I Survived Resident Evil 7

[jpegghost]

I REALLY need to get in the habit of posting on here again. I genuinely enjoyed detailing my days, even if it's boring af for everyone. I need to play catch up. The EFFORT. UGH.

I'm almost at the end of my tattoo apprenticeship! Yay! I have like 3 tattoos to do this week (for free), which I'm enthralled about. I wonder if I should post them? HMMM.

Alex's birthday was a few days ago and we had a gay old time. Alex had a party yesterday at a kitschy tiki bar with a bunch of his friends and he had like 7 drinks. I'm the perpetual designated driver so I was okay with it. We have so many mixers at home I figured I could make my own drinks for free lol

Let me think of something recent story worthy...

OH. When I was in bumfuck MAGA country for my birthday!

The weekend of my birthday took place in Fredericksburg, Texas. Alex had been there over 4 years ago (important!) and said it was a little German village. Awesome! Cool! I love German food and I can speak a little Deutsch. We set up an AirBnB, got a reservation for dinner, and went.

It only went downhill from there. Going to Fredericksburg, we realized how many people without masks were there ... (This is in May, when the Texas vaccination rate was awful) And there were quite a few red hats. Okay. Weird. Moving on. We walk around, notice we are getting a LOT of strange looks (we weren't even holding hands!). There's a surprisingly low amount of German ... Anything. It's all replaced with Pampered Chef and hunting stores. Alex keeps saying "I don't remember it being like this ..."

We go to the German restaurant. Notice there's not a lot of German... anything. A lot of American flags. No one has a mask. "Less Government, More Beer" banners. The German food has been replaced with burgers, fries, and chili. There's a miniscule German food section. Something is wrong.

We see a server. MAGA hat. Then, the back of his shirt, as he walks away ... It says: "It's not about who votes, it's who counts the votes - Joseph Stalin"

Okay, that's enough. I'm out of here. We leave the restaurant after a very tense and uncomfortable dinner where we notice we are being stared at by patrons. We decide we will have fun and drink at the Airbnb ... Except when we go to the Valero gas station to get drinks, Proud Boys are watching us at the end of every aisle. This is very wrong. Alex keeps apologizing, saying "It wasn't like this when I was here!"

So we leave at 4 AM because we can not handle being gay men in such a crazy yeehaw town. I looked it up, and it appears that many things in Fredericksburg were owned by German immigrants, which were recently bought out by many rich Conservatives because cheap land, and these douches replaced the unique shops with basic stores. Somewhere along the way, Qanon and Trump supporters ended up in the mix and it became a hostile scenario. I have never been so uncomfortable in a town before! It's hilarious now, imo.

Comments

[amejisuto]

Hi there! So glad to hear from you! Yay for your tattoo apprenticeship is almost over! That's great!

Sounds like y'all got out of that town just in time! That would have scared the crap out of me. Like Stepford Wives only with Trump.

You'll have to post pics of your tattoos here, I'd love to see what you're doing! That is, if you're allowed.

[dark_phoenix54]

Good to see you back! When you're doing tattoos, is there some sort of temporary design that's put on the skin for the person to follow, or do you have to be able to freehand a design on flesh- which doesn't seem like the easiest substrate to draw on? That's awesome that you're almost done with your apprenticeship.

That town sounds terrifying- glad you bailed out. That's sad that the fuckheads have taken it over. Even this town I live in (well, just outside of) isn't quite that bad. We actually had the first Pride event on Saturday, which amazed me. I still wouldn't call it safe for gay people in a couple of the bars.

[jpegghost]

Hi!! I'm really bad at updating this, and also there's so much work drama that I don't involve myself in I don't even know where to start ...

I can do both, but it's preferable to make a stencil through a thermofax. It's like a temporary tattoo, and then the artist draws over it with the tattoo machine.

There were definitely no gay pride events happening where we were -- I think there was a Trump rally or two there too.

[jpegghost]

Hi Ame! I'm back! I'm bad at updating because I'm often very tired from work.

It felt like a joke! I couldn't believe a town could get so warped?! How! In only 4 years!

I think I can! I may make my profile private just so people don't reverse image search and try to find out where I work lol

[beanside]

Yay for almost being done your apprenticeship!

Your birthday sounds a little horrifying, but I'm glad you can laugh about it now!

[amejisuto]

I understand, I just think of you sometimes and wonder how you're doing.

What really scares me is that there are more towns out there like that. Idiots, the lot of them.

Don't know how to make it private but I'd just love to see something you've sketched. I'm glad you've found a new job that you like so much!

[alee_grrl]

Congrats on being almost done with your apprenticeship!!! That's awesome!

And damn, that would be a hell of a terrifying experience. I'm glad you can laugh about it now. But also very glad y'all left when you did. <3 <3 <3

[jpegghost]

Thanks Manda! I am happy we left too, it was very obvious a gay AND mixed race couple wasn't allowed there.

[jpegghost]

I'm almost there! Yeah it sucked at the time but by the time we were on the road home we were already making jokes about it.

[jpegghost]

That's so sweet, thank you!

Yeah, I think it's lots of misinformation and uh ... Unsure. I think since a lot of these towns become dirt poor when coal dries up, they become a hotbed of drugs, alcoholism, and evangelism since they have nothing else to turn to. At least, that's what happens in Appalachia.

[alee_grrl]

Ugh, places like that are horrifying. I'm sorry you had to experience it at all.

[amejisuto]

I don't know, I live in the heart of coal country here in WV, and I don't think it would be as weird here as what you described. Thank the Gods.

[azurelunatic]

A transformation that alarming and quick could have only happened with a lot of money! Glad you got out of there safely enough for it to be hilarious in retrospect.

[jpegghost]

I think I told you my mom is from WV (Wheeling). Wheeling seems pretty liberal tbh, but my experience with Virginia-Appalachia is very similar to that. God, Guns, Beer, and Trump.

[jpegghost]

Extremely alarming! We noticed driving in that a LOT of new breweries and wineries were about, when before it was apparently only peach orchards and tiny roadside stands... Weird!

[amejisuto]

Yeah, my building managers are Trump fans. I just keep my mouth shut so I don't get myself in trouble. If they want to listen to that asshat, that's their problem.

[switterbeet]

Yiiiiiiiii. That sounds harrowing. It sucks when you're all excited about a place and then when you take someone there it's different turned into a MAGA-horrorshow.