I woke up early, turned on my laptop and opened the presentation for todayâs sermon, the preacher sent it overnight and I was revising it. It took longer than expected, but it was bound to happenâAI generated graphics were used.
Helping with the media and worship presentations during service at my local church is a common task of mine. I probably should have done more to prevent this and set some guidelines beforehand, but now that it happened, I wouldnât let it fly. After a short explanation of why, I saved the day, and educated one more person about the horrors of AI slop. I wish that had been the biggest mess of the dayâŚ
The morning kept going, I finished the presentation, song lyrics, the usual stuff. I have no breakfast on Sundays, I dressed upâmore formal than usual, I was feeling fancyâand headed out with my family!
After the service was overâwith AI nowhere to be seenâeveryone stayed to have lunch together.
My church has been collecting money for a new building, so each week a different family prepares and sells a meal for everyoneâwe are a rather small groupâto acquire funds and enjoy the time together.
I get in line for my servingâsome great tacos de bistec that I couldnât stop eatingâand I sat on a different spot than normal, since most of my friend group helped prepare the orders, or handle cash. I was enjoying myself, listening to the chatter without saying much. I start to hear about violence going on in the streets, about drones flying above some areas, things start to get a little tense.
As much as I hate it, I install Facebook againâstill the most popular social network in Mexico. I read the headlines, I read posts from the government in my state and my city. I hear the people around me, sharing their own thoughts and updates on the situation.
Some people with friends or contacts elsewhere start to get phone calls, people checking up on each other, people making sure everyone is safe. A few leave early, but things keep going pretty well.
I talk about it on the fediverse, in some group chats. I check up and see this is news worldwide. Flights are delayed, roads are blocked, hotels closed their doorsâ nobody in, nobody out.
The leader of the biggest drug cartel in Mexico died.
After this military operation, the narco is acting in retaliation with terrorist acts all over the country. The posts online from the local government are clear: go home and stay inside.
Things were going fine. People left at a rather slow pace, those who stayed finished their meal, and things went on as usualâthe kids played and ran around outside. We were all rather calm, it was no big deal.
Perhaps is in moments like these where faith shines through, and being together brought a sense of peace amidst the chaos. Maybe itâs naive, maybe we are oblivious to reality. But we rest assured, beyond any despair this world may bring.
And the day went on, we returned home, and enjoyed a quiet evening. My mom decided to catch up on her current TV show of choice, my grandma joined her, even my dad. They made some popcorn too.
I wasnât feeling like watchting TV, and I stopped reading the news. It had been a while since we had popcorn, so I got my own bowl and went to my bedroom to watch Resident Evil retrospective videos and essays clean up and get it tidy.
Later I returned to my playthrough of Resident Evil 2. It has been such an enjoyable experience, and it felt a bit surreal this time, I couldnât help but think about the fact that Iâm surviving a zombie apocalypse while there are vehicles on fire and buildings closed all over my state. At least I donât think Zombies stand a chance in Mexico, I admit I chuckled at the intrusive thought.
Checking my emails, I realize I wonât have to work on Monday, and that my gym would be closed too. Not much to worry about, just an unexpected day off, a welcome development despite the circumstances.
A bit later, my church did an online call, where we prayed together about the whole situation going on, everyone arrived home well, and even though shops and the like were closed, we all had our needs covered. We prayed for the authorities, forgiveness for those committing these acts and their repentance, for the people who suffered a loss, and those who struggled because of it all.
My dad prepared some migas con huevo for dinnerâprobably my favorite way to eat eggs. I was happy that I wouldnât have to wake up early tomorrow, and things went as normal, then it was time to go to sleep.
The thought about how I could have realized absolutely nothing if I hadnât been with other people is also weird, I really am completely unaware of the news most of the time, but when stuff like this could happen all of a sudden, I see now why some folks are often very worried on whatâs going on around them.
I guess I should try to find a balance. Itâs easy to ignore that which doesnât affect you, I guess, but then it does, and now what? I do hope that Iâll remain calm even then, maybe I can say it because nothing really affected me much, just the tension in the moment. I donât know, Iâll figure something out.
Iâd also like to thank those who checked up on me! Iâm writing this last couple paragraphs a few days later now, and it really does feel kinda melancholic. I thought about writing about my day off too, but it really was just a normal time staying at home and playing videogames. That Sunday though, that was a day full of mixed emotions, but it kind of got me to see so some things differently, it was an interesting experience.
This is day 22 of #100DaysToOffload
