Monkee

Over the last 6 months I’ve had my eyes opened to LGBTQ+ issues around death and end of life care - just things that never crossed my mind.

I work for Hospice UK (at least for one more week!) and we just published a report on ‘Equality in End of Life Care’. Some of the stats are staggering. In a survey of 108,000 people, 16% of survey respondents who accessed or tried to access public health services had a negative experience because of their sexual orientation, and at least
38% had a negative experience because of their gender identity.

Hospices (and the NHS) are focussing more on this stuff now but what really threw me was something as simple, I thought, as arranging a funeral. I read reports of someone who was trans and was estranged from their family. But, when they died they hadn’t shared their wishes with anyone or had anything in writing and so their next of kin was the family members. This meant that the service was in their dead name, they were dressed according to a gender they didn’t identify as, the death certificate was in their dead name, and none of those whom were closest to the deceased were allowed to the funeral. I was floored by this. It just never crossed my mind.

The report covers a lot of topics which I - as a cis white female with no major medical problems - just didn’t think about. How race affects access to health and end of life care, people who are homeless or with learning disabilities, people in remote and rural areas, and even people in prison. If you’re interested, I’d recommend having a look at the report - http://bit.ly/hukequalityreport

Also, thanks to @patiirc for some advice around making my job more LGBTQ+ aware. Really appreciated it and something that I’ll continue to work on.

I was busy working the other day and suddenly thought, “I can smell pee?” Looked around and saw my cat, sitting like a frog, pissing in my flip flop. It’s a good job it had indentations of my feet because he filled it to the brim. No idea why he decided he didn’t feel like going outside (it was sunny, the patio door was open) but he seemed to be enjoying himself.

5 hours ago, neil said:

...there was this tall (now remember I'm 6'7") blonde girl

...I mean she was tall yes, but like 5'10", not exactly freak status.

At first I thought this girl was well over 6ft’ tall - closer to your height - the way you described her but then you say she’s 5’10. That’s not that tall. I’m 5’11 and a lot of my friends are around the same height.

She still sounds weird though.

This basically happened to me on a date. I was Jude Law.

That’s awesome all round, @John Matrix! Really chuffed for you.

I’ve had a similar thing over the last couple of months in relation to Band of Brothers. I’m currently involved in a project called We Happy Few 506 where we put on Zoom interviews with the cast and crew as it’s the 20th anniversary of it first airing.

It’s hosted by Matthew Leitch (who played Talbert) with me and 2 others in the background. It’s amazing and very surreal to be talking to all the actors, sharing emails and even WhatsApping with Scott Grimes.

We’ve also had Dexter Fletcher and Marc Warren on which was brilliant. This Saturday we’ve got Michael Cudlitz on which is going to be fantastic and I might even be going to the set of Masters of the Air at some point soon to catch up with one of the writers. It’s very surreal.

Absolutely gutted about Helen McCrory. She was a great actor and a genuinely lovely person. Feel so sorry for Damian and their kids too.

I had the AZ jab yesterday afternoon and felt absolutely fine. Slept badly last night (had nightmares that my sister in law had been kidnapped) and was very restless. Got up at 11am and felt fine but tired. Then it hit me. I was really cold, heating on full blast, blanket over me, fell asleep at 1pm and felt jet lagged. I couldn’t wake up. Finally forced myself to get something to eat at 8pm, watched a film and now I’m in bed again as I can barely keep my eyes open. Apart from feeling exhausted I don’t feel any other side effects, thankfully.

I’ve accidentally bought myself a vegan Easter egg. I’m not happy about it.

47 minutes ago, Thunderplex said:

I prefer a launch coaster like Mummy Returns or Aerosmith.  Just about handle Everest.

Everest is one of my favourites. I remember going once and it was so quiet we literally rode 3 times in a row as there was no queue.

The Mummy’s ok and I love the Rock’n’Rollercoaster but mainly because I love Aerosmith. Someone on a Facebook group the other day suggested turning it into a Bruce Springsteen coaster... no offence to Mulv but I’d never ride it again if they did that.

My absolute favourite used to be The Hulk but something changed somewhere over the years and now it really batters my head. I had such a migraine after it one time that I’m afraid to ride it any more.

2 minutes ago, Thunderplex said:

Your  braver than me.  It’s the vertical rise at the start that just makes it a no for me.

That was the main thing that put me off going on for years. I don’t like vertical rises or full vertical drops on coasters (e.g. Stealth). It’s strange because I don’t mind an angled rise with the neverending tik-tik-tik of the chains but there’s something about just staring up into the sky that’s so much worse. I think I’ve been on RRR twice and listened to Sabotage by Beastie Boys both times. Concentrating on that helped a bit but I can totally understand not wanting to go on for that specific reason.

I know it’s a similar concept to the Rip Ride Rockit and I’ve been on that, but the idea of so many upside-down bits with just a lap bar makes my teeth itch. I love rollercoasters but only because I feel safe with things over my head, belts, bars, etc. One time on the RRR the lap bar wasn’t down far enough for my liking and I shit myself all the way round. It wasn’t fun and that might’ve been the last time I went on it.

1 hour ago, Scott Malbranque said:

For you Monkee, I'd sing you the score from the HMS Pinifore followed by a rendition of "Il Cielo in una Stanza" before bed every night. 

I’m actually blushing.

16 hours ago, deathrey said:

As a woman on the forum, the threads don't bother me at all, in fact I have contributed to them in the past. Did I objectify men? 

There really is nothing wrong with saying a famous women is attractive.  If I posted a photo of myself here and someone said I looked nice, also nothing wrong with that. If someone here decided to bombard me with personal messages saying they found me attractive, I asked them to stop and they continued - that's where something is wrong. Surely the difference there is pretty clear?

 

Edit: I've had to have a bit of a debate with myself about the line 'I asked them to stop and they continued' because if I'm honest, I think sending a personal message specifiaclly about my appearance borders on to creepy and would make me uncomfortable. I think it would be inappropriate of me to message one of the male posters in that manor so the same stands in the opposite direction. I will leave it there though as some may feel people deserve a chance.

Perfectly worded. I can appreciate good-looking people of both sexes but knowing the boundaries between “God, they’re hot!” and “Phwoar, that needs a good pounding!” is the key. Compliment don’t creep. That’s not objectification.

Like 99% of women I’ve had a few experiences that I’d rather not have had too - falling asleep on a night bus and having some guy try put his hand up my skirt; having a guy lick my shoulder as a come-on in a club even after I’d asked him to leave me alone and left the dance floor to get away from him; making calls to people while walking home so they know where you are and what you’re doing; and I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve pushed my keys between my fingers on the way home just in case. 

1 minute ago, SuperBacon said:

Horny on main @Monkee...🙃

I’ve been on lockdown for a year. Can you blame me? 

On 3/11/2021 at 5:04 PM, Scott Malbranque said:

https://voca.ro/1jqDuYjEcoqX

There you go, Gerry. Best way I can put it...

Can you do one of these a day for me to listen to before bed?

—

Non-Welsh people producing Welsh names is bad enough sometimes but Americans are worse. An American saying “Carrr-dff” makes me teeth hurt.

Disappearance at the Cecil Hotel - How creepy was one of those conspiracy guys? He came across as a lonely pathetic man who stalked a young [dead] girl. The footage of someone visiting her grave on his behalf was just weird. I can’t imagine what her family must have felt knowing that someone did that.

Till Lindemann from Rammstein always fascinates me. He can look devilishly handsome one minute or a total mess the next.

Not technically pets but I’ve become obsessed with the birds (and squirrels, foxes, badgers, etc.) in my garden since lockdown. I took a few photos yesterday in the snow.

Aww guys, thank you so much. I’ve had an absolutely lovely day and I’ve been really spoiled. Thanks for thinking of me xx

Ill Communication - Beastie Boys 

Paul’s Boutique is meant to be the underrated standout album but it’s too disjointed for me. I love the flow of Ill Communication but there’s still enough experimental shit to keep you going, “Wow, what’s that?” whether it’s a sample from somewhere else or a guy playing a jar with damp fingers. One of my favourite albums.

11 hours ago, DEF said:

Glorious autographed photo of Maxwell Caulfield aka what they say if they knew he was Michael

This is indeed glorious. Rex Manning spoiled it though.

Grease 2 is very underrated in my opinion and I absolutely love ‘Girl For All Seasons’ and ‘Cool Rider’ - the latter being responsible for a memory I have of being a bit drunk in a backwater Australian town singing this very loud and dancing down the street with a Scottish girl I met.

Well done, @Onyx2 - top job putting all this together.

And congrats to those who won the Best Of awards. All nominations were thoroughly deserved but I genuinely share this one with all the others in the Good Au category. It’s been a tough year on everyone and this goes to show that we’ve all been there for each other and some point. Here’s to the original Au, the present Aus and next year’s Au nominees - hopefully this year might make us all a bit stronger and kinder xx

@Frankie Crisp, @johnnyboy, @John Matrix, @FelatioLips, @jazzygeofferz, @Keith Houchen, @PowerButchi, @Nick James

1 hour ago, scratchdj said:

That was in Enfield and there’s a blue plaque to commemorate it!

The Velocicoaster looks really cool and I’m glad they’ve built another coaster but it looks really short. And when you’re on it I bet it feels even shorter. What’s the average ride time? The lights look amazing in the dark though and I can’t wait to see the finished ‘atmosphere’ additions like the foliage and anamatronic/still dinos.

3 hours ago, jazzygeofferz said:

Imagine my surprise when I received a big bag of Malteasers through my door this morning. I thought my Amazon account had been hacked until I saw the caption on the address label and remembered a conversation I had with @Monkee last night. Also I'm now going to have to see how long I can make them last without making myself ill. One a day might have to suffice. 

Everyone from the Good Au nominations deserves a treat 😊