I Get That People Want Everything To Go Back To Normal And Forget About COVID-19 And The Phases Of Reopening

I get that people want everything to go back to normal and forget about COVID-19 and the phases of reopening the country like most of the rest of the world, but... this is likely never going to end. We have a new normal, and we are also divided on many fronts. We have too many options, differing opinions, and different ideals for the perfect world.

But why is it so hard for Americans to follow the example set by other countries in the response to the pandemic? We may be living in a capitalist country, but the tax money is misused by our politicians who would rather fund projects in countries that would rather see this country fall. We have minimal control over our political climate, and that has ruled how the government is responding after they spend most of the money on irrelevant projects.

We do have control over our own actions though. When we were little, we should have all learned about manners and common decency in society, to respect each other’s beliefs, and to accept each other despite our differences. Where did these lessons go? Why are so many people unable to respect that others make certain choices? Why can people not quietly comply with the new store policies or follow simple directions for proper procedures?

If you don’t want to wear a mask but need to go shopping, almost every store will allow you to order online and pick it up without needing to step out of the car. If you don’t want to wear a mask to enter any establishment that requires you to wear a mask inside, you can conduct your business over the phone or with an online conference service and get your physical items with a curbside pickup.

Americans have to wake up to the reality of this world. We have a system that has always been doomed to fail sooner or later and are plagued by people who are being overly sensitive about the most ridiculous subjects, many times witnessed in people with no connection or reason for what they are offended by.

People are dying from COVID-19, at least three of my relatives work in hospitals, and one of my relatives works in a lab where these tests are conducted. The lab workers are exhausted. The medical staff are exhausted. They are not able to keep up with these cases, they haven’t been able to from the start. They are burning themselves out by working overtime every day of the week to make sure the rest of us are taken care of.

The worst is that one of my aunts lost ten ICU patients in two days back in March when we went into quarantine. She has been keeping herself as distant from her children as possible to try protecting them from the virus in case she carried it home. I have only been able to track the county where she works, and she must have seen over a hundred people die from COVID-19 by now. She has said that she couldn’t do anything to help them after a certain point, and told us how suddenly her patients would change from lively and fine to crashing in the time it takes to duck out of their room for only a few minutes.

Why can’t so many Americans accept that we have to put physical social interactions on hold? Why is it so hard for people to wear a mask properly or at all? We could have ended this months ago if people just listened to these frontline workers by staying home, staying apart, and wearing the mask. Is it so hard to listen to these people begging us to do something so easy? Is a little discomfort so hard to handle for a short amount of time to protect ourselves and each other? Is it so hard not to shame those who do their part if they feel they are at risk of spreading the virus because of their workplace conditions? What has happened to us that we can’t be decent and calm in any given situation?

Why don’t people care about each other anymore? Why do people let history repeat itself instead of trying to move past these mistakes? Why have people chosen to ignore these lessons? Why can’t people look at the bigger picture and find a logical and acceptable reason for their actions? Why do we make everything about politics these days? Why do we let the corrupt remain in office to ruin us further? Why do we let our differences get in the way of the potential for success? Why do we have people rioting just because their party representatives lost an election and destroy their own homes and cities?

How many of us are embarrassed to be an American right now?

My parents took me, my bestie, and aunt and uncle to Hollywood Casino at Charles Town in West Virginia for the Melissa Etherifge concert last night and it was amazing. I just wanted to share one of the videos I took of her more popular and iconic songs, pardon the annoyances dancing and blocking the view of the stage and the crappy quality camera on my phone.

Lily: (loses James in a crowd)

Lily: I'm in love with Severus Snape!

James: LIKE HELL YOU ARE!

Lily: Found him.

So it’s not just me?

source

Um, can we get this in a two-player Legend of Zelda, please?  This is gold, and I need this in my life.  Imagine going through a rough patch with your significant other or best friend.  Take turns being Zelda and find all the ways to screw over Link to work through the frustration.  I would 100% buy this if someone can make this happen.

Concept: a Legend of Zelda game where the “dungeons” are part of an ancient Hyrule-wide defence grid that’s been corrupted by Ganon’s magic. While Link goes about doing his thing, Zelda is holed up in a fortified shelter under Hyrule Castle that serves as the network’s command centre, and is able to remotely manipulate each dungeon’s layout, as well as the surrounding geography once full control of the dungeon in question has been reestablished.

Gameplay would involve flipping back and forth between Link doing his usual thing, and Zelda god-moding the terrain to solve higher-level puzzles, with ample opportunity to accidentally squish Link or drop him into bottomless pits or whatever if you screw up. Or, you know, just for fun. It’s okay – he gets better!

Additionally, early on Link would pick up a cute little drone that Zelda can teleoperate when a more direct hand is needed. It’s not combat capable, and to start with it can only flip switches, fit into small spaces that Link can’t, and be thrown by Link to deploy it into unreachable areas, but there’d be a series of upgrades over the course of the game that let it plant bombs and teleport and such. There’d be puzzles that would specifically require repeatedly switching between Link and Zelda (teleoperating the drone) to open paths for each other, Lost Vikings style.

(I would like to claim that this concept is meant to explore ways to give Zelda a more active role without just turning her into an ersatz Link, but in all candour it’s mostly aimed at manufacturing an excuse to have Zelda at some point say <hackervoice>”I’m in.”</hackervoice>)

Story update

Fire and Fury has just had chapter seven added to it, refer to my earlier post to find it, or just google it with my username crazypandagirl.

Also, the poll I had on the profile has ended with a majority vote for a prequel crossover for this story. It should be up soon, since it just needs to be looked over one more time.