Wednesday (Not As) Motivational (As I’d Like)

It’s becoming more and more difficult.  Medically speaking, this virus isn’t the worst thing to ever affect the planet.  Or the human race for that matter.  Granted, it’s been mismanaged from the top down.  Which made it worse than it had to be.  And to cover their asses, the top has decided to blame everyone else.

We can’t do anything about that right now.  Maybe in November.

More than the actual viral threat however, which is bad enough, the social distancing has changed all of our lives.  And for now it is a necessity I suppose.  It’s the only defense we have right now.  So as I’ve said multiple times before recently…  Please stay home and please stay safe.

But it’s also a pain in teh ass.  I get that.  And given the uproar now in full prime it might be a long while until things get back to “normal”.  Whatever passes for normal.

(please don’t say “flatten the curve”)

Yesterday I had to go to the CPA’s office to pick up documents for both IRS and state taxes, then go and get them mailed.  Everyone in the CPA’s office (both two people lol) were wearing masks.  At the post office they’ve now installed gigantic plexiglass shields.  Don’t cough on me muthafucka.

On the way home I stopped at the grocery store to grab a couple of items.  Heck, if I’m out I might as well do what I gotta do, right?  Everyone…  and I mean literally almost everyone… was wearing a mask.

We’re in weird times folks.  Protecting yourselves and those whom you care about is the utmost important, of course.  That’s why I cancelled my trip to Florida for spring training even before The Grapefruit League cancelled all the games anyway.

But we still have to remember that in spite of what’s going on right now, humans are social animals.  Even if we occasionally, in times like these, need to distance by necessity?  Even if I personally dislike most other humans and their actions?  Well the complete lack of interaction is not healthy either.

For now we have what we have.  But don’t let it jade you in the long term.

That’s what I’m trying to remember.  And as I said at the outset of this piece, that’s a difficult thing right now.

But together we’ll get there.  Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Be well my friends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTyKJjj2oC0

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theeWeeBabySeamus
An unapologetic, even if often manic-depressive (it's a requirement given his choices of sports teams), fan of NC State University, the Baltimore Ravens and the Baltimore Orioles. When not parked in front of the computer and/or TV, can often be found on the golf course shouting obscenities to no one in particular.
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yeah right

This stupid virus took this man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8tTwXv4glY

yeah right

Remember, those of you too young to remember, WW2 produced Ernest Hemingway, Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller.

I expect top notch writing and nothing less.

Show Your Work!

What the hell are you waiting for?

yeah right

One of the many things that are disturbing right now is the fact that I have to constantly consume it.

BY CHOICE!

I try to read other shit but it just feels so fucking inconsequential.

One of the best pieces I read lately was on resilience.

I am personally gonna beat this motherfucker!

There are not other options!

Ya heard?

yeah right

yeah. I like that.

Unsurprised

I’m going to just quote an email I just sent to the bar wellness committee executive board I’m on with some redactions to protect the guilty (me).

I’m writing a survey to send out to [some attorneys] and to pass on to the other [attorneys] because no has actually checked in on how people are doing to my knowledge, and someone has to. Not only for now, but for when this is over in the next six to eighteen months (at the height of the coming economic depression we’re only beginning to experience now. So we have that going for us.).

In case you don’t know or forgot, I work in [REDACTED]. I had to take a day off, which is not the ideal thing to do, but I’ve been acting like an even bigger asshole than usual especially on Monday because the stress got to me and I am in that minority group of people with depression whose symptoms manifest most powerfully through anger (the only cohort that widely shares this symptom is minority adolescents, because of course it does. That’s a whole other issue that, at the least, I think lawyers should learn about at some point). Luckily it mostly just makes me stress eat and yell at people online, but that’s coping and not healing. Healing is realizing what I was doing and why and how to manage these concerns and thoughts and stressors without being that way.

Which leads me to this aside [where I responded to] some tweets about how some of what people are finding themselves doing during this are coping mechanism. In response, I said “This is the worst possible advice.”

Coping, as I understand it, is the opposite of healing. It’s why “Cope” is a pejorative troll response to people online. It’s an antisocial reaction to trauma by people who are overcome by both the trauma and their perceived powerless to heal or react to trauma and stress in healthy ways. And lawyers are the last people on Earth who get to use the excuse of “powerless” when dealing with trauma, except that we not only have but created this bullshit lie that we cannot rely on each other to process and handle and heal from trauma and stress because we are neoliberal atomized individuals, which are in themselves collections of commodities – interests, traits, attention – completely separate from everyone else around us. So, in fact, we are the ones making it worse and normalizing antisocial and unhealthy and dangerous reactions to stress and trauma. And we need to cut that out RIGHT NOW. In the immediate time, we can turn to our peers in the law, in our social spaces, in our homes, and be openly vulnerable and compassionate to others experiencing trauma and stress and acting out in these unhealthy ways. In the long run we need to completely rewrite the rules of how we see ourselves and each other and how we interact with ourselves and each other.

Also, some things aren’t really coping. Sometimes people are just tired or bored or not experiencing trauma but maybe have just realized what is actually important and matters to them more than, say, billing every six minutes of their lives.

I became a peer support specialist because I don’t like hierarchies and how we run things as professionals, but I’m not stupid enough to think that we can just implement a new model. As participants in institutions like the bar and leaders in our legal community and with access to other leaders and employers, I think it’s incumbent upon us to have them reach out and let our colleagues know it’s okay to talk to each other or [the attorney assistance program] or whomever so that they don’t engage in harmful and antisocial coping mechanisms, especially when our profession’s most popular coping mechanism is and has long been isolation and substance use – which are easier to do now and the latter is already increasing (along with domestic violence, including sexual abuse) among the regular population. So it is virtually assured that substance use among ourselves is also increasing as a percentage of the bar and in the amount of substances used. And, of course, this has to be really reinforced among law students and their administrators, professors, student leaders, everyone needs to reach out ASAP as finals are upon us if not already over. (BTW, I’m generally averse to ascribing words more power than meaning, but we have to call outreach to law students anything BUT “bar crawls” for obvious reasons.).

Game Time Decision

Wow. I do hope you take your own advice and that you are able to implement at least some of this. And good on you for understanding what was going on with you and taking the time for yourself.

And while I’m just another one of the random names here, I’d be more than willing to chat about all this.

Unsurprised

There’s a first time for everything.

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

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Unsurprised

Artsy? Check

Fartsy? Check

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

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Game Time Decision

Sharknato IV: Sharks in Space

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

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Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

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Brick Meathook

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Brick Meathook

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Brick Meathook

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Brick Meathook

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Brick Meathook

There’s a coat rack in the test chamber
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scotchnaut

“We shall come over, uninvited.”

-Mahalia Jackson’s annoying relatives

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

“Hide the liquor!”

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

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Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

Speaking of motivational; I hope everybody is keeping up with their proper fiber (fibre) intake throughout this isolation period.

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Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

I know that image! It’s from Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey!

Gratliff

So WWE just did a mass firing of a huge chunk of talent, production staff, crew, etc., not because they were in financial danger, but because that’s how they expect to hit pre-pandemic profit goals. WWE will be at its very heart sewage as long as basically any member of that family has control of any part of the company.

Sharkbait

But it’s ESSENTIAL sewage!

LemonJello

Did it go something like this:
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Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

Wear a fucking mask in public. It’s not that hard.

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LemonJello

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Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

*When deciding on your actual fucking mask, that part is up to you.

Viva La Tabula Raza

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rockingdog

LOL
just got off a good conference call…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS3ztk8AMIA

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh
Moose -The End Is Well Nigh
Moose -The End Is Well Nigh
yeah right

Driving home last night I saw a group of four young ladies sitting in their yard, a good 6 feet apart from each other with some music going and each of them had a cocktail.

A possible option.

Don T

I miss a lot of folks. But really hate video calls. And the Zoom ones I already did not abate the hate. It’s hard to establish a flow when folks are talking over each other. So I mostly listened—why do I need to be on video for freekin’ soliloquies?
Text, talk, or wait for the lockdown to end.
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ballsofsteelandfury

I find the mute button is essential.

No joke, I was on a conference call a couple of weeks ago and someone had porn in the background. Everyone heard it and it’s been figured out who did it. Our director was not pleased…

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

Ha! We were on one and one of the guys working for our client had a job search on in the background.

He may have not been pleased, but he googled it after.

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

I’ve been working on an international project for several years, so par for the course for me. For the office internal meetings others are having trouble adapting to it.

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Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

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Listening to the ED ads; you go into their office and get “the treatment”….. it works (as guaranteed or money back), you have a raging boner in the private room….. we never get what happens next. Do you take your raging boner home? If so, you have a small car; steering will be irritating. Or, the Lyft ride might be somewhat awkward. OR Can you just wack it there? I’d personally need a laptop and a good WiFi. The sign out sheet might be moist. Door handles.

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

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SonOfSpam

boner tepee is subtle

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

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Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

and absorbent material.

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

#catchbasin

SonOfSpam

If they don’t bring in a receptionist to take care of you then why even have insurance

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

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Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

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Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

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rockingdog

Found a funny:

[judging dog show]
DOG: [barks]
ME: [ticks clipboard] This one’s working fine
AUDIENCE MEMBER: You have misunderstood what’s required of you

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

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GOOD DOG!!

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

Without having seen this I can recognize it as having come from Salem’s Lot, which is one of my favorite Stephen King books. I am floored by how terrible of a job they did filming the heads hitting each other here.

SonOfSpam

Jackbooted thugs.

Game Time Decision

but if i don’t have pants on, it enforces the physical distancing.

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

As the article said; many will take this as a challenge.

I advocate wearing a way too short kimono and dropping pieces of mail and bending over straight-legged to pick it up with your butt pointed toward the neighbors’ windows. This really works well when you are a tall unattractive male.

Game Time Decision

This really works well when you are a tall unattractive male

So most of us

SonOfSpam

ONE OF US ONE OF US

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

Well, I was speaking from experience. I would assume it would work for short ones too, my intent was to indicate if tall that the kimono rides up much more.

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

Side note; my neighbors don’t seem to have a problem distancing from me.

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

*since I moved in eleven years ago.

Viva La Tabula Raza

I’m not that tall.

Sharkbait

Pretty sure people are the worst things to affect the planet.