Some unpopular opinions

Because it's Friday, because I'm tired and cranky. These are just my, as some people say, "onions" and I get that you might disagree with me and that's fine.

* I'm really tired of all the hype and swooning over "Hamilton." Two reasons:

First: Big-city privilege. The casino here MIGHT get the touring-company version of it in 2019 or some time, but to see it live? We'd have had to travel.

Second, my personal onion here: not a fan of rap and hip-hop and while I get what they were going for artistically, I would not choose to pay a couple hundred dollars to listen to it for an hour or so.


* The new Integrity Toys "brony" dolls (I forget exactly what they are called, but they are high-end human fashion dolls allegedly channeling the "spirit" of one of the ponies). I dislike them.

The only reasonable looking one, IMHO, is Twilight Sparkle: kind of a standard nerdy girl. Fluttershy is a barely-dressed waif. The others are all pretty much stereotypes made 3-D: Rarity is a fussy prissy fashion-forward male, like the type of fashion designer people claim "hates women" because he won't make anything over a size 6, I believe the Pinkie Pie doll is called "Twinkie" Pie*, which probably tells you all you need to know, Applejack is a hipster dude who is one of those tiresome people who brews their own kombucha and tells you why you need to only eat "local," and Rainbow Dash is a "sporty" skateboarding dude.

(*in the sense of "twink," the offensive(? I have no idea if it still is or not) term for a certain subset of gay men)

And yeah. I get that there are different segments of the fandom but I guess this means I'm more closely allied with the little-girl subset because I'd rather by the Playskool "little tiny kid" versions of Ponies than these dolls. (And they are *very* high-end, like over $100 each).

* I like early voting. I like being able to go down on a Friday afternoon or a Saturday morning and take care of it, and not have to go on Tuesday and - in a big election - wait in line for a long, long time. I like not having to worry how to fit it in my schedule if I have a busy Tuesday. (I know, I know: under federal law you're allowed time off to vote, and the polls are open 'til 7, but if I've put in a full day of teaching I DON'T want to head down there at 5 pm and stand in line to vote.)

* I don't want to see Election Day become a Federal holiday, though: too many people will take the Monday night before as an excuse to party, and I suspect we will see no increase in turnout, and we already have enough Federal holidays where ordinary people have to work but the banks and DMVs are closed, and there's no mail delivery.

* With Christmas coming up: I like fruitcake. Yes, I do. At least the homemade kind that is as much cake as fruit, and that isn't drowned in strong spirits. (In my family, we NEVER did the "make a dark strong cake and soak it in a vat of brandy" thing. At most, my mom might pour a little of a light white wine over a cake to moisten and preserve it). The "doorstop fruitcakes" jokes are made about are mostly the commercial kind made to withstand long travel.

* Not everyone is cut out to major in STEM, or even go to college. There, I said it. And what's more: if your life has so many competing interests or pressures that you're missing one class out of four for "emergencies," maybe you need to withdraw and wait until your life calms down. And if those competing interests are partying or gaming or your new boyfriend/girlfriend/whatever, you need to grow up a little and realize that, as per the sentence Duolingo regularly gives me: Spaß kommt letzt, in other words: Fun comes last. Or at least, fun comes after your major life obligations.