COV264D-19: Football Counter-Programming B1G Week 5

These days it feels like I am creating anxiety on a daily basis and that I am always waiting for the next shoe to drop.

There are the obvious health conditions in the country, as well as the political state of the country that are contributing to this inner turmoil. But I am also beset by worried of work and personal professional performance.

Why am I always ruining my daily life with expectations of perfection? What does that get me? How can I do good, quality work that isn't driven by a fear of mistakes. And when mistakes happen, how do I accept that failing in myself and truly (TRULY!) incorporate it as something to learn from and get better at rather than turning it into some sort of goad?

When will I learn to trust my ability and just keep doing the work that I have proven I know how to do pretty well?

You have no answer to this and you didn't come to this blog today to serve as my therapist.

***

In other news . . . Sarah hit a young buck deer on her way to work yesterday afternoon. Most luckily, she was unharmed, but half of her windshield was badly broken and part of her roof dented as well, plus a broken headlight and a misaligned panel on the side of the car. A significant accident and we are still waiting to hear what insurance will say about the state of the car.

She was only a few miles away from the house when it happened, near where a friend of mine lives. I quickly headed off to see how I could help. (So quickly that I neglected to grab a mask on my way out the door, which I realized when I was halfway there. But I didn't turn around because I was mostly concerned about getting to Sarah quickly.)

When I arrived, a man from across the road was checking to see if Sarah was alright. He was leaving as I walked up. I spoke to Sarah to see that she was physically fine and holding up emotionally. .Then I noticed that I had pulled the car along the side of the roadway very close to where the deer had come to rest. (And I had not even noticed it when I parked.) While Sarah and I were beside her car and some yards from the deer, I could see that it was still, but not dead. It was resting in a runoff ditch, beside the entrance to the neighborhood near the main road.

As Sarah and I talked, the first policeman arrived. (Sarah had already called the police while I was arriving.) He came out of his car carrying a rifle, ready to put down the deer. The officer asked Sarah and I to move away from our cars and away from the deer. We turned away and I braced for the sound. It was pretty loud but luckily he only shot once. 

Once he put the deer down, he approached and I was surprised when he asked if we had plans to keep the deer. (Grace later informed me that it is Ohio law that in these types of accidents, the person involved has a right to keep the deer if they wish.) But we had no desire to keep the meat or a way to keep it, transport it, butcher it . . . whatever. So we declined. He quickly asked if he could take it, as he could butcher it for meat. I was happy to let him have it, but that was the last part of this incident that I was mentally prepared or expecting to have at that moment. Mostly I was worried about Sarah's emotional state and the sound of the gun and didn't want her to be bothered with more thoughts of the deer that she had hit.

Once that was all over, we got down to the quotidian business of clearing out the accident. Sarah used her insurance app on her phone to contact a tow truck. 

While we waited for the tow, I made a quick call to my friend who lived nearby and asked him if he could bring me one of his masks. I was increasingly self-conscious about talking to police and whomever else might arrive with no protection on me. He quickly arrived and helped save the day. He caught up for a few minutes while Sarah sat in my car and rested. He left a few minutes later. It is good to have friends!

Lynda called to see how things were progressing. She decided to come and let Sarah borrow Grace's car so that Sarah could proceed ahead to her job and hopefully occupy her mind with other things. Lynda and I stayed with the accident to report it to insurance, and get that machinery going.

Eventually the tow truck arrived and we completed the claims report for insurance. We headed back home to complete our day and wait for next steps. Sarah got home to us from work that evening and we are all safe again together.

It was an unusual afternoon--to be sure. But nothing more than machinery and a deer were hurt. I'm glad enough for that.

Back to the normal anxieties once again.

COV257D-19: Football Counter-Programming B1G Week 4

 What if they held a football game and no one came?

Well, that would be this year . . . because no one is allowed to come. (Or almost no one.)

But even now, today's tOSU game is cancelled because the opponent (Maryland) has coronavirus complications.

So . . . how do I counter-program something that isn't even programmed?

And while we are asking pointed questions . . .

How long will I keep this counter going on my blog title? What is the appropriate metric for stopping it? 

• When I personally get a vaccine? 
• When I leave my house on a much more regular basis? 
• When I stop wearing a mask? 
• When I can eat in a restaurant again? 
• When I can actually touch someone who is not a direct family member?

And those are all connections to ME. 

When will I know that others have gotten vaccines? 

When can I feel that others are safe?

What? When? How?

COV250D-19: Football Counter-Programming B1G Week 3

Photo from Reddit user Texwook

The reports are finally coming in and the waves of ballot counts are slowing down. The media is beginning to officially declare that they are willing to project that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did in fact win Tuesday's presidential election.

President Trump is away from the White House this afternoon, golfing in Virginia. Maybe he is doing so because his staff knew the projections were coming today. And they wanted to cocoon him away from the crowds that are celebrating around the White House today. 

But that didn't stop the Trump staff from releasing a statement that continued to call this election result fraudulent. And Trump promised to continue pushing his legal challenges against the vote counting. And he made it publicly clear that he rejects the people's choice and he thinks it is false. He thinks that he is more important than over 71 million people, American citizens, who have chosen someone else to run the country for the next four years.

And his fellow party members are also allowing this to happen. They have ceased to be independent operators, free-thinkers, supporters of the rules and the precedents of the country that they spend so much time telling us that they love. They are staying silent in the face of Trump's fear-mongering. They refuse to resist him publicly. They are also showing--as Trump is showing--that power is their only metric. They are much more concerned about staying in the good graces of the people who habitually vote Republican. Because all they want to do is stay in a seat of power. And if they oppose Trump right now. If they try collectively to speak out against him and his legal challenges. If they try to actively, as a group, make it clear that this election was accurate and that the president must accept the outcome, then they are afraid that they will lost re-election the next time they try to stay in power. And staying in power is all that they want.

All of the patriotism and flag waving and lapel-pin wearing that they use to appeal to voters is just an empty facade, a costume, a ritual that they must undergo to gain power and wield it. They do not yet show the conviction and personal courage necessary to speak out against Donald Trump. Will they ever have it?

If Trump continues his legal challenges, he'll likely face the considered judgment of federally appointed judges that were put there by Republican presidents. (Because the GOP Congress is really good at not doing that particular job when a Democrat is in the White House.) But those judges don't have to run for re-election. So they are (hopefully) secure enough in their own self-worth and self-definition--something that is NOT tied up in voter approval--that they can judge the merits of Trump's legal challenges on the truth of the evidence. And I hope that they judge rightly.

So, if that occurs . . . then Trump's legal challenges may fail. And then the weeks are short before the January inauguration of President-elect Biden must occur. Because this is what our Constitution requires. And this is what our Congress has passed. And this is how our nation has done things 45 different times before. And Republicans love to celebrate the wonderful and exception nature of the United States. And this peaceful relinquishment of power is one of the MOST exceptional parts of that story that they love to tell.

So . . . will they be part of that?

Will they stand up for that story?

Can they look beyond themselves and resist the simple-minded nature of Donald Trump? Something that is no surprise to anyone who know Trump. Can they stand up for the country they SAY that they love? Or do they truly only love themselves and the benefits of power?

COV243D-19: Football-Counter Programming B1G Week 2

It's Halloween and its week 2 of Big 10 football. And there are three days until the 2020 election. (Those things are not ranked in order of importance.) But I'm only here to divert you from one of those things.

Have you every seen the movie "Disturbia"? Its a early 2000s movie starring Shia LaBoeuf. And I have a strong fondness for it. And that is most likely because of the fact that I have long liked Jimmy Stewart's "Rear Window". And Disturbia is just an updated version of that Hitchcock classic. LaBoeuf is playing the teen version of Stewart's L.B. Jefferies. But Shia is undergoing house arrest with an ankle bracelet rather than recovering from a broken leg suffered during a car race photoshoot.

But both characters are obsessed with strange happenings outside their window. LaBoeuf is suspicious of his suburban neighbor (played with always perfect creepiness by David Morse--who has made a living playing dudes who are disturbing and off.)

But this movie is more than just a digital remake of a Hitchcock classic. I was watching the last thirty minutes of it today and I noticed that in the final moments of the movie, as LaBoeuf is trying to save his mom from Morse, and as he is trying to draw the police to the crime scene, he does a few things that echoed other movies.

He jumps in a neighboring pool (from a roof) to break the established boundaries of the ankle bracelet. And the camera gets down at water level with him to be all dramatic. And that reminded me of the pool scene in "Poltergeist". And also, there is a scene where LaBoeuf is holding a pair of hedge clippers. And that made me think of any number of "Friday the 13th" movies. And there is another scene a previous victim of Morse is uncovered. And she is wrapped in plastic. And that made me think of "Twin Peaks".

So, what I'm saying is that Disturbia is a much more layered and nuanced movie that you think it is.

Happy Halloween everyone!

And don't watch football today!

COV236D-19: Football Counter-Programming B1G Week 1

 It's definitely been a minute (97 days . . . so that calculates to--checks my math . . .139,680 minutes) since I last provided a COVID update. But life has gone on, such as what life constitutes in this very strange year. School proceeds. Work doesn't stop. The days and the minutes just keep piling up. But the unusual elements keep pace.

Some of you may have noticed that it is almost November and there is no post on WWYG?! detailing the Fall TV season. And that is easy to understand for a few reasons. 

First . . . are we even watching TV on the mainstream networks anymore? I know that I barely am. Almost all the shows that I have been watching recently has been streaming shows on new networks. I don't even KNOW if new shows have been started on TV in the last two months. And that is because I haven't even been trying to find out. And it is also because the COVID restrictions have (I guess?) made it harder to gather to work in the TV industry and so the pipeline of new production has decreased. So . . . maybe there is nothing to miss?

But what is definitely still happening is football. And it has been doing so for the last few weeks anyway. At all levels. Middle school, high school, college, professional. Football never quits and you can't stop it. And so, I guess . . . since the B1G is beginning its league-only, shortened season this weekend, I"M BACK with this year's 

FOOTBALL COUNTER-PROGRAMMING: MASKED-UP SEASON

This week's dumb question--When making cracker-based snacks, do you put the cheese, peanut-butter, deli meat, whatever on the TOP side or the UNDER side of the cracker?

You know what I mean, right? There is the fancy, top side of a cracker with the extra browning, the puffed, domed part of the cracker. And then there is the bottom side that is flatter and has a bit less browning.

Do you have a preference? Does it cross your mind as you construct your snack? Maybe this will motivate you to be more worried about presentation in the future. Maybe it will give you a complex and make it so much harder to make hors d'oeuvres for future parties post COVID? (If so, I'm sorry.)

Let me know in the comments how you approach this. Or if this is going to drive you to be more thoughtful about it in the future.