Anthurium no. 0290 "RuPaul Charles"

So the last thing I'd heard, season 7 of RuPaul's Drag Race was supposed to premiere yesterday, March 2, but when I checked on March 1 it was already up at LOGO's website, which was confusing. LOGO's been weird about the timing of the premiere for months now: for a long time they wouldn't name a specific date at all, and then they gave a few different dates, and after seeming to settle on one they don't even stick to it? But then the husband and I watched it on Sunday night¹ and all became clear: they were debuting everything except for the final judging at the end, so the actual debut really was yesterday and everything makes sense again. In any event, the point is that I was trying to time this bloom's debut to coincide with the beginning of Drag Race, which I have now done even if it was confusing and adds very little to the post itself.

I'd also like to take the moment to note that one of this season's contestants, Sasha Belle, is from Iowa City, so if she seems at all pleasant on the show, I feel like I kind of have to root for her.²

Anyway. So #0290 "RuPaul Charles." Here she is:

The weird margins are, I think, the result of some kind of stress or damage while the bud was developing, and not something we should expect from every inflorescence, but at least they're symmetrical, and they kinda make it look cool. (Right? It looks cool?)

Eight days later, the spathe did that annoying back-flip thing that spathes often do, rendering the bloom more or less impossible to photograph.

So that was a little disappointing. But I've learned not to assume too much from a first bloom. We'll see if Ru gets her act together in subsequent bloomings.

The foliage is nice.[2] Ru's parents were probably the NOID red and 'White Gemini:' I know 'White Gemini' was the seed parent, and anything with brown new leaves like this probably has the NOID red in its background somewhere.

Final assessment? It's okay. Not my favorite seedling by a long shot, but it has potential, maybe, especially if it can be induced to bloom again, or if I can get it pollinated. We'll see how it goes.

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¹ On LOGO's spectacularly terrible website, which is so loaded with ads and trackers and goodness knows what else that it is almost impossible to navigate and frequently crashes. My interpretation is that the entire website is some kind of passive-aggressive attempt at getting us to sign up for cable, which we will never do because our local cable TV monopoly, like all cable TV monopolies, is awful to deal with in every conceivable respect (signing up for service, getting service, calling for repairs, getting repairs, pricing tiers, billing, billing disputes, closing accounts, etc.). So I feel like LOGO's just abusing us for no reason, which some pretty ballsy behavior coming from a network with one good show.
² She also does shows at the club/bar where the husband and I met, which is another small reason to root for her, though she wasn't actually working there that long ago and I've never actually seen her perform in person. And probably never will, because clubs are loud and I am old and the whole thing just seems like it would be totally miserable for me. But I, you know, support her from afar. I guess. In theory. She seemed okay in the 20 minutes or so I've seen.

Saturday morning Sheba and/or Nina picture

This is a little blurry because it was taken (via a side mirror) while the car was in motion, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

This week was the anniversary week of bringing Sheba home from the shelter. I checked my personal journal to confirm this, and ran into the list of names we were considering for her.

One option I'd considered privately, but didn't include in the poll, was "Pandora," after the contestant from Season 2 of RuPaul's Drag Race, and I kinda wish I'd gone with that now, since it's nicely symmetrical with Nina (also a RPDR contestant name) and Pandora is my favorite from that season, like Nina was my favorite from the first season.

This would have obligated us to get a third pet a year later, who we would have had to name Yara, and then a fourth pet this year named Chad, Sharon, or Latrice,¹ so it's probably all for the best that I never got started down this particular road. We only have just so much in the budget for pet food. (Though the idea of a pet guinea pig named Yara is surprisingly compelling. . . .)

But.

I am occasionally still bothered by the name "Sheba." It's not that I find it objectionable on its own; it's just that we didn't pick it out, so there's no personal significance to her name; it doesn't reflect our tastes or whatever. And then sometimes I'm concerned when we're telling someone else her name, that they'll think we picked it out, and I want to make sure they know we didn't, which doesn't even make sense because it's not like Fervor wouldn't come across as way more off-putting and harder to explain.² In any case, I'd wondered whether going with the shelter-assigned name would bother me, back when we were making the decision, and it turns out that yes, it does. Lesson learned.

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¹ I can't decide on a favorite this year! On the one hand, Sharon Needles is originally Iowan, and very weird and creative (I'm particularly fond of her plastic surgery and pea-green/coral glam outfits.), and has the best name.
But Latrice, though not quite as fabulous with the outfits (check out her Ursula hair and makeup, though), is still a lot of fun to watch, and it would be awfully nice for a big girl to win a season, especially after stick-thin Raja won last year.
Chad Michaels has done the most outfits I've found jaw-dropping (the gold/hologram dress, the Florence Welch dress, and most recently an AMAZING green 50s politician's-wife number (full view, close-up).
I don't ordinarily give a damn about fashion, but it seems like there's always one runway outfit every week that I find fascinating, and I've become mildly obsessed with the show this year, which is new. The point being that I have no idea who is my favorite for Season 4. I'd be happy with Chad, Sharon, or Latrice as winner, though I think if I were forced to choose one, I'd pick Chad.
Which would make a terrible pet name.
² Our next dog will of course be named "Rural Juror."