As I try not to watch the Lions being decimated by the Bears (what else is new) I am reminded of a Chicago trip I took for work back in '82. Interesting to contemplate who would win a Bears/Lions altercation in the wild; it would certainly offer more action than our hapless pussy cats. Anyway I digress. I was in an all-week training in Sept/October while about six & a half months preggers. Fortunately it is a short flight back to Lansing as the flight attendants tend to hover and look nervous when one has a baby belly. I was hand carrying a packet of fresh baklava which ended up dripping honey all over my ONE pregnant lady sweater, that had to be hand-washed, due to the afore mentioned baby belly issue.
Anyway I was dutifully on the wagon due to pending Mama-dom but a group wanted to go to a country-western bar for dinner which featured a western band and long necks. Since I don't like soda, water drinks keep me closer to my expense account anyway-win/win. As the group enjoyed their beer one was urged to get up and sing with the band. He told them the song he was going to sing and belted out the opening line....to dead silence. It was in my head that the last thing the professional performers are looking forward to is some half in the bag wanna be singer. Turns out they were just messing with him and he was actually not too bad. But I think I would have picked a different song than Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" which opens with those words making the silence that ensued doubly hilarious.
Second memorable moment from that trip was when I got back after class with a nasty headache. I trotted (waddled) down to a nearby drugstore to pick up some extra-strength Tylenol. Before taking the pills I was watching the news as they were showing the VERY drugstore I had just visited to report on the potassium cyanide-laced extra-strength tylenol bottles found there. Ahhh. No questions asked, just dumped the entire bottle in the garbage. Angels were involved I am convinced. Oddly enough I cannot remember what the training was about but I'm sure I passed it.
Watching all the crazy going on with the "mouthy minority" carrying on at health department and school board meetings about masks and distancing my quick takes are: 1) Children will follow your lead if you handle it calmly; 2) the silent majority is not speaking out in public as they and their families are being threatened; 3) if one child gets sick or heaven forbid, dies, I am sure these bozos will not feel they are to blame. When did this type of behavior become the norm? Citing religion and freedom are so hypocritical, one could vomit.
To illlustrate the ocean between viewpoints I learned of two cases this week. We have friends who are sophisticated world travelers who followed the science, got their shots, wore masks and social distanced. However, in attending a family event they contracted covid as many in their family would rather listen to facebook than their doctor or the millions worldwide who have received the shot with no problem-except they don't die. Though sick they are able to treat at home (after getting an IV infusion) but they are miserable due to other people's selfish "beliefs". This is several weeks of their life they will not get back, and possibly long-term effects.
In the second case, a couple we know believe the armchair, non-peer-reviewed dogma that says "they don't need them stinking shots". They are both quite ill, both been hospitalized though one fought the hospital as any medicine they would give him would be what killed him. Even after he became so dehydrated that he passed out, fell and hit head knocking himself unconscious he still fought the hospital. He has been hospitalized twice and is home on oxygen. So what was the point? That is a special kind of stupid and innocents are paying the price. UPDATE: The person referenced is back in ICU, untubated and heavily sedated as when anywhere near consciousness the patient fights to withdraw the breathing tubes. I don't know how it will end; and I hope he survives, but it is so sad to realize misinformation keeps leading to this awful conclusion.
Changing topics. You ever notice how every region, even every little population group, has it's dialects, including us midwesterners. One thing I notice about Lansing Michigan is people have an aversion to pronouncing the letter "T". It's always the "Spar 'ans (Spartans) or my neighbor's boy Kea 'on (Keaton), etc.; drives me crazy. Where does the "T" go? No doubt they will all tumble out of a packing "car 'on" (carton) somewhere, someday. Peace Out...
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