Day 5 of Governor Newsom’s “Blueprint for a Safer Economy”

Birds in my backyard…

Tuesday. 9/1/20

7:30 – 8:00 – I’m up and I go downstairs and take the dog out.  Back inside and I give her cheese. I grab my coffee and go upstairs. Moving quickly today.

8:00-9:00 – Shower. I listen to The Daily. I dress in my Covid-19 uniform. Light make-up. I leave for my therapy appointment.

9:30-10:00 – It’s great to see my therapist.  I mask, she doesn’t, BUT she sits more than 6 ft away. None of this bothers me – she offers to mask, but I tell her it’s unnecessary.

10:30 – Return home and I tidy my backyard and clean the patio table with Clorox wipes.

11:00 – 1:00 - B. arrives with Starbucks and donuts and we have breakfast outside on my patio table and talk politics. I notice, strangely, that there is something of a bird hotel in the trees near my fountain. There are tons of birds, jumping from branch to branch and playing in my fountain. It’s wonderful to watch…why have I never noticed this before?

1:00 – 1:30 - B. leaves and I take the dog out. The birds are gone. When we go back inside, I see the birds through the window again. Now I get it…the birds disappear when the dog is outside. Once the dog is inside, the birds return to their lives, business as usual. It appears the birds have no problem with B. and I sitting right next to the fountain and their homes; they can’t stand the dog, however.

1:30-2:30 – I have a salad and drink water.

2:30-5:30 – I catch up on my blog posts.

5:30-7:00 – L. and I go to A______ and sit outside, on the sidewalk. The food is good but the service is horrible.  L. says the same comments are also on Yelp.  I have two glasses of champagne and the fish and chips, with curly fries.  Not bad. There are groups of people sitting under the covered section of the patio and the few men who are there are drunk and yelling back and forth at each other about sports and stupid s—t.  Yes…yelling…in the Covid-19 era. They don’t appear to take corona virus seriously. I tell L. that she and I won’t be returning.

8:00-11:00 – Home and I edit my script, course content, and the PP slides for the lecture I’m preparing for Specialty Class No. 2. I also pull out various musical clips that I plan to introduce during the slides. I listen to True Crime Garage.

L. works on college homework. She’s enrolled in 11 classes, four currently, with the rest to start coming in phases over the next few weeks. It’s a difficult load, but I’m convinced that L. will never have this opportunity to take so many classes again, especially if school returns to a hybrid model. Because community colleges in California are taught virtually, the student does not have to appear in person for class. This means, conceivably, that students can take as many courses as they want from as many colleges as they want. I think this might change in Spring 2021, but if that occurs, L. will have already completed 37 units.

L. feels a bit defeated over the Covid-19 turn of events, especially after having been forced to attend community college. BUT, the stigma that used to be attached to community colleges is gone in the era of Covid-19 - everyone understands why college students do not want to pay tuition for expensive institutions when they are being taught virtually and foregoing the college experience that they paid for. It doesn’t make any sense. HOWEVER, L.’s friends have started to scatter to the zip codes outside their respective colleges. Why, I don’t know.

For example, M. is leaving for UC Davis to live in an apartment and attend classes virtually at UC Davis. B. and W. (a photography student) moved to a rat-infested New York apartment to attend art classes virtually at Parsons for $16,000 a semester. Parsons has refused to reduce the cost of their tuition. P. moved to an apartment near her college, in order to attend classes virtually and get drunk every day.

This is a hard course-correct for L. and not what she had in mind for her life and future, but I am confidant that she will ultimately prevail. By June, L. will almost certainly have completed 60 units and can transfer to whatever school she wants - preferably one that’s actually open - to complete her degree cheaply and economically, with no student debt and a nest egg to give her a head start with “adulting.” Her friends will still be muddling through, drowning in student debt, when she is ready to start her life. I’m confidant that I have advised L. correctly, having worked in the community college industry for 20 years, and I asked that she give it her all for ONE year - we can do a reassessment next September. Although a full load of classes like she has is overwhelming, I know she can do it.

I have an unshakable faith in myself and in L - I always have - and I raised L. to have faith in herself as well. We can make Covid-19 work for us as long as we both avoid getting sick.

11:00-12:00 – L. and I listen to Radio Rental.

12:00-1:00 – Nighttime routine and bed.