Day 60-Governor Newsom imposes new restrictions

Fired on Mars…J.’s new show

1/14/21. Thursday.

Still no word on the results of R’s Covid test…

4:30 – No.

6:30 – I slept terrible last night.  I try to go back to sleep.

8:30 – The phone rings (landline) and B. takes a call from his sister.

9:00 – 9:30 - B. wants to go to Starbucks so we have to get up now.  I HATE getting up this early, as I’m not an early riser or a morning person. Plus, I’m only functioning on 4 hours of sleep…not good.

9:30-10:30 – Shower. Lotion. Covid-19 uniform. Light make-up.  B. returns with coffee and I pack everything into my overnight bag, then load my car.

10:30–12:00 – We sit outside at B.’s patio table, drink coffee, and talk politics. At 12:00, B. says we have to go inside so he can show me some video clips.  I like being outside - it’s a nice, warm day and I could stay outside longer if given the opportunity, but B. is done sitting at his patio table so we go inside.

12:00–1:30 - The first video clip is a 6-min promo called Fired on Mars and produced by HBO-Max.  The reason for this video selection is B.’s daughter, J., was hired to work on this show!  We watch it and it’s fantastic!  This show will go far and I’m happy for J.’s opportunity!  This is so exciting and I can’t wait to tell L.!

-Next, we watch an interview with Nancy Pelosi conducted by Leslie Stahl on 60 minutes concerning the 1/6/21 insurrection at the Capitol. Over the past week, it has become clear that many of the anarchists who stormed the Capitol wanted to assassinate and/or kidnap members of Congress, such as VP Pence, AOC, and Speaker Nancy Peolosi.  She tells the tale of her staff hiding under a table in her congressional office while anarchists tried to break the door down – her staff were terrified. 

Most distressing are pictures of the anarchist dressed in riot gear, carrying a ton of zip ties.  We all know that zip ties can be used as makeshift handcuffs. All of this is so disturbing and the FBI continue to make arrest after arrest based on footage obtained from Capitol cameras and i-phones, 250 suspects and counting.  Although almost everyone involved in the coup was a white male, some of the rioters comprise, what we could call, normal people: a former Olympiad swimmer; a physical therapist; a teacher; a CEO of a Chicago-based software company.  Shockingly, radicalization is occurring amongst all walks of society and these people are referring to themselves as “revolutionaries” when all they’re really trying to do is overthrow democracy and our government.

-I have a few agenda items to discuss with B. and then we do some light calendar planning for the coming months.

1:30-3:00 – B. and I decide to watch Absentia, another recommendation from J. She recommended The Wilds and it was great. The Absentia pilot is interesting…B. and I will continue watching in the future.

3:00-3:30 – I leave.

3:30-3:45 – Stop at the gas station.

3:45-4:45 – Home and I put everything away. I’m exhausted but there is no time to take a nap, unfortunately.

4:45-5:15 – I take the dog for a walk.

5:15-5:45 – I have a leftover turkey burger and potato salad from last night’s dinner.

5:45 – 6:00 - The first day of class starts at 6:00 and I like to be available an hour before it begins in case the students have questions or are confused. Unfortunately, I log into email a mere 15 minutes before class starts.

-I manually input a video quiz into two Canvas shells while class unfolds and in between fielding emails.  Truthfully, I don’t feel like doing much of anything, but I really need to take advantage of this time.

6:00-8:30 – Since this is the first day of school, this class won’t run the entire three hours.  So far, there are only a handful of questions and a few of the students reach out to see if I’m actually there for live chatting (I am).

-I manually input a podcast quiz into two Canvas shells.

-L. arrives home from work.  I tell her there are turkey burgers and potato salad for dinner.

8:30-9:00 - Class ends at 8:30 and I email those students who didn’t sign in to ask if they’re still interested in the class.  If they’re not, I can email Add Codes to prospective crashers.  There is one student who just doesn’t get it regarding the textbook and the Inquizitives and we email back and forth throughout the entire lecture.  At least she doesn’t request a Zoom meeting.

9:00-9:30 – I check in on L. and she shows me more art projects that she is working on for school. As usual, her work is incredible. We agree to watch The Wilds at 10:30.

9:30-10:30 – Kitchen duty and I bring in the rest of the items from my car from B.’s house then read The Beauty while I wait for L. to finish her assignments.

10:30-1:00- L. and I watch two episodes of The Wilds. L. asks if we can go on a bike ride on Saturday. After I pull myself off the floor from the shock, I say, “Sure!”

1:00-2:30 – L. shows me an e-book graphic novel that she was assigned – Stitches, by David Small – in her English Critical Thinking class and we discuss. It’s fascinating!

2:30-3:00 – Night time routine. Bed.