“For many people, religion is nothing more than a substitute for a malfunctioning brain.”
~Gene Roddenberry
My temptation is to just write “See last week’s report.” I did very little this week, and most of what I did was just a repeat of the things I enjoyed last week. I decided that instead of it being a terrible chore, driving into town was actually a fun adventure. So Tuesday morning, I drove in again, topped off my water tank, picked up snacks at the dollar store and stopped to get a donut and a cup of coffee. The Mexican burrito/donut shop is fast becoming my favorite place in the area. I guess because I’ve not had a donut shop donut for so long, a chocolate dipped buttermilk donut, or a jelly filled croissant just seem to be over-the-top delights. Like a kid in a candy store, I couldn’t decide what to choose from all the delicious-looking pastries, so I got two—one to eat immediately and one for the following morning. Then I went to the bodega and got some fresh food—asparagus, broccoli, red bell pepper, a cucumber and an orange, a lemon, some key limes, a whole pineapple and (my new favorite thing on earth) a half of a papaya, sliced and wrapped in cellophane, I could see how ripe it was and even smell it through the wrap. I ate the papaya for my lunch.
My eating habits have changed drastically. Although I had a donut for breakfast two days this week, I often had just a piece of fruit for lunch, and sometimes a glass of V-8 for my afternoon snack (which I consider an improvement over my normal coffee and cookie snack.) One afternoon I was craving greens, and I had a bunch of kale. I started to steam it, while figuring out what to make with it, and decided that I didn’t need to add anything except a slight drizzle of sesame oil. I was quite satisfied with just that as a meal. I suspect the hot soaks are making me crave whatever I’m sweating out, and thus V-8 is now one of my favorite daily foods. Same with kale-my body seems to crave it. I can’t find an excuse for the donuts other than they taste so good with my morning coffee.
I’ve taken naps most days this week. Well, more like narcoleptic episodes than naps. I’ll start watching something mindless on YouTube and my head will drop as I nod off. I just lean back and let it take over. Sometimes it’s 10 minutes, sometimes a half hour. The days are starting to get longer, and I find myself staying up a tad later but always getting up with the first sign of sunlight. I head over to the hot springs every morning and again most afternoons.
Lessons From The Road: I continue to ride my e-bike across the road to the hot springs twice a day. I almost always go right after coffee, breakfast, and Cosmo’s morning walk. I go again right before sunset most days. There are a few “regulars” there each day and I enjoy talking to them. There have been a disproportionate number of “irregulars” as well. I’ve encountered way too many young, male, Christian, conspiracy theorists. Mostly in their upper 20’s or early 30’s, they are quite outgoing and social. After a quick greeting and luring me into a false sense of their cognitive abilities, they start in on preaching some obscure bible passage intermixed with conspiracy theories about what the government is putting in vaccines and drinking water, and how there are aliens, and they are from Satan, because why would a benevolent creator make aliens when humans are HIS crowning achievement. I met three such young men this week at different times. They were all loud, somewhat abrasive, and they knew absolutely everything about every topic. They spouted off obvious untruths as if they are experts in the field. They are (I think) mostly “woke-ish,” one talking about healing crystals which Jesus somehow imbued with special powers that only he knew the proper way to use. One called everyone brother or bro, or dude (including old women). One told of his special psychic healing powers, and little by little it unfolded that each are veterans receiving treatment for PTSD and are on various medications. It’s all fascinating to me. At one point it felt like the best analogy is that their hard drives got scrambled, and early born-again Baptist preachings got jumbled in with too much pot smoking and military indoctrination. Throw in some anti-depressants and some new age woo woo and you have quite a character. I cannot for the life of me figure out why there is such an abundance of them here at the hot springs. The strangest part (to me) is not that religion and conspiracy are holding equal sway, but that they seem to be preaching/teaching. They have “scientific facts,” many of which are clearly incorrect. One guy was going on about the pH of the hot springs, and everything he said was totally wrong (After making soap for 15 years, I do know a bit about pH).
Then there are the batshit crazy female versions. They usually are much louder than the men, and they make sure to get attention by flailing their arms in meaningless gestures to get attention even from the far end of the hot spring. One had a high-pitched screech, almost an exact match for Kathy Griffin. She went on and on about her allergy to artificial folic acid, so she “can’t eat hardly any” food. (Her weight would indicate otherwise.) Fortunately she can absorb all folic acid she needs through the sun. I wondered where she earned her Master’s degree in biology. Probably the same place she learned grammar.
All that was a very long introduction to my lesson of the week: So many people have zero regard for the truth or science, or facts. They just make shit up, spew it out as if they had a doctorate degree on the topic AND have one or more ‘disciples’ who not only hang on every word, but add their own misguided beliefs into the mix. The one thing they all seem to have in common is “Main Character Syndrome.” They all believe that they are very important and that the rest of us have just been waiting for them to show up and impart their pearls of wisdom on us.
Having spent too much time this week watching old episodes of Candid Camera on YouTube, I found myself looking around for Allen Funt. Was this some sort of joke being played on me? Were these fools gaslighting me? The outrageousness of their claims combined with the rock solidness of their conviction to erroneous information was just staggering to me. Even more surprising were the number of people joining in to play “can you top this.” I’ve often met people on my travels who are not very smart, or who have what I consider to be ridiculous beliefs, but the number of people here who seem totally disconnected from reality is something I’ve not experienced before. Perhaps I’m just too close to the Gulf of America?