Monday again

Posted on June 1, 2020 by A Dreamer

And not a restful weekend for anyone. And this morning, the BBC is interviewing a white dude… I’ll at least give him credit for knowing our craptastic history and referring to these as police riots.

The police just showed over and over again why people are protesting all across the country. Two officers fired in Atlanta, and there should be a lot more in the unemployment lines.

How do you even deal with a system where the answer to “Stop killing us” is “Fuck you, we’ll do what we want”?

Let the lawsuits begin. If nothing else, sue them out of existence and/or into decent policing.

And all in the midst of a pandemic that is already disproportionately impacting people of color here.

And the President hid in the basement.

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But what can I do?

Posted on May 31, 2020 by A Dreamer

I know there are lots of us out here watching the news and the protests and want to help or get involved, but for whatever reason can’t get out in the streets. It’s OK. Here’s some things you can do:

– Support a bail fund – National Bail Fund Network. Also Matthew Cherry is maintaining a list of bail funds on Twitter.

– Don’t be racist. Don’t condone racism. Don’t be friends with racists. Don’t elect racists. (Basic, but needs to be said.)

– Don’t ask black folks to educate you on racism in the US. They have more than enough on their plates right now. Do your research. The information is readily available.*

– LISTEN to black folks when they talk about racism and believe them.

– Find out everything you can about how your local police work.
— Is the chief elected or appointed? If appointed, who appoints them?
— Is there a civilian review board?
— How do they handle complaints of excessive force?
— Do they have de-escalation training?
— Do they have any kind of training on policing in marginalized communities?

And there are a ton of other questions we should all be asking that I know I’m not thinking of right now.

Get the answers to those questions and vote and agitate accordingly.

And if you are a white person who is out in the streets, for the love of god, DON’T START SHIT.

*Here are just a few good books from one of my grad school classes:
David Blight, Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (2002)
Leslie Brown, Upbuilding Black Durham: Gender, Class, and Black Community Development in the Jim Crow South (2008)
Mae Ngai, Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America (2005)
Annelise Orleck, Storming Caesar’s Palace: How Black Mothers Fought Their Own War on Poverty (2006)
Thomas Sugrue, The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit (Revised ed., 2005)
Jeremi Suri, Power and Protest: Global Revolution and the Rise of Détente (2005)
Timothy Tyson, Radio Free Dixie: Robert F. Williams and the Roots of Black Power (2001)
Lance Hill, The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement (2005)

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Something that’s not total shit

Posted on May 28, 2020 by A Dreamer

And that’s important these days. My company is laying out the preliminary plan to reopen offices, and it’s not stupid or misguided.

First, props to my coworkers of whom 90% said they were working just fine at home and 78% who noped the fuck out on going back into the office according the survey we had last week.

We’re not going to be putting folks back in the office for at least 3 months, with partial capacity at that, and it’s totally opt-in.

I suspect when lease renewals come around, we’ll be opting for less space.

Posted in COVID19, Working | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Welp, buckle up, Virginia

Posted on May 28, 2020 by A Dreamer

We’re all going to Phase 1 tomorrow. Despite the fact that my county had 1900 new cases in the last week, and and as a state, our 7 day average for daily tests is just over 9K. We should over 15K a day. And our positives for the last week are still over 10%.

The only upside is that masks are now mandatory, which should have happened a while ago.

My salon is reopening tomorrow and as such, will no longer be offering take home color kits. Just when I’d finally convinced myself I could do it at home. I think it’s shortsighted, cause I can’t be the only person that doesn’t feel it’s safe to go to a salon, even with all the precautions they’re taking. (Also – if you have to cut bookings by 50%, wouldn’t you want some quick income streams?)

Minneapolis. Jesus, I don’t even know what to say there, except if the cops don’t want people protesting them murdering someone, they should stop murdering people.

BBC is covering England starting a big track/trace/isolate campaign… The thing they should have been doing 2+ months ago? Not that we’re doing any better here, but it’s so, so late to be only starting this on a wide scale anywhere. Watching cases spike all over the country and multiple states where it’s just getting worse – it’s like folks thought “Well, things are getting better in New York, so it must be fine everywhere.”

We’re gonna get more people killed, but by god, we’ll reopen the economy.

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Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed?

Posted on May 26, 2020 by A Dreamer

Whatever that opposite is – it’s me this morning. Come on, coffee, do you thing, and please make it quick. Weird dreams & new pillows I can’t get smushed quite right are the contributing factors today.

It was so very disheartening to see those photos this weekend of people crowding into places like sardines. (Honestly, how is that enjoyable even when there isn’t a pandemic?) And our own Governor went down to Virginia Beach – no mask… DAMMIT, RALPH.

I’m hearing rumbles of the county opening up next week. I don’t think I’ll be participating anytime soon. Guess I’m going to have to get the pre-mix from my stylist and learn how to highlight my own hair. And then go to town with overtone after to cover the inevitable mess, LOL.

Given our abysmal level of track/trace/isolate – I just don’t see how it’s going to be safe to do anything involving close contact – even with a mask – without a vaccine. Maybe things will change, but looks like it’s still going to be grocery pickups, grab & go Starbucks, terrible roots, and extra tooth-brushing for a very long while.

Oh, and today is the first of two sessions with our motivational speaker. Today is resilience! Which in my experience just means folks will dump even more shit on you because “you can handle it” – guess we’ll see.

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One Hundred Thousand

Posted on May 24, 2020 by A Dreamer

The New York Times has done an online version of the front page compilation of 1,000 people who have died in the US from the pandemic.

It is appropriately haunting.

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Breakin’ out for mental health

Posted on May 23, 2020 by A Dreamer

Yup, this morning I was out and about for things that are honestly, completely unnecessary from a physical survival standpoint. But – Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts have certainly brightened my morning. All mobile ordered and social distanced and masked up, and WE HAVE DONUTS!

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In the last day or so, I’ve also realized that seeing folks without masks makes me a bit uncomfortable. Today there was a couple in the donut shop with a toddler, and no masks. They were way the fuck far away from me, so that didn’t really concern me, but they have a little kid who could be really adversely affected by this. (Plus spreading it asymptomatically…)

I mean, I don’t know anyone that *likes* masks, but it’s a really easy thing that actually makes a difference. And I will admit I wasn’t super enthusiastic about it at first, because there were so many conflicting proclamations about it, but the consensus finally appears to be that this is a good idea, and I’ve been all in on it for near two months at this point.

And it’s taken some experimentation to figure out what works for me. Any kind of elastic over the ears is a no-go – even using cut up pantyhose, they still start to hurt after a while and I’ve discovered my ears aren’t even, and one of them isn’t shaped right for an over the ear situation. (The things we learn about ourselves in a pandemic.)

The popular pleated no-sew option is great, but actually had way too many layers and I found it difficult to breathe. (I think it had thinner fabric in mind.) But, flip the bandana diagonally, 4 layers, no elastics needed, you can just tie it behind your head for a quick outing, or tie on some shoelaces if you’re going to be out longer and don’t want to worry about it coming untied. Bonus: You look like an NPC in Red Dead Redemption.

Plus, everybody and their brother is selling masks now in every style possible, and for those manly men who are worried it will make them look weak – you can get them with sports logos! What could be more manly than that?!

In non-Covid news – looks like we’re actually going to have spectacular weather for this long weekend! 70s and 80s and no rain! This is unusual, cause I swear most years it rains all three days. Granted, nothing much to do but hang on the porch, but it’s better than stuck inside with rain, and it’s not like I’d be making some grand outing anyway.

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Grocery day sads…

Posted on May 22, 2020 by A Dreamer

No cleaning wipes. But, they’re back in the cart for Tuesday’s pickup. If at first you don’t succeed and all that.

The bananas were a bit on the green side, but hey, they won’t be black and only suitable for bread in 24 hours.

Last order, I put in for mixed birdseed and sunflower seeds for the feeders. Sunflower seeds were out, but hey, 10 pounds of mixed seeds for the birds. Ordered sunflower seeds again this time, and they subbed in mixed seed. I’ve put it back on again and unchecked substitution so I don’t end up with 30 pounds of mixed seed. I mean, I’ll probably buy that much over the course of the summer, I just don’t necessarily need it all right now. (The chipmunks may disagree.)

Also, a half pound of potato salad is much less than I had thought. Downside of not being at the deli counter where they show you the container and say, “Are you sure you only want a half pound?” Lesson learned on that one.

But the errands are done, all the critical stuff made it into the grocery order, I’ve got a bigassed Starbucks cold brew, and it’s a long weekend.

If you’re looking for something to binge on Hulu, I recommend What We Do In The Shadows. It’s kinda The Office, but with vampires. It’s silly and dumb and just what the doctor ordered.

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It’s Fuck It Friday, my glorious bitches!

Posted on May 22, 2020 by A Dreamer

We have made it to the end of another week – WELL DONE, YOU!!

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Go grab yourself a cookie, beer, ice cream, or mask up and treat yourself to a Starbucks grab & go. Be kind to yourself, because you got through another week of this shitshow, and that’s not nothing.

We’re getting booted out early today and we’ve got a 3 day weekend and boy howdy do I need it – yesterday I couldn’t help but notice how thin my patience was, so yes, it’s time for a little break.

Very exciting plans for the early dismissal – grocery pick up!! They’ve seriously beefed up whatever they do in store and slots are now available within a day (and same day in some cases – right now they’ve got evening pickup slots today) and that is great, considering the best you could get at the start was a pickup slot a week out. And with the store being right next to my Starbucks…yeah, there’s a grab & go in my future today.

And theoretically – cleaning wipes are back in stock! We’ll see when I do the pickup, especially given that they’ve supposedly had hand sanitizing wipes in stock for the past month and they’ve never hit my bags. But, I just keep adding 2 to my basket every time anyway. Some day they’ll be there!

I’m not gonna lie, I’d never been a big cleaning wipe person before now, but I also never felt the need to constantly wipe down the interior of my car, doorknobs, switches, etc, etc. Currently I have soapy water wipes in my car in the old container, and they work for now, but yeah, regular ones would be better. (And less drippy.) And my attitude towards hand sanitizer has done a 180, too. WEIRD, I KNOW!

Stay safe, stay sane.

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Can it be tomorrow at 1, please?

Posted on May 21, 2020 by A Dreamer

Cause if today is like yesterday, it’s gonna be rough, LOL. I was great up until about 1 then I hit a WALL. Had a meeting at 3 that was one of those “just sit and listen” types and I’m not gonna lie, I may have dozed off momentarily. The minute I got off work, Lily and I napped HARD for a good hour and a half. My brother came upstairs and got as far as being able to see Lily at the foot of my bed and apparently she gave him a HELLA look of “GIRL HAS HAD A HARD DAY, DON’T YOU DARE WAKE HER.” She’s a good kitty. :)

I’ve got a BIG mug of coffee this morning in hopes that it will stave off the sleepies today, and I should probably go for a quick walk at lunch… (In retrospect, I probably should have done that this morning.)

I am so excited for this long weekend, even though I have zero plans. It’s been a HARD couple of months. Having 2 1/2 months with no days off scheduled was probably not the best idea even without a pandemic.

In weird news, I suddenly have BBC News back on my cable. Still have new coax cable coming, and I need to remember to call and get a replacement cable card thing for my TiVo anyway. But my god, it’s nice to have regular non-ridiculous morning news again that’s trying to entertain me. Just tell me what’s going on in the world.

Well, time to go do the thing and try and avoid the wall. Here’s Lily – during that meeting yesterday – no wonder I got so drowsy.

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Zzzzzzzzzz

 

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