Me of the Day

Current Mood: Bleak.

Current Activity: Thinking of leaving the house. Maybe. Probably, no.

Incredibly Brilliant/Stupid: I was painting my nails (Pink! So pretty!) and had a thought...why don't we paint our teeth? Er...not pink, and not with Nail Polish, probably...but why don't dentists coat our every tooth with some sort of bright white, shiny substance that hardens and gives our teeth a layer of protection against cavities, acid, stains, etc.? I demand such a substance, hopefully before Diet Coke wears away the last of my natural enamel. If you are brilliant enough to make this happen, I ask only 15% of royalties.

And on to the Four Swine of the Apocalypse:

I believe I am all alone in wishing the media would talk more about swine flu - or whatever decidedly unromantic name it is going by these days. I want it to saturate life’s every moments. I want panic laden suburbanites to be duck-taping their windows, and every person over the age of sixty-two wearing government issued masks. Mostly, I want the government to be focused on what will happen next, not what happened a week ago. By the time any person in sick enough to get tested, they have had the illness and been spreading it to others for about ten days (the incubation period is about a week - longer than most flus.) Unless we start restricting people’s activity now, every single person is going to be sick in about…ten days. I except the government to catch on in approximately two week’s time.

My fear’s aren’t totally born of a sick desire to see the world erupt into chaos - most days, my life is interesting enough. I am, however, wary of everyone who notes that this flu is just another flu. It is, of course, but what makes pandemics so special is that they tend to be especially deadly - no one would have noticed or cared if hundreds of people in Mexico hadn’t already died from the thing. They kill hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people who otherwise would have, um, Not Died.

I work with an especially vulnerable population - the most vulnerable population, probably - and, odds are, we are going to lose a few of them to this. HIV-positive women with Hepatitis C and one lung who don’t get nutritious food and sleep on the streets…they are going to die. And yet the news will only say that there are ‘3 confirmed cases in the Lower Mainland of BC’…where? Vancouver or freaking Whiterock? The Downtown Eastside in a crowded hotel, or a farm in Aldergrove? Should we be getting our women proper masks, or stop serving communal meals? Should I stop going to work (I have allergies and therefore cough)? Tell Me What To Do You Useless Twenty-Four Hour Media of Ineptitude! Gah….