October 17, 2024

I don’t like the word “triggered”, as in, “he was triggered by something she said”. It has a strong Millennial connotation to me, and as a solid Gen-Xer with a weird need to belong to something, it’s strange to me to identify with something I consider to be “Millennial”.

Someday I’m going to share more detail around how my brain works. In the meanwhile, I’ll try to stick to topic.

Whether or not I enjoy the word and any connontation around it is irrelevant, the truth of the matter is, as an impressionable type of person I can be triggered into a mood rather easily.

Whether it’s the never ending litany and monotony of this never-ending presidential election, some other assfoolery going on in the news, or even blog entries highlighting the latest fad in “optimal productivity”, my mind wants to go along with that crowd and my attitude usually adjusts accordingly.

Upon returning home from vacation I decided that I would need to scale back from Mastodon and Instagram a bit so that I could let the good vibes from my vacation marinate and simmer into something that would hopefully echo some permanence in my psyche. Instagram has figured out that I enjoy animals and, as all corporately controlled algorithms are designed to do, the outrage machine is cranked up to 11 with ads that would make Sarah McLachlan weep. I know there are many animals out there in the world that don’t have it as good as Truman and Lucky and Jinx have it here in the house, and my heart aches a lot for these poor little souls. My heart also can’t take the constant barrage of these images without tears constantly being in the back of my throat, so I’ve stepped away from Instagram until it settles down.

Mastodon, and the Fediverse in general, triggers me a bit in a different way. I’ve been pretty deep in the Apple ecosystem for a while and every time I go on Mastodon and see some of my Linux friends doing their thing, I feel bad because I haven’t abandoned the evil fruit and corporate America in general. Then I feel triggered even further because I’m just too tired for the amount of outrage required to be what I guess is a responsible American citizen in this day and age by clutching my pearls, my husband’s pearls, and the pearl’s of a random stranger on the street every time Trump belches, J.D. Maybelline farts, or someone says Kamala Harris’ name incorrectly (even though they’re solidly on her side of this election turned football game turned WWE fake wrestling match).

This country is one news story away from a complete Idiocracy.

Yes, Your Honor, I object to the word “triggered” but I there’s a lot of things triggering me in a bad way on this Internet thingee, and by taking a step back I’ve gained a slight bit of sanity. 

Not much, mind you, but a bit.

There’s a part of me that feels like this Election nonsense is the appetizer to the sheer chaos that’s coming after the election, no matter who wins what where, and for that?

I’m looking at the wine list.

The moon is very impressive this morning.