Stand Still, Stay Silent

I can’t.

I’ve been back in the US for just over 2 weeks now, and in CO for nearly that. I’ve put out feelers for jobs, and thrown out a few applications. I’ve been told “everywhere’s hurting, you’ll be sure to get snapped up.”

But silence.
And you know why – everyone is busy, and while they want help, do they even have enough people to spare the manpower to hire?

Stand Still, Stay Silent is a post-apocalyptic webcomic by Minna Sundberg about a disease that sweeps the world, turning majority of the world’s population into “trolls” – various decaying, hungry creatures. The main story is set 90 years in the future and centers around a small group sent to do recon/collect artifacts from the world outside of safe-haven towns.

The webcomic has been going on for several years now, and I’ve been following it since the prologue chapter, set present-day, when an illness sweeps the world — people are quarantined, borders are closed, cities are locked down.

It’s a fun story with gorgeous artwork, but rereading the first chapter a few days ago is chilling: it sounds a lot like what is going on right now, right down to the cheerful granny sheltering-in-place with a cat curled on her lap while her child panics about whether or not she’s safe in her city apartment, alone: that looks a lot like my mother!

I think we have been predicting apocalyptic scenarios for as long as we’ve had civilization to lose, so reading too much into things — “we predicted this!” is inevitable, but shouldn’t be taken as a specific harbinger.

I know this is no comfort to my friends on the front lines, living this. And while I’m told over and over how lucky I am to not be working, all I want to do is help shoulder the burden.

Today: Started my paperwork for Team Rubicon, followed up with an EMS agency I applied to late last week.
Need to mail my phone (cracked in 10/2018, just before heading to the Ice) and return my Amazon-ordered sneakers (too small – I can’t believe the sticker hastily-placed over the actual size on the box is correct, especially when the label on the tongue is also the smaller size). I just want to go for a run! My poor sneakers at McMurdo…
Ordered school supplies (including a set of headphones with a mic, which I swore I’d never have) and a bigger pair of sneakers.