Getting Fed Up

I've been watching my brother and my aunt argue on Facebook about wearing masks.  It's amazing to me.  My side links to all sorts of reputable reports about how the masks save lives, and how doctors overwhelmingly believe that mask use is the way to go.  My aunt keeps replying with nebulous comments like "plenty of doctor agree with me" and "I heard somewhere that masks can cause diseases."  She sounds a lot like Trump.

It's not up for debate.  You're either wearing a mask in public, or you're a bastard.  This pandemic has lasted too long for us to keep having this conversation.  Some of you are still stuck in April, making the same stupid arguments you had then, your fingers in your ears going "la la la la".  We already know how to end the pandemic, but Republicans just aren't willing to do it.

Trump has made us the laughing stock of the world.  We're one of the few countries left that hasn't gotten the disease under control.  If we want to know how to do the same, all we have to do is look at some of these other countries and see how they did it.  It's pretty simple - Enforce everyone to stay in their homes, except for a few essential jobs, like doctors and delivery drivers.  Anyone who does have to leave the house, has to wear a mask, no exceptions.  And of course, pay people to stay in their homes.  It would only take a couple of months for the virus to die out, if they strictly enforced this.

Instead, we're trying half-assed method after half-assed method, and cases keep rising.  You might think it's too expensive to pay people to stay home, but in the long run it would be cheaper.  Two expensive months versus what will probably be more than a year of various half-assed methods. 

If we had done this in April, we'd have it under control by now.  I know it would be hard to enforce, and here's where I get really mean.  But I would recommend total enforcement.  I'm talking totalitarian, "snipers on the roof" enforcement.  Wear a mask or go to jail.  Resist arrest and die.  Yeah, I know it's harsh, but it's only for two months.  And frankly, at this point, I think refusing to wear a mask is attempted murder.  

Treat the maskless like the potential murderers they are.  They know they run the risk of infecting others.  If a guy started walking around Kroger firing a handgun in random directions, he'd get arrested (if he's lucky).  This really is no different.

My aunt says, "I don't believe masks help, and I'm entitled to my opinion."  But ignorance can't be an excuse when lives are on the line.  The fact that anti-maskers are incredibly fucking stupid isn't a valid legal defense.  If my hypothetical Kroger shooter said, "I don't believe bullets are dangerous," we wouldn't just say, "Bless your heart, I guess you can go."  

No more half-assed solutions.  If Trump really wants to get re-elected, he should bite the bullet and get this over with.  Lockdown.  Enforce it.  Pay the citizens.  Then he can take credit for ending the virus (despite the rest of us recommending these actions since April).  He'd finally be the hero, and the quarantine would be over just in time for the election.  

But of course he won't do any of that.  He won't do the right thing even when it benefits himself.  It's just not in his nature.

So... People Suck

Yesterday my wife had to go to Walgreens. She wore a mask, but some of the other customers weren't. The maskless man behind her in line stood just inches behind her, and acted annoyed that she wouldn't move closer to the next person in line.  He kept reaching past her to grab impulse items.

So as careful as we're trying to be, my wife (who is high risk) could still catch it due to some random asshat who probably thinks the quarantine is a Liberal hoax.

It's just, I don't care if they believe in the disease or not, why can't they just play the game in public for the benefit of others?  Gambling is fine when it's only your health, but they're gambling other people's lives.  If they break the rules and someone dies, as far as I'm concerned, that's murder.

IDIOT!!!!

I am sick and tired of being so angry all the time.  Every single day that man comes on TV and says something even stupider than the day before.  The fact that I don't even have to tell you who I'm talking about says it all.

A couple of days ago, the muppet-in-chief speculated about using disinfectants internally to cure COVID-19.  Democrats immediately started making memes claiming the president suggested we inject ourselves with bleach.  Republicans immediately rushed to the president's aid, claiming he was referring to some actual existing treatments involving UV light and medicines that use the same ingredients as disinfectant.

Of course, neither is true.  The Democrats' memes are just that - memes.  Jokes.  We know he didn't literally tell citizens to inject bleach.  We're trying to lift the mood because life is such a horrorshow right now.  The Republican defense was disproven by the president himself, who now claims his comments were just sarcasm.  Of course that's a lie in itself; nothing he said resembled sarcasm.  If that was intended to be sarcasm, that man doesn't know what sarcasm is.

The actual truth is, the president was just spitballing.  He was thinking out loud, throwing out ideas to the medical professionals present.  His questions made him sound like a five year old, asking questions that adults have known for years, revealing an absurd lack of education.  It's uncomfortable to watch, I'm actually embarrassed for him.  I've seen the video at least ten times now, and it makes my skin crawl more each time.

He's such an egomaniac that he believes he'll come up with a treatment the actual doctors haven't considered.  Actual experts - people who have studied medicine for decades - are working around the clock, all over the world right now.  But DJT thinks he's going to just blurt out a magic cure if he brainstorms enough, like some scene from the climax of a movie.

DJT: "But those things are different, like apples and oranges..."

Doctor: "Wait... what did you just say?"

DJT: "Apples and... oranges?"

Doctor: "Oranges!  You're a genius!  We haven't tried Vitamin C yet!"

But regardless of which side of the fence you're on, or why you think he said it, you have to admit that it was a remarkably stupid thing to say.  It was dangerous and naive.  There's enough stupid people in this country that some will actually try it, and guess what, those people are DJT voters.  Combine that with all the Republicans who gather in large groups to protest the quarantine, and I'll be surprised if any DJT supporters are still alive to vote this November.  I'm not actually wishing for anyone to die, I'm just amazed that the president is so cavalier about the lives of his own voters.

The man is an idiot.  You can tell this every time he opens his mouth.  If you can't see it, you're either in deep denial, or you're just as stupid.  Seriously, how can you listen to this guy speak for more than five minutes and not recognize that he has no idea what he's talking about?

Happy Easter! Now Go Wash Your Hands.

Best wishes to everyone today, whether you celebrate Easter or not.

That said, if you attend church in person today, you are not a Christian.  Yeah, yeah, I have no right to dictate the rules of your religion to you, yada yada yada... but there is no version of Christianity that would support the risks you're taking if you congregate in large groups right now.

A church is not a building.  A church is wherever people gather to worship, and that includes online.  There is no reason to risk spreading the disease by getting together.  You might be willing to take the risk, but it's not all about you.  Even if you don't have the virus yourself, your actions can help spread it.  Getting other people killed is not going to get you rewarded in the afterlife.

Stay home, wash your hands, and don't be an idiot.

Quick Quarantine Update 4/7/2020

So I'm writing a lot of blogs, because it's one of the few things I can do while working.  Well, more like I'm finishing old blogs, and starting more that will remain unfinished for a few months.  Seriously, you should see the "drafts" section of my Blogger account.  There are currently 110 unfinished blogs in there, some of which date back to 2009. 

Some of them are just ideas, inspiration for future rants.  Some of them are 90% finished blogs, just waiting for me to do some research I never felt like doing.  And some of them are a single incoherent phrase like "rember the red worm", that I must have written in a hurry.  My past self had a lot of faith that my present self would remember what the hell I was talking about.  Sooner or later I should start deleting the ones I'll never finish.  I mean, if you don't finish a thought after ten years, you probably aren't going to.  But you never know.

As I work, I have the TV on for background noise.  No sense hogging up the streaming bandwidth that I'm already using for work, especially if I can't even see the TV screen.  So antenna TV it is.  It's been a long time since I've watched daytime TV.  We've been cord cutters for over a year now, and I kind of missed broadcast TV.  There's something charming about the randomness of TV stations, showing you what they want to show you instead of retrieving specific videos you request.

Commercials are weird.  I'm seeing the kinds of commercials I used to see when I was younger, before I had cable.  I guess antenna is where all the cheap advertising goes now.  Lots of law firms and "As Seen on TV" products.  Some weirdly specific ones like "Were you sexually assaulted by a Catholic priest as a child?  You might be entitled to compensation."  Oh and there's a hat that shines lasers on your head, supposedly to stimulate hair growth.  It's so obviously a scam, I don't know how it's even legal to show the commercial.

There are two different commercials for devices that clean CPAP machines.  I mean, plenty of people use CPAP machines and I suppose they do need cleaning, but it still strikes me as oddly specific.  It feels like the modern version of all the denture cleaning commercials I saw as a kid.

Working from home makes me feel sort of floaty, like I'm dreaming that I'm at work.  It reminds me of a recurring dream I had back when I worked at Subway.  I was supposed to close at midnight, but I had a rush of customers at 11:50, and it took me until 1 AM to close the place.  Then I went home, and was about to get ready for bed, when there was a knock at the door.  I opened the door and there was a long line of customers.  I turned around and my living room was a Subway, and the never ending rush continued.

What really drives me nuts is that all my neighbors are using this newfound time to get things done in their yards.  I am constantly driven nuts by the sounds of lawnmowers, pressure washers, and whatever the hell the neighbor across the creek is doing.  It sounds like he has a giant motorcycle engine in his back yard, and he runs it for hours at a time.

Anyway, my job's still going fine, neither of us are sick, and we've got groceries.  I hope you're doing well too.

JuRo Stables

My Mom's horseback riding business has had to close temporarily due to the quarantine.  While I don't believe she's in any danger of losing her home or anything, she can't afford to feed all those horses without any income.  Without help, she may have to sell some of her horses.  If you can afford to help, here is a link:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/juro-stables

Table Trek III: The Search for Shlock

So I’ve been looking for a new D&D group for over a year now.  I love my previous DM, he’s a good friend and an excellent DM.  But we just want different things.  He doesn’t like D&D Fifth Edition, but that’s all I’m interested in playing right now.  I’ve given his favorite games a fair shot, but they just don’t do it for me.  So I’m on a real life quest to find a decent group.  But there’s no time limit here, especially with the current quarantine, so I have the luxury of looking for a perfect group.  Okay, fine, perfect groups don’t exist.  But I’d really like to play with people I could consider friends while away from the table as well. 

For one thing, I’m tired of playing with Trump supporters.  Usually I don’t care about politics, and I try to avoid the subject at the table.  I truly don’t care if my friends are Democrats or Republicans.  But there’s a difference between a normal Republican and a Trump supporter.  A Republican believes that corporations should have more political power than citizens.  They’re wrong, but it’s the kind of wrong where we can agree to disagree on what’s best for the economy.  A Trump supporter believes that people of color are lesser creatures and don’t deserve the same rights as Caucasians.  This is not an opinion worthy of consideration or tolerance, and I do not wish to sit at a table with these people.

Yeah, yeah, "I thought Democrats were the party of tolerance," you say.  Look, better people than me have explained why tolerating intolerance is a danger to tolerance.  But the bottom line is, I don't feel safe sitting at the same table as someone capable of voting for that monster.  To vote for Trump is to say, "I don't care about the economy.  I don't care about the poor.  I don't care about foreigners, or non-whites, or GLBT people, or women.  The only people that truly matter are rich, straight, white men."  And being a Liberal SJW trans person, I doubt they'd want to be my friend either.

Given how many people additional people are dying based on Trump's mishandling of the current crisis, I'm amazed that anybody still supports him.  But based on my Facebook feed, his followers seem to be doubling down on the stupidity, and looking for any excuse to blame the current situation on Democrats.  Just a couple of days ago a former high school classmate posted a meme that said "Wash like you just shook hands with a Democrat."  But I digress, I came here to talk about D&D.

D&D has had a surge of popularity for the past few years, ever since Stranger Things made it mainstream again.  My social media feeds are full of people wanting to try it, but who can’t find a group.  Unfortunately none of them live in my area.  My ace in the hole is that I’m willing to DM.  According to reputable sources – that is, internet memes – DMs are highly sought after and have no trouble finding games.

So my thought was, try and find a group of GLBT players.  I know they exist, they’re all over my Twitter feed.  Very few of them are Trump supporters.  They wouldn’t even care if I showed up to a game wearing a dress.  So where do I find GLBT D&D players in my area?  A Google search didn’t find much.  I did join a Facebook group, but my posts there didn’t get much attention. 

So last July I had an idea.  The Nashville Pride Festival was coming up.  I would wear a Rainbow d20 shirt, and anybody who commented on it, I’d give them my contact info.  I even had some free business cards printed up.  I kept the cards in my pocket, and prepared to give out dozens.

Well, the first part of my plan worked – I got a lot of compliments on my shirt.  At least twenty people stopped me and told me how much they loved the it.  But social anxiety strikes again, and I didn’t hand out a single card.  With each compliment I just said “Thanks!” and kept walking.  If I can’t be comfortable there of all places, how am I ever going to meet enough strangers to start a group?  I don’t think I’ve ever been more disappointed in myself, and for the next couple of weeks I was deeply depressed.

A couple of months later, I got to play in a one-shot.  Someone in one of my Facebook groups was setting up a practice session in preparation for running a game at a con.  I could tell from the post that he was looking for a GLBT-friendly group.  Once again, social anxiety got the better of me, and I waited a couple of hours before hitting the “interested” button.  By then the table was full, but he allowed me to join the event as sort of a spectator/backup player.

I had a great time.  It was exactly the kind of diverse group I’d been looking for.  Several were newcomers to the game, which is great because I like helping people learn the game.  Most of them had just as much social anxiety as I do, which made me a lot less nervous.   Somebody mentioned Trump’s latest crimes, and everyone sighed and rolled their eyes in solidarity.  My kind of people.

Only… they weren’t interested in me.  I had to leave early (my wife had made us plans with friends on the same day), and when I tried to say my goodbyes, I couldn’t get anyone’s attention.  I had hoped to pass out a couple of my business cards in case any of them were looking for a regular group, but all of them just kept their noses in the game.  I’d spent so much time looking for a bunch of people who met my qualifications, that I never considered the possibility that I wouldn’t meet theirs. 

Yes, I’m taking it too personally.  In reality, they wouldn’t look up because they didn’t hear me, and were too focused on the game.  But it still hit me hard, and I was in deep despair for a few more weeks.  Okay, months.

I’ve just recently started looking for a group in earnest again.  I’ve got feelers out on several social media platforms.  I was hoping to try handing out cards again at this year's Pride, but then COVID-19 happened.  

So now I'm looking into online gaming solutions like Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds.  This might be a better solution anyway, because I can meet more diverse people online than in person.  But I still have to fight my own stupid fear of people, even online.  I will talk myself into it this time, I swear.