If You Can’t Speak Honestly When You’re Gonna Die from the 21st Century Equivalent of Black Death...

[mallorys_camera]

Gotta say. Coronavirus is every Jewish mother’s dream!

My kids are calling me every day!

Other than that, the Apocalypse is pretty boring.

My concentration span has shrunk to roughly the size of a pea. All I seem to be capable of doing is logging on to social media so I can bicker with strangers. I’m playing both sides against the middle! If they’re Trump supporters, I lambast them for their idiot refusal to take distancing measures seriously; if they’re progressives, I ridicule them for their paranoia. It’s great fun!

I know my first covid-19 test positive! It’s the Future Mother of (Someone Else’s, Alas Not Mine) Unborn Grandchildren.

She’s a nurse practitioner, so high risk. She hasn’t gotten very sick.

Max got back together with Mia. Mia now has two (count ‘em), two boyfriends vying for her favor! While Max only has Mia.

We somehow had a conversation about this, which, of course, was extremely ill-advised on my part.

“Well, you know, I like Mia—“

“That’s the third time you’ve said that! Okay! You like Mia! But—“

I sighed. “Well. Can I be candid with you?”

“Of course!”

Shut up now, Patrizia! said the small inner voice. But when did I ever take advice from small inner voices?

“Well. She’s such an attention whore.”

Yes, I did use the word “whore.”

“She’s now the center of everyone’s attention, which of course, is exactly where she wants to be. And that’s very manipulative. And you’re setting yourself for a fall.”

Ugh! When will I ever learn to keep my mouth shut?

But if you can’t speak honestly when you’re gonna die from the 21st century equivalent of the Black Death, when can you speak honestly?

Anyway.

When I woke up this morning, I felt as though my concentration span was widening a little.

It might now be capable of transforming little squiggles on a printed page into thoughts and images in my mind, which means I can now resume reading The Mirror and the Light.

Please don’t die, Thomas Cromwell! I find myself begging Hilary Mantel’s character on every page.

But, of course, he must.

That’s history.

Comments

[gale_storm]

‘My concentration span has shrunk to roughly the size of a pea.’

Sounds like that’s about correct, for the ‘topping from the bottom’ game you’re playing with those of outsized egos! B^)

[mallorys_camera]

Is that what it's called? Topping from the bottom? I like it! 😃

[gale_storm]

Yep, that’s it! Not very much appreciated in those scenes!

[sabotabby]

Gotta say. Coronavirus is every Jewish mother’s dream!

My kids are calling me every day!

Hah! It's true. I'm worried about my mum, mentally and physically, so I check in with her multiple times a day.

This said, it's every unimpressive Jewish daughter's dream too, because she's stopped bugging me about how I'm still single and never go out.

[annie_r]

This said, it's every unimpressive Jewish daughter's dream too, because she's stopped bugging me about how I'm still single and never go out.

I LOLed.

[mallorys_camera]

Yes!!!!! GREAT line! 😃

[mallorys_camera]

This said, it's every unimpressive Jewish daughter's dream too, because she's stopped bugging me about how I'm still single and never go out.

This line literally made me howl with laughter. 😃

[sabotabby]

She admitted that my anxious, neurotic, GenX tendency to make friends over the internet rather than going outside has served me well.

[thisnewday]

"Yes, I did use the word 'whore.'” I guess you meant that she's a "whore," but not in the "good" sense, lol...

[mallorys_camera]

No, that's not what I meant.

The term "attention whore" was in common usage throughout my misspent youth, and it referred to people of either gender who kinda... extorted... (that's the best word I can think of) other people's attention through unnecessary drama etc.

I have nothing against multiple relationships. "Polyamory" as it's practiced in the 21st century is completely unappealing to me, but that's more because of its scheduling aspects—If this is Tuesday, that must be Bob!—than because of multiple relationships.

I've never thought monogamy was a particularly viable model. The human heart wanders and is enriched as it wanders.

I just don't think it's a Good Thing for Mia to insist upon having long conversations with Max about her other relationships. Which is what she seems inclined to do.

[thisnewday]

"Which is what she seems inclined to do."

I see. And I agree that this is an unfortunate, inappropriate, and potentially destructive trait. I wish you and Max both insight and strength in dealing with it...

[mallorys_camera]

Oh, trust me. I am not gonna talk to Max about his relationship with Mia again! 😀

[gale_storm]

Oh, yeah, I do remember the term ‘attention whore’! Never had it leveled at me, though.

And polyamory is a great idea, I think, even though I just don’t work that way on some basic level. Lotta my friends do it, though, in different circumstances — and, I almost wrote ‘circumstains’! :-D

[rebeccmeister]

We have to forgive ourselves if our attention spans are like this for some period of time. Human brains aren't great at dealing with this kind of nonsense.

I love your description of the current intellectual ping-pong games you're playing.

By the way, Forbes posted a super-annoying article about why scientists are currently concluding that the virus was not human-manufactured. After a bunch of stupid bloviating, it finally talks briefly about the biological evidence. I'm not going to hunt down a link for you but there it is. :^D

[mallorys_camera]

Forbes posted a super-annoying article

Ha, ha. I'll try to track it down before Alex Jones invites me to be a podcast guest. 😃

[rebeccmeister]

Yeah, sorry, I refuse on principle to provide a link to utter crap, plus I don't remember which computer that was on and I've read like 10 things subsequently. It's probably not TOO hard to track down.

By the way, I am of course continuing to enjoy your updates. I just got the 'concerned mother-in-law' text this morning. She is in her 80s and is one of those people who is 'bored' and more than happy to Minnesota-polite dominate one's internal monologue endlessly. Classic mother-in-law behavior, which is super boring and tedious, and I ain't got time for that right now, or almost ever, if I can help it.

(we did accommodate a visit here this past fall while I was slammed with teaching responsibilities, don't get me wrong, and we visited her this past summer. It's S's dad who we're more worried about right now, who lives in an extremely rural trailer home in Iowa. But not a whole lot we can really do right now other than try and think about what to do about all of the cats when he dies).

[mallorys_camera]

Yeah, as the mother of two sons, I try to be an unclassic mother-in-law. Humble and placating that's me! 😃