Ben je een wappie of ben je een schaap?

I'll translate the title for you, but we'll come to that.

I've never been much into politics, never been a liberal or a conservative - if anything at all perhaps a libertarian, since I'm all for freedom and thus pro individual rights - pro choice, pro LGBT, but also pro gun rights, and pro nuclear power.
Then during Donald Trump's candidacy and subsequent presidency I witnessed how my country became more and more divided, how some people would cut friends out of their lives based on whether they either loved or hated Trump. Myself I continued to have both friends who loved him as well as others who hated him, and I thought it to be silly to be so intolerant of people with different opinions, and I thought myself I'll never get caught in this divide.

Then the world changed in ways I'd never have expected, the plague came, I lost my gym so I had to change my workout - and the divide changed too, and I very clearly came down on one side of it. Still I won't cut anyone out for being on the other side of it, and I do have friends who are willing to comply with the mass vaccination program or who even have done so already.
But here's what the title of this post means. It's Dutch, and "wappie" is a sort of Dutch slang word for a conspiracy theorist, it could possibly even be translated as "tin foil hatter", since it was originally meant to be derogatory but has hence been reclaimed, similar to how the word gay was once offensive but got reclaimed (and now there's gay Pride even, which is great).
Een schaap is a sheep. So you're either a wappie (tin foil hatter) or a sheep, that's what the new divide is.
I also learned that the new definition of "conspiracy theorist" is: one who distrusts authorities.
So of course, I'm 100% wappie!

I'm glad for all others who protest the "New Normal", and I've heard of quite a number of protests - very awesome reporting from Amsterdam here: "Shite Guides"! The first person I found was Bjorn the Viking, and I was grateful to find all those people commenting on his videos in support of his opinion - and thus of mine. (Here he's making a smartphone - I never wanted one, but with his awesome instructions here I think I might just make myself one like his too!)
And I love this Dutch BLCKBX site which I found, with very informative video discussions with different people, however mostly all in Dutch language. Myself I can understand it fairly well although I'm far from fluent in Dutch, but I know only very few others who know Dutch. I'd share more of their videos if it weren't so pointless if my friends don't understand the language.
But now here is one, and a very important one, which is entirely in English - it's Eric Clapton! I'm far too young to be really familiar with him, but even I have heard of him before, I know he's a famous one! I can only encourage everyone to watch this video and hear about his tragic and terrible fate, wondering if he'll ever be able to play the guitar again.
Here's Eric Clapton on BLCKBX!

A world that's departed

 And still I'm here. Like a sentinel forgotten at some remote, forsaken outpost. I've always felt that way to some extent, but now even more so, now that I know for sure that this is where I'll die, because until I do I'll never be anywhere else again. Left with only fond memories of past travels to Amsterdam and to Ireland, places now made off limits so much they could as well be on some distant planet in another galaxy, never to be seen again in this lifetime.

And my beloved Viking has departed too. I don't know when exactly, only that his remains emerged by the side of the lake on March 6th, in an advanced state of decay after he had been missing for two month at the time.

He has been and always will be one of my most beloved, and hopefully he'll be awaiting me on the Other Side.

At least my Bumpy and my Rosso and my other darlings are still with me here, and I can call myself fortunate to have these sweet companions on my journey, in these times when humankind has cursed itself in such strange ways. Fortunate also to live at the very outskirts of the city, a rather rural area close to nature, and that I have the professional knowledge I need in order to do my workout with minimal equipment, and very efficiently. I can certainly feel yesterday's leg workout.

It makes shenanigans like the above easy for me. This was just for fun at the park. For actual workout I use higher things for plyo jumps, fortunately I got several flat boulders of perfect heights right by my home.
I miss the fleamarkets I used to go to. But so far I still got clothes to wear, which are very hard to come by without the markets; unaffordable at most stores, but stores are closed anyway, or accessible only with an idiotic Covid test which is out of the question for me. I'm trying my best to steer clear of all this shit, and I wear a mask only at the grocery stores where it's "required", but even then only my hand-sewn camouflage one. Only once I've been denied entry for this reason, but that was at some upscale shit store anyway. LOL Other than that I think a lot of people are against this tyranny too, or at least I hope so - they can't all be sheeple, now can they?!

To clarify: I'm not saying the pandemic isn't real - although there are people who do, or at least it may be a matter of definition. But regardless, in any case the true enemy is not the virus but the totalitarian measures to supposedly "protect" against it. Those who put such measures in place are the enemies of FREEDOM! And without FREEDOM, life is perfectly worthless. I would never sacrifice my freedom to merely stay alive, but I'll always put my life on the line to defend my freedom!
And don't worry, if I should ever fall ill with this virus or with anything else I will never occupy any "precious" hospital bed, I'll make damn sure no one will ever take me to a hospital which would be my worst nightmare; I'll either survive without any help or I'll die, in the natural way, just like my furry family live and die in their natural ways. Because unlike most people (apparently?) I've long come to terms with the fact that this body I inhabit now is to be mine for only a brief span of time, we all are only passing through here, whether we're embodied as apes or as rodents or something else.

With my Bumpy!

Playground workout, dips on rings & stuff

Just one of my regular workouts, but with video clips taken.

Viking

I'm still here. I've hardly ever been posting here anymore for lack of time, and being chronically fatigued, which I hate. But others would probably be far worse off... it's usually workout in the morning, and later riding to the park to look after my little furry people.

Sadly, this handsome ginger I called Viking
has been missing since Jan. 2nd :(

The local dictatorship extended the lockdown several times - I've lost count of how many times, first it was until Midwinter, then January 10th, then end of January, then February 14th, now March 7th... so yeah, my gym remains closed - but I sure haven't missed a single day of workout all winter!

Even in the rain, and in the snow as well, and when the monstrous deepfreeze came just over a week ago, which fortunately has ended now. Only on those coldest days did I even wear gloves to exercise on the cold metal bars. It only made me hardier than ever, even though I'm not built for the cold. Amid all this madness, with all governments using that plague as an excuse to go full totalitarian, at least it made me discover what I'm capable of, and it drove me outdoors even more than ever.

It's sad that my traveling days may very likely be over, due to that plague - and by plague I'm actually referring more to the restrictions and harassment that has been put in place using the actual disease as an excuse. I may never see Belfast again, or even Amsterdam, in this lifetime. It's best to stay under the radar as much as possible and avoid places and situations where such harassment is applied.

I may even lose my gym membership permanently, if the dictatorships go ahead with requirements for vaccination IDs and such shenanigans, which I will never have.

I sometimes wish I had some support, but I only have the little furry people.

I recently found this Viking guy on Youtube, and I wish I had some friends like him. I've come to like watching his videos, in which he's usually out in the Norwegian wilderness by himself, talking about his thoughts on the global situation. He definitely is a voice of reason amidst all this insanity. Like myself he doesn't have a smartphone - he got rid of his, while myself I've never had one - and like myself he takes refuge in Nature. Here's a random pick of his more recent videos.

The world could definitely use more people like him, who see through all this chicanery that has been put in place. We must draw our line in the sand, as he said, and stand our ground.