you know what i don't give a fuck about right now?

how TFG is responding to this, the best news I've heard in years. YEARS!!!

Three years on,

my youngest son and his wife have COVID for the first time. (NC)

my oldest son and his entire family have had it probably more than once (in CA)

my middle son and I, who live together in NC, haven't had it yet. he works in a grocery and worked in that grocery all through the pandemic. He does continue to mask at work.

still, I don't get it. I'm essentially a recluse who wears a mask even going through a drive thru restaurant, but I live with a person who is in contact with the public all day and every day, and we have not contracted this virus.

anyhow. Their symptoms are mild, they are young, and that's all good. But it sucks anyhow, even now. My middle son and I may be among the last people I know who have not had COVID.

Regarding notifications.

I'm getting pop-ups from DU asking me to turn on notifications - I just dismiss it. I can't count how many notifications I get from how many apps already, it's too much.

But when it comes to DU, I would adore being able to follow certain people and would even embrace being notified when they had a new post up.

Will this ever happen? If it already has, how do I take part? lol

WP article regarding the College Board

i'm using the gift link so hopefully everyone can read it without running into the paywall.
https://wapo.st/3HsnQ22

The official curriculum for the course, released Wednesday by the College Board, downplays some components that had drawn criticism from DeSantis and other conservatives. Topics including Black Lives Matter, slavery reparations and queer life are not part of the exam. Instead, they are included only on a sample list states and school systems can choose from for student projects.

movies you'll watch over and over

even if nobody else even heard of them. I'll go first

Gorky Park
Into the Night
Narrow Margin

ETA An American Dreamer - JoBeth Williams deserved an Oscar for that film.

Grief spasms.

Sometimes I need to cry. Sometimes I'm suddenly overcome and tears start pouring from my eyes, stinging them, stuffing up my nose, unexpected and not actually welcome. At these times I moan her name out loud, omigawd I miss you so much.

I was warned about this, more than 21 years ago. For all of these years, these inexpressibly painful feelings strike when they choose, without warning. In my mind it always sends me back to the first time I learned she'd been killed. Like there's someone standing at my shoulder saying, "Bekah's dead," and I can't believe it.

I can't believe it. Years beyond all those other phases, bargaining, acceptance, anger, guilt, whatever they are. The slow unraveling of a state of shock so profound it takes months and years to subside.

Brian Sicknick's mother precipitated this grief spasm. There are times when I truly wish I did not have to be a part of this sisterhood of bereaved mothers! But at the same time I wish I was next to her so I could hug her. In my opinion there is no getting around the fact that people who have not lost a child don't "get" the profundity of that loss. But the bereaved mothers, they get it. Sometimes almost all you have to cling to is knowing that there is somebody who understands you right now, when the people who know and love you best just do not have a clue.

Anyhow. After over 21 years I can still be left in a puddle. I will blow my nose, wash my face, and carry on as best I can. Hugs to all and any suffering from the loss of a most loved one.

anyone else noticed this?

another mass shooting. I try to get the news and tune into the press conference. Very little news is provided, but many people step up and spend a bunch of time in what amounts to a circle jerk. I see it as very cynical - they show up to be seen and make sure people know their names. Like a campaign stop.

it's maddening to me. it seems to be the formula that all entities follow at this point in time, like someone wrote a guidebook on it.

just give me the news. I'm glad services are being made available. The news was already all over the situation in Torrance - for the record I believe that must be the guy because if it wasn't he would have already been out of the van letting them know that - my hometown.

/rant off

If you're watching the storms, here's a channel you might like.

I enjoy watching him.

Ukraine.

not "the" Ukraine. I winced a little when Nancy Pelosi put the "the" in front of the country's name.

I associated the use of "the" to the years Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union.

https://time.com/12597/the-ukraine-or-ukraine/

“Ukraine is a country,” says William Taylor, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009. “The Ukraine is the way the Russians referred to that part of the country during Soviet times … Now that it is a country, a nation, and a recognized state, it is just Ukraine. And it is incorrect to refer to the Ukraine, even though a lot of people do it.”

Important question.

I'm shipping gifts to my oldest son's family in CA from NC and want them there in time - best choice for shipping?

I'm thinking I'll go with the post office, but could do the UPS store or even FedEx although I believe that would cost an arm and a leg. However I am willing to pay what it takes to get the presents there on time.

Usually I just Amazon everything to them, but this year I wanted to wrap them all and send them myself. Then the last gift didn't come until yesterday. So here I am, ready to go and hoping to make the best decision.

ETA: I went to the post office, waited not too too long, and paid almost $80 for priority mail. I don't want to take chances. Thank you all for your responses