The Skeeter Daddle Diaries

The other morning I heard an NPR no doubt woke commentator prescribe a healthy dose of something, anything, upbeat to jumpstart our mornings, you know, set a more positive spin on the day, one that might last past noon. As a morning reader of two newspapers and multiple internet newsfeeds, I’m the poster child for beginning my day with mostly bleak harbingers for the morning, noon and probably afternoon, everything from ICE raids to indictments of the President’s detractors, Cat 5 hurricanes to vaccine deniers, gerrymandering to Gaza, on and on, basically doomscrolling for a less than cheerful breakfast. Even Dear Abby is consistently depressing. Cue the kitten videos, I guess. Or the makeup and clothing Influencers.

Maybe it’s time to mix a jigger or three of whiskey in that early morning cuppa joe, take the sharp edges off reality, give a good mood a fighting chance, probably need a nap early in the afternoon and then reload on the whiskey to plow through the evening, won’t need more coffee.

Outside our window the world really isn’t all that bleak or depressing. Sure, the mail comes late, it sometimes rains, occasionally I have to make that hellish drive up north for groceries and supplies, the power goes out in windstorms — but otherwise life is pretty peachy. Almost a sin to be depressed. Hellfire, it IS a sin to be anything but cheerful.

I didn’t move to the edge of a continent, the end of an island, the last vestige of the American Century to drown myself in the tears of the doomsayers. Maybe I didn’t reach escape velocity from Reality, but … I gave it a damn good shot. And if anyone thinks I’m plummeting back to terra firma, think again. Reality is in large part our own making — just ask most of us artists or musicians. Paint the world as you want it, then step inside the canvas. Oh, and don’t let those brushes dry out — it’s an ongoing process. Maybe every day. Like the NPR lady said….

I’ve been busy lately, something I recommend to any of you who spend half the day following news feeds about Trump or Trump and the Coronavirus or more Trump until you think the world has gone mad or has become toxic or, actually, both. If you find your walls closing in and you begin making a placard with something like OPEN THE STORES or LIBERATE MY STATE, you can be sure you’ve been infected with Trumpovid-20. Symptoms are a raging brain fever, sweating from the tongue, chills at night and tasteless dinners. There is no cure at this point. No real tests. No antibodies either, which means if you avoid the news for a day or two, chances are the next Trump Tweet will bring on further symptoms.

I cannot stress this enough. You must get yourself busy. Otherwise the temptation to scroll through the horror that is the internet these plague days will overcome your willpower. Distract yourself. If it means building a musical instrument you have no skills to construct, that’s okay. It will occupy your mind with total frustration, if nothing else. It certainly did mine. The danger, of course, is the longer the plague rages … or Donald Trump rages … the chances are you will end up, like me, with a house full of musical instruments. I recommend you stop at two or three then take up a different hobby. Learn a language, preferably something like Mandarin, incredibly difficult, hopelessly so if you’re my advanced age. All the better. If you’re my dad’s age, learn a program on the computer. All he can do is get and forward e-mails. The rest of the machine is basically useless other than a couple of google sites my brother set up for him. I recommend Photoshop or a CAD program, but practically any will suffice in frustrating and confusing you to a degree that all other incoming information will be shut out.

Do not, I repeat, do not go back and watch old World Series games, past tennis matches or any sports events that occurred in the past. This is a reminder of what has been lost in the Pandemic. You do not want to be reminded of anything that was the world pre-Trump or pre-plague. If there is a difference…. Focus on the task you have set yourself. Do not learn the Mandarin phrase for Dump Trump. It will not help you no matter how satisfying it might feel at first. You will end up learning only Mandarin obscenities. And no, they won’t help either. They are a Dead End. You need a detour. A new highway. An impossibly hard hobby.

If you are reading this, I hate to tell you, but you aren’t BUSY ENOUGH!! Read a book instead. Or better yet, write one. War and Peace, something similar spanning generations with too many characters to keep track of. Despite the temptation, do not make Donald a character!! It is not cathartic, trust me. Okay, forget the book writing. Mandarin, start with that. By the time you learn to say ‘hello, I want to visit your beautiful country’, the plague might be over, the election might have removed you know who from office and life can return to some kind of normal. Trust me, you need to stay busy until then….

祝好运
Zhù hǎo yùn