I have to get used to writing without Lefty supervising me. Who is going to meow commands to me now?
Something that seems insignificant but isn’t happened when I went to the theater to see Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. I stay to the credits are over even when it isn’t a Marvel film where I expect a stinger during the credits. There have always been a few films that include one and even if there isn’t, all the people involved in the film deserve to have their credit read. When I went to the movies more often, I got to recognize the names. I would also take note when the credits were by Pacific Title; why? The Warner Brothers cartoon studio grew out of Pacific Titles & Opticals. Back in the days of silent films they made not the closing credits but the title cards with the dialogue. As a huge Warner Brothers cartoon fan that deserves my homage. I actually got disappointed when it was by another company. I think they did the Shang-Chi credits under a new name. “Pacific” was part of it. But that’s not what I came here to talk about. I’m here to talk about the draft. No that’s Arlo, I’m here to talk about what happened when I was the last person to leave the auditorium. As I watched other people leave, I saw many of them carrying their garbage with them. I looked on the floor and didn’t find any popcorn bags or cups. That never used to happen. As I walked out, I thanked the cleanup crew and then asked them if this was the new norm. They said it was! Some people leave their garbage, but most don’t. People are now more considerate about this than when I was growing up. Hell, I didn’t take my garbage with me. I do now but I don’t know when I changed. Everyone takes note of all the rude things people do, me included. From the theater I complained about the guy who chose to sit right next to me in a theater with plenty of empty seats and then sat in my seat, not the one he was ticketed for. I contributed to the general feeling that people are rude and selfish. It’s not true. If it were true, then it wouldn’t be worth commenting on. I am going to try and refrain from those complaints and instead post about people being selfless, even in small ways. That’s difficult. It’s more fun to complain. This is what creates all the negativity of social media. I don’t tweet but I hear that Twitter is the worst offender. Noah Smith wrote an essay about that today that is based on an earlier essay of his, The Shouting Class, in his blog, Noahpinion. He’s a thought-provoking author and the blog has a great name. As an added bonus his cover picture is of a bunny. He has pet rabbits.
I had two accomplishments yesterday that I’ll link to. This week’s edition of Gord’s Gold streamed last night on Folk Music Notebook. You can listen to it now on mixcloud or right here in the comfort of Wise Madness.
I also set up a GoFundMe, Help Jackie Pay for Lefty’s Medical Bills. Please contribute, the money is not for me but for Jackie, Lefty was her cat. Lefty wasn’t my cat, she was my supervisor, I was Lefty’s person.
Lefty left us a gift, fleas. I never noticed them while she was alive, but they jump off their host when their host dies. She left a few behind in the house. I sprayed the areas she frequented to get rid of them. I have gotten bites. As much as I hate them and wish they weren’t here fleas are magical. I have always heard of their amazing jumping ability, but I never witnessed it in person. I found a few on me and killed them but one got away. It jumped so fast that it seemed to simply vanish. Maybe that’s what they do, teleport not jump. I’ve examined myself today and don’t see any. Jackie shampooed the other cat and put a flea collar on her. Today she’s taking her to the vet. I hope to see no more fleas no matter how magical they are.
Tomorrow is 9/11, I’m not going to write a remembrance, everyone alive then remembers it. It still effects how we live our lives. I just want to give it a little context. 2,996 died that day twenty years ago. That’s an immense tragedy. We are now losing about 1500 people a day to COVID-19, and that’s far fewer than were dying before vaccines, especially during the first wave. It still means we are losing as many people as died on 9/11 every two days! We instituted all sorts of security measures and gave up some civil liberties in response to the attacks. We started two wars. Yet there are many people that think it’s asking too much to get vaccinated or even wear a mask, though those measures would end the carnage. I don’t think that the refuseniks don’t care about others. I think they don’t think about it in those terms. People are terrible when it comes to risk assessment. They will accept full body scans to ride an airplane which makes only a small difference with our safety, there are plenty of other ways for terrorists to attack but won’t accept mask and vaccine mandates. They can picture the violent deaths caused by terrorists and see the direct link to the precautions, but a virus spreading is abstract. If you resist getting vaccinated or wear a mask, please ask yourself if it’s worth it to stop a 9/11 attack every two days. If people are virtuous enough to pick up their garbage in a movie theater, I have to believe they are virtuous enough to wear a mask and get vaccinated; they just have to internalize its importance.
Wise Madness 