Years ago, Ex-GF-M had a thing for Starbucks Coffee. Her late husband worked for the firm, and finally had a career that he could excel in. Sadly for her, he passed away a couple of years before we met, and she was still dealing with her loss at that time. I broke up with Ex-GF-M because she was a bad influence on me. It was the toxic effect of an addictive triangle (2 people and a substance - in this case, food) that took a negative effect on me. When I met XGFJ, I thought she'd be the one. But it didn't work out. I lost my former cruise partner as a friend around the same time. That loss was my fault, and due to gross stupidity. However, I think she hurts more than I do based on a text she sent me at the end of September. Too bad that the one person she could once turn to in time of need is the one person she can't turn to now.
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But enough of talking about that part of the past. Many things have changed, and it is very interesting to look at the past and present to see where things are headed.
For 4 years, America had to suffer with a grifter as head of state. (I didn't "drink the Kool-Aid" as many "Conservatives" had done.) His rabid support frightened many people then, and still bothers people today. There was a collective disbelief that someone they believed to be successful and a great businessman was simply a con artist behind a green curtain. But many people in New York, Atlantic City, and other places where he placed his flag knew him for his questionable business practices and not for traditional measurements of business success. It seemed like every day a new scandal was erupting, and things got progressively worse. Relief came when he lost the 2000 election, only because he mishandled the pandemic, causing the economy to crater.
The pandemic started off as if it was a problem local to China. Little did anyone know how much trouble this virus would cause the world. I can still remember a meetup group acting as if the virus wasn't dangerous when America started being aware of how many people were starting to get ill and die. Within a week, not only did this group stop meeting, but most businesses shut down for in-person work. If you could work from home, you did. Even now, 19 months later, most businesses are not requiring their offices to be fully staffed. After 19 months, many of us are wearing masks to help prevent disease transmission. With vaccinations (which people lined up for 6 months ago), many people are assuming that they are safe and catching the virus. Luckily, most of the vaccinated only experience very mild symptoms. However, there are selfish fools who remain unvaccinated, and this is causing our hospitals to be flooded with Covid patients. Now, it looks like Covid will be around forever, but will be managed (for most of us) with regular booster shots.
Due to the pandemic, last year's baseball season was shortened to 60 games, with few people allowed to attend the games. (Attendance was permitted for the people on the field, the TV crews, and security guards.) At the beginning of this season, some cities were restricting attendance to a socially distanced few, gradually allowing more and more people to attend as long as they could show proof of vaccination. Yet, there are some athletes who still want to remain unvaccinated, and are prohibited from working out or playing with their teams in their home cities.
In the period since the pandemic started, we have suffered a series of supply chain issues which are causing prices for many goods to go up. Last year, with poor demand for automobiles, my brother was able to snag a late model car from a car rental agency for 25% less than the same car would sell for today. Recently, a coworker flew to Hawaii on vacation, and found out that the normal car rental places had nothing to rent - a year ago, they had sold off their inventory to pay their bills. Now, the rental car companies can't buy enough cars to refurnish their fleets, as the car manufacturers can not get the computer chips needed to build their cars. (This is yet another pandemic related supply chain issue....)
Before the pandemic, I used to go on a cruise one or twice each year. Last year, the tourist industry had to slam on the brakes and shut everything down in a two week period. People were stranded overseas waiting to be repatriated to their home countries. With one cruise ship, our former president decided to keep it from docking at its port of origin, so that he could keep our Covid infection numbers low. Eventually, reality set in, and this ship made it to a nearby port. Yet, many people had stranger journeys to make it home from overseas. MWL recounted that the pandemic hit in the middle of an overseas trip, and that returning home was a confusing mess.
Once the tourist doors were slammed shut, only a limited few people were allowed to make their way across borders. For example, there were Canadian doctors and nurses who worked in the USA - they were allowed to cross. But there were other essential people crossing the border, such as truck drivers making deliveries across borders, and Americans doing a land transit through Canada to reach Alaska. The loss of the tourist trade hurt people on both sides of the border, Alaska and Canada's Maritime Provinces lost out on over a year's worth of tourist money - and the affected people will likely be affected for years.
However, things are returning to a new normal. The US has allowed foreign flagged ships to sail to Alaska from Seattle, so that Alaska doesn't lose two years of tourist business. Long delayed movies are finally making it to theaters. I just saw the new James Bond flick, and can't wait to see the new Ghostbusters flick when it comes out. I've started going out as Marian much more often, and feel comfortable traveling in both presentations. I guess it's because I've been able to live much of my life as Marian over the past 19 months, and have a better idea of how much Marian (and Mario) means to me....
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