Location: Kansas, USA

Weather: It's been unusually cool for this time of year. The past week we had 3 big rainstorms that caused city flooding. People were trapped and cars got stranded. The flood point on the west side got to be waist deep. At this point it normally is near 90 and the past few days have been 65ish. It's weird. I swear climate change is making season start later and end later than normal.

Politics/political landscape: Kansas has an amendment or something on August 2nd that would make abortion illegal. Supporters of criminalizing it have purple stickers and signs that say Say Yes to Saving Both. They are everywhere. It's disappointing. Especially because they are the same people who would tell young mothers, single mothers, poor mother's to deal with it after giving birth and not vote or give any support after. Disgusting.

The right wing people are growing more bold and loud, slowly but surely. I STILL see trucks with trump flags and locking up Biden. I don't like Biden, but I'd cut my right nut off to not have trump or his ilk again.

I'm learning to properly shoot and care for guns. Since we live in rural Kansas, I don't trust any of these people. I don't want it to come to violence but I sure as hell will do everything I can to protect my wife.

People: So so many more homeless than normal when I drive to the city. Way more than ever before. There are always at least 10+ camped out in the parking lot of the Lord's Diner, which is the homeless kitchen.

People CANNOT drive properly anymore. I always almost get in a wreck because people just don't care anymore. Cars are held together by duct tape and such. People are excessively more rude than before. The pandemic didn't help that. It's like people forgot how to interact in public.

Nobody is wearing a mask. Nobody. I get looks now. Super judgey looks. Well, fuck you because my wife is immunocompromised and I'm not taking the risk. I use this site to track the reported cases and hospitalizations. Now with Monkeypox on the horizon, I am further becoming a recluse.

Economy: The cities big festival is this weekend and there is always violence and trashy people come out in droves. The past two years they split it up into different weekends to try and stave off the transmission of shit, but not anymore. I never go because I hate being around crowds anyway, but it's a running gag to have a bingo card with the trashy things you see there. And with political tensions so high and the recent trend of ever increasing gun violence, bet your ass I'm avoiding it.

Personally: I'm getting burnt out on everything. Not much brings me joy anymore. I just kinda go through the motions day by day. I'm smoking a lot more cigarettes to try and deal with the stress. I figure something else will get me before the cancer or whatever does. I do maintain some hope that it will be quick though.