Shouting Into the Void

Up until a couple of days ago, Arizona was a mild COVID-19 risk. We had a few cases, and no deaths. Yesterday we had our first death. It wasn't anyone I know, and it wasn't anyone at all similar to me (aside from geographic location), but somehow knowing that this disease has killed someone in my state makes it real. I don't want this to be real. In many ways, I wish Trump was right when he made the inane and unsupported claim that the heat of April might make all of this blow away. Let the record show: he has done a piss poor job of handling this crisis. He has repeatedly lied about the severity of the threat we face, has bandied unscientific and unsupported claims about, and has always seemed to care more about a) the pandemic's effect on the economy, and 2) the pandemic's effect on the stock market more than he cares about Americans dying. He is a megalomaniac and an asshole, and I hope history bears those two truths out. Anyway, back to the lecture at hand. We...

So the global pandemic COVID 19 (a form of coronavirus) is sweeping the nation and everyone is panicking. People are buying up groceries and hard goods like they are prepping for the end times, and there is a generally apocalyptic feel in the air no matter where you go. The virus poses the greatest threat to infants, the elderly, and those with autoimmune diseases and deficiencies. The fun part is that this is the time of year when the state fills to the brim with old folks from cold states. So anywhere you go in Arizona right now, you can find elderly Minnesotans hording toilet paper and bread. The real fun connection is this one: severely religious people are largely responsible for electing Trump (despite his utter lack of ability to worship anything other than his own ego, and his obvious lack of moral fiber), and the Trump administration has fumbled this health emergency in big, dumb, obvious ways. Now we are facing a much larger risk than we would if we lived in a country wit...

One of the many problems I face as an adult is weekend time management. In many ways, the very sarcastic and pessimistic view I had of adulthood as a teenager is correct. You work really hard so you can have barely any time to enjoy yourself on the weekend. Then the weekend comes and there's all this pressure to have fun, accomplish a lot, and not get behind in all the behind-the-scenes teaching bullshit for which we are not compensated (grading, planning, etc.). I firmly believe there are two kinds of people: 1) those whose natural state is at work, and 2) those whose natural state is at rest. I am of the latter variety. This being the case, when I'm getting things done on the weekend, I worry that I'm not relaxing enough. When I'm relaxing, I worry that I'm not wasting time on the right things or in the right way. When I play a video game, I worry that I might be better off playing something different instead. When I watch videos, I worry that I should be watchi...

Most of the thoughts most people have are neither original enough or important enough to be written down. Also, I am most people.

I still keep finding myself having urges to return to f***book, just to see what's happening. Did anyone post anything funny? Did anyone post any political statements I disagree with? I still feel the draw to regular social media because over the past decade I've trained my brain to rely on it as a means of passing the time and as a false way of feeling like I am still in contact with people I haven't seen in a decade or more. I am a product. Everyone I know is a product. We are bought and sold on a daily basis. I hate this fact, and so I run from it. And yet I don't want to be a digital hermit. Perhaps the solution lies with real life friends and real life. But who has time for those? I have netflix to binge.

Did you find this blog yet? Are you disappointed? I know I'm not. I might be drunk right now, but at least I'm not the one looking up blogs which I was promised by the author would be disappointing. Grammar? Who needs it?

we go to parent teacher conferences is to hear other adults confirm what we already know to be true:  our children are brilliant and delightful to be around. I often forget to lay it on thick for the parents of delightful children in my parent-teacher conferences. I need to remember to do that because it is one of the most delightful aspects of being the parent of high achieving children.

Fun fact: congress just made crime legal. Of course you have to be a pathological megalomaniacal douchebag to qualify for this new entitlement program, but it's nice to see us finally letting go of old, outdated nonsense like truth, justice, and the American way. Checks and balances? Don't need 'em. If we did, they would be in the constitution. Oh, that old rag. When will Mitch McConnell be done wiping his ass with it? But on a serious note: if any of my posterity have the particular brain disorder which might cause them to ever be bored enough to read these words, just know that I always hated donald trump. I hated him as a citizen, and I loathe him as our *urp* president. Makes me wish that god and hell were real so the one could send him to the other.

Kobe Bryant is dead, and he was a selfish basketball player who ran multiple teammates out of town. I always hated watching him play the Suns. Also, it really seems like he raped that girl. Anyway, he's dead now and people who never saw him play are mourning him day and night. Terry Jones died. As a member of Monty Python he brought joy to the hearts of millions. Also, nobody is talking about him because Kobe eclipses everything.

Today Trump's legal team argued that the president can do whatever he wants as long as he believes it is in the national interest. So when Trump is reelected in November (because nobody is as dumb as an American voter) he'll be a megalomaniacal sociopath with unchecked power and the lock-step support of the senate. I guess the concept of American democracy was fun while it lasted.

So I've been running D&D sessions for the high school's strategy gaming club. I took over DM duties when people started playing the whole, "I won't come to the session is so-and-so is DM'ing," and "I don't even want to come if I can't be the DM," thing. Since I took over, I've become a half-passable DM. Some sessions are certainly better than others. The one thing I have found, however, is that when you're playing with teenage theater kids, there's a lot of shouting and one-upsmanship. I honestly get a little tired of it at times. Many's the time that two or three loud theater kids will dominate the play while more timid players sit quietly and wait for it all to blow over. The one thing I will say, however, is that things have gotten a lot more stable since I've taken over. We are progressing in a cohesive storyline toward a clear and definite goal. Now if we could all stop shouting, we'll get there a lot...

I'm writing a play for my high school students to perform. I'm actually liking how it's turning out, which is surprising. I'm not often thrilled with my own writing. For example: I don't like the way this post turned out at all.

Trump should be impeached. He committed crimes, not just against Skyrim and its people, but against the concept of objective reality. As a general fan of truth and justice, I believe his ass should fry for what he's done. That said, this senate trial is a mockery. Disband the republican party and bring back the Whigs.

Yes. This. Again. Because I'm so tired of the other place that I used to use for my ranting and raving. Mostly because 1) certain persons are not opposing the efforts of foreign interference in our elections and actually seem to be welcoming it, and 2) sometimes when I post things, people respond. This is bad. People need to stop reading what I write. To remedy that problem, I got me this head-shaped hole in the internet into which I can scream all of my thoughts because who the hell reads blogs in 2020? Certainly not you. Go away.