Sunday night. Just two more full workweeks until the big holiday break.

That podcast, The Dream, is really growing on me. I believe I’ve already gone through about 12 hours of it. It’s nice to have it play in the background while doing random things that don’t distract from the narrative. My room hasn’t been this clean in months! The episode on the history of vitamins, in particular, was absolutely fascinating. (I know, I have a different definition of “fascinating” than you. Heh.)

To keep the pandemic distractions coming, I started what’s probably the ultimate escapist book: “In Hero Years… I’m Dead” by Michael Stackpole. I’ve only just started it, but it features a noir detective protagonist, thinly veiled counterparts of the DC comics heroes, and the general post-Golden-Age cynicism of the Watchmen. Oh, and weaponized yo-yos. So far, I’m kind of loving it.

In covid news, Rudy Giuliani not only has covid – he’s been hospitalized. Just last week, Giuliani spent several days arguing in favour of his voter fraud conspiracy theory in packed courtrooms, for hours at a time. It’s possible that he’s infected dozens, if not hundreds of others: fellow politicians, lawyers, judges, and a whole lot of other folks who will have to isolate due to the exposure. Giuliani is 76. He’s two years older than Trump and almost certainly won’t get the same cutting-edge treatment that Trump got just two months ago. As always, I hope Giuliani survives and learns from the experience. If he doesn’t, I suspect a lot of people out there will weave his death into the strange fabric of their ever-changing conspiracy theories. (From what I understand, the QAnon crowd is very confused and upset by Trump’s loss.)

To be honest, it’s almost impressive that Giuliani had managed to go that long without getting infected, seeing as he didn’t wear a mask and interacted face to face with hundreds of people. Of course, the really grotesque part of this all is that the media will give him far more coverage than they give thousands of non-celebrity Americans who die every day. Giant grim covid deadlines on the front page of every issue might not result in more sales, but it sure looks like the pandemic has been normalized, much like a force of nature or an act of a capricious Old Testament God who, for some reason, really favours New Zealand, Taiwan, and Australia instead.

Stay healthy, folks.