Happy independence

Happy Fourth of July, everyone! America is indeed one of the great countries on this planet. The epicenter of innovation and entertainment. Opportunities abound, so long as you are willing to put in the long hard work. This country is also home to a uniquely deadly gun culture, and unreasonably high crime rates - depending on where you go. A trade-off worth making? I bet plenty of people think so.

I arrive at this year’s Independence Day having taken the previous week off from work. I didn’t go any where, because honestly who can afford the hefty inflated travel costs these days. Even a roadtrip is prohibitive with the still historically high gas prices. That said, I still managed a glorious time staying home and not really doing much of anything. I slept about nine hours each day, and just sort of milled about, relaxed into the present moment.

But now I’m ready to return to regular life. Back to reading books, studying Korean, piano practice, and writing on this blog. There’s also going to work, obviously. You know, the thing that makes all of this leisurely stuff possible. As ever I remain super thankful that I am able to walk to work. I would be far less cheery today if there’s going to be a long car commute awaiting tomorrow. After not walking anywhere at all for one whole week, I’m actually looking forward to moving the legs again.

The second half of 2022 is upon us. Let’s make it count!

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God bless the automobile.

Sleepless in the 4th

How was your Fourth of July? Didn’t get any sleep, I bet.

As is with everything these days, Independence Day was not untouched by the scourge of the coronavirus. No big municipal firework show this year, obviously, and with parks closed and gatherings strictly not recommended, the traditional July 4th barbecue with friends or family was not be as well. Even though the weather was lovely and the sun was out in San Francisco, it was largely just another Saturday this past weekend. That is, until nightfall.

It’s ever expected that once Fourth of July turns into evening, the illegal fireworks come out to play. It’s something you get used to, but of course this year COVID-19 sprinkled some additional magic. For whatever reason, the amount of fireworks and the potency of them were extra high, probably the most extreme that I can remember. And people started early, too - before the sun has even gone down, which doesn’t really make sense because what exactly can you see when it’s still light out? Sadly, logic didn’t stop anything that day.

The noise and bangs from the fireworks were so intense that I put on earplugs as soon as I finished dinner, but even those things can only do so much; there’s no keeping out the sound entirely when it’s that loud. Not sure where people are getting them but the scale have gone completely off the rails. Your illegal fireworks are probably too big if the explosion can be felt through shakes of the windows and building. As someone simply trying to endure through the night, you sort of hope that nothing falls on your roof and catch on fire. To used a tired and inappropriate cliche: it sounded like a war zone out there the whole night of the 4th.

There was some good news: by the time the next day rolled around, it seems my neighborhood have exhausted their supplies because there were far less fireworks on the 5th of July than usual. Thank god for that because there are those us who had to get some proper sleep in order to for work on Monday.

Happy birthday. America; the only civilized country on earth that can’t seem to contain the coronavirus properly. You are indeed exceptional!

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All that’s left are leaves.

No rest for everybody

I would like to know whose idea or agreement was it that said we are going to have nightly rounds of illegal fireworks for the entire month of June, presumably leading up to the Fourth of July. It used to be that only on the day of Independence Day would we had to deal with the loud bangs and pops of fireworks emanating around the neighborhood, but for some reason somebody decided this year that we are going to have it every evening for a whole month. According to what I can gleam from twitter, this is a phenomenon all throughout the country. New Yorkers are so fed up with the disruption that they’ve gone to the mayor’s house to protest - with loud honking.

It makes sense: if I can’t get proper sleep, why should the person who runs the city?

Normally I am not against illegal fireworks on the Fourth of July; it’s for the kids, and just one night out of the whole year having to endure thunderous sounds while trying to fall asleep is a worthy tradeoff. Thirty straight days, however? That’s got to be a no from me, man. Since the month of June began I’ve been wearing ear-plugs to sleep, something I usually don’t do unless I’m traveling. While I can indeed sleep through earthquakes, paradoxically I need absolute silence in order to fall into slumber. These nightly fireworks have not been conducive to say the least, and honestly I’m starting to get rather annoyed.

I have no doubts the coronavirus situation plays a huge factor in the endless melee of loud bangs every night. There’s got to be a surplus of fireworks that were made available to purchase online very cheaply; thus armed with an arsenal that couldn’t be depleted in one single night, one person decided to start lighting them up way ahead of the Independence holiday. Monkey see, monkey do, and everybody who’s got illegal fireworks began to shoot them on a nightly basis. Admittedly it was amusing at first, but after over twenty consecutive days of it, it’s really not fun anymore. Worse, there’s still almost two weeks before the actual Fourth of July; god forbid it continues on after that.

Not here to spoil anyone’s party, but the daily rounds of fireworks is a prime example of too much of a good thing. I hope this super quirky 2020 is but an aberration, and starting next year we go back to putting up fireworks on the day of only.

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How would you like your adapter to be adapted?