Tag: COVID-19

Posted on

Okay, I’m officially bored

I know, how is that possible with all the turmoil, yet here I am.

I’m completely over the constant diet of fear, tragedy, destruction, and protests.

I killed the Twitter account, don’t have FaceBook, hell I’ don’t even use Google. I’m not paying for Apple News or Apple TV+. I avoid the CNN, CBS, MSNBC, and ABC free streaming services. Having long since cut the Cable. 

Scanning the various online newspapers around the country is monolithic, they all say the same thing. Riots, Burning, Looting, Police bad, police defunded, White people racist, Orange Man Bad, Corona gonna get ya, social Distancing, wear a mask as a symbol of solidarity, blah, blah, blah.

At this point it’s all so bad it’s depressing as shit.

For the first time in many years, I’m glad I don’t live closer to cities. I’m 2.5 hours away from San Diego, 90 minutes from Orange County, 90 minutes from LA and that’s just fine with me. The only thing cities give me is a place to work, drink or shop. Since all that is in the shitter… Burn it all down,  or don’t, I honestly don’t give a shit anymore. 

Our nation has become something that could have been in the pages of a prequel to Orwell’s 1984, or Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.

I’ve had quite enough.

I feel bad for the Police, I feel bad for those few friends that may be in the middle of it all. But my empathy is running dry. 

It’s all become noise, I choose not to listen. Come up to my house wanting to cause trouble and we’ll see how that goes. If I win, you go home in an ambulance or a body bag, If I lose then I’m dead and none of this matters to me anymore either.

I’m tired of the battle.

Go do whatever you want to do just don’t drag me into your dramatic bullshit.

One thing that does astound me is that I’ve always attempted to be egalitarian. What’s good for me is generally good for you and vice versa.

Obviously I missed the memo telling me that it was okay to be a complete asshole. Gee, I could have had all kinds of fun, had it not been for my damn moral compass.

You know the compass that was set with basic principals? The one based in the biblical 10 commandments, the one that assumed the founding principals and subsequent amendments to the principals of this country were sound ideas. Things like inalienable rights and freedom to pursue happiness, little concepts like that.

Add into that basic mix the concept put fourth by the poem “The Hangman” by Maurice Ogden, and I’ve taken action throughout my life to step in, and step up, against wrongs when I encounter them. Mix in a little classical Greek literature and some SciFi wherein the writers imagined how wrong things could go as cautionary tales and you end up with someone like me.

Someone who believes in a basic premise of; do no harm, make few enemies, be loyal and true, be honorable, treat everyone equally but with a hint of suspicion (because not everyone is honorable,) live well by the sweat of your own labor, ask for little, be helpful, honest, and kind.

And yet, after living my life to those standards and being a law abiding (Okay, I speed), do right kind of guy, now suddenly I’m a bad guy for no other reason than I’ve worked my ass off to have nice things.

Obviously I’m a fucking moron!

Hindsight being 20/20 I should have literally, and figuratively FUCKED everyone I encountered, pressed every advantage and made no choices based on morality, kindness, or ethics.

God knows, had I done that, I’d be a lot better off financially than I am. My dick would have seen a lot more action to boot. I wouldn’t have much soul left, but I could be eating $40 bowls of ice cream not worrying about how I would pay my bills for the month.

When confronted with someone like me, the highly educated elite academics say that I still had white male privilege I’m therefore automatically guilty, even if I didn’t use that privilege.

Yeah, you get no credit for not using something, you’re damned because you had it from the get go.

I guess it’s like the concept of Original Sin. You just have to take it on faith because someone in authority says it’s so. Don’t forget, you’re not allowed to call into question the source of someone’s authority.

It’s against this backdrop that not only am I bored as shit of all this, I’m actively avoiding technology of almost any kind.

Voice messages, texts, emails, all accumulate on various devices and I’m simply not interested.

I find myself reading books if I’m not outside doing something, (or trying to do something,) constructive. 

The latest of these is The AR-15 Complete Assembly Guide by Walt Kuleck with Clint McKee. No, I’m not going all survivalist. I couldn’t buy ammo anyway, as I have zero patience to navigate asinine gun laws living as I do, in California. I’m surprised I could even buy the book here.

I figure if I need one, I’ll go buy one in South Central LA, or San Diego near the border from one of the cartels. I can probably pick up a couple thousand rounds of ammo too. Oh, don’t get your panties in a knot. I use that example, as a way to highlight just how stupid the California gun laws are. 

Think about it, in order to exercise my Constitutionally protected right to own a firearm, the easiest way to get one, is the same way criminals get one. Illegally! Cash & Carry, who knows, I might be able to buy one from the Fast and Furious exercise in stupidity.

Anyhoo, I just was curious about these “mysterious, scary” machines. How better to learn about them, than by reading about how they’re assembled? It’s better than the daily newsfeed and remarkably less violent or depressing. Another advantage is that it’s a physical book with pages and diagrams.

There are folks who’d say, “You’re just not reacting well to change,” They might be right, if this was change. Increasingly, this is feeling more like we’re all in a bad movie trailer. 

When the statistics for Covid from multiple sources don’t line up. When some college students demand easier grading for persons of color, (Which by the way is racist as hell,) and no-one calls them out on their hypocrisy, when the statistics about who the police are more likely to kill during apprehension don’t fit the narratives, when average police feel the need to lay down on the ground, or kneel, out of some sense… of what? Guilt?

Well then folks, I’m not interested in playing anymore.

I, like a lot of Americans am voting in November a straight Law & Order ballot. 

I’m sick of the bullshit! All these people think times were tough the past few years, wait till they get a load of what things look like when the pendulum swings conservative.

I’m gonna take a little break. If you don’t see anything here, or I don’t answer your email or text or call instantly, don’t worry I’m just fine. I’m on a break and the tech is turned off.

 

Posted on

Wow! Whitmer is really being painted negatively.

221059_5_.jpgI saw this and spit my coffee out.

Holy cow! 

She’s been in the news a lot lately and rightfully so because of her draconian orders regarding the MI lockdown. 

I never expected to see something like this over my morning coffee.

Kudos to Mike Harris @ mikeharrisartwork.wordpress.com

It’s high time we continued the tradition of lambasting politicians in cartoon and caricature.

Keep up the good work Mr. Harris. We all need good single frame editorials.

 

Posted on

Every Day is Exactly the Same

Today is a stream of consciousness blog:

I wake up get my coffee, check my email, scan the news, and then the day blurs into yesterday, and the day before, and before, and before.

This morning I woke up with the Nine Inch Nails song, Every Day is Exactly the Same running through my head.

Generally speaking I like Nine Inch Nails. I’m not sure about hearing them in my head at 6:00am.

Oh there’s some slight variation around the house but really it’s all the same. BORING! 

My head is feeling muddy I’m not able to really think or process much and with each passing day I’m thinking less and less. I can’t get into reading anything and I’m having a hard time focusing on or learning new things, even those things that I want to do.

This malaise has recently been strongly highlighted with the realization that I haven’t been practicing guitar like I should have been. My left hand is not as strong as it should be, or was. It occurred to me that even if I’m not learning something new I should just be running scales to keep the hand strength and dexterity.

So I’ve got the acoustic guitar sitting on a stand next to my desk as a reminder that if I do nothing else playing scales is better than nothing. It’s working too. I’m picking up the guitar often during the day. It is providing a mental break from looking for a job, and worry.

Writing is slow and I’m not making a lot of progress. Even posting a blog is hard whereas before all this tedium, blogging was fast and the thoughts flowed out of my addled brain.

A plumber is coming today to take care of water related issues around the house. Stuff is just wearing out and I hate plumbing with a passion. So he’s going to be around here taking care of multiple issues.

In preparation for the work I pulled my car out of the garage and parked it at a kind neighbor’s place. I’d washed and waxed it the other day and this was the first time I’d had it out in the sunlight since. Looks like I did an okay job. 

As I was walking back from the neighbors house, I looked at the front lawn. It was then that I realized I hadn’t been out front (and paying attention) for a while. I need to get out there and do some weed whacking. 

To fight the boredom and as a possible hedge against continued supply line disruptions, I ordered some above ground planters. My intention is to use some sunny space in the back yard to grow vegetables. It appears that I can get one harvest, possibly two depending on the vegetable.

It probably wont make too big a dent in the overall scheme of things but it will pass the time. I like fresh veggies and there are a number of varieties that will grow even at this altitude. I’ve gone with the raised boxes because the soil here is rather poor and it’s unlikely that I could amend the soil in the back yard enough to get decent yields.

God only knows how much it’s going to cost to fill these planters with good soil, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.. I think the next week is going to be about bringing the sprinklers online for the yard in general. I’ll have to find the line that’s never been used. It’s buried around the perimeter of the deck. My plan is to make that line a drip watering line for the veggies. I can always re-task it later, if need be.

I’m trying to make some of the days different. If for no other reason than otherwise I’ll go quietly insane. 

I noticed NASA was hiring folks to participate in an 8 month long Mars mission simulation. That might be a tough sell after this lockdown. On the other hand I’d actually consider it, after I’ve had some time to be out & about interacting with other people. 

3 months, 8 months, there’s not much difference. Give me my computer, my guitar, occasional company, and an airlock & I’d be fine. The airlock would be so that I could practice guitar without driving other people crazy.

I’d imagine that there wouldn’t be much bandwidth to surf the net or watch movies, given that it’s supposed to be a simulation. If you’re simulating, you’d also have to simulate the time lag between Earth and Mars. Even at the speed of light radio takes time to get to Mars and back to Earth.

But I could write and study. I’m sure that there are routine maintenance duties to be performed in such a simulation. You’d have to maintain the O2 & C02 Scrubbers. There’s probably going to be some kind of hydroponics. and activities in some kind of environmental suits outside the habitat.

Those duties would probably be an opportunity to learn some interesting things too. Hell, I could see learning stuff from the other participants and perhaps teaching what I know to them. I’d probably be journaling a lot more too. 

I’m sure that there’s a huge psychological component to be observed. How people navigate the annoying habits of their co-workers when you have to deal with them 24/7 and other social issues.

Certainly a lot of those kinds of studies have been done on the ISS and in submarines over the years. I’m not terribly sure what new information could be gained except to say those studies have been performed on highly trained exceptional individuals and this study looks like it might be trying to collect information about what happens when more “average” folks are placed in stressful situations.

Who knows, they might just need or want a pragmatic jack of all trades, master of none, in their mix, just to see where it goes.