Cuck.  What makes this more interesting is the way that one or two prominent Trump supporters are in effect cuckolded.    

One is Roger Stone, who initially denied such things took place, and then later admitted it.  I have no issue with someone being open about the relationship they have with their wife especially when there is no double standards.  

And the other, allegedly is Jerry Fallwell Jr.  Now if this is true, it can be argued that double standards apply here.      

But the term Cuck is one which refers to a man allowing his wife to have coitus with other men.  When it comes to those who support Trump, what do they think of Melania Trump and if she has allowed Trump to have affairs with Karen McDougal, Stormy Daniels and of course, they way he tried it on with the women he had taken furniture shopping.  Is Melania Trump a Cuck or is the behaviour of Donald Trump acceptable as he is an Alpha Male and therefore, something that Melania should not be judged over?

And so she passes

My wife and children took me down to the funeral of my step-mother.  The journey was a little stressful as my wife had thought that the funeral was at 1500 rather than at 1400 but we got there in time.  The older of my two younger brothers was already there and my youngest arrived soon after me.

Being in effect her children, we were the coffin bearers and while I was asked to be at the front as I was the oldest, as my two brothers look taller than me (I insist that I am the tallest, but others think that my little brothers are taller) they are at the front.  It was strange to be so close to so many people as I am used to more social distancing in my job, but I had to comply.

Meeting my aunts and uncles was interesting.  As I have not seen my father in a long period of time, I have not seen them.  One of my brothers is a lot more engaged with them and he had gone to the wake before the funeral where there were more people.  We did talk about my father who was not able to come to the funeral.  When he had seen the body of his wife, he was in a lot of pain from the journey from his nursing home in the taxi and on the wheel chair and my youngest brother who has not seen him in some time said that he looked very different to how he remembered him.  One uncle said that when he had moved in with us when I was younger, that he could not stay as my father drove him mad, and seeing how he had driven so many others away in a way made me feel less guilty about not seeing him since my children were very small.  But my brothers have said that there is little point in me contacting him as he does not seem to recognise them any more and they do not think that he will remember me.

I still feel guilty that my step-mother did not get to see my children as she was very kind of heart.  To be fair, anyone who was able to stay with my father so long had to have a heart of gold.  Her sister was there with her own children who talked about how much she meant to them.  I did speak, but I did not really say much, other than how kind she was and how I was grateful for the love and kindness that she showed my brothers.

Anyway, may she rest in peace.  

Does Earth Day matter in our house

My son is annoyed with me.  He left the television on and left it, again.  I posted this image with the message on social media.  He was not pleased.  I have done so about my daughter in the past, and her behaviour has changed.  I hope the same happens with him.

My wife and I went out for date night tonight, though my son not clearing up his bedroom as promised meant that the start was not as good as I liked.

Arsenal won the Community Shield, and I listened to how it went to penalties on the radio before we left for it.  I hope to watch the highlights tomorrow possibly.

Bigger, not smaller

I weighed myself today,  I have put on weight. I suspect it is because I am no longer cycling to my second job on a Wednesday.  The image for this post is due to an observation made at work last week.

I have been walking more, but not as much as I would like,  I have tried to walk with my daughter or cycle with my son, but both have resisted this.  So I am going to have to try harder by myself now.