How have We Changed; Let Me Count the Ways

I was sitting here this morning going through my last post and checking out the likes.  As I sat there, I saw another post by someone quite some time ago that lent my brain to the thought of “how much we have changed.”  I realized that this pandemic will have repercussions that will last nearly indefinitely in many cases.  I ask for your comments afterward just to confirm my suspicions.

First, I know that our Internet will be changed forever.  I see the slumps in time when many many people are more active.  Work is now being done from home, a lot.  That increases the load on all the carriers and slows us down as individuals.  This will, hopefully, lead to more tolerance as people “get used to” an already slow system.  Also, the vast variety that was already inherent in the Net has increased.  So many people have found so many different ways to get things done from home online and to express themselves more and with more variety in what they do.  We have also kept our friends on hand more through online services and methods.  No longer able always to just jump in our cars and drive to a friend’s house, we connect even more as we have done in the years past – online.  Facebook explodes with new knowledge; Youtube is constantly expanding with both commercial content (movies, etc…) and our personal films to show how we feel and what we are doing.

My biggest surprise during all of this has been that blog posting has dropped.  By myself, yes, but also I read about 1-2 posts a week now and it used to be 7-10+ a day before.  I have speculated on the why this is so, but really, don’t know as it’s not like we don’t have time to write.  I ask myself why I haven’t written a book or many stories in these last 5+ months and I find that I am not as interested in writing now…could this be it all around?  I do miss my other Internet friends. It feels as if I have been cut off from 1/2 my life.

Then there is cooking and groceries.  Mom and I used to go out 1 time or more to Cracker barrel a week.  That is down to zero right now.  Being 62 and Mom almost 86, neither of us has any business joining in on the reopening of restaurants and businesses.  I grocery shop once a week for both of us and I spend more time concerned about getting sick and not being able to take care of Mom than I do on my shopping.  Plus so much buying now for home meals has changed the way I eat.  I went through a horrible last two months trying to settle in and keep my sugar down.  Some drastic steps that will become habit and I am, finally, pleased to say my sugar is now normal and I feel better.

Sleep has changed.  I enjoy my quiet nights on the computer, so my day is up around 1:00p and bed around 2:00a, reading for about 1/2 hour.  My sleep has been drastically affected lately and I am, just now, getting it back somewhat under control.

Work has changed even more than just doing it online.  People are, finally, getting able and becoming comfortable with casual clothing during the day.  I never liked having to wear ties and dress pants every day.  I understand the reasons, but I like this new trend.  Hopefully, it will become more and more available to those going back to work.  I know that many are simply finding they can do more and more from home and, in the long run, this may well save money for employers.  I have my counseling sessions more often now and don’t mind as I get them from home.

The environment is changing.  Our air is getting cleaner.  There are still those who complain about not driving everywhere, but I have heard there are places in China where people can see mountains from their city homes for the first time in decades.  How cool is that!?  If those places are getting better, won’t we all benefit in the years to come, especially if some of these changes stick?

From an entertainment point of view, I watch many more movies, shows, and shorts than I used to (I know hard to believe!).  I am retired and handicapped, but I still have fewer things to do each day or week, allowing me more personal time at home. I am catching up on so much of the videos and shows that I had fallen behind on.  And, I read more!  Each night and most days I read for 1-2 hours.  This feels great as I had lost that in the shuffle of life.

I do play video games, though I find that to be somewhat less than it was.  That would seem strange to me, but I have begun to dabble back into game programming (mods and such) and reading a lot of scientific and how-to videos and writings than before.

Life has slowed down for me.  I take my time (something I have always hoped to do) and look at the world a bit more.  There is no big reason to hurry anymore (what are you hurrying for?)  I get things done in my own time.

Money is changing a bit, too. I am a firm believer in the Law of Attraction (join my Facebook group: at LofA ) and believe that this situation has done my income some help.  I don’t spend much on gas anymore. In fact, my auto insurance has dropped about $12 a month because of this.  I don’t spend as much going out, eat better now, and don’t buy things without thinking about it.  Online buying has helped that.

I am very certain that you can think of more ways that this pandemic situation has changed our lives.  Not all are for the better, of course, and I hope and pray for each and every one of you and your families.  Stay well and stay healthy and stay positive. Let me know what’s going on with you…

Namaste,

Scott

 

Clothes and Foods and Getting Up – Oh My!

Have these last few months felt strangely unfamiliar to you?  Right?  Well, I discovered this week (with the help of my stroke counselor) that I have triggers.  I knew what they were, but I, certainly, didn’t think I had any.  I have a friend who rages at times.  The rest of the time he is wonderful, but at these moments, he is a different person.  Now, he doesn’t rage at me, but at things in general, usually. I realized how angry I was after we had spent some time on a video game together on the Internet.  I was seething at him and didn’t really care if I ever talked to him again.  This bothered me because he wasn’t mad at me and I really like him.  I mentioned this to my Counselor.  We are gonna talk more about it on Monday.  But, the idea is that my father yelled at me; my 1st wife yelled at me.  Both of these people set me up to hear any sort of yelling as a threat to me as an individual.  I want to discuss more with her on how to diffuse this, but I find it fascinating and it helps me understand others better.  To an extent, I am an empath for  angry feelings and yelling.

That was before my grocery trip to Walmart.  I went there because my Insulin Rx is there.  I decided to just shop since I was already there. Things had been decent in the recent past but, as things were starting to get back to normal, I noticed that the customers and, to a degree, the cashiers were getting a bit mean and dicey.   It was not a fun, enjoyable, and relaxing jaunt.  It was hard and I got home so tired of being out even for those few hours.

I read an article this morning. It stemmed from Facebook, somehow.  Anyway, it was the general public’s responses to a LA article about how we are dressing during the pandemic.  WHAT!!!???

We are just getting along the best we can!  I figured the author must be one of those guys who finds it fun to steal little kids’ ice cream cones from them.  I found out that, while I had never heard of him, he was kinda popular.  I am not so certain that is true now.  People were upset.  This may have been an article on Twitter, which sounds right.  Anyway, he/she stated that we are getting paid for sitting home, so we outta dress like it!  I want to yell and scream at this jerk!  I guess, in some ways, I am! lol  However, now I remember.  I wanted to know if I could safely wear shorts yet to the grocery.  This article was one I can across: work from home

I did like this one that is satirical in nature (please keep that in mind): pants?

Finally, one more shot to the midsection for my last 48 hours.  I chose that, for now, I would live more on a 2nd-3rd shift schedule and have told most people about this.  That, basically, means I go to bed between 3:00-4:00A, read for an hour, then sleep until about 3P that afternoon.  I don’t answer any calls except from my doctors or hospital, my Mom, and calls I consider emergency.  I try to let all of them go to voice mail so that I either see the phone number or hear the voice.   I am pretty firm about this.  I have told my family and friends and, for the most part, enjoy my days.  I had a stroke (severe) about 10 years ago and it reset my brain.  I don’t sleep well, so I simply make use of the hours I can’t really sleep well.  I live alone, don’t really date and with this virus, don’t go much of anywhere.  So it should be fine.  One of my friends doesn’t agree and tends to call me between 2 and 3 in the afternoon.  It throws me off of my early schedule and, for instance, I literally forgot to take my Insulin until almost 2 hours late.  My answer to this, after some thought, is that instead of getting angry, I am going to consider it his fault and simply not answer anymore until after 3 and take my time calling him back.  It might appear passive-aggressive, but I think it is a positive approach to not having the same talk again in which I tend to lose my temper.

Well, that’s my weekend.  How was yours?  Oh yeah, I still have Sunday to go, don’t I? lol

Namaste,  Stay Safe

Scott

And Once more a Vote Toward Intelligence

I read about the virus.  I am not a doomsayer nor a panic-driven individual.  I know we will always have things to challenge us, both mind and body.  I have listened to our Leader tells us to open up and not let our economy fall apart.  I have read the individuals who are telling shopkeepers how they are “stepping on the rights” of others by forcing them to wear masks to shop in the store.  I have listened to the petty whining of those who are “tired” of staying at home, doing “nothing”.  Here are statistics (yes, I know I have said that statistics often say whatever people want them to say- ironic, isn’t it?) that tell us of how we compare to the other “Big” virus of this century.  Just read, keep an open mind, then remember.

How We could Fare

Stay safe all my friends, loved ones, and all the rest of you.

Namaste,

Scott

Hello Out There!

I am being a bit lazy here, but have not heard from so many of you in so long (my email in-box is very light for the last few months), I am beginning to worry.

Just asking that you drop a comment here and let me know you are all okay.

Miss your smiling thoughts.

Scott

Death by Ignorance

I was trying to play Scrabble online tonight and got caught up browsing FB, then in a discussion about the “possibility” of lifting the bans on social interactions in the US and all people returning to work.  I made comments; I read more; I got upset; I did some quick research; here I am…

Nearly 500,000 military personnel died during the U.S. Civil War. That’s almost half of all Americans who have ever died during wartime, and more than a hundred times more than died during the American Revolution, according to the latest estimates from the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.May 24, 2015

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/many-americans-died-u-s-wars

US deaths in wars

American Revolutionary War 50,000

War of 1812 20,000

Mexican-Anerican War 17,435

WW1 320,518

WW2 1,076,245

Korean War 128,650

Vietnam War 211,454

War in Afghanistan 22,266

Iraq War 36,710

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_casualties_of_war

same site

War in Afghanistan killed 0.001% of the US population at that time (2010).

___________________________________________________________________________________

The argument that was posed in this FB talk was that the actual Death rate (according to “early” studies and his observations and understandings of said studies was that the “real” death rate)

is around 0.05% or even 0.001% not 3% not 5%.

My quick research easily concluded that the years spent in the Afghan conflicts gave us  22, 266 deaths or 0.001% of that time’s US population.

COVID-19 in about 2 months has yielded 14,451 deaths in JUST New York City.  That is almost 2/3 of the entire Afghan deaths.  TWO MONTHS.  And, from my readings, we can add 4 things:

1.  We do not know if we have yet hit the high point of the virus here in the US.
2.  We do not Know if this virus is seasonal.
3.  We do not have a vaccine.
4.  All of us (most all) have elderly or immune-compromised loved ones around us.

I do not advocate panic; I do not advocate burying out heads in the sand; I do not advocate being paranoid to the point of never leaving your home.

I DO advocate some sense of an understanding of how serious this is.

I am very sorry that people are inconvenienced by the solid efforts to:

1. protect our loved ones, especially the high-risk ones.
2. not overload our hospitals with the sick so that the highly-ill ones can be taken care of.
3. keep food in a position to be spread out to all.
4. protect people in spite of themselves, at times.

I do have great sorrow for those who are not able to work right now and who are having difficulties making ends meet! 

But, in all seriousness, if you die, or if your spouse or child gets very ill and medications and hospitals are not available, you would wish you had followed the guidelines and stayed home.

I have tried to keep politics out of this, but I have to say that Congress and Upwards Should be even more responsive to the needs of the LIVES of the people. I know that our economy is suffering.  I know it is hard and difficult and all to not keep falling farther and farther behind, but we have a responsibility as adults and as members of this great nation to keep it together through this, not in spite of it.

Again, as always, I love you all.

Stay safe, be smart,

Scott