I am writing this on Friday. That’s important because my next Ozempic dose is on Saturday. I woke up this morning feeling horny. I’m not saying that my libido is back, but I felt stirrings down there. This makes sense if Ozempic is the problem. I’m the furthest from my previous dose, and the grip the drug has on my brain is at its lowest point for the week. As of today, I’ve lost ten pounds. That’s an average of 2.5 pounds a week. I’m happy with that.
Another, more common side effect that is also bothering me is stomach issues. This happens most of the time when starting the drug. They aren’t serious and should go away soon. There’s a chance my libido problem has nothing to do with the drug. I plan to stick it out for a while, no pun intended. The plan is to increase the dose to 2mg in three weeks. We’ll see.
Ozempic (semaglutide) is a fairly new class of drug that works on a molecular level to help the body control blood sugar. It turns out that it also reduces the chance of stroke and heart attack. In large doses, it also changes the way the appetite center of the brain processes hunger. This change causes weight loss and maintenance at the ideal weight. Discovering this benefit started scientists thinking about why people get fat. Maybe it’s brain chemistry and not a lack of self-control. The weight loss dosage of semaglutide is 2.4 mg per week. My target dose in the diabetes type II version is 2.0 mg. I figure that is close enough to 2.4 mg to give me both benefits if I can tolerate the drug. The weight-loss version of semaglutide is Wyzulta. Almost no health insurance covers it. Most cover Ozempic.
Mrs. Lion has been very understanding of my current situation. If I continue feeling better today, maybe she will test-drive my libido. I’m also overdue for a punishment day spanking. We’ll have to see how my digestive system behaves.
And now for something completely different
My last job was with Disney. I was in the parks and resorts technology area. I’m not giving away too much by revealing this, but it’s relevant to what I want to say. I dreamt of working there since I was a little kid. I begged my parents to take me to Disneyland, but they never did. I finally got there when I was thirty. It was one of two things that turned out way better than I imagined. The other was sex.
Anyway, I’ve had a lifelong love affair with the company and its products. During my career I also worked for other tech giants. It was usually unpleasant when people found out where I worked. I either was asked for tech support or had to listen to a litany of complaints about the company and its products. Not so with Disney.
Without fail, every time someone learned where I worked, I was treated to a story about how a Disney cast member at a park improved their experience. Imagine working for a company that people love. The people who work there are happy. When I went for my job interview, everyone in the office was happy and helpful. That’s rare in a tech area.
I had to make numerous business trips to Disney World. I stayed in the resort hotels inside the park. Mrs. Lion accompanied me on a few trips. The company was happy to have families come along. When I wasn’t working, we got to explore the parks. It was wonderful. The attractions were as much as they were when I first stepped onto Main Street in Anaheim. Tears came to my eyes then, and they still do every time I visit.
An article appeared on Fox News complaining about changes in Disney culture. It was written by a typical Fox Trumpie. She complained that Disney was being destroyed by the “woke” minority. That’s a pejorative applied to liberal Americans who fight for equality and fairness. Her argument was that a new sort of “correctness” (my word, not hers) is destroying the beloved company.
She pointed out that announcements at Disney World are no longer, “Ladies and Gentlemen.” They don’t want to offend the other genders. She bemoaned the closing of Splash Mountain because its theme was the “Song of the South” movie that Disney made a half-century ago. They pulled that film from all media long ago. The “woke” people, the columnist complained, objected to its racism. I never saw the movie. I know it was based on Uncle Remus’s stories. You know, Brer Rabbit. The log flume ride will reopen with a less politically charged theme in a couple of years.
Apparently, there are a lot of other changes as well. She bemoaned them. Now, she would almost certainly consider me one of the hated woke people. I am proud to be one. Still, I see nothing wrong with Disney maintaining the traditional content of its parks. If it wants to put up signs warning that the attraction might offend some people, OK. But leave our childhood memories alone.
As a company, Disney isn’t an entirely happy place. It’s been sued numerous times by employees. When furloughs were announced in our area, the oldest cast members, including me, were first to go. Yes, there are senior citizens working at Disney. They are a tiny minority. You need extremely valuable skills to get a job there if you are over fifty. They routinely deny this. I may be wrong. It’s just my observation.
The reason I’m mentioning all of this is that for the first time, I agree with one of the Fox News assholes. Sure, her stupid chanting of “woke, woke” destroys the editorial quality of her piece, but her facts are right. Disney is the tip of a dangerous arrow that is aimed at the heart of our culture. Sure, the white, middle class was seriously racist. Apologists have been trying to “correct” these wrongs for decades. More recently, LBGT groups have the microphone and are trying to change the way we use pronouns.
I don’t want anyone to feel excluded. I expect everyone to understand that the past can’t be erased. Stalinist revision of history, like the changes at Disney parks, is just as offensive as the racial and sexual slurs the changes try to correct. The beauty of the Disney experience is its innocence. Sure, it might show some now-politically-incorrect stereotypes. That’s unavoidable when we want to visit our past.
I have a feeling Walt is spinning in his grave, or his ashes are blowing in the wind, or his hot anger is heating up the cryo chamber his body is in for future revivification. Walt started as a Democrat, but by the time WWII started he was very much on the right politically, even making anti-fascist films on his own dime.
Disneyworld, and Disneyland brass were always conservative in terms of the teens and young people who worked at various jobs at their theme parks in the public eye. Hair length for boys, hair styles for girls, skirt or dress length, shoe styles, personal grooming and proper hygiene were always monitored and young employees were expected to respect these company rules.
At one time, Disney discouraged homosexuals from visiting their parks.
Walt Disney may have died in 1966, due to complications from lung cancer, but his views on clothing, sex, manners, and the like lived on until recently. Nowadays, it seems execs at Disney have “woke”n up to the diverse changes in American culture, and tolerance of sexual differences and changing mores.
On reflection though, Walt may have actually been more tolerant of changing America, without necessarily embracing these changes, personally. Walt had women in executive positions, hired an African-American with radical leftist views to steer the animated film, “Song of the South”, hired Jews when many male WASP’s would not, and was very philanthropic towards Jewish organization including a Jewish orphanage, a quasi-military organization that fought for a Jewish homeland at the time the land that would become the nation of Israel was under English mandate, and was named B’nai Brith’s and Hadassah’s Man of The year in the 1950’s.
You have most of your facts right. The Disney dress code was in effect as late as 2019. It still is for Cast Members in the parks. Facilal hair was allowed, but not scruffy faces. Cast Members who wanted a mustchache or beard would grow them on vacation. The dress code wasn’t enforced in the remote offices. Walt is buried in Forest Lawn. He was a complicated man. Frustrated by the nasty way he was treated when he started in Hollywood, he became a bitter, racist, antisemetic man. Yes, he did hire a few black people and jews, but the Walt Disney Company had strict divides for the sexes. The Ink and Paint group was always all women, for example. He was far to the right of almost everyone. That didn’t stop him from doing the right thing when needed.
I am disturbed by the Florida laws restricting free speech. Bob Chapik came out against the “don’t talk about gay” law after a near revolution by Disney World Cast Members. I absolutely agree with his objections, but as a stockholder, I think it was unwise to get involved in Florida politics. Political discussions have always been off limits at work. My time with the company was a dream come true. It was the first time I worked for a company where almost everyone was happy.