I finally got reboosted today. I opted not to get the flu jab as well because one of Dr. A’s learned colleagues thinks doing them simultaneously leads to worse side effects. I don’t dig side effects, so I’ll do them one at a time.

Hurricane Ian is barreling down on Florida right now. Best wishes to my friends in the Sunshine State. Isn’t it bad enough to have Senators Rubio and Scott as well as Governor D Duce Wannabe? The latter will surely use this to his political advantage as opposed to his hero’s mishandling of Hurricane Maria. D is not for dumb.

Speaking of hurricane politics some on the hipster Twitter left think this is time for President Biden to avenge D’s refusal to send national guardsters to Washington for the SOTU. They can go fuck themselves. Playing politics with human lives is what they do. Fuck that shit.

The headline on a post at Charlie Pierce’s shebeen confirmed that he only pays attention to major hurricanes: These Hurricanes Are Starting to Feel Distressingly Like ‘Storm of the Week’ Deals.

Until last week this had been a shockingly quiet hurricane season. That’s why we’re only up to I for Ian. I realize Charlie has no reason to follow as closely as I do but we had no named storms in August. A great relief for those of us who “celebrated” Katrina and Idaversaries.

Let’s break things up with a seasonal song from Levon Helm:

I hadn’t planned to return to the subject of Michael Homan’s passing. I’ve already written what amounts to a Homan trilogy: the original, a sequel, and a musical.

I have several friends who are so Meta hostile to Facebook that they refuse to click on the link I provided to my post about Homan’s memorial service.

Here’s one for the Zuckerphobes:

“Michael Homan’s memorial service was both moving and funny. Those are the two words that describe Mark Gstohl’s eulogy. I’m always proud to be his friend but never more than today. He was almost as funny as I am; almost.

Bart Everson was in fine voice as he sang one Half Pagan song and led a singalong of their typically quirky take on the classic George Jones weeper, He Stopped Loving Her Today. HP’s variation is He Stopped Loving Beer Today. I am not making this up.

I was nervous about seeing so many people I haven’t seen since before the pandemic. That nervousness gave way to joy mixed with sorrow at seeing so many old friends who came out to support Therese and Kalypso and show their love for Michael.

I did, however, feel awkward about saying “good to see you” because of the context. I know Homan would have told me not to sweat it because we were there to honor him. He was my dear friend, but modesty was never his strong suit.

There was one friend I didn’t expect to see, which made my day. He’s one of my Krewe du Vieux friends: the Emir of the krewe of KAOS. I’m omitting his name because I don’t want to make him blush.

It was touching that so many friends of Gil Homan were there today. They’ve never forgotten how important Gil was to them or Mike’s many kindnesses to his son’s friends. It gives me hope for the future.

It’s hard losing a friend like Michael Homan. It’s important to share that loss with others who cared for him. I know it would have made him scoff, but it was an honor to know him.

I had thought that we’d be mocking one another on the parade route for many years to come. What will we do without him holding our spot for Muses? We’ll just have to toast his memory.”

My friend the Typist DBA Mark Folse filmed the start of the second line. I’m near the end with my friends the Guidrys. Dr. A joins us then waves at Mark:

Let’s circle back to the post title. We’re in the endemic stage of the COVID pandemic. We still need to keep our guard up by getting jabbed. I’m slowly but surely emerging from my shell, especially after seeing old friends at the memorial service. Consider me a hermit crab as well as crabby.

The only way we can get back to what passes for Gamalian normalcy is to get jabbed, jabbed, and jabbed again. It’s what the Bee Gees want. Never argue with them. They get the last word: