Stop By Anytime

How stupid is that? As stupidity goes, it’s positively rarefied.

Why would the government and science approve of people mixing COVID vaccines and then turn around and say recipients of mixed vaccines are subject to travel restrictions?

 

Typical.

 

The worst part is no one answers for all the COVID related inconsistency and stupidity. No one is accountable; makes me want to spit fire. The government can make up rules, change rules, warn you, then change those warnings, recommend actions, change recommendations and coerce citizens with propaganda.

 

I am not comfortable with forcing people to have things injected into their bodies. I also feel like mandatory vaccines would set a dangerous precedent, allowing government to decree who knows what in the future.

 

I do wonder how many of the people who are against vaccines would be willing to swallow a COVID pill?

Now, doctors and politicians are saying they always told people the vaccines would wear off, immunity would wane. Strange, I honestly don’t recall hearing too much about that as the masses lined up for their shots. 

I would have rathered not have to take vaccines, but that wasn’t really a reasonable choice. I guess many of the vaccinated would say the same thing.

 

The passports seem to be a bit of a joke. At two different fast food restaurants, they simply asked if I had been vaccinated without even a perfunctory glance at my QR code. At a different branch of one of the first two fast food restaurants, they actually scanned my passport to make sure I had been vaccinated. To sit in the food court at Montreal Trust, my QR code was also scanned. 

 

At a Laval restaurant/bar where I just met with colleagues for a holiday gathering, they simply looked at the QR code on my phone without scanning it. 

 

Seriously? What’s the point?

 

You don’t really need a passport to eat out, although fake QR codes are out there and being used by some individuals who've had no vaccine.

 

With omicron making the rounds, a third shot seems likely, not just for the immunocompromised and elderly.

 

People seem happy to get rid of 2021. My extreme good fortune is not lost on me.  I have been able to work from home, my favorite place, where I was able to spend more time with my favorite people, and my favorite dogs. I bear 2021 no malice.

 

I did not miss going to concerts, movies, parties, conferences, or sporting events.

 

So, 2021, feel free to stop by anytime.

Synchro Tennis is a Real Slice

No doubt about it, I was as skeptical as any sports fan could possibly be when I first heard synchro tennis would be introduced at the Olympics.

I wondered, quite vocally, what is the point of synchro tennis? You play tennis. You are an accomplished player. Now, why would you want to synchronize your playing with a teammate? What does it prove? What do you gain? What do sports fans gain?

It seemed arbitrary and utterly pointless to me and something that should be reserved for any eventual Synchronicity Games.

However, after watching the athletes perform, I am entirely convinced the sport is worthy of my attention.

The players, in teams of two, call out their strokes and with lightning quickness, execute incredible and precisely timed shots as mirror images of each other. In doubles tennis, players can move anywhere on the court and are not required to mirror each other’s strokes.

In synchro tennis, the two players on each side of the net can only move within their side of the half court. Teams consist of one right-handed player and one left-handed player. Their opponents, on the other side of the net, one right-handed and one left-handed, must respond together with speed, agility and grace to the identical shots coming their way.

The synchronicity of the players is rather astonishing. I am certain I could never think as quickly as these synchro tennis players, not to mention move as quickly.

The down-the-line, backhand slice executed by the British team to win the inaugural gold medal was absolutely brilliant. As the two balls were struck by their Spanish counterparts, the British captain called the return shot. In a matter of a millisecond, the two British players simultaneously positioned themselves with perfect footwork, and gracefully sliced their respective balls back down the line.

If you did not see the game live, I hope you get to see the highlights.

I can hardly wait until beach cricket is introduced at the next Olympic games and, if it’s anything like synchro tennis, it’s sure to be a smashing success.

 

Click Went My Switch

Listen to pharmaceutical ads on television; most of the disclaimers are downright scary.

Yet, a whole slew of pharmaceutical companies popped out of the woodwork with leading edge, perfectly safe, somewhat tested, COVID vaccines they all developed seemingly overnight. Evidently, these vaccines all came with no scary disclaimers, or side-effects.

 

“Perfectly safe”, droned the politicians and physicians, in unison.

 

Seems unlikely to me.

 

Oh, wait, there is that one COVID vaccine that can cause blood clots and has cost far too many people their lives. Why was that risk not mentioned in a disclaimer? There are those other COVID vaccines that contain nanoparticles of polyethylene glycol which have triggered anaphylaxis in an unfortunate few who happen to be allergic. Why was that risk not mentioned in a disclaimer?

 

Don’t the scientists and politicians have a responsibility to be transparent, or do pandemics permit dispensing with transparency?

 

Instead, the government and medical community insisted, very paternalistically, all the vaccines are perfectly safe and “the right vaccine for you is the one that you’re offered.”

 

I don’t think so. I will choose the vaccine I get and if I can’t choose the vaccine I get, I won’t get one. Period.

 

How dare they tell me what I have to have injected into my body? How dare they tell anyone they must accept the risk, however statistically unlikely, of clotting, or death?

 

I found that arrogance infuriating. Click went my switch. I decided I will not get any vaccine; at least, I would wait until I was convinced it was right for me.

 

How is it possible that no one has been held accountable for the tragic deaths of the women in Canada, the UK, Australia and elsewhere? Shouldn’t Astrazeneca, or the politicians who so cavalierly endorsed its safety, be held accountable? Shouldn’t someone be held accountable for the clotting issues people have endured?

 

There were hundreds of millions of dollars up for grabs. Every pharmaceutical company in the world was salivating, eager for their piece of the pie. In spite of compressed testing times and incomplete results, many managed to get a share of the millions of dollars being spent by governments. Of course, after spending millions of dollars to pay for these vaccines, governments felt the need to push as aggressively as possible to get the shots into arms.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if there was some deal whereby the government purchased vaccines from pharmaceutical companies that agreed to chip in for the cost of propaganda campaigns.

 

Social distancing, masking and hand washing might have been able to get it done, but there was no enforcement and most people are too idiotic to comply. They can’t even wear their masks properly or follow the arrows in grocery store aisles! Some gym, restaurant, and other business owners went above and beyond, but most did not.

 

Aggressive propaganda campaigns have been bombarding us with didactic ads, preaching about social responsibility as the politicians very likely keep their fingers crossed in hopes snowballing peer pressure would help get it done.

 

As people marched obediently off to vaccination clinics, the moronic announcements just kept coming. In most instances, they contradicted what we were first led to believe. The announcements seemed arbitrary and haphazard.

Now, suddenly, the vaccines that needed constant super freezing can be stored at regular refrigeration temperatures for one month.

Now, suddenly, you can mix vaccines from different pharmaceutical companies.

Now, suddenly, the recommended interval between shots has been extended.

Now, suddenly, the recommended interval between shots has been shortened.

Now, suddenly, it’s perfectly fine to extend the expiration dates on vaccines.

 

As she outlined the newly shortened interval time between first and second COVID shots, the woman registering me for my first shot on Saturday summed it up nicely, “C’est du n’importe quoi.” It’s whatever.

 

Since hand washing, social distancing and masking seem to have gone out the window, jabs may well be the only way out of this now. Certainly not my first choice.

 

At the height of the pandemic, I watched a CNN documentary on the COVID vaccines. It offered a glimpse into what different pharmaceutical companies had done to develop their vaccines. 

 

On Friday, two things happened that made feel like I would eventually have no choice but to succumb to the intense propaganda pressure and take the jab. I won’t elaborate on what these two things were, or who was involved. Everyone is being brainwashed into thinking they have a moral obligation to save society by getting the jab. Many believe that anyone who does not comply is failing in their social duty to save society.

 

Travel, work, friendships and much more, seem to be at stake.

 

I caved-in to the pressure and conformed, indirectly and reluctantly falling victim to the propaganda machine created by the politicians. I don’t trust what they say or do. In order to make sure the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on vaccines are not wasted, they invested in bandwagon propaganda.

 

If they had been forthcoming about the risks of vaccines, or endorsed the right of people to choose between vaccines, maybe I would feel differently. Instead, true to their oily nature, politicians were frothing at the mouth, and still are, eager to conjure up the perception that everything returned to normal on their watch, making them worthy of retaining power.

 

Truth be told, I don’t entirely trust pharmaceutical companies. Some may argue their motivations are pure, but when so much money is at stake, purity almost certainly becomes tainted to some degree.

 

Messenger RNA vaccines supposedly teach our cells how to make a protein, or part of a protein, in order to initiate an immune response inside our bodies. Admittedly, incredible technology. I sincerely hope there are no side effects related to cell manipulation that emerge down the road and, ideally, the vaccines vanquish the variants.

 

As far as the politicians are concerned, they can stick it.

Examine Examiners

Someone at the SAAQ is raking in the dough. I mean they are pulling in seriously big bucks.

There is no other possible explanation.

I wish there were another explanation, but no other is humanly possible.

 

I have absolutely no other choice but to conclude examiners at the Quebec automobile insurance board are taking money under the table. There’s no other way to explain the incredible number of blatantly moronic drivers currently on the road.

 

Obviously, examiners can recognize the stupid people from the dunce caps they sport.

 

These are drivers who couldn’t possibly pass a driver’s test without a juicy payoff to the examiner.

 

I don’t know whether it’s one SAAQ examiner in particular who is granting idiots their driving permits, or the whole team of examiners.

 

The stupidity is rampant.

 

Driving around the neighborhood, when there is a car behind me, it is, inevitably, tailgating.

 

When there is a car in front of me, it’s crawling along far below the posted speed limit.

 

It never fails. It’s as if this truth has become a newly implemented law of nature and I was not notified because the people who manage the Laws of Nature knew how infuriated I would be.

 

The force of gravity accelerates at 9.8m/sec2 and drivers behind me tailgate obnoxiously, while drivers in front of me crawl.

 

The lane hogs continue to litter highways, refusing to move from the passing lane to let others get by. The jerks who are unable to flick a blinker wand are everywhere and the cops are nowhere, as louts roll through stop signs, crosswalks and red lights.

 

I fear my sanity is at stake.

I go pick up a pizza. All the way to the pizza place, the driver in front of me crawls, while the imbecile behind me, tailgates. All the way back from the pizza place, the vehicle behind me tailgates while the driver in front crawls, 20 km/hr under the posted speed limit. 

 

Is it deliberate? Are they oblivious? Is it a combination of both?

Why am I obliged to drive at the same irritatingly slow speed as some clueless nitwit? 

I have no choice. I am forced to take action and I am no longer responsible for the action I take.

 

It is the examiners, clinking their stemware drinking glasses and flaunting their ill-gained fortunes on a yacht in the Mediterranean, who are responsible.

 

Stop the payoffs, you simply must let the idiots walk instead of authorizing them to sit behind a wheel!

 

I tell you, it’s time to examine the examiners.

 

The Dog Ate our Fob

When she was a puppy, our newest family member, Sniffy, used one of the key fobs from our car to strengthen her teeth. We found it in several pieces.

We spent the last year with one key fob, biting our nails each time it was dropped, misplaced, or left inside the car. It survived and last week, we finally had time to take the car to a dealership where a new key fob was purchased and programmed.

We sighed with relief when they put the second key fob in our hands. 

Then, we gasped in dismay when they put the $500 bill in our hands.

 

Of course, after spending this nerve-wracking pandemic year with one car key, we were willing to pay the bill.

 

Our first Australian labradoodle, Bear, ate a bunch of stuff before he finally came to his senses. You can read about the “Bear ingestion chronicles” in these blogs, “Spotless Insanity” (May 21, 2015) and “Celebrating the Bear Facts” (October 21, 2015).

 

As she sits in the backyard in -22 degree cold, amusing herself by tossing a frozen poop nugget up in the air, Sniffy’s senses would seem far too distant to hope she will be coming to them anytime soon.

 

We, on the other hand, have come to our senses by making sure the car keys are kept up high, on hooks.

Put COVID Cops on the Case

A curfew? Seriously? That’s the best you can do? 

 

That’s the key step you’ve decided will move us forward? Are you so dense as decision-makers?

 

The problem is the widespread louts who could care less about protocols. You think keeping them in their homes at night will fix the problem? Fat chance. You’d have to keep protocol flaunters in their homes night and day to fix the problem. 

 

They’re not hard to find. Stand at the arrivals gate for the next few weeks as flights from vacation destinations return.

 

It’s not the shopkeepers and restaurant owners who should suffer because our inept governments can’t keep people safe. Admittedly, there were shopkeepers and restaurant owners who were not enforcing protocols, but then, really, that should not be their job.

 

Many shops and restaurants bent over backward to continue operating while respecting pandemic protocols. For all their sincere, survival-motivated efforts and creativity, they get shut down because of covidiots?

 

That’s not right.

 

I know exactly what I’m supposed to do in the grocery store to be as safe as possible, except that oblivious, or grossly ignorant people - clerks, cashiers and customers - are constantly walking, or standing right beside me. 

 

Things at the grocery store were much safer during the first wave, with people forced to wait outside and clearly indicated lines and signs inside the stores that were closely monitored by employees. Ah, the good ol’ days.

Keep stores open, but put stringent limits on the number of people in those stores along with individuals who have the power to enforce protocols and fine the covidiots who ignore rules. Set up longer store hours and provide more money for grocery store employees!

 

Hire people who are out of work, train them and pay them well, as COVID cops,

to monitor customer numbers and behavior in stores, restaurants and shops.

 

That means jobs for people trained to enforce protocols and it means business for store owners. Once covidiots are identified and fined, it’s fine by me if you fit them with ankle bracelets and curfews.

 

Please hurry and get COVID cops on the case because I am willing to bet big bucks the selfish people coming back from sunny Cancun will not quarantine in their homes when they realize they’re low on coffee and pancakes. They will be out there with the rest of we, untanned, going the wrong way down one-way grocery aisles.

 

Don’t fret over late night flights coming back from vacation destinations. I’m sure they will be given exceptions to the curfew that the rest of we, untanned, are obeying.

 

Bitter much? You bet. 

 

What government in its right mind allows people to fly off to sunny vacations in foreign countries in the middle of an uncontrolled pandemic? 

 

The answer? Governments whose ministers do it themselves.

 

I am about as disconnected from our clueless governments as I am from the Tampa Raptors.

 

Quebec had some so-called “educational success expert” by the name of Dr. Egide Royer on a television commercial saying the most important thing for our children is to go to school. I disagree. The most important thing for our children is to be physically healthy. Children in elementary and high schools, whether they get two masks a day or not, will touch surfaces touched by everyone else and touch their faces and bring whatever they touch, home, to spread to siblings, parents and grandparents who may, or may not, be in their bubble.

 

Quebec should provide parents with the option to keep their children home for remote learning instead of forcing them to put their children and families at risk of COVID.

 

In pandemic proportions, the stupidity continues.