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Limited Perceptions
Another Saturday afternoon flare-up and I’m about done with it. Somebody is suffering from a severe case of tunnel vision and the rest of us have had rather enough.
Bat Soup Fever
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former. ~Albert Einstein
So, we’re in the N-zillionth week of COVID19 sequestration and we’ve all had rather enough.
Fortunately, the grossly overreaching governor of my lovely commonwealth has responded to the federal move toward potentially re-opening society.
Pennsylvania has been divided into sectors. The Northwest and Northcentral sectors will open up first as they are the least populated and have the lowest incidence of infection and hospitalization. Unfortunately, we don’t fit into the Northcentral sector. Somehow, we’ve been lumped in with the very populous Southeast sector where the urban population clusters of the Greater Philadelphia area as well as Lancaster and Berks counties reside.
The problem with this is that Schuylkill is the least populated of this cluster of counties. We’re also NORTH of Lehigh County, which is bunched into the Northeast Sector with the Poconos and large urban areas such as Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. Honestly, from my house, if I walk directly South I will come to an enormous ridge. The top of this ridge is a section of the Appalachian Trail. Directly on the other side of this ridge, you find Lehigh County.
So, how in the hell are we Southeast and Lehigh is Northeast? Bureaucrats never cease to find ways to jack things up…
Along with the cognitive dissonance of this idiocy goes all the self-appointed experts out there.
It started in a bioweapons lab here. It started in a bad batch of bat soup there. We’ve even got the bloviating jackass from New York saying it actually started in Europe now.
Who the hell cares?
Just fix it. Let the actual experts work on coming up with some sort of cure or at least some practical protection that doesn’t require destroying the world economy and depriving people of their God-given rights to simply go from here to there.
Stealers Wheel – Stuck in middle with you – Lyrics
This sort of uncertainty can take its toll on people with issues. Unfortunately, the fact that people have issues has a number of unintended consequences.
People who are unwilling to acknowledge that they have issues are typically averse to the idea that issues can be managed some kind of way. Therapy, medicine or even a bucket of cold water over the head are viewed as attacks rather than attempts to alleviate the issues at hand.
The thing is, when you’re resistant to the notion that your issues can actually be treated you start to use it as a crutch and an excuse for all sorts of intolerable behavior. The more you act out and the less you’re willing to accept help of any kind, the closer you get to the isolation that you fear.
Advocates will only go so far on your behalf if you are unwilling to accept the help you desperately need. There are some lines that cannot be returned from once they have been crossed. Unfortunately, one of those lines has, in fact, been crossed and it’s rather a shame.
We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us. ~Virginia Satir
Classical Inspiration
Mozart – Symphony No. 41 in C
K. 551 [complete] (Jupiter)
This is the piece that David Harz chose to set his weary mind back into balance. After an upsetting day, the inspiring symphony by Mozart helped him find his equilibrium before settling in for a much-needed night of restful sleep.
For my own concentration, I’ve been resorting to a variety of multi-hour jazz compositions that are available on YouTube.
If you’re not into long stretches of mellow instrumental music, there are tons of how-to videos and countless vloggers who opine and provide tips on everything from video gaming, cosmetics, fashion and celebrity watching to cooking, cleaning and exercise. You can find just about anything you might be interested in on YouTube.
That reminds me, I need to start making videos again. I’ve been pretty busy writing and I haven’t had any decent ideas for video creation lately. We’ll see what I can come up with (hopefully) for Wednesday.
What’s In A Day?
As it turns out, about eleven chapters!
The events of August 8th, 2005 in my story are rather pivotal to a number of the viewpoint characters. Most of the days prior only got a few chapters each but the eighth is a very important day in the story.
I mentioned David Harz in the section above. You might be wondering, who is David Harz?
He’s a character in the novel. If I was more diligent with the wiki, I’d have a link to his profile. That’s coming.
In any case, David was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He’s one of many in his family who benefit from the largesse of previous generations. David is one of the few who has done something worthwhile with his family position and wealth. He’s an intelligent, creative and generally well-meaning young man. He’s only 22 and he’s already the Superintendent of a collection of specialized charter schools in Empire City.
This gives him a sense of responsibility and of doing something to earn his share of the Harz family wealth. He also has some side projects that have the potential to add to his personal worth as well as benefitting the family at large.
Unfortunately, on August 8th of 2005, he discovers the actual source and effective cost of his family’s wealth. He’s a decent fellow at heart, but what he has been drawn into will tug at his conscience, his sense of duty to the family and even his very soul before all is said and done.
That is my idea of drama. Hopefully, it will be as enjoyable to read as it is to write.
Not sure how we got lumped into the Southeast Region, but it looks like we’ll be open eventually. That’s something to look forward to.