Day 13 - California Reopening Plan - Phase 2
8:45 – There’s no barking from the dog today and she’s still sleeping when I come downstairs. I take her out and give her cheese then head to my office. The dog comes with me.
A note about that:
The door to my office is almost always open and the dog wanders in and out, sometimes staying for long periods of time. Approximately, every 15 minutes she jumps in my chair, crawls under my arm, and tries to stop me from typing because she wants to be cuddled. I have to stop what I’m doing and hold her like a baby until she’s satisfied. Then, she jumps down and destroys things in the office. Usually, it’s an old throw rug that I keep for just that purpose. I’ve had it for 30 years and it’s incredibly durable – she has been systematically chewing it to pieces for 2 years. But she’s been known to destroy the covers on my throw pillows as well.
So, you can see it’s difficult to get things done when I’m interrupted every 15 to 20 minutes; however, part of Covid-19 has taught me patience with this animal. L. and I specifically selected this breed because I absolutely wanted a lap dog. My other dog always sat an arms-length away from us, close, but never touching, and I didn’t like the ‘social distancing.’ This dog is, in fact, a lap dog - she wants to be in our laps constantly and that’s what I wanted – it’s not the breed’s fault. Imagine how hard it must have been for her, to love her owners (L. and I) so much, only to realize that we’re gone, every day, for 12 to 14 hours. That’s a hard, lonely life, but L. and I don’t have that schedule anymore.
The dog can’t stand it when we pay attention to any thing or any object other than her. On several occasions, after she has seen me fertilizing my plants, where a certain amount of care and attention is needed to turn the soil for that particular pot, I will return outside only to see the plant I was tending completely destroyed. She tears the leaves and the flowers apart with her teeth, in a kind of jealous frenzy. Because of this, all up close-and-personal gardening has to be done in secret, when the dog is locked inside the house.
9:00-11:00 – So, that’s the back story. I blog for two hours and drink my Hydroflask. L. brought home a dozen Crispy Crème last night – damn her - so I have a donut and my coffee.
11:00-1:45 – I start working on my French literature presentation on Driss Chraibri – its due at 2:00 – and after constant interruptions from the dog, I have to shut my office door and get it done. I was certain I would have it completed with time for shower and make-up, but no, I don’t. I finish at 1:45, put on a nice top over my pajama bottoms, and do my make-up. I feel absolutely disgusting. Can I just say that I am over this class? Wednesdays are rough and I’ve said it before – I’m tired of turning in assignments every week.
As with everything, my planning is off, usually by 15 minutes, and I’m late to class. I email my PP presentation to Madame just in case I’m unable to “share screen” in Zoom then log onto the meeting, only to encounter Madame. She put the class in “breakout groups” and is waiting for everyone to return. We chat and I apologize for being late to class and explain that I was emailing her my PP slides. This is no excuse, but she is so gracious and asks how I’m finding the class, if everything is going ok, etc. She’s way more patient than I am with MY students and never gets irritated I don’t know how she does it – the facade never cracks.
L. arrives with a coffee and pumpkin bread from Starbucks so I eat that. I’m making terrible food choices today.
2:00-5:10 – Class starts. Three hours is a long. time. to be in a college class on. Zoom. Think about it – if you were in YOUR own personal space, your home office, could you sit there, staring at your screen, in your own surroundings, for THREE hours? Most of the time, my face is blacked out and I work on other, personal projects, while she lectures in the background. I really believe we would have been better served mixing it up a bit, like a 1-hour Zoom session with break-out groups, if that’s what she wants, and then maybe watching a French movie or reading excerpts from a French novel on our own time. Whatever the reason, that is not what happened when she transitioned to virtual learning and it is what it is.
Today, she begs us to show our faces so she can see who she’s talking to and K., a student who always ‘unmasks’ says, “show yourself, you cowards!’ Seven students show their faces and Madame is so excited and grateful. It means a lot to her – otherwise, she’s just teaching to a blank screen, seeing no facial expressions and hearing no voices.
I can’t check out mentally because I don’t know when I will be presenting, so I have to stay engaged. At 4:30, it’s show time and I unmask and start my presentation. Of course, Madame’s excited that I unmasked and she can see my face. I’m sitting on books in my office chair so my face is even with the camera – otherwise, I look like I’m constantly staring down at my desk and not at the students. I’m able to “share screen” my PP slides and the presentation goes extremely well.
Although I’m tired of this class, I can’t believe the feeling of accomplishment I have when I’m finished. A Zoom presentation? Come on… But I feel really good! Will I actually miss this class? No.
5:00-6:30 – Class ends and now I update my budget spreadsheet for March. Again, it takes longer than I thought it would. I’ve had two cups of coffee, a donut, and a slice of pumpkin bread today – that’s it.
6:30-9:00 – I make a turkey-mushroom strata, fold in 4 eggs, and bake for 20 minutes. I’m done with pork and will probably never cook it again, other than bacon – my two most recent pork dishes have been disasters. I graze while I make dinner, but don’t bother serving myself when it’s finished. Usually, by the time I’m done cooking, I no longer want to eat the food I’ve cooked. I listen to PBS News Hour segments and True Crime Garage while I cook.
9:00-1:00 – L. and I watch the last episode of Married at First Sight, AND the Finale. I pretend I haven’t seen it. At some point, she gets a helping of the turkey strata and says it’s good. L. did some preliminary research and Season 8 sounds good – comments reveal that “Luke” is an “abusive pig”, so we feel we must watch it.
2:00 – Nighttime routine and bed.