follow this friend
Ken Hoffman follows Jennifer Aniston's lead on ditching friends who don't vaccinate
Two celebrity trends: One, I can get behind. The other, downwind is the last place you want to be.
Jennifer Aniston says she is ditching friends (not Ross, Monica, or Joey — but actual people she knows) and avoiding others who aren’t vaccinated or won’t say whether they’ve gotten the jab.
Aniston posted on Instagram that she’s “lost a few people in my weekly routine who have refused or did not disclose” whether they’re vaccinated. Followers challenged her, if you’re vaccinated, why do you care if you’re around somebody who isn’t?
She responded, correctly and responsibly: “If you have the variant, you are still able to give it to me. I may get slightly sick but I will not be admitted to a hospital and or die. But I can give it to someone who does not have the vaccine and whose health is compromised and therein would put their lives at risk.”
Charles Barkley said it plain and simple: “The only people who aren’t vaccinated are just a-holes, period.”
While I understand the way he feels, and I think everybody should get vaccinated, I don’t sink to unnecessary name-calling. (Except when it’s Dodgers fans. Then it's necessary. They really are a-holes.)
Following a Friend’s lead
Aniston’s position is starting to take hold of my routine, too. I’m vaccinated. And when it becomes necessary to get a booster shot, I’ll get back on my laptop like before and find an appointment if I have to drive to Amarillo. I’m back to wearing a mask in stores and other buildings. I’m socially distancing again. I’m avoiding crowds.
I know some people, longtime friends, who aren’t vaccinated and mock people who wear masks. They call people like me “sheep. They hate the idea of masks, but they’re a big part of why we still need to wear masks. That’s like the Menendez brothers murdering their parents and then asking the judge for mercy because they’re orphans.
I may lose a friend or two over vaccinations. That’s okay, I need the space.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo supports “the action Houston ISD Superintendent House is taking to require masks in schools,” which would buck Gov. Abbott’s executive order that schools may not impose a mask mandate. Hidalgo tweeted, “It’s a moment of necessary civil disobedience.” We're taking it to the streets.
Abbott knows that masks work and vaccinations are safe and effective. COVID cases are surging in Houston, now children are catching it and getting sick. They’re in the hospital. Since children under 12 aren’t eligible to receive the vaccine, why not do everything to protect them and their teachers? The American Federation of Teachers president says teachers should be required to get vaccinated.
There’s a big “otherwise” here — if COVID breaks out in schools, HISD will have to return to remote learning at home and nobody wants that. Moms need to get to their jobs. Most parents are not professionally trained educators. That’s what schools and teachers and classrooms and interacting with other children are for.
The Houston Astros are holding another “Vaccinate at the Plate” event Tuesday, August 10. Show up at the game, get vaccinated and get free tickets. Plus it’s Dollar Dog Night. You know what to do.
These celebs don’t shower....ew
The other celebrity trend involves, and this is a weird one, not bathing regularly. Jake Gyllenhaal, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, and Kristen Bell have said they’re not big fans of soap and water.
Gyllenhaal: “More and more I find bathing to be less necessary. There’s a whole world of not bathing that is also really helpful for skin maintenance, and we naturally clean ourselves.”
Kunis: “I don’t wash my body with soap every day.”
Kutcher: “I wash my armpits and my crotch daily, and nothing else ever.”
Bell: “I’m a big fan of waiting for the stink.”
Note to Bell, your wait is over. Mila Kunis just dropped off my Fantasy Five list. (I know, she's heartbroken.) And while we should be grateful for small mercies, Kutcher might want to take a lap around the rest of his body with soap. Perhaps explore the world of deodorant, too.
If Gyllenhaal is right and not bathing is really helpful for skin maintenance, I’d rather get on an elevator jammed with dry and flaky people than hold my breath until the 54th floor.
And where does Gyllenhaal get the idea that bodies naturally clean themselves? What are we, cats? It’s not proper etiquette to smell like a high school boy’s gym locker.
Take a shower, do it daily. Doesn’t matter it’s before you go to bed or when you get up. I’m a good night showerer.
Just one rule: no baths. Baths are disgusting.
