378. Two Million Thanks, Covid, and a $281 Venti Latte?? Where’s the Kink?

Yeah, I haven’t posted in six weeks. No reason other than just wasn’t in the mindset to post. Several notable things occurred in that time.

2 MILLION VIEWS

Look at me, look at me! Around February 4, I went over 2 million total views since inception of my blog in April 2016. I hit a million in Sep 2019.

I am in awe. It feels a bit weird. I never intended, and never thought, it would come to this. I went into this with no plan to post anything after my first dozen posts. Yet, here we are!

I think about blogs I follow and why. For the non-kink blogs, it’s less about their specific lifestyle and more about the way they write. Some people write in a way that beckons me into their thoughts or world. I follow blogs ranging from fitness, to fashion, to homemaking. And the “Day-in-the-life” blogs are not all kink related (but many are). Many are just musings of daily life from people that most would describe as “normal.” Well, normal compared to me. That’s not saying much!

While it does feel good and I felt proud enough to want to share it, NOT focusing on “followers” is something I like about the WordPress community. It seems people write because they are compelled to write, readers be damned. The joy in writing comes across in many blogs. I hope it does in mine. I like sharing the goings on in my life. It’s great self-therapy. And when I don’t feel like posting, like the last six weeks, then I don’t post.

Thank you for reading. I will continue to post whenever the urge to do so is there. That way I can continue to deliver only the finest quality posts worthy of your time and benefiting your mind. Such as only the best posts about orgasm denial you could ever hope to read. LOL!

Anyway, thank you. It does stroke the ego to know that there is enough perv in people to take interest in my life.

COVID HITS HOME

Covid hit home with our middle son, affectionally referred to as T2 on this blog, coming down with Covid. He lives in the San Diego area. I think I shared that before. After college he got a great job there. Anyway, he lives with his girlfriend and another roommate. Overall they were being cautious but, everyone seems to justify their own reasonable exceptions here and there. Not judging, it’s just human nature. Well anyway, their roommate took one too many exceptions and brought Covid home to all of them.

This just happened two weeks ago and they are still not 100%. Their roommate had mild symptoms, fever and aches, that lasted about three days. T2 had the same, except he lost the ability to taste and smell and it has not yet returned. They say it can take a long time for that to return. Unfortunately, T2’s girlfriend got it the worst. She had a fever for 10 straight days, all in the 102-103 range. Severe muscle aches as well where she couldn’t even stand without assistance. She had a little trouble breathing the first two nights, but self treated with inhalers and nebulizer. The hospital didn’t want her in unless her fever stayed over 103 and/or if she had significant trouble breathing.

She ended up with fluid in her lungs, but still, no hospitalization. They came to their apartment and performed on infusion called Bamlanivimab. She responded very well to that and the fever broke and she’s been feeling better every day, but still not 100%.

Both T2 and his girlfriend had their 25th birthdays in the last two weeks. Those are birthdays they’ll never forget. And let that be a cautionary tale for you 20-somethings out there. It can happen to you and it can be worse than just a regular virus.

Also, John and Donna both got Covid late last year. While their fevers and aches only lasted 3-4 days, John had respiratory issues that have not 100% resolved. He basically ended up with some lung damage that is not expected to be permanent but may take several more months to fully heal. He now uses an inhaler every day – something he never did before.

Our youngest has received his first vaccine shot and gets his second one tomorrow. He has always been our biggest worry because we know he might not survive it. I think I’ve shared before that he has been hospitalized with “routine” respiratory infections before.

This would be a good time to go on a political rant about Texas and our governors decision to lift all Covid-related restrictions so that businesses could make money for Spring Break. We have all sacrificed so much over the last year and the finish line is in sight. Now, because of failed leadership, more people won’t be crossing that finish line. Speaking of a lack of leadership. . .

TEXAS WINTER STORM

We were hit with a winter storm a few weeks back that was the worst Texas has ever seen. We were without power for a 15 hour stretch when temps were below 10 degrees AND after only having power about 5 minutes per hour the previous 4-5 hours. The house was already cold before the 15 hour stretch.

Our youngest was at the farm during this and it got scary for us because he has temperature regulation issues and they were without power longer than we were. While I could trust my eldest and his wife were doing everything to keep J warm, it just felt helpless not being the one to make sure he was getting what he needed. Thankfully, a fire place at the neighbors was sufficient to keep him warm – Covid protocols be damned.

While such a storm would have been a challenge for any power supply structure, we do have a point of comparison of how it COULD have been. El Paso had a few thousand residents without power for less than 30 minutes. The rest of the state experienced what I did, and even worse in some areas.

Why? Because El Paso did things no other area of Texas did to be better prepared (i.e., spent money to better winterize their power supply). Clearly, leadership matters. Just ask those families who lost loved ones due to freezing to death.

Just as in healthcare, a system based on supply-and-demand where there is zero incentive to produce any more supply above what is normally demanded, and to be allowed to price gouge anytime the demand exceeds supply, is a crappy system for electricity. The power companies raked in BILLIONS during the storm, and their political allies in Austin will be justly rewarded. Residents were stuck with massive electric bills.

I’ll try and limit my rant, but consider that nationally in America, the average cost per megawatt hour of electricity is $133. At certain points during the storm, the cost in Texas reached $9,000. Keep in mind it didn’t cost that much more to produce the power, but because the price is based on demand, since more people wanted it, the price was raised.

Let’s put that in perspective. You go to the store to buy milk that is usually $3 a gallon. At checkout they tell you, sorry, it was $3 when you walked in, but now it is $203. Oh, and your $200 total grocery bill? Sorry, that’s $13,530 now. Pay up!

More? That $1,500 rent. Nope, it is $102,500 this month. Your venti coffee? $281 please. And with electricity, you don’t have a choice, other than DIE! ALL THE WHILE it did not cost more to produce another megawatt of power. It is simply legalized price gouging courtesy of Qtrumplikkklans who run Texas.

While the Texas “leadership” is to blame for the degree of failure, to be honest, it isn’t just a problem created by the reichwing. Nationally our power system was built in the 50’s with a 50-year lifespan. Of course, it was built back when the top corporate and individual tax rates ranged from 70-90%, but that was communism and was oppressing everyone so it had to be stopped and replaced with trickle-down economics. And that’s what Texans got during the storm – a trickle of power from those in power.

WHERE’S THE KINK?

Prior to the storm we had been getting together with John and Donna again. Just hanging out as friends and of course, as friends with benefits. I won’t explain our rationale because honestly, it was faulty. Please don’t complain in the comments. We understand how stupid we were. We just reached our own tipping point and needed some normalcy and we all caved. I will note that we made sure that if J was coming home from the farm that we isolated for two weeks before having him home. But still, it was dumb for us to do what we did.

We came to our senses and have resumed our social distancing. As T2’s experience taught us, why get careless now? It would be offensive to our own sacrifices of the last year. Whatever our form of cabin fever, we can hold out another three months or so.

CONTRACT RENEGOTIATION

Our current Agreement expires March 17. “Negotiations” in full swing. More to come on my next post!

Thanks again for reading my blog!

NEXT: 379. It’s Domestic Discipline Contract Time