Participant #1:
Hello, Cupcake. It's Me, a podcast with your host, Michael Peterson.

Participant #1:
Hey, everyone. Michael here with Hello, Cupcake. It's me. And today is June 2, 2022. This is episode 27. And I just wanted to start this episode off by seeing that June is Pride month for the LGBTQ plus community. And I just wanted to welcome all of my LGBT listeners and the community in whole and just say welcome. This is a safe space for you guys. If you have anything that you want to talk about or want to reach out to me, by all means, feel free to do so. If you feel like you have no one else to talk to. I'm always here and I am supportive. So that being said, there is a lot of Pride events and festivals going on nationwide, and it is a big thing. And so over on the YouTube channel for the entire month of June, I'm going to be showcasing prominent LGBTQ figures and putting up some of the history of the LGBT community because there's still so much that's not known about the history. And a lot of the younger generation don't know people like Brandon Tina and Matthew Shepard and Harvey Milk and who these people were and why they are such a significant impact on the histories, laws and legislations and the reason that we have gay marriage and protection laws nowadays. I've done two episodes over on the YouTube channel. And if you want to go check that out, it's Hello, Cup. I'm sorry. If you want to check that out over on the YouTube channel, it's YouTube. Comhookeak. It's me. But the two episodes that I've done already, the very first one started off with Brandon Tina, who was a transgender man who was brutally beaten and raped. And it talks all about his experience and what he went through and like some of his earlier years and so on and so forth. And if you want to watch a movie that gives, like a really good account, look up the movie Boys Don't Cry with Hillary Swank. Then the next one that I did was on Matthew Shepherd, who was beaten and left for dead in Laramie, Wyoming, and sparked a huge movement. And his mother, Judy Shepard, created the Matthew Shepard Foundation and really has done a lot for LGBT rights and activism and getting laws signed into well, just getting laws signed and getting things moving in that direction. There's quite a few different movies on him. One of the ones that is the most prominent is called The Laramie Project. And there's also other documentaries that you can find on Matthew Shepard. When he was beaten, robbed and left for dead, he was only 21 years old. And it was a huge scandal because none of the cops or anyone really wanted to deal with the case. And

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as he laid in a coma in the hospital in the days leading up to his death, his mother found out about his HIV status and she didn't know. And I'm pretty sure he probably didn't even know. Very sad, very tragic story. The both of those. The one that I'm getting ready to do within the next day or so is on Harvey Milk and how he was the very first openly gay person to be elected into an official position in San Francisco, California. And it talks all about his history and his upbringing and some of the things that he's done or whatever. And all these people you can look up on Wikipedia, just type in Google, type in gay history characters, or you can even look up Brandon, Tina and it's spelled T-E-E-N-A. Matthew Shepherd, Harvey Milk, Stonewall, any of these things and you'll get a lot of information and get kind of an idea as to why it's such a huge thing for the LGBT community. So moving on from that trivia night, guys, we kicked, but again, you ought to know. Did really well. We maintained our third place Bronze division this week. We have to break into groups utilizing the top three scores of the people at the bar. And then we go into a sudden death match against other bars around the state. So we're really excited and nervous as fuck about this coming week. But yeah, we brought our agame and we are just like kicking butt and taking names, having a lot of fun doing so. And it really is something that I truthfully enjoy just taking part in. Yeah, just wish us luck because we're going to need it and other things that are happening right now. I'm having to deal with more drama around my biological mother. She has been in the hospital now for the last two, maybe three days and it's really difficult having to deal with her on an emotional level as well as dealing with her as a parent child level and also dealing with her on the aspect of the fact that she has been just so difficult to have as a parent.

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It's really starting to take a toll on me, but I'm pushing through it and I'm asking for guidance and strength from the universe, God, whatever the hell you want to call it. I don't get spiritual, but I've just been looking for that. Like, what do I do? How do I handle this? And I'm not alone in the decisions. My sister is there also, but she's got so much on her plate right now. I keep her informed on what's happening, but I just feel like the majority of this is falling on my shoulder. And again, it's not that I really care so much. It's just like trying to figure out what to do with somebody who wants nothing to. They don't want to do anything for themselves. She's in her seventy s, I swear to God, she's still using. I'm not sure if she is or not, but there's been a couple of times when I've talked to her and it sounded like she was high and all she wants to do is be very passive about things and not take care of herself. This last time they checked her blood sugar and her glucose meter said high on it. And then when they woke her up to tell her that they were going to take her or have the ambulance come and take her to the hospital, she got up and ran into the bathroom and barricaded herself in the bathroom. And when her roommates finally got her to open the door, she passed out and fell in the hallway and didn't remember why or how she ended up on the floor. And the paramedics came and got her and got her all stable or whatever and took her to the hospital. And I legitimately just don't know what to do with her. There's no way in hell that I will ever let her come and live with me. My sister sure as hell cannot have her live with her. She needs to be in a home. But neither one of us are on any of her medical paperwork as being power of attorney or even for HEPA and stuff like that. We're not even on her paperwork for that. So come to find out, if somebody makes you a power of attorney, they can revoke that power of attorney over you, that you have over them just by a signature or whatever and where I think that's a good idea. At the same time, in situations where children or loved ones are dealing with people who are coming into dementia or dealing with any kind of psychosis problems or whatever, they should not be allowed to do that. Like the next to kin should be able to say, this is what we need to do, and I think it's for the best. But then again, I also understand that that is a very slippery slope. So right now, she's still in the hospital. I talked to her a little while ago, and she sounded like she was doing a lot better. She's got a few issues going on with her, but she's got an appointment on Tuesday to go see her doctor. And if she can just get to that goddamn appointment, the doctor has so many things set up for her that it's not even funny. And he's going to try to get her hearing AIDS. He's going to try to get her glasses, going to try to get her dentures repaired, going to try to get her set up with a nurse, and this, that and the other thing. And it's just like, yes, this is what we need. This is what we want. Because we live over three and a half, 4 hours from where she's at. And with gas prices quickly approaching $6 a gallon, there is no way in hell that we can just hop in the car and drive down there on a whim to make sure she's okay or gets to her appointments or whatever. So it's kind of like a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation and just don't know which direction to go with it. But we're doing our best. And I'm the intermediary because my sister, she doesn't answer her phone all that often. And my phone is on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and it's very seldom, if ever, that you cannot get a hold of me, I don't know. But dealing with that right now has been kind of stressful and dealing with my own mental health issues and taking on the issues of other people in a voluntary sense. I'm starting to feel kind of like a stretched rubber band and it's just kind of like overwhelming. But at the same time, I feel a general piece and just like serenity about what's happening, how it's happening, and so on and so forth. On a little bit of a more lighter topic, I am in the process of working on my new MacBook Air that was given to me. It's new to me, not a brand new one. It's a mid 2011 model. And as I'm speaking right now doing this, I'm actually in the process of trying to upgrade it to the Oscatolina, and I found a couple of videos on YouTube on how to do that and so on and so forth. So I'm really kind of like excited to see if I can get this done. And I ordered some new memory modules off of Facebook the other day and it came out of a computer that was just recently dismantled and got a really good deal. I got 16GB of memory for like $12 plus $3 shipping and handling. So I'm really excited about that. So that will be here in a couple of days. And then once I get that, I am going to open up the computer, slap in the new memory and be just good to go from there. Still kind of looking at trying to upgrade the hard drive. It's a solid state drive and I've been watching a lot of videos on that and how to install new operating systems onto like a bootable thumb drive, and then how to use that bootable thumb drive to install a clean copy directly onto the new hard drive and stuff like that. So I'm really having a lot of fun with this. It's just sparking all of those passionate nerve endings that have died out. Like, I'm a tech geek, I love technology, I love computers, and one of my passions is kind of like obsolete technology in newer times. So some of my YouTube videos are shot on a Sony bloggy and those came out in 20 05, 20. 07, but still have an amazing quality of video quality or whatever. So I have several Bloggies and I have a couple of other little handheld camcorders or digital quarters, whatever the hell you want to call them, and I love taking older technology and pushing the limits with it and still utilizing it in today's higher tech world and just getting it to work for me. And it also kind of plays into like growing up poor, even though I still live in a very poor financially restrictive lifestyle or whatever, because of being on Social Security and being disabled and so on and so forth. I have money available to me that I didn't have money available to me as a kid or as a teenager. Also back then we didn't have stuff like Ebay or Macari or get rid of it or like any of those other buyers seller platforms. So I'm getting this technology that brand new was several hundred dollars for like $20. A lot of times. My Sony bloggy, the one that I do the most of my videos on, especially when I'm out. And about that one I spent the most money on, I spent like $60, but brand new, it was $750, I believe, or something like that. So I reuse the technologies that I get and I make it work. And sometimes it's a gamble that it works or it doesn't work or whatever. Like I just recently went to Goodwill and I bought an external keyboard for the MacBook and it didn't work because the battery on the keyboard had exploded. It takes two A's and they had exploded and corroded and basically welded and the battery cap shut. So that was 599 down the drain. But I've seen other similar keyboards on Ebay in the same condition, if not worse, going for $30, $40 for parts or what have you. So I think what I'm going to do is if I can't get this keyboard up and going, then I'm just going to sell it for parts and go that route. I've also seen other people selling the individual keys for as much as $5 a key, and I could do that too. So it's just some stuff that I got going on and really kind of enjoying working with and playing around with. But my biggest accomplishment is going to be when or if I get the new hard drive and getting that installed and getting the new OS put on there so that I can upgrade my current OS from High Sierra up to Monterey, which is what I'm planning on doing eventually. Right now I'm getting ready to go from Hi Sierra to Catalina if I can get everything situated. And so like I said, I'm excited about that. And then if I get that new hard drive, then I'll definitely be able to possibly upgrade it even to the new OS Monterey getting into entertainment news and things like that. Just recently we learned that Johnny Depp won his trial and that was like a huge Woohoo for everyone who is a Johnny Depp fan and who has been obsessed or at least keeping an ear to the ground with the trial and everything going on with Amber Heard and her BS attorney defenses and all this other stuff. So I made a huge post on my Facebook page about like, yes, Johnny, he won and all this other stuff. So really excited about that. Also, I am a huge Star Wars fan. I absolutely love Star Wars and the new Obiwan Cert miniseries is freaking phenomenal. We're only three episodes into it and I love what Disney is doing with Marvel and with Star Wars and how they are developing these like, cinema quality TV shows. And Obiwan has just re sparked my whole love of Star Wars and everything. And I can't wait for the next season of The Mandalorian to come out. And even the bookaboba Fett, they're all just really freaking amazing. I'm also all caught up with season four of Stranger Things. That has been a really amazing series. I hope that it goes on for at least three or four more seasons. Just a really fun storyline and I love the dynamic and I love the fact that we're growing up with the Scooby gang and just seeing Elle develop her powers and just like the evolution that she's gone through, the evolution with Harper and just everything, like how it all ties in together and just draws you into the characters. The other thing that I'm watching right now on Netflix is love on the spectrum, you guys, this is the most humbling and just most lovely TV show. If you don't know what it is, it's about people who are on the autism spectrum, be it that they have Asperger's or that they have some kind of developmental delay. It's them looking for love. And so many times we see people with these special needs and we don't think about their romantic needs. And it is just the most beautiful, purest thing in the world to see, like these people finding other people, just like them having a romantic connection and moving forward and developing relationships. I don't know if I mentioned this in any of my YouTube videos are on the blog or even here on the podcast, but a week ago I was at Walmart and I had a baby Yoda T shirt on our grocery for those of you who are Star Wars fans and there was an autistic young man who was walking through Walmart with his mom and you could hear him before you could ever see him. And when he saw the picture on my shirt, he's on, mom, he's got E. T. On his shirt, e T. On his shirt, mom, mom, he's got Et on his shirt and just going on and on about Et. And from a distance, it kind of does look like Et because it's a little bit of a faded image on just a black T shirt. And when he got closer, he's like, oh my gosh, that's Star Wars, that's baby grogoo and baby Yoda. I like baby Yoda. Do you like Star Wars? I like Star Wars. Hi, my name is. And I introduced myself, and I said hello. And I'm like, yeah, I love Star Wars. He's like, yeah, it's so much fun. And blah, blah, blah, blah. I was just really passionate about it. And so whenever we would see each other or pass each other in the store, he'd be like, hey, Michael with the Star Wars T shirt. And he likes Star Wars as much as I like Star Wars, mom, that's Michael. And I'd be like, hey, buddy, how are you doing? You still having fun? And just talking to him. And when I went to check out, him and his mother were in a checkout down the way from me. And as I went walking, he's like, hey, mom, the guy behind me, his name is blah, blah, blah. And that's Michael. And I was like, Bye. And I called him by his name. I was like, I hope you have a great day. He's like, you too, Michael. I hope you have a wonderful day. And his mom mouthed the words, thank you. And I just looked at her and said, I mouthed it back to her. I'm like, no problem. And I just gave her that squinched face smile and shruggy shoulders like, no problem. And he was everything that was pure, innocent, and right with the world. And it was just one of those breath of fresh air. Because in his world, everything is new and exciting and just so topical and just so fresh and raw, where everyone else is weighted down with those worries about life, worries about their marriage, their children, their parents. Like, I am. What's going on at work, what's going on with their car? Are they going to have enough money for this or the other things on and so forth. So just take a moment to step out of my everyday shoes and have this interaction with this pure, gentle soul full of love and light and just to see how excited he was and how tactile everything was for him. It was just what I needed that day. And it really put me in a good mood and has really kind of kept me in that really good mood. Like, you know what? Things could be so much worse. But just take a second to take a deep breath, look around and appreciate that you're alive. And that's the message that I kind of took from that. And maybe I'm overthinking it or took it to a spiritual level or whatever. But whenever I've been getting down over the last couple of days, I just stopped. And I close my eyes and I take a couple of really deep breaths, and I start naming off the things I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for my cat. I'm thankful for my. For being healthy, for being somewhat happy right now, for being able to see the transition from winter into spring, and just taking a moment to be grateful and thankful and that's what I encourage each and every one of you who listen to this tonight is tonight, today whenever you happen to listen to this but take a moment just to be thankful, think of the things that are going on in your world and just be happy. So guys I'm going to wrap it up now so if you have any questions, comments, concerns, get a hold of me. Hello cupcake, it's me@gmail.com and until then I will talk to you all later. Bye guys.

Participant #1:
Thank you so much for tuning in. You have been listening to hello cupcake, it's me a podcast with your host Michael Peterson. Please make sure to check back often as new episodes are released by weekly. If you have any questions, comments or concerns please feel free to send a message to hellocupcakeitsme@gmail.com and until next time stay happy, safe and keep doing the best you can with what you have been given. Bye.