shadowkat: (Politics)
[personal profile] shadowkat
After a difficult week, I decided to take a 3.8 mile hike through Greenwood Cemetery. This round I asked for a map.

Me: Can I have a map?
Security: Certainly - there's two, one to find a specific lot, and one that's historical and kind of basic.
Me: I just want one that will keep me from getting lost. I got lost the other day.
Security: Oh, you'll find your way out eventually.
Me: Well, I did - but it was at 6PM and I had an hour to get out before the gates closed.
Security: If you don't get out - there is a patrol car that goes around to see if people are still stuck in the cemetery. Just wait at the gate for a little bit and they'll let you out. Because people get trapped in here all the time.

She was very nice. Had a mask on. Actually you can't enter without a mask. Although people take them off once they are inside or they drive in from the main entrance and don't have them on in their cars, one or the other. Not everyone does, only about a handful didn't have a mask at all, most people had them. It doesn't really matter in Greenwood Cemetery - because unlike Prospect Park it is relatively easy to keep away from folks. I'll post pics in a separate post. I take photos in the cemetery - mainly because I love to take photos, and the iphone takes the pain out of it. I have an artistic eye - so I can see a shot, and then I can play with it on the phone via photoshop. I'm an artist - it's my natural inclination. My super-powers are : art, storytelling, analysis, and empathy. I also can sense energy in living things. Really love the energy that emanates from trees - it's so calming. It's why I love trees and need to be near trees. Trees make me happy.

Anyhow, I posted photos to Facebook and Instagram (I've got a bit of a following on instagram, because all I do is post pictures that I've taken around my neighborhood, workplace, and now parks.) It's more time consuming and harder to do it here.

Didn't get lost this round, most likely because I had a map - which I consulted. Apparently, I've chosen to spend my free time outdoors walking through a cemetery. "She Who Walks Through Cemeteries". But there's a silence in the dead, and an indescribable reassurance and peace - that death in of itself isn't that bad..nor quite the end we may think it to be. Being an individual who can sense the energy in living things - I find it reassuring to feel none in the dead. To know the energy has passed on. If there are ghosts that haunt these grounds, I don't sense them - and I've sense ghosts or the energy that comes with them in various locals, but not here. Here, I feel life - the life of the trees that stand in silent sentry over the graves, gnarled, and old, and young and fresh, with flowering bushes underneath. Or the birds twittering nearby, along with errant squirrels and turtles in ponds. I'd wondered to the turtle ponds today - which I hadn't been to before.

The cemetery is quiet, well for the most part. There was salsa music emanating from car wash across the street - which I actually enjoyed. And at one point...I heard a Mr. Softee Truck from another street that bordered the cemetery - the soft ring-a-ding-ding of summer and childhood. Every time I hear one, I'm brought back to those warm summer days in Southern Pennsylvania where we'd run from the house to buy ice cream from MR. Softee. My favorite was the strawberry shortcake ice cream bar.

It was a nice break from the hubbub outside its silent walls. Although there were people - most with masks, a couple rebellious souls, without, and a few people doing things they weren't suppose to - such as lying on the grass above the graves, letting their kids climb on the tombs, and I think I saw a couple of folks picnicing - hidden behind the masueleums. It's okay, I don't think anyone minds, including those who've long turned to dust inside the graves. I avoided them, and managed not to get close at all - seeing them mainly from a distance.


Taking my life in my hands to go to a pharmacy for disinfectants

Perhaps the most dangerous thing I did today or all week for that matter, was go into a corner pharmacy hunting disinfectant. Honestly, you know the world has gone insane when going into a pharmacy feels akin to attempting a high adrenaline sport like bungee jumping. It was a small one without all the protective measures that Wallgreens has in place. They had plastic wrap covering the cashier's area. The cashier was busy talking on her cell. Barely wearing her mask, and no gloves. I had to give her my debit card and reach around the opening to plug in the number. Also, the store didn't have disinfectant. It did however have hand sanitizer, allergy meds, and recyclable bags. It's mainly for the Eastern Europeans, and had a lot of products in that language. I've noticed that how folks react to the virus seems split along class lines, also immigrant/ethnic lines - those who speak English as a second language, haven't quite gotten with the program yet. And those who are not middle income, but much lower middle income, are kind of rebelling. The less educated don't wear masks - and they are the ones ending up in the hospitals.

Afterwards, I hand sanitized myself and sprayed my card with my little lysol can. Which is running low. I wore a hat on my walk - a floppy summer hat - to block out the sun, and to keep my hair out of my face. Served two purposes - sunscreen and keeping my hands off my face and hair - instead they touched the hat. Although I did adjust the maske a bit in the cemetery.

I'd gone to the pharmacy on the way home and like I said - most people, about 98% were taking safety precautions. Won't go to that pharmacy again.

When I got home, I went a little nuts sanitizing myself, what I bought and the packages I picked up downstairs. I'm insanely neat in my kitchen and living room and work space. Also took a shower, and threw my shirt into the wash, along with my bra -- because I'd sweated up a storm on that walk.


Talking to Mother

Mother has decided that the reason I ached yesterday was the five hour negotiation session from hell the day before. Most likely true. Also I'd taken a three mile hike afterwards to get rid of the stress - only to get lost, which really does not help with stress. Kind of counter-productive actually. So, of course, I hurt the next day. That and the fact that I'm hunched over a laptop computer on a small computer desk and in a halfway ergonomic chair - which I'd not bought to sit in for 8 hours a day. More like one or two. I've decided I need to get up more frequently, and move about.

My eyes were bloodshot the last two days from staring at a computer from roughtly 8 am to 9pm, with intermittent breaks. I'm thinking I need to watch more television at night and write less in this journal. Or do shorter posts?

She also gave me a few exercises to do to prevent frozen shoulder syndrom. My left should may well go in that direction soon, if I'm not careful. I call it 2020 shoulders. This started in January of 2020. I thought it was the new backpack I got - it's not the backpack.

New York vs. the Coronavirus

Well the Governor managed to scare the beegesus out of me today, not sure if he did anyone else? How did he scare me? He said that we should not underestimate this virus - that the virus has been ahead of us since day one, and the facts regarding it keep changing. Also, he could be asymptomatic and have the virus without knowing it - if he touches this table and you come back an hour later and touch it - you get the virus.
And if it's stainless steel - in a retail store - and someone who doesn't know they have the virus touched it, and you come in the next day and touch it - you get the virus. Doesn't matter how diligent they are - you can get it. Fuck.

I'm running out of disinfectant sprays. Oh well, I do have rubbing alcohol.
I have enough to maybe last a couple more weeks.

I use the disinfectant sprays to disinfect boxes that are delivered and groceries. Also, I'm thinking I need disinfectant wipes - if I travel by subway - which I may have to do for a doctor's appointment on June 16.

Hmm. I am going to take this one day at a time.

On a more positive note? I think I scored Toilet Paper finally? I bought some quilted Northern Toilet Paper from Amazon. It was rated high. This is after I cancelled the order of toilet paper from some weird company that never arrived. I was told I could get a refund if it never arrived - and it never did, after two months of waiting for it. This should last me the rest of the summer. It's twenty-four thick rolls, or so I'm told.

This is what New York is doing in it's ongoing battle against the Coronavirus...



Starting today, five regions of New York — Mohawk Valley, Central New York, Southern Tier, the North Country and the Finger Lakes — begin Phase 1 of reopening.

What does that mean for residents of these regions? Retail stores can reopen for curbside pickup, or in-store pickup. Residential and commercial construction can resume, and so can manufacturing. Greenhouses and nurseries can reopen, as can several other industries outlined here. Officials will carefully monitor health data on a daily basis to ensure the safety of employees, customers and all New Yorkers.

If you live in another region, "New York on PAUSE" remains in effect until May 28. However, as soon as your region hits the benchmarks, it can begin to reopen immediately — it does not have to wait until May 28. To see where your region stands, visit the state's Regional Dashboard.

Southern Tier food distribution.
Photo of the Day: The Food Bank of the Southern Tier held a food distribution event today in Windsor, NY, with many of the supplies coming from the state's "Nourish New York Initiative," providing 500 families with assistance.

Here's what else you need to know tonight:

1. Phase 1 businesses must follow specific guidelines. For example, for retail stores, customers must order ahead for curbside or in-store pickup, and social distancing is required inside the store. For construction, masks must be worn within 6 feet of another worker and employers must provide masks. Business owners can see the detailed industry-by-industry requirements here. Every business is required to develop a written plan using a template provided by the state that puts the safety of their customers and employees first.

2. What happens next? For regions that have begun reopening, Phase 2 will begin after a two-week period, as long as the health data show the region can enter the new phase safely. Phase 2 will allow even more businesses to reopen, including professional services, hair salons and barber shops, more retail stores, administrative support and real estate businesses.

3. State beaches will be open Memorial Day weekend. In coordination with the governors of New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware, New York State beaches will reopen with restrictions in place effective Friday, May 22. The restrictions include reducing the number of people allowed and ensuring there are enough staff present to enforce social distancing. Local beaches and lakeshores may also open next Friday if they follow the same safety precautions.



They are opening the beaches on Memorial Day, because if they don't - the crazy New Yorkers will flood the New Jersey and Conneticut Beaches.

Meetup Groups vs. the Coronavirus

Oh I forgot to mention - this week I got an email from one of the Meetup Groups that they are hosting a hiking trip to the Catskills for $85. You can take a trailways bus or train, and they will pick you up. Then you can hike, do yoga, and eat at a vegan restaurant - it's all very holistic, while social distancing. Eh, I don't quite see how social distancing is possible here? Taking your family up to the Catskills for a hike - I get, that makes sense. But having a group of strangers - and this is a mulit-group event - and having them do it? Really? It's as if they are ignoring the virus or think it won't matter if they go to the Catskills - no wonder the Catskills are still in the regions that can't open up yet - they have all these crazy city folk invading them.

Hard pass. If I go up to the Catskills - it's going to be to see my niece, brother and his wife. (Not that I'd have gone anyway. Vegan food tends to have glutens, rice, and corn. Because a lot vegetarians substitute grains and gluten-proteins for regular protein. Being unable to digest grains, soy, beans, and most of the protein substitutes...makes life difficult.)

They also still have Morocon Trip scheduled, and get this? They keep posting trips to see movies at AMC for $6. Really? Aren't they closed? Not that anyone has signed up for them. Maybe they pre-scheduled it and forgot to delete it?

For the most part, it's all online Zoom stuff - online speed dating (no), online game playing (also no), online holistic lectures...online book clubs, all on Zoom. I'm kind of glad I'm working - because if I were doing all of that - I'd have Zoom fatigue. Also I look horrible on Zoom. I hide the video. I find looking at myself in these video chats to be highly distracting. I'm too critical - because what the video or mirror shows me is not what I see in my head, and I find it distracting. I'd prefer to see the person in my head not whatever the dumb video shows me. Also it's hard to do with a small lap-top, it tends to get the top of my head.


I have to say if it weren't for Greenwood Cemetery - I'd go nuts. It's my natural refuge during the storm.

Date: 2020-05-16 03:10 am (UTC)
wpadmirer: (Default)
From: [personal profile] wpadmirer
I wish that I could go for walks, but with me not being able to get massages on my hip, I ain't walking any distance. (sigh) And my dentist gave me a bunch of shoulder/neck exercises to do because he thinks that's what is causing the muscle spasm in my jaw.

So if you need more exercises, let me know! He said he could send me YouTube video links, too.

Date: 2020-05-16 02:41 pm (UTC)
wpadmirer: (Default)
From: [personal profile] wpadmirer
At least you have a governor who's being careful. Ours has his nose so far up Trump's ass, all he can smell is shit.

Date: 2020-05-16 04:43 am (UTC)
cactuswatcher: (Default)
From: [personal profile] cactuswatcher
I went to a fancier grocery to buy some meat today (I don't trust Walmart's meat and it's too expensive anyway). I had to go to a cashier instead of self-checkout for the first time in months. The card reader was covered in plastic. I have no idea who or what that was supposed to protect since you have to punch in your code with the buttons.

I saw a video on Youtube about familiar things that you don't see anymore, like full service gas stations, and doctors making house calls. But they also included ice cream trucks going through neighborhoods. You just heard one. I heard them every summer in Phoenix (almost always playing 'Waltzing Matilda"). There aren't any kids in my neighborhood now, and the subdivisions out here in my area all have no soliciting signs, but I know there are trucks in town.
Edited Date: 2020-05-16 04:44 am (UTC)

Date: 2020-05-16 07:13 pm (UTC)
cactuswatcher: (Default)
From: [personal profile] cactuswatcher
I used to hear them in the subdivision near my house in St. Louis County, but it's been a long time now since I lived there.

Date: 2020-05-16 05:04 am (UTC)
atpo_onm: (Default)
From: [personal profile] atpo_onm
My eyes were bloodshot the last two days from staring at a computer from roughtly 8 am to 9pm, with intermittent breaks.

Can your laptop output audio/video to your TV? I'm not up on the newest ones, but on the older ones you could patch a cable to do this, but I'd think it could be wireless now. Then a wireless keyboard, mouse, and a comfy chair and... way bigger screen, less shoulder stress? Less stress, period?

Oh, and I wanted to ask before, but keep forgetting-- does your employer provide the computer equipment for you to use at home? Seems they should, but you've sort of implied it's actually yours, maybe with company software. If the latter, hope you get some kind of credit for wear-and-tear and such!

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