Stuff I've Been Watching

Even though things are slowly reopening around the country, I'm still largely spending my days at home (working and watching TV) because the percentage of fully vaccinated folks (like myself) needs to be higher in order for me to feel more comfortable being out and about. (I'm also still wearing a mask except if I'm outside walking and there aren't a lot of people around.)

During my time at home, I've been watching a lot of stuff on television, some good, some bad. (Mostly bad.)

One movie I watched recently on Netflix was Pihu, recommended by someone I work with. It's about a 2-year-old little girl who's left home alone and has to fend for herself. (I won't spoil the reason why she's home alone.) This kid has to find a way to feed herself and survive because there's no parent or guardian there to look after her. Chaos, naturally, ensues. This movie enraged me because the kid's parents were so irresponsible and they allowed their kid to live in filth. The house the child was in was nasty. The parents had given a party the day before, but no one had done anything to clean up afterward and it looked like the house wasn't just dirty from the party. If you want to life in filth as an adult, go for it, but if you live in filth and allow your young children to live in filth also, you're a terrible parent. No kid should have to live in that kind of environment. 

I've also been watching a lot of episodes of Forged in Fire lately. My sister got me turned on to this show where guys (and a few women) make knives and compete to be the "Forged in Fire Champion" and win $10,000. I never would have thought watching people make knives and swords would be interesting, but it is. When your knife "does not make the cut," you're promptly booted from the show. 

I also finally finished the third season of Cobra Kai. While I largely enjoyed the series, by the third season, I felt this puppy needed to be put down. Enough already. How many teenaged brawls can we have? The first one at the school was great, but it's been done to death now. Come up with someone else, folks! 

Chicago (the City, Not the Musical)

I recently exchanged messages with a guy I used to work with in Philadelphia and I asked about Philly and told my former co-worker that I missed the city. He responded that "Philly is Philly" (or something like that) and compared it to Chicago (and not in a positive way). I responded that Chicago is a mess and added that I was making this comment as someone who's from Detroit. I said what I meant, and I meant what I said. When you wake up Monday morning in the Chicagoland area and read online or see on the news that 30-40+ people were shot over the weekend, you know that there's a problem in this city. What I don't understand is why the various mayors here keep hiring new police commissioners who come here and don't seem to make the kind of sweeping changes that are needed to get the gun situation under control. If you keep doing the same things or even try something different but don't see any changes in the results, then wouldn't you change your approach? You can't keep doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome.

I told my former Philly co-worker that Chicago is my home for now, but I don't want to die here. (Seriously.) I long to live in a place where double-digit shootings aren't the first thing I hear or read about on a Monday morning. Maybe I'll retire to that kind of place.

Maskless?

The CDC says now vaccinated folks can go without masks outdoors and indoors. Huh. Even though I'm fully vaccinated now and past the two-week period from my last shot, I'm still wary of going without my mask. I think I'll keep it on for a while outside. Plus, I suspect many local businesses will still require a mask because they don't know who's vaccinated and who isn't. Are they going to request to see your vaccination card at the door before you can enter? I don't think so. It'll take a while for me to lose my mask. I want to go without it, believe me. I hate wearing it, but I'm too cautious to just let it go right now. Maybe if the vaccination rate was over 70% in the US I'd be more willing to ditch it. But our vaccination rate is nowhere near that percentage. I am planning to fly later this year for the first time in more than a year and I'm still weird about that, but I'm doing it. I haven't seen my father since 2019, so I'm going to visit him. We're all vaccinated and, hopefully, everything will go as planned for that trip. Fingers crossed! 

Is This News?

As glad as I am NOT to have to hear about Donny T's tweets or random garbage from his minions now that he's no longer POTUS, I feel like our media hasn't truly detached from him yet. Probably because they're missing the huge ratings he brought during his reign of terror. But now they've got something else to latch onto with his Facebook ban being upheld. My question is who cares? It's a private company and it makes the rules you can choose to abide by if you use the service it provides. Why is Donny's continued ban from Facebook a huge news story? It's like the bad old days all over again. The media just can't quit this guy. This is not news. You know what else isn't news? That Liz Cheney is about to get kicked to the curb by her own party. Whatever, Liz. You misread the room, hon. As for her and the GOP, there are no winners here. They can both self-destruct.