New beginnings

i’m on some new shit

it’s another day waking up alone

in the grocery line

a marvelous time ruining everything

the joke’s not funny at all

i’ve never been a natural all I do is try

I hit my peak at seven

to live for the hope of it all

I’ve been having a hard time adjusting

fuck you forever

I decided to write you this letter on behalf of all international fans to speak with you about what we swifties are facing with the organization of the European festivals. We understood your decision to cancel the festivals and given what’s happening we support you and thank you for thinking of our safety and yours. However, we can’t understand why you only spoke about the American and Brazilian shows in your statement, as if the European shows didn’t exist and didn’t count - as well as international fans, meaning all the fans around the world that aren’t Americans, don’t seem to exist when it comes to events, meet and greets, shipping costs and prices.

In Norway they are having, like any other country, press conferences about the Corona virus. What’s different today however, is that the conference is dedicated to our children. It is set up like any other boring, political press stage, with the prime minister and two other ministers (Family/Children and Education/Knowledge). BUT instead of journalists asking questions, they have asked children all around the country to send in questions for the prime minister to answer. And then the Prime Minister has to answer these questions in such a way that children will understand them. Without the political language that is so confusing even to us adults. Questions like:

Is my pet going to be okay? (Answer: We don’t know, but most likely)

When can we go back to school? (Answer: We don’t know, but we will see after 2 weeks)

How does the prime minister stay healthy? (Answer: Washing hands and eating blueberries)

Can I visit my grandparents? (Answer: No)

Is it extra stressful to be prime minister today? (Answer: YES)

Why can’t I have a Birthday Party? (Answer: We do not want you to be around many people in the next weeks. Maybe you can talk to friends over facetime?)

What happens if everybody in the whole world get ill? (she didn’t really answer this??)

How much time does it take to create a vaccine? (Answer: Right now we don’t have a vaccine, but we have given scientists a lot of money to help make one.)

Did the Prime Minister get embarrassed when she tried to shake hands with people after telling people to not shake hands on live tv?  (Answer: ..Very)

Can I have a Birthday Party if I only invite 2 people? (Answer: That should be okay)

Why is everybody scared of corona? (Answer: We don’t know a lot about what it is yet, and we don’t have a cure right now.)

Can I go on summer vacation? (Answer: Right now you are not allowed to travel, but that might change when summer comes!)

What happens if I get ill? (Answer: You will be having the flu for a week or two and then you will be feeling better. For most children this is not dangerous.)

Why did it take so long before you said/did anything about the virus? (Answer: We actually did do something very fast, but it was difficult to know what to do when in the beginning we didn’t know how dangerous the virus was)

What can  I do to help friends that are not feeling well? (Answer: You can send them messages or give them a call! They will probably be very happy to hear from you)

Will you get ill as well? (Answer: I will try my best to stay healthy so I can continue being prime minister)

Just because it’s happening in Italy right now doesn’t mean it’ll stop here. We started off underestimating this as you are, look where we are now. We’re under complete lockdown, police patrolling, we risk incarceration if we leave unauthorised, we can’t leave our house unless it’s life or death. We did not come to these measures lightly, our country does not have the economic strength to shut down the whole nation without dire consequences, but still we felt it was absolutely necessary to implement these rules. Despite having a complex bureaucratic system we pulled this off within days. These are the most restrictive laws implemented since wwII in our country- last time was during fascism, go figure how big of a decision this was and how urgent a situation this really is.

Why are we taking this so seriously you might ask when countless world leaders are so sure everything’s being blown out of proportion and there’s no real emergency ?

We were that country a month ago, till it happened to us.

We first underestimated the virus when it hit, we started taking appropriate measures and that’s when our economy took a hit and that’s when we fucked up and tried to play it off as nothing. We paid the price, but since then we’ve been taking all the appropriate measures and the WHO noted that we were reacting very well. Yet we’re still in this situation. Why? Cause the virus is extremely contagious and the number of infections and deaths continues to rise because our health system, although it’s one of the best in the world according to the WHO, was not built to handle this kind of numbers. No health care system is, that’s why it’s absolutely important to limit the spread of this virus.

This is not just a flu, we do not know its definitive mortality rate yet. We won’t know the real consequences of this disease till at least a year down the line. As of right now, March 12, Italy alone is counting over 1000 deaths and 15000 infected. We can’t continue to underestimate it.

We’ve gotten to the point where we have such few ICU beds still available that doctors are only treating who’s more likely to survive. A healthy 50 year old will have priority over a 27 year old with asthma.

Let that sink in.

Doctors have to choose who gets to live.

This is why it’s so fucking important to prevent this virus from spreading any more than it already has: take things seriously, you might survive it but there are millions out there that won’t.

Some ways to prevent more infections from taking place are these:

 keep at least a meter distance between you and anyone else

 avoid heavily populated areas

 look out for symptoms (fever, cough, difficulty breathing)

 IF YOU SUSPECT YOU HAVE IT DON’T GO TO THE DOCTORS OR HOSPITALS as you will infect more people, among them those who are at higher risk and essential medical staff. Call the appropriate authorities in your area and follow their instructions

 wash your hands thoroughly and regularly for at least 20 seconds

 avoid touching your face

 change your clothes after being outside

 IF YOU ARE PUT IN QUARANTINE, RESPECT IT

IF YOU ARE TOLD NOT TO LEAVE YOUR TOWN DO NOT LEAVE

overall use common sense

In the capital, Oslo, gatherings of 50 persons or more are now officially forbidden. All schools and universities in the city are as of today (12.03.20) closed and people are being asked to stay at home.

All the theatres and events wered closed and cancelled yesterday.

I'm the assistant director and an actor in a production of Macbeth at the student theatre in Oslo, Theatre Neuf, and we just now decided to postpone our shows. We were to premiere this Sunday.

It's beginning to get kinda panicky here, the food markets are strongly asking poeple to not hoard food.