Back in the capital for a few days, though hiding mostly, chilling. It's harvest season, so everyone is edgy and I didn't want to share the burden, getting blamed for all kinds of things I had no control over. I just fled and promised to return Saturday, when the brunt of the picking is supposed to occur. The picking is fine, I actually enjoy it. It's the chaos surrounding the grapes themselves that exhaust me. We told mum not to waste all her energy on making food for 150 people, when only six of us are going to be there, and she agreed to just grab some ready-made catering plates and make some easy dessert. Yet, two days later, she was going on and on about how she needs help preparing over a dozen dishes, roasts and dough-wrapped tenderloins and five complicated desserts and all kinds of snacks, favours and drinks. She told me to stop bitching, because this is one of the few joys she has in her life. Meanwhile, as G and R and I were picking the early crates on Tuesday, my sister decided to re-paint the dog house. 

So, yea. I just fled. Fuck 'em. 

G housebound me a bit, as the city is scheduled for another riot, following up on the last Wednesday's protests against the mandatory vaccinations and the idiotic rules regarding it. Those rules were up for about a day - needing the proof to get gas and whatnot.. But yesterday a new rule came into effect, putting g and I back on the spot: suddenly it is no longer good enough to get one dose if you've already had the virus - now we need two and are forced to get tested on our own expense for the next three weeks. 

The best part is, that the medical side of the legislation-makers is slightly confused about whose idea this is supposed to be. Not theirs. The politicians say it is. Nobody is giving the people any answers on what the fuck is going on. I can tell everyone is fed up with this bullshit, because nobody is checking my proof code, when I go shopping, even though I show it to everyone. Everyone just hates this shit. 

I am tempted to join the riots and puke on someone in charge. I imagine they are watching from a balcony and think it's funny. 

Vaccine-related burnt thumb and absolutely no magnetic powers at all

So the other day G was backed into a corner regarding a vaccination - one week we were cleared to have our 'already had it' statements worthy for nine months, if not a year, and a day later the government realised that's no way to treat all the shots they've bought and are unable to force into people, so they voided the clearance and declared nobody can even go to a gas station without the pass. Personally, I wouldn't give a flying f** about gas stations and nail salons, but the General is a postal officer and would have to literally pay to get tested every two days just to be able to come to work. So he asked what I think and said he's thinking about calling his doctor on Wednesday and I said, fuck it, just ask which vaccine they shoot and we can do it right now. 

For now, I am just cranky, nervous and my arm is sore. But I am also savagely paranoid. Example, my thumb really hurts and I kept googling why would my thumb be so sensitive due to the vaccine. Only later did it occur to me that I handle a burning tea candle five times a night and maybe, just maybe, I burn myself a wee little every time, hm? 

Anyway, despite our high antibodies count and political disgust, so far we're okay. It's been 24 hours. 24 more and unless we die, we should be free to travel a bit again. 

Oo, I have a total urge to go to some fancy store and flash my permit like a badge. Like I'm a fucking Jew during Holocaust, forced to carry permission papers, to fit into daylight society. Fucked up. 

On the plus side, Texas just allowed for anyone above 21 to conceal carry, whether they have a permit or not, and banned abortion; and a friend of mine is a negotiator for EU and is flying back to Kabul to try and help. So my grievances feel a bit tasteless. I keep thinking if my dad lasted just three months longer, he'd be alive today. Had he not gotten infected - in a hospital, at an infections ward - in December, he'd be able to get the vaccine in March. Eh, my brain is buzzing again. 

Some pickies from the Bloska trip: I will post more and explain in more detail, promise. Pinky promise.

Our first 'active' trip - I booked G and I for a four-day driving excursion around a part of the country we're not all too familiar with: as Slovenija is shaped like a chicken, the western 'leg' is a part we know the least about. So, the plan was to just throw ourselves into a schedule we were neither told too much about nor needed to know. Poor General was planning on skipping the last day and complained half the trip, but in truth, he was loving it. It was really cute. Good food, good tempo, a ton of new info to sound smart about. 

The trip was scheduled around old forlorn bunkers and tunnels, old castles and village churches, caves, museums and so on. Our guide was a chatty old gentleman - the group was just six people - and he could talk about almost anything you asked him. The sort of job I would be born to do, if I enjoyed humans. 

These are the pics of a sight each. There will be more, as I took tons. 

I think this is my best one of the whole trip, an expedition into a cave

Aw, Star seller.

Got a star seller badge, even though I am not 100% flawless across the boards. How happy Karens of the world will be, knowing that now more than ever shitty reviews will force sellers into offering free stuff just to make people happy. I have 70 pages of reviews, meaning almost 700 of them, and four of them are not 5-stars, and it's still not good enough. And I cannot for the life of me remember when I failed to reply to a customer, to warrant a 97% response rate. But, you know. One can always do better, if there is corporations to be made richer.