(no subject)

[zana16]

So at the Metro this morning, I was reading about how Egypt is killing all its pigs despite no cases of swine flu, and how supposedly in Israel they're calling it "Mexican flu" instead of "swine flu" to avoid "offending people" (uh...), and how Texas is postponing athletic competitions in public schools, and how people are buying face masks despite little evidence they'll actually help, and...

And I was standing there thinking, This is overreacting. There haven't been many cases, there haven't been many deaths, this is crazy. And as I waited for the train to come I congratulated myself on not buying into the hype.

Then I started listening to the woman next to me, who was on her cell phone, saying how she left work yesterday because she was sick and couldn't concentrate, and then I started edging away from her, and then I started thinking Are you nuts? You're sick and yet you're on public transportation, infecting potentially thousands of people? You crazy bitch!

And then I spent the rest of the day trying to convince myself not to freak out because I keep coughing.

*sigh*

Well, in DC you live with the ever-present danger of delusional extremists blowing up the city anyways. I suppose this is just another danger to add to the everyday... I don't know how I managed to actually live on Capitol Hill for a year and a half. Now I live in Prince Georges County, which no one would bomb because seriously, New Orleans showed us how much our government cares about the destruction of poor black neighborhoods. Low rent, peace of mind, a drug dealer across the street, walking home from the Metro at night with "91" dialed on your cell and your finger on that last "1"... Okay, there are trade-offs.

Comments

[paper-crystals.livejournal.com]

Someone was wearing a face mask on the train in Penn Station today.

[zana16.livejournal.com]

I guess it can't hurt, but I'm always wary of things that make people feel safe when really they aren't effective, because then people rely on those things to keep them safe, and maybe take risks they wouldn't if they didn't have this illusion of safety... And that was a seriously disjointed sentence.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Pollen is super high right now and I know that is what is causing my headache and phlegm. But when there was a dude walking behind me on the Common today coughing away I stopped and let him pass me. And I did have an 'oh shit' moment.

The masks are only useful if you have the flu and are trying not to pass it on. Surgeons were masks to keep their germs away from patients.

[zana16.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure it's allergies that's making my throat tickle -- that and the fact that my boss had a working party last night and we all got drunk and today were completely out of whack. But paranoia is inherently not logical, so it's hard to conquer it with logic.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Seriously. I think we're all a little stressed out. Did you hear the president's speech last night?

[zana16.livejournal.com]

No... we were busy getting wasted. She's a damn good boss, and she's never had to lay people off before. What did Obama say?

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

He was like just wash your hands and don't go to work or take public transportation if you're sick.

But also this gem:

"So I just want to help them get there. But I want to disabuse people of this notion that somehow we enjoy, you know, meddling in the private sector, if -- if you could tell me right now that, when I walked into this office that the banks were humming, that autos were selling, and that all you had to worry about was Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, getting health care passed, figuring out how to deal with energy independence, deal with Iran, and a pandemic flu, I would take that deal."

Huffington post has transcript

[zana16.livejournal.com]

Hee! I heart my president.