It’s been a year and a day since I talked about socializing, the pandemic and individual differences.
“…I can sympathize with folks who really do need people: people who are physically close, not ‘close’ only in a virtual sense. I’m also willing to accept that not everyone is like me. For which we should all be thankful. And that’s another topic.
“That said, COVID-19 pandemic restrictions haven’t cut into my social life all that much.
“Before ‘social distancing’ — a poorly-chosen phrase, and that’s yet another topic — started becoming a cliche, most of my social life was online….”
(“People Who Need People — and the COVID-19 Pandemic” (January 24, 2021))
Somewhere during the last year, I noticed that I’d been enjoying my research and writing routines less. And had let some projects drop off the back burner.
Pandemic-Prompted Perturbations?
Not unexpectedly, the situation got worse as Christmas approached. That’s always a bad time of year for me.
“…As my wife once noted, I ‘get weird’ during each Christmas season. That’s not surprising, since something very traumatic happened around Christmas when I was 12. Memories of the incident are lost. Not accessible, at least….”
(“The Magi, Meds and Me” (January 7, 2018))
But I think this year’s weirdness has roots in pandemic-prompted perturbations. There, I made that alliterative, and that’s another topic.
At any rate, at a Mass last summer, I felt a strong urge to start chatting with some folks who were sitting near me. Now, as someone at Walmart said, comparing me and my son; “you always talk, he never talks.” But I seldom feel that eager to strike up a conversation.
So, despite living near the ‘people who need people’ continuum’s low end, and being generally satisfied with online social interactions; I figure the pandemic’s starting to bug me.
And, if I’m starting to feel something akin to cabin fever, then folks with more 50th percentile social needs — well, I can sympathize with them more easily now.
Although I’d appreciate it if everyone would turn the hysteria down a few notches. It’d be nice if news media and politicos would stop doing what they do with a real health issue, but that’d be like asking for the moon.
Liberal, Conservative, Libertarian: But Not Moderate
Speaking of politics, it’s been a while since I talked about beliefs, politics and me.
I’m a Catholic and take my faith seriously, so online ‘which side are you on’ polls say I’m a liberal; a conservative or; in one case, a libertarian.
But not a moderate.
I think they’re all accurate, as far as they go; since I think human rights and human life matter, and I think subsidiarity makes sense.
The quiz that pegged me as a libertarian displayed its results on a Nolan Chart, developed by a libertarian activist.1
Since ‘which side’ tests I’ve taken focus on only a few ‘political’ topics, I figure I’m ‘liberal’ on those which ask me if I think employees should be treated like people; and ‘conservative’ when the focus is on whether I think humans are people, no matter their age. And that’s yet another topic.
Glitches, Unexpected Issues: But Other Than That, a Good Day
(“Meet Norbert Nerdly” — my frustrations, personified. (2015))
That picture, “Meet Norbert Nerdly,” is available as prints and posters (from $6.71) at my Norski’s Shop on DeviantArt.com. Okay, self-promotion having been accomplished, a partial explanation for this journal entry.
I was working on this week’s ‘Saturday’ piece, it’ll be about Marlowe’s Faustus, this morning. Then I experienced a maelstrom of glitches, or technical difficulties, or frustrations.
Whatever I call them, I called the company that hosts this site. And a good thing, too, since I discovered a number of other issues I’d missed.
Long story short, the glitches aren’t gone; but I’m pretty sure they won’t affect your experience with A Catholic Citizen in America.
And the issues I’d missed are now resolved. After only a few hours and two broken telephone connections.
I may even get that “Faustus” thing finished by Saturday.
More of how I see life, the universe and making sense:
- “Light Show in Washington; Law and Life; Masks Back On”
(January 23, 2022) - “Science, Religion, COVID-19 and an Unexpected Opinion”
(November 8, 2021) - “COVID-19: Attitudes, Frustrations, and Perspective”
(September 4, 2021) - “Sunshine, Holy Water and a Trip to the Emergency Room”
(April 11, 2021) - “Internet Friends, Real People”
(March 19, 2017)
- Wikipedia
