COVID-19 - Day 174

So it's been 174 days since we were first told to do a lockdown in California.

Been quite the shitshow since then.

Things were looking okay for a while, then the Memorial Day holiday in May rolled around and folks got stupid. And then California went for the gold with the higest number of COVID-19 cases in the United States, which has the highest number of cases in the world. USA!

As if that wasn't enough, our fire season kicked off in earnest here. The Pacific Coast has fires running almost the length of it, or did for a while. God, the smoke! There was a day some weeks back when everthing had a weird sepia tint to it that was otherworldly. And then the air quality the next day went to shit, becoming some of the worst in the world.

I wonder if this did anything to the murder hornets?

Now the election insanity is ratcheting up. It's almost certain that there's going to be election fraud, almost certainly commited by the Republicans to steal the election. Trump has pretty much said he's not going to step down should he lose.

Oh, and Ruth Bader Ginsberg died, so ol' Trumpy now wants to put one of his puppets in to ensure a contested election goes his way.

Yeah... fun times.

I'm personally waiting for the murder hornets to get it on with locusts so we have murder locusts to worry about. I'm sort of expecting that in December, maybe while civil war is raging. I wonder if that will be before or after the nukes fly?

Time for more beer...

COVID-19 Day 169

I figured I should post something in August and I'm just about out of time for that.

So... yeah. One hundred and sixty-nine days since we were told to lockdown back in... hell, was it March?

Still a shitshow out there. Now we have huge fires in California to doubly-encourage us to wear masks. And still I see dumbasses outside not wearing them around other people. I haven't actually met a denier yet. In fairness, I'm doing my best to avoid people as a whole, so that does keep the odds down. Just found out a friend of mine came down with it. His description of it (days of fever coming, breaking, then returning) does not sound at all pleasant. I hope he pulls through. I hope his family doesn't get it.

Damn scary.

And now the election is ramping up. I have a really bad feeling about November and the fallout.

Scary times.

COVID-19 - Day 130

Day 130 of California's shelter-in-place.

I think.

So yeah. It's been a shitshow. California seemed to have its shit together for the pandemic. Then everyone got extra stupid and now we're an insane hotspot for cases

There's still fuckwits out there who resist wearing masks in public. And the idiots who think it's fine to have huge get-togethers in the middle of all this. Oh and the supreme shit-brains who have actual "Covid parties".

The news is a never-ending stream of testaments to human stupidity. And that's before we even get to politics. Twitler's little bid for dictatorship is off-the-charts. It would be funny if it weren't for him getting enabled by the soulless fucks who make up the Repugnican party.

The economy's teetering on the brink.

Oh, and people are still quite justifiably upset over the whole racial inequity thing that's been a problem in this country since its inception.

Everyone I know is dealing with some sort of personal stress that's threatening to overwhelm them. It's bleeding into everything, really.

Fun times.

On the plus side, I got the latest Dresden Files book, so at least I have a distraction for a while. Silver linings?

I seriously can't believe this is the United States of America

I've watched the video, like so many people. Watched a Minnesota cop sit there, his knee on the neck of George Floyd as he lay face-down, handcuffed, on the ground.

I can't believe this sort of shit is still happening in the United States. Four - FOUR - cops have got an unarmed black man handcuffed and face down and one decides to apply a move that he's got to know is dangerous, if not fatal. You can't tell me that four big cops couldn't handle things if George Floyd were seriously struggling while handcuffed, for god's sake!

In all honesty, I'm surprised the protests haven't been worse in light of that.

And now we have Trump threatening martial law. We have opportunists looting. And we have more people getting hurt as this escalates.

It's 2020. We're two decades into the 21st century. What the fuck?

COVID-19 - 78 days of shelter-in-place

It's June 1. Halfway through the dumpster fire of a shitshow that is 2020.

Everything is right on track for going straight to hell.

The virus issues linger still. While California has done an admirable job staying on top of the situation (as much as we can), the pressures to open up are resulting in some loosening. And the virus is starting to spike again.

To make things even more of a nightmare, there was the George Floyd killing. That has sparked a massive (and, sadly, unsurprising) backlash across the country. There are mass protests everywhere. There's violence, looting, curfews, and I'm betting more spread of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Tweety McCheeto smugly denies all responsibility for the pandemic that's erupted under his watch (and made arguably worse by his disbanding of a pandemic unit designed to deal with this exact situation as well as his constant undermining of medical advice with gibbering nonsense). He's also inciting violence with his ranting.

The shitstorm has only just started.

COVID-19 - 71 days of shelter-in-place

Wow I'm drinking a lot of beer over this "stay at home" period. And when I'm out of beer (more often than I think is good), I am making a serious dent in my supply of the hard stuff. The weather has been warm, so Mai Tais have appealed of late.

No good will come of this.

On the plus side, I'm doing lots of my own cooking. As I'm lazy as hell, I tend to go for things that make good leftovers (soup and pasta, mainly). I make my own pasta sauce, too. Hell, I have an actual pasta maker and make my own noodles when the mood strikes. Probably healthier than store-bought tortellini and ravioli. Though less-tasty.

I'd like to think I'm adapting well to this work-from-home situation, but it's a mixed bag for me (as it is for most people, I'll wager). Still, could be worse. At least I have a job at the moment. The future is lookin' mighty grim in that regard.

This is really the time I ought to be burning through all those Netflix series and HBO shows I haven't seen. Hell, I should get the free month of whatever the Disney streaming service is called and watch "The Mandalorian". Unfortunately, I just can't sit still long enough for that. I sit too much at my computer as it is.

Been doing "virtual" sessions with my martial arts class. It's weak tea next to the real thing, but at least it's something. Gotten some good tips for do-at-home cardio workouts. Been doing those lately and it's making a difference.

So now the States are loosening up restrictions for COVID-19. And they're starting to see spikes in areas that aren't observing the precautions (wearing a mask, keeping a bit of distance, etc.). The petty monster in me feels there's some comeuppance due to the idiots who ignore the medical warnings, but mostly I find that alarming. Innocent (and vulnerable) people will likely get infected by these irresponsible idiots.

It's amazing how fast this country's descended into mass stupidity. I don't actually think these fuckwits are the majority, but there's an awful lot of them.

Scary.

In lighter news, reading material is starting to come in that's got promise. Will Wight finally concluded his "Elder Empire" series with the twin books: "Of Kings and Killers" and "Of Killers and Kings". I'm working on "Of Kings and Killers" (the book about the not-pirate) then going to "Of Killers and Kings" (the book about the not-ninja). A worthy distraction.

COVID-19 - 56 days of shelter-in-place

So it's Mother's Day.

I was all set to head out to a family picnic that would observe social distancing and all that. Even packed my own cocktail to toast Mom.

Went down to start my car and the fucking battery is dead.

Wasn't dead from disuse, mind you. I just took it for a drive last weekend to do a delivery. No, since then, something went to shit in the battery. Tried to jump it, but the battery is corroded and the car is an inert lump.

Not how I wanted today to go.