Friday, March 20, 2020
Hey, look. Three sets of 20's: 3/20/2020.
This Friday looks a heck of a lot better than last Friday. Or does it?
Have we hit a true rock bottom yet? What's this I hear about The 25th?
I don't know. I can't tell.
I can tell you that I woke up at 3 a.m. this morning and didn't get back to anything like sleep.
So I got up. And I meditated.
I like our new artistic director for Isthmus Vocal Ensemble for a lot of reasons. He's an amazing, funny, and very musical guy. He's also really intelligent. I think that part might also cause him to be really stressed out or anxious often, and thus he meditates. He mentioned the app Headspace last summer in rehearsals, I tried it a few times and liked it, and at the new year I finally subscribed to their service. I really like it.
Anyway. If you're not sleeping, give Headspace a try. https://www.headspace.com/ They have a few free meditations, some specifically geared toward the BS we are encountering now. Even if you are sleeping like a baby, try it. Or if you need help sleeping, their "Switch Off" routines are really nice. Why I didn't try one last night is a mystery to me, but here we are.
I sat in the early pre-dawn light and lived and breathed in the moment.
Then I made coffee, looked at the Internet too much, and a little before 7 a.m., I headed off to the Madison College Truax building to clear my few things out of my locker. Because I Don't Know when I'll next be able to walk into that building.
They asked us to come in the front door, rather than the usual side door for faculty. They said they'd be limiting entrants to 10 people at a time, so I wanted to get there early in case there was a line.
Ha. The parking lot had like four cars in it. It was weird to walk up to that building and see no one else, no other students, no traffic in front, nothing. Did I mention weird? It was weird.
I tossed my stuff from my locker into a canvas bag and bade my locker goodbye. I left a note in the office for any co-workers who might see it: "Miss you all, be well, 'see' you soon, Love, Cat." Possibly overly dramatic, but I will miss seeing everyone. I miss normal.
I ran into a colleague and we commiserated a bit about teaching online. I have it pretty easy. My course was already online. She's got to figure out how to assess skills online. How do you judge decorating techniques or ability to time-manage in food production? Good knife skills, a proper saute or braise? All of those things, my co-workers are dealing with. I can't wait to see what they come up with, but seriously! And I get frustrated -- we're training these great students for jobs that don't exactly exist right now. And she's got students who don't have computers at home, let alone decent Internet connectivity. Large challenges, on top of probably-recently-unemployed students. Messed up world this is.
Still breathing, taking it one day at a time. We walked the dogs in this silly windy cold, as it sprinkled snow on us.
I puttered with some school work, tried to make some video quizzes work but I'm not in love with them, more effort than they're worth. Made a poll to ask students whether they want to "meet" virtually on Mondays as we used to. I'll likely record whatever lecture I have and post it for those who can't join us "live."
I saw a post that freaked me out a little, what looks like the equivalent of Home Depot stores closing in Germany. I ran to Home Depot to get a wallpaper "shark" -- it's time to get the wallpaper out of the small powder room just off the kitchen. Who wallpapers a ceiling, anyway? A project for the isolation.
And I stopped into Jo Ann Fabrics for that one other color of blue variegated thread. Worried that the aqua blend thread won't look quite right on the quilt top. Or I use aqua and the blue, "live in the AND." Whatever. I did find the guts to put the new invisible thread on the machine, and then I had to re-learn how to put the walking foot on the machine. I have put invisible thread to quilt! But it's nowhere near done yet, and I hope the spray adhesive will last long enough for me to stitch that all down securely. Whew.
I got to FaceTime with a friend today, I haven't really seen her face in years. She's been in a lot of pain, and I have not known what to say. She's managing symptoms better these days and is seeing the light on the other end of a dark couple of years. It was great to chat with her, and a virtual wine date is in the works. She asked me how I was managing, or feeling my way through our current state of things. I'm not exactly sure. One day at a time, and that meditation bit when I'm good to myself and make time for it.
GHC sent me a little message about COVID and there was a bit about managing stress. I'll share: https://www.ghcscw.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/COVID19_Coping_With_Stress_FAQ.pdf
They suggested sharing the facts to also support oneself: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/share-facts.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fabout%2Fshare-facts.html
Try not to freak out, and don't believe every story you read, or at least take a break from the media so you don't lose your mind. Keep breathing. Call me if you need to, and I'll remind you.
I forgot to mention that I'm grateful for a lot of things, and that this is just my rambling story. Re-clarifying that this is not a "poor me" bitchfest -- I say out loud every day how lucky I am for where I am in this moment. But I know others are not so lucky and are having a much rougher time and I have no idea how to help them. It is probably not even my job to do so. But I do wish for helping, for better, for normal, whatever the heck that actually was. Ugh. Love you guys. Let's FaceTime soon.
This Friday looks a heck of a lot better than last Friday. Or does it?
Have we hit a true rock bottom yet? What's this I hear about The 25th?
I don't know. I can't tell.
I can tell you that I woke up at 3 a.m. this morning and didn't get back to anything like sleep.
So I got up. And I meditated.
I like our new artistic director for Isthmus Vocal Ensemble for a lot of reasons. He's an amazing, funny, and very musical guy. He's also really intelligent. I think that part might also cause him to be really stressed out or anxious often, and thus he meditates. He mentioned the app Headspace last summer in rehearsals, I tried it a few times and liked it, and at the new year I finally subscribed to their service. I really like it.
Anyway. If you're not sleeping, give Headspace a try. https://www.headspace.com/ They have a few free meditations, some specifically geared toward the BS we are encountering now. Even if you are sleeping like a baby, try it. Or if you need help sleeping, their "Switch Off" routines are really nice. Why I didn't try one last night is a mystery to me, but here we are.
I sat in the early pre-dawn light and lived and breathed in the moment.
Then I made coffee, looked at the Internet too much, and a little before 7 a.m., I headed off to the Madison College Truax building to clear my few things out of my locker. Because I Don't Know when I'll next be able to walk into that building.
They asked us to come in the front door, rather than the usual side door for faculty. They said they'd be limiting entrants to 10 people at a time, so I wanted to get there early in case there was a line.
Ha. The parking lot had like four cars in it. It was weird to walk up to that building and see no one else, no other students, no traffic in front, nothing. Did I mention weird? It was weird.
I tossed my stuff from my locker into a canvas bag and bade my locker goodbye. I left a note in the office for any co-workers who might see it: "Miss you all, be well, 'see' you soon, Love, Cat." Possibly overly dramatic, but I will miss seeing everyone. I miss normal.
I ran into a colleague and we commiserated a bit about teaching online. I have it pretty easy. My course was already online. She's got to figure out how to assess skills online. How do you judge decorating techniques or ability to time-manage in food production? Good knife skills, a proper saute or braise? All of those things, my co-workers are dealing with. I can't wait to see what they come up with, but seriously! And I get frustrated -- we're training these great students for jobs that don't exactly exist right now. And she's got students who don't have computers at home, let alone decent Internet connectivity. Large challenges, on top of probably-recently-unemployed students. Messed up world this is.
Still breathing, taking it one day at a time. We walked the dogs in this silly windy cold, as it sprinkled snow on us.
I puttered with some school work, tried to make some video quizzes work but I'm not in love with them, more effort than they're worth. Made a poll to ask students whether they want to "meet" virtually on Mondays as we used to. I'll likely record whatever lecture I have and post it for those who can't join us "live."
I saw a post that freaked me out a little, what looks like the equivalent of Home Depot stores closing in Germany. I ran to Home Depot to get a wallpaper "shark" -- it's time to get the wallpaper out of the small powder room just off the kitchen. Who wallpapers a ceiling, anyway? A project for the isolation.
And I stopped into Jo Ann Fabrics for that one other color of blue variegated thread. Worried that the aqua blend thread won't look quite right on the quilt top. Or I use aqua and the blue, "live in the AND." Whatever. I did find the guts to put the new invisible thread on the machine, and then I had to re-learn how to put the walking foot on the machine. I have put invisible thread to quilt! But it's nowhere near done yet, and I hope the spray adhesive will last long enough for me to stitch that all down securely. Whew.
I got to FaceTime with a friend today, I haven't really seen her face in years. She's been in a lot of pain, and I have not known what to say. She's managing symptoms better these days and is seeing the light on the other end of a dark couple of years. It was great to chat with her, and a virtual wine date is in the works. She asked me how I was managing, or feeling my way through our current state of things. I'm not exactly sure. One day at a time, and that meditation bit when I'm good to myself and make time for it.
GHC sent me a little message about COVID and there was a bit about managing stress. I'll share: https://www.ghcscw.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/COVID19_Coping_With_Stress_FAQ.pdf
They suggested sharing the facts to also support oneself: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/share-facts.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fabout%2Fshare-facts.html
Try not to freak out, and don't believe every story you read, or at least take a break from the media so you don't lose your mind. Keep breathing. Call me if you need to, and I'll remind you.
I forgot to mention that I'm grateful for a lot of things, and that this is just my rambling story. Re-clarifying that this is not a "poor me" bitchfest -- I say out loud every day how lucky I am for where I am in this moment. But I know others are not so lucky and are having a much rougher time and I have no idea how to help them. It is probably not even my job to do so. But I do wish for helping, for better, for normal, whatever the heck that actually was. Ugh. Love you guys. Let's FaceTime soon.
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