For the past few months I’ve only had the psychological capacity to write my “Five Things I Love” posts. Many of those posts didn’t contain much text, they were, let’s face it, simple listicles.
It’s the stress that has been doing me in. Just like most everyone, I’m mentally exhausted. It’s been nearly a decade of getting up each morning to find out something bad has happened (I live in Wisconsin so we basically were the testing ground for a lot of what has been going on for the past 3-1/2 years nationally.)
And then 2020 rolls along. I had actually been looking forward to this year, had TWO trips planned. The first to India, which as you know, I managed to get in. The second was for May. I was supposed to travel for three weeks through Scotland, Ireland, and Wales with a couple friends and end in London where I could reunite with a new friend I had met in India. Obviously that trip didn’t happen.
Nick Seluk, the most beloved creator of The Awkward Yeti* recently posted this cartoon. It perfectly illustrates how I, and I’m sure every other person on the planet, feels right. I know I am counting the days until next year (or at least until November 3rd.)
you’re really missing out – myself I’m an Awkward Yeti Supporter, and proud of it!)
A few weeks ago something bad happened, I can’t remember specifically what it was, and a friend of mine said it wasn’t on their 2020 Apocalypse Bingo Card. They were joking but I thought, hey, I should actually make one of those. So I did….
The problem was, I ran out of squares. The online bingo card generator I used only allowed for 25 squares. I’m guessing any more than that and the writing wouldn’t be legible. As I began to post my new bingo creation here and there people would say – oh, “you forgot this” or “you forgot that.” Daily, things would happen and I’d find myself saying, ARGH, I have no more squares!
Here are a few things that should be on the 2020 Apocalypse Bingo Card:
- Russian Bounties
- COVID-19 Cyberattacks
- Wildfires in California
- Harvey Weinstein sentenced to prison (which of course is a good thing but he should never have gotten away with his atrocities for so long. Also, just this week, a judge quashed the class action suit the victims had made against Weinstein and his production company basically leaving them in limbo on whether they will ever get any restitution. As a friend said to me earlier today, THIS is why we cannot have all white men on the bench anymore. )
- Ghislaine Maxwell (Jeffrey Epstein redux)
- US withdraws from the World Health Organization
- Tornadoes in the southern United States
- (Continued) Declining Freedom of the Press
- Bubonic plague
- Mask “protesters” (THIS is insane)
- Roger Stone pardon (can’t believe he really did this)
- Kanye West drops out of the Presidential Race after less than two weeks
- Ivanka Trump poses with a can of GOYA beans on her twitter (can you say ethics violation?)
- Elon Musk (pretty much anything that comes out of his mouth anymore)
- Twitter Bitcoin hack
- Kanye West actually is running for president (it seems, will be on a few state’s ballots after all)
- Duda reelected (the autocratic, nationalistic, and anti-LGBTQ president of Poland was re-elected by a slim margin)
- CIA conducted secret cyber attacks against Iran (but the bigger concern is that the CIA has been given authority to choose targets without White House approval and that a new secret order issued by Donald Trump gave the agency broad power, undoing many restrictions that had been put in place by previous administrations)
- Smear campaign of Dr. Anthony Fauci – also insane and DANGEROUS
- The SUPREME COURT ruled that Trump has to hand over his tax forms to the Manhattan District Attorney and his legal team is trying to figure out a way around the decision.
- Economic Recession
So that’s 20 more squares that would be needed. That would be one huge mother of a bingo card. And I bet you can come up with even more. This year can just BITE ME.
Still, even though not much has changed from a month ago or two months ago and there still is a shitstorm going on in the world, I’ve decided that I think I’m ready to wade back in. Note the wade part. My biggest concern has been a fear of criticism. I’m feeling nervous about whether I want to or can endure trolls at the moment. Which is why I have been avoiding, for the most part, anything controversial. But honestly, I am just too damned opinionated and passionate about things to not use an available platform and I need to start using my voice again. So, here goes…
