Covid Scare

(Disclaimer: What I am about to say is just one opinion. I do not represent any organization. I’ll be out on a limb with this one and It may be controversial. And I don’t claim to know it all. Take it with a grain of salt.) 

After arriving from a Monday night meeting, I was informed that my daughter (who lives with us) might have Covid. Apparently, one of her friends she had celebrated New Year with had tested positive.

You hear about these things all the time but reality doesn’t really sink in unless you live with someone who has Covid. My first responsibility was to inform everyone I had contact with since New Year. Of course that started a chain of concern among my friends. Then I worried about confinement. Wondered if I needed to wear a facemask even inside the house … even while I slept. Wondered about touching the door handles, the dishes, the refrigerator, etc. I thought about setting up a fan directed out the window to blow out any Covid particles in her room.

This was the last thought before I went to bed. No surprise, I had a nightmare about alien lifeforms that replaced its host after contact. It was like the “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” It chased me and my family around. I asked myself “why fight it? What was the worst that could happen? Die? And then what? I’d go to heaven.” (My faith was strong even in my dream). So I stopped running. It caught me. But I didn’t really die. In fact. I just became untouchable. That’s when I woke up.

I figured Covid is like the alien trying to take over our bodies … take over our lifestyle. I also thought about the conspiracy theories about the news media, the so-called scientists, big pharma and the politicians. Some people are cashing in on our dilemma and continue to instill fear to keep their money flowing. Of course there are many other theories out there. One thing’s for sure: whoever told the lies (or backed the lies) will not admit their mistakes. For me that’s what is really frustrating. Where is justice? Can’t blame them —-  why stop the lying when there are no consequences?

I learned about Omicron (being more contagious but less deadly) a week or so after it was identified. The spread was rapid but there were zero deaths (today there are only maybe 10 deaths related to Omicron out of the millions who contracted it in the whole world). Most didn’t even need hospitalization.

Many thought I was absurd. Many thought I was irresponsible to spread that lie. It’s been maybe 2 months now and the data seems to back my belief. (Let me know if your data proves otherwise). Many now say this is actually a blessing in disguise because people who contract it develop an immunity. (Immunity and not vaccine is the real solution). This immunity will spread and this could end this Covid pandemic. Good news for us. Bad news for the profiteers.

May I suggest, we listen to who and what people in the news are saying. Keep our lie detectors on and we will easily spot the money and power-hungry profiteers. Then ask ourselves why we  still listen to them. How many times have they been proven wrong? Fool us once, shame on them. Fool us twice … well, you know.

My daughter seems to be back to normal. I had a slight headache but I shook it off. Everyone at home seems to be normal. I have a Covid test tomorrow. I going not for myself but for others … to make sure I am safe for them.  I still wear a mask when I am out in public. I’m still careful. But I’m not scared. Are you still scared?

TGIF people!

Raoul

Joke of the Week

Thanks to Meg of Whittier, CA. for this joke.

Video of the week

Not so fast. Are you really safe wearing that facemask? Thanks to Mike of New York for this disturbing video.

Parting Shots

Thanks to Peter Paul of S Pasadena, CA for these cartoons.

The post Musical Retrospective appeared first on Traveling Archive.

I don’t know about you but I’ve found myself in a Christmas party predicament quite a few times. The folks are huddled together with the air of holiday cheers and then someone blurts this challenging proposal: “Why don’t we sing a Christmas carol?” And everyone looks at you because they know you play the guitar. They hand you the house guitar and believe holding this instrument of beauty (or shameful death) would magically move your fingers to the proper chords.

Sounds familiar? We, at Traveling Boy, feel your pain and anxiety and we have decided that we’d provide this public service. Below are a bunch of Christmas jingles that begin with the key of A minor and you can easily dial it up (go to Travelingboy.com and search for ‘carol’) on your smart phone to guide you through your musical duties.

You can skip to the end whenever you think they’ve had enough. These are the songs in this arrangement:

O Come O Come Emmanuel
Humble Yourself in the sight of the Lord
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Do You see what I see?

This arrangement was posted by Raoul Pascual to fit your iPhone.
Blame it all on him!

O COME O COME EMMANUEL

Intro:  Am – G – F – E

Am                                Dm  Em  Am
O come, O come, Em-man-u-el
C                            Dm   Em   Am
And ransom captive   I——s—rael
Dm                          FM7    G
That mourns in lonely ex–ile here
C                       Dm  G   Am
Un-til the Son of God   a-ppear

CHORUS
      CM7         Am            Dm7 Em  FM7
Re-joice! Re-joice! Em-man-u-     el 
          FM7        Dm7        G F Em   Am
Shall come to thee, O     Is– ra-    el.

Verse 2
O come, Thou Rod of Je-sse, free
Thine own from Satan’s ty–ranny
From depths of Hell Thy peo-ple save
And give them victory o’er the grave

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine ad-vent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

O come, Thou Key of David, come
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to mi–sery.

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai’s height,
In ancient times did’st gi-ve the Law,
In cloud, and majesty and awe.

HUMBLE YOURSELF

Am
Humble yourself in the
G                    Am
sight of the Lord (2x)
       Dm7      G         Am
For He will lift you up   (higher and higher)
FM7      G           Am
and He will lift you up.

GOD REST YE MERRY GENTLEMEN

Intro: Am – G (2x)

Am               G        Dm7       FM7
God rest you   merry gentlemen
Dm7        G   E
let nothing you dismay
          Am           G                Dm7  FM7
Remember     Christ our Sa-      vior
       Dm7       G               E
was born on Christmas day

Dm7         G       C   E7
To save us all from Satan’s pow’r
FM7      Em7    Dm7
though we have gone astray.
C         FM7   G        Am
Oh tidings of com-fort  and   joy
G
Comfort and joy.
C  G       FM7     Em   Am
Oh tidings of comfort and  joy.

In Bethlehem, in Israel
This blessed Babe was born
And laid within a manger
Upon this blessed morn
The which His Mother Mary
Did nothing take in scorn
Oh tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
Oh tidings of comfort and joy
Fear not then, said the Angel
Let nothing you a-fright
This day is born a Savior
Of a pure Virgin bright
To free all those who trust in Him
From Satan’s pow’r and might
Oh tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
Oh tidings of comfort and joy

DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE?

Intro:               A   (G)Asus  A

A                            G     A
Said the night wind to the little lamb
E            D  A
Do you see what I  see?
A                               G        A
Way up in the sky little lamb
E            D  A
Do you see what I  see?
F#m      C#m   E                      F#m
A star,       a star, dancing in the night
DM7     E       F#7
With a tail as big as a kite
DM7    Bm   E      A     G  A
With a tail as   big   as a kite

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy
Do you hear what I  hear?
Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy
Do you hear what I  hear?
A song, a song, high above the trees
With a voice as big as the sea
With a voice as big as the sea

Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king
Do you know what I  know?
In your palace warm, mighty king
Do you know what I  know?
A Child, a Child, Shivers in the cold
Let us bring Him silver and gold
Let us bring Him silver and gold

Said the king to the people every-where
Listen to what I  say!
Pray for peace, people every-where
Listen to what I  say!
The Child, the Child,
sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light
He will bring us goodness and light

The post Christmas Medley in A Minor appeared first on Traveling Archive.