A thought on the continuing saga of lock down. We are all swearing more. A lot more. All of us. Casually, emphatically, humorously, savagely. We’re all swearing more.
We watched an episode of a new show about swearing. I think it was called Swear, oddly enough. Is that a sign that people outside of our house are swearing more too? All of America is swearing more, so much so that we need a TV show to celebrate it.
I’m okay with that. There are a lot of things worth swearing about.
The stress level is very high today. That is expected to a degree, but it’s much higher than it should be. I should actually be relaxing a little. I thought I was going to have to go into one of my company’s buildings this week but I found out today I don’t have to. I only have to wait in the parking lot. That’s nice. That should be calming me down, and it probably is a little, but it’s not straightening me out.
It’s probably Georgia that’s messing me up. The control of the US Senate is up for grabs after all and moscow mitch is just as evil and vile as the cheeto so getting him out of the majority leader seat is pretty gigantic. There’s also the coup d’état that the cheeto and his cult are trying to pull off. The next hurdle in thwarting his idiotic ass is tomorrow when the joint session of congress certifies the electoral collage vote. What could go wrong there? Who knows. Our country is an absolute shit hole right now. Screw you cheeto, and your little cult too.
On a personal note though… calm down, fatty. Stop stressing over things you can’t control.
Oh the sadness. It’s Monday again. Back to work. The holiday season is officially kaput. Now there is nothing on the event horizon except for the continuing saga of the trump cult’s farcically incompetent attempted coup d’etat.
Crud. When is 2021 gonna fix everything and make us all happy and stuff?
What’s your New Year’s Resolution? Is it to lose weight? To eat healthier? To exercise more? To practice the guitar more? To be nicer to the people I care about? To work harder? To be a better person?
Sure, all of that. Also, none of that, really.
My New Year’s Resolution for 2021: Get two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine and make sure my family gets them too.
I just got a letter. When was the last time you received an actual hand written letter in the mail? It’s been ages.
This one was interesting as it pointed out an unthought of effect of the global pandemic that is both a terrible thing and a wonderful thing depending on your point of view.
The envelope contained two things. One, as mentioned, was a handwritten letter addressed to me. The writing was a little sloppy but I believe the signature said Gloria. The other item in the envelope?
A Jehovah’s Witness pamphlet.
I’ll give you a couple of minutes to stop laughing. It took me about 10 to calm down, so I’ll give you that much at least.
Okay, better? Okay.
The letter opened with an apology. The author (again, Gloria?) expressed her disappointment at not being able to come and see me in person, but due to the corona virus (two words) pandemic she could only keep in touch through the mail.
I’ll give you a couple more minutes to stop laughing.
Okay, better? Okay.
When I stop and think about it I realize how selfish I’ve been. Here I am worrying about the effects of the lock down on my family and friends and on all of the people who cannot work, or who have to work in potentially unhealthy circumstances despite safety warnings and I never once stopped to think about the plight of the missionary community and how hard it must be on them to not be able to canvas random neighborhoods and knock on random people’s doors and save their souls through the good news of whatever cult they happen to be shilling for that day.
Okay, we’re all going to need a few minutes to stop laughing. You’re welcome.
January. We lost Neil and the world has been shit ever since.
In February we went to Disney World for a week, but we were not the droids they were looking for.
In March civilization came to a screeching halt.
In April we were locked down solid, but we still went for drives and sometimes saw interesting things.
In May we finally gave in to The Great British Baking show and just let it take over. Jen and Harry tried their hands at decorating cakes. I just made a lot of Tewksbury Tweets.
In June the kids finally cracked a little (just kidding).
In July I tried to spend as much time outside as I could because I knew it wasn’t going to last.
In August we had a Vote By Mail dry run thanks to the State Primary.
In September we went into a store for the first time in six months. It was creepy and scary and weird, but we came out with a flu shot. A dry run for the Covid vaccine maybe?
In October we did it for real and sent that nazi prick packing.
In November the lights came on a little early.
In December we pulled off a great lock down Christmas.
Up next is 2021. Here’s hoping Covid will be history and lock downs will end and we’ll get to see a little more of the world than just our house. 2020 was a friggin’ mess, but we made the best of it. I’m proud of us for doing it right.
It may not be today, and it may not be tomorrow, but one of these days there will be a post with a photo a month from all 12 months of the shit show that was 2020. I was just perusing the Camera Roll on my Flickr account and I saw something that made me ask… is 2020 my fault?
Back in February Jen, Harry, and I all took a ride on the Millenium Falcon. Was this Disney Imagineering Magic dream come true so colossal that it required the entire universe to a pay a price in return? Did me taking a ride on the Falcon karmically cause the Covid-19 lockdown and all the shit that came with it? It didn’t cause Covid-19 because it was already running wild in other parts of the world, but did it cosmically open the door for the mess we have in the United States right now?
Tomorrow is New Years Eve. I have to work. We never get NYE off. We get Christmas Eve off, but never NYE. Why don’t I ever put in for that day? I don’t know… I guess I’m just responsible. Idiot.
Speaking of work, late next week I am going to be issued a new computer. A laptop this time. 16+ years as a desktop user and I’m making the switch. Actually, we’re all making the switch. At least that’s the rumor. The company is going laptop across the board. I’m actually the last of my group to get one. No more trying to find an open desk when I travel between buildings.
Traveling between buildings is actually the issue here. I actually have to do it in order to pick up the lappy. I have to go to the building in Canton. I don’t want to. Not even a little bit. I haven’t been in a work building since March 13th and I was really hoping to stay out until I got that second dose of one of the vaccines. I have to do all sorts of health checks before I can walk into the building, and I have to wear a mask the whole time. It’s safe, I just don’t like it. I’ll only be in there for 15 minutes or so. Still… I’m freaking a little. Just a little.
Speaking of work things that don’t have anything to do with work, I’m sitting at my desk finishing up lunch, typing this little postie and listening to music. My iPad is streaming to our new pair of HomePod Minis. It’s a really sweet little setup. I set my entire iTunes library to shuffle. It’s been running since a bit before 9:00. If I leave it on for a few days it still won’t have repeated a file. It just played a song from a Boston music compilation CD (Pipeline!) by a great band called Christmas. I thought to myself, I wonder if they are on Apple Music. I brought it up and searched and… yeah, shoulda known better. Naming your band Christmas back in the ’80’s might have been a cool move. Naming your band Christmas in the ’20’s when no one goes to record stores anymore and everyone finds your music by searching in one app or another… not a good move.
The kids are coming over tonight. That makes me happy. The kids are spending New Years Eve at their dad’s. That makes me sad. It’s the price we pay for having them at our house Christmas morning, but it still makes me sad.
Okay, it’s 2:00 so I need to get back to work. Lunch time is over. Back to it, red head.
Today wasn’t the usual Christmas Eve for us, but it was still a good day. It was just the four of us rather than the extended family, but I loved every second of it. The kids are going to their dad’s tomorrow afternoon so we did the full blown Christmas dinner today. After that it was Christmas music, Christmas TV specials, Christmas sweaters, and Christmas games.
Covid-19 is a solid kick to the scrotum, but it couldn’t hold us back today.
Today was a good day. Looking forward to another good day tomorrow, now go to sleep or Santa Claus won’t come.
Well, it’s Christmas Eve. Time to make one last check on the straggler packages that haven’t been delivered yet. First thing I went to was The Big One (which isn’t that big, we agreed to go small this year, and we already bought a Big One that counts for Christmas so it’s all good). The estimated arrival date is now, We’ll Let You Know. I checked the tracking number with UPS and they still don’t have the package. The number is in their system, which means someone at the warehouse actually printed out a shipping label, but it hasn’t made it to UPS yet (did I mention I have a ton of experience running a business’ shipping office? I do. I have a little less experience running the receiving office, but I’ve done that too).
Someone has a birthday in early February. Do you think we’ll have the package by then? I’m not holding my breath. I got refunds for a handful of non-Christmas things I bought from Amazon that got lost in transit, but this puppy ain’t even left the building yet. You can’t blame UPS (or Fed Ex, or USPS, or whatever carrier you want to blame it on) for this one.
It’s all okay though. Like I said, we’ve already done a big gift pre-Christmas, and I have a nice placeholder for the missing Big One too, so Christmas will not be tainted any more than Covid-19 has already tainted it. We’re good.
Aside from all my bitchin’ and yakkin’, allow me to wish y’all a Merry Christmas Eve. HoHoHo.
Inside the Red Head's Head 