Worry, Fuss

I’m worried and anxious. About what, Donna? Dunno. Waddya got?

I expect I’ve noted this before – being plagued by fear and unease – that’s my superpower. I’ve had 60 years (*gulp*) of practice at this and, DAY-UM, I’m talented and mega proficient.

She was terrified of everything, and terrified to show it.
~ David Foster Wallace, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

I’m, perhaps, MORE afraid of showing fear than I am of the actual scare inspiring shit (and shitheads). If I seem calm and brave maybe I am or will be?

I feel like I could throw off sparks, or break a window--maybe rearrange all the furniture.
~ Raymond Carver, Where I'm Calling From: New and Selected Stories

Did that last weekend? Not all of it…not YET.

In an era of stress and anxiety, when the present seems unstable and the future unlikely, the natural response is to retreat and withdraw from reality, taking recourse either in fantasies of the future or in modified visions of a half-imagined past.
~ Alan Moore, Watchmen

Coco comes to the rescue when
worry won’t let me sleep

In my case I retreat into science fiction/fantasy novels. I just finished the Jim C. Hines fun, engaging Libriomancer and have just jumped into Connie Willis’ time travel romp, To Say Nothing of the Dog. AND I put in a request at my local library for a copy of Hines’ Terminal Alliance, the first in his Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse series.

When the Krakau came to Earth, they planned to invite humanity into a growing alliance of sentient species.

This would have worked out better for all involved if they hadn’t arrived after a mutated plague wiped out half the planet, turned the rest into shambling, near-unstoppable animals, and basically destroyed human civilization. You know—your standard apocalypse.

Is this speculative fiction or a sibylline prediction of things to come?

If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.
~ The Dalai Lama

In the case of our horrifically fucked up, wheels off the bus (that's plummeting down the side of the Grand Canyon at speed), country, the most I can do is VOTE and hope to Bast we survive these mind-boggling years of the bloviating tangerine bully’s astoundingly clueless, testosterone raging, rabid-ego driven “diplomacy.”

"If you want to have an arms race we can do that, but I'll win," Trump reportedly told his Russian counterpart. (source)

Hines’ vision of future Earth either will or won’t happen whether I lose sleep or not.

I wondered what you'd have on the side with a plate of Deep Fried Anxiety. Pickles? Coleslaw? Potato-strychnine mash?
~ Robin McKinley, Sunshine

And what wine pairs best with Deep Fried Anxiety? A fruity yet fraudulent Venezuelan Malbec perhaps? A post-apartheid South African Sauvignon Blanc? Maybe a tasty little Uyghur oppressing pútáojiǔ?

When your past shows up to haunt you, make sure it comes after supper so it doesn't ruin your whole day.~  Jay Wickre

Yup. Schedule that shit!

I have panicked unnecessarily in all four corners of the globe.
~ Jon Ronson, The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry

Just FYI, globes are round – no corners. Still, I getcha. Myself? Ive freaked in most of the continental U.S. and at least a dozen different countries. I’m a well traveled worrier.

We live only a few conscious decades, and we fret ourselves enough for several lifetimes.
~ Christopher Hitchens, Hitch 22: A Memoir

Ya know, I think I’m finally bored with the level 10 angst. That and it’s trés enervating. Enough already!

It ain't no use putting up your umbrella till it rains.
~ Alice Caldwell Rice