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| In case you needed a reminder: STAY THE FUCK AT HOME |
At some point in the night, I was yanked from the arms of sleep by the dulcet tones of one of my cats (Indiana, I'm sure) yakking up somewhere in my home. I've been sleeping like shit lately, so I rolled over and went back to sleep. Which meant I spent a goodly amount of today treading carefully and looking for a dessicated puddle of cat yak.
Despite that, it was a rather good day. Left to my own devices, I tend to wake up rather late in the morning, but even so, I managed to stick to a basic routine, from beginning to end. There was exercise and works and chores and reading and some tidying and Google hangouts with friends, and I drove over to take care of The Prof. On the drive over, I marveled at how so many of the Bradford Pear trees are starting to flourish with their profusion of white blossoms, stark against the grey sky. It's so strange to me that when this all first started, the trees will still showing their winter starkness, but by the time we emerge from this self-exile, the land here in Southern Indiana will be throbbing with its lush green of spring and summer.
Today, I delved back into library and book news. One of the articles, Ted Chiang Explains the Disaster Novel We All Suddenly Live In, briefly examined the genre of speculative fiction and science fiction, and the usual trajectories that those novels follow. One of the types of narratives is the progressive narrative, in which there is a disaster, it's resolved, and nothing is ever the same. Is that what's happening here?
I'm not an economist, soothsayer, historian, politician, statistician, or sociologist--I'm just kind of basic bitch librarian, sitting on the sidelines and watching shit unfold. I know nothing is definite. But I fear--and suspect--that we return to the way things were--at least in the sense that powerful billionaires and politicians carrying on with their abuses of power. Even in the middle of this catastrophe, we see it happening through the deliberately-orchestrated corporate bailouts, Hobby Lobby's entirely predictable abuse of their employees, and the assholes who decided to dump stocks. Maybe some things will change on a more macrosmic level, but in the greater, overall picture, while I can hope for things to be different, I am afraid that apathy and greed and socially-acceptable indifference to the most vulnerable and underserved will continue to dictate the trajectory of our lives, at least here in the Western society.
Daily Indiana COVID-19 counts:
Total Cases: 2,565 (up from yesterday's 2,159)
65 people have died.
My heart is heavy. I think about how a few months ago we were all joyously and hopefully bringing in the new year. How many of these 65 folks were like you and I, going about their day and having plans and hopes and dreams for the year ahead?
Daily Gratitude:
About a year ago, I had a couple of friends over, and they helped me assemble an exercise bike. I'm so frickin' thankful for that contraption, helping me get up and moving as soon as I wake up. And I'm so frickin' grateful for Becky and Christine, who helped my hungover ass put that bike together. I hope they're both doing alright doing these weird times. I hope I get to see them soon.
Daily Funnies:
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