Weird Habits I Picked Up During The Pandemic

Some of these are borderline embarrassing.

Credit Goes To UT/Original Owner.

In normal circumstances, I would NEVER Be home this much.

Weird: I started a watching weird movies marathon (some of them I admit I started liking, no judging here, remember judge free zone)

*First movies that started my bad habit: Snowsharks, The Island Of Dr. Monroe, and I want to say Cowboys vs Vampires. I cannot think of the 4th one for the life of me.

• The Leech Woman
• Godzilla Vs. Monster Zero
• The Son Of Godzilla
• Terror Birds
• Saturday The 13th
• ‘Man-Made Monster”
• Creature from the Black Lagoon
• Svengoolie, period.
• The Beast with Five Fingers
• Cowboys Vs. Vampires
• The Slumber Party Massacre
• Mighty Joe Young (1949)
• Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man
• Time lock
• Convict 762
• Earthsea

Svengoolie.com

It’s gotten bad guys and gals. To keep a handle on it I mostly watch these on weekends when I’m home. Some of these bad movies touches my soft spot. I do not know why.

Healthy: I started taking Whey Protein

I’ve been working out for over 20 years. I been wanting to find a brand of why protein to stick with. I found a brand I like, thanks to Clinton Sparks for sending it to me. I love it to death.

City Search: Talk About Which Cities To Live In Or Ones To Avoid Like The Plague.

During this pandemic/writing this post, there has been a lot of coverage of the crime rate in my hometown of Indy and why it’s becoming a little mini Chicago? And general talks on where to live.

Here’s my two cents, which I add inbtwn the comments and towards the end.

Some of the discussions going on both off and online.

Beware all who enter this dark hole:

Indiana is a place where ideas go to die. The people here think creativity is a personality disorder. Yes, the cost of living is lower. Yes, there are material comforts such a numerous places to eat and drink--as confirmed by rampant obesity. Yes, people are polite in a superficial way. But...violent crime in Indy rivals the south side of Chicago and much larger metro shooting galleries. Racial divisions are reminiscent of the Jim Crow era. There is a strong sense of social hierarchy based on family and school ties. It should be noted there is a growing international population downtown thanks to companies like Salesforce, Rolls Royce and Cummins. But if you’re not a Millennial IT guru or entrepreneurial wiz kid, you’ll not fit in. The age divide mirrors the racial divide elsewhere in the city. In short, if you’ve lived in other parts of the U.S. where people are open to new ideas and supportive of unique personalities, your spirit will wither day by day. This is a culture that prides itself in being the last to try anything, that views nonconformity as a venal sin, that slowly beats you into submission. You know you’ve bottomed out when you find yourself saying "why bother."

1. The people here think creativity is a personality disorder. As someone who is a creative and didn’t want to work a normal 9 to 5 job, THIS SHIT IS unfortunately TRUE. The music industry and Indianapolis both do have this in common: They have a way of sucking the enthusiasm out of you when you think outside the box and want to blaze another path. I have lived in other cities (NYC, LA, Atlanta, Chicago, etc) and I will tell you I get way more done. The environments are just more open to new ways of thinking and moving ahead. Instead of agreeing to disagree, too many Hoosiers will boot you out and treat you like an outsider. I got tired of trying to collab with Indy artists. Between guys trying to ride me like a pony and wife me up, I had enough. I will continue to support my Indy artist friends in the city, but when I get invited to a concert in Indy I totally bottomed out and say why bother. I try to get my next flight/drive/ride share out as quickly as possible to avoid going.
2. The cost of living is low, in comparison to other cities. I will give it that.
3. Yes, there are material comforts such a numerous places to eat and drink--as confirmed by rampant obesity. I will say the food is good. Indiana State Fair anyone?
4. Yes, people are polite in a superficial way. People are cliquey in Indiana. I grew up in Indiana schools realizing you are judged based on who you’re connected to-social hierarchy is based on school and family ties. You are also judged by where you live also. Some people try to see where you live to make sure you are not doing better than them. As with anything, you gotta stick your neck out to meet people, but if you don’t have a connection or some sort of in, too many Hoosiers don’t welcome you in unless you can do something for them. Every once in a while you find a person with that “Hoosier hospitality” but many are very reserved unless they know you.
5. But...violent crime in Indy rivals the south side of Chicago and much larger metro shooting galleries. Racial divisions are reminiscent of the Jim Crow era. As someone who grew up in Indiana, I don’t know how our crime rate got so high. I do not recall crime being this bad while attending grade school and high school. Maybe the pandemic is making people stir crazy along with personal frustration. Who knows? You know it’s bad when the Indianapolis Star says Chicago is safer to live in than Indy. I’ve experienced so much racism in Indiana in my years of school that I sometimes question my loyalty. And why I keep trying to find the good in it. As with anything I do try to see the good.
6. But if you’re not a Millennial IT guru or entrepreneurial wiz kid, you’ll not fit in. Don’t forget agriculture. This is a huge agriculture state.
7. In short, if you’ve lived in other parts of the U.S. where people are open to new ideas and supportive of unique personalities, your spirit will wither day by day. This is a culture that prides itself in being the last to try anything, that views nonconformity as a venal sin, that slowly beats you into submission. You know you’ve bottomed out when you find yourself saying "why bother."

He snapped.

While I don’t agree with every thing, he has some major good points. I also notice if you haven’t lived other places and just lived in Indianapolis your whole life, it’s easy to stay within your own worldview-you have nothing else to compare it to, and aren’t so quick review your worldviews. Maybe, just maybe someone has a good perspective, but they blow it off and don’t give it a chance because it isn’t the way they think.

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confirmed. lived in indiana my whole life...its a bend over and take it state. WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE is the answer if you dare question how things are or think you shouldnt be treated like a factory worker even if you have an engineering degree. currently there is a race to the bottom on wages. indiana cut deals with infosys to bring in as many indians on h1b visas as fast as possible so the new tech corps have CHEAP LABOR and can layoff local citizens.

If you question things or have a different perspective, for the most part, prepare for battle. She’s right on that. And yes, too many people will try to weed you out of jobs, groups, cliques based on “artificial” things that don’t matter. Some of these places claim you need a degree, when you can learn the skills on job regardless if you have one or not. But these same politics that eliminates a qualified person will hire a less qualified person through the back door because that person knows someone, is a rich person’s daughter/son or so on. Or attempt to put you something beneath your paygrade because misery loves company or just because. Seen this happen way too many times.

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I’ve been to just about every big city and with the exception of St. Louis and Baltimore, Indianapolis is at the bottom of my list of America’s urban places. It’s a very immature city in the sense that it has supporters and if you say something negative about it they’re all over you. The only other city I’ve ever seen that mindset in was Denver...also very immature. You don’t see it in really great places. You can criticize Seattle or Portland and people will listen and engage without turning into emotional basket cases. Not in Indy. No way.

The city has a lot of problems and they get glossed over by the marketing people who are trying to present it as a hip, compact, walkable urban destination. They've built the Cultural Trail, for example. They think this makes them Amsterdam, but it's really nothing more than a glorified sidewalk with a nice brick inlay. Lots of those bricks are crumbling and they won't get fixed because maintaining what you build is not the Hoosier way. Speaking of which, potholes and hotpatch. Yeah. You go, Indy!

If you do decide to walk around downtown, take some comfort in the fact that it's relatively easy to legally carry a firearm in Indy. You're going to need one, because there are an awful lot of people illegally carrying firearms and they are not afraid to use them. As long as you're quick on the draw and not afraid to fire back, you should be okay. That said, this city in murder central. You have been warned.

I could go on about the lack of social skills so common among Hoosiers, but that's just piling on. I don't want to be mean. That said, local officials spend a lot of time marketing their city nationally and globally. If they spent half that time maintaining and fixing what's broken instead, Indy could be a pretty nice place. But they don't. It's just not in the Hoosier DNA to take care of things. So if you're from Paris, see the glowing ads and come, it has to be quite a shock. I'll betcha don't come back. I haven't. Life is way too short to spend in a place like Indianapolis.

OK, the potholes are bad. They do have a bad habit of not fixing streets, infrastructure, etc. And yes, they wait until the pothole/sidewalk gets bad and “temporary” fix it, just for the street to get bad again a year later and fix it again. I hear they don’t fix the street the way they need to to keep people into jobs. If they fixed the streets the way they need to, that means those 100’s of people won’t have jobs. The potholes are a never ending vicious cycle. And don’t believe the lie that the city will fix your tires/car if it’s gets damaged. You are on your own.

Yeah I don’t know how the crime got so out of hand.

That said, local officials spend a lot of time marketing their city nationally and globally. If they spent half that time maintaining and fixing what’s broken instead, Indy could be a pretty nice place.

Ok, like any other city, wouldn’t you put your best foot forward to get tourists here? And hide the not so good stuff to gain millions of dollars for your economy? For the 2012 Superbowl, I will give Indianapolis this: did clean up the city and it was excellent. When conventions come to the city, they do put their best foot forward. (Fronting appearances). Panhandlers “mysteriously” disappear for that money.

It’s just not in the Hoosier DNA to take care of things. They do have the capacity to do things, but it takes a backseat to making money. And like many places, it’s reactive than proactive. Bad things happen, THEN an action plan takes place, versus prevention measures.

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Although I cannot agree with everything, you’re right about the lack of socializing. I like Indy, but I don’t love it. The main reason is people here just aren’t very social. I know folks will argue that it’s like that everywhere. It’s not. When I visited Denver I had to tell people I’m just a tourist because I was constantly getting invited to social events. It’s an odd Midwestern behavior: nice, but reserved.

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In Midwestern culture...it’s rude to criticize or insult their cities and states...maybe not in Chicago or in Michigan. But, most of the region suffers from some type of inferior mentality towards other regions of the country. Midwesterners are reserved by default.... because there’s not much to do there but eat, sleep and work.

I second that. Eat. Sleep. Work. And repeat the hamster wheel cycle. And here’s the thing. Some people don’t want much, need or require much. The simple life works for them.

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I lived in Indy 25 years as a born Hoosier, now I’m in Fort Wayne Indiana. Since I’ve lived places other than Indiana, what Zen said isn’t far off, especially about the social skills. But FTW is worse, even your neighbors glare at you with suspicion.

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i worked downtown indy for 5 years. bums all over and many are aggressive and in your face...city does nothing about it...they just want to do what you said...advertise national and globally for folks to move here. during the workday i felt safe enough walking about but i never went out after 5pm to downtown without carry firearm. they used to let people park around the circle for free on fri/sat nites..and tons of motos would come down and cool cars and people hung out and had fun..SO OF COURSE the new dem mayor put a stop to that. cant have people out having fun 4 months of the year after the 8 months of winter where they sstayed inside.

Horrible Town

I have lived here almost 7 years now and have hated every minute of it. So let’s start with the weather. It starts to get cold by the end of October and will not warm up again until sometime in April. Being from Florida that just doesn’t work for me. Then lets talk about tax. They love to tax here. You will pay City, County and state income tax on your paycheck and that would be great if Indiana didn’t have the worst roads in America. I have never seen so many holes in roads in my life including the interstate. They are constantly out there with miles and miles of road construction signs up but you cant ever tell that they did anything. Let’s move on to politics, if you are not conservative then this is definitely not the place for you. This is Republican territory for sure. Most definitely a waste of your time to vote if you aren’t voting Republican here. Trust me I have voted every election here for 7 years now. Some will probably try to argue that there is diversity here in this state but there really isn’t any. Very narrow minded people living in this state for sure. No rights or protections here for the LBGTQ community which is shameful. There are few places in this state that are really beautiful. The areas down near Bloomington and Nashville area are pretty nice. Lake Monroe is beautiful. Indiana is definitely not going to win an culinary awards here. The food and restaurants are pretty bad with a few exceptions. Now for things that Indiana has going for them is housing is some of the most affordable that I have seen. You can own a home here reasonably. There are several communities in the area that have some great school districts if you have school aged children. The Indianapolis Zoo is pretty good. The River Walk (canal) downtown is nice to get out and walk around during the few months a year we have nice enough weather to do so. I am sure there are worse places to live but Indiana sure ranks high on the list of places not to live.

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total can confirm this. wife and i moved to indy in 2003. roads were shit. COUNTY income tax was 1%. its now 2020, roads are shit, county tax is 2.02%...and NOTHING is better...not a single thing is better in this town. they just steal more of your money each year and cut services. we will NOT be staying here...there is a reason so many poeple in florida come from midwest and northeast...the horrid grey gloomy cold winters that never end. you MIGHT get some spring in april...OR you might be going to work april 23rd and its 30 degrees out at noon and overcast. typically IF we have a spring its 2 weeks...so...2 winters...winter#1 below freezing, winter#2 above freezing, 2 weeks of spring, but not in a row, and then we flip either to summer or back to winter#2

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Two Cents

Every comment on this feed is true about Indianapolis. I’m just adding my two cents..lol! This city has jobs yes. Decent housing yes. Public transportation is becoming more convenient. Pot holes galore, DEEP ONES! I mean the ones that literally pisses you off, and they will not reimburse,.if they do it takes MONTHS! The growth is coming from Michigan, and Illinois..BAD NEWS! Multiple murders daily. Shootings every day of the week, especially when we get the first brush of good weather. “Good places” like the Monon Trail, and the newer edition of the Canal downtown is made for people to jog,bike,enjoy nature..and suddenly you get robbed or attacked. Most people are rude, mean, and defensive. Don’t get me wrong there are nice people here, but to me personally it’s not worth it if you can’t really enjoy where you live.

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very true, Indy is very clicky. I’m from IN all my life and Indianapolis is not an inviting place, people are very defensive unless they are transplants. They are not open to any views other than their own and if you don’t agree then you are a problem and will be rooted out. The monon trail and the canal are very nice and the accessibility to walking is pretty awesome but there have been many incidents of crime on both. There is a lot of crime in the Indy area violent and property the like. And the streets here are horrendous, despite ridiculous property taxes. Sidewalks will just end for no reason. Yet you’ll see large cement medians throughout the county which in my opinion is a hazard and a direct reason for delays on road repair and clean up when there is any bad weather. Plus if its night they can be difficult to see, they jut out into the lanes many places THEY ARE RIDICULOUS!! what a waste of tax payer money. Not the greatest place to live. I think mostly people rave about it bc they lived here prior to college and want to feel great about coming home again. It is cheaper than other big cities but not as progressive don’t fool yourself Indy you are a small fish in a big lake not the other way around.

You’re definitely a big fish in a small pond. It’s all in what your used to.

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I was transfered here from Arkansas last year. I only mention that because if you live in Little Rock and move somewhere else it doesn't really matter where you go. Everyplace is an upgrade. Everyplace except Baton Rouge...and Indianapolis.

In hindsight, I'm not sure what I was expecting but it wasn't this. I think Indiana is the Arkansas of the north and Indianapolis is its Little Rock. It's just as unhealthy here as it is back home. Everybody drives everywhere, even across the street. The winters are gawdawful and the streets are all crumbling. I've never seen so much road rage in my life. I just get the feeling people are really frustrated here. I don't know why. They all go on about how great it is but it sure doesn't feel like that's real to me. Some other things that won't come as a surprise if you read the other comments. Crime is really bad. Folks are nice once you get to know them but before that they're downright mean and nasty. The blank eyed stare thing when you say hi to people here is a real thing. I read that and laughed until it happened to me. I think it's all the meth.

Like I said, it's hard to trade down when you come from Arkansas but I;m afraid I managed to do it. Story of my life. Thankfully, I rented and my lease is up in a couple of months. The job market is booming everywhere. I'm gonna look for a city with a higher quality of life and active people, even if it costs a little more. No offense Indianapolis. Sorry it didn't work out. Lesson learned.

Yeah the staring thing is weird.

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this guy is right...i’ve lived in indiana almost my entire life, 1 year in illinois, then bakc here and indy for about 20 years. i’m just the rare hoosier that will ADMIT how krappy it is here. indiana GRINDS you down...till you learn to SETTLE...its a settlers state..now it used to be CHEAP...so you coudl sorta excuse the horrid shit roads that DESTROY your car and wheels and tires...but now its not...they have county income taxes , local sales taxes, state income tax is 7% now and not 4% like when it was cheap to live here. and for all those extra taxes you get...NOTHING...not a single freakin thing is better now than when i was a kid here. and i’m in my 50s. we wont be staying....my advice to anyone young is DONT WAIT TO LONG TO ESCAPE THE GRAVITATIONAL PULL OF INDIANA....or you might not make it out. it gets much harder to leave the longer you stay here.

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Credit Goes To Friendly Stock. This germ is cute.

In conclusion:

Being someone who’s been other places, you can start to see why Indy is in this never-ending hamster wheel. When I try to get other people to visit, it’s difficult I will not lie. To the outside cities, Indiana has a racist reputation. I try to get LA or NYC friends to visit they stay you kidding, b*****? Bring your a** back here s***. (Terms of endearment amongst friends lol).

Careful: Many of the comments are right about this: Places like Indy can potentially make you completely comfortable with settling. It’s a great place to live if you’re looking for low-cost. Or if you looking for a small big city. Or if you want to live the normal life, get married and have kids. (With the recent high crime rates in recent years, Idk if it’s the best place to raise kids anymore.) But if you aim high, looking for more, OR have a different way of looking at the world? In my opinion, I suggest you live in a city with more like-minded people. Do not live in Indianapolis your whole life, get out into this big world and explore it.

Some people don’t want much, need or require much. The simple life works for them. If you don’t want to settle, you have to have a strong backbone. People will try to pull you down because they are down themselves. Watch out and keep it moving!

For example, if you go around saying you’re an actress or musician, many will badger you and try to force you into the 9 to 5 matrix-dont let them kill your dreams, because they will if you let them.

Some of my relatives have never been outside of Indiana. My mom theorized that’s why some of them are so depressed and just can’t get out of their funk. You can’t have a worldwide perspective when you only been living on 38th street your whole life. On the other hand, I have plenty more who have been all around the world and don’t want to set foot in Indianapolis again. I don’t blame them.

I will definitely defend the food. As with anything, you can pick healthier choices if you want, or pig out on the fattening stuff. Up to you.

Surprisingly, as racist as a reputation (Indianapolis) Indiana has, they do have different cultural influences depending on which side of town you are on.

Brown county and Nashville is beautiful. Southern Indiana is nice with the change of colors throughout the seasons.

I did have a great experience for my surgeries (tumor, gums and so on). But Indiana is currently being investigated for racist practices in their healthcare system. If you can have your kids elsewhere, I would look into it if I were you. Subconsciously, I think this is one of the many reasons why I don’t want to have kids. I don’t have interest in the first place, but reading headlines like that doesn’t help.

If you are a Democrat? Good luck. Indiana is a Republican state.

Best tidbit of advice. Even if you disagree with this as a Hoosier, or Indiana fan in general. Please do your homework before you move somewhere. I’m not gonna become an emotional basket case if you don’t agree. Lol.

Weird: Staying Home During Pandemic

This one is borderline embarrassing. I have never sat at home so much in my life. All my auditions from Chicago to LA are now on Zoom. As much as people say (i.e. Healthcare workers, news, etc.) “I’m doing my part to keep Covid numbers down and to avoid getting it” it appears to me numbers are going up no matter what I personally do. I’m 100% sure my dog and outside animals love the extra attention.

Funny: Groomer’s Dogs overtook me.

I was getting to know my groomer’s dogs the other day (1/30/2021) and I was staying hi. They knocked down the door after I opened it and ran out. Funny. Small dogs and big dogs together make great teams.

As more come up, I’ll post.

It’s 2021!

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