Good morning. Hello. How are you? #831
Walmart run, WHO Covid Dashboard complaints, Elon at 1.5x, pollen is coming, more on the Ting Tings.
Good morning! Hello there, happy Friday. Just back from my Friday morning run. McDonald’s had a crowded drive through, filled with people who don’t care to pull up enough to let the person behind them order. It’s an interesting conundrum. They can’t see the people behind them unless they look, but they, too, just went through the same situation. Sometimes when I see someone with, like, 3/4 a car length in front of them, room to pull up, and the person behind them is maybe 4 feet away from being able to order, I just get…. very anxious, actually. If that person could order quicker, their food would be ready more quickly, the whole line could move faster but… naw.
Walmart was fine no new UHDs — all Wakanda Forever all the time — and there were a few new records (new Rihanna 12”?) but not the coveted Walmart exclusives which go for the big bucks to urban hipsters who eschew Walmart but want their exclusive colored vinyls.
Ran into a woman in the garden section who was buying some blackberries. I was buying potting mix. Really half-assing the garden this year, that’s the theme. Probably no videos either. And I’m definitely not making my own potting mix I have things to do. Well… maaaaybe, but I want optionality. Anyway, the bag her blackberries were in ripped, and I helped her collect the plants, and said thanks and then “my neighbor’s gonna be so pissed, come over and complain about how I’m planting another plant.”
And I said “what kind of neighbor gets mad about a garden?”
“She’s insane.” She said.
Kinda wanted to keep chatting, but, you know, I got things to do.
Just made a haircut appointment with someone named Madisyn where it’s not quite spelled like in She-Hulk but not that far off. It’s too hot, my long hair is making my neck hot, usually this doesn’t happen till, like, April, but I guess this year’s just tits up. Wait can we still say that? Anyway, if it suddenly gets cold, it’s because I cut my hair, I’m like Sampson (the Delilah one) meets Puxatawney Phil or Pete or whatver over here. Except for you people in the North. If all your snow goes away and it gets warm again you can thank me and Madisynth.
Somewhat stressed about today now. Four meetings! Two errands! I may have over-extended myself.
So pollen season is coming and Emma and I are strategizing the best way to get through it. My four allergy medications, including drops custom-formulated for my sad self, tend to get me through the season personally, with the occasional judicious use of chlorpheniramine maleate. Emma’s gotta figure that part out still. But then there is, like, the deck furniture, every single thing outside and, this year, additionally, my spiffing electric truck. Do people cover their cars from pollen? Do we think it’s worth it? Emma says the covers will be impossible to wash, too big for the washing machine. She says you can just hose the pollen off, it won’t imprint on your paint. Does anyone have any experience or insights into this matter? Especially if you own a truck in the piedmo—
Hrm actually I suppose I ought to ask my six neighbors with trucks.
As you were.
Speaking of trucks (not really) a hilarious thing to do that I deeply enjoy is to watch all of Elon’s Tesla event speaches on Youtube at 1.5x. You know, some people, you can watch them at 1.5x and they seem completely sane. There are tons and tons of YouTubers out there who are far, far more media trained than the world’s formerly richest man who appears in the media one zillion times a day. They speak clearly and slowly and sanely so when you spead them up they sound like a person you’d be talking to at lunch who maybe just had a coffee but basically completely normal. But Elon Musk? Dude sounds absolutely batshit at 1.5x. Every time. Just completey coked up. I do have to admit some of it is obviously ADD or something like that and a relentless sense of humor. You can see him always, always wanting to go off track with a stupid joke and a long tangent but he’s been trained enough to know he can’t do that, so he starts, stops, giggles, shrugs, says “um. yeah.” and hits “next” on his little slide controller. It’s really a fascinating psychological study. And he does this to himself like once a week! And to his employees! It’s so crazy! And ones he does with governors when he’s breaking ground on a new factory or something, the governors are always so uncomfortable. If they’re Democratic governors they’re uncomfortable, if they’re Republican governors they’re uncomfortable. It’s all so weird.
So remember how I talked about the Hopkins COVID tracker going away next week, and Hopkins saying that they’re doing this because the CDC and the WHO are ON IT now? Well get this shit. This week, without any notice, the WHO just posted this notice on their daily COVID tracker:
Starting from the week of 20 February 2023, the dashboard will be updated once per week on Wednesdays.
I mean, look, I’m not Jim Carroll or anything over here but people die from this disease every day, still some 12,000 a day worldwide, well over a hundred a day in the US, and that’s not even including whatever mysterious misery is going on, or went on, in China. I am trying to honor them, in my own small way, by marking that number every day and boy it sure feels like the two most important covid tracking sites in the world maybe could have coordinated this shit or something.
I would say I’m irrationally uspset about this but I don’t think it’s irrational at all. I am lonelily upset.
Got more Ting Tings follow-up for you all, man the Ting Tings really struck a chord with everyone. My friend Todd sent me video of his two kids dancing to “That’s not My Name” just like Jane and I did. Toddlers love the Ting Tings. And my friend Jen sent me this bonkers article about a past of drug dealing, family feuds, wrongful prosecutious and suspected murder that all lurks within Katie White’s family. It’s really quite a tale. I would probably watch a prestige television series about Katie White’s family. The craziest part is there were multiple police investigations into multiple, independent crimes against multiple brothers, in unrelated matters, and they were never even indicted, let alone tried for any of them. The grandfather says it’s all a case of cops jealous of his lottery winnings. Who knows! Also I listened to the last two Ting Ting albums and they’re definitely solid. A little samey. Maybe a little sadder. Nothing as catchy of a single as the first few, but still. Not bad at all. There’s one song about an abusive dad which I had just listened to when Jen sent me this article and I thought “uh oh maybe her dad sucks” but naw, doesn’t seem so. Of all the men in that article — her dad, his brothers, their dad — her dad seems to come out the best.
The Ting Tings, man.
Moody and quiet one for you, all new tracks bucketed by two classics. Been thinking a lot about Crime and the City Solution lately. So glad I got to see them. Wish I could see them again. They keep planning tours and getting thwarted by covid, but I feel like it could happen one day. And they’re in Detroit now, or were, so it’s even conceivable they come here. Fingers crossed.
Have a lovely weekend.