I slept the day away. At least I practiced last night. I was going to list some things but then got involved watching an "American Masters" PBS thing about Ernest Hemingway and then tried watching a movie that had been done about his WWI experiences but it was only in Italian so it was hard to follow it much.
Lying in bed thinking, I thought about the vaccinations. As with everything else, being able to obtain one is tightly linked to one's wealth. People seem to think once they're vaccinated they can go back to living like it's 2019. But even if vaccinated, people can get the virus and pass it on. I think the idea is to have those of means all vaccinated, and the virus a weapon against "the poors" pretty much how other diseases are. Except, perhaps, for those "poors" who are useful to the rich.
As an example, growing up poor, I never was vaccinated against chickenpox. I got it when I was in my 30s and got very sick. But at the time, while not wealthy at all, I was arguably useful to the rich because I was an Olympic hopeful. So I was able to go to the doctor and get Acyclovir, which may have helped. The lady I rented a room from cooked up chicken soup and for a while there a full day was making it up the stairs, having a bowl of soup, and going back to bed. As I got better, I entertained myself by reading her pre-WWII medical textbooks. Grim stuff - a lot of involved various concoctions that were easy to swallow and in which whiskey figured largely, and keeping the patient comfortable while they died, or didn't.
I've learned on Reddit that there's a come-one-come-all vaccination on Tuesdays at Diridon Station so I missed it today, but I can show up early next Tuesday and that's a chance. And I can try bugging them at Berger Auditorium near the end of their day and maybe get a leftover shot. Setting an appointment online is impossible and I think the authorities realize this; it's just a tool to prioritize the wealthy getting vaccinations. A wealthy person can simply pay a bribe or set one of their hired help to sit on a computer all day, finding an appointment.
If Trump had gotten a 2nd term I think they'd be very mask-off about poors not getting vaccinated. But now we've got a guy who's fairly normal, and a good Catholic, in charge and a lot of us remember vaccination programs when we were growing up and the idea being to vaccinate all, rich and poor, all colors, all creeds.
Of course if Trump were still in control all those old memories and ideals of equal access would be called Anti-Trump Thought(tm) or something and probably land one in a camp. Trumpism/Nazism is an ideology that had regular old Germans, florists and shopkeepers and trolley drivers, clicking their heels and making that silly salute, all with a straight face so once the madness reaches a certain level, rationality is swept aside. But we've managed to dodge that, for now.
I'd mind it a bit less if the virus were affecting lower-class whites, a group we need less of, more. But it's affecting non-whites, people we need more of, more. The Sackler family were doing great work toward improving this country until they got called out on it. Maybe we need a domestic poppy-growing movement because in the US we've certainly got good land for growing poppies, and lower-class whites love their opiates. Maybe some Chinese company will buy high-altitude arid-ish land some places in Flyover, USA and start it up.
Back when I worked shoulder to shoulder with Vietnamese and Cambodian guys in the 80s, one of the guys said they didn't understand why young people in the USA smoked pot. It's for old people, he said, who are done working and are in the stage of their life where they relax, and have "pains". It seemed weird to him that young people were acting childish, taking old people's medicine.
On Reddit they're talking about preparing for the fire season. I guess I need to start thinking about that, get one of those filter sets that people who build surfboards wear, and rig up one of those home-made air filters out of a fan and some filters. Last year I just breathed that red air but I'm not sure that's very good for me.
Ran Prieur notes that Gallup notes that less then 50% of Americans are tied to a church these days. I guess I'm bucking the trend as I'm sending in my $30 each month to the temple, and really like the people there. I really like Rinban Sakamoto and I feel there are many, many layers to the guy. It's enough that he grew up in Mo'ili'ili and we share a culture in common, but I wonder what brings a guy to put in the years of dedication, traveling all over the US and serving in various capacities, to become Rinban of this particular temple? But all of the people are a really nice bunch, and the food and the get-togethers were so great. It will be nice to get together again a year or two from now, and time to start arranging some kind of social links to make my moving back to Hawaii easier. I'm fully prepared to be street homeless back home but it's probably better if I can avoid that.
Someone at the temple fucked up and put all the members' email addresses in a CC and you know I jumped on that. I printed them all out so now I can email anyone if I want. Even good old Ben Yep but what is there to talk about until this virus is over with? He can play some uke and I can sing, and am coming along on shakuhachi, if nothing else the best breath-trainer ever. While the virus is raging, now's not the time to introduce him to the genius Hawaii comedians I grew up with.
Maybe I should come up with a comedy routine that involves kulolo from Palolo valley that goes well with Malolo.... you gotta be lolo to not like 'um.
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