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THE GRAYby Harper Kingsley

The color drained out of the world on a Thursday. Drips and dabs absorbed into a swirl of gray until there was nothing left of pinks and blue and yellows and LIGHT.

Everything became gray.

Everyone became gray.

The joy and the laughter, slipped and slid, and was washed away by the gray.

It’s hard to laugh when everything is gray. When you look at your skin and it’s lifeless and sad in its hues. When you look at the sky and the trees and the earth, and they’re all gray.

When images on the TV become motions of gray, and the canned laughter rings out, hollow and obvious in its fakery.

The color drained out of the world, and the emotion drained out of the people. Shoulders slumped, mouths tugged down, and it was hard to walk without feeling as though gravity was so much heavier and hard to bear.

And that no one was laughing, no one was joyous, it made it sadder and more real.

Nobody knew how it had happened. Scientists and crackpots alike scrambled to explain the CURSE that had been laid on the Earth, that had sapped the color out of existence and turned everything to gray.

And people tried to go on living, but it was hard. Because those that already struggled with sadness had NOTHING to lighten the mood, and those that were usually happy could no longer taste of the joy that had once sustained them.

People tried to live on. To go about their days and their jobs and their nights were spent sobbing into their pillows, trickles of gray tears that brought no relief from the overwhelemingness of it all.

The world had become gray, every bit of it. More than a lack of color could describe.

It was as though something had been taken from the world. And birds had ceased to sing, and eventually they stopped flying.

And animals and people laid down where they stood, and they never got up again.

The gray was all consuming.

And unforgiving.

=THE END=

~Harper Kingsley
https://www.harperkingsley.net/blog
https://twitter.com/harperkingsley0
https://paypal.me/harperkingsley
https://kimichee.com.
https://patreon.com/harperkingsley.
https://ko-fi.com/harperwck.

Today started out okay then quickly become a downer day… So much drama yesterday and the bad feelings spilled over into today and sometimes I just want to bury my head and not have to take part in any of it.

I’m tired.

I went from enthusiastically planning out segments for "Drive-By Darkstar" (there’s a whole thing where a porn company is making pseudo-Darkstar porn, and Darkstar is like "Wot’s this?" and decides to stick his nose in to see what’s happening, and the fake-Darkstar wears a mask and bodysuit that makes him look like a gaussian blur on film and it seemed like it would be really funny and not super skeezy or dirty) to sitting here with sloped shoulders feeling like it’s the end of the world.

It’s hard to be happy when you’re the emotional punching bag of the people around you. Like, one day you’re going to knock me down and I’m not going to get up again.

So instead of kooky Darkstar stories, you’re all about to get a load of sad shit because that’s all I feel right now.

Sad.

~Harper Kingsley
https://www.harperkingsley.net/blog
https://twitter.com/harperkingsley0
https://paypal.me/harperkingsley
https://kimichee.com.

Take a piece of meat. Lightly brown it on all sides. Don’t burn it; scrape any bits that stick, they’ll add flavor to the gravy.

In the same pan, add a few centimeters of water and cover. Lower heat to a simmer. (You’ll hear it cooking, but it’s not trying to splatter its way out of the pan and isn’t likely to have all the liquid steamed away.) Most stoves: Low heat.

Flip the meat a few times during the course of cooking it. If it starts running out of water, add a bit more.

The cook time is dependent on the thickness of the meat, the amount of meat, your personal tastes. If you want it rare, medium-rare, or medium, use a meat thermometer to reach your choice doneness. Remove the meat from the pan and let rest. (If you don’t rest the meat and let it cool, all the juice will drain out when you cut it.)

• About 15-30 minutes before the meat is done, you can add some peeled and halved potatoes to simmer with the meat. You’ll probably have to add a bit more water and flavoring.

If you want a softer meat, keep simmering it until it falls apart when you pick at it with a fork.

• When your meat is close to doneness, microwave some frozen vegetables. Either serve sprinkled with salt or give them a toss through the gravy. (The microwaving with not much water will cook the vegetables while retaining their nutrients.)

Add some cold water to some cornstarch or flour, enough that it becomes a pourable liquid. Stir it into the meat juices and let it simmer a minute, then shut off the heat. You should end up with a thick enough gravy.

• Slice up the resting meat and either plate it or swipe it through the gravy. Spoon some more gravy on top of the meat.

Combos:
1. Meat and potatoes with gravy, with a side of vegetables.

1. Meat and vegetables topped with gravy, maybe served with some crusty bread.
2. Use the meat, potatoes, vegetables, and gravy in a pot pie.
3. Use the leftover gravy to eat on toast, or mashed potatoes, or on egg noodles.

If you make enough, save some meat to slice thin for sandwiches the next day. Might be good on steak rolls with an au jus sauce and French fries.

I might sprinkle the meat with salt and/or I’ll add some bouillon. I have to be careful because my dad has a tendency to feed the dog scraps, otherwise onion, garlic, and black pepper tastes great. Same with celery (dog safe), bell pepper, carrot (dog safe), peas (dog safe), green beans (dog safe), corn (dog safe), tomatoes (dog safe), mushrooms (dog safe), dill (dog safe), basil (dog safe), paprika, turnip (dog safe), cooked beans (dog safe), okra (dog safe), parsnips (dog safe), parsley (dog safe), broccoli (dog safe), zucchini (dog safe), lentils (dog safe), cooked millet (dog safe), cabbage (dog safe), bok choy (dog safe)…

There’s a few things–mostly favored spices–that dogs should not be fed. And you should definitely keep a close watch on the amount of salt. But for the most part, dogs can benefit from a diet containing vegetables, beans, and non-wheat grain (barley, oats, rice).

Sometimes it’s kind of a hassle, as I really like garlic and soy sauce and crushed red pepper, but the dog is just so happy to be eating with his people. And he’s getting older, so the vegetables and added nutrients are really better for him than some of the canned foods out there that are really just doggy junk food.

I would also make food for the cats, but they are very spoiled and demand their specific brands. It’s not worth it to fight them, as every cat owner knows a cat is more stubborn than a dog is in the face of their hunger.

A dog will gratefully eat. A cat will slink away to pout under a bed or in a box.

And if you have excess meat and no animal friend to help you eat it… You can add sliced meat to a freezer safe container or a ziploc bag and cover it with gravy. Let it cool in the fridge before freezing. When you want to eat it, microwave the meat in the gravy and serve on top of mashed potatoes, egg noodles, or rice.

Just chop up a couple of green onions and stir into the heated gravy. Or add a dab of cream to give the gravy a Swedish meatball-flavor.

Sometimes I start babbling on Twitter and it becomes a big long screed, and then I reread the screed and realize that maybe it deserved a blog post. So that’s what this is. Sorry not sorry? Sorryish?

---

MONKEYPOX

I’m not worried about sewers full of monkeypox. They add a bunch of chemicals in the waste treatment process that will (hopefully) kill the live virus.

No. I’m worried because they’re refusing tests for people showing symptoms if they don’t meet the criteria of being gay men. (For reals: They are turning away sex workers trying to get tested and vaccinated because they’re not gay men. People that come into contact with human fluids REGULARLY are being denied a vaccine for a disease that is spread through human fluids.)

The fact that people are pushing the "It’s a gay disease!" LIE so as to minimize the danger to the public… Like, who the fukk is saying this shizz???

Where did the lying start? Who began spreading this misinformation and WHY? What is the end goal of creating a public health crisis? Who benefits? What is the purpose? Who is trying so hard to make people sick?

Monkeypox is not a gay disease!

It does not ONLY affect men indulging in anal sex.

You can shake someone’s hand and catch it!

Someone scratches their balls, or wipes their nose with their hand, or coughs on you… and boom!

You start forming big ol’ sores.

It’s not magic. It’s not "God’s punishment from above."

It’s science.

Wash your hands with soap and water!

It’s like, have you ever been talking to someone and they just casually start picking their face?

Or you’re sharing a bowl, and you look away, and out of the corner of your eye you see them pick their nose and wipe their fingers on their pant leg before passing the bowl to you?

I’m a compulsive handwasher. In the wintertime, I HAVE to use lotion because otherwise my skin will crack and bleed.

There are people out there that don’t wash their hands after taking a poop–"Unless I get shit on them."

And they ALWAYS grab the stair railing.

They’re out there pushing the elevator buttons. They’re fondling the jugs of milk. They’re flipping through books and magazines. They’re handling the fruit.

Every human being is the main character in their own story.

And no human being wants to admit they’re a filthy person.

They’re all like "I touch my own food with my hands. Why don’t I get sick? Herpaderp?"

And my dude: You don’t get sick from ingesting your own urine and feces because they came from your body.

Let them sit out a while, and yeah, it’ll mess you up. But direct from the tap?

You have immunities to the filth that comes out of your own body.

Other people don’t.

They come into contact with your poop, and next thing you know someone’s "got the stomach flu."

"I don’t know how I caught it. Must’ve been a 24-hour bug."

No. You ingested feces.

Or think about this:

Do you wash your hands BEFORE you use the bathroom? Do you make sure to not touch anything with your wiping hand before and after you use it?

So why don’t you wash your hands before you change your baby’s diaper?

Is your baby not susceptible to disease?

Those little kids getting the monkeypox…

The grossness isn’t "OMG, must be pedophiles!!!"

No. It’s "OMG, people were out there touching other people and surfaces and whatever… and not washing their hands before hugging and kissing their children!"

The monkeypox is not a gay disease.

It is a highly communicable HUMAN disease that anyone can catch.

"Why are all these disease suddenly cropping up? What’s happening???"

My dudes: People have stopped practicing basic hygiene.

Wash your hands with soap and water!

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VACCINATION

And like, all the diseases being spread around, and the resurgence of polio and measles and all kinds of diseases that we have been BLESSED to not have to deal with in our lifetime…

About 30-years ago people stopped vaccinating their children.

Some celebrity decided that their child’s autism diagnosis was tied to their infant vaccinations and STARTED SPREADING LIES.

They wrote a book. They went on the talk-show circuit. A once credible news network gave them a platform.

And antivaccination became the popular thing to do. It was the crystals of the ’90s, but with dead and disabled children.

Grifters glommed onto the idea of selling vitamins and supplements. They paid people money to write blog posts about "How to use silver mercury to cure pus-filled sores" and "Don’t trust doctors! They’re treating people FOR MONEY! It’s a scam. All they want is to be PAID! (Buy our products.)"

And all I can think about is the now-adult people walking around today WITHOUT basic immunities to things.

Like, that dude that caught the polio… From what I understand, he was not vaccinated against polio. He went to another country(!!!) where they use the oral polio vaccine (OPV) that has the live virus and someone there got vaccinated with the OPV, and they shed the live virus and the dude caught it and ended up with polio.

22-years old, and he wasn’t vaccinated AGAINST POLIO.

What the fuck are you people doing???

And like, all those people with their super sad stories about their "normal healthy babies" that "suddenly have autism*" or other developmental issues…

My dudes: You did not vaccinate your baby.

Flat out: You waved away the NECESSARY vitamin K shot when your baby was born.

At some point, the baby slipped off a bed, bumped their head on the side of a table, whatever.

Without the NECESSARY vitamin K shot that EVERY NEWBORN should receive AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, your baby likely had an invisible brain bleed that resulted in brain damage.

And if you’re asking "What’s a vitamin K shot?" and you have children…

My dudes: Babies are born with a limited amount of vitamin K in their bodies that they received from their host parent. Their bodies do not yet have the capability to produce it on their own.

"But I had my baby at home. How did the baby get a vitamin K shot?"

Well, if you went to a competent midwife, they likely gave your baby a little shot right after you squeezed it out. And if they didn’t, and they didn’t recommend that you get one within a day or two… They’re terrible at their job and you’re lucky you and your baby didn’t die at their hands.

Without the vitamin K shot, the likelihood of a baby dying in its first year is HUGE.

One of the BEST THINGS the modern world ever did was introducing vitamin K shots globally. People in the most backwoods of places have babies that survive into childhood because they receive a vitamin K shot.

MILLIONS if not BILLIONS of babies survived infancy because of the invention of the vitamin K shot.

We have been BLESSED with vaccinations and minor cures for big conditions… and people CHOSE to piss it all away.

They don’t even know what herd immunity is, but they’re sure they have it. Because they’re ignorant as fuck.

And they just keep opening their mouths and spreading the lies they were purposefully fed by TERRIBLE PEOPLE that profit off their misery.

It’s sad.

But also, at some point, you look at them and you look at their children, and you just have to shake your head when they die. Because an ounce of prevention something-something.

It’s sad. It’s wasteful. It’s "tragic". And it was all easily avoidable.

• Some of those kids have never been diagnosed as autistic. The parent, refusing all medical care for them due to distrust of the medical industry, just start saying that their kid has autism or whatever diagnosis they come up with. "My child is a STAR BABY. They are infused with cosmic energy and are an alien being that I have been blessed to show the way of human life. They should not be disciplined or asked to behave in public. They NEED the freedom to be themselves, even if that means dumping plates of food onto the floor in restaurants or using the N-word that they have magically taught themselves."