The countdown is over

I needed to let you know that, due to a bunch of personal issues (most of them job-related, some related to finances, some even church-related), I've decided to stop holding the Ragtime to Riches Festival. The continuing pandemic sure hasn't helped, as it wiped out what would've been the 2020 and 2021 R to R events. Still...I'm thankful for everyone who attended the festival since its 2005 inception, and I'm thankful for every performer who did the festival. Haven't dropped music for good, because I'm still going to the Pink Poodle Steakhouse in Crescent, IA to perform on the last Sunday of the month. (Hope to see you there!)

It sure didn't have to be this way

On Wednesday, 5-24-2020, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, the United States became the first country to suffer 100,000 deaths due to COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

That's just about like wiping a Billings, MT off the map...or a Davenport, IA...or a Sparks, NV.

Think about that.

And it sure didn't have to be this way.

I read an online article at theintercept.com that stated America's first confirmed case of COVID-19 was made public on 1-20-2020. That same article said that Vietnam saw its first case of the disease three days later.

Vietnam still has yet, as of 5-24-2020, to record its first COVID death.

Yes, yes, yes...Vietnam doesn't have as many people in it as the US; the 2020 edition of "The World Almanac" states that Vietnam has 97.9 million people in it compared to America's 327.2 million people (a 2018 estimate).

Now take a look at the world's most heavily-populated country, China.

Not counting Hong Kong or Macao, China's population is 1.39 billion people. Billion. 

If you go right now to worldometers.info, you'll find that the latest figures show that 4,634 Chinese have died from COVID.

Nope. That's not a typo. 

As far as I'm concerned, it all comes down to the White House's totally inadequate and completely halfhearted response to the coronavirus pandemic.

And yes...it's an utterly racist response.

Maybe you've heard that deaths from the disease have been disproportionately Black and Brown...the two biggest ethnic groups America's Republicans love to defecate on.

If you're thinking about cutting out on this post, just understand that the same article from theintercept.com yielded a quote from HHS Secretary Alex Azar: "Unfortunately, the American population is...very diverse."  

That's Azar trying to justify the world's highest COVID casualty total.

Remember: Azar is part of the first White Supremacist administration in Washington since Woodrow Wilson slept at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. 

The Republicans- especially those in the White House- made this whole coronavirus pandemic political. They, not I.

To them, it's all about winning on 11-3-2020. The Con Artist in Chief knows that the fewer people out there casting ballots this year, the better his chances of staying in the Oval Office.

And to The Adolf...oops, I mean The Donald, the pandemic is just another weapon in the GOP arsenal. Just like the call to keep the country's meatpacking facilities running, labeling meat as a vital item.

A significant percentage of immigrants and non-White people works at those plants.

And too many of the employees at those plants have complained about the lack of coronavirus (or any other kind of) protection at too many of those facilities.

Listen, if protein's the issue, cookinglight.com lists 21 other sources of protein.

For instance, you can get protein from peanuts, yogurt, cottage cheese, kidney beans, peanut butter, veggie burgers, lima beans, and all kinds of cheeses from Swiss to mozzarella to Colby Jack.

Okay...is social distancing the issue?

I get that millions of us are chafing to Get Back to Normal...even if it's not going to be all that simple. Millions are chafing to hear the nation's cash registers "KA-CHING!" at the same rate as when 2020 began and we were looking forward to a whole new decade.

Coming back to the article from theintercept.com, epidemiologists Britta L. Jewell and Nicholas P. Jewell said that about 90% of America's COVID-19 deaths could've been prevented if social-distancing policies had been put into effect on 3-2-2020.

At that time, only 11 Americans had died from the biggest global pandemic since the Spanish flu outbreak of 1918-20.

In response to COVID, social spacing finally got placed into effect on 3-15-2020.

Think where we'd be right now if the United States had REAL leadership at the top...instead of the con job that commenced on 1-20-2017. 

For now, let's think about saving lives first.

Then we can worry about saving the economy.  

I'm ready to retire...right now!

But my wallet isn't ready for me to retire right now.

Even with a company 401(k) and a personal retirement fund, the money still isn't plentiful enough right now for me to say: "That's it, I quit, I'm moving on!"

Last week marked the first time I ever told any of my superiors at my present place of work that I was ready to hang it up.

Anyway...it all stemmed from heat I took on 3-17-2020 from the machine operator I was supposed to replace as first shift (hers) morphed into second shift (mine).

"You're late," she told me.

It was 2:56 PM (Central time).

If you're on second shift where I work, you're supposed to report at 2:55 PM. (And I manage to do so the vast majority of the time.)

For the last several years, things had gotten to the point where I end up eating lunch at the factory before I get to my machine(s).  And this did happen this past St. Pat's Day.

Thank you, Internet.

Previously, I'd eat my lunch right here at home prior to shoving off for my plastics-factory job. (By the way...since I work second shift, and the second half of second shift is when most Americans watch prime-time TV, I call the meal break we get on second shift "dinner." Or else I just call it a "meal break," anyway.)

Since the incident, I've been trying to leave earlier for the factory...and been trying to eat lunch at home again before going to work.

On alternate Mondays, I go to the laundromat...and 3-23-2020 was one such Monday.

I clocked in at 2:45 PM (something I strive to do each and every workday), ended up eating lunch at the factory (because of the laundry load before that), and hurried to get to my machine on time.

Got there at 2:55 PM...right on the dot.

Still, I was unable to escape the wrath of the same coworker from first shift: "Why you in such a hurry?"

I let it all hang out and confronted her.   

I was still upset the next day about the two incidents...and told her to get off my back and leave me alone. 

What's more, I mentioned the two incidents to the supervisor on first shift and the supervisor on second shift. Plus: The chief on first shift reported the two incidents to the company's human resources department.

All of that helps.

But then, I've been thinking about the increasingly demanding nature of work at the factory...and about the fact that I'll turn 65 this November.

And I've even been thinking about the effects the coronavirus pandemic has had on people's lives. (For instance, the three places I've been going to to practice music- one of them the church I go to- have abandoned or cut their office hours for the time being.)

As a result, I've found myself with extra time for writing...especially screenplays.

And blog posts, too!

We're getting ready to slam into a new workweek at the factory...and I'm going to gear up to go through it. 

And I'll keep trying to build up that retirement chest so that I'm ready.