Day 26 of rollback-California Covid-19 spike - Governor shuts us down
Why are MEN always featured in tutorials for cleaning window screens?…
Those suspended Georgian students who tweeted pictures of their high school cohorts packed into hallways like sardines? Suspension overturned.
In Georgia, school districts that have opened, business as usual, have sent letters to parents warning them that if they keep their child home from school (let’s say…because they’re AFRAID), their child will be marked truant and subject to expulsion. Unbelievable. Lest we forget, the peach state has no mask mandate. Parents, your best hope for avoiding Covid-19 and/or staying alive is…(drum roll, please)…HOME SCHOOL. This will drive both you and your child INSANE but at least the two of you will be healthy (maybe).
Friday. 8/7/20
Class enrollment hovering at 18…
You know, everyone says we’re “living through history”, but really we’re just living our dumb, boring lives as best we can, in the middle of a pandemic, with nothing to do. Having been a broke, single mother for 18 years, I can get pretty creative – although nothing compares to my mother, the greatest grandma in the world; she can invent a game or activity out of anything – and I hope I’ve learned to apply this creativity to my own life in my constant quest for things to do. HOWEVER, when I re-read my previous blogs, I’m kind of, like, ‘Wow, I’m boring (sad face emoji) – BUT, I’m living through history (happy face emoji)” Whatever.
When I read a Money Diary, the OPs sound like they’re in the same boat. Many of them apologize in advance for how boring this week’s activities are going to seem. Let’s be honest – none of us are Anne Frank. But even SHE didn’t write that diary. Her Dad did although he says he only edited it. [No disrespect to Anne Frank at all here – she’s an incredible young woman].
I post because I’m “living through history.” L. and I are hitting significant markers in our life, during a pandemic, like my 50th birthday; her acceptance to a fancy, New York art school; my retirement; L.’s continual employment at an art studio, of all places, teaching kids how to draw in the midst of a highly communicable virus; my tele-teaching [that’s what I call it] of junior college and high school students. What do these milestones look like in the Covid-19 era? How have they changed? Are some things better or worse?
Ultimately, will anybody care about a snapshot in time of two lives who are trying to navigate a pandemic that’s infected millions of people throughout the world? Will anybody care about a suburbanite single mother and her 18-year-old daughter, both benefactors of white privilege, as they navigate their lives in a gated California community, well above the socioeconomic status of POC? Look above at the milestones I’ve listed. Our problems are almost embarrassing when compared to 33 million people who are out of work and many more millions who are “food insecure”and close to eviction…
Please forgive my vacuous and superficial blog. In previous posts, I lament the fact that I can no longer attend my community pool…
BUT, I’m deeper than you might think…
8:00-10:30 - Having said all that, the dog starts barking at 7:30, but, again, I refuse to go downstairs and indulge her. Instead, I take her out at 8:00 and give her pieces of chicken. Still no accidents! I grab my coffee, return upstairs, and do a blog post. I listen to Skimm This; What a Day; The New Corner Office; and Martinis and Your Money while I write.
I check class enrollment and note that I’m down to 18 students, which means if school were to start on Monday, the class wouldn’t run – 19 is the lowest I can go. I didn’t want to do this, but I pull the attendance roster from Spring 2018 (6 semesters ago!!!) and send an email blast to my former students, encouraging them to enroll. Going back this far is really scraping the bottom of the barrel, in my opinion, as these students have more than likely moved on with their lives and completely forgotten about me and/or ever taking one of my classes.
As of today, at this point, I have officially done everything within my power to move this class forward, including the shady approach of instructing students on how to waive the Gold Class prerequisite, which is needed to take this class. The only thing left is to take a ‘wait-and-see’ approach…
10:30-11:00 – I have two cookies and change into workout clothes.
11:00-12:00 – I do a 40-min combined Pilates/Yoga app and fulfill some of the water requirement set by bottled water corporations to brainwash us into drinking their product. I drink my water from the ‘tap’, btw.
L. comes home from wherever she’s been. J/k – she and R. celebrated his birthday at the Hyatt down the street and then she reported for work at 8:15. Her shift ended at 11:30.
L. sees I’m in the middle of my yoga routine and calls me a “sexy MLF.” Awwww – thanks L.!
12:00-1:30 – I make an almond butter, strawberry, avocado smoothie and do food prep as L. will be going to the store on Sunday. The strawberries are starting to turn so I slice them up and put them in the freezer. I also break down the celery bunch into sticks and then peel and cut a zucchini. Straighten the kitchen, as usual. I listen to Today Explained and The Book Review – Author and professor Isabel Wilkerson is making the rounds concerning her “caste system” book. Another great interview.
L. leaves to spend time with R.
1:30-3:00 – I read Godspeed on my patio. The author is a former Olympian swimmer from France, who apparently hated her sport and all it stood for – she kept swimming merely because she was genetically predisposed to swim and was good at it. The book is filled with strange “turns of phrase”, as if, perhaps, a schizophrenic patient had written it (she writes that she was later diagnosed with Autism), such as: “My eyeballs wake up sighing” and “The Adults didn’t know that my body hurt and hard glass pointed my insides up…”and “the absence of the bodies of my friends dancing broke open near the middle of my body.”
I do like the book but it reminds me of that stream-of-consciousness crap in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by Joyce, which I was forced to read and hated. Godspeed is better than that, of course. But as I kept reading, I thought, “Wait, I’ve read similar phraseology before” and pulled up The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Yes, there is a similarity to both works, although Godspeed is a memoir. The writing is so odd and when I check the back of the book it says, “Uncorrected Proof-Not for Sale” so I’m left wondering if Godspeed was further edited before it hit the shelves in 2018. I’m not sure where my Mom found it…
3:00-4:00 – I have two more cookies. Then, I pick up the dog poop, spray down the astroturf, and water all my plants. I listen to The Weeds.
4:00-5:00 – the window screens are filthy and need to be washed. I’m embarrassed to admit that this has not occurred since I moved into my home in 2009. I’ve thought about hiring someone to wash my windows and screens – in fact, B. hires a company run by college students to wash ALL of his windows and screens every other year – but I really don’t have the money for this. Can I do it myself? Maybe.
I experiment with the kitchen screen first. Using a flat-head screwdriver, I pop it off, lay it on the astroturf, squirt some dishwashing soap on it, and pressure-wash it. Then, I power-spray the windowsill and the window itself. I lay the screen on the trashcan to dry. Will I be able to re-insert the screen? I’m nervous about this. I listen to Today Explained.
5:00-7:00 – I make a salad for dinner with another empanada – apparently they’re not as bad when warmed. Why didn’t I think of that yesterday? – and watch The Fight on Amazon Prime. I highly recommend this documentary!!! Four ACLU attorneys battle Trump on immigration, reproductive rights, transgender in the military, and “the census question.” I won’t say anymore so as not to be a spoiler, but you must watch it. If you’re a prime member it costs $3.99 – I charged it to my ex-husband’s account as I can’t afford $100 per year to be a prime member. Thanks M.!
7:00-8:30 – The screen is dry and…I pop it back in!!! I did it! It’s not hard, everyone, although I’m still pretty proud of myself. This means I can do the remaining downstairs windows – there are 8 – so I have my work cut out for me, BUT at least I know how to do it. I’m not sure how the upstairs screens will work…
I sweep the patio, clean the fountain, and pull leaves out of the red-rock bed.
8:30-9:30 – I talk to B.
9:30-10:00 – I read Godspeed. L. surfaces. She’s like a feral cat.
10:30 –12:00 – L. is up for watching TV so I “make” her watch The Fight. She really enjoys it. I have champagne.
12:00-1:00 – Night time routine and bed.