weird things are happening v.16 and ghost of parties past

Today is Gage's 14th birthday. He's still sleeping now. It really doesn't seem possible. 

Fourteen years, bleep, bloop, poof. Gone. 

Man, throughout the years we really threw Gage some banging parties. No matter what his current obsession was, I'd stay up all night long and decorate the dining room to become party central. We also kind of lived in a central location to both sides of the family, so we would have these massive parties of 40 family members. It was great and at the time I loved it, but let me tell you, there is something to be said about less is more. Even if I did basically make everything for all of Gage and Owsley's old parties from the DollarTree. It does feel pretty good that they are older now and don't even care about crazy decorations and themes. 

Some of you have been around long enough to remember some of the ghosts of Gage's obsession's past, like the mining party, his Egyptian phase, and the police obsession that seemed like it would never end. Gage would actually still probably be into the mining party this year because of all the black. Owsley is so much like me now, but Gage is so much like me when I was 14. Black, moody, and leave me alone. (Ok, rereading this is makes it sound like I was actually a black person when I was a teen. I just meant like emo, goth, whatever that is called now. I'm so old I have no clue what the kiddies call themselves these days.) 

This year I put up a couple black streamers and balloons and we have a black tablecloth. Hah. But man am I glad to have these pictures of old birthday parties because I had forgotten how much detail I put into this stuff that ended up being destroyed by my kids and their cousins. 

Today Gage wants all his favorite foods while we watch episodes of Ancient Aliens, and then we are having a small party this afternoon. He doesn't know it yet, but he's getting an oculus and an mp3 player so that he can stop toting around his tablet anytime he wants to listen to his own music. On Monday we are going to take him to Dave and Buster's with his best friend. 

And now on for this week's links.

*Is it against HIPAA violation to ask about vaccine status? Surprisingly, no.

*An Italian surgeon examined the brain  of an 18 year old girl who died shortly after the vaccine and he claims he's never seen anything like this before.

*NASA is quietly funding a hunt for alien megastructures. And here's a rabbit hole for you: arctic UFOs.

*The 22 most dangerous FDA approved drugs-and some natural alternatives.

*Russian Orthodox church warns "be vaccinated or repent forever."

*New Zealand is going to hunt down the unvaccinated.

*A woman claims that she can no longer speak after receiving the second dose of the Oxford vaccine. 

*The US army has been warned to prepare to begin their mandatory vaccine  in September.

*As if we weren't in a trance enough already, new technology can allow advertisers to hack into our dreams. 

*Here we go, time to blame all the variants on the unvaccinated. Apparently I'm a disease factory. 

*A powerful fire tornado is ravaging Northern California and parts of Canada, while a major heatwave is affecting the Southwestern area of the US.

*Entertainment venues in England will soon be requiring the vaccine passport.

*So many Americans are unemployed, but so many places are understaffed and offering hiring incentives. Why?

*Foraging for wild dandelions. This was interesting because I used to take feverfew made from dandelions for headaches. Maybe we all need to learn a little more about foraging in the wild. Who really knows what the next few years have in store for us?