View Full Version : Languishing
The NYT today had an article on a word to describe the mindset many of us find ourselves in these days - languishing. Not severely depressed and certainly not optimistic but for some reason, not able to get beyond where we find ourselves now mentally. I know many days I find myself feeling that way. Even with vaccinations going up, there is still a great deal of hesitation and it feels easier to just stay home. Nothing feels quite right - will it ever?
I can relate. It's hard to make plans when things are so up in the air. So, life on hold. Or life localized.
iris lilies
4-19-21, 3:14pm
I think we have a whole lot less control over our circumstances than we like to think we do.
Probably this pandemic situation has brought much of that home to us.
I’m happy making “little” plans of short term. The away from home break I know I will be taking is first week in June when I’m going to a flower show school. While I would like to make “big “plans for a European vacation, or even a United States East Coast vacation in the fall, that’s just not in the cards right now. I guess for us because we have so much going on in real estate renovation, We do have projects to direct our attention toward so we are not feeling aimless.
I wonder if those of you feeling this way like to make big long-term plans?
ApatheticNoMore
4-19-21, 3:22pm
I got so depressed I'm trying therapy again (and I've sworn it off before, but figured I could probably make it work financially, and was not doing well).
There is also the thing that many of us DON'T WANT to return to the way things were. The 40 minute commutes each way to go 10 miles each way. Why? Tell me why?!? Not that one can return to the way things are, I shared a largish room (none of us worthless proles deserve our own cubicals obviously), in a larger office with one person before the pandemic. Since then they did remodeling (during the pandemic), I will now be crammed in a MUCH SMALLER room with 3 other people when I return!!! So you can't EVEN return to the before times, you can only return to a worse world. From introverts paradise (WFH) to introverts' hell (ever more crammed open offices). Many people have medium walled cubicals, yes and there is no way we are their lowest paid staff, but we don't deserve them for whatever reason, no cubicals for us.
Meanwhile one can be with vaccinated people, but who wants to go to any group activities until everyone who wants a vaccination has had one.
I'm languishing. Some of it is due to retirement. I have a high need to be productive and do meaningful work (not that all of my work was meaningful before retirement...). I do a lot around my house and yard, but its just not the same when I'm only doing things for myself. Too early to get re-involved in those activities I first got into when retiring 2 years ago. Haven't seen most friends for over a year- as we typically meet in restaurants and for me, that's still a little iffy. I feel like I'm hanging on, but can't really plan much into the future.
Even with vaccinations going up, there is still a great deal of hesitation and it feels easier to just stay home. Nothing feels quite right - will it ever?
Hesitancy is warranted. We are far far away from herd immunity and the world outside the USA is way behind us!
Do I live in fear? No.
Am I vaccinated? Yes.
Will I travel? Yes. I have 2 trips planned in the next 75 days. I'll mask and clean appropriately on the plane, in the car and in the hotel room. I'll not mask when everyone present is vaccinated.
Will it ever feel right? IDK. It really depends on vacc rate climbing.
Current state: I do what is important to me. I enjoy many hobbies and activities that are home-based. I meet up with friends. We do go out to dinner. Return to domestic travel is the one addition to my life that stopped in April 2020. I hope my 2 quilt groups restart in January! I really miss those.
The future is question marks for sure.
Languishing? Sounds like the sort of condition tragically sensitive New York Times writers might be prone to. I recommend a regime of professional hockey, red meat cooked outdoors and getting over one’s whining self.
I can't even plan for raking my leaves. For the second week in a row the city contractor has failed to take the yard waste when scheduled and my barrels are all full. I feel like the pandemic has become an excuse for every lazy person to not do their job, leaving me languishing. Some businesses can't find people to hire because folks would rather sit at home and collect unemployment. That's definitely languishing.
Languishing? It is one view to consider. I had to look up what it meant to know how to respond. Psychology dictionary definition:LANGUISHING. A condition of ones mental health characterized by lack of interest, apathy, and listlessness usually caused by boredom. Perhaps, I have had moments of this but not a generalized feeling. There were times during the winter when I felt that I was drifting and not accomplishing as much as I hoped each day because there was always tomorrow to get it done. I felt like a bear hibernating. With the coming of spring, I feel that I am more active and planning my day with a to-do list.
The pandemic has generally required me to slow down, think about what I really want before I go anywhere and stay home otherwise. I do love my house and neighbourhood so that has not been hard to do. Funny, I should get my car serviced every 8,000km but over 6 months I have driven just 2,000km. I did get the basic service done when I had my winter tires traded for the summer tires but little else is needed for the next 6 months.
The dog gets walked when I choose and I am relaxed doing it visiting with other walkers I meet. I am finding that I like this better as my old rushing around routine was not satisfying any more. EG-Instead of rushing off to walk the dog for an hour and then off to church with an hour's drive, I zoom the service. I really like that.
I really like the amount of online content now available to consider and having the time to think about what I am reading or watching. I don't watch TV so catch up via the internet.
I am more comfortable phoning now and more often to catch up with family and friends. I had got into the habit of quick calls or brief emails to make arrangements to connect periodically feeling that was enough because they were busy as well. I am finding that with longer phone conversations, those connections are being rebuilt.
Do I miss seeing family and friends face-to-face and doing things with others? Definitely but I keep thinking that the lack is temporary for now.
Interesting thread and question.
frugal-one
4-19-21, 4:32pm
Languishing? Sounds like the sort of condition tragically sensitive New York Times writers might be prone to. I recommend a regime of professional hockey, red meat cooked outdoors and getting over one’s whining self.
You obviously are an introvert with few hobbies or interactions with others.
frugal-one
4-19-21, 4:39pm
I definitely am languishing. Many people and groups I belonged to are no longer. I have planned a few short getaways and, hopefully, the weather will get nicer so more activities can be outdoors. I am planning trips for the future. I have started back at the gym so that is helping.
Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned the publication as it appears to create a judgement. Obviously, some don't have the luxury of languishing but in talking to my working friends and relatives the uneasy mood is apparent in all.
Teacher Terry
4-19-21, 4:56pm
Definitely not because my normal life has resumed. I see my friends and family, go out to eat, shops, etc. In February I joined a meetup group for singles that like to eat out. It’s a big active group with many around my age. The only thing I haven’t done is travel.
ApatheticNoMore
4-19-21, 5:07pm
well I don't feel right with doing much until every one who wants a vaccine has one (make that two as J&J is off the market), so until then (which may just be a month or two)
iris lilies
4-19-21, 5:45pm
I can't even plan for raking my leaves. For the second week in a row the city contractor has failed to take the yard waste when scheduled and my barrels are all full. I feel like the pandemic has become an excuse for every lazy person to not do their job, leaving me languishing. Some businesses can't find people to hire because folks would rather sit at home and collect unemployment. That's definitely languishing.
I stopped in to the Burger King last week to use the bathroom on my way to Hermann. The store part was closed and only drive-in service was open. It’s because they didn’t have enough people come to work to run the operation. The note on the door said be nice to the people who are in the drive-through because they were the ones who came to work.
All of the fast food places are having hiring fairs and I recruiting workers.
Our unemployment check still going out, if so that must be better than working fast food.
iris lilies
4-19-21, 5:49pm
I'm languishing. Some of it is due to retirement. I have a high need to be productive and do meaningful work (not that all of my work was meaningful before retirement...). I do a lot around my house and yard, but its just not the same when I'm only doing things for myself. Too early to get re-involved in those activities I first got into when retiring 2 years ago. Haven't seen most friends for over a year- as we typically meet in restaurants and for me, that's still a little iffy. I feel like I'm hanging on, but can't really plan much into the future.
I guess we must see people outside a whole lot more than the group here in the simple living forums. We do have a walkable neighborhood so there’s that. Granted, I don’t walk a whole lot but I do see people, an explosion of people, in recent days because of gardening season. I’ve talked to at least a dozen people over the past 48 hours. All outdoors.
Our bulldog friend who has had Covid twice now is coming to deliver dog food and I imagine we will sit around and shoot the shit in our living room, unmasked.
You obviously are an introvert with few hobbies or interactions with others.
While not entirely discounting the possibility that I may be a misanthropic dullard, I will admit that I have little patience for people wanting to dignify every little discontent as a syndrome.
While not entirely discounting the possibility that I may be a misanthropic dullard, I will admit that I have little patience for people wanting to dignify every little discontent as a syndrome.
While not entirely owning that I am victim of some "syndrome," I will admit that I do find myself---like others have mentioned---having done some curious, healthy introspection. How very curious that there are those who claim nothing has affected them at all except for others' observations.
iris lilies
4-19-21, 7:30pm
While not entirely owning that I am victim of some "syndrome," I will admit that I do find myself---like others have mentioned---having done some curious, healthy introspection. How very curious that there are those who claim nothing has affected them at all except for others' observations.
At this point, what is holding you all back from getting out and about? I mean now, in my area of the country, the great outdoors provides scads of meeting opportunities for friends and relatives.
I won’t be meeting in large groups (and perhaps not outside of my pod at all) in indoor restaurants, but outside patio dining is easy.
At this point, what is holding you all back from getting out and about? I mean now, in my area of the country, the great outdoors provides cads of meeting opportunities for friends and relatives.
I,won’t be meeting in large groups (and perhaps,not,outside of my pod at all) indoors in restaurants, but outside patio dining is easy.
Having to wear a mask, which constricts my breathing and either hurts my ears or if the neck gaiter type keeps falling down, and which muffles my speech so it is hard for people to understand me, and me to understand them since they are also masked. (Today I had my first pedicure since the pandemic began and the masks on top of the language barrier made communication nearly impossible.)
I was excited to see New Hampshire drop its mask mandate, but many of the places I was eager to go to there have local mandates in place.
Having to wear a mask, which constricts my breathing and either hurts my ears
Still bitching about masks? It's a wonder that anyone in an operating room survives a week let alone a 4 decade career wearing them. I worked with many severe asthmatics-no problem. I had to communicate with surgeons all day long. No problem. Sore ears-wear a tie mask instead-no problem.
I dare all mask haters to have their next surgery but first demand no one on their surgical team wear a mask. The arguments against masks hold less water than a mesh strainer.
Still bitching about masks? It's a wonder that anyone in an operating room survives a week let alone a 4 decade career wearing them.
Heck, I had to do my quarterly physical aptitude and agility test last week, wearing 80+ pounds of gear and full SCBA, breathing on-air the entire time, and after all the stair climbing, ladder putting-upping, weight-lifting, forcible-entry, chainsawing, and the ever-popular "rescue the Rescue Randy dummy, who weighs 220 pounds and is wearing full gear too" solo task, I could still breath.
But I'm almost 60 and slow and weak.
Heck, I had to do my quarterly physical aptitude and agility test last week, wearing 80+ pounds of gear and full SCBA, breathing on-air the entire time, and after all the stair climbing, ladder putting-upping, weight-lifting, forcible-entry, chainsawing, and the ever-popular "rescue the Rescue Randy dummy, who weighs 220 pounds and is wearing full gear too" solo task, I could still breath.
But I'm almost 60 and slow and weak.
16 hours in an OR wearing a mask doesn't hold a candle to that.
Congrats 'old man':~)
dado potato
4-19-21, 11:50pm
Epicurus recommended (and practiced) a convivial meal with like-minded friends on the 20th of each month. So today, seeking pleasure and avoiding pain as much as possible, I pass around the virtual amphora... to your health!
Here is a doctor advocating for dumping the mask mandate to facilitate the sort of safe outdoor gatherings IL referenced:
https://patch.com/massachusetts/boston/doctor-says-its-tme-ease-outdoor-mask-orders-ma
His complete post is in The New England Journal of Medicine
ETA let's imagine that like everyone except a few sadomasochists you don't like wearing a mask and want to get together with your friends. You could go to the beach and have the mask patrol come by and fine you, or you can meet indoors with the blinds closed so law enforcement cannot see what you are doing. Especially if everyone in your party is vaccinated, given that the chance of a vaccinated person catching covid is .0007%, what would you do for an enjoyable get-together?
the great outdoors provides scads of meeting opportunities for friends and relatives.
The friends I'm not seeing all work full time (so no daytime meetups) and have second homes (so no weekend meetups). That leaves evening meetups, which in New England are still quite chilly. The only folks I'm in regular contact with are also retired and we meet for walks during the warmest part of the day.
Here is a doctor advocating for dumping the mask mandate to facilitate the sort of safe outdoor gatherings IL referenced:
https://patch.com/massachusetts/boston/doctor-says-its-tme-ease-outdoor-mask-orders-ma
His complete post is in The New England Journal of Medicine
ETA let's imagine that like everyone except a few sadomasochists you don't like wearing a mask and want to get together with your friends. You could go to the beach and have the mask patrol come by and fine you, or you can meet indoors with the blinds closed so law enforcement cannot see what you are doing. Especially if everyone in your party is vaccinated, given that the chance of a vaccinated person catching covid is .0007%, what would you do for an enjoyable get-together?
I have to admit, your dedication to spending virtually all of your life energy obsessing about your hatred of masks is truly impressive.
rosarugosa
4-20-21, 8:41am
I have to admit that I cannot really relate to this; I am not languishing. I don't know if you would call it a blessing or a curse, but in any given 24-hour period I have at least 48 hours worth of things that I want and/or need to do. Left to my own devices, my capacity for self-entertainment is virtually unlimited.
Jeppy: What that article describes is pretty much what I am currently doing. I carry a mask when walking around outdoors, and I use my own judgment about when to put it on. Nobody in my neck of the woods is enforcing outdoor mask-wearing. I walk by the police and fire station all the time, and I notice that those folks aren't particularly inclined to wear masks themselves, so I'm not too worried about them chasing after me.
I was definitely languishing but I realize that I languish all winter anyway. Now that spring is coming, I am not languishing anymore, I don't think.
I think with me it's just Seasonal Affective Disorder. I was so much healthier when we lived in South Carolina. I miss it!
I also think the endless winter here has gotten to me. I want to get outside and plant stuff but natives say wait until after Mother's Day. That and the ridiculous real estate market is very frustrating.
happystuff
4-20-21, 10:36am
I don't know if I am "languishing", but I realize that things will never "go back" for me. I no longer have the same job, the same hours... even the same lifestyle, as it used to be. So while the pandemic has definitely changed a good many things for me, there is no going back to what was "normal".
As for masks, while I'm definitely not on the same level as bae, I do walk 8 hours a night (approximately 10-13 miles total) at work with a mask on.
RR I have not seen outdoor mask enforcement in my town either, but last year I heard there were mask patrols at the beach, which is someplace I'd like to go this summer.
catherine
4-20-21, 12:46pm
Having to wear a mask, which constricts my breathing and either hurts my ears or if the neck gaiter type keeps falling down, and which muffles my speech so it is hard for people to understand me, and me to understand them since they are also masked. (Today I had my first pedicure since the pandemic began and the masks on top of the language barrier made communication nearly impossible.)
I was excited to see New Hampshire drop its mask mandate, but many of the places I was eager to go to there have local mandates in place.
I've never had a pedicure, so that particular scenario would not be a problem for me mask-wise. I haven't found mask wearing to be difficult in public, but this weekend, I did find it hard to understand a masked blabbing salesman who was hawking his homemade barbecue sauce at a local market, but I'm not sure it was because he was wearing a mask, or because he was just a blether. Probably both, but I didn't care to listen to what he had to say, anyway.
I feel a bonus of wearing a mask is I've saved money on lipstick. Heck, I don't even have to brush my teeth if I don't want to!
I do think mask wearing will slowly diminish and then go away, maybe by the fall. Depends on the extent to which we have herd immunity at that point, and that depends on the extent to which Evangelicals and other anti-vaxxers resist getting their shots.
I am much more confident in people getting vaccinated than I am in control freak governors giving up their mandates. Today the most anti-vaxxer of my coworkers, who was earlier this year telling customers, "Are you going to trust a vaccine made by the government?" reported that he got his first shot over the weekend. I think people are bowing to family pressure, whereas many of our rulers do not feel accountable to public sentiment. I have even, as I posted in the past, run across statements by public health "experts" that we should wear masks forever because covid will never go away, only lie dormant.
Interesting observation by a few informed folks that with mask wearing, the incidence of flu is so low that a cold and cough candy factory in Nova Scotia has had so few sales of product that staff were sent home. due to lack of demand compared to longtime historical records.
Interesting observation by a few informed folks that with mask wearing, the incidence of flu is so low that a cold and cough candy factory in Nova Scotia has had so few sales of product that staff were sent home. due to lack of demand compared to longtime historical records.
Maybe we could outlaw kissing. That spreads germs and leads to transmission of certain viruses.
I'm with Rosarugosa; I rarely find myself bored--and my life has changed very little.
I do think I'm a little more listless and unmotivated, but maybe that's just part of aging.
I'm generally not one for mingling in large crowds, but I'll probably mask up if I'm likely to be in one from here out.
Nothing is keeping me from getting out and about, but it's all local. I don't feel comfortable yet to travel much outside my region. The thought of getting on a plane at this point isn't pleasant to me. I'll get there I think, but I'm not going to Texas or Florida any time soon. Many of my plans (annual retreats and workshops) have been cancelled over the past year and even future ones have been put on perpetual hold. Uncertainty of rebounds in case counts and variants keep me from making too many exotic plans, but yes, I do keep busy in my yard and home. That's always there, always has been there. And we have gone out to dinner. I've started going back to the pool. That feels good so far; it's safely done.
It's the uncertainties that keep me in check. BUT, not whining, just observing. You can actually do one and not the other.
Nothing has really changed for me over this past year. My wife and I still go and do what we want when we want, we just do it with masks don't get too close to anyone else. We missed our annual family reunion last August due to it being cancelled but I got word last week that it's on again this year, we'll be there. We spent 6 weeks exploring multiple states last summer, 10 days in South Carolina over Christmas and a week in the Smokey Mountains last month. We'll spend about 8 weeks meandering through the South and Southwest this summer. Our only real inconvenience so far as been not entering a Cracker Barrel over the past year, not because we're afraid but because we don't like to wait and the lines have been consistently long due to social distancing guidelines. I'm looking forward to those being relaxed.
So, I don't feel like we've languished at all, mainly because we don't let outside influences rule our lives. Covid's not the boss of me, my wife is. ;)
happystuff
4-21-21, 10:50am
So, I don't feel like we've languished at all, mainly because we don't let outside influences rule our lives. Covid's not the boss of me, my wife is. ;)
LOL. :D
iris lilies
4-21-21, 11:31am
LOL. :DThis is, of course, the way all things should be.
In the bulldog world the girls are always in charge.
catherine
4-21-21, 11:54am
This is, of course, the way all things should be.
In the bulldog world the girls are always in charge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YelXdFhQxRQ
I've always thought this part of My Big Fat Greek Wedding was funny.
IRL, to be honest, I think that that whole concept of "happy wife, happy life" is both condescending and patronizing. It makes men feel magnanimous and it makes women look frivolously demanding. In a good marriage that see-saw constantly goes up and down and is gender-neutral. Just MHO.
Cute clip and funny. I always hoped that one adult could talk to another without gender an issue at all. Of course, that only works if both partners are of the same mind.
This is, of course, the way all things should be.
In the bulldog world the girls are always in charge.
On Facebook there is a pair, Haiku and Maddie. Haiku is a formerly feral tabby and she herds Maddie around and invades her bed. Maddie doesn't seem to mind. You can see them at "Haiku The Former Feral & Her BullCat Maddie," if you're so inclined.
iris lilies
4-21-21, 5:21pm
Those two, Haiku and friend, are adorable!
Here is a doctor advocating for dumping the mask mandate to facilitate the sort of safe outdoor gatherings IL referenced:
https://patch.com/massachusetts/boston/doctor-says-its-tme-ease-outdoor-mask-orders-ma
His complete post is in The New England Journal of Medicine
ETA let's imagine that like everyone except a few sadomasochists you don't like wearing a mask and want to get together with your friends. You could go to the beach and have the mask patrol come by and fine you, or you can meet indoors with the blinds closed so law enforcement cannot see what you are doing. Especially if everyone in your party is vaccinated, given that the chance of a vaccinated person catching covid is .0007%, what would you do for an enjoyable get-together?
You all anti-maskers are getting very boring with your song and dance. I have 35 + years in dentistry. I have had to wear masks for my job and no problems And now I wear them even more.... And guess what... no problems. Quit yer b!tchin' , suck it up and be decent human and do your part. Your type is why this has been drug out longer than it needed to be.
That needed to be said, Bossmare. Thank you. In Ontario, we are having an increasing rate of infection, hospitalization and restrictions and people gathering to protest the very safety practices needed right now.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-ontario-april-21-2021-icu-vaccinations-1.5996028
boss mare
4-21-21, 10:35pm
That needed to be said, Bossmare. Thank you. In Ontario, we are having an increasing rate of infection, hospitalization and restrictions and people gathering to protest the very safety practices needed right now.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-ontario-april-21-2021-icu-vaccinations-1.5996028
I am so sick and tired of hearing whiny-azzed people spouting off all kinds of crap. Its amazing when I ask them when the last CE course they took on infectious disease control or ask them to discuss Long Haulers Syndrome, they have no answer !Splat!
As far as languishing, that's a very good description of my husband's and I life.
Three weeks ago, I had to take my heart horse to the Rainbow Bridge She was in my life for 21 years. My mom is a very young 80 and she wanted to be there for support. she drove herself 150 miles one way to be with me. She stood off to the side, all of us where wearing masks and social distancing. I was absolute hot mess of emotions. Since she had not gotten her second vaccine she was not comfortable ( and neither was I ) to hug me. I really needed my mommy to hug me and make it better ( yes I am 60 years old and I just said that) but I didn't want to take the risk. It's people like Y who has made this type of thing ( funerals, weddings, births and yes, putting our pets down ) even harder than ever. My sister had to put her dog down and her vet would not let her be in the room to say goodbye.
Am I turning into a ranting shrew? Probably, But I don't care
Until it happens to them, they don't care. Like Ted Nugent I just saw on the news that he got it and he was quoted that he thought he was going to die. Maybe contracting Cat Scratch Fever would have been a walk in the park :moon: . Maybe he will recover. Maybe he gets Long Haulers Syndrome and no more singing Wang Dang Sweet Poontang. Oh well :~)
I am so sick and tired of hearing whiny-azzed people spouting off all kinds of crap. Its amazing when I ask them when the last CE course they took on infectious disease control or ask them to discuss Long Haulers Syndrome, they have no answer !Splat!
Am I turning into a ranting shrew? Probably, But I don't care
Agreed and well stated. I spent 4 decades in the operating room. I am neither brain dead nor forever-damaged for having worn masks the entire dam time to protect my patients.
This shit has got to stop! Anti-vaxers and anti-maskers are going to perpetuate this. We're already far past when it should have stopped!
ApatheticNoMore
4-22-21, 12:20am
Only two policies really worked against the pandemic it seems: zero covid (yea, we didn't do that :|(), or vaccines (whee, we've got vaccines!). Otherwise there is going to be an epidemic, but sure not wearing a mask will help even more get infected before they can get vaccines (and whee we hoarded the global supply of vaccines! :+1:).
(and whee we hoarded the global supply of vaccines! :+1:).
Did we actually hoard the supply?
The way I heard it, contractual arrangements with the vaccine producers forbid the US government from providing the emergency-use-authorization vaccines outside the US, as the manufacturers required the liability shield that comes with the emergency-use regulations. I also understand that if another country offers to establish similar liability protections, that contract requirement can be lifted. As happened with Mexico and Canada, and thus our "loan" of doses.
We also speculatively purchased lots of doses of the various types, before even knowing if even one would pan out, who knew all the bets would pay off?
It seems a more complicated situation than "Scrooge McDuck is hoarding all the doses under his bed". And as usual with such things, lawyers are involved :-)
Only two policies really worked against the pandemic it seems: zero covid (yea, we didn't do that :|(), or vaccines (whee, we've got vaccines!). Otherwise there is going to be an epidemic, but sure not wearing a mask will help even more get infected before they can get vaccines (and whee we hoarded the global supply of vaccines! :+1:).
You forgot the third. Not getting together with people not in your household indoors any more than us absolutely necessary.
One thing this disease seems to have done is give free rein to some of our less noble instincts. Mask scolds and mask deniers clash. We decry gatherings we disapprove of as super spreader events, while dismissing the impact of those we do. The well-off who can easily work from home lecture the people who don’t have that luxury about the primacy of public health over economic survival. Celebrities in mansions the size of Lichtenstein feel in a position to inspire the masses with tweets about “we’re all in this together”. Conspiracy theories blossom. Data is feverishly mined to condemn various jurisdictions based on ideology.
The political elites flout the rules they impose on the commoners. They jump the vaccine line to serve as an example to the masses. They dismiss the virus early on, or claim credit for the work done by others later. The media puts a Governor on a pedestal until his behavior exceeds their ability to spin it away. Then they feverishly work to manufacture specious evidence of a villain in another state. CNN produces “experts predict spike” on nearly a daily basis to improve their bottom line. Everyone cloaks themselves in “the science”, at least as far as expediency will allow.
It is disheartening.
ApatheticNoMore
4-22-21, 12:33pm
What has ACTUALLY been disheartening to a lot of people is to see even the most basic public health measures like masks resisted and become political (of all things, yea that's political somehow). And so people were not only mostly left to their own devices to try not getting the disease as clearly the government simply didn't contain it, almost all government institutions failed spectacularly in the moment of crisis (except for eventually helping get a vaccine), even communications were bad, but not only did *institutions* fail (but community come together), but in actual fact one had to suspect everyone around them of deliberately trying to spread the disease as well! The number of people disheartened and demoralized by that is a gash, a source of trauma on top of the pandemic itself. A thing people describe as not being able to unsee. It's widespread.
Now the very institutions that failed use this strategically to try to deflect blame for their failures and get people to blame bad individuals instead. It's all about individuals. No, it's not all about individual actions that's for sure. But .... we can also see the pressure institutions themselves faced from individuals (and businesses) fighting them for the right to spread the virus as well (public health people trying to do their best lost jobs over this).
Now we can say that is only a few people, a way too vocal minority, and maybe feel better if we want to (perhaps a bit delusionally but). Or we can not unsee it.
And I don't see masks as being able to stop the pandemic by themselves or something, in theory, yea theory is fine, but I'm way to enamored of actual working examples. Did any country use masks as their only measure and succeed? So I don't see not wearing a mask as why we have a pandemic. I can see if one has to be around people who refuse to wear masks (coworkers or customers at work say) getting really annoyed they aren't taking basic measures to reduce spread and prevent oneself from getting infected though! Of course.
(and whee we hoarded the global supply of vaccines! :+1:).
Purchasing enough for our population is not hoarding. Is it?
Purchasing enough for our population is not hoarding. Is it?
I got accused the other day of "hoarding" housing, because I'm only using one bedroom in my home, and I could surely rent out the other 2-3 bedrooms for a reasonable rate to people who are having trouble manifesting housing.
ApatheticNoMore
4-22-21, 6:29pm
The hoarding comment was a bit of a joke. I mean the only way the U.S. ever was going to get out of this was vaccination/treatments and it's happening. And yes zero covid not being on the table and requiring border controls, we were either going to get out of it via vaccination or treatments or natural herd immunity (but that would take many more years than people anticipate, as it can be a high threshold, plus what about mutations or immunity waning).
I certainly took the vaccine.
There are ethical issues to global vaccine distribution but they are beyond my pay grade. I mean much of the world is still dying for lack of a vaccine and it's not really because they aren't manifesting hard enough.
I got accused the other day of "hoarding" housing, because I'm only using one bedroom in my home, and I could surely rent out the other 2-3 bedrooms for a reasonable rate to people who are having trouble manifesting housing.
You are stealing those rooms from the housing-disenfranchised. Come the revolution in 2022, the Article 25 Harris presidency or a progressively recalibrated SCOTUS, this injustice will be rectified.
frugal-one
4-22-21, 8:29pm
You are stealing those rooms from the housing-disenfranchised. Come the revolution in 2022, the Article 25 Harris presidency or a progressively recalibrated SCOTUS, this injustice will be rectified.
Whatever you are spewing is not registering. Where I live there is a survey if we want to add mega low cost housing to our small community. We are not on a bus line to a large city or have the resources so... NO. There are not enough jobs to warrant building all this. People would forever be relegated to poverty. I would think low cost housing should be where people can easily shop or find work. I believe people would languish here. Am I missing something?
I got accused the other day of "hoarding" housing, because I'm only using one bedroom in my home, and I could surely rent out the other 2-3 bedrooms for a reasonable rate to people who are having trouble manifesting housing.
LOL. how dare you own a home and not sub-lease specific rooms:~)
I'm tired of feeling like a bloated pig and I'm returning to the gym tomorrow. Fully vaccinated and will go during non-peak hours. Time to get up off my butt. I've been walking and cycling but it's not enough--my muscle tone is like quivering jello and I've gained weight. Enough!
ApatheticNoMore
5-3-21, 9:25pm
I'm tired of feeling like a bloated pig and I'm returning to the gym tomorrow. Fully vaccinated and will go during non-peak hours. Time to get up off my butt. I've been walking and cycling but it's not enough--my muscle tone is like quivering jello and I've gained weight. Enough!
Oh yea two weeks after the FIRST shot, I went back, i had exceed my capacity to wait (or gain weight, one of the two). Was semi outdoorish :|. Yea I walked, took hikes with elevation gain, and sometimes did ridiculous nonsense like hand weights, lifting my legs etc.. Not the same and other than the walking and hiking utterly miserable exercise to have to do as well, so of course i lost motivation.
Remember the exercise advice from the start of the pandemic: if you have a baby use them as a weight to lift. I mean someone must have got a chuckle out of writing such satire and having it taken straight, in a pandemic no less. Oh and lift canned food. Until you drop the baby and a can of beans on your head.
I am still languishing. I have vacation time but nowhere nearby to visit freely. Some outdoor places where I could go without a mask are open but the bathrooms are closed. And it has been fairly chilly out as well. Stores in my area still aren't allowing people to try on clothes. Life is blah.
Teacher Terry
5-8-21, 7:21pm
Except for wearing masks many things are back to normal. Our festivals will all be back this summer. June 1 everything can be at full capacity. I am taking Amtrak to California the end of may to visit a friend.
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