Robert StGenis Voice empowered

According to  Johns Hopkins University, as of this writing on June 17 2021, California has fully vaccinated 44.02% of its population. In comparison,  JHU  shows Georgia at only 33.5%.  Beckers Hospital Review , a source I only found this evening in an internet search, shows California ranked at #18 and Georgia at #46. Safe to say, not even close. Hopefully you read my last post,  As California lifts restrictions, some numbers.  Whereas I have have strong convictions that while Georgia was a bit loose in its rules and regulations, California was destructively overly imposing on our lives. I spent the month of December in Georgia. My husband was to join me for Christmas but needed surgery for stones in his bladder which took almost 3 months to schedule in LA because of not only being so full from COVID patients, but running out of oxygen, something you hear of in third world countries like India. At the same time, our family Christmas was canceled in Atlanta...

  This is written on the morning of June 15, 2021, the day California is lifting restrictions. According to the New York Times, which has been tracking with at least daily updates throughout the pandemic, as of 6/14/2021, California has had 3,803,531 cases or 9,626 per 100,000 residents. According to the US Census Bureau, as of April 1, 2020, the population of the Golden state is 39,538,223. Based on these numbers, roughly 10.4% of the state's population had a positive Covid-19 test. Some argue how cases are counted, whether someone who has more than one positive Covid-19 test is being counted more than once, but then again, there are those laying on their death bed with Covid-19 insisting it does not exist. This resulted in 63,149 deaths or 160 per 100,000 people. You would think it's harder to argue deaths, though as I just mentioned above, not only do some people deny COVID really exists, but some say things like "well they had a heart condition, had cancer..." The...

Hamburger Mary's I was at Hamburger Mary's in Long Beach Sunday at a 4:00 PM over Memorial Day weekend for a drag show and "linner" or early dinner. Every show earlier was booked, affirming that we all needed to get out of our homes! My cousin's best friend Matt (and if I look at this logically it's my cousin who has been one of my closest friends since teen years, daughter's best friend) and his boyfriend joined us. His boyfriend who is charming, attractive and not quite 21. I was having a conversation, most of which was drowned out by very loud music, with someone who might have parents younger than me. I like to think of myself, and am often affirmed to be perceived as, younger physically. Even when one knows my age (52), I work hard to relate across generations but this might have easily become more awkward for us both if not interrupted by loud entertainment. I say that and I also realize that it's really me that seems to worry or be bothered. Non...

Downtown Los Angeles is a "district" which is rather small, only encompassing shy of 6 square miles of the 503 square mile city boundaries. Basically, a little more than 1%. When I first moved to Los Angeles in the late 90s I would joke with visitors that the skyscrapers in Downtown were there as a stage set really so that you could have an easily identifiable location shot. Unless you needed city hall, had to go to court or went to see the opera (and some theatre), there was little other reason to go there unless your job was there. You might have well packed your own lunch or nosh as restaurants were hard to come by as well. Then, as LA moved into the 21st Century and the city adapted some new laws to allow repurposing of abandoned buildings that had been sitting for decades, things began to change.  The 2000 Census found that 27,849 people lived in Downtown. City estimates that the population grew to about 35,000 in 2008. Census data moved that number to over 40,000 by 201...

In any condominium, water shut-offs do occur. Typically, however, they're occasional, not a common occurrence. This is particularly challenging at a time when more of us are working from home. Our property manager said water shut-offs are a more common issue as a result. However, the Market Lofts was a live/work building long before COVID-19 - it should be able to accommodate people living and working from home. We've had over 12 in the first quarter, some multiple days in a row. Living over the grocery store is tremendously convenient but also can be disadvantageous as well. At least once a quarter the bakery causes the alarms in our building to go off. Once, someone set the toilet seats in the men's room on fire. The entrance to the underground parking lot to the store is right next to our entrance. You need to always be extra cautious coming and going as shoppers are not always paying close attention. The largest grocery store in Downtown Los Angeles, it is also a magnet...

The Gold Coast, which some referred to as "God's waiting room", opened in 1981 at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and La Jolla, across from the infamous Circus of Books Store which has been there since 1960 and created the home of the Vaseline Alley behind the store. It was a classic "dive" bar and attracted a wide-net audience. It was the home of the Red dress party which started as a vow between 2 bartenders, Mark Ferguson and Yves-Claude, with proceeds going to Life Group LA. I've spent time at the Gold Coast at 2 PM and left at 2 AM. While not a regular hangout of mine, it certainly was always a safety net, a piece of West Hollywood that was comfortable to go to when I just wanted to pop in for a drink or even sometimes just use the bathroom. It wasn't pretentious, the drinks were less expensive than most everywhere else in WeHo. there was something comforting that it was just off the path of the epicenter of Boystown, yet only blocks away from...