Hey there,
Ripped from the headlines...Taipei man murders motorist after argument with his wife over dinner plans. I would never do something like that, but who among us hasn't had it run through their minds?.
Needed to start off with something other than the fucking horrible beast in the room. We are back from our secret mission, which I can now tell you was a trip by Betty and I to Egypt. We arrived home Saturday night back in Taiwan and all was well with that destination, and by the time we woke up on Monday morning, it had hit the fan in Egypt and they are on a banned list and we are in self-quarantine for two weeks. Normally would be writing up trip notes to share, but doesn't feel right at the moment. Writing is always good way to help you remember things and also to get thoughts out of your head. I am not a huge consumer of social media but the little I do see these days is getting annoying. There is a lot of advice and Deep Thoughts out there and the only one that struck a nerve with me and that everyone should be using as their alternate Golden Rule is, "Don't be a dick."
We got back on Saturday and it is Wednesday right now, but it feels like 4 weeks have passed instead of 4 days. I had a sore throat on our trip that was getting worse. It felt like strep but as Egypt went from no cases and all clear on Saturday, to full blown level 3 watch by Monday, the TW government sent out a note saying that for travelers that felt ill, to go in and get tested. I didn't have any of the other symptoms and while my throat felt 'only' like strep, I walked over on Monday and the place was busy but not chaotic. I filled out a form, all in Mandarin but was able to navigate it using Google Translate, went up to the desk and gave them my ID card. They knew exactly where and when I had traveled, looked at my symptoms and told me to go home and self quarantine. Which is where I've been since. As a Costco family, our pantry, freezer and liquor cabinet has been prepared for this moment in time.
Probably the hardest part of all the recommendations to keep yourself from getting infection is to stop touching your face. Now that I am hyper aware of doing that, realize that I touch it a lot and that it is likely some dusting of OCD. What I also realized is that I touch my balls a lot too and nowhere can I find if that is a danger of transmitting the virus. Don't worry, I only use my left had to scratch and sniff. Or is it my right...get those two confused all the time. OK, I use both hands and sometimes at the same time. Corona humor is tricky but am working on it.
They say that in 9 months we are gonna have a slew of babies and thought the term people are already using to describe them, Coronialls, was pretty clever. Betty mentioned Babydoll was born in March of 2003 and that would be 9 months after the start of SARS in China. I hadn't put that together but she is a SARS-baby and so something good can come from what is going on now.
Because of SARS, and how it devastated Taiwan, this country was diligent in being prepared for the next one and was the example for the rest of the world to follow. Woulda been nice if they could have shared their plans with the WHO, but since the Chinese are babies and won't let them join... While it was politicians from all sides putting the plan together for 18 years and all deserve credit, the President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-Wen, has been such a supremely confident and calm leader and I am in love. Am sure I lose a lot of nuance to politics here, but could not want a better person to be guiding the ship.
Am back...Google just jammed for a minute and had to reboot. That minute felt like an hour and had a bit of a freak out thinking that without the internet, this was truly the end.
While President Tsai has been a marvel, it is hard to describe how apoplectic I am at the current US president and anyone that thought he was a good idea. Don't think I need to rehash any of the vile shit that he has said and done here cause no one that reads this feels any differently. If you are reading this and think he is anything but the most dangerous piece of filth, well you can fuck right off. He was ruining our country in so many ways before and now he has committed manslaughter. I will give him credit on two positive outcomes from this mess. One, with no one traveling anywhere, the planet gets a respite from all the crap we are doing to cause climate change. Two, he has effectively eliminated mass shootings. I've seen lines at guns stores, so keeping that industry afloat is a horrifying side benefit. Well done Mr President.
I give no quarter to the Chinese for this thing and that they are conspiracy theorizing that it is a US plot, and that they are the world leaders in prevention makes my eyes shake in my head. Doing the same name calling back at them out of the mouth of the current US president is just as low and makes us as bad as them. Is that what our country stands for.? Having Chinese as the most important women in my life, hurts that much more seeing the nasty shit people are saying and doing to them around the globe. When we got home from our trip, found the washing machine broke. We have a great landlord and they replaced it yesterday. We try not to bug them with little stuff and thought that since we were in communication that we would ask to have some screens on our windows that had been broken for years to be repaired and they said no problem. Once the screen repair guy got wind that we were foreigners, he said no way was he coming cause we are infected by the virus. Betty explained that while we are foreigners, she is still Chinese and was born here so he agreed to come over, but I have to leave so he doesn't see me, freak out and leave. As a very white boy from the valley, totally had that coming. Probably deserve a lot more. I get side looks often on the street, but they have felt very different lately. Repair guy is due soon so I am signing off for today.
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