As some may have noticed, the podcast has changed slightly. We dropped the fantasy we would cover healthcare issues exclusively and drop the premise of not being political (like I or anyone can avoid that with captain hairdo running the place, at least for three days and a wake up). In fairness, I am pretty much a call it as I see it, guy. Let’s face it, with everything the outgoing president has done, it is not tough to be critical of many things (okay, everything), especially with the pandemic, many, many missteps.

We also changed because, quite frankly, there was no news out there except Covid, and when there is something related to a disease process or chronic illness, it all ends up tying back to Covid. I can tell you that the one thing that captain hairdo and I do have in common is that we are both sick of hearing about Covid (he, on the other hand, needs to do something, which right now is to move on).

One might think that I am failing to give you information because it has “Covid” in it. Still, when they hear something with “Covid” in it, I have noticed that many people tend to move on because, quite frankly, it has saturated our information society to a point where we are exhausted. I scan things with Covid in them for quick info and skip the fluff. The unfortunate part is that many folks are left to wonder where the actual truth lies since there is a ton of “skepticism” and “doubt” for reasons as seemed to make no real sense to me.

I am realizing the mission here is to minimize the virus and its effects for political gain or capitalistic gain. Now I know I sound like an enemy of capitalism, but it seems practical that people who make money from other people’s work would want those people to keep working. Making people think the virus is less than it is or fake can get people to avoid self-protection and return to work. The use of diversion regarding the virus is something that we will most likely discuss on the podcast. Simultaneously, looking at the adverse effects of spreading false information, especially about a virus.

When I started the blog, I had a fantasy, as many do, to monetize this and maybe just do this. Well… that never happened, and while it would be cool to make a modest second income from this, it is most likely not in the cards. Does that mean I am going to stop the blogging and the podcasts? No, because like anyone, I think I have something to say, and blogging has turned into an adventure for me (plus come on, everyone is entitled to my opinion j/k). I have found the most important and poignant things to write about and some of the most esoteric. Some of this has given me a great deal of perspective on patient views and approaches to care. I know that sounds funny after listening to the podcast because Chris and I generally just rant about random shit.

At the beginning of all of this, I coopted a friend who has a master’s in English and had a pretty catty tone when he edited my writing. This tone was a source of amusement to my readers, of course.  Who doesn’t like to hear queens dish? He didn’t want to be involved in the emerging podcast (voice identity, as I recall) because of personal reasons.

Fast forward a couple of months, and we became at odds with each other. The working relationship ended as well as our friendship. I started to slide and have been sliding since. The fallout from this has not been the best as I have grieved this loss; even though I have tried to use bravado and anger, in the end, I lost a pretty good friend, and hell, he was at the least able to be cattier about things than even I can be. I guess we all learn something, even us tired old queens.

I am moving on. I know that many of you are tired of reading it, but I think I have a path forward here (yeah, again with that shtick). This time I mean it (yeah, I know). I have settled into the podcast in recent months, playing video games, and developing a maker space. Doing these things gives me a diversity of outlets and allows me multiple diversions for my creativity. As I get better with maker projects, I may delve into the world of YouTube to give folks a glimpse of the things I’m working on. Since I have very little input from my readers are listeners about the show, I can just freewheel it. As Indiana Jones once said, “I don’t know I am making this up as I go.”

In the end, I’m going to try and keep the blog itself focused on health care. I have several pieces coming up in the next few days that I’m working on right now will be talking about a few things. I’m going to do another article addressing military sexual trauma and violence in the military. MST is a substantial mental health piece in terms of the long-term effects that these items have on folks getting out of the military. It’s in the news day in and day out, and because it’s the military or because it’s a veteran, it seems to gain more traction than if the average civilian did it.

Thanks for listening to me ramble today.  I knew that I would need to adjust things to fit how I want my life to look.

Be the kind of person your dog and your mom hope you are.