Dating While Sane (Part One)

A story in three screenshots

I’ve been wanting to launch this particular series for quite a while now. And really I should call the series Relationshipping While Sane because it’s not just the singletons who were/are affected, but that doesn’t sound quite right. I actually know of a few long-standing couples who, in 2020, began to have major conflicts within their relationship — some even broke up as a result — because one person believed absolutely everything their TV told them about the Covid narrative, and the other was highly skeptical of the fear-mongering “news” mainstream media was churning out. Not to mention adamant that they would not tolerate such insane dictates that required them to “lockdown”¹, socially distance, don masks and later succumb to vaccine mandates. I also have many personal anecdotes to share as I was single during most of this time. But mostly I have friends — so many friends! — who have told me their stories. Some of them are pretty sad, and some are hilarious.

Well, I should clarify that they might only seem hilarious — if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry, innit — if you are consistently on the side of Team Reality, meaning that:

• you trusted the evidence of your own eyes

• you didn’t necessarily believe all that the government and corporate media told you

• you understood that “My Body, My Choice” applied to all instances of wanting to maintain one’s own bodily integrity.

• you actually followed the science (particularly the science of the dissenting experts, namely. the ones who were immediately censored) and

• you made sure to especially follow the money

But more than anything, you couldn’t help but notice the bizarre nonsensical behaviour and illogic of most around you.

And how they could not but help gaslight you.

Let’s go!

To kick off the series, here are three screenshots sent to me this week by a straight male friend who happens to be Sane. He was browsing through some women’s profiles on OkCupid and felt compelled to stop and chuckle — Click-Click-Click — before swiping left.

Did I ell oh ell? I’m sorry to say, and anyone who knows me knows that I have compassion for people who are not well, but yes, I did. Coffee falling out of the mouth type-thing.

The Three Screenshots

# 1: Even while we are intimate

Forever? Methinks she is looking for a fear-ever companion.

Hey honey, please can you wear some protection?

Well, of course! Look, I came prepared…

(Man reaches into his jeans and pulls out a small square packet.)

No, dummy! I mean on your face. You need to cover your mouth from me. It’s so dangerous if you breathe in my direction, I could die!

(Woman reaches into a drawer of her bedside cabinet and pulls out a surgical mask).

Here, I have a spare one. I only used it one time before so it should still be good.

“You look ever so hot when two-thirds of your face is hidden from me.”

#2: Luckily the disenfranchised got access

Newsom’s kindness to the underserved was highly appreciated.

In a corner of San Francisco, a homeless man turns to his friend and says:

Dude, that Gavin Newsom is such a thoughtful guy! I know we’re out here on the streets, freezing our butts off, and hungry for grub, but dude, that Gavin decided we deserved free PCR tests, masks and vaccines. I don’t think there’s ever been a kinder Guv looking out for all of the homeless, especially out here on these tough streets.

Hey, get it right! We’re ‘unhoused,’ not ‘homeless’

Oh yeah, sorry man.

Dude, are we fortunate or wot?

#3: The respect of rules in our respective cars

Talking through the windows is oh-so-romantic.

A real life conversation overheard in a carpark recently:

Man: (muffled, leaning closer) Hhhmm... Hi, so great to…... hhr... meet you.

Woman: (tilting her head, muffled) Wht? Hnn... can’t unnerstand...

Man: (smiling under the mask, muffled) C'mon... a little?

Woman: (laughing softly, mumbling sound) Nahh... you're... too... muffled!

Man: (chuckling, muffled) Hhh... maybe... I like it... this way.

Woman: (muffled) I’m so attracted… to you. You hmmmh my… type

---

Saners, I just want to remind you that according to the first screenshot, all of this was written in July 2024, and the text still appears on her dating profile this week, when my friend took the screenshots. That’s almost 5 whole years of living in profound, irrational fear, not knowing that a thing such as the Cochrane Report exists.

As you all know, I do worry a lot about people’s mental health in the Bay Area.

Friends, if you have any Dating While Sane stories (good as well as bad), please send them my way to the usual email address, and I will add them to this series. All posts will be written by Anonymous.

1. A term originally used in prisons, but hey would you look at that: now they have changed the language once again so that it refers to “a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely.”