Strange Days

Happy Thursday! Has your day been as bizarre as mine? Here’s just a snippet of the last six hours:

1. I woke up to an anaphylactic reaction. I’m not sure what the trigger was. I guess I’m allergic to myself? Also, I realized that the gross feeling I have experienced with almost every meal throughout my life is called anaphylaxis. Yep, I thought that the throat closing a little bit was normal. It’s not, for those of you wondering. I feel like an idiot. I need to fix my body.
2. I saw a great egret outside my window. I excitedly stepped outside to capture a video of the tall, majestic, snow-white bird. As I was shooting the bird’s slow, calculated steps, it ducked down and plucked a squirrel out of the ground and I heard the sound of a hundred panicked squeaks as the bird flew away. I dropped my phone and screamed. The moment transformed from sweet and exciting to mildly traumatizing too damn quickly.
3. I watched a passive aggressive battle of the landscapers, as the “dirt redistribution team” from my complex blew leaves into a neighboring complex, and the neighboring landscapers blew them back through the fence.
4. My immunologist’s office called. Testing shows severe polyethylene glycol and polysorbate allergies, meaning I’m ineligible for all three vaccines currently available in the US. A suspected antibody deficiency puts me at high risk of an adverse reaction to COVID, so I basically need to become a hermit until the pandemic passes. Fun.
5. My partner’s always-broke stoner friend made over $500,000 pumping Dogecoin this year and I have some questions. Why are people dumping cash into a coin with no function? How many internet meme millionaires are currently cashing out? I mean, I understand how the space work and how people buy in low and then create FOMO so others drive up the price, but it’s all so perplexing.
6. My partner won a lottery to participate in an ICO (cryptocurrency equivalent to IPO) pre-order and was able to 5x our small investment today. He cashed out to secure the profit and set aside taxes (ugh!), then bought back in with the difference because it’s actually a useful token which will likely grow over the next year or two.
7. I have a third idea for a sci-fi short story following a conversation with my partner about AI versus humans. He brought up a an interesting perspective on what sets humans apart from AI–something I had not considered, but that he has clearly thought a lot about based on his commentary. I’m excited, but struggling to get past the broad stroke themes of the stories.
8. A neighbor just sold their condo for a pretty penny. Their unit was smaller than ours and with a less-ideal position within the building/complex than ours. It’s insane–my partner’s home appreciated a whopping 3% during his first fourteen years of ownership before skyrocketing the last two. Step right up and pay 250% more than you would have three years ago for 30-year-old home, terrible HOA and property management, bursting pipes, and pest control problems! (No, guys, it was joke. No, really, stop! What… $50,000 over asking? Are you crazy?!) If you’ve been banished to the hellhole that is Phoenix, it’s a very decent location. I guess that’s what matter.

I hope that you’re having a great day. If anything noteworthy has occurred, I’d love to hear about it. If not, here, take some of mine. This has been a bit too much excitement for me. I’m ready for a nap.