Day #141- Tropical Storm

[shadowkat]

We survived the tropical storm with little damage - mostly fallen trees, not a lot of flooding. The storm moved very quickly through - with a lot of rain and a lot of wind.

And as you can see from the photos - I took a walk after work through Ditmas (which basically looks like Greenwich, Connecticut, with it's stately multi-family homes and landscaped gardens) to Flatbush Co-op. First time I've visited the Co-op since March. I'd been avoiding the area - for fear it would be too crowded and it was in the Spring (everyone was cooped up in lock-down - which meant they were socializing on their front lawns.) Now, a lot of them are back to work or upstate on vacation, so not as many on the streets.

There were a few downed trees that I had to go around, however. Which was why I chose to walk to the Co-op and not to the Cemetery today.



Bored at work - waiting on a lot of things, and I've fallen into a bit of a routine. I'm happiest when I'm jumping from one project to the next. Multi-tasking. Oh well, tomorrow might get broken up a bit more with a conference call with boss (dreading) and a staff meeting(also dreading).
Actually anything that involves close interaction with management, I dread.

So - to alleviate the boredom, I text-messaged brother. Asked if I could visit his barn around August 20th, assuming of course I don't wimp out.
He understood why I might wimp out. Apparently they had two groups of people come up. The first group came by train, was horribly irresponsible, didn't wear masks, and his family did NOT feel safe around them. The second group came by car and was fine. (I feel like the Universe has decided to punish me for not driving and/or owning a car. Unfair, considering cars are pollutants, and I should be re-warded. )

Brother: We also were going to drive up to the coast of Maine and stay up there one night this week - but we chickened out. And my daughter is taking all her courses online, with only one in-person lab, next year.
So no, not silly at all. Personally, I wouldn't take public transportation at all right now - but I'm also not stuck alone in the city, so may have a different gauge.

The difficulty with visiting my brother's barn - as I informed my mother, is well...I wasn't exactly happy with visiting him before the COVID crisis hit. Also, it's not like I'm visiting his house and him, I'd be staying in the barn, which has kind of been refurbished into a guest suite, no a/c, with outdoor shower, a toilet downstairs, a small kitchenette, a couch and sitting area, and a mattress on the floor. We'd socialize outside - six feet apart.

Add to all of this? I'm afraid of spiders. I know there are spiders in that barn, and near that shower. It's a barn in the woods. Bugs and spiders are going to be hanging about. Also bunny rabbits, cats and chipmunks..which are pluses. And raccoons. My brother has critters. I have allergies.

I'm not a camper. I like a nice bed, indoor shower, and no spiders.

Also, the logistics are disconcerting. I would have to lug my ass to the subway, off the subway, onto another subway, off that subway, through Penn Station to the Amtrak terminal and two and a half hours on the Amtrak train - it's about four hours total, give or take a lot of waiting in between.

And once I'm up there? What am I going to do? Sit outside, look at trees, wander about their yard. Talk to them at a distance. Sit by myself in their barn. Read? I got more I can do here.

As I told my mother - I'm desperate for a vacation - but I'm NOT that desperate. Yet.

Oh well, he has somebody coming up from Hawaii for the next two weekends - they are going to be very distanced. He's turned his barn into a mini airbnb for relatives, friends or whomever might drop by. Maybe by the 20th, I'll talk myself into it again.

Niece is not looking forward to school this year - she was so motivated and into school before. But online learning she finds difficult to stay focused on or motivated with - it's not that interactive. This has hit her hard. She was socially engaged and highly motivated in school - pursuing a degree in astrophysics and science. Now she's switched to social justice and poli-sci, and is struggling to stay motivated.

Bro suggested "The Dark" and "The Hunters" via Netflix. He watched "Last Air Bender" and "Legend of Korra" ages ago with his daughter, and wasn't that impressed with Korra.



As you can see from the photos, not many people out and about. There were a few - some with masks, some without. The store - had markers everywhere - indicating six feet apart. It was an off time, so no line to get into the store and a quick line out. Also I was able to easily get stuff and social distance. Unfortunately, had to use a cart and not the basket like I was used to - they got rid of the baskets apparently. Which resulted in me buying more stuff and having to get a double brown paper-bag.

I lugged it back with me. A little over a mile lugging the stuff back.




The photos are partly to show that I live more in a residential community than a city - it's not really the suburbs, since very walk-able, you can live here without a car, but it's not quite the same as a city. It's hard to explain Brooklyn to folks who've never been here. Or NYC for that matter - NYC is an odd city. Only London and Paris come close to it.

The other thing I did to stave off ennui, which is a more more descriptive word for boredom - was buy audio books of urban fantasy novels I've already read, loved, and vaguely remember. I can listen to them while working. They are cheap if you bought the kindle book, expensive if you didn't.

Oh well, at least the soap is back - if a bit oddly. Lots of social distancing, and no more intimate scenes. Not that GH had that many to begin with. And Lucifer Season 5.1 starts in mid-August, while Legend of Korra also comes to Netflix in Mid-August. Plus, Netflix decided to extend Lucifer for one more season - so it's getting a S6, it talked the writers into doing one. AND...the Witcher is coming back in 2021, and has a spin-off. AND...His Dark Materials comes back in the fall.

There's entertainment things to look forward to. I feel for sports fans though - outside of Basketball, Hockey and Golf...not sure there is going to be much. Major League Baseball keeps running into issues.

Anyhow...off to make dinner and watch the soap. I might even work a bit more on my novel.

Thanks for reading.

Comments

[wendelah1]

What a relief that there was so little damage in your area.

[shadowkat]

According to the news, power did go out in certain areas. But nothing that serious. I'm lucky because I'm very protected from storms. But the damage in the area itself looked relatively minor. Some downed trees here and there, which made sense since we did have 75 mph winds at one point. The trees were bending outside the window.