Unfortunate in Book Seven: Reconstruction 2020

I really don’t feel good today. It’s all having to do with sinuses, post nasal drip, and my stomach. Not to mention there is a Boil Order in my city. You see, afraid that November wouldn’t have a 2020 style catastrophe, apparently the Water Main decided to rupture yesterday and the City “hopes to have things repaired by Tuesday; do not consume water without boiling until further notice.” So enjoy your Thanksgiving preparations.

Work has been foolish. Like… my boss came in a few hours late and left a few hours early. And that’s all well and good. I don’t blame him at all. It took me approximately two hours of e-mailing today and my work is 85% done for the whole week. I’ve got about two hours tomorrow tops and I’m going to do half of that from home because even the judge isn’t going to be at the courthouse tomorrow. So… 1 hour in the courthouse than I’m leaving myself.

One thing strikes me as… almost chilling. The sense of isolation… the concept that all the houses are always shuttered and unwelcoming… that whole vibe from back in Tiny Town? It is starting to spread. I celebrate that I have a few friends where I am now (maturity and issues aside) and that there are people even besides them who have welcomed me into their homes. So it is a much better place. But the impact of COVID… feeding that isolation… requiring us all to “limit our bubbles”… it is as though the whole world became Tiny Town in some ways.

Oh wow. And I mean, I’m willing to own how petty this makes me.... but wow.
So me: I dreamt of becoming an actor. It is all I wanted to be. I spent 15 years of my childhood acting and really did have hopes to take it somewhere. But in college, I realized that what I wanted more than that was to be a father. And not a “here for eight months, gone for six months” kind of father. And not a “Daddy has to work for 8 hours, then go to class for 4, then hit the auditions all night” kind of father. So I quit.
My Friend L: She tried her best to make something of her acting talent. She was like an Iowan Audrey Plaza- dark hair tones, sardonic and witty, attractive. She was out in New York for a decade trying to get her career off the ground. When that didn’t work? She moved to Colorado and became a mother of 3 and an internal medicine doctor.
My Friend B: She was slaying the improv and theater market in small theaters throughout New York. Doing great, but never really “breaking in.” Just this summer, she gave up the trench work and moved to Denver.

AND THEN… I discover today that the kid who kept getting into trouble in High School because he (literally) refused to come to class even ONCE without narcotics in his system? Has an impressive movie career. The kid who as recently as yesterday was talking about how much he wants to “smoke a scorpion because I’ve heard that can make you really high” has a credits list that includes
Transamerica
Law & Order SVU
Blue Bloods
Ray Donovan
Iron Fist
Rough Night
Lady in the Water

I mean look at this picture.
Look at him with these big names!

I mean, I know… being petty. But it’s a very weird thing to see excellent, talented, hard working people give up… and to see the “smoke it, inject it, or ingest it?” guy in a film with Paul Giamatti! More evidence of an unjust world, I guess.