Been a while since I posted. The pandemic is still going on because not enough people are getting vaccinated and wearing masks. Not to mention Republicans are doing everything in their power to keep it going. The Supreme Court just struck down a vaccine mandate for large employers. We are now in the midst of a new wave due to the highly infectious Omicron variant. It seems to not require hospitalization for the boosted and vaccinated and shorter hospital stays for the unvaccinated, but hospitals are being overwhelmed because of how infectious it is.

I canceled our 2022 European travel plans before Omicron hit because I had to start planning the vacation then without knowing if the pandemic situation would be better by the time I wanted to travel. 2023 is still an option, but planning doesn't have to take place for a while. 

We were able to travel over the holidays to see vaccinated relatives. Scored some free at home tests from my local library which made it possible for us to travel. We were boosted before the trip.

I might migrate my entries over to my WordPress blog and retire this account. I migrated my entries from LiveJournal over here. I'd like to have everything in one place.

Well, we had our October surprise. Trump got COVID-19 and almost infected Biden at the first (and probably only) presidential debate. There will be a VP debate. After RGB died, to no one's surprise, Trump and McConnell rushed to have a nominee to replace her before her body was even cold. It didn't matter that McConnell refused to even meet with Merrick Garland and held the Supreme Court seat open in an election year, 2016. They want ACB seated before the election, so the legal challenges to the election will be ruled in their favor. So Trump had a Rose Garden ceremony (Melania destroyed the historic garden and replaced it with her own monstrosity). Well, it turns out it turned into a COVID-19 super spreading event, and a veritable who's who of GOP big wigs were infected. The only names missing that I wouldn't mind seeing infected are the Nazi Stephen Miller, religious End Times fanatic, Betsy DeVos, and ACB herself (RGB's fanatical replacement). Apparently, she had it earlier this year.

I've said it before that I wasn't sure we'd even make it to the November election, and we still might not. I don't know if Trump is going to recover. He likely will. He has the best medical care in the world, but if they hadn't been I such a rush to fill a Supreme Court vacancy, none of this would have happened. The next few days will matter. The frustrating thing is, not knowing what if anything about his illness is true. I have no doubt he has it, because he doesn't want to appear weak. He's already trying to spin it that he was willing to take the risk to be a leader of the country. It was his own carelessness that allowed him to be infected. It was the first time we'd seen him without his orange makeup. I do want him to recover just enough, but because a) he doesn't deserve a state funeral and b) I want him to be held accountable for his malfeasance because he is responsible for over 200,000 totally avoidable deaths.

There were calls for Biden to suspend his campaign and they thankfully aren't because we know Trump would not have suspended his had Biden been the one who'd become infected.

And in other news, I just realized that NaNoWriMo is coming up again. I've tried to participate several times and have always given up after a short while. Should I try again? I might give it a go and see what happens. Probably the same thing as the previous tries, but at least I'll be consistent. I might not since, I'm learning German and I really want to be fluent in the language, or at least be able to hold a conversation or two. I'm also brushing up on my Russian which I started recently. I'm using Duolingo as my starting point but branching out from there with my German. I know a lot more now than I did. I blew my 180 day goal, but I'm prepared to take as long as it takes to get there. I'm almost at ¾ of a year now. So if NaNoWriMo takes away from learning German, I'll stick with German.

 There's something about 4-20 and I don't get the reference. I suppose I should look it up. 

We've been sheltering in place for a little over a month now as SARS-CoV-2 infections rage across the world and the US. We have a malevolent administration that leaves each state fending for itself in dealing with the pandemic. I've made a few cloth masks I can stick filter material in them, though I do have a few N95's to use in an emergency. I've been washing my hands a lot more and I've stocked up on essentials and some non-essentials since this has started, though we were in pretty good shape before it started. We were planning a cruise next month which has been canceled. We'll try again next year but I don't expect it to happen because of our malevolent administration will keep things from getting under control. I'm thinking it'll be two years before we can go on a cruise. The world is going to be a very different place.

Civilization could collapse in the next few months, so this self-quarantine may be the last few good months we have on this Earth. I'll post from time to time as things progress.

2019 didn't suck for me personally. Anything bad that happened to me was minor, but it sucked for a whole lotta other people, mainly asylum seekers separated from their children and put in concentration camps. And that was in the US alone. Trump betrayed our Kurdish allies in Syria and left them at the mercy of the invading Turks. Massive protests have been non-stop in Hong Kong because what is the alternative? Concentration camps and death. One bright spot. Greta Thunberg reminded us we better fucking do something about global warming or we are all fucked. Fragile white males attacked the messenger and ignored the message because of course they did. I could go on, but it isn't necessary.

At long last IMPOTUS was impeached (indicted), but that's not the end of it. He still faces trial in the Senate who sadly will most likely acquit him. Speaker Pelosi is in no hurry to hand over articles of impeachment unless McConnell actually holds a fair trial (hint-he won't). Voter suppression is kicking into high gear which is the only way Republicans can't maintain their fragile grip on power. Remember, they are not the majority. Remember, how empty the streets were when during Trump's inaugural parade and how small the crowd was on the Mall. If he manages to get re-elected—something that would be even more disastrous than 2016—he'll most likely hire paid crowds to fill the streets and the Mall. This is how he gets parts of the crowds at his Nuremberg style rallies. So we need to really get out the vote this year. Failure is not an option.

What will happen next? If things don't get worse, I'll go on another cruise this year, and maybe just maybe I'll stop procrastinating less and get shit done. This is the way.

I've almost midway through season 5 of Mad Men. I can't really say what I like about the show. Most of the men are awful, though Don Draper is trying to redeem himself. I've been watching episodes as I ride my exerbike. It's not a show you can binge watch. You need to process each episode. It could be nostalgia for an era I was born in but remember little of except the Moon landing, Star Trek and my baby brother being born.

 Illiberal regimes have been popping up since 2016. There was the coup in Turkey, the election of a violent thug in the Philippines, and now an outright fascist just won an election in Brazil. There have been in recent years other takeover by illiberal leaders see Russia, Hungary, Poland. and the UK. The US has seen a rise of fascism cheerled by non other than the orange shitgibbon himself. The election 2018 was supposed to be turning point to begin the end of his regime. I knew it wasn't going to be easy. Well, it just got a lot harder with the shutdown. I don't think the Republicans want the Democrats to be able to do any governance or hold OS accountable. Things could get very ugly in the coming weeks. There are clearly forces at work to weaken the protest movements. And our corporate controlled media is only exacerbating the problem and NOT doing actual journalism. 

Anyway as with previous years I have named, I have finally found a name (not the original one I saw a few days ago, but this will do) for 2019: I did Nazi that coming. I have been using that phrase a lot these last two years and I continue to find opportunities to use it. Of course, it's a pun because it sounds just like I did not see that coming. However, in reality I did see that coming, so it's an ironic pun. And I'm also calling the people I refer to when I use that comment fascists.

 I had a great name for 2019, but I can't remember it. Hopefully, I'll remember it soon. In the meantime 2018 wasn't bad for me. Scientifically, 2019 is off to a good start with the New Horizons flyby of Ultima Thule. 2018 ended with Democrats retaking the House of Representatives, so that's good too. Now, they need to do what they can within their power to hold the Trump administration accountable.

Ever since 11/9 it's been a never ending shit show. And since I named 2017 The Year That Went to Shit, things haven't gotten better. I've been remiss in naming this year which is The Shit Show Continues and odds are that Shit will be part of the name for 2019 and 2020. This is very depressing. I don't even know where to begin because every day there is some new shitty thing this administration is doing. So I'll just refer you gentle readers to https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com.

 Well, it's 12,018 in the Holocene Calendar. This video from 2017 explains why we should be using it. 

but when I do I don't have much to say.