It was a weird juxtaposition to be at Disney World, "The Happiest Place on Earth,"* while knowing the largest war on European soil since WWII was imminent, but so it goes. I don't even know what to say about Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- so pointless, so tragic. It seems to be driven almost entirely by Putin's ego and inferiority complex. He feels personally aggrieved that Ukraine is no longer under Russia's thumb, and he can't even control them from afar (like he does Belarus). He preferred the days when the Soviet Union was feared and revered, and he's going to return to that time or get thousands of people killed trying. Will he succeed in his quest? Probably not, but who knows? The only certainty is there will be blood. Beyond that I think we just have to wait and see and hope. I don't believe anybody who says they know what will happen.
*Technically, I think that is the moniker for Disneyland, not Disney World, but, y'know, same shit.
I do think Biden is handling it in the best way possible. There is a lot of talk about whether or not sanctions "will work," but I don't even know really what that means. Will they bring Russia to heel and force Putin to do what we say? No. Will they impose a cost on him and his friends both directly -- freezing their foreign assets -- and indirectly -- making life hard on everyday citizens. Yes. Does that mean sanctions are working? I dunno. But the broader point is, What else can be done? Unless the US is actually going to go to war with Russian in Ukraine -- something Biden (thankfully) has already said is *not* going to happen -- I don't see what else we can really do other than what we are doing now. And a lot is happening every minute. More sanctions probably got announced since I started writing this. It has been heartening to see much the world coalesce in defiance, and to see the Ukrainian people stand up for themselves, but it's early still. This shit could go on for a while.
Anyway, to segue awkwardly, Disney World was pretty fun. We went to Hollywood Studios, just for a day, which was more than enough time for me. We couldn't do everything, of course, but we did a bunch of stuff. The lines are outrageously long (close to 3 hours at a max), but every few hours you can claim a "Lightning Lane" pass, which allows you to wait in a still kinda long, but much shorter line. I think we used our passes wisely. We did Lightning Lane on an Indiana Jones stunt show and a Millennium Falcon ride, and then we waited in some shorter lines -- a different Star Wars ride, a 3-D Muppets short movie, and a Lightning McQueen thing -- and then at the very end of the day, we waited in one long line (a little over an hour) for this Mickey Mouse ride. The only thing I really liked was the Indiana Jones stunt show -- it was super cool. Everything else was either for little kids or it made me motion sick. I'm telling you, I don't have the stomach for amusement park rides anymore -- or rather I should say I don't have the head for them. I get dizzy and discombobulated and my head starts to hurt. My stomach is usually fine.
The best thing about this trip is that we did it and got it out of the way, and now we don't have to go back again for a while. Like I said, it was fun, but the crowds and hassle and the costs -- it's too much. It's hard to not get resentful and feel like they're trying to squeeze every last dime out of me to wait in an interminably long line to go on something I probably wouldn't do if I could walk right up to it for free. I mine, this stuffed Grogu, tells you all you need to know about the Disney experience. If you're having trouble reading the price tag, it says $119.95. Yes, that is really what it says.
Alright, it's getting late -- three bullets and I'm out.
- Is Covid over? I mean, I know it's not over over. It never will be. But is it over in the sense that it's not something vaxxed people need to totally plan their lives around anymore? We went to Disney and surrounded ourselves with troves of people, almost all of them unmasked (Florida), and it didn't feel unsafe to me. I think it's over, unless another variant arises, in which case... *shudder*.
- Of course there are still other sicknesses going around. Lil' S2 came down with a bad cough the day we left, and then he passed it on to his brother who had it the day we left. Flights with coughing kids are not fun experiences. It's not Covid -- we did rapid tests -- and we got lucky in that the one day neither of them was constantly hacking was the one day we had tickets to Disney World.
- When you have sick kids in a retirement community in which the only non-screen entertainment is a swimming pool, you end up watching a lot of movies. The kids really like King Kong and Godzilla movies (the recent ones). We watched Godzilla vs. Kong as a family one night. It was terrible.
Until next time...
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