So the whole world has turned into a gigantic dumpster fire...

...but I feel fine?!

J/K. Not fine at all.

So for posterity's sake, we are currently in the middle of a global pandemic-Covid-19. It first showed in in the Wuhan province in China, but quickly spread throughout the whole world. The U.S. was slow to respond, due in large part to our president, good old Donald J Trump, and things have been completely mental since, oh, maybe late February. Check the date. It's mid July as I write this.

The kids have been out of school since the 13th of March, with distance learning happening until late May. The unemployment rate in this country has more than tripled. There's been a government stimulus payment of $1200 per adult for every American. Huge metropolitan areas have been shut down for months. The current death toll in the U.S. is 141,000. We currently make up 4% of the world's population, but have around 25% of the world's cases.

Covid-19 is a respiratory illness, so my asthma puts me in a high risk category for serious complications or death, so I've basically been a hermit since the end of January. I think I might have already had it back in January, when I got really sick and my doctor told me to self quarantine. Back then, we weren't really sure how the virus worked and didn't have any good tests for it, but antibodies don't always form so a test would be unreliable at this point.

So there have been protests by people who think the virus is a hoax planned to ruin Trump's chances of reelection. There have been protests about widespread closure of businesses. There have been protests about wearing masks. People have just been fighting like crazy.

Add to that mix the death of George Floyd, a black man essentially murdered by cops who were trying to arrest him for allegedly writing a bad check (they kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes, yo! It was really hard to watch), and the Black Lives Matter movement basically exploded with righteous anger. So rioting happened, unidentified military people have been removing protesters from the streets of Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington (I think). People have been fighting about the BLM stuff. People have been blaming a non-existent terror organization (Antifa) for the rioting. People have been fighting about defunding the police.

Sensing a theme here? People are fighting. All. The. Time.

So welcome back, blog. I need to express my thoughts right now, but in a format where I won't fight with people. My emotions are barely under control, I'm a hot mess, super anxious, depressed, you name it. So I need to write it all down and purge my system so I can stay friends with people and maintain my sanity.

Now that the catch up is complete (sort of), I can start writing about my feelings. Another night. But soon, because my usual space for self expression has been hijacked by angry trolls.

It feels good to be writing again!