Black Rhino Mates Kendi & Aria (Taken by Darren 5.26.22) |
It's Monday morning and I decided that instead of just doomscrolling through my phone and pretending like I'm attempting sleep, I'd just catch up with work and this post so I can move on to all the others that I need to get on with.
I don't really need to rehash what a horrifying week it was. The massacre of children in Uvalde and then the back and forth on every news outlet, as if "both sides" even deserve a voice. Give me a break. I try not to even get into it because I am an extremist. I don't just want "common sense" gun laws or the cute memes of how hard it is to get a driver's license or an abortion applied to guns - I want them GONE. That whole "they're coming for our guns!" is a dream to me. A completely unrealistic, not happening in my lifetime fantasy, but fuck you and your guns and anyone equating gun-ownership to a "God-given" right is even more example of why I'm an atheist.
And then we still have COVID-19 lingering and everyone is fighting over the CDC's risk maps vs transmission maps and Dr. Walensky is making an ass of herself on Twitter about masking and people assessing their 'personal risk' even when almost everywhere has 'high transmission'. Nova is presently sick and though she's negative on the COVID tests, we're treating her like she has it and I'm not really taking any chances...today I left her to binge Stranger Things and escaped to Sea World since they were open until 9 and now it's nearly 5am and she'll get up soon which is precisely when I'll go to bed.
And speaking of COVID... I read so many articles and news things in a day that I can't really remember the sources of some information, but common sense here: airplanes claim to have frequent air exchanges and HEPA filtering, but when you're sitting in an airport, or waiting to board, or going through the boarding process, or sitting/taxiing on a runway, those air filtration systems are generally not on, so if you're traveling, wear a goddamn N-95 from the time you walk into an airport until the moment you're outside after arriving at your destination.
As I said, it was a hard week all around. And that doesn't even touch the continuing attack on Ukraine, the obvious supply problems, the chaos private equity firms are causing on all sectors of the economy, or the stupid new lease from my new property management for an apartment I've lived in for TEN YEARS. I'm angry and I'm sad and I'm frustrated and the only thing I know to do is to get my ass out of bed every day, take a shower every day, and find some joy, every day, whether that's going to the San Diego Zoo or Sea World or driving and singing at the top of my lungs to an old favorite album that I haven't listened to in far too long. I hope you can find the same kind of joy.
Stay safe out there. And worry not, the tourists will all go back home soon enough.