Aunty, School, and a Virus

 

 So much has happened since I ended my blog. I started in 2009 but cannot recall exactly when I finally stopped. I know I blogged for many years, but eventually grew bored with my own writing. I went back to school and studied art and Japanese. Going back was interesting to say the least. I was older than the students and my teachers. I have always wanted to go back and get my degree, but sadly the frame on my wall is still empty. 

 It was hard, damn it. Not so much the learning part, but the actual physical activity of being there. Sitting on a hard bench for three hours in art class was difficult. Walking from building to building to get to classes was painful. Trying to hear our sensei teach us, "Kono sushi wa oishidesu." with my ruined hearing was excruciating. I had heart palpitations from the anxiety of having to mingle with students and have a conversation with them. I finally admitted defeat. I would not get a diploma. It wasn't as heart wrenching as I thought it would be, but it was a time of self reflection.

 I started back to school shortly after COVID-19 had done it's worst. Wearing a mask was now an option. Because I was older, I continued to wear one. I do know before the virus became a pandemic I became a victim. I was fortunate enough (with the help of leftover prescription pain pills) to be able to get back to life after a week. The only after effect was losing my sense of smell for a time.

As for socializing... or lack of, didn't bother me at all. I'm an introvert who relishes my alone time. When hearing others who bemoaned the fact they could not see friends or family, I scratched my head, somewhat bewildered. Really, you can't be by yourselves for awhile? You wouldn't survive the zombies, fools.

Of course it was the elderly who suffered the most. My Aunt, a die hard Trump loving, stubborn old lady refused to be vaccinated and she paid with her life. I had written about my Aunt in my former blog. When I was young my grandmother lived across the street from us and my aunt still lived at home. She had a pink bedroom and wore her hair like Audrey Hepburn did in the movie, 'Charade.' She looked nothing like Audrey. Aunty was chubby. She wore too tight shorts and had bunions on her feet which I never failed to mention to her. She stayed in her room and glued sequins on soaps. The only time she came out was to fry donuts. Later in life she met a man online and moved in with him, for two days. The following day after their meet up, he went to work and locked her in so she could care for his elderly mother who also happened to live there. She eventually climbed out a window and called a relative to come get her. In later years not learning a damn thing, she married a man who sat on his ass and complained all day and night. My sister once visited them and had to leave early because our aunt and her husband both shouted over each other, ignoring what the other said. 

When I was young I heard many times, people become wiser as they got older, but that doesn't seem to be true. They become fearful, especially when they are isolated. They start to believe pompous, rich billionaires who claim to have their back.

 It can be a cruel world, made worse by ignorance, arrogance, and an orange man who advised people to drink bleach for a cure.

Four years later...

As I've heard George Takai say, "And yet, here we are."