May 31: George Floyd: The more things change …
Two weeks ago, armed white men stormed a couple of state capitols to demand we "reopen," force low-wage workers back to their jobs, and let them die.
Six days ago, George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis cop kneeling on his neck. (News reports say "died in police custody" while a cop knelt on his neck; somehow, I think if the cop hadn't been on his neck, Floyd wouldn't have died. It's not like Darth Vader ran up with a lightsaber.)
Yesterday, people took to the streets, and many cities, including Philly, issued curfews last night and tonight because of "civil unrest" — that's what the EBS texts I got called it. There are reports of a lot of white people at protests; many white men, including men standing with uniformed cops, wearing the same color wrist or arm band; many businesses of black owners or other owners of color being destroyed. Philly had a dishonor guard of dozens of cops for the Rizzo statue during today's protest (and Mayor Kenny wants to increase the police budget by 14% while cutting other city services).
This morning, Suzy messaged me saying she was going to a demonstration organized by a friend of a friend, and did I want to go? We found my sign from the inaugural Women's March three years ago, update the back to be a Black Lives Matter sign, and off I went. We were about two or three dozen people along one side of 202, just north of the intersection with 309. We were there for an hour, and Suze and I hugged in defiance of distancing, and stood too close and chatted. Illy (who will be twelve next week) and Keith were there too.
And I locked myself out of the car. Fortunately, I noticed early, and texted Jorj immediately. He biked up, and arrived an hour or less after everything ended. I'd parked by the grass in the Costco lot, and just sat there on a blanket from Suze, being mindful for an hour. No-one said anything to me, and certainly didn't call the cops.
May 29: It was the evening of waiting for rain
Waiting to video chat with Robb and Pauline, who have been married for twenty-five years and two days. Jorj is playing his acoustic bass as he sits next to me. There's a tuxedo cat walking down Randall Road. Tomorrow I have bread to bake and floors to mop.
Work was fruitful, and it's not so stinkingly hot and humid right now as earlier. Enjoying the moment, because there are few enough of them.
Jet was very vocal about his needs: treats, play time, play time, nap on the bed time Did you know that it's nearly impossible for a cat to nap on a bed with only his brother as company? Now you do.
May 26: It was the spring of fire
One of our dead trees came down in last week's big windstorm; it's now feeding fires on the back patio. The trees are dead, I have no annuals, weeds are everywhere, but we've burned the last of the logs from the treed that fell onto the Toyota during Superstorm Sandy. Today is grey and misty and breakfast with Jorj is good bread and butter.
I am happily setting things on fire in Elder Scrolls: Blades too.
May 21: Well, fuck
Ernst, my godfather, died a week ago today. The cancer had returned at the end of the winter, and he was able to be at home with my aunt and cousins and the grand children and th cats and the dog and the garden and the creek and the "Catastrophe Room" (renovated when the creek flooded in the late 70s). Nina called one Sunday morning and we all had a video chat and they ahhhhhh'd at how much taller Jakob is and we cooed over baby Arne.
And I didn't fly over and I didn't get anyone sick but I couldn't do anything either. So now I'm waiting for travel restrictions to be lifted and will buy a ticket immediately or four years later because I don't trust any stinking government to reopen safely.
Last Thursday Nina called a few minutes after noon, and I knew, because why else would she call? And we drank some shots together and cried and talked about her Dad for an hour. Then I took the afternoon off and read in the sun and got the first sunburn of the year.
May 12: What day is it again?
Took a long weekend because … it's obvious, isn't it? Got some intense spot-cleaning done, which set off my dust allergy. The bedroom looks great though. So does the kitchen. And The order is making me feel better.
Upping the exercise probably helped too. I biked nearly 10 miles one morning last week. Traffic was lighter but still the usual people who need to get to the red light before the cyclist. Yesterday I ran twelve-minute miles, all one-point-seven of them, in the twenty minutes the oven was pre-heating to bake the last of the whole wheat bread dough.
It's been a month since I last submitted the paperwork for working at home, so that should fill up an hour of tomorrow's workday.
May 5: Cinco de Mayo is still racist. Yo.
Rode six miles with Jakob after work yesterday, and my back says the distance just fits the criteria for a workout. Little stiff, not too much. Good to get back on the bike. We went past the train station, through Jenkintown, into a small development, and back. Traffic was about Saturday morning normal, which seems like a lot of traffic right now. I still hear traffic on the highway in front of the house at seven, eight, nine in the evening. I really want these people to stay the fuck home. Especially when I'm on my bike. Morning rides are probably much more relaxing, if I can get myself motivated.
Safari and firefox are flipping my vertical photos horizontal, but Chrome shows them just fine, the watermarking software handles it, and clicking through they are vertical. So. What. The. Fahrvergnügen? Apparently, they're ignoring the EXIF data when showing in the web page. As Gena would say: BASTARDS. I tried using a 90-degree transformation with CSS, but all the wrapping and flowing is applied to the original position. Not useful. If anyone knows how to get browsers to use the EXIF information …
Verizon wasn't talking to our webhost for over a day; that explains the 504 errors.
Nina tagged me for a "Drei Schnäppsle in Quarentine" challenge. Which I'd love to show to you, without putting it on YouTube. The idea is to do film yourself drinking three different shots, nominate three other people, and send the video to your nominees and nominator. I picked Willhelmsbirne Schnapps, Three Olives Rose vodka, and Averna (because Nina had picked it). Drinking them took for-ev-er because they were so tasty and sippable.
I've gotten a bit stuck in Elder Scrolls: Blades. I zoomed through the first seventeen levels (out of fifty) and getting my town up to level six of ten, and then started dying (a lot) on quests. This is where we see that I'm not a gamer. There's a section of the game called "the Abyss" that's just never-ending auto-generated combat levels, with three to five hot spots of "enemies" to fight and kill. You get stuff as you kill enemies, and you get more stuff as you go through new levels. It was fun and relaxing when it was easy. I've been using it to practice my non-existent fighting game skills, and it seems to be working, but does feel like a grind, sometimes. At least it takes some skill, even that of tapping quickly.
May 3: Siri says it's day 52
(Hey Siri, how many days since March twelfth?)
At three o'clock, I am done. Just, exhausted. Any plans go right out the window. Brain gone. Motivation gone. Energy gone. All I want is a beer and some butterbread. Chocolate too. (I should steal the kid's nutella.)
We started the day with French toast, picked up seedlings from Suze and Keith, then moved on to a bit of cleaning, interspersed with playing Elder Scrolls: Blades (we have a guild! join ussssss!), a couple Spanish lessons, playing with Jet (which feels like goofing off, but not playing with them feels neglectful). And, at three in the afternoon, my brain fell over. Plop.
It happened Saturday. It happens at work. Any productivity occurs in the morning (ideally) or early afternoon.
Weekends are trying to recover energy from the week, while still making the house liveable. (Don't ask about the floors. Just. Don't.) I try to take breaks to do quick tidying and cleaning, but, again, exhausted by three in the afternoon. Alarms? Another another to-do list? Awake at five like my mother?
May 1: It was the year of day drinking
It's half past ten in the morning, and I really want a beer.
While my co-workers are listening to/watching the CIO's town hall, I am reading their comments to get the gist of it. Even through that filter there is so much stupidity and disregard for our safety.
I am trying really hard to limit the drinking, because I know it's a short walk for me right now to full-blown alcoholism, and it's freaking expensive.
But this guy.
Apparently, everyone presenting in the town hall is in the same physical room, without masks, and touching the same computer.
Finished the night watching Spiritual Thunder (the fabulous Robb McCall and Pauline Houston McCall, my cousins) live on Facebook. Pauline and Robb just washed all the negativity away. I know Gena, Suze, and Marsha were watching too. Pauline made a great point: you have a right to be happy. Joy is a radical act when the power is trying to crush you down.