Zamboni Alpacalips: Day Two or I'M SO LONELY!

     I begin Day 2 of my exile in my reinforced cardboard, and string bunker hid somewhere deep within the wild unexplored reaches of Washington, DC. I am forced to ponder how pretty much anyone born before the age of the Interwebz and social media feels when they hear anyone under the age of 30 complain about isolation. I mean, I know how I feel when I listen to it, and my feelings aren't exactly kind.
     To properly frame this rant, ponder the image of your standard 20 something. Forced to stay in homes for days and days on end. Their only solace is...the internet...Facebook...smart-phone...Skype...Twitter and a baker's dozen more ways to speak to their friends and family. Now add to this the fact that most have cable/satellite tv and access to pretty much the entire history of entertainment. Hells, some services like Amazon, have actually started offering movies that are currently in the theaters.
     Now, I am not (for the most part) mocking these youngsters for feeling isolated. It doesn't make their feelings any less valid just because my mind boggles and struggles to reboot every time I hear them speak. I am forced to wonder how they would deal with true isolation if the current situation drives them so close to bonkers.
     I won't say how old I am. Elvis was still skinny, and Sean Connery still had a full head of hair when I was forced into this world. Doctor Who premiered right around my emergence, and Star Trek was still many years in the future. I was born about 15 miles away from a town so small it's still not on most maps, and our closest neighbors lived 4 miles away. The nearest sizable town was 9 miles away, and the nearest real city was 56 miles away.
     I give you these tidbits to provide you with an idea about how isolated we were even in the best of times. My two best friends (Mostly by default because they were the only two kids my age within 8 miles) lived a mile and a half and 3 miles away. Going to see them and "hanging out" wasn't a spur of the moment thing. Between working on the farm and school (8 hours in school plus an hour and a half bus ride to and from), the only time we really had to play was on the weekends.
     During the winter, which even in Alabama can get nasty, we might spend days or even a week or more and not see anyone besides the family. We certainly couldn't log onto the internet and Snapchat or Zoom (Man I should get monies for all of these product mentions) with our besties to pass the time. The only reading materials in the house were Momma's bible and week-old copies of the Messenger that Daddy got from his boss. Still, somehow we managed to live together without going too crazy and killing each other.
     I really don't mean this rant as some sort of insult or even real mockery. I lived in a house with no running water and no electricity for the first 6 years of my life, but I would still probably lose my freaking mind if I missed the Interwebz. I'm an extrovert who really hates most people, but I would always wind up fruitier than a nutcake if I were forced to exist with only my sterling personality for weeks on end.
     I guess what I am trying to say is this. Stay strong, and stay calm. Chat with your family on your phones. Keep in contact with your friends on Facebook. Visit with someone and brighten their day via Skype. All of this will end sooner or later, and we will recover. We weren't defeated by Disco or Skinny Jeans, so we won't be beaten by a virus named after a really crappy beer.