Paraguay

We didn't get much of a chance to get out and about. Most days we drove the same routeto and from the office. But we did leave Asunción one day to go to Ita and Paraguai. Very rural, and lots of unidentified cows. So, most pics were taken from the backseat of a moving vehicle. My particular photographic niche.

Full circle

The other day, I was trying to put off getting out of bed and so I scrolled the news. And I saw this headline: 

Skeleton in Guatemalan jungle likely US birdwatcher missing since 2023

The article is about a guy named Raymond Ashcroft, who went missing in Tikal in February 2023 after leaving his birdwatching group and heading back to the hotel alone. 

Which caught my attention, because I was in Tikal (the said Guatemalan jungle) in April 2023, and saw missing person posters in the park about Raymond. My coworker and I talked about what might have happened to him. And months later, remembered about Raymond and wondered if they'd found him.  

And now, there he was. Found. I honestly never thought I would find out what happened to him, but there it was, covered by the BBC. And it's not super crazy, but it is one of those weird moments where life has odd connections.

Anyway, I hope the family feels some closure, now that he's found. Poor Raymond. May he rest in peace now. 

Unsolved mysteries

We've all been there. We do laundry, we fold laundry, we are short a sock. It's annoying and now we have to figure out what to do with the sock.

Well, tonight I did laundry and somehow managed to lose an entire pair of pants. I can't figure out what happened to them. They aren't in my house or the laundry bag, they didn't fall out on the way to and from the laundry room, and they aren't in the laundry room washer or dryer. 

How does one lose an entire pair of pants in the laundry? What kind of plausible explanation is there? I suppose it could have been a magic washer, but really, not plausible. Someone could have stolen them, but that just seems weird. Why would anyone want my pants?! Maybe the machines are scaling up? Is this some kind of protest of the machines? Is it phase one of their takeover of the world?

Seriously, it is just weird. And maybe they'll show up somewhere, but yeah. For the time being, they have vanished. So I guess if you find a random pair of grey dress pants, let me know.

The twilight zone that is a newsfeed

I don't have many apps on my phone, so mostly when I'm sitting around waiting with nothing else to do (or procrastinating, or I'm just bored) I'll check the newsfeed. And I gotta tell you, it is a very bizarre experience. Like, if it was a person, it would definitely have some kind of personality disorder. 

It's got updates on wars, on the weird reality that is the US now, Buzzfeed quizzes and lists, celebrity news gossip, and updates about sports, films, and TV shows. It's got the, "Hey, we found this story of someone whose relative or friend did something that made them furious and so instead of just dealing with it, they plastered it all over the internet" stories. It's got advice columns (I don't mind those as much, at least there is a specific person who is consulting, instead of all 8 billion people and their dogs). It's got the, "the planet is burning to the ground" and the "here is the latest science innovation" and "here's some cool thing someone dug up that rewrites history" and "Look at this cute animal interaction". 

A good chunk of that is arguably not even news, it's just the internet. Sorry, but a Buzzfeed quiz that promises me that if I pick my favorite 90s TV shows they can name my birth month (spoiler alert: they never can. Ever) just doesn't count as news. So, right from the get go there is a bit of a misnomer. It's an internet feed, but not a news feed. (Although, I guess even newspapers have puzzles and stuff, and an entertainment section, so maybe Buzzfeed quizzes are legit. And let's be honest, we all love taking a Buzzfeed quiz and feeling smug when their promise that they can do xyz thing if you take the quiz falls flat). 

But it's super, super bizarre that we have, on the one hand, very concerning stories about the Middle East and Ukraine and Sudan, and then two stories later, "Hey, Jeff Bezos got married and all the rich people in the world went, and can you believe what this person wore?" The two things don't seem to equate. Which, is in part my fault, because I browse all the stories, but even so. 

It is also this very real representation of the world. I don't know that we should all of us all the time only focus on the heavy and concerning stories. I don't think that's healthy, so in that sense, the newsfeed is maybe good. And even though it does feel wrong, bad things happen and I still have to go to work. (Also, there are positive things in the newsfeed, and that's good, because not all news sites might give you the things that will make you laugh). SO, it is also this really interesting reflection of reality in that sense. People are dying, but that dog making faces through the space between airline seats is hilarious and I am going to laugh. Heartache and joy can coexist in the same person. 

Really, if the newsfeed has a personality disorder, it's because society at large has a bit of a personality disorder. Which is probably normal, honestly. We just haven't had as easy access to such a visual representation of it before. I don't know that it's good or bad that a newsfeed is built that way. Mostly, it's just interesting.

But I do think maybe the world has lost its mind.