Luck

[mallorys_camera]

Another one of those nights where I woke up at 1 am and then had to will myself back to sleep resulting in a strange Venus-flytrap-like dreamlife…

None of which I can remember.

###

I did not cram for the TaxBwana IRS certification, which means I’m gonna have to do that today.

Also, I did not start the new Remunerative Project. Which the client gave me a massive retainer toward. So I will have to finish it sooner rather than later.

In fact, I did practically nothing yesterday. And enjoyed it! Though doing nothing is not a particularly ambitious auger for the coming year.

In the late afternoon, I did go for that hike in Norrie Park, which ends up with a view of the Mills Mansion, another one of those Big Houses built by the various spawn of the e-e-evil Livingston dynasty.

Also, Mrs. Neighbor Ed has contracted COVID again. I don’t understand how she contracted COVID given that she and Neighbor Ed both had it first a mere six weeks ago, and also, she’s a nurse practitioner, so verily, the most vaccinated, boostered person on the planet.

###

“At this point, I don’t believe a single thing the CDC says,” I shocked someone at my New Year’s Eve dinner party by remarking.

And I don’t.

Though really, I should have kept my mouth shut.

And when my companion went big-eyed and asked, “What do you mean?” I had the sense to say, “Oh, never mind. It’s not important.”

But the CDC is a bureaucracy. And like all bureaucracies, its prime directive is to make itself unexpendable. Which it has attempted to do throughout the pandemic by layering more and more rules for dealing with COVID even though I suspect the CDC actually knows remarkably little about COVID and instead is operating as a kind of government-funded front for making an unruly populace more manageable.

More and more people are masking up in stores, I see.

I’m even considering masking up myself.

Though less to keep myself COVID-free—I’ve never thought that masks did the slightest bit of good at keeping you COVID-free; I think the liberal use of Purell keeps you COVID-free—and more as a form of virtue-signaling, the most rabid anti-maskers in these parts being unrepentant Trumpers.

###

The best habit I got into in 2022 was reading Al Jazeera every morning for half an hour or so.

American mainstream media is awful unless you’re interested in boning up on Kim Kardashian’s latest liposuction procedure, but it’s particularly awful when it comes to international news.

Al Jazeera tells you what’s going on in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Central America, South America—even Russia.

This morning, Al Jazeera published a piece on Bangladeshi refugees living in Hong Kong, which—for whatever reason—really resonated with me.

Bangladesh has a population roughly half the size of the U.S.'s population, and they're all crammed into the 41,000-square-mile area around the Ganges River delta. It is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change.

I should never complain about anything in my life ever again, I thought after reading the piece.

Though, of course, I will.

So many people living in such abject misery!

I am really lucky to have the life I have.

Comments

[rebeccmeister]

I don't disagree with you regarding the CDC, but from having reviewed the primary evidence to a reasonably extensive degree, I will continue to assert that COVID is airborne. A lot of Americans have been trying to downplay the importance of indoor air quality for a very long time.

Perhaps your neighbors didn't clear the prior infection as fully as they thought.

And also, I've definitely stuck with a lot of improved handwashing behaviors, because COVID is but one of the many fun malaises we can catch from our fellow disgusting human beings. College students are an especially interesting breed of disgusting human.

[mallorys_camera]

Oh, I know COVID is airborne. I suppose my thought is that it's airborne to six feet as a common exhalation, farther if expelled by coughing or sneezing. These days, even Trumpers seem to understand that if you're coughing and sneezing, you stay home. Anyway, I figure if I adhere to the six-foot rule and Purell religiously, I'll stay safe. Knock on wood!

When I went to a Messiah performance recently, I masked up. Because singing propels particles.

Perhaps your neighbors didn't clear the prior infection as fully as they thought.

Right. I guess what I'm wondering is why her recent COVID infection didn't give her some level of natural immunity. I assume the present infection is a different variant. But if getting infected with one variant of COVID keeps you susceptible to different variants of COVID, that's kind of scary.

[wayfaringwordhack]

So many people living in such abject misery!

I am really lucky to have the life I have.

Indeed, perspective is good for all of us

[mallorys_camera]

Yup. And I need to remember this perspective.

[wayfaringwordhack]

Aye, and sadly it is one that slips away or goes askew a bit too easily. :-/