When I started this here blog, way back in The Year of Our WTF 2006, it had a different name. It worked until I was tired of seeing the word never in the title. Too negative, it wore on me, and so I changed it to the current name a few years later. I’ve been Laughing at Chaos ever since.
Chaos is my word, yo.
For the last several years my word has been used to describe a certain individual and the vortex of shit that flies around him. Wanna guess who? Yes, it’s The Former Guy, the orange menace, the fascist wrapped in an inverted flag. While the word may be appropriate, I fucking laugh at chaos; says so right there at the top of the page. I cannot and will not laugh at the chaos around that person. He’s not allowed to have my word, I had it first, the media can bloody well go find another to describe him and his bullshit.
Might I suggest bedlam or mayhem? Perhaps turmoil. Surely pandemonium fits, as does madness. Anarchy and lawlessness are definitely in the running. ALL HELL BROKEN LOOSE, a madhouse. A goddamned three-ring circus. Pick one, I don’t care. Hell, assign one to each day of the week so we know which day the bullshit occurred.
Enough with the chaos. It belongs to me and the G2e community.
I’d also like to throw the word weird into the conversation. For years, YEARS I TELL YOU, I’ve said that “weird is just a side-effect of awesome.” I’ve said it to flute students, I’ve said it to band kids (lo, how often I said that during the 18 months of online bandertainment that was Covid teaching), I’ve said it to parents of quirky kids. It helped soften the blow of being called weird by those who didn’t understand the ins and outs of complex kids, and I stand by that phrase.
But.
And.
I one-million-point-seven-five percent agree with calling the current Republican presidential candidates and their willfully ignorant followers “weird.” They are most definitely not the awesome-weird of quirky kids, but the WTAF-weird of “does this person even know how to human?” Weird. Just weird. Giant maxi pad ear bandages and carrying around sperm sample cups? No words. For real, no words, just a shake of the head and “that….that is fucking weird.” I’ll be so glad when this election is over. I’m fighting hard because I cannot fathom returning to the hellscape that was 2016 – 2020, only louder and more frightening.
So we can use weird until November 5th and then I want it back. I’ll loan it out on a temporary basis and then it must return to quirky kids and their families.
Also, hi, I’m still alive. Just…weary. Permanently tired and eternally weary, and desperately trying to get back on the writing horse. Having the attention span of a
What was I talking about? It might be amusing but I really did stop in the middle of that sentence to “quick research something” and then had to remember what the hell I’d been doing. And then left the computer and forgot I was writing this post and returned to it two months later. It’s gotten bad enough that I forget what I’m writing down as I am writing it. Perimenopause can fuck right off and keep on fuckin’.
Right. So having the attention span of zero doesn’t help. I used up all the executive function I’ve ever had and ever will have in the raising of my offspring. I am now entirely lacking in executives with any kind of function, and I’m pretty sure they’re all at a three-martini lunch at that. Unfortunately, the things I want and need and like to do don’t give half a golden shit about said executives ordering another round. The execs have a debilitating case of can’t be arsed and bark at the bartender that they should only wave the dry vermouth in the direction of the gin and remember to make this round extra dirty, three olives.
If you’re still here, if you still want to read the the words I fling into the void, I recommend subscribing to the blog feed so the aforementioned words drop into your inbox without a care in the world (. I’m ignoring most of social media except for Threads, which is a refreshing breeze in the online world; you can find me there as jenlaughs. Same with Substack, where I’m starting to build a newsletter. OMG Jen, why? Because reasons. Laughing at Chaos isn’t going anywhere, I’ll still pontificate on giftedness here, but I’m feeling the pull to do something different and I’m actually listening for a change.
So. Right. Let’s recap. Gimme back my chaos, y’all can borrow weird, and despite being weary as hell I’m heading out to do new and exciting things. Sounds about right. ✌🏻❤️