Day 11 - Governor Newsom rescinds restrictions. Outdoor dining reinstated!

LA Opera’s “Prism”…

2/4/21. Thursday.

8:30 – 9:30 - This time, I bring my industrial floor model fan to B.’s house and sleep pretty soundly. I wake up at 6:30 and take two Advil for cramps, then manage to fall asleep again, listening to True Crime Garage. It’s nice to lie in bed and not have to worry about the dog, but B. says we have to get up now, although it’s unclear why.  I like to ease into my mornings, but the routine at B.’s house is very different.

10:00 –11:00 -  B. leaves for Starbucks and I immediately jump in the shower and it’s go, go, go mode from the start, similar to when I used to have a job and a regular shift. Shower. Lotion. Dress in Covid-19 uniform. Make-up. Tidy/straighten up the bathroom. Pack up everything. Load the car (it takes several trips). Basically, I’m a robot in automaton mode.

11:30-12:30 -  If we’re not sitting outside at his patio table (we can’t today – too windy), B. likes to start his morning with TV (at least when I’m here – I’m not sure if this is his usual routine on his own). First on his agenda is a Leave It To Beaver episode.  I drink my coffee and even though I brought my own food for breakfast I only have two Girl Scout thin mints.  Not hungry today and I have “breakthrough pain.”  The Advil isn’t working very well.

12:30-1:30 – Next, B. wants to finish the Dateline episode that we’re in the middle of from last night, but I propose coordinating our calendars first.  We talk about an upcoming trip we’re taking, then I tell B. that an online performance, entitled Prism, can be streamed online, for free, via LA Opera’s website. I propose watching it on Sunday but wonder, aloud, if we can stream it onto one of our big screen TVs.  B. says we should call LA Opera’s Customer Service right. now. to find out how to project the opera from the computer to the TV. 

I really don’t want to right. now.  Technically, I just woke up, and dealing with any type of customer service on the phone in the Covid-19 era is always a disaster. B. is insistent so we call and place the LA Opera employee on speaker phone. She provides vague instructions about the “Roqqu” and “Vimeo”, then puts us on hold so she can ask somebody something.  When she comes back, B. moves the phone and accidentally pulls the cord out of the wall.  Then we wait for her to call back.  Then she does call back but sounds confused about the streaming in general… I really just want to get off the phone. The call is concluded and is largely a waste of our time.  I’ll see if L. can make this happen…

1:30-3:00 – B. and I finish watching the rest of the Dateline episode.

I leave.

3:00 – 3:30 - I go to the UPS store near B.’s home to drop off a ‘return’ to Walmart, but the UPS store tells me that my pkg. can only be dropped off at a Fed-Ex kiosk.

3:30-4:00 – I go across the street to Walgreens where they have a Fed-Ex kiosk inside. I drop off the pkg. I eat my leftover baked potato and salmon from last night while I run errands.

4:00 – 4:15 – My recycling is in the car and the recycling center is near B.’s house so I drop off my plastics. $6.34

4:15-4:35 – Driving

4:40 – 5:00 – Home and I unload my car and put everything away.

5:00 – 6:00 – I have a Dual Enrollment Zoom meeting so I phone in and attend. Although I like the Dual Enrollment program and working with high schoolers, it’s been incredibly disorganized ever since I was hired in January 2020, and this was before Covid-19.  In almost all cases, the students aren’t listed in the Canvas shell until the third week of the semester and, unless you have a competent high school liaison who sends you the high school’s role sheet in advance, adjuncts have no way of contacting these kids. I’ve always just muddled through and, hey, at least I’m getting a paycheck. In life, nobody helps you or gives a s—t about you; it’s always sink or swim.

Today, however, I am shocked to hear the adjuncts bitterly complaining to the Coordinator how f—ked up the program is.  They share the same problems I’ve been having since I started.  Of course these issues aren’t resolved – none of them ever are – and the complaining eventually trails off. No new information is provided, as usual.

-I start working on my Module 4 assignment in my DE class while the meeting goes on and on. My next task consists of preparing a “summative” assignment, to include comprehensive instructions and directions to the students for completing that assignment. I have to make sure the assignment is aligned with the matrix I submitted in Module 2. 

5:45 – In the midst of all this, Core Class #2 starts at 6:00 so I take one last look at the Discussion Board and class content before I post. Good to go.

6:00 – 6:30 - My Zoom meeting ends and class begins. Nobody wants to live chat, which is how it should be. I ready my slides and audio clips for Specialty Class 1A on Monday  and prepare to record the Chapter 4 lecture.

6:30 – 7:00 – I take the dog for a walk. No yard work today. I start a load of laundry.

7:00-8:00 – the current class rolls on and I post course content intermittently.  In the interim, I record Part I of the Chapter 4 lecture.

-Throughout class, I send a couple of Announcements to the students about upcoming assignments and a reminder that there is no class next Thursday.

-I update attendance and email the students who failed to sign in on the Discussion Board.

8:00 – 9:00 – A few students want to live chat with me.  I respond.

-I record Part 2 of the Chapter 4 lecture

9:00 – 10:00 – I finish the Module 4 assignment for my DE class, then vacuum my office and the stairs.

10:00-11:00 – I finish updating my January expenditures.  All that remains is to post the totals to my Excel spreadsheet. 

11:00 – 11:30 – L. figures out how to screenshot the quiz I designed at College #1 so I can complete the Module 4 assignment for my DE class. Then, L. airdrops my lectures for chapter 4 and shows me the Google slides she completed for the same chapter.  They look great and I have very few changes.

11:45-12:45 – I pull down the treadmill and do a 1-hr HIIT speed walking app.  I reach “high speeds” of up to 4.2 miles per hour.

12:45 – 2:15 - I hang my laundry then L. and I watch an episode of Seduced and scream at the TV.

2:15 – 3:15:  Night time routine. I spend some time reading Inferno: A Memoir of Motherhood and Madness.

3:30 – Bed.