Moody Monday: it was a brutal Christmas

I don't actually celebrate Christmas. It's a social holiday, so I haven't had any reason for the season since I last dated, back in 1997. But this one was weird, regardless of my own odd history.

I didn't mention it earlier, but I had a scary adventure when I moved my car for the 2nd time to avoid snowplows and towing. I couldn't open the driver side door, because it was frozen even while it was unlatched. I went to the passenger side, dug out the snow pile from the door, and crawled in. I moved the car and then tried to get out, only to discover that the passenger side was now also frozen shut. The windows wouldn't move either. I crawled into the back seat and tried opening the undamaged door there. Also wouldn't budge. I had coat and gloves, but I simply wasn't dressed for spending so much time outdoors. I thought it was going to be a quick car move. By now, my fingers were losing function, and I was shivering in the cold. After panicking a bit while continuing to fail at opening car doors, I scooted backwards along the back seat and started kicking at that back door. FINALLY! The frozen seal broke, and I exited the car to beeline for the front door and warmth. Afterwards, I spent much of my time, and almost all of Christmas, in front of the television wrapped in an electric blanket with the cat. I haven't gone shopping for groceries in a while, so my food options have lost their variety. Plenty of calories still available, though, and weather is supposed to crawl above freezing this week.

That was a mistake. Decided to walk to the grocery store, less than a km away. Barely made it: ears feel almost frostbitten, can't feel my feet, and yes, I was bundled up in good solid Minnesota style. I think I'll stay home for a while longer.
- Mastodon, PZ Myers, 2022 December 24

I watched the Minneapolis news:

• our local homeless shelters are full,
• a family is trying to stay together at a new homeless camp in east Minneapolis,
• somebody (homeless person?) died in a fire in a vacant house about 7 blocks southeast of me, as the crow flies,
• a north Minneapolis house (I'm not sure where or how close to me) was raided, and the Sheriff's Office reported lots of drugs, weapons, and body armor were recovered, and 11 people arrested, and
• somebody died at Mall Of America in a shooting after an argument.

All of those recent city evictions/demolitions of homeless camps seem even more cruel now than before. It's long been understood of Republican politics that the cruelty is the point, but Minneapolis is run mostly by Democratic politicians, so... I'm starting to wonder if there's any hope for reform/preservation of the system rather than just tearing it all down. That realization worries me, because people are more prone to violence when they have nothing left to lose.

1721... Today, Christmas Day is day 1721 of consecutive days of gunfire in North Minneapolis Happy Holidays!??
- Facebook, "True North Minneapolis - Legacy", from someone who's been tracking it for years

Happy Holidays?