A Journal of the Pandemic #29

Here we are at the end of 2021, and only a few months away from a full two years of the pandemic, and it's very, very safe to say that this is going to be a defining moment of recent history.

I'm not sure we've really gotten around to appreciating this fact.  I mean, yes, everyone knows it's happening.  Most of the discussion, though, long ago settled on the response, and not to the effect.  Nearly two years in, I just thought it would again be worth considering the latter.  In the run-up to Christmas a lot of chatter has been about the supply chain and how all those cargo ships bottlenecked out to sea.  That's just the tip of the iceberg!  We haven't even begun to appreciate what's happened during all of this, let alone what's going to continue happening as a result.  I do my shopping online every year because everyone on my list lives elsewhere.  It's just easier than buying it here and shipping it myself.  I've done that on occasion, sure.  I'm not averse to doing that.  But on the simple premise of online shopping, it was certainly recommended, if doing so, to do it early.  My older sister thought she had to do it so early I got her gifts...right after Thanksgiving.  I did my shopping at the end of last month.  That resulted in everything arriving well before Christmas, this year.  Last year there were a lot of real delays even with the same ordering pattern.  The difference, this time, was that I probably ordered a lot of things that were never going to be in those marooned containers.  I feel bad for those people.  

Companies are beginning to change the way they do business, what they're willing to spend money on versus the return they get from shoppers.  People like me, for instance, who are still buying physical media like DVDs/Blu-rays were in for a rude awakening this past Black Friday, since unlike all recent preceding years sales at traditional venues did not really feature those.  WWE just announced it's ceasing releasing material that way.  I know, I know, streaming is the thing.  I watch things on streaming.  I would not want to watch all the things on streaming.  I never even had cable.  I lived with cable, but never had it myself.  I certainly never had premium cable, and that's basically what everyone wants to provide, now, just so everyone can watch one service for one show.  I don't get that.  I mean, at the moment these services have crazy money to provide crazy material.  I mean, that's how we got the Snyder Cut, right?  It probably would never have happened otherwise.

One of the crazier things you may have noticed is the excuses people make because of the pandemic.  "Pandemic weight gain," for instance.  

Me, I can't believe it's still happening.  We got Omicron, now.  Omicron seems to have turned into a neutered version of COVID-19.  It's sort of the selling point for the booster shot, but even the booster shot isn't really selling very well, and no one is pushing it very hard, unlike the vaccines themselves.  At work the rash of illnesses have been traditional illnesses, lately.  And at work, because of the pandemic, what have traditionally been low attendance periods aren't looking that way in the two holiday weeks.  It looks like people are just trying to catch up with work.  That's what's going to be happening, and it's not going to look very pretty, in the months ahead.  

Me, at work I still have to wear a mask, but when I go out in public, even when it isn't called for, even though I'm vaccinated, I still wear a mask.  I'm really, really used to it at this point, and this seems especially weird, knowing I've been wearing a mask for so long.  I even reached the point, this week, of realizing that my mask was being mashed up with how long I'd let my beard grow, without me realizing it was the beard causing it, until I shaved it back down.  

I've been making tentative plans to visit family next year.  I really want to actually follow through, too, because I haven't seen family since 2019, and 2022 seems like it's going to finally be safe to do so without seeming selfish.  I mean, I know plenty of people who have been traveling since a long time ago in the pandemic era.  Across state lines, across the country.  

In the meantime, I'll just have to make do with what I've been doing.  I finally realized, this year, that even the pandemic funny money finally runs out, and I need to start being responsible again.  I was privileged to be in that position.  I say that again.  Now I just want money to be able to do the big things, like travel plans, even to be able to make a big move, like moving.  If I can figure out how to do that.  If there are other possibilities out there for me.  My job is the most fulfilling thing I have ever done for work, and yet it's an incredibly hard one to do with the certain knowledge that, like every other job I have ever had, there are others working alongside me who don't understand its responsibilities.  And that's every job.  That's people.  People, on the whole, are selfish.  You have to understand that. 

That's life.

Substack

In the world of comic books, one of the hottest topics in recent months has been all the major name creators who've decided to migrate their work to Substack.  So eventually, I got to thinking, maybe this is a venue I should consider.  This week I did more than consider.  I started Scouring Monk at Substack.

Now, longtime followers of my blogging know "Scouring Monk" isn't exactly a new title for me.  My first blog (which, sadly, is pretty much abandoned at this point), was of course also called Scouring Monk.  Most of the readers I've ever had in blogging read my work there.  I launched a thousand other blogs later, including this one, but it was for a long time what I most considered "home."  

So, barring any better ideas once I made a commitment to considering Substack, I named it Scouring Monk.

The only other problem was that I had no idea what this new thing was actually going to be.  The setup prompted an answer to this, and I spit out, "uh, fiction, and books, and film," which of course are among the primary things I've been doing as a blogger anyway.

And then I had to actually provide content, which comes in the form of an email newsletter.  The whole idea of Substack is that you collect a list of subscribers.  Successful Substack users can then consider the paid option, in which subscribers are given the option of paying for content.  Very successful Substack users can make considerable money out of this.  

Given my track record, I can only believe in my prospects in an optimistic manner.  So far I have sent out three newsletters.  Each begins with a new piece of short fiction, and then talk about a book I've read recently, and then a movie, which for the immediate future means movies released in 2021.  I only have the strength of my writing, as always, to go on.  

None of this means I will stop blogging, meanwhile.  This author blog is a separate thing.  I have a Star Trek blog, and a movie blog (the latter maintained sporadically), and a few others.  Only madmen attempt to read all of them, although now it's a lot easier to do so, on the off chance you would like to label yourself as a madman.  Although, honestly, few enough people are reading even this one these days, once I made that break with the Cavanaugh folk.  (Even Cavanaugh doesn't visit anymore!)

I know, I know, stop making the hard sell!

Anyway, hopefully I can continue to do stuff.  I made a concerted strong initial push, to help establish tone.  Can't say if that will be maintained.  Usually, these days, my best is once a week, depending on how motivated I'm feeling.  This is the longest post at this blog outside the pandemic journal I've done in a while.  Hurray!  

I will certainly let you know if things turn out very differently.