I really should not have started the morning by looking at the world outside my own house. But reading social media is what I do first thing in the morning, and it's going to take a while to break that habit. I keep forgetting the Internet is no longer my weird, exciting friend.

And if I hadn't gotten up and risked a glimpse at that online pseudo-reality, I would've just gotten stuck in the pseudo-reality I was fleeing in the first place: vivid dreams of rubber-clad furries at a con, frolicking in a huge swimming pool in glimmering sunlight.

Frankly, right now I'd rather be confronted with images of the collapsing real world outside than the beautiful imaginary one that always existed one inch beyond my grasp, and kept getting yanked away.

I'd rather stare into the abyss than the sun today, thanks. Easier on the eyes.