The Aftermath of the 2024 US Election, and Some Personal Changes

A picture of the Morton Salt Girl, with the caption, "Sometimes I'm just a salty bitch."

I'm sure that most of my regular readers are unsurprised by this, but I am deeply, deeply disappointed in some of - many of - my countrypeople. I mean, some of it is not surprising; I don't expect compassion for others or equitable treatment for those unlike them from the kinds of people who decry other folks for... well, for existing. Those sorts of people don't get much understanding from me; at most, I feel sad for their children and pity (which for me is a close cousin of contempt) for them.

The people I'm disappointed in come in two flavors: the ones whom I have actually witnessed being reasonable human beings/good parents/basically kind people... but who still voted for TFG and some of whom are now gloating loudly and relentlessly. That's the first kind, and I honestly don't care if they voted that way because they're afraid of drag queens, think viruses and climate change are hoaxes, or somehow think that the price of gas and groceries is more important than other people. That many of them profess to belong to a faith system that puts Love Everybody above all else is just piss icing on their shit cake.

The other type of voters who have caused me great disappointment are those on the other side, the kind who are so busy chasing after The Perfect Candidate™ that they let that make their voting choices for them. Perfection is the enemy of progress. In this case, perfection is the enemy of not jumping off the slippery slope. I recognize what this kind of voter is trying to do, but it has demonstrably not worked for a couple of decades now, at least here in the US.

In any case, there's my piece, I've said it, and it took me this long - I'm writing this 10 days after Election Day - to get up the energy to do so. In the interest of not burning out entirely (I have children to raise, other children to transport, bills to pay, Lizzy's bead art to market, and gig work to find, never mind holidays to plan for and dopamine to store, given that it's Hibernation Season and there's All That Out There™ to plan ahead for), and have gone low-contact on Facebook. 

For me, this is a big deal; I've been on Facebook for over fifteen years, but I am struggling to cope because by the very nature of social media (especially the big ones), the constant blast of information is relentless. "Like drinking from a fire hose," as they say. So I'm checking in there a couple times a day (deleted it from my phone but I check on my computer), a bit more today as I'm using that time to curate my feed so it's not completely overwhelming, and mostly just lying low. I understand a lot of the very well-meaning Wear This to Show Support trends (which I find performative) and the We Must Mobilize Now trends (for which I am still saving up energy), but at the moment I am emotionally unable to engage in all that. 

I was never much for Twitter, and I canceled my account just as it was renamed to X, so that's not a problem for me. Since my kids are now in their late teens/early twenties, Babycenter is no longer a concern. Google Plus (and before it, Google Wave) is gone, so that's not an issue. Those were my big social media places (if you're not counting Compuserve and America Online), so... I'm mostly out.

My therapist will be proud, although she will be the first to tell me I don't need her approval.

I'm not deleting FB Messenger, though, so if you want to stay in touch, ping me there, and we can work something out.

The Anxiety is Real, Y'all

A Bitmoji cartoon of a woman hiding under bedcovers.
It is labeled CURRENT MOOD

I find The World Today™ to be trying at best.

In fact, I've been actively avoiding the news, regardless of platform, because it's so damn uncomfortable out there. Reading or watching or (god forbid) interacting with any serious social media right now is Not Fun™. I read synopses (rather than listen or watch speeches) by the most politically neutral services I can find, but there's still a lot of anxiety-producing rhetoric. Even some people I like and agree with have been muted for 30 days because I can't deal with the constant onslaught. There are many things that I feel I should be keeping careful track of, but I have to think about my own mental health as well, of course.

And my mental health is... hmm... I'm going with Eggshell Fine™, what with hibernation season (I'm a bear; all I want is salmon, berries, and sleep) and all that out there <waves vaguely at The World Today™> and all. Don't worry; that's why I have a therapist; she keeps me (or assists me in keeping myself) at eggshell fine or better.

When Abby visited home last week, she and I voted (Lizzy's not old enough yet, and we do mail-in ballots in my state). It was interesting because a) this is her first presidential election, and b) as a university student, she is a lot more aware of the issues than she used to be and can discuss them intelligently.

Now that that is out of the way, have a post about Mostly Not That™.

• Lizzy started at a new school today. She's been struggling for years, despite The Best IEP Team on the Planet™, because her learning style is not best served by standard public school methods (neither was mine, but this option wasn't available to me when I was a teen. Oh, it existed, but I don't think I would've qualified). This is the alternative high school in our district, and it's likely to be a much better fit. I have not heard anything about how that's going, but if it was uniformly awful, I'm sure I would've gotten a panicked text from her or an exasperated phone call from the school.
• UPDATE: Liz had a great day at school!

• Abby is performing in a student-directed play this coming weekend, and then I'm allowing Lizzy to spend the weekend with her sister (with the approval of Abby's dormmates, of course). And then on Sunday they get to take the train back here and decorate the house for Christmas before we take Abby back up on Monday (Monday being a holiday when none of us has school).

• After this weekend, the Chez GamersBabes focus will be on school for A & L, completing driving lessons for L, and finding supplementary work for me to do between my morning and afternoon routes/during holiday breaks. I've already got most of my holiday shopping out of the way, my bills are paid, and we've got this.

Onward!