Screen Time

I have been trying to spend less time looking at  screens.

Thanks for the kind e-mails, they really cheer me up!  I have not posted in a long while for various reasons.  We've been busy with health appointments for starters.  Also, it seemed that it would be easier to drive a van camper (after renting one in Spain for over a month) so we went and bought one.  A 2015 Winnebago ERA Touring Coach model 170A on a Mercedes 3500 Sprinter chassis.  Only 17,000 miles in ten years, serviced at the Mercedes dealer annually.  Of course, such little use presents its own problems, notably with dried seals and such.  But the chassis part seems indomitable - so far.  And yes, it came with new tires.

First stop: Mistletoe State Park, near Augusta!

So, here we are in the Poconos, and I am finding it less and less attractive to look at my phone or to go on the computer.  Google searches return only incorrect or plainly wrong AI responses - or worse, ads for things they think I want to buy.  The "News" - particularly the once-storied Washington Post and New York Times seem to be all click-bait and rage-bait.  Might as well click on a Taboola feed story!  Social media is flooded with SPAM and trolls.  The lowest common denominator is now the norm.  Pseudo-science and conspiracy theories are bandied about as gospel and those who try to say otherwise are attacked.

Why bother?  There is no "there" there.

Others are fascinated.  Juan loves his tick-tock and not just for the porn content.  His phone sounds like a cacophony of noises and weird music as each short video plays.  Mark and I spent a considerable sum buying him iBuds, but he never uses them.  The other day, I heard the similar sounds coming from Mark's phone.  We had a discussion about that.

There is little to be gathered online anymore, other than the weather and maybe a few headlines (most of which are clickbait or ragebait as noted).  Even e-mails and texts are SPAN and junk.  I find myself not looking at the phone for days.  Juan looks at it constantly, as I assume most Americans do - based on the erratic drivers we pass, which you can see texting at 75 MPH in a construction zone.

In a way, it is like when I contracted the Norovirus on the Carnival Valor.  Three weeks of explosive diarrhea and the pounds just melt away!   My appetite for food disappeared overnight - for the first time in my life! I lost 20 pounds in two weeks.

Similarly, my "appetite" for screen time has shrunk to nearly zero.  I am just not hungry for click-bait news or garbage postings on social media.  It just isn't worth the time and effort, for the ever-diminishing returns involved.

Well, that and we've been busy.  The new camper has seen some neglect, or worse, half-assed attempts at repairs by the late owner.  The $8 rubber coupling on the toilet flange was dried out, so Dad decided to use 20 lbs. of spray foam to "fix" it.  PSA: Spray foam is NOT a sealant!  In fact, it is pretty useless for anything.  Just leave it on the shelf.  And never hire a contractor who has half-used cans of spray foam rolling around in the back of his pickup truck.  Not only is it not a sealant, it absorbes water like a sponge.

Some of the poop-soaked spray foam, which came out in chunks.  Ugh!

So, after gouging away 20 lbs of poop-soaked spray foam from around the toilet flange (after crawling under the coach!) I was able to remove the offending rubber sleeve and replace it with one from Lowe's for eight bucks.   What would have been a ten minute job became a two-hour long nightmare in the 95-degree Georgia heat, thanks to spray foam and Dad/s half-assed previous repair job.

The toilet flange with the spray foam removed and rubber sleeve removed.

Weird thing, while Parkinson's is making it hard for me to walk (and even type!), my dopamine levels seem to boost when I am confronted with a repair problem.  Put a wrench in my hand and the trembling stops right away!  I guess some musicians have this same effect - shaking like a leaf, until they pick up the guitar or sit at the piano and play.

The rubber sleeve, cracked as I expected.

Well, at least that's something!  Maybe I should take up the piano!

The new sleeve - longer and no leaks!

So Mark has a laundry list of things to fix on the new camper - together.   I guess this will keep me busy for a while!

The New Modesty

Granny was way ahead of her time!

You leave the country for a couple of months and all hell breaks loose.  Maybe it is being away for a while that puts new perspectives on things, but it seems some dramatic changes are happening, in social standards, styles, mores, and laws (or lack thereof).

I leave an America where women are wearing thongs or "Daisy Duke" cutoffs, and return to a puritan country where women are wearing "granny dresses."  Even in sin city New Orleans, I see flocks of tourists, with the wives all covered from head-to-toe in ugly, ill-fitting dresses, with puffy sleeves and some sort of embroidered panel covering their boobs. We visit WalMart - the real "heartbeat of America" and racks and racks of granny dresses are on proud display, right up front - your choice of primary colors!  When it makes it to the aisles of WalMart, it is become mainstream.

I mean, I get it - the far-right has ascended into power, but such changes so soon?  So fast?

I suppose it was inevitable.  Over time, women have shorn themselves of more and more clothing and exposed more and more flesh. In the late 1800's even showing your ankles was considered scandalous. By mid-century, dresses were knee-high, off the shoulder, and showing some cleavage was considered the norm.  By the swinging 60s, it was bikinis and cutoffs.  Eventually, there was nothing left to do, but go naked.  And today's "swimsuits" amount to little more than a patch of cloth and a string. Some women argue that they should be allowed to go topless - as the men are already allowed to do.

So it makes sense, in a weird way, that there was nowhere to go but to do a re-set back to ground zero.  The granny dress is "in" and it may be another 100 years before the thong rears its ugly head. Again.

Of course, maybe it is time men tried a little modesty.  Man-boobs are not appealing, even if it is a "norm" for men to go topless.  And shorts don't have to be the default dress code.  Combined with "manspreading" it leaves little to the imagination.  Ugh.

But maybe that is the point - misogyny.  Women must cover up their shame, while men flaunt it for all to see, whether invited or not.

Maybe time for the Muu Muu to make a comeback!

Health Update:  It seems you can't go on a Carnival cruise without getting the Norovirus.  On the mend, I hope! Instead of on the toilet!