This is Monday March 9,
2020 and the Dow Jones Industrials dropped 2013 points in a single day
today. That’s a record point drop but
it’s a long ways from a percentage record.
The undisputer leader in that category was October 19th 1987
and I remember that day. That was a
drop of five hundred points and the markets were less than a tenth of the value
they are today. That gives you some kind
of idea how much the market prices have risen in the thirty years plus. This is no longer a drop we can just shake
off. They say the markets have dropped
nineteen percent since the highs of only a few weeks ago. It dropped eight percent just today. This Corona virus really has everybody
spooked. But an accompanying story is
how much crude oil prices have dropped.
They have dropped into the thirties.
Of course if this is really true, when are we going to start paying a
dollar and a half for gasoline like we were in the eighties? There is completely no excuse for the high gas prices we are paying at the pump
here in California. If the prices drop
that far, which by all logic they should, then the trucking industry and all
transportation industries should get a real boost and sales and commerce should
pick up.
. I watched “God Friended Me”. It was a man under-going a crisis of what to
do with his atheist faith now that he was dating a believer in God. I see it as no problem. If your circumstances change, then your
response to it will change. God won’t
“tempt” me with having someone fall in love with me at my age. Satan holds a firm grasp on me and has me
living in fear. I still fear the invasion
of the bug spray people. I see no
evidence this week of anybody preparing for bug spraying. I went to bed shortly after nine.
I was looking forward to
the dentist to get my permanent crown.
April knocked on my door when I had Bill Handel on to say the
appointment was rescheduled to nine thirty so I had a little more time. She asked what time I wanted to be picked up
and I saiad “ten after nine” but she later amended that to say wait out back
and not my room. I brushed my
teeth. I went down about five after to
smoke a cigarette and she was ready to go.
It wasn’t raining and basically didn’t rain all morning. She went in because she wanted to talk about
medical forms. I asked for permission to
go out and smoke a cigarette. It would
be “a few minutes” before I was called in.
The approval for that other crown came in and they talked about doing it
this day but that would be just too long and already it was five to ten when
they got started. The crown insertion
took less time than usual. It was new
and smooth. No X rays were taken this
day. I’m not sure butI think April was
in the back the whole time but she also gave me her cell phone number.
We got back and I had
another cigarette and looked at the money draw line in the hall because of the
supposed rain. It was long and I went to
the room briefly but then came back down.
Augustine was moving boxes of electronic stuff like computers and TV’s
and he was moving them OUT and not IN the rooms. I got in line behind Joe. People were already gathering in the dining
room but I turned out not to be late. I
got my twenty dollars from Jennifer and I have fifteen left. We had Swedish meat balls with beef gravy
and mashed potatoes and a vegetable. We
started off with clam chowder from Rico, who says he made it. I would have had seconds if offered on
that. We had apple crisp for dessert. Then it was Gary and Shannon followed by Days
of our Lives. Kate finally sold her Di
Mira stock shares to Chad. It turns out
Chad is a third one of these zombie people, and maybe Marlena makes four. I guess Steve wants a whole zombie nation out
there doing his bidding. As Marlena
points out, Steve is a phony who wants to turn Marlena into a phony. As a reward for Kate’s submission to Chad
she is now of “no use to him” and Stephano ordered Chad to kill Kate. No good deed goes un-punished. I finished up the muffins from Terry. Joe had a total of just three.
I turned the TV back on
but a minute or so later Paul met Joe at the door. This is the first time Paul and Joe had
actually met. Paul had a new belt for
me. The other one had gotten pretty
flimsy and separating. The new one was
nice and thick and stuff with a nice pattern on it. I expressed concern about what was all that
noise in the halls and Paul said they were just doing stuff in the big
room. I guess they were getting rid of
stuff but I don’t know if it was in preparation for a bug spraying today. I told Paul Terry had come by and Paul saw
the church bulleton there. Paul talked a
little about Judy’s mental state. Paul
threw out his back a few days ago. Now
he’s goint to try and get workmen’s compensation. He’s entitled. He doesn’t know what exactually caused his
back to go out except he was lifting a mattress off a bed at the time. I mentioned that Mark was still preaching at
the church. Paul says he had talked to
Mark just the other day, which surprised me a little. [material deleted here]. Hopefully I can get over to see
Judy sometime.
The TV had been on Ellen
and I switched to the news after Paul left.
Then it was the ABC network news.
At dinner Sarah had a bug spraying update for us. I only hoped that it would not be more bad
news. It was perversely good news. The era of bug spraying may be over. Sarah announced that all of the electronic
items had been taken out of the rooms.
The last time around this signaled the end of the spraying for
bugs. It’s going to be a long wait just
like it was the last time. We had a chef’s
salad for dinner with crutons. We had
fruit cocktail for dessert. I talked to
Chris after dinner. Those light blue
wooden benches soak up the rain so they weren’t wet like the plastic benches
were that hadn’t been wiped. I had
promised God that I would quit smoking if the bug spraying threat was
lifted. Now it has. But I’m allowing myself a transition period
to get over cigarettes. I went to the
store and got a large Nescafe and an apple Danish and strawberry Clippers paying
cash.
Patty and I were talking about
New Rochelle as a suburb of New York.
The national guard is forming a mile perimeter around a synagogue there
where this lawyer got sick with Corona virus.
In Italy they are shutting down the whole country. And that cruise ship remains docked in Oakland. The tourists aren’t allowed to leave the ship
yet or if they do it’s very slow. The
ones from other countries are “repatriated” to that country and they are home
free. Some sick people were taken off
right away. The rest are like military
prisoners. They get shipped off to a
military base for fourteen days. And of
course Pearl Jam has canceled their concert tour in April. The Coachella and “Stage Coach” festivals are
delayed from April to October because of the Corona virus. It’s really a strange state out there. Students are taking their finals on-line and
can’t even finish out their winter term quarters. And both Sanders and Biden had scheduled
rallies in Cleveland last night and they both canceled them. But President Trump reassures us that all we
need to do is stay calm and things will get better. But the thing is this is just the sort of
reassuring message the American people are craving.
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