Times Changing, and the Time Change

So, sometimes the most important thing we can do is focus on ourselves.

In the last 10 days, I have planted my garden and I filed my taxes. I cannot tell you how much peace both of these are bringing me today.

These are dark times, if you’re following the American news, and if you’re not, you may be shocked how quickly that country has plunged into the unthinkable. The President and his henchmen are already doing things that will see them tried in the Hague, if their countrypeople don’t sort them out first.

I have a lot to say, but I need to focus on work for the next few days, and then I’ll have gotten through all the Obligatory Things and will have essentially set myself up for what I hope will be a boring, routine life on the home front — so I can focus on writing.

There are a lot of topics brewing in my head.

Like, a post about Oscar Schindler through the historical lens and how that conflicts with what people would have perceived him as in 1942, and why that matters today.

Or how I think much of what is happening now not only echoes the early days of the HIV/AIDS paranoia, but also stems FROM that dark time, and, again, why that matters today.

I have a partial post on ways to look at cooking that will help struggling homecooks understand why their meals fail or succeed, or so I hope.

And then there will be lots of current events, and so on.

I love writing in Spring, Summer, and Fall, as days are longer, I walk more, I listen to music more, and I think a lot more. I tend to be a “solar-powered” person so the Spring-Forward time change always discombobulates me for a week or two, then I explode with energy. I should hit that point in the next week.

Yesterday marks my first time since 2015 that I’ve filed my taxes early. I had problems with filing taxes when I went nomadic due to issues beyond my control with my accountant, and dealing with that was a priority when I got back to Canada in late-2019. I was debt-free and happy to confront it, but also had to go back into debt to start up my new life.

But then, overnight, the pandemic hit and I lost 70% of my income, and could no longer afford to deal with my taxes.

Luckily, the Canadian government gave us all time to sort our lives out and lowered the interest owing to 6% until 2024.

That nightmare took two years to work through and finally got sorted last summer, but I’m still paying the last of it off. So, filing taxes early yesterday with a refund reducing my debt by a third?

I did a lot of kitchen dancing last night, friends. A lot!

This weekend will be housecleaning, a best friend visits next weekend, and then I look forward to a few months of West Coast Living at the best time of the year for the left coast.

So, it’s strange to be in a good place personally while the world is falling apart.

Times are dark. There are scary things afoot. We have to hold it together, help each other, look out for one another, and plan.

In the meantime, I just wanted to check in and tell you why I’ve been a bit less writerly this past week. The time change fucked me up, my head’s not right, I had to do the taxes, I had to plant my garden. I’ve done these things. I’m in the happy post-accomplishment bliss, and looking forward to way less stress on my plate going forward. You know, except for the Fall of America and the “Omigod Our Ally Betrayed Us” thing and ethnic cleansing and all these fresh horrors.

But my life? Going well. And there is one upside to that: I remain able to speak truth to power without fear of losing my job.

So, I will.

Don’t worry. It’s a long road ahead and I’m going nowhere.

Some weeks will just be busy because I have a job and a life. The one thing I know is, if you are Canadian and you have friends in tech or medical careers in the States and they are queer, trans, Black, or people of colour, please reach out to them and tell them about Canadian recruiting companies, introduce them to the Express Entry Visa. All you can do is give them the tools. Some will leave, some will stay. We don’t know how that turns out.

I promise you this — such reach-out efforts may save a life. Dark times are coming. America is already “disappearing” dissidents to other countries with forced en masse deportations this weekend. Encourage your friends to assume the worst about America and to get out if they can. Some people have the right skills that make it easier to do so — for now. Most do not. And that is unthinkable. It really is.

I gotta work, folks. Be good to yourself and to others. We all need a little love.