it's the style... and paint thinner

Ordinarily when I sit down to write something for the blog, I have a story.
Something my nutty kids have done at work, something they did that made me laugh or made me think or caused a bunch of excitement in our afternoon.

So there's a beginning, a whole bunch of stuff in the middle, and then an ending.

But for whatever reason... I'm tired, I'm too busy, I'm sort of feeling overwhelmed... I don't know, I haven't had the little critter who sits on my shoulder and whispers into my ear. Some call it a muse, but I'm pretty sure mine is a baby dragon. Small little thing, kind of brown but mossy green under that. It has a short attention span lately and quite often isn't even perched on my shoulder at all.

I don't even know where he is this evening, in fact. I looked around and didn't see him.

So my usual style (if you wanna call it that) just isn't happening.

What I have lately instead are little pieces of thoughts.
Not necessarily coherent ones, either.

For example...
The Coronavirus.

In response to the utterly batshit crazy public response of buying toilet paper... ALL the toilet paper, forever and ever amen, I  posted this week on FB that it's a respiratory infection, not an ass plague.

I do understand wanting to be prepared for disaster, and have made some plans along those lines myself. But a six year supply of TP isn't going to keep me safe.

And as long as I still have some t shirts from my former employer, I will be able to wipe. Can't think of a better use for them, really.

I have done a little reading. Some of it even makes sense. I have no medical training unless you count knowing how to administer an ice pack or a bandage. Oh, and CPR/1st aid. Which are important but don't tell me anything about this crazy virus.

So one of my friends posted this link on Facebook. It explains very well why most of us don't have to fear the virus itself but how hospitalization and other stuff is happening, the exponential increase in infection, etc. It's a little bit of a long read, but worth clicking on, I think. I won't attempt to condense, you're better off reading it yourself.

I have changed my original opinion about staying in as much as possible because of this article. Not for my benefit,  but for the benefit of people who could die because I decided it's not such a big deal.

I've always been serious about washing my hands, but after the bout with Norovirus seven years ago, it became a religion. Several times every afternoon I'm at the sink scrubbing my hands. We have faucets that turn on without being touched. As long as your hands are in front of the little window, the water runs. It's even warm.

The school district, in their zeal to keep schools open and keep us all safe, has changed the soap in the dispensers. They didn't use up the soap that was in them, just discarded it. And replaced it with foaming paint thinner. Oh my GOD.

It's 9 PM as I write this, and I've washed my hands three times since I got home from work at 6:30. I can still smell the paint thinner and my hands are like alligator skin.

Gonna have to take my own soap with me, this isn't going to work.

So I'm taking my stunned and wrinkled hands to bed. And I'm giving up trying to write stories for you for now. You're going to have to deal with bits and pieces.

At least until the dragon comes back.