What's scarier, zombies or Congress?
Neither is scarier than the ill-informed but certain.
I’m going to take a page out of my favorite Liar’s playbook and back away from Facebook until this budget thing is resolved. I mean, I’ve carefully crafted an Actual Friends list where it’s only family & friends that I really care about, or are funny, smart and interesting. There’s a huge overlap thankfully. So I’m protected from all of the uninformed, uneducated (and I don’t necessarily mean school-learning here) morons that clearly have no idea how government works, what this fight is about, what the repercussions really are, or are using this to push some crazy-expletive agenda that is only barely related to the budget and shutdown. Except that the micro-pates are still COMMENTING on my actual friends’ pages. It’d be simple to wish that my actual friends not start anything, and I do sort of wish that, but that’s pure selfishness and they should go ahead and do what makes them happy. I have plenty of other things to attend to, THAT’S for darn sure!
Although what really cheeses me off is that for the first time in almost two decades, I made arrangements to take a tour of what used to be called the Front Royal Conservation Center, (its mission has expanded, and that’s cool, but I haven’t internalized the new name yet) which is where a lot of the endangered species are being bred and studied. It’s only open once a year. And finally, this year, it was on a weekend where I could actually go, and I got tickets before they were sold out. Yeah, this Sunday. And if the government doesn’t open back up, guess what’s not happening. Except of course, it might. Or not. I do NOT have room in my head to run two completely separate logistical plans for the weekend. And I’m resentful as hell. I mean, that’s nothing compared to people who are here in the nation’s capital for a vacation or field trip. I mean, okay, so I have to wait until next year and I’m out the $30 (because you know they’re going to reschedule for a weekend I can’t do it…), I’ll get over it, but I’m mostly obsessing on THAT because it’s a safe place of my head to be…a controllable outrage that makes me feel self-indulgent and small if I think just enough about it.
I also realized that now is probably not a good time to be watching the U.S. version of House of Cards, as that’s just a one-way ticket to the pit of despair over politics. So, last night - Monday being TV night, once I mow the lawn, make dinner, clean the litter boxes, throw in laundry, and wash the faire dishes - I switched over to watching the Walking Dead. That’s better. I much prefer having nightmares about zombies.
And it was timely - I was actually considering breaking down and attending a Haunted Attraction this season. And those people wandering through those dark prison hallways, with zombies suddenly coming out of nowhere, reminded me how very, very, very much I HATE being scared. As much as I adore haunted houses - it’s all about making them, enjoying the concept of them, stealing ideas, techniques, etc. But I’m all about the lights-on tours. Going through the house while it’s live, active? ::shudder:: Even knowing all that I know about the design and theory…the startle, the insecurity, working the gap, misdirection, exploiting vulnerability, driving throughput, recognizing drop panels and Pickel designs…I mean, when I walk into a room/scenario, I have a fair idea of exactly what’s going to happen and for me…it doesn’t expletive matter. I’m still nauseous the whole time.
I think I’ll content myself with the 2-D scares of zombies chasing other people on a little screen in the living room, while I build my new man-eating plant.
I’m going to take a page out of my favorite Liar’s playbook and back away from Facebook until this budget thing is resolved. I mean, I’ve carefully crafted an Actual Friends list where it’s only family & friends that I really care about, or are funny, smart and interesting. There’s a huge overlap thankfully. So I’m protected from all of the uninformed, uneducated (and I don’t necessarily mean school-learning here) morons that clearly have no idea how government works, what this fight is about, what the repercussions really are, or are using this to push some crazy-expletive agenda that is only barely related to the budget and shutdown. Except that the micro-pates are still COMMENTING on my actual friends’ pages. It’d be simple to wish that my actual friends not start anything, and I do sort of wish that, but that’s pure selfishness and they should go ahead and do what makes them happy. I have plenty of other things to attend to, THAT’S for darn sure!
Although what really cheeses me off is that for the first time in almost two decades, I made arrangements to take a tour of what used to be called the Front Royal Conservation Center, (its mission has expanded, and that’s cool, but I haven’t internalized the new name yet) which is where a lot of the endangered species are being bred and studied. It’s only open once a year. And finally, this year, it was on a weekend where I could actually go, and I got tickets before they were sold out. Yeah, this Sunday. And if the government doesn’t open back up, guess what’s not happening. Except of course, it might. Or not. I do NOT have room in my head to run two completely separate logistical plans for the weekend. And I’m resentful as hell. I mean, that’s nothing compared to people who are here in the nation’s capital for a vacation or field trip. I mean, okay, so I have to wait until next year and I’m out the $30 (because you know they’re going to reschedule for a weekend I can’t do it…), I’ll get over it, but I’m mostly obsessing on THAT because it’s a safe place of my head to be…a controllable outrage that makes me feel self-indulgent and small if I think just enough about it.
I also realized that now is probably not a good time to be watching the U.S. version of House of Cards, as that’s just a one-way ticket to the pit of despair over politics. So, last night - Monday being TV night, once I mow the lawn, make dinner, clean the litter boxes, throw in laundry, and wash the faire dishes - I switched over to watching the Walking Dead. That’s better. I much prefer having nightmares about zombies.
And it was timely - I was actually considering breaking down and attending a Haunted Attraction this season. And those people wandering through those dark prison hallways, with zombies suddenly coming out of nowhere, reminded me how very, very, very much I HATE being scared. As much as I adore haunted houses - it’s all about making them, enjoying the concept of them, stealing ideas, techniques, etc. But I’m all about the lights-on tours. Going through the house while it’s live, active? ::shudder:: Even knowing all that I know about the design and theory…the startle, the insecurity, working the gap, misdirection, exploiting vulnerability, driving throughput, recognizing drop panels and Pickel designs…I mean, when I walk into a room/scenario, I have a fair idea of exactly what’s going to happen and for me…it doesn’t expletive matter. I’m still nauseous the whole time.
I think I’ll content myself with the 2-D scares of zombies chasing other people on a little screen in the living room, while I build my new man-eating plant.