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The Casual Vacancy

I forced myself to finish it at the time, but I hated every single moment. They were all bad people and I had zero sympathy for any of the kids or adults, except for the one girl who died at the end. Obligatory Rowling can jump off a cliff too.

I didn’t finish the last couple books, but I did enjoy it fully knowing the subject matter was about Revelations. I mostly read it as a kid and re-read for a bit as an adult. I did not grow up in a religious household. There was a point though where the books went a little too off the rails, and I gave up.

Every single sign I see, I mentally note them as a monster. Nothing will change my mind on this. I have brought up these kids and the despicable camps they made even recently to my peers and just get a shrug. This whole thing is nuts and I will never forgive our current government for not making this right, as inconsequential of a detail this is for most people. This shit happened on our own damn soil, concentration/internment camp style. That fucking monster did it, but what about the last 4 years? Did anyone even try to help the people we tortured? Did anyone even care?

The worst part? A lot of these kids will not even be able to remember or identify their parents at this point. Hell, their parents might not recognize them. You basically need DNA tests at this point, and if you are not their biological parent, you are probably screwed.

I am entirely sure it is area dependent and very very different if you are male presenting, but I have no idea how to deal with the extreme anxiety of public transit. The tube in London was great. The subway in NYC was confusing and anxiety inducing, but my phone made up most of the confusion. I am terrified of buses. I need a clear display of the next stops and hopefully a route posted, as I usually can’t hear or understand any instructions over a speaker, if anything is broadcasted at all.

The worst part is being completely unable to relax. Having to wear headphones without music, and firmly not look at anyone to hopefully avoid harassment and block out the overwhelming noise. I can’t even draw on my iPad in peace without someone wanting to look at it and ask questions. I have to make sure I am not in the way, don’t take up too much room, and don’t miss some cue that I was supposed to do something. I hate being a woman. I hate that being in public is an ordeal and I can’t just go for a walk without having to prepare battle gear of sorts to protect myself.

One nuance and rather deceptive point of the article is the statistics only apply to “some” areas, not the whole. The people in NC, which is where that less than 1% comes from, those people got screwed. The one county they picked out of Florida was 20%. I feel like they just pick and chose the worst examples by county, instead of talking about the overall.

The only shitty thing is just how expensive absolutely everything has been. People selling their houses because insurance is so astronomically expensive that they can no longer afford to insure it. Of course this whole increase in extreme weather conditions is due to climate change, because we suck, and the planet was going to go through this eventually anyway, but it is mostly because we suck.

On the point of people not knowing they need flood insurance, you are right. Definitely callous, but this has been the norm for decades. The system is unfair, but insurance companies exist to make money, not help you. I don’t understand how they wouldn’t know this by now, that you need both. Especially in Florida. I remember even after Katrina it was talked about on the news for weeks about this practice.