That's about right

I just saw a headline that read "Michigan farm ordered to stop making apple cider due to insanitary conditions." And I think that insanitary should be a new word. Definition: pushing a person to go insane, either temporarily or permanently". As in, "2020 has been a very insanitary year." 

This needs to be a thing. 

Special thanks to whoever missed or ignored spellcheck on their computer, resulting in this wonderful new word that so aptly describes our world right now. Sometimes, you should be brave and ignore what the computers tell you.

Question of the Day

Why is voting so hard?

I spent most evenings last week filling out my ballot and I still am not done! There is the president, the governor, congressional seats, state legislature seats, other state government offices, county government, city government, judges, and 7 state constitutional amendments!!! That is SO much stuff!

And everything has to be investigated. Are any of the 3rd party candidates for president a good option? How about the governor's race? I literally went through a side by side comparison and their websites and gave them points if I agreed with them on the issues. At the end, it was a tie. Then another race, absolutely none of the candidates are great options. What is an assessor? How do I know what the most pressing issues are in the assessor's office are? Can I just evaluate them like I would if I were hiring a candidate for a job? And how do I know if a judge should be retained or not? They all get reviewed, and none of them have less than a B- review. So, they all pass, right?  

The constitutional amendments are actually the easiest ones to decide because there is a nice little website where they have put up the pros, the cons, the rebuttal for the pros, and the rebuttal for the cons. It's a bit of reading, but at least all the info I need is right there in one place. And not angry yelling. 

Either way, none of my past education really prepared me for how hard voting is. How important? Yes. How it works in the US, with the electoral college, blah blah, blah? Yep, we did that. But how much work it is to vote? Nope. They didn't cover that. But maybe it's better to not know that voting is essentially the GRE* of citizenship.

The good news, though, is that if you vote, you can't fail! You have done your part for democracy! Assignment completed, you pass! So, yay for voting. Give it a try! And when you are done, treat yourself to some ice cream, because you will definitely deserve it!

*Or LSAT, MSAT, etc.

A real conversation

I really honestly just had this conversation by chat:

Me: This just in--there's a big hairy poisonous caterpillar in Virginia. And it is really hairy. Like, it looks like a wig. Why is this a thing someone thought needed to be created?

​Friend: It's 2020...

​

Me: Right? Just add it to the list. 

(1 liked)

Honestly, I didn't know wig-caterpillars might be part of the apocalypse. There's no way I would have signed off on it if I had known. 

(laugh)

​

Friend: Next they'll be warning us about a giant dolphin with rabies! Society is ruining everything good!

​

Me: Seriously! I disapprove. 

(1 liked)

Although the, "Predict the next weird thing to happen in 2020" office pool does sound fun.

(laugh)

​

Friend: I would recommend starting that pool, but I'm afraid of giving the devil ideas.

​

Me: That is a very important point. I probably would have barged ahead and unleashed the new and improved 10 plagues on the world! 

(laugh)

So, friends. Don't start that pool. We can't risk it. 

(Thank you to KS for making this conversation so delightful).

Too much

Do you know what there has been too much of during this pandemic? I mean, besides the pandemic and unemployment and economic havoc, and conspiracy theories and people being mad at each other, and dying and loss and fear and uncertainty and all of that. You know, besides the actually important things. No clue? Well, it's me.

There is too much of me, specifically in virtual meetings. And not too much of me talking. Just too much of me on camera. Initially, I wasn't using my camera but I realized that it was creating a detachment that wasn't helpful. So I've been turning it on the last couple of months. Taking one for the team, sure, but definitely not doing myself any favors. I've become self-conscious about certain physical characteristics that I always knew existed, but not seeing them constantly thrown in my face, didn't bother me.* But, now I see myself on camera half the days of the week and it is hard not to be aware of the gap between my teeth or how sometimes my nose looks huge and sometimes my neck seems too short. Or that I have a big old zit or whatever on my face that makeup just isn't hiding. 

The beautiful thing about how we are designed is that we can't see how we look when we are talking or doing anything. It's a gift, a merciful beautiful gift. And whoever designed Zoom and Skype and Google meet or whatever and every other virtual meeting app has gone and done the thing that nature was smart enough NOT to do: given us a perpetual mirror. Why? Why would you do that? What narcissistic sadist thought that would be a favor to the world? 

And yes, I can turn off my camera, but then I am basically not a part of the group. That's just how it is, guys. It happens in family meetings and in group meetings. When it's a question of a person who is on video and a letter representing a person on the call, the letter loses, big time. It's just the reality. Part of it is just how our brains work, and I think part of it is there is a subtle message that you don't want to be more than a fly on the wall (which sometimes is the best way to get through a meeting, I admit). So, it's a choice--be all in, or avoid seeing myself.

I just don't understand why there isn't an option for my camera to be on and everyone else to see me without me seeing me. We've sent people to the moon. We're shooting for Mars. We carry around miniature computers in our pockets. Why can we not have a one-way online camera? Come on people! Work with me here!

Anyway, I know that given the scale of problems in the world, this isn't really even in the top thousand, but in terms of fixable, it certainly makes the top 500 at least, right? And, since we aren't all qualified to cure COVID, those of us who can might as well fix this problem. 

Please. Save me from myself. 

*I'm pretty sure they don't bother anyone else, I'd be surprised if they spent that much time thinking about me. Most people don't.