Remote Crowding

      Happy Mount Everest Day! It’s also Alligator Day, Biscuit Day, Digestive Health Day, Paper Clip Day, Coq Au Vin Day, Composting Day, and my favorite: Put A Pillow On Your Fridge Day. There are many more, but those stuck out, and were about all of my 1,000 words I’m willing to allocate. After last week’s post, I became curious, and went down the rabbit hole. There are more days, and months than anyone needs to know. I did not look them all up, but I do find it curious, and hence, will be making you, and myself, aware as we go, until I get bored with the idea. Which may not happen for a while, since it is a perfect alternative to staring at the cursor, hoping something magical will happen. With that many options, there is bound to be something to say. For example: I did not learn this today, but recently I heard: They are now restricting the number of climbing passes for Mount Everest. Apparently, so many people are wanting to climb it, that there have been “traffic jams” up on the mountain. I saw a movie about it, not too long ago, and thought it was being blown out of proportion. People died, and usually, especially if a movie is being made, drama increases the horribleness. However, come to find out, it is a real thing. Not only are there so many people trying to climb it, but, and this is the weird part to me, they’re not all good at it! There are people taking novices up there, who have no idea what they’re doing! That struck me as odd. Are there people out there so delusional that they think: “Oh, I’m just going to climb Mount Everest. How hard could it be?” And, other people willing to take money from them? It sounds dangerous. But then again, I already thought it did. So, now they’re vetting people to reduce crowding, and make sure the people are actually good climbers.

     I guess it makes sense. But I would imagine the guides would have done that already. Who would want to take a group of rookies up the biggest mountain in the world!? Anything for a buck, I guess. Oh well, I’ve got no desire to do that, so, to each their own. But I have trouble imagining there are that many people wishing to climb it. It seems bizarre. Too many people at the most remote place on Earth!? How!? Why!? Realizing I will never get those answers, it is probably time to move on. It just makes me wonder: If Mount Everest is getting overpopulated, what chance do the rest of us have? It already feels like most of us are living on top of one another. Then, I’ll watch the news, and see these stories of towns with a population of 500! They have no idea what traffic is like! No wonder when they come on vacation it seems like they’ve never been in a crowd before. They haven’t! It’s odd to me that we have extremes like that. Some people are living where they can’t see their neighbor, and others of us are living on top of one another. Small towns claim to “know everyone,” while those of us living on top of one another, rarely speak to each other. That is a big gap. No wonder they’re fearful of strangers, they’ve never seen one. I remember a couple of times, when I was in the Navy, I met people who had never seen a “real” black person before. I thought they were lying. Until I heard it more than once. My mind was blown! Some took well to their new information, and some did not. It was confusing. I guess my globally living existence naivety popped up again. I am unable to think we’ve all had similar upbringings, even though my mind often wants it to be true. I am just always so excited when I encounter something unfamiliar to me, I can’t imagine it causing fear in others.

     Memorial Day Weekend went pretty well. Friday, we entertained ourselves. Then on Saturday, we went over to spend time with my parents. Which, as you may know by now, includes my sister. We got over there in the afternoon, so I could spend time preparing dinner. They had a ham bone leftover from Easter. They wanted me to make Split Pea Soup. I’ve made it a few times. Apparently, it made an impression on them. This is now the third or fourth time it’s been requested. I usually don’t like to repeat myself, but, hey, if I’m making something people like that much, how can I refuse? I smoked the bone, along with some chicken wings. I’ve got to tell you, without breaking my arm, it was awesome! Maybe the best batch I ever did! Maybe I should repeat more often. How can I get better, if I don’t do it again? I just had some more last night. I almost cried! The wings were delicious too. I really hit it out of the park on Saturday. I left my parents half the soup. I hope they eat it. I’ll be very disappointed to find out it went to waste, when I could’ve eaten it! Now I’m all worked up. I’m sure they’ll eat it. We stayed the night, and left after breakfast on Sunday. We usually just have fruit and a muffin. But for some reason, my dad decided to make everyone waffles. I can’t tell you the last time I had a waffle. It was several years ago. I don’t really like sweets, and I really don’t like large breakfasts. Especially if I have anything to do that day. Which we did. Our friends were having a party Sunday, and we were to be there by 1. Luckily, I didn’t eat so much that it was an issue. I only ate half the waffle. I felt bad, but I didn’t like it. Neither did Susan. But he had an idea, and he seemed so proud of himself, that I just took it in stride, and tried not to act like I was in the Twilight Zone.