Solidarity!

Tomorrow, Friday, February 28, 2025, is hit 'em in the wallet day, and I am ready to boycott everything and not spend any money! Well, except I have to go pick up Gatsby's medication before work, but that doesn't really count because it's a necessity, and the vet clinic is a small business besides. I will have to buy lunch at work, but I don't think the restaurant in my office building is run by a billionaire, even though it is an Irvine Company property. Pretty sure the cafe is a separate entity. Pretty sure. Naturally, I will be driving hither and yon, but I already bought gas (from Costco! They're on the good list!), using AWS (I have no choice) and Outlook (again, not my fault), Facebook and Messenger (because I am now the Executive Coordinator of my book club and can't abandon the club for 24 hours), and hopping onto Gmail/ Google/ Blogger because my life is all set up in those places. But I won't be purchasing anything from Amazon. Hell no! I shall do my part, small as it is. 

Someone said on Bluesky that the boycotting is silly, and what would really make a difference is if we began a program of long-term change, such as consistently patronizing local small businesses instead of shopping online, spending less money overall, reusing/ recycling what we have, etc. This makes sense to me. People argued with her that even one day of millions of people not buying anything at Amazon, etc., will have an impact ~ and the impact will last beyond the 24 hours because it will force the PTB to see how mighty we are when we act together. That makes sense to me too. Besides, more boycotting is planned for the weeks and months to come, so it’s really not one and done. For me, personally, I've said before that both Amazon and Target are super-convenient, and I would have a hard time giving them up. I have no intention of giving up either one for more than a brief period, in any case. I just rewatched The Devil Wears Prada tonight on Prime and enjoyed it a lot. I don't think Netflix is on the bad list, so I will stick with them tomorrow night.

The meds I'm picking up for my kitty are for his blood pressure. Yep, like an older human, my kitty has borderline high blood pressure, and it's important to bring that down into the normal range, especially because of his kidney issues. His lab tests on Tuesday showed a lot of improvement otherwise, and he's active and seems to feel good/ happy, so that's great news, but he's still a little underweight. I am very pleased with his progress overall ~ I love him so much and want him to be around for years to come, as long as he feels OK.

This week, I read Razorblade Tears by S.A. Crosby for my book club. I didn't really "enjoy" the book because it was dark and violent, plus there was no character I could relate to, but I felt it was very well written and full of important themes about racism, tolerance, loyalty, forgiveness, etc. I am trying to expand my reading genres, and besides that, our book club leader really wanted us to read something by a Black author for Black History Month, so I got this in right under the wire. I also have The Color Purple on loan from the FV library, but I probably won't finish it until next week, given that I would like to paint a bunch over the weekend. Anyway, I gave Razorblade four stars for being so well written, and it fits my 2025 Reading Challenge category of an author who is new to me. Yay!