While a Tiger 2012 game is on in the background, I’m putting together my mom’s Mother’s Day gift. It’s not easy, given that there are some small parts that I have trouble seeing, but I’m getting it together.
Today is also my dad’s birthday.
I started collecting 1/24 scale diecast cars. So far, I have a 1964 Ford Mustang and a 1970 Buick GSX. My goal is to get diecast versions of real cars that I love and wish I owned. I’m going to get shelves under the big picture of Detroit that’s in my office and I’m going to fill the shelves with these diecast cars.
Just got back from my first ever curbside pickup at Kroger. Most of the stuff I ordered was there, but a few things were not.
I ordered four steaks, but only got one. I ordered two packages of hotdogs, but didn’t get any. I ordered six 6-packs of Squirt, but only got two. I ordered sliced cheese, but didn’t get any.
No, I was not charged for the products that weren’t available. They also gave me a list of everything that was missing from my order. I can manage without these things for now, but will try to get them soon.
The struggle is real.
Well, I was going to Kroger today, but then I thought better of it. New regulations, if I’m understanding correctly, now require that you follow arrows while shopping at the big stores. You have to go down each aisle, whether the aisle has anything you need or not, That, as I’m hearing, makes for very slow movement through the stores.
So, I decided to instead place an order for curbside pickup from Kroger. The earliest I could schedule it for was May 2nd, 4PM to 5PM. That’ll be a big order, but I still wanted to get a few things today. Pop, chips and cheese. I decided to invade Dollar General for that stuff.
It’s now law in Michigan that we wear masks when shopping. So, my dad brought me this mask that my aunt Bette made. This design suits me well, given that I’m a total songbird. This was my first time shopping with a mask.
Last time I was at Kroger was a few weeks ago. It really creeped me out how they were spraying down all the carts after used. So many people were wearing masks. It was just a creepy experience. It drove home the sense that something is very wrong. It made me think of Chernobyl, the 1986 Ukrainian nuclear disaster.
Not many people were at Dollar General and it was easy getting around, but everyone there was wearing a mask.
I’ve been cut off because I wasn’t liberal enough and I’ve been cut off because I wasn’t conservative enough by people who actually mattered to me, who I had felt close to. Some were friends and some were family. I still wonder, why did it have to come to that? I hear these different views all the time, many of them delivered harshly, and they often conflict with my own values. But if you’re someone who matters to me, I don’t believe I could ever cut you from my life, no matter how much we disagree.
Early on, when the virus was just arriving in America, I didn’t think it would be so bad. I was wrong. The US now has almost 600,000 more cases and over 22,000 more COVID-related deaths than the second place runner. 73,000 Americans have recovered, sure. But 700,000 are still sick. 43,000 deaths out of 800,000 cases is not a small number.
That’s pretty messed up. America should have been in one of best positions fighting this virus. Instead we’re in the absolute worse position. And this is just the beginning.
I’m still pretty mad about all the supplies being bought up. Even Chewy is out of the food I’ve been feeding my cat for years. I put in the order anyway and they say it’ll ship when it comes in stock. I hope it does soon, because I don’t think it would be good for Buddy if I switched him to a cheap brand.
Some people are saying that the people who bought up all the supplies are the smart ones. That they are the true survivalists. That they took the pandemic seriously and acted appropriately. Bullshit. Those inconsiderate, stupid assholes now have enough toilet paper, soap and such to last them ten to twenty years.
A couple weeks ago, I put in an order on Amazon for hand soap and bar soap. Neither was in-stock at the time, but they said it would ship when it came in stock. Yesterday, the hand soap was delivered. This means my last four bars will last longer, because I won’t have to use them to wash my hands.
I’m still waiting for the bar soap I ordered to come in stock and ship.
It’s been hard for me to stay focused since COVID-19 started. I just haven’t been able to get the thing off my mind. Some people think it’s because I’m very worried about the virus and they’ve told me, “Don’t worry about it.”
I hate hearing that. All too often when I talk about something, anything at all, someone tells me “Don’t worry about it.” It makes me feel like I’m being shut down and my thoughts about whatever topic shouldn’t be shared.
The reason I haven’t been able to get COVID-19 off my mind is not so much that I’m worried about it, it’s more like I’m obsessed with the topic. I keep reading about it and getting into discussions about it. COVID-19 is crazy, it’s big, it’s real and it’s happening. For me, at least, it’s hard not to get caught up in the insanity of this thing.
I’d been trying to pull myself away from the topic and get my ass back on the train. Today, I succeeded. The only reason I’m blogging right now is I made it to “blog” on my daily planner.. Each day, I go down a checklist of shit I gotta do. Blogging is one of the tasks on that checklist.
I got a crapload of other stuff done today too and the day ain’t done yet. I got work into a novel, I got work into a short story, I made three submissions, I did some chores, I read four chapters of the Bible (It’s just what I’m reading right now. I’m not particularly religious.), I got in my morning workout and my evening workout (I beat the heavy bag in the morning and the speedbag in the evening.) and a few other things.
After I blog, I have a few more things to do before I call it a night. I hope tomorrow is as productive.
I don’t know anymore. Is Whitmer right or is she wrong? As is often the case with me, I’m finding myself in agreement with both sides of the argument. I do know that cases in Lapeer just jumped from 18 to 82, and we have five Covid-related deaths, as of yesterday. I don’t know what we look like today.
Lapeer is not a highly populated county like Genesee, Oakland and Wayne, but we’re getting our share of this monster.
I wish services like Shipt and Instacart would get their shit together so we can count on them to bring our groceries to us. I wish the stores would allow toilet paper, soap and disinfection wipes, etc to be shipped to us via UPS or FedEx instead of requiring us to go to the store and purchase these items. I heard you can’t even get those items in curbside pickup. You have to enter the store for them.
Everyone is mishandling this thing, from the government to the stores. They’re all making moves that cause problems with other portions of the machine that would function just fine if they would let it.