I love watching animals in different kinds of weather. I learn so much from them all of the time. They do not listen to Storm Center. They do not track snow and rain, and fret over their plans and decisions. They live in the day. Weather has become a new tool in the Fear Machine, and last Friday, I started to track a potential Northeaster moving up the coast mid-week in the middle of my library tour. I thought I might cancel, and everywhere I went over the weekend, people were relating the latest changing “news” about the storm – where it was going, how bad it would be. I looked once, and was warned to stay indoors all week. An hour later, the storm would be the worst of the year. Again, it was hardly even mentioned.

I started looking online. I started getting anxious. The poor librarians started looking online for me.  The e-mails were mounting. The storm was moving. The Fear Machine is viral, it depends on anxiety being transmitted from person to person like a bacteria, or meme. Not who I want to be.

This morning, watching the donkeys stand in the bitter cold, turning steadily into the sun, I got to see who was the ass and who wasn’t. I am going on the tour, not listening to or asking for any more weather reports and dealing with things day by day, as I am learning to do. Like parts of the health care and insurance and media system, here is another system I am opting out of. I have a hunch I’ll get to the libraries fine, and if I don’t, I’ll have some peaceful and happy moments in hotels and museums with my former girlfriend. And some long-awaited books and music.

And oh yeah, I just cancelled my American Express Gold Card, which I’ve had ever since I can remember. The regular one is good enough.