February 1 2025, It’s Been A Long Strange Time

Fear and loathing in Canada.

It’s the term that comes to mind in the wake of Donald Trump’s heavy-handed tariff threats against Canada.

I’m still shocked that the United States returned a man like Trump to the highest office in the land. Although, I shouldn’t be that surprised. 

For anyone who hasn’t been paying attention at the time of this writing, Donald Trump has attacked Canada and claimed that we need to secure their borders from fentanyl and illegal immigration into his country. Something his own border control should be responsible for. If Canada doesn’t fix these imagined problems he would institute 25% tariffs on any products coming from Canada. 

I thought Trump was a bad actor before, but now I’m convinced he is beyond redemption. His attacks and insults have created a rift between our countries that I doubt can be repaired. 

The news just came in that he is giving Canada a one-month reprieve. He met our lame duck PM Mr. Trudeau and they agreed to some terms that give Canada thirty days to meet his requirements or face the tariff threat again. I will admit some of the things they agreed to may be constructive. Like a joint fentanyl task force. Yet Canada is hardly this huge supplier of fentanyl to the USA. It’s like Trump is trying to find ways to rile up Canadians and piss everyone off –  he’s succeeding on that front.

All this chaos in the political world is exhausting.

So is Facebook.

I find myself drawn into useless debates with other people over how stupid the world is becoming. Instead of spending my valuable time writing, I’ve spent far too much time reading the news and sucked into the rabbit hole that is social media. 

The time to start writing again is on me now. 

The last blog post I published was October 11, 2024. Far too long ago. I tried writing one on October 17, I got part way done, and then… crickets – I probably got sucked into the stupid Facebook, or maybe the news. I tried again on Christmas. What better time than the holidays to write down my observations of our world? I found myself lost, spinning my hand across the screen and watching the world go by. 

They call it doom scrolling. 

I’m very guilty of that. When Trump won the election in the United Mistakes of America it felt like a kick to my stomach. How stupid is that? It’s not even my country. I had so many things I could have blogged about. Yet I’ve sat paralyzed in anxiety and depression.

Why the hell should I be depressed? 

I have a wonderful life, my daughter is doing great, she’s in university and becoming a woman. I have a beautiful, loving wife. I’m doing fine financially. And I am Canadian. What else could I want?

Yet the writing stopped coming. It was like a faucet was turned off. I couldn’t find the switch to turn it back on. My daughter turned 19 and we celebrated in Vancouver, that should have given me a great topic to blog about; something positive.

Still more crickets.

And Donald Trump kept up his bombastic bluster. He kept threatening Canada, it made me sick to hear all the vile crap coming from the USA. I should have been able to write a lot of blogs about that man down south who seems bent on taking over Canada, and maybe the world. Yet it was easier to go on Facebook and post memes, maybe the odd rant.

It only made me feel worse.

Just before Christmas, I saw a short story contest that I’ve entered for the last three years. Last year, I made the second round of the NYCmidnight contest. They give you a genre to write in, a character, and an item to include. I asked my wife to enter me in the contest as a Christmas present. I hoped to be writing something before then: cue my daughter’s birthday on January 12. Still crickets.

And more bombastic bullshit from the bully down south.

The contest started on January 19, I had 8 days to write a 2500-word short story. My stomach dropped when I got my assignment. My genre; Romantic Comedy – romantic comedy, I’ve never written romance and comedy, well I think I’m funny but not many others think so. My character; a palm reader, and the item was baggage.

I figured I was screwed. Of all the genres why Romantic Comedy?

Three days went by, then four. I started to come up with an idea. My character would be an ex-stripper turned palm reader (there’s got to be comedy there). My other character would be a businessman whose wife left him for a younger man. The next day I sat down to write.

But then Facebook.

Argh, stay away from Facebook!

So I switched to some research. What does a palm reader do? What are typical romantic comedies like? One thing I found out is romantic comedies aren’t really all that funny. After a couple of hours, I felt my creative juices begin to flow.

That’s when I sat my ass down and wrote my story. After about an hour the words came easier.

I read my first 1500 words, and I liked what I read. I think it was even a bit funny. I kept going.

When I finished the story I read it and smiled. 

I did it. I haven’t lost my ability to put words in a sentence so they make sense. One day I want to put them in a sentence so they make dollars. 

In the meantime, I hope I make it past the first round of the contest. I just need to stay away from Facebook more. Keep myself in the zone of writing every day. And stop worrying about the orange clown to the south. 

He isn’t my problem. All I can do is what every other Canadian should do. Spend our money in our country. Make a statement with my wallet. 

And occasionally rant on Facebook.

But it can no longer hijack my time or my energy. My energy needs to be focused on myself and what I can do to live my best life.

I know that is the only way I will be happy and whole.

It’s all we can do. Live our best lives. And ignore the fear and loathing as much as possible.