I used to talk about current events in this blog, but now I don’t even think about mentioning the news here. Not sure why. I stopped watching the news nonstop a few years ago. I didn’t see much on Biden’s last year and Trump’s reelection. Maybe it was a pandemic hangover that made me stop watching.

But I also know I didn’t want to hear from or about Trump. Everything he says is nonsense, so what’s the point in listening? He changes his mind a lot, too, so I just want to know when a bill is passed. When is there a FINAL decision? Skip the chit-chat about plans and other stuff. It’s pointless.

But I’m not apathetic. Well, I am a little bit about election politics. I can’t take it seriously anymore. It’s a game. Most of the time (even in local politics), there are only two choices. I don’t do binary thinking, so just thinking about voting is painful at this point. I don’t want to talk about two bad choices. None of them stand for what I believe. Both main presidential parties stand for big business and choose business over people, so I’m done with the major parties, and asking me to vote for either one makes me sick, and that’s why I no longer read about politics or participate in forums. It’s all very binary, and I can’t tolerate it. 

You only have one choice, they say. Uh, well, thanks for confirming. I’ll let them decide. It’s been going pretty great in the United States for decades. So they must be onto something and not just constantly repeating history. The nerve! But I let them be them, and I’ll be me. If people want to think I’m the worst person in the world for this, then I could point out how they support the corporations that cause so much harm (including sickness and death), but that would be in poor taste, right?

So, I’m watching more news now than in 2023, but I might skip the presidential election stuff. Well, the news isn’t that bad. It’s the people. (See above.)  Maybe I know I don’t have anything NEW  to say about current events. Despite people’s shock, history repeats itself, so what is there to say?  Most of the time, I have an opinion, but I don’t always want to blog it out these days. It isn’t going to solve anything or even make me feel 1% better.

And there is apathy about the things that repeat, because what do people expect if they keep accepting the status quo? If they don’t want real change, fine. I’ll just sit over here…and watch the news. 

And now I will have a bad transition into my weekly section that is no longer weekly…

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This Week

Music listened to

Books

Ugh. Having the worst time finding nonfiction books. Especially audiobooks, but really all nonfiction is currently falling flat. Five years ago,  I could count on self-help (ugh!) or AKA personal development, but once I realized that all the stuff is for able-bodied people without chronic illnesses and with resources (money, time), all the books are useless to me, so that is the main issue. Well, actually, I can’t do that right now. No, really. Why is this book gaslighting me? Oh. I can just stop reading the book, but I still have to do what my boss says. Got it.

Recently, I’ve been reading true crime and memoirs. But I’ve hit a block wth that too. This week I started TWO nonfiction books and realized I’d read them less than 3 years ago. Are there no good nonfiction books out there, or is it me? It’s clearly me. Guess I’m just not into reading nonfiction right now. I will try to stop forcing it. At least I can still find fiction books that are interesting, but there’s nothing like a good memoir or true crime book!

I found a true crime audiobook that came out this past week. I was excited to listen to it, and wow, the yelling!  Why is there yelling in the preface of a nonfiction book? And it didn’t end there. He kept yelling through chapter one, so I quit. The author narrates his own audiobook. I wish I could say that is the problem, but I think more people will ‘perform’ in audiobooks. And people like me, who like to relax and have a steady volume, will tune out.

A lot of fiction books are already horrible with the yelling and high pitch, but now people are ruining nonfiction, too? Okay, BYE! I’m so glad I didn’t spend money on that book. Whew! I would much rather have a bland AI voice than a human yelling at me. But YMMV. 

Books I finished this week:

The Mother-In-Law by Kiersten Modglin: Fiction My rating: ★★★ (really 3.5 stars)

Finally slowing down with finishing books! I read 9 books in January. That must be a record for me. I probably haven’t read that many books in a month since I was a teenager.

Quote of the Week