Strange Days

Written by Tom Being Tom

Hello there!

I know, I know. See last entry. These are strange days. In fact, it’s been so long since I’ve been around that WordPress forgot my password.

(It’s TomLovesTheRams19864Eva, by the way)

22 days as a matter of fact. 22 days since my last confession. Since I last road out on to these plains and turned blank white pages into a flowing masterpiece of political football puppy love. So you haven’t seen anything like this in 31,680 minutes:

And I apologize. Sort of.

I apologize every time someone walks into the store and says “you don’t have to wear that mask for me,” too. I apologize when I turn down a polite offer to go to a super-spreader event, or to hang out with someone who’s gone to a super-spreader event, or to hang out with someone who just hung out with somebody who just went to a super-spreader event. I apologize and say there’s a pandemic. It feels weird to have to explain that part because, honestly, how does anyone not know yet?

My little county, which escaped the greater California attack of coronavirus early on, is currently in the midst of a powerful surge. 5 people died in the last week. Only 24 had died previously since this began. We are up to 1666 positive cases, which is an ominous number in and of itself. Our 7-day positivity rate has quadrupled in October. We are twice the California rate. We’re heading into what’s known as the “purple” tier. Widespread, it means. Shutdowns.

I see the daily whining about that. “Fuck Newsom!” they say. As if he’s the one holding Shasta County super-spreader events and unmasked religious gatherings. He’s not the one calling Covid-19 “another flu” while waving a gun and flag out of his truck and walking into appliance stores telling their sales managers “you don’t have to wear that for me.”

It’s not for you. It’s for me. For my wife. For my family, my friends, my co-workers and customers. It’s for the elderly person that will die unnecessarily because I didn’t do the simplest, most preventative thing.

And yet, daily, I hear about someone called “they” trying to control our lives and wanting to shut us down to prove “their” power over “us.” It’s not us vs them, folks. It’s the biggest plague in 100 years vs every human being on the planet. Come together. Right now.

Just, uh, not over me.

—

Besides that it’s rivalry day. Somehow, amidst a crazy pandemic, we’re able to squeeze in sports (with caveats). The Rams are quietly 4-1. Quietly, I say, because you haven’t heard me talk about them here where I go and talk about stuff that is important to me.

The Rams are important to me, and have been since some time around 1986. I liked ‘em before that. I liked ‘em since I was about 10 and some kids in the neighborhood told me I had to pick an NFL team so I picked the one that they hated most. They hated the Rams, because the Rams always beat the Niners. That record has leveled since those days. In fact, the Niners lead the all-time series 71-67 at this point so we’ve got some catching up to do. But one thing hasn’t changed: the Niners hate the Rams, the Rams hate the Niners.

The Rams and Niners come together, though, to hate the Seahawks.

—

It’s 7:25 in the morning and I just finished my first Coffee/Bailey’s. I’m going to pour another. And then I’m going to put some breakfast in my belly. After that I’ll check on my fantasy roster, declutter the garage, trim some shrubbery, order some temporary fencing to keep Marvel from eating poisonous seeds from my Chinese Tallow, and then – eventually – drink some beer and watch the Rams. We have the night game so, you know, it’s going to be a long day.

I had a long conversation with myself yesterday about time management, so we’ll see how that goes. We’ll see how this goes. I miss this. I miss you. All of you. It’s a strange world. It’s a strange year.

But some really great things have happened, are happening. Let’s not forget those. Count our blessings. Sales are good. One of the best people on the planet sits next to me every day at work now. I have healthy dogs. A loving wife. The house I love, at a cheaper rate than last year. Amazing neighbors. The Rams are 4-1. Donald Trump is leaving the country.

Count your blessings. Despite the pandemic there’s plenty to be grateful for. Be grateful. Be careful, be safe, be wise. But be you. It’s a tough sea to navigate but I believe in your skills. I believe in you.

I believe in us.

That’s all.

Now here’s some more of them being them and me being me:

25 thoughts on “Strange Days”

  1. Small pleasures.
    (Even if they include watching millionaire Gladiator wanna-bees, “tough” it out in a game that doesn’t even include beheadings.)

    The problem with this pandemic is that it’s just not deadly enough. If 50% of the obese 74+ year old men died from it… At least we’d have even odds of everyone taking it seriously. (I wonder how much the IBI paid the doctors to lie that he even /had/ Covid. “It’s like the flu. I have a great immune system. All my acolytes do. We’ve already got herd mentality.”)

    How much dogfood do you go through in a month? (In one end, out…)

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  3. I’ve missed those puppies! And yeah, of course… you as well. 😉
    Scary news for your county. Maine had been doing remarkably well in keeping our numbers down until a stupid super spreader wedding up north with a pastor who then preached the gospel down south and spread it even more. I’m so sick and tired of the screamers. No one is infringing upon your personal liberty. Public safety should never have been politicized, we were doomed from then on. Wear a mask! If it makes you feel better print “this is bullshit” on it. But please, people are dying. It’s not that much to ask.

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  4. Nice to hear from you Brother Tom, it’s been a long time. Okay not that long but I do miss your posts. I have to say that I’m thinking you belong to the pups and not the other way around. It looks to me that they have complete control of your entire house, and life of course, lol. Not a bad thing I think, too bad we can’t claim the pets on our taxes huh? 😂
    I agree, we need to be grateful, for everything, the good, the bad and the ugly. We learn, adjust and sometimes rail against certain things/people, and that is where our experiences come from. I did the early voting thing, I had to, I’m tired of the direction this country is headed, the people that think they know what’s best for us. I saw a meme the other day that went something like “Let’s test the virus vaccine on politicians, if it’s safe then we can proceed with giving it to everyone. If it’s not safe, oh well, live and learn.” I thought that was poignant and very true, so why not, right? Love the photos of the pups, they take good care of you!

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  6. I must say that the pictures of your beautiful puppies made me smile! I love animals and they are so much better than most humans. Animals love unconditionally, they are loyal, honest, loving, and hardly ever hold a grudge (my older cat tends to hold a grudge sometimes!) I think my cats, your dogs, and all other animals would wear a mask to protect themselves, those they care about, elderly people, and anyone else that has a beating heart. I also think my two cats would be a far better options for president and vice president than what we have now! I had wanted to do a write in for my older cat to be president and the young one to be vice president because they would care and do what is best for the people and not be sociopaths like what we have now. I think it is clear that I am VERY anti Trump, or maybe not! Sorry I had to throw in my ever so nice views!! Thank you for sharing the puppy pictures!!!!

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      1. All I can say is, thank goodness he is almost gone!!!! I want to watch him get dragged out of the White House kicking and screaming like the baby he is. All they would need to do is put something in his ugly mouth!!!

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  7. I stop at stop signs. Even though it’s often an unnecessary annoyance that’s only there to tell cars to halt even when there are no other vehicles on the cross-street I still come to a complete stop at each one because if I don’t and I don’t see another car coming–or they don’t see me–there could be terrible consequences.
    I’m just leaving that there for no particular reason.
    I’ve missed your dogs. I’ve wondered how you’re doing every time I turn on the news and another calamity has hit The Golden State. We get actual newspapers on the weekends and I still pull the political section and put it in the recycle bin, or, these days, under our new puppy, but I now check the sports section to see how the Rams are doing. And also because I hope they’ll eventually start covering billiards events. Several times a week you can find bowling on ESPN. Bowling! You’d think they could broadcast a nine-ball match once in a while.
    I’m getting off the subject which is that, since you brought up breakfast, you’re like a big jam doughnut with cream on the top. Your arrival gives us pleasure and your departure merely makes us hungry for more.

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    1. Thank you, Chris! I had no intention of making that post my last one for a long while, but I guess it was. I guess it is. I was just thinking the other day how inattentive I’ve become to the blogging world and how I have to fix that just as soon as time allows for a few more hours a week. It will! It must! I shall return, all great generals and 80’s Austrian action heroes do say!

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  10. Pingback: Can’t Fit it in a Bottle – Tom Being Tom

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