Y12 D188

 Yesterday was video game Sunday for both of us. Three different games were played - animal crossing for both of us as we were both looking for new villagers which is a long tedious process if you want someone specific, then for me I also played Greedfall and God's Basement. Truly not much else went on around here. We are still doing our fish in cycle on the tank and we lost 4 fish last night. This is not a bad thing. It means things are a-happening in that tank. It sucks for the fish, yes, but it gets us one step closer to a fully cycled tank. Supposed to snow today. Right now it's just wet. Let's see if it turns into the promised snow. Had pork carnitas tacos for dinner. Watched Wasted. Then British Bake-off. In other words, we had an uneventful, quiet Sunday.

This week is in flux right now. I have two confirmed days of teaching, today and tomorrow. But for the rest of the week I only have one student per class so Wed-Fri may get cancelled. BUT we are starting our end of year 50% off training classes sale today which means we might get last minute signups. So who knows. What I do know is that I have to make it three weeks and then I am off for two. So what happens, happens. Normally I would be on the road these next three weeks. Getting my last bumps to new status levels. Can you believe it's been 9 months almost since I have gone anywhere? Is this what a "normal" job is like? Fuck this. I need back on the road. Like now. I cannot take another year of this shit. 

Y12 D187

 Had a busy day yesterday which seems to have exhausted me as I just slept for 9 hours. Woo doggie that was long sleeping. But it's okay as I have nothing on the agenda today and it's my last day off for a while. This was a good block of days off. Got things accomplished while still giving me some good down time. I feel like I used the four days well.

Went to the grocery store at 6am, followed by Home Depot, then one more grocery store to get the items I couldn't get at the first one. There were less than five people in the first store which made me happy and I was the only customer at both HD and the second grocery store. Ah, the joy of avoiding people. With cases hitting 200,000 a day, you damn straight I will be avoiding people as much as possible. Especially when 2,000 of them are dying a day. I keep reading articles of stubborn people keeping restaurants open for in-room dining and then getting pissed when they get fined. Or people who blatantly ignored the warnings and had Thanksgiving together. Stupid fucking people. But on the other hand, you know what the real problem is? Capitalism. Plain and simple. Look, last night I watched a video of police in LA forcing a family out of an empty state owned housing project. I mean come on. This building has sat empty for two fucking years. It's owned by the state and these people weren't hurting anyone. They wanted a roof over their heads, that's all. It's such a sham. We create this false scarcity to drive up the value of what really shouldn't be priced the way it is. This is one of the more disgusting things I have come to realize as I've gotten older. There is not shortage of food, housing, or clothing. There is a shortage of money to pay for those goods though. Money, which in itself is a fake concept. It's all bullshit. There is physically enough land, food, and materials to house people, clothe people, and feed people. But god forbid we give some of it away for free and some millionaire doesn't get his third Ferrari. Is there anything wrong with having enough money to own a Ferrari? No. But there is something wrong with having enough money to own one for each day of the week while the police have 17 year old children hog tied in a parking lot for the "crime" of sleeping indoors. Is there anything wrong with having enough money to have good food or good wine? Nope. There is something wrong with having so much food you throw it away or worse, you throw away perfectly good food because a corporate office won't let you give it away. There is wealth and then there is Greed with a capital G. We have become Greed personified in this country. I think that some of the COVID people are ones stuck in this cycle. They have to keep their businesses open if they want to keep the roof over their heads. This is a failing of the government which is anything BUT by the people, for the people. We have gone astray and there may never be any going back.

I finished my closet project yesterday. I am very happy in how it turned out. We all know I am anything but a DIY person, but I got this one done. It looks good, it's functional, and I am happy with the results. I managed to spend about $125 which if I had gone to a Container Store or Closet Store would have had a zero on the end. So pat on the back here for that. 

I also did some baking yesterday. Made heath covered mini twist pretzels. We're making bags to give to certain folks for Xmas. Speaking of Xmas, four presents showed, wrapped those. Also the kids presents all arrived yesterday. I got her mostly practical gifts; a kitchen knife set, a drawer organizer, some stuff for her cat. But then I also got her some art supplies as I will always support her talents. I am always amazed at watching her create. Much Proud. 

We started a new (to us) show last night. We were looking for some more British comedy and ended up on something called Wasted. Not bad. We liked the first episode and will stick with it. Had pizza and watched TV. 

Did some fish tank work. Fixed the splines on one of the lids. 

I think that's it? It was a long good day and a nice way to feel like the four days off went to good use.

Y12 D186

 It's grocery store day so I am up at 4:30. Get in, get out. Take a nap. My weekends. 

Did nothing yesterday and it was glorious. Wrapped presents as they arrived. Played video games. Watched like 5 episodes of Hunter x Hunter. We finished IT crowd together. Worked on my closet project. Should finish that up today. Friend came over for distanced socializing yesterday. Stayed from about 8 - 11. Not much else going on. Time to hit the store.

Y12 D185

Now begins the worst day of this "holiday" - spend money you don't have on things you don't need day! I am really hoping people and stores are being smart this year. Controlling crowd size, enforcing mask rules, keeping people separated. Please for the sake of all of our lives, can we put greed and spending to the side for one lousy year? I was pleasantly surprised at two of my neighbors specifically yesterday. I expected to see cars outside their houses but thankfully no one all day. At least I know the people immediately around me aren't complete idiots. There were still too many cars driving by all day for my tastes. Where you going? You shouldn't be leaving the house dummy. No place to go. I am scared to see the new numbers starting around the 8th of December. Spikes galore in certain states. You watch.

Me, I played animal crossing for a few hours. Yes, hours. Between getting all the Turkey Day stuff for me, I also had to help B. That really was the most exciting thing I did. I did download a new game from Steam since it was 80% off. I would encourage you all to check it out. It's called God's Basement. Currently on sale for $3 and worth every penny. I won't spoil anything for you, but man I played for 3 hours yesterday and didn't even realize it. Really good little game.

Dinner was good. I made a little chicken with potatoes and peas. B had potatoes and green bean casserole. Yep. That was her whole dinner. Whatever works. We watched a little TV together. 

All in all, a boring day which is fine by me. We did learn her aunt and uncle are moving. These are the ones that lost a daughter about a year ago. They can't stay in the house anymore which is completely understandable. He is a fire chief and got a job in Tennessee outside Chattanooga. From what we know they've bought a good piece of land and will be building a house for themselves. I get it. Sometimes you have to just start fresh. I'm surprised they stayed in that house as long as they did. That's a rough one.

More gifts should be arriving today. Because I ordered online dammit. Look, I don't know if that's any better than crowding into a store. I am not going to be a massive hypocrite and say don't shop while ordering online but I also have to hope and pray that stores doing online sales are being smarter than brick and mortar. I would like to hope they have some protocols in place. Still better than 1000 people slamming into a Walmart for a $100 TV in my opinion. Let me justify things the way I need to dammit.

Nothing on the plate for today. A boring Friday ahead of me.

Y12 D184

 Yeah we all know what day it is, so let's just move on. BUT I swear if I see any houses with a large number of cars in front of it today, I will be angry as fuck. 

I made the mistake of going to the grocery store yesterday around 9am because we needed like two things and that nearly sent me into a panic attack. Why so many people? Then there was the old lady in front of me (at self checkout mind you) who wouldn't stop talking to the cashier/helper person and was going on and on about how they're still having family over today. Enjoy the afterlife bitch. Idiots.

Finished the 20 page demo doc I was working on. Now I can enjoy four days without anyone hassling me. In theory. I have been keeping my email closed on weekends lately but checking it once and only once per day. Let's see if I get anything between now and Monday morning. 

Not much else to report. B and I are working together to get her damn tank cycled. I pulled the trigger on something she has been hesitant to do - a fish-in cycle. I made her go to the store yesterday (I couldn't go back out, it would have killed me) and get 10 tetras and mollies to put in there. Yes, they will probably die, but it will also speed up the cycling process. Fish-in is risky AF if you care about the fish. If you don't, let 'er rip. Cross your fingers this does the trick and we can move forward with cycling. I pushed her to do this because she broke down yesterday crying because she is overwhelmed with trying to get this tank cycled. She has been doing her best, but dammit, it's time. It needs to cycle. 

Got paid early. Now to do bills. Whee!

Y12 D183

 I decided to sleep in this morning. All I have to work on is the remaining demos in the webinar I am doing next month. 4 demos and all day to do them. I think I can manage that. Hopefully. Traditionally this is one of those days where little to nothing gets done at most companies unless you have that asshole boss who decides that EVERYTHING must get done before Monday. People like that suck. Same thing goes in December in my mind. One of the jobs I had will always stick out because we shut the company down the last two weeks of December. I remember how we would all be cleaning on that Friday. That was the rule; once the place was clean, we could all go home. And not just surface clean. Oh no, we're talking take the shelves out of the fridge clean. That would have been early 90s so that's probably where I got into this habit of taking the last two weeks of the year off. That was almost 20 years ago. Jeez. Um. No. Correction. 30 years. WTF? Wait. Yeah. For at least 25 years I have been doing that whenever possible. Wow.

Got some news from a buddy last night. When I tell B we have very different friends, this is why. So my buddy is driving to LA next month TO BE ON JEOPARDY! WOO! He made it past the screening sessions and will be on the show. They tape next month and it will probably air in Jan or Feb. I am really proud of him. Hopefully he will do well. We shall see. Regardless of how he does, it's still very cool. 

Got Xmas shopping done yesterday. B is done. Kid is done. B's sister is done. Those were the ones I was in charge of and everything is complete. Starting today until about the 9th gifts will trickle to be wrapped. Keeping it simple this year. Heck, we're not even putting up the big tree. We have a little 3 foot thing B's grandma gave us last year and that's all. Couple of decorations. Not going crazy this year. Mostly because neither of us has the energy to put anything up and we're both dreading putting everything away. Keep it simple. I order 2 gifts for the sister, 7 for the kid (shipped direct to her), and about 10 for B. That's it. Done and done.

Had weird dreams last night. In one, I was trapped in an underwater mental hospital with Trent Reznor. Yep. Explain that one please.

That's about it. Just need to make it through today.

Y12 D182

 In theory we are one step closer to our national nightmare being over. Two major hurdles crossed yesterday - MI certified and the GSA released funds to the Biden team. Almost 8m was released. The disgusting part? The cheeto taking credit for it. The GSA scumbitch wrote a whiny ass letter about how she had received death threats but in the end she did what was best for the country by following the law. Blah blah blah. Point being, she says she made the decision but no more than 10 minutes later whiny baby is out there tweeting how HE made the decision. Children. Spoiled, inconsiderate, rotten children. That's all any of them are at the end of the day. 

I'm in a bit of pain this morning. Fucked up my knee last night trying to stop B from being crushed by a fish tank. She tried to move something on her own and from the corner of my eye in the office, I saw the tank going, I dove from my chair, knocking everything over on the way, slid on the floor on my knee and grabbed the bottom of the tank stand. My knee is pretty gross right now. Hurts to put weight on it too. But, the tank stayed upright and someone learned their lesson hopefully. Hopefully.

Speaking of disasters, our friend with COVID is at it again. There's luck, bad luck, and this friend. She cannot ever catch a break. She was doing a load of towels last night when her downstairs neighbor called and mentioned his ceiling was leaking. Yeah. The cat had knocked the drain tube out of the sink and the kitchen was flooding. Of course she was literally washing towels when this happened. Poor woman. She needs a break.

As for me, I cancelled my class yesterday due to only one person showing up again. I wasn't about to do a one person class when I had other stuff to work on. I used the time to get the presentation portion of this upcoming webinar done. Much more productive use of my time. I rescheduled it for 12/1. Let's see if we get more than one this time.

Had turkey sloppy joes for dinner. Watched a little tv. Went to bed. Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.

Y12 D181

 So it 'snowed' all day yesterday. But as I said, it never stuck. There was just a smattering of white all day on everything but it's all gone this morning. No more is forecasted until Tuesday but that too should vanish quickly. Might make it all the way to December before there is anything real out there. Good.

Speaking of reality, I am getting really sick to my stomach with the state of this world. Will someone please shut that man-baby up and get him the fuck out of office? He really is threatening the entire democratic system and his sycophant army is not helping matters. This whole trend of them moving to parler for 'freedom of speech' is disgusting. At the same time, I guess it gives the NSA/FBI a list of people to watch? But seriously, this is becoming ridiculous. I know what he's trying to do. He's trying to get enough lower courts to throw things out so he can whine to the supreme court where he has his bullshit stacked. But come on, this is just wrong and everyone knows it. It needs to end. Arrest him for obstruction of democracy. Show him bullies don't win. Stand up to his stupid ass. Like Thatcher and Reagan before him, there will be a whole lot of people ready to dance on his grave when that time comes.

I managed to get the first phase of my closet redo done. I moved one bar up, one over, and moved the dresser. Now for the rack mounts and shelves. Can't do that part until this weekend coming up because I need to wait until payday. I also need to raise one more bar. I was debating it, but with the dresser in place, I need to free up a little more space on the side and that will do it. 

B's having a rough time with the axies. I haven't checked this morning but hopefully everyone is still alive. Okay just went and checked. Everyone looks to be okay but I can see how the babies don't have the same color as they should. Meds should arrive today to help. Cross your fingers for her.

The closet project really took up most of my day. I did go to the store for a couple of things so I don't have to go out later this week. We're obviously not doing Thanksgiving, but we are still planning on eating food. I got a cornish game hen for me. B is making it mashed potato green bean casserole day and I got the ingredients she needs. Other than that, stayed inside.

Slept decently. Had some strange dreams including one where I bought an octopus named "The Void". Yeah. That was a weird one. Some other bizarre stuff including something with angels and demons who were fighting each other. Oh brain, what is wrong with you?

Internal class today. Have no clue how many or what time they are planning on showing up. Then Tuesday and Wednesday I have to work on this webinar. What fun that will be. Did I tell you all about the "virtual Xmas party" they want to have? I think I did. What a fucking joke. Let's pretend the world is normal! No, let's embrace that it's not and go about fixing. Step one, get the cheeto to acknowledge reality. And we've come full circle.

Y12 D180

It's sort of snowing outside. That rainy snow that doesn't quite stick but sticks enough that you can see some white on the ground but you know it's only going to last for like five minutes. Listen to me, talking like some kind of snow expert. Two years in this shit and I act like I know what I am talking about. It's cold, there's white shit falling from the sky. That's where my expertise ends. 

I also slept in this morning. A full 9 hours of sleep. I needed some good REM sleep. Weird dreams as usual when I sleep deep but that's okay. I feel rested this morning for once. I think it also has to do with how much I got done yesterday.

Remember that list from yesterday? Got all that, minus the closet part, and a few more items all completed by 11am. So I:

- cleaned the big tank
- cleaned the cat room
- moved the computer
- touched up my hair
- gave myself a manicure
- fixed the screen door handle
- caramelized onions for 12 hours in the slow cooker
- marinated two nice steaks for dinner
- went to the vape shop

All of that by 11am. I truly am most happy when I have specific tasks with clear goals. I can feel a sense of accomplishment. Given the state of the world right now, I need that. I need to be able to check some things off a list and see results. Yesterday was good for my psyche. I don't expect other people to understand or feel the same, but it works for me.

Dinner as you might imagine, was some nice steaks, potato stacks, and asparagus. B complimented my steaks as some of the best I have made in a while. The trick was I had all day to prep, cook, and plan versus trying to make something in 20 minutes. A good meal takes time and it does show. 

We spent a couple of hours last night getting all of her characters and stuff moved from the main switch to her switch. With hers gone I was able to do some redesign on my island. Not quite done, but it's looking better. 

Ordered new hair dye yesterday as the touchup used up the last of the pink. This is my next color:

Why? Why not? It will be here in a week or so. Oh and check this - I got an 'invite' for the company virtual Xmas party. No thank you. First off, it's 4:00pm - 5:30pm PST on a Thursday. WTF? Second, video is mandatory, and third they expect people to dress up. Um no? I'm not going to dress up for 90 minutes of people sitting at their desks. So stupid. You know marketing is behind this. So dumb.

B did her friend a favor yesterday. You know, the one whose grandmother died, and now the whole family is infected. She went to the store for her, picked up a prescription and some groceries and left them on front porch. Man she has a big heart. Much bigger than mine will ever be.

I feel like I am forgetting things, but oh well. I may tackle the closet project today. It's a big project. What I am doing is completely gutting and rebuilding the closet in my office. B and I have separate closets because the one in our bedroom is barely big enough for her. But mine isn't well laid out either. I have been studying closet designs on different websites and think I can emulate one for about $100 versus the $3000 most of them want. I am moving one hanging rack up, adding a new hanging rack below, then adding some bracketed shelves to the back wall. It should increase my storage by 100% and the flow will be much more productive. Tasks with clear goals. It's what I need. But to do all this, I have to empty the closet first which will be a nightmare. If I don't get the primary done in one day, I am screwed. So enough talking, let's get to work!

Y12 D179

 Been up for a while, but was touching up my hair. I am completely out of the current color now. I had to cut the bottle open to get to the last little bit. What color next? We shall see. Okay ordered. Purple-ish. Results in a couple of weeks.

Yesterday was better. Not good, but better. My class went long again. Started early too because these people had so many questions. That would have been okay if it weren't for the bullshit marketing department emails I kept getting wanting a fucking webinar. I am busy in Nov and Dec. Same thing every year. Even with shit going on, I am solid booked all of December except for like two days. I have no time for your marketing escapades. Shoo, go away. Got through the day and finished around 5. Didn't feel like cooking so we had eggs for dinner. We had to run to the grocery store unfortunately. 7pm and it was insane. I did get into it with one guy who tried to take his mask off. He backed down real quick when he saw that I was basically going to kill him if he didn't put that shit back on. No time for that right now.

Got back home, put everything away, and B and I played AC together. I also dumped on B while we were out which helped my mood. Just a lot going on in my head. 

In other news, B's friend, the friend's mom, aunt, and cousin, all tested positive yesterday. Good times. It was only a matter of time for them. We all saw this coming. Morons. Not the friend. Just the friend's family. We're talking about people who were still going to the casino, not wearing masks, getting together. The friend has had to work this whole time, retail of course, and we knew it was a matter of time before they got it. Ironically she got it from her family and not the general public. B is going to deliver some groceries to her today. Make sure her ass stays in the house.

It's stuff like that and the work stuff that I unloaded on B last night. But it felt good to get it all off my chest.

I have about six weekend projects to take care:

- hair (in progress)
- replace screen door handle
- vape shop
- manicure
- move a computer
- clean fish tank
- clean closet

This is going to be a busy weekend.

Y12 D178

 I am not in the mood to talk today. A down cycle has started and I just don't care. Everything is just annoying or depressing me right now.

My class is filled with people who don't shut up. They're smart but annoying. We went to lunch 30 minutes late, we finished 12 minutes late. 

Today can't be over soon enough.

Y12 D177

 Tired this morning. Didn't get a lot of sleep. Tossed and turned a lot for some reason. Maybe just stress of the world getting to me. I don't know. What I do know is that I can't wait for this week to be over. It just needs to end. Two more days. Luckily I still have two more days of teaching so at least the days are full. I am also very happy for next week's short week let me tell you. I have a class scheduled on Monday and then just need to make it through Tues and most of Wednesday. I mean come on, who actually gets anything accomplished the Wednesday before thanksgiving? That's like Christmas Eve. It's a throwaway day. 

Class went fine yesterday. Finished around 5, had leftovers for dinner. Watched some TV, went to bed. My leaf guy came and did the gutters and roof. Just in time too. It's supposed to rain/snow starting tomorrow and go for a couple of days. I would expect some real snowfall by the end of the weekend. Definitely see some by thanksgiving. Joy. B's phone arrived yesterday and we spent time last night setting it up. The return kit should arrive today or tomorrow and we can send her old one back. They're only giving us $65 for her old one, but it's better than throwing it in a box somewhere and forgetting about it for five years.

I don't know what's going on in the world. I am trying to reduce down my gloom scrolling. I am sure things are still going to hell. Because why wouldn't they be? Stay in my box and hide from all of you. 

Y12 D176

 I nearly had an aneurysm last night right before bed. I made the mistake of looking at the news. Two motherfuckers in ONE county here in MI are refusing to certify the votes meaning that MI is now back up in the air. TWO people. If I run into either of these whiny bitch ass old white men republicans in person, I will beat the living shit out of them for obstruction. There is no reason why they are doing this other than to be dicks. Will all of you just fuck off and accept you fucking lost. Look, 4 years ago I wasn't happy that this fascist prick won, but I also didn't deny it. I never accepted it internally but it was what it was. Your turn. Get over it and let us do the work that needs to be done. The other big difference four years ago is that people weren't dying in the thousands every fucking day from a pandemic your people can't contain. So knock it off, concede the fucking election, and let us try to move forward.

Taught all day. Finished around 6:30. Made baked potatoes last night with ground beef, broccoli, and cheese sauce. Quite tasty.

Watched some TV with B, helped her with her island, went to bed.

Three more days of the same.

Y12 D175

 It was our two year house-iversary yesterday. 2 years ago we pulled up with 2 cats and cooler full of fish and began the new chapter of our lives here. How the world has changed in just two years. How I've changed in just two years. I'd like to think I am a better human being. More patient with those I care about, less patient with those who are blatantly wrong, and finding out where I belong in this strange world. Like then, the snow is starting to fall. Just flakes right now. But indicative of what's to come over the next few weeks for sure. Soon the ground will be covered once more. My leaf guy should be coming this week. I hope he gets here before everything has turned to mush. We shall see. 

Taught all day. Internal group which is good because this was inherited material that really needs a lot of work still. Needs polishing. But I made it through without too much incident. It's always easier to stumble and fall in front of those who are less likely to judge. I am glad we're doing these internal classes for that very reason. 

Didn't finish until after 6. Same thing today - 10-6 class. Remember when my schedule was consistent? Yeah, me neither. I am just glad to be fully engaged this week. It lets me ignore everything else and makes doing my timesheet so much easier. 

Had fish sticks and mac and cheese for dinner. Comfort food needed. Quick and easy food needed too. It did the trick.

4:25am, B sent me a message. Ambulance across the street. One of the old people must not be doing well. Despite what I just said in the opening paragraph, my money is on COVID. They constantly have people over at that house, I never see any of them in masks, and something tells me they are stubborn old people who won't be told what to do. Sorry not sorry if you got the 'rona. It's a shame if someone over there has died, but when it's a preventable death, it's hard to empathize or feel pity. That's my feeling for a LOT of the people who have died. Not all mind you. Because I am not stupid. I know there are a good number of folks like our friend who no work equals no roof, no life, no nothing. These people don't have a choice. But you know, THE ECONOMY! As long as Senator Palpatine, I mean McConnell, is around, there will be no stimulus or the much needed nationwide shutdown. We as a state are going into a modified shutdown starting Wednesday. Modified because the governor has had their hands tied by republican leadership and they've stripped her of executive powers. She can only do so much while these 'freedumb' loving idiots still roam. So if the person across the street is dead or sick because of COVID, well, maybe you shouldn't have had 20 people over a day? Maybe tell your kids and grandkids to wear a mask when they come visit? Maybe follow the safety protocols and there won't be an ambulance at your door at 4am?

Logic captain. What a concept.

Y12 D174

 Luckily I didn't need to leave the house yesterday. I was able to make due with I had inside. Good thing too because the weather turned extremely frightful. No snow luckily, but it was still pretty nasty out there. Bad enough we had power flickers around 5pm. I was worried we'd be in the dark for a while. But it didn't get bad enough for a full outage thank goodness. I haven't checked the yard yet, but I did see some branches on the front lawn last night before going to bed. We shall see how bad it is once there's light.

Made cookies yesterday. Russian tea house cookies with mini chocolate chips instead of nuts. I am mostly happy with them. They could have been better but they work.

Didn't really do much else. Watched some TV, read, planned out the week. Having classes five days in a row means I have to be ready. Docs in order, servers ready, etc. Honestly, it was a quiet day here. I tried to ignore the outside world as much as possible. Let it burn. 

Did a load of laundry. Woo.

Yeah. I guess that's it. The brain isn't fully engaged yet so that's what you get today.

Y12 D173

 Okay, what is wrong with people? WHY are they fighting so hard to try and keep safe? 180,000 new cases a day. 1,200 deaths A DAY. We lost another one yesterday. B's oldest and closest friend's grandmother died. This is someone B has known her entire life. She grew up with them and they were a surrogate grandmother at times. Is that the problem with people? Unless they actually have someone they know die they pretend it doesn't exist? Or is that they are just so self centered, arrogant, and stupid, that they don't care? I really don't want to know the answer to that question because I fear I already know it. The worst part is when the two worlds of drama right now collide. Yesterday the "MillionMAGAMarch" (which for the record had about 10,000 people) happened in the streets and like 1% of these idiots were wearing masks. Or the parents in Rollo MO who decided to host a secret prom at a steakhouse with 200+ people, including children for god's sake, no masks. 7 confirmed have come out of that already. Who knows how many more will emerge. But wait, then we have the 6 or 7 red state governors who yesterday said if Biden issues a mask mandate they will refuse to follow. WHAT? First off, just because you got elected doesn't mean the entire state supports you. Just like we saw with this election, at least 48% of the public are idiots. So there are a lot of people in your states who might actually have brains and will wear masks BUT will be harassed and intimidated by YOUR people because you refuse to set the proper example. JFC, will you all just die off already please? At the very least, stay the fuck away from me. This is why I am not leaving the house except under extreme cases. Even B is going into self-lockdown. She doesn't trust her dumb friends who have people in and out of their house all the time to do the right thing. No more spending the day in what be a petri dish full of virus. 

I went to the store at 6:02am yesterday for exactly this reason. To minimize my contact with human idiots. I was out of store #1 at 6:48, hit store #2, completed my list, home by 7:30am. Total exposure time in stores, less than 1 hour. 1 hour per week is all that I am emerging from this basement. Because fuck all of you. I am not dying from something preventable. I am not dying because you're a stubborn, selfish, uneducated, science denying, racist, fascist, piece of shit. I seriously feel more and more like Robert Neville. (Go read a book you heathens.) I am not pursued by the undead per se, but by living creatures who view me with resentment and fear because I won't succumb to their new world order. As I said yesterday, I am Legend.

So grocery store, put away groceries, played video games, cleaned the house. Made taco skillet chicken for dinner. Watched some TV. It does become lonely staying in the house. Yes, it sucks. But it's the right goddamn thing to do.

A full week of teaching next week! A full five days. I am excited. I will be exhausted and tired, but it will be worth it. Then the week after is a short week thanks to Thanksgiving (which as we all know is going to basically be Super Spreader weekend because, well, people.) Honestly, in the store yesterday they were playing ads on the speaker for buying thanksgiving supplies. I mean come on. This is a really bad time for retailers, I get it, maybe if we had a government that wasn't filled with douchebags, this wouldn't be so hard for everyone. JUST SHUT DOWN ALREADY. Close non-essential shit. Who decides what's essential? Groceries, gas, hospitals (animal and human). If for just two goddamn weeks we did that, imagine how much we could accomplish. Four weeks and we might see a turning point. But no. I live in the land of the 'free'. Self importance is more the motto. Capitalism is the battle cry. We *need* our McDonald's. We *need* to re-do our kitchens. We gotta move these refrigerators, we gotta move these color TVs. (That ain't working...)

Side comments - listened to the new AC/DC album in full the last couple of days. First off, is this anything new? No. Every song is traditional rock 101:

Intro guitar
Verse 1
Chorus
Verse 2
Chorus
Interlude
Guitar solo
Chorus
Possible verse 3
Chorus
Chorus
Chorus
Fade out guitar outro

I mean seriously, it's textbook rock songs. But you know what? I don't care. They're all pretty fucking good. They do what they need to do. Out of 12 songs, I like about 6. 3 are tolerable, and 3 are meh. That's not bad. Hey, not all album's can be Boston's first. (Seriously, that's like the only album in my life where I have liked every. single. song.). It's listenable, it's got a good beat, it doesn't ask more of me than to enjoy myself for an hour. Right now, I will take that. Thank you Angus for one last hurrah.

Now it's time to go get some aluminum foil so I can bake cookies. 10 minutes outside exposure at worst. Wish me luck and keep a wooden stake nearby. I've got garlic in my pocket.

Y12 D172

 Guess who now has a MI enhanced license? That's right! Was an extremely painless process too. Of course it was made simpler by COVID. Appointment only, only 4 people at a time allowed in. 3 clerks and a supervisor working. That made things MUCH easier. I had a 12:50 appointment, went to the doors at 12:46, was in at 12:48, was out of there at 1:05. $45 and one form later, done. No test. No eye test even. I think it helped that I brought every single form of ID they could have wanted. I had my form pre-filled out. I actually read the website and emails they sent and was prepared. The clerk was overjoyed at how ready I was and called me SOS guest of the day. Yes, it's called SOS here and not DMV. It's very weird. It's just a tiny little office in a strip mall. Looks like a postal annex compared to the DMV you're probably used to like me. Kind of odd for sure. But it's all done and now I am legal. 

I was supposed to be off yesterday to deal with this but somehow spent like 4 hours answering emails all day. One was from my boss. He is upset because our AWS charges are like 8 times higher than normal. Apparently a server was left running September for the entire month and we paid for it. Now he wants me to call Amazon and see if they will reduce the charge. How fucking embarrassing. I will do it, but still. What a cheapskate move. Then I had marketing bugging me with a bunch of shit all day. They screwed something up and expected me to fix it. Dumbasses.

We had pizza for dinner because I was being lazy and because we are low on food. I am going to the grocery store this morning. We will have plenty of food when I get back. Paid bills. Joy. I paid our landscaper for all of Nov-Mar services. A huge hit, but now it's done. I don't have to worry about him for a while and for the next 6 months my driveway will be plowed, my leaves will be gone. One less thing to worry about it. Just in time too because it's getting into the 30s here. Snow is imminent. 

Funko sent me a wrong pop yesterday. Kind of upset. Was waiting for a Deadpool pop and got Wolverine. Not cool man. My new ACDC album arrived yesterday. Gonna wear that disc thin over the next week that's for sure. 12 tracks and so far I like about 5 of them. Not bad. If I can like 1/2 an album I'm happy. Oh, they had Five Nights at Freddie's on sale on steam. Yeah, not liking it. Not a fan of the jump scare. Luckily it was $4.

Groceries and not much else on the agenda for today. Now to go face the unwashed masses and get this over with before they infect me. I am Legend.

Y12 D171

 Another day another sinus pressure headache. Gosh living here is swell. 

Had a half day semi-private class yesterday. One guy was great. One guy not so much. But it was a fundamentals class and it was okay. Just made for a long 4 hours. He wasn't bad, just a little slower than I would have liked. By the end he was doing okay. He even gave me an idea on how to improve a demo with this questions. I liked that. 

B took one of the axies into the vet last night. Yes, she found a vet who handles 'exotic' pets. Had to drive 40 minutes for it, but was worth it. The big chonker needs some antibiotics for fungus. Cheaper than a cat visit.

Bill day today. Whee. Need to go spend thousands of dollars now. Being and adult sucks. Of course now you realize why adults around you were always so damn stressed out about everything. Not much else going on. Today is my DMV appointment. Need to read the book thoroughly in the next 4 hours. Make sure it's all in my noggin before heading out. I have every piece of paper they might want or need for identification. I am hoping this is the easiest DMV visit ever. We shall see.

Y12 D170

 I had this really weird dream last night. In it, I knew the world was "not right". Like I had ended up in a different timeline, but I also knew how to set it back. I could remember when the world was different and could pinpoint little things that were not the way they should be. Talk about some subconscious crazy right there. Gee, are things in the world a little screwed up right now? Do I wish things were different or made more sense? Apparently.

To that end, my coworker lost an uncle last night. He went into a coma on Monday and gone last night at 6pm. They didn't elaborate on the details, but that sucks. Plain and simple. I bet they wish the world was more normal right now.

More paper pushing yesterday. Story of my damn life. 

Honestly, that's it. Nothing else going on that's worth mentioning. Same nightmare dystopian world, different day.

Y12 D169

 Ugh, what day is it? I think it's Wednesday? Weird week so far that's for sure. 

Weird dreams too. In one, we were waiting for our luggage after getting off some cross country train ride and we won tickets to see the circus. Okay? Then in another by computer overheated and the entire motherboard popped out of the case. That one was scary.

B woke me up at 2:30am to help her with something. One of the babies she has been caring for didn't make it. She was having trouble handling it. I had to help her with the body. It was a rescue from another person and so she feels bad that she couldn't get it back to healthy. She tries so hard with these damn axies and it hits her when she loses one. 

I spent the day working on docs. B made pasta for us for dinner. After dinner we went to Best Buy. My first real "felt like normal" outing in a long while. We are looking at fridges. Ours is making some wonky noises and we are weighing our options. We found one we liked but of course it's on backorder. But now at least we know what we want and don't want in our next fridge. While I love my red fridge to death, it's given me 13 years of service. Not a bad length of time. I think we have some time left with it, but we wanted to just see what's out there. Felt odd leaving the house at night. 

More of the same shit today. Friday is my DMV appointment. Been reading the manual. Missed one of the practice test. Need to study more tonight. Want to pass and be done with it. 

Y12 D168

 I was so tired from yesterday I completely forgot to set an alarm and ended up sleeping an extra hour this morning. Oops. Yesterday took a lot out of me. Here's the story:

I did a training for a new client. But it was one of those situations where it was a 3rd party client and they had some awful demands. Come to find out, they were even more awful than I knew. Apparently on Friday night the one particular contact demanded more changes to the curriculum post contract signing. Mind you, he pushed for these changes Friday 4pm for a Monday 8:30am training. Um, no? I learned all that Friday night and thought it was the end. Nope. He called our guy Saturday night and chewed his ass out for not making the changes. Excuse me? Wait, there's more. When he didn't get his way, he escalated to our CEO. Yeah. Now here's where I come in. First off, our classes are set to be for a group of 12 students, 15 max. They sent 17. Strike one. This individual had promised us that all students would have the requisite knowledge for the level of the material. They did not. Strike two. But for me, the best part was when he tried to weasel in during the class the shit he had wanted added. I swiftly shut him down on two counts - first, I couldn't do what he wanted anyway because it was impossible in our environment and two, what he wanted is 100% against best practices. He was wanting me to teach his clients basically a workaround to deal with the shit job his company was doing with the data. He was not happy when I shut him down on this topic. I don't know if I will get any fallout, but I do know it was being moved to a new account manager. We are supposed to have five more sessions with these people and they've already violated by telling us they have arranged for 20 per group. I am under orders to shut down any more than 17. This is going to be fun. Apparently we're also not the only ones who have problems with them. The students complained loudly during class that they can't do any of the things I was showing them because they were "handcuffed" (their word, not mine) by the hosts. This is going to have some interesting fallout.

Because of all that, I didn't finish until almost 6pm, then had to take out all the garbage and recycling as today is trash day. Finally ate around 7 and was just exhausted. Not a good night.

Meanwhile in the real world, we're seeing the most obscure lame duck session ever. Normally at this point a president would be doing minimal shit to ride out the holidays. Not this prick. Fires the Secretary of Defense yesterday. WTF? Who knows what kind of shenanigans he will try to get into over the next two months. At the same time, Biden announced his COVID team and it includes people fired by stupidhead because they disagreed with him about stuff, you know, like drinking bleach. Because remember Aunt Rona? She's still out there infecting 100,000+ a day killing a thousand a day. Priority one is containment people.

Not sure what today is going to bring. I am very curious though.

Y12 D167

 I had to leave the house yesterday. Ugh. What a trial and tribulation that was. I had to do a store pickup at Best Buy for stupid ink. Printers suck. They are such a pain in the ass. I milked the tanks dry though that's for sure. Definitely got my money's worth out of the last set. I needed to print out like 10 pages of shit to bring to the DMV with me on Friday. They want proof I exist, okay, here you go. I got proof. Insurance, bank statements, paystub, passport, mortgage docs. I got it all baby. 

B and I spent like two hours in bed yesterday playing animal crossing. Such nerds. We need to move all of her old character's stuff to her new island. THOUSANDS of items. Many trips were had trying to figure out what she needed and in what priority. The nice part was just sitting in bed and talking to be honest.

Had tacos for dinner. Two days of teaching this week, Friday off. Today I have a trouble class. It's one of those 3rd party deals where the people who bought the training are not the people I am teaching and they're trying to impose all sorts of bullshit like I can't email a student directly. Fuck you. And then on Friday at 4pm they wanted to change the scope of the class. Um, no. Even more no was what they wanted to add isn't even a best practice and I wouldn't teach it anyway. It's going to come up today and there's going to be some tension, I already know it. The 3rd party is going to have their rep on the class to "audit" me and they will be the one who tries some shit. I have already told the salesperson on this that if this person becomes disruptive, I'm kicking them off my class. Plain and simple. I am here to teach, not stroke your ego.

Speaking of stroking egos, can't wait to read the news this morning and see what tantrums the orange one has thrown now. This should be fun.

Almost forgot:

I'll take beloved people for $1000
This iconic figure battled cancer but lost after 80 wonderful years.
Who was Alex Trebek?

An icon who will truly missed. At least he lived long enough to see his adopted country vote out a moron who would have lasted two seconds on Jeopardy. 

Y12 D166

 Yesterday at 11:30am EST it was as if a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Like I had been holding in a breath way too long and could finally exhale. I know I'm not the only one who felt this way. Multiple people expressed similar feelings. I was hit with such a rush, I collapsed into a nap. Last night I slept for 9 hours. The longest I have slept in quite a while. I am not stupid, I know it's not over yet by any stretch, but it feels like we have reached the end of a very long and dark tunnel but finally there is a shimmer of light at the end of it. And this time, it's not a train. Watching Biden give his speech live last night was emotional for us. Listening to him and Harris just felt good. Is he the candidate I wanted? No. But he is a better step in the right direction. Pull us out of the spiral we've been in for four very rough years. The rest of the world felt it too. The messages coming from other world leaders was incredible. I don't think in my entire life I have ever seen the world's stage act this way. They are overjoyed to have an adult back in control. But yes, it's still two months away. Yes, the giant man-baby is throwing a tantrum. If somehow this gets overturned, if by some twisted evil magic this ends up being another Gore/Bush, I fear for all of us. The violence and anger that would erupt would tear us apart for good. We HAVE to move forward where we are. 75 million people have spoken. There cannot be backwards steps. It would devastate us as a country. Let us see the light and move to the end of that damn tunnel.

I did all my tasks yesterday. Laundry, house cleaning, made a pot roast in the slow cooker, water changes on the tanks, and a dozen other little things around the house. We had a friend come over to help us celebrate the good news. We opened a bottle of sparking pear cider and toasted a new day. B also cut his hair for him. We watched some videos, watched the speech, and for the first time in a quite a while, things felt normal. 

Don't want to lose that feeling. Please for the sake of all of us, don't let me lose that feeling.

Y12 D165

 Nope. Still in flux. Good news? GA and PA look set to be confirmed blue. NV is still doing their wacky scheme to get back the ballots they lost gambling. Well, that's the story of anything set in Vegas, right? Other good news, run off Senate race in GA may cause McConnell to lose control. That's big news. But that's the only news so far. Hopefully before the weekend is over we will have some outcome. Hopefully.

Recorded, sat through the world's most boring presentation. B had an adventure though. She tried to go to the zoo with a couple of her friends. One decided to take too large an edible and basically ruined the day. B is out $60 and saw nothing but the visitor center because that's where they had to sit for two hours while this person got their shit together. Then they came back here and passed out on our bed! This is why I don't like hanging out with these people. B is much more tolerant of this shit than I am. I would have left their ass in the visitor center and enjoyed the zoo. 

Made myself a nice poached salmon with poached egg on top served on a bed of polenta. They ate some trash from a local coney island. I didn't know when she would be home so I had planned my dinner out earlier in the day and wasn't about to change it. 

Laundry is already started. Utilitarian weekend ahead of me. Laundry, hair touchup, water changes, etc. Get shit done. Have some garbage outside I want to deal with too. Stuff that I want them to take before it gets covered in snow for three months. It's been 'warm' here this week but I know that's a facade that will fall away soon enough. Before the end of the month, whoosh, the chill winds of winter will blow in.

B's main Xmas gift arrived yesterday. I got her a Switch of her own. This way we can stop fighting about how things look on our island. Stop sharing resources. Plus we can both play at the same time now. I haven't decided if we're going to set it up pre-Xmas or not. Probably will. Wrap the box. We shall see.

Y12 D164

 Ah, nothing like waking up to find we still have no president because the election is too fucking close for a clear winner to have been decided because 70 million people seem to be under the opinion that hate is an acceptable form of 'leadership'. Good times. Oh, and you thought I was being sill with the whole 'others' thing? Take a look at this map:

Those are the places and number of votes where Kanye Fucking West received votes. Fuck you. Apparently right now Nevada has forgotten how to count but in a bright shining miracle, Georgia could be flipping. If Georgia flips, then we may be one step closer. For those of you brainless idiots who think this is all a rig - remember the orange one told his people NOT to vote by mail, then blocked early counting, where as the other side encouraged voting by mail. So yeah, states might flip you dinglenuts because the early ballots were all blue. Let's hear it for GA. But states that voted for Kanye? You can fuck right off.

Taught yesterday. We hard being upbeat and positive while stressing about all of the world. But I made it through. Just got to get through today and it will be the weekend thank goodness. No plans as of right now, but it will at least not be a weekday. I need a project. I might start work on my closet even though I was saving that for winter break. I do still plan to take the last two weeks of this year off. Mostly because I can only roll over a certain amount of vacation and as of right now I am sitting on 160+ hours. Technically I could take all of December off and still have some hours left. But, just the last two weeks is fine by me. What is the date anyway? The 6th I think. Almost time for the one holiday I hate more than all others. Thank the heavens there is a pandemic still happening.

Yeah, remember that? Daily cases went over 100,000 the other day. People are still dying. There is no cure or vaccine still. But you go right ahead and vote for Kanye and Jo Jorgensen. I am sure they will get right on that. 

I think I will do some more recording today. Distract myself from all of this. I started re-watching The Doctor of all things last night because I needed a good distraction. Watched four episodes. Just plunked myself in front of the TV and watched my Bad Wolf do her thing. Sometimes you need a change of scenery that feels familiar. Or the hope that a man in a blue box might come and save us all.

Y12 D163

 I've never wanted NV to do the right thing so much as I do right now. NV is all we need. 

But look, let's face facts for a minute. Even if NV comes through and Biden hits the 270 today, the fucktard has already filed lawsuits in MI and WI disputing the counts. Seriously? Which means if this goes before his stacked supreme court, then who knows the outcome. Even if Biden DOES manage to win this in the end, he is facing a republican congress and senate. Which means he will get fuck all accomplished. But let's not forget the biggest takeaway from this - nearly 70m people think the orange one is doing a 'good' job. THIS SHOULDN'T BE THIS CLOSE. How can you possibly justify the behavior of the last four years? Are you that racist? Seriously, I don't understand it at all. I You people disgust me. Especially when I see Latinos voting for him. Or Blacks. Have you been in a hole? WTF? These people don't represent you. They want you dead. Period. They are not your friends. Then let's talk about the 2-4% depending on the state, that voted for "other". WTF?? There are some states where 2-4% would have made this whole process a whole lot easier. But NO you had to be funny or principled. You too are people I never want to hear from again. But I live in a state where it doesn't matter. Bullshit. ALL states right now are razor fucking thin and 2-4% makes a difference. Even in CA. CA is NOT a guaranteed win for anyone these days. From the Karens in the OC to the Tech Czars up north, there are plenty who want their way of life untouched. Look at Huntington Beach. Look at Zuckerberg. These people and areas LOVE their dictator. So yeah, your 3% other fucking counts you idiot. It all counts. Plus it just shows me how childish and selfish you are if you voted other. It's not about you. It's about the McConnell's of the world not taking complete control. It's about people not dying. It's about children not being locked in cages. It's about no human being having to worry about being designated as a non-human. It's not fucking about you. If you are one of the people who say, well it doesn't matter to me because my life didn't change in the last four years, well congratu-fucking-lations to you. That just means you're a boring ass heterosexual CIS white person who falls within the spectrum of acceptable life form. Good job you cog in the fucking machine. You are good comrade for the state! How does that fucking boot taste? There are plenty of us who don't fit that bill. There are plenty of us who in our lifetime have been deemed non-human. How many of you know what it's like to be told you can't be who you are because it's illegal? Go eat some vanilla pudding, drive your "american" car, and have some missionary sex you fucker. Just don't ever talk to me again. I got your "other" right here.

Recorded yesterday. Rewrote 5 year old demos. Stressed out. 

Teach today. 9-1. Joy.

Y12 D162

 I wake up this morning and this is the state of the world:

Are you fucking kidding me? HOW is it even this close? What the fuck is wrong with these people? How do they approve of what this motherfucker is doing? I know which states to avoid in the future, don't I? I also don't understand how McConnell got re-fucking-elected. Seriously? What is wrong with all of you? I am just sick to my stomach right now. There is something so divided and wrong with this country. 

All I did yesterday was stress. Period. I couldn't focus, I couldn't get into anything. I just stressed. Why? Look at that image and tell me how you can be okay with the state of things. 4 more years of stupidity and oppression? Is that what you want? 4 more years of destruction of USPS? 4 more years of people dying from a fucking plague? 4 more years of people being ripped off the street and thrown in cages?

I'm done. So done. I am going to crawl into a hole for the next four years. Won't leave the house. Won't interact with other people unless forced to. My hope in mankind is truly dead.

Y12 D161B

Well this tells you what kind of day it is when you get the elusive second post in one day. I just want to make clear that these things I was rambling on about earlier weren't hyperbole or me being silly. Since the last post I have watched multiple videos, read multiple news stories, and read multiple personal posts from people already experiencing the wrath of today. In many cities, businesses last night boarded over their windows, took stock off shelves, added cameras. The "proud boys" have already issued statements that they will be "protesting" regardless of results. AKA, time to shoot minorities and women. On a personal note, a friend in Portland was awoken to the sound of a bullhorn telling protestors they are illegally gathered and will be shot at with chemicals and "non-lethal" rounds. A Starbucks in their apartment building had the windows shattered. And all of this is in the last 8 hours. It's not going to get any better as the day progresses, believe me. 

I would also like for one (hopefully) last time reiterate that if YOU personally voted for the orange fuckwad, threw away your vote on a green candidate or similar, or chose not to vote, then you can sincerely and forever FUCK OFF. I don't want to hear from you, see you, talk to you, or have anything to do with you. Because in doing so you have told me you're okay with racism, violence, misogyny, hate, corruption, and a thousand other things that turn my stomach. But but but you say, I like his stance on immigration because "THEY'RE STEALIN' OUR JERBS!". Okay, Randy Redneck. First off, you're a fucking racist. Second, no one is "stealing" your job. Some Latino guy is not sneaking into a widget factory and going "Hola, I mean Hello! er, Howdy, yes Howdy! I am Will, Bill -- Billiam (yes is good USA Name!) and I am here for working! See this nice uniform I 'found' in locker room. Please here is my not so fake SSN. (Bwahaha, I have pulled fast one on stupid gringo!)" Not happening dumbass. What's happening is your corporate overlord decided building a factory IN Mexico where they can pay the locals 1/3 of what they pay you (if not less) and not paying US taxes was a better business strategy. Or if you're in my industry, they decided to hire some guy from India as a contractor because they don't have to pay his health insurance, pension, supplies, etc. When a project is over, they can kick him back and replace him with another guy from India at an even lower rate. But don't blame the person doing the work. They're paying their bills and feeding their families, just like you. Be mad at the corporation who put the almighty dollar ahead of the human life. Remember, it all fell to shit when they changed the name from "Personnel" to "Human Resources".

Well I don't care about jerbs you say, for me it's about TAXES! Okay shitfuck. If you're worried you'll pay more taxes, go look at your check you fucking moron. You probably already are. If not on your check, then you paid more in Federal at the end of the year. Trust me, you did. That money had to be made up somewhere you idiot. All those payroll tax breaks came due. You already paid it. And if you're worried about the "wealth tax", guess what? You're not going to make over $400,000 as an individual you fucking moron. If you are already, then why the fuck are you reading my blog?? I mean seriously. Don't you have better things to do like maybe go help some people? Or do you need another boat? Fuck you. Even at my BEST I never brought in more than $250k in a single year. If you're making over 400k a year, then seriously, fuck you. Just go fuck yourself hard. Because somewhere someone got exploited for you to make that. Now, I am not talking about the guy who got lucky with an IPO and got a one time good payout. That's a good for you moment. You hopefully earned it. I am talking about the person who year after year is getting a SALARY WITH BONUSES and is clocking away a half million or more per year. You are scum. "But what about actors and sports stars??" Fuck them. They shouldn't be getting those kind of salaries either. It's that disparity that's causing the shit outside your window. If they get that money, then they should be ready to be taxed on it and give back to the society that helped them get there in the first place. Not a complicated thought pattern. "Well maybe I will make 400k!" Yeah, no. Not anytime soon at least. Just stop. You work at fucking Arby's. Shut up and supersize me bitch. 

There it is. My rant for Nov 3 2020. The day the music died.

And we were singing...

Bye bye miss American pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
And them good ol' boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singing this'll be the day that I die.

This'll be the day that I die.

Y12 D161

 Let this serve as a permanent record of the day democracy died. I have no hope for today's outcome. I have no positive feelings for the state of our country over the next 24 hours. This is going to be a tragedy in one act. Cult come to life. May god have mercy on our souls. I do not plan on leaving the house. B confirmed last night that the school in our neighborhood is in fact a polling place. People may be driving in and out of here all day. With us as close to a main road as we are, who knows what kind of traffic or incidents may happen out there. May you all do the right thing today if you haven't already. Be prepared for the worst possible outcome. Be prepared for their masks to slip and for us to finally see the true faces of those who are in charge. Rhetoric, violence, chaos - these are their weapons of choice. We have 14 hours until the nightmare truly begins. The arguing, the fighting, the lying, the corruption. It will all come to a head today. I should have bought more canned food.

Yesterday was very long for me. I taught from 10 until about 5:30 but with emails before and emails after, the day really went from 7am to 7pm. This is one of the reasons I don't like teaching those times. I end up having an extended day as a result. I did ignore a bunch of later emails which I need to handle today. But you know, it will be so easy to focus on stupid ass stuff like that when Rome is burning outside. Yeah, no problem.

Didn't even eat dinner last night. I just had no appetite. I had a piece of french bread and a kit kat. Quality meal right there.

Let's get this over with.

Y12 D160

 Twenty twenty twenty four hours to go, I wanna be sedated...

Last night I read an article how MI is one of the five most likely states to experience militia violence in the next 24-48 hours. Fun. I tell you things like this for all of you who think my paranoia and concern are over inflated. This isn't the civilized world of CA out here. It's trash with pickup trucks and semi-automatic weapons who fancy themselves 'freedom fighters'. I am scared shitless to leave the house tomorrow. Or today for that matter. I just hope there are no polling places near me. I have the library across the street and two schools within walking distance. These are typical places where they do voting. Too close for comfort. 

What the hell did I do yesterday? Played some video games. Dealt with B's never ending tank cycling. Used the leftover to make beef tips with rice. Watched some TV. I honestly think that's about it. Nothing of any significance that I can remember. The wind was howling and we had 'faux snow'. Flakes in the sky but nothing on the ground. Time change messed with me a little bit but not too bad. 

Please everyone be safe this week. Let's try not to die.

Y12 D159

 Welcome back to Standard Time. Bye-bye DST. And yes, I took full advantage of the "extra" hour and slept in this morning. I got over 8 hours of sleep! Very nice, very nice indeed.

What a strange Halloween it was. Not bad mind you, just strange. Too many things happening at once. Full Moon. Blue Moon. Election year. Pandemic. Time changes. That's a lot for one day to contain. But here we are on the other side. Welcome to Christmas 1st. 

I had a pretty busy day. Went to the grocery store early. Learned that you can't by alcohol in MI until 7am. Used to it being 6am where I'm from. Here it's 7. I needed a bottle of wine for last night's dinner in case you're wondering why I was buying wine at 6:30 in the morning. I needed to hit two stores anyway and I sat in the parking lot of the second one to make sure I didn't have any troubles with the wine. Funny thing though the self checkout clocks were two minutes off. Me and the attendant had a good laugh about it.

Rearranged my office. Gave myself some more space and mostly gave myself a 'change of scenery' if you will. Nothing major. Just moved the desk to a different wall. Helped me organize a bit too because I threw out some junk that had been cluttering my desk.

Water change on the big tank. All the fishies are happy once more.

Watched a spoopy movie for spoopy day. Was going to watch all three movies in the Firefly Saga (not the space Firefly, the serial killer crazy Firefly family) but only made it through Corpses before B was awake. Will probably watched Rejects today and maybe 3 From Hell. 

B hasn't seen her sister's in forever. They were originally supposed to come over last night but for whatever reason, the Mother has a stick up her ass once again and said they couldn't come because of COVID. Bitch, we are the safest house in town. You let them go to school and hang out with your parents, but they can't come here? Bite me.

We did our big fondue dinner last night. We spaced it out nicely. Did a cheese course first, then a broth course. Really pleased with how easy everything was to prep, make, and clean up. Something we will do regularly we think. Plus because we are still understanding how much food we need to prep for two people, we have a ton of leftovers which I am going to turn into beef tips over rice tonight.  

To close out the day, we crawled into bed and watched The Great Pumpkin. Fuck you ABC and AppleTV. We don't need your shit to watch Charlie Brown. Headed of to bed around 11.

A filled, busy day. Now to prep for the upcoming week of disaster. Did you all hear what that spray tan piece of shit cunt said yesterday? "When we win on Tuesday, or thank you Supreme Court, shortly thereafter...". Seriously? You're not even bothering to hide. Democracy is dead. Yeah yeah we can debate the nuance of us 'never really being a democracy' all day, but this is straight up bullshit. This is tyranny. This is beyond reproach. This week is going to be a fucking shitshow to end all shitshows. God help us all.