Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Groundhog Deja Vu

 

Dear you,

It’s Groundhog Day.  Again.  In addition to whether Phil sees his shadow or not and returns to his burrow, signaling more weeks of hard winter (which he did), the day now “celebrates” a situation where tedious events recur in the same way.  And here we are facing a longer winter (again) and tedious events (again).  This experiential déjà vu is personal and public, my daily regimen is as repetitive as current/recurrent events.  In tandem, it rolls like this:

Wake and freshen the kitty’s water, serve her canned food of choice, and clean her litter box.  [Breaking not-news: we are sending troops to Eastern Europe (or somewhere).]

Pour a cup of coffee and smoke a cigarette while staring at the morning sky.  [Breaking not-news:  Conservatives across the country are actively banning books from schools and libraries claiming they create discomfort.]

Pour a second cup of coffee and smoke another cigarette while staring at Mika and Joe on Morning Joe. [Breaking not-news:  Defeated ex-POTUS Trump said something stupid. And scary.]

Groom the kitty and hand-feed her what remains in her canned food bowl. [Breaking not-news:  Tourist numbers for Panama City Beach and 30A communities are expected to be massive for 2022.  Out-of-state owner-investors are jamming more bunk beds into these little condos and salivating over the riches (and pollution and trash) rolling in.]

Make the bed, fluff pillows, tidy up and hit the floor for push-ups, crunches, and yoga stretches.  [Breaking news:  January 6 committee member states Trump is “tampering with witnesses”; yes, politicians are often beyond corrupt.]

Pound down water and orange juice and finish workout with weights for shoulders, back, chest and arms. [Breaking news:  Overstuffed dryer causes house fire in Bay County.  (The dryer thing doesn’t necessarily repeat itself as the star of local stupidity incidents, but just fill in the blank with another appliance; electric ear-hair trimmer, toaster, curling iron, George Forman grill, etc.  Just saying that accidents caused by stupid recur here on the daily.)]

Eat a tasty, nutritious brunch, wash dishes, and execute dental hygiene routine.  [Breaking news: Governor DeSantis said something stupid.  And scary.]

Bathe and dress for tasking and out-and-abouting. [Breaking news:  There is yet another Covid variant, “stealth Omicron”.]

Before online work, check realtor.com for any fabulous new townhomes or houses that don’t cost a million or more.  [Breaking news:  The housing crisis goes on and everything is getting pricey.  (A refill for kitty’s lint roller jumped from around $2.50 to $3.69.  She needs to stop shedding.)]

Work and take occasional smoke and juice breaks.  [Breaking news:  Nazis rally in Florida.]

Wrap it up for the day and go for a power walk with radio-headphones on blast. [Breaking news:  Local radio stations (other than the NPR affiliate) don’t deliver any news.  Except for traffic and dryer fire updates.]

Return to the condo for sunset, more kitty feeding, and cocktails, for me, not her. [Breaking news:  Recent studies show more people are turning to alcohol to cope with “unprecedented uncertainty and stress”.]

Watch something mindless on BRAVO channel, get annoyed by mindlessness, hit the off button on the remote and open a good book, fall asleep drooling on that good book.  [Breaking news:  A survey revealed one in three adults hit the snooze button three times in the morning. People prefer not being awake.]

There it is.  Repeat. Rewind. Recur. Over and over, we go to war, silence provocative truth tellers, elect idiots to office, swarm to tourist zones like locusts, react with shock when a virus mutates, do stupid things with appliances, decide we cannot live without lint rollers, self-medicate, and avoid waking up and facing yet another Groundhog Day.

To close, something from the 90s movie Groundhog Day:

Phil:  What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same and nothing that you did mattered?

Ralph replies:  That about sums it up for me.

That about sums it up for me too. 

Love, Joyce

No comments:

Post a Comment