Day 31 - Governor Newsom imposes new restrictions

Six Flag’s Magic Mountain “Holiday Park Drive Thru”…i.e., Christmas in your car.

12/16/20. Wednesday

10:00 – I think my body is still catching up on sleep.  I stay in bed until 10:30.

10:30 – 11:00 - Up and I go downstairs to say good morning to the dog.  She’s been awake for several hours and is anxious to go straight to the back yard – no tummy rubbing this morning.  We go outside and she goes potty.  Then, back inside for rotten turkey for the dog and coffee for me.

11:00-1:30 - I enter my study and check emails from Colleges No. 1 and 2.  Even though we’re on winter break, there’s still a possibility that I might miss something important from Administration so I try to stay current. I found a Distance Education certification program and the coordinator emailed me an application which I fill out and submit.  Apparently, if I complete this program, I can teach asynchronous online courses???  I’m not really sure how it works…

-L. helps me buy an e-book I’ve had my eye on – The New Corner Office - by my favorite author, Laura Vanderkam.  I’ve read all of her books.  This book is supposed to provide hints and tips for increasing productivity when working from home (WFH).  My productivity and efficiency for Fall Semester 2020 was disastrous and I definitely need to improve.

-I order L.’s birthday presents, then place an order on Walmart.com for paper towels, trash bags, and a few make-up items.

-I check on some retirement issues, then schedule an appointment for my taxes so I can get the early bird discount.  This year, everything is virtual – a godsend!!! as his office is in San Diego – so I skim my tax folder and make a mental note of the pending items I need to mail to him before my appointment.

-L leaves for work.

-Winter Intersession starts at College No. 2 in about 2 weeks, so I “course copy” my most recent core class in preparation for my accelerated 5-week course. I’m at a loss as to how to design this syllabus.  Condensing the class from 16 weeks to 8 weeks was hard enough.  Now, I’m supposed to condense it to 5 weeks??  I’ve been putting this task off for awhile.

-I read The New Corner Office on my computer, but after the first 8 pages, I’m booted off the site with the explanation that “my free trial has ended.”  I actually bought the book!  I’ll have to talk to L. about this when she gets home.

1:30-2:30 – I have more of my left-over quinoa cheese-bake and read a Money Diary.

2:30 – 3:30 – Shower. Lotion. Skinny jeans and a tan, long-sleeved top.  Light make-up.

4:00 – I go to BevMo so I can buy an econo-size bottle of Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey for B.

4:30 – 5:30 - Home and I pull the other strand of Halloween lights off tree no. 2 in the backyard, then wrap both trunks with the white lights I purchased from Home Depot. yesterday.  Now, I have three tree trunks in the back yard wrapped in white lights – I’m pleased with the result.

5:45 – B. arrives and we drive to MM for our 6:15 “Holiday Drive Thru”

6:15-7:30 – It doesn’t disappoint!!!  The lights are gorgeous and there are various Xmas themes throughout the park.  There are elves dancing at some of the sections, too.  I love it!

8:00 – 9:00 - Home and B. and I sit outside at my patio table.  I make him two egg nogs with Jack Daniels instead of rum – I think the egg nog tastes better with whiskey.

9:00 – 11:30 - Back inside and B. has a standard 7&7 and we watch the documentary, I Love You, Now Die, on HBO-Max [two episodes].  This is the true story of a male teenager who tried to kill himself FOUR times, but was unsuccessful each time. He meets a 17-year-old female from another high school and they become boyfriend and girlfriend through their countless text messages, even though they’ve only met in real life on five occasions.

For his 5th suicide attempt, he decides to drive to a K-mart parking lot and run a hose from the exhaust pipe of his car into the interior.  His girlfriend is encouraging and supportive, probably because she’s sick of hearing him say, “I’m gonna kill myself” and never following through.  Recall that he tried, and failed, to do it FOUR times previously.  Boyfriend starts the engine, the CO2 is coming in, but he has second thoughts and exits the vehicle. 

Girlfriend, via text, tells him to get back inside the truck.  He does and dies – his 5th suicide attempt is finally successful.  Because of that last text, girlfriend is convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison.  She’s there now.

Highly recommend this documentary and I absolutely disagree with the verdict.  I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if the genders were reversed…if a white, male teenager egged on a white, female teenager to kill herself and she did.  We know that virtually nothing happens when a white male college student rapes a co-ed, although that’s rape, not assisted suicide.  But still.  If a white dude told his girlfriend, “Hey, you’re unhappy.  You should kill yourself”, most white male judges [because they’re all white male judges] would say, “This young man should not be held accountable for a teenage girl’s suicide.  HE has suffered enough and might not get that scholarship to Columbia now. DISMISSED.”

B. leaves. I have a frozen burrito (thawed, of course)

11:30-12:00 – Night time routine.  Bed.