A Shot In The Arm

Well, The Wife and I got our first Covid 19 vaccination shots yesterday. It didn’t hurt, but The Wife has a sore arm. As soon as my Southern California County opened up vaccinations for those 65 and over, I jumped on it. I’m getting tired of fearing for my life every time I have to go grocery shopping; speaking of which, I never go during those special ‘seniors only’ hours – too many dazed and confused old guys wondering around totally oblivious to social distancing standing in the middle of the aisle looking for stuff Their Wife wrote on a shopping list. Anyway, for a county-run event, the vaccination process was very well organized. We just drove up in a mall parking lot, got out and walked into the vaccination tent, and after having our names checked off their list, were immediately give the shot. The only waiting around was for 15 minutes afterwords to make sure you were okay and not dizzy. Wham Bam thank you Sam, relatively painless, except for The Wife’s sore arm.

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There’s Always Something New To Worry About

It seems like there’s always something new to worry about. I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older, or that we’re over a year into a worldwide pandemic that’s killing millions of people. But I often find myself worrying about everything. Maybe it’s post traumatic stress syndrome. Maybe too much cable news. The good news is The Wife and I have appointments (a true pain in the ass to get) for our first Covid 19 flu shots. In my California county they just lowered the age limit to 65 instead of 75 and older. I could’ve passed for a 75 year old but I don’t have the fake I.D. I had in High School anymore; tossed that sucker when I turned 21 and could legally buy beer. So the end is near. Not in an apocalyptic way, but as in running a log race and finally being able to see the finish line. Thank you Science.

Upgrading My Technology

I don’t have a cell phone and I don’t do Facebook. I’ve never texted anyone in my life let alone ‘tweeted’ on Twitter. I do use Skype, have a blog, and have downloaded a ton of music MP3’s on Napster-like P2P file sharing platforms which I’ve burned onto a disc and listen to on a DVD player. I don’t do Spotify or listen to music on an Apple I-Phone (those little cigarette butt looking earphones look stupid and imply to me that ya had a really great time last night but couldn’t remember a minute of it). I rarely use cash anymore except for paying my Mexican gardener who strangely prefers cash (guess he’s old fashioned too). I never go to the bank anymore; pay all my bills on-line, and all income is electronically deposited into my account (sweet). In fact, my recent $600 stimulus check came in the form of a debit-card!

So…there’s a lot of technology I use, and a lot I don’t. Well, my son recently set me up with an amazon Fire-stick and hooked me up on Netflix as a Christmas present. And Wow…It’s blowing my mind, and nothing like Cable TV. I’m starting to really like television on demand a whole lot. Ya don’t have to wait till something you like comes on and then record it, commercials and all. Nope, it’s like having a library at you disposal (without all the homeless people sitting around and stinking-up the place. If I wanna watch a little Star Trek, I can pretty much choose any version and watch any episode in any season and get my fill of it. I guess that’s were they got “Bing-watching” from. Perfect for those of us who are a touch obsessive-compulsive in nature.

Another thing. I finally got rid of my landline and have now plugged my phone into my modem (which is fed via landline). It was easy to install. Just plug a phone jack into the back of my modem, call a number, and Bang, like magic I’m calling all my geezer buddies via the internet. [They of course are answering via cell tower powered I-Phones]. My gawd, I’m so far behind the times. An analogue type of guy stuck in a digital world.

Being Held Accountable

Don’t cha just love it when some no-good evildoer is caught red-handed and held accountable for his miss-deeds? A lot of the Capitol Insurrectionists are being arrested and face prosecution ( love it that a lot of ex-wives and family menders are turning in these guys and ratting them out)). Who wold have ever thought that rampaging The Capitol in an attempt to overthrow an election was against the law? A Georgia Congresswoman (the snarky blond) got stripped of her cabinet post for saying crazy shit. T V networks are being sued for slander by voting machine companies regarding damaging false claims against their product. Lou Dobbs just got fired from Fox news, and now a Sandy Hook survivor is after The Pillow Guy for spewing nonsense about school violence. Makes me wonder what kind of skeletons the Flex-Seal guy has in his closet? My gawd, Ya can’t even trust anyone these days, even Safe-Shield auto repair insurance and Safe-Guard rain gutter protectors.

You know, these guys that push these wonder-products on TV seem a little over the edge to me. Maybe their products are good, but the hyper zeal with which they ooze enthusiasm is a bit too “Side Show Bob-ish” for me and tend to set off flashing red signals of SNAKE OIL in my mind. Do I really need a Safe-Guard or some other crap to keep my gutters clean? Well apparently I do, cause I’m reminded sometimes three times an hour that: all my problems are caused because I’m not sleeping well due to a crappy pillow; those rain gutters I’ve been ignoring for years are gonna cost a fortune in home repairs; my house leaks cause I don’t use enough Flexible-Shield; I’m under insured; missing out on a heck of a lot Medicare benefits I’m entitled to; and need a reverse mortgage.

I don’t wanna get conspiratorial, but it seems like everywhere ya look you got a lot of people lying to ya. Politicians lie to us all the time. It’s no secret, they just do. They get caught on tape in a lie, then lie their asses off denying they did it. My favorite term for that is Lying Sack of Shit. Hard to define, but ya know one when ya smell one.

There is a glimmer of hope out there. Folks are being prosecuted and penalized for acting bat-shit crazy and lyin’ their asses off. What’s really sort of funny (actually sadly pathetic) is Donald Trump and the Capitol Insurrectionists (they think themselves as patriots). For his impeachment defence Trump claims he had nothing to do with any overthrow, and his followers defense is: The President told us to do it. Smells like manure to me.

I Hate Dealing With Problems

I hate dealing with problems! I hate having to fix something when it breaks down (as all shit eventually does); and I also hate doing things I really don’t wanna do! Maybe I shouldn’t use the word hate (there’s a lot of folks on the fringe-right that are giving hate a bad name), rather, I have a strong adversion to, and great dis-like of things that make me feel uncomfortable. I made a career out of dealing with ‘problems’ for over forty years: problem children at the state mental hospital, problem youth as a juvenile probation officer, and problem adults I supervised on adult formal probation (you wouldn’t believe the number of people I watched pee into little bottles).

“Wow Hansi – you sure got a good rant brewing, but tell me, what do all the accompanying pictures have to do with all the shit you hate, or should I say…strongly dislike and want to avoid like the current plague?”

Well, I don’t know. I just got done dealing with a dental problem – one of the last things on earth I wanted to deal with and right up there with never voting for a Republican ever again in my life. But I dealt with it and as soon as the aversion started to dissipate I started to think about floozies and some of my old figure drawings. So I figured I could be just like Kilgore Trout, the brilliant but obscure science fiction author who went undiscovered because all his work was published in Porno magazines as filler. So I decided to write my ‘rage on a page’, and illustrate it with totally unrelated subject matter. Drawing the female figure takes skill. Making them look trashy is a skill unto itself.

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