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The New Normal
Author: BobR    Date: 04/07/2021 12:51:12

For the past year, our "normal" has been masks, hand-washing, social distancing, hand sanitizer, and avoiding people indoors. Before the pandemic, our normal was 4 years of a nightmare president, who was a firehose of outrage. Everyday was a challenge to pick which one to write about. Before that we had 6 years of one of the best presidents in my lifetime, who had to contend with a Republican Congress when trying to get anything done.

And now?.... Now the pandemic isn't over, but Spring is in the air, and there is a spring in our step. A huge number of our fellow countrymen have been vaccinated. There is a competent, level-headed man in the White House, a woman as vice-president, and Congress is in Democratic hands. We can see plenty of good things happening over the next couple years. What a great feeling (almost like 2008-2010).

But that leads to a dilemma for those of us writing these blogs. What to write about? We have gotten so used to griping about all the bad things happening that it's difficult to shift gears and write glowingly about everything that's actually going right in the country.

This is me today. What to write about? The Gaetz thing is done to death. McConnell is mumbling idle threats, but he's mostly been rendered impotent (phrasing!!). There are small stories about individual bad behavior, such as nearly anything Gov. DeSantis does in FL. There are those horrendous Jim Crow laws in GA.

However, I am in too much of an upbeat mood to get bogged down in those stories. The sun is shining, the air is perfect, and I am looking down the calendar at a date where my lovely wife and I can actually go out and do things again. I don't want to wallow in the filth today, and so I have nothing to write about.

This is the new normal? I'll take it.
 
 

6 comments (Latest Comment: 04/07/2021 17:38:29 by livingonli)
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Comment by Raine on 04/07/2021 13:05:01
AMEN!

Comment by wickedpam on 04/07/2021 13:09:40
Morning

Comment by Scoopster on 04/07/2021 13:29:48
Mornin' from the soon-to-be garden of love AND peace!

Comment by TriSec on 04/07/2021 13:59:02
Greetings, comrades. Following up on a late comment yesterday.


Quote by TriSec:
No ill effects were reported from my first jab.

And in other news - TriSec is back on the job market. I have had many suck-tastic jobs over my working career, but few can match the sheer level of assfuckery I experience on a daily basis driving this bus.

Further - it's soured me so much on unions, that it's now a deal-breaker. Should I find another driving job, if it's union, I won't take it.

So call me a Republican now.


Wow - I thought you liked your job. Didn't you just recently post a blog about it?


Bob has perhaps mis-interpreted the intent of the blog referenced. It's more about how different I feel where I am working today. I'm not like the rest of the staff.

I'm afraid it's an ultra-toxic atmosphere. We're essential services; it's in the union contract that we're not allowed to strike. So I think the union makes up for it by knee-jerk opposition to EVERYTHING.

There's certainly no "team" as I understand it. We're a collection of individuals looking out for ourselves - no goals, no shared experiences, no common concepts.

The union pre-determines everything by seniority. Assignments, hours, pay, it's not about how you do things, so there is no incentive for anyone to go above and beyond.

The union protects bad drivers and surly personalities. Many of the things that I see on a daily basis - well, if you worked for me in other settings, you'd have been long gone.

Then I see their names on the monthly "awards" board for driver of the month. So that's the standard, eh?

This is not for me. Probably never was. Remember, I only took it because the trolley shut down for the winter and I needed a paycheck.

Right now, I'm looking exclusively back in healthcare. There's a new guy in Washington, as Raine noted - and he's not hell-bent on destroying the Affordable Care Act. Perhaps a new expansion will be coming, and the jobs to go with it.





Comment by livingonli on 04/07/2021 14:31:25
Good morning.

Comment by livingonli on 04/07/2021 17:38:29