Tues. Aug. 31, 2021: This and That

image coourtesy of Goumbik via pixabay.com

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Waning Moon

Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Chiron, Uranus Retrograde

Cloudy, foggy, humid, but cooler

Good weekend, although busy. I worked straight through the weekend on script coverage. I kept my promise to myself not to whine, either in person or on social media, and I didn’t. it wasn’t that bad; I paced myself, it wasn’t as hot and humid as it’s been, and I got it done. Since I didn’t take the time to whine, there was nothing to whine about. The pay period ends today, and I want to be able to enjoy taking four days off for the holiday weekend while my friend visits. Without worry or guilt. So I shut up and worked, and it was fine.

Ran some errands Friday. Didn’t get enough admin work done Friday, so that meant a lot of extra yesterday.

The students were checking in/moving into the college across the street on Saturday, so it was a little chaotic out there. It was nice to be able to sit on my second-floor porch above the fray! Everyone has to be vaccinated and wear masks indoors, so this neighborhood is safer than most (since those of us already here are already vaccinated).

Got some more unpacking done, especially the sewing room, which doubles as a guest room, and is where my friend will sleep. I don’t have the sewing machine up yet, but once it is, the room will be a good workspace. Ran some extension cords to lamps, and got them bulbed. I still have to invest in a few more household extension cords, but things are coming together.

Basically, there’s just my office and my bedroom to finish unpacking, and that doesn’t have to happen before my friend gets here.

As boxes are unpacked and things are put away, the space looks nice and big. The high ceilings help. There are still some pieces I’m slowly looking to add:  bookcases, always bookcases, but different shapes and sizes than at the other house; a nouveau-style cathedral mirror to go over the fireplace; a cabinet/island on wheels for the kitchen; new slipcovers for the wingback chairs; maybe a glass-fronted, curved low cabinet with shelves to store a mix of knick-knacks and fabric. Rugs. I know what I want, rug-wise, but haven’t found them in my price range yet.  It would be nice if the couch cover I ordered nearly a month ago would show up. It’s been stuck at the Edison, NJ Fed Ex facility since the 19^th, and they deny that it’s there. And the place from which I ordered doesn’t give a damn about finding it, replacing it, or giving me a refund.

Unpacking decorations, and seeing where they fit. I’m sure I will keep moving things around. Frustrated at how dirty everything is coming out of the box, when I washed the pieces before they were packed. It’s as though that weird grit absorbed into the pieces, and the pieces are now expelling it. So everything’s being washed again, and cleansed on multiple levels before it’s placed.

My Yoga Frogs are out, which makes me happy.

Worried about Hurricane Ida, and colleagues in that area. There are still people with whom I lost contact because of Katrina with whom I’ve never managed to reconnect. But glad that we have a president who at least gets emergency help in place early on. I’m sick of the privileged sniffing how people deserve it if they didn’t evacuate – most of them can’t afford it, have no transportation, and have nowhere to go. Oh and the people making nasty comments about how we shouldn’t give aid to red states. The Republicans who keep systems in place that kill people need to be removed (permanently, from all walks of life), but fellow citizens deserve help. Even if I don’t agree with them. I’m sick of Democrats bringing a cupcake to a gunfight, but that doesn’t mean I want to see people indiscriminately drown. The hurricane doesn’t care how anybody voted. The hurricane is going to wreak havoc on everything and everyone in its path.

While I am glad that we are officially “out” of Afghanistan, and thankful for the amazing amount of people evacuated out, I am angry at the DOD for ignoring Kabul Small Animal Rescue, although they had the funds and resources in place to leave, but couldn’t get the paperwork signed. It was only 100 small animals and some staff; it wouldn’t have prevented any humans from evacuating. Their staff and Puppy Rescue Mission and everyone who worked flat out to get it done are devastated. All because some bureaucratic fucktard wouldn’t sign the paperwork. I hope every one of those horrible, disgusting individuals who refused to sign those papers meets an awful end. Because that’s what those poor animals, and some of the staff left behind, face now.

The human race is a failed experiment.

I haven’t been sleeping well. All that script reading is making it noisy in my head, and interfering with the ability to hear my own work.

Out of the house early this morning to go to the laundromat. I was the first one there, and had my pick of the machines. Three loads in and out in an hour and 15 minutes. Not bad.

I have a LOT of paperwork to do today on various issues, plus script reading, plus writing up coverage. Tomorrow, I need to get back to the short almanac articles for a few days. I’m still ahead of where I need to be, but behind where I want to be.

I used the time at the laundromat to outline a project that has been percolating, a kind of weird, cross-genre thing. And here I made all this fuss about keeping my notes organized, and I can’t find another set of notes I wrote up on a different project, about which I have some more ideas. It’s very frustrating. Even though I have specific places I’m putting things, they’re not there when I go back for them. It doesn’t make sense.

Covid numbers in the Berkshires have risen 61% in the past 2 weeks. That’s with most people vaccinated, and is still one of the lowest area numbers in the state, but still too much.

I also have to get to the store and get a bunch of other stuff done. Today and tomorrow are big pushes on the work front. On Thursday, there’s a lot of baking and cleaning on the agenda, and on Friday my friend arrives, and I have a weekend off.

I need it.

Have a good one.

Fri. July 10: Die for Tourist Dollars Day 52 – Dealing With The Inner Five Year Old

image by Mandyme via pixabay.com

Friday, July 10, 2020
Waning Moon
Pluto Retrograde
Saturn Retrograde
Jupiter Retrograde
Mercury Retrograde
Neptune Retrograde
Foggy and humid

It’s getting hot and humid, although nowhere as bad as it could be.

I got the garbage to the dump yesterday; timed well, not a lot of people, everyone masked. Then went to a grocery store that few tourists visit. Few people, plenty of room, everyone masked. Not hard to get in and out quickly.

Of course, in the tourist-centric areas, they’re acting like college students from the 1980’s on spring break.

You know what these reckless, selfish twatwaffles remind me of? Back in the 1980’s, when the AIDS epidemic was in full swing, some straight men used to pressure women for unprotected sex as proof you loved them enough to risk getting AIDS. It was a badge of –something, it sure wasn’t ‘honor’ —  to see how many women they could put at risk.

It didn’t work on me, but plenty of women I knew succumbed. Several got sick and died.

Because, as women, too often we are told we should be willing to “die for love.”

There are plenty of ways I’d do just about anything in a mutually committed, passionate relationship, but risking AIDS (or risking COVID) aren’t on that list. Not to mention if the guy actually LOVED the woman, he wouldn’t demand she should “prove” anything by putting her life in danger that way.

Toxic, all the way around.

Home. Full disinfectant protocols.

Then, my inner five year old took over and I didn’t wanna. It was triggered by something (someone) very specific and is an indicator of a lot more going on, none of which is appropriate to discuss publicly.

Eventually, I just sucked it up and got the work done. Because, ultimately, being a professional means showing up and doing the work, while holding boundaries and dealing with issues in a competent, cordial, professional way.

That didn’t stop me from enjoying cocktail hour when I was done!

I was too wiped out to do any coursework, which means I have a LOT of it to do today and this weekend.

I have the shape of the article that needs to go out next week done, and how I have to fill it out. And got out three LOIs.

I don’t work well in humidity, and there’s no air conditioning here, so I’m dragging a bit.

My mother isn’t feeling well, which is also worrying. Let’s hope with some rest and over-the-counter medications, she feels better.

I have to do some client work, including a stats report, this morning, get out some more LOIs, make a pharmacy run and a library run, and get my coursework done.

The past few days haven’t been good for fiction, and that has to readjust. But writing in longhand first thing in the morning, like I did yesterday and today, is helping get that back into focus.

I need to get some cards and letters written this weekend, too.

Anyone who remarks on “all the extra time” I must have during the pandemic is going to get a big ole smack right upside the head.

Absolutely loved Vivien Chien’s DEATH BY DUMPLING, and have started DIM SUM OF ALL FEARS.

Lilith St. Crow has been tweeting tales of her neighbors the past few days that make me laugh until I have tears running down my face (for all the right reasons).

Have a great weekend, friends.