Y2/D247....Full Moon
Nov. 18th, 2021 09:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatThere's apparently going to be a rare and somewhat magical lunar eclipse tomorrow morning between 4-6am. And no, I'm not getting up for it. Assuming it clears off. We were supposed to get rain at 8 tonight, but have yet to see it.
Moon was full and big and orange in the sky. A pale dust covered orange, surrounded by clouds, and dark grayish blue sky. I was walking home in the moonlight again, well the moonlight and street lights. I live in a city, after all.
The commute is getting wearing. The subways weren't that crowded on the way to work, and the G wasn't packed on the way home - but alas, I got off at Carroll Street to pick up my contacts, and some groceries at the health food store. (It has lots of gluten-free, keto, paeolo, and sugar free items. The plus side of living in NYC is great health food stores.) Felt gassy though. Been having issues with gas lately. I don't know if I'm eating the wrong things or not.
I'm taking tomorrow off - so I said goodbye to my cubical mate. He even gave me a hug, which took me by surprise. As he put it, we "vibed" well together. I'll miss him. I'm going to be lonely in my little corner cubical at the front of the row, both cubical mates are gone - Lando retired in 2020 and Ric (Cubical Wall Mate) resigned for a better position elsewhere. He's invited folks to do shots with him out in Wantaugh tomorrow, but I'm not going. I've pretty much given up alcohol and it's too far out. That's the problem I've got with my co-workers - they all live far away from me. It's an hour and a half commute for me to work - out in Jamaica, and for some of them anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours in the opposite direction into Jamaica. I live in Southern Brooklyn, they live out in Long Island.
Chidi told me that the week dragged. "Hasn't this week dragged, and been kind of eerie almost surreal?" So not just me. "I feel exhausted, and like I'm dragging..." Me too.
Me: Sometimes I think I'd rather go back to remote.
Chidi (who also lives alone in an apartment): Nah, you don't want that - this is actually better. That would make you nuts after a bit.
It does. I think. He said he loved it at first but by the second year, it began to get to him. Since he also lives alone in an apartment by himself. And the solitude can get oppressive - particularly in a large city, or anywhere really.
We both come to work and leave around the same time. There's a small group of us who comes in at 8 and leaves at 4
***
Anyhow, the commute home from Carroll Gardens - was kind of packed. It was an F train. I sat down between two people - big mistake. The guy, like they always do, felt the need to spread-eagle, and the gal next to me - was not moving. I was wedged between them with groceries. I wasn't able to get up and move to a more spacious seat until one stop away from my home. Also didn't have enough room to read my book - they guy was taking up all the space.
***
As the days wear on, I find myself growing more and more used to wearing the masks. I wear the KN94 masks - they are fairly comfortable and I feel protected. Plus I can breath well in them, unlike the cloth, which I struggled more with. I should have enough to make it to January at least.
I wear them everywhere but at my cubical, outside (six feet away from people), and my apartment. All stores, public places, transportation, and work - I tend to wear them. It's a federal mandate to wear them on all public transportation, hubs, stations, etc. And since I work for a transportation agency - it's enforced.
I am slowly getting used to being around a lot of people again - without fear. It's disconcerting and kind of eerie, but doable. Nothing like an hour and a half commute twice daily on public transportation to get one used to being around a lot of strangers. I have a feeling flying won't be that big a deal. Nor will going to a movie theater. I'm getting the flu vaccine next Wednesday - so hopefully no major side-effects. I don't usually have anything but a sore arm, and fatigue, kind of like the COVID vaccine.
**
Soap Twitter amuses. As does Book Twitter. The appeal of Twitter - is apparently the ability to interact with famous folks. I don't usually. Although I have from time to time - and every once and a while one of them will like or respond to my tweets, surprising me in the process. Today Ellen Kushner did - she responded to my tweet about so many folks from my organization dying from COVID. COVID, the great unifyer.
Okay, tired. So off.
Random picture of the evening...
Moon was full and big and orange in the sky. A pale dust covered orange, surrounded by clouds, and dark grayish blue sky. I was walking home in the moonlight again, well the moonlight and street lights. I live in a city, after all.
The commute is getting wearing. The subways weren't that crowded on the way to work, and the G wasn't packed on the way home - but alas, I got off at Carroll Street to pick up my contacts, and some groceries at the health food store. (It has lots of gluten-free, keto, paeolo, and sugar free items. The plus side of living in NYC is great health food stores.) Felt gassy though. Been having issues with gas lately. I don't know if I'm eating the wrong things or not.
I'm taking tomorrow off - so I said goodbye to my cubical mate. He even gave me a hug, which took me by surprise. As he put it, we "vibed" well together. I'll miss him. I'm going to be lonely in my little corner cubical at the front of the row, both cubical mates are gone - Lando retired in 2020 and Ric (Cubical Wall Mate) resigned for a better position elsewhere. He's invited folks to do shots with him out in Wantaugh tomorrow, but I'm not going. I've pretty much given up alcohol and it's too far out. That's the problem I've got with my co-workers - they all live far away from me. It's an hour and a half commute for me to work - out in Jamaica, and for some of them anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours in the opposite direction into Jamaica. I live in Southern Brooklyn, they live out in Long Island.
Chidi told me that the week dragged. "Hasn't this week dragged, and been kind of eerie almost surreal?" So not just me. "I feel exhausted, and like I'm dragging..." Me too.
Me: Sometimes I think I'd rather go back to remote.
Chidi (who also lives alone in an apartment): Nah, you don't want that - this is actually better. That would make you nuts after a bit.
It does. I think. He said he loved it at first but by the second year, it began to get to him. Since he also lives alone in an apartment by himself. And the solitude can get oppressive - particularly in a large city, or anywhere really.
We both come to work and leave around the same time. There's a small group of us who comes in at 8 and leaves at 4
***
Anyhow, the commute home from Carroll Gardens - was kind of packed. It was an F train. I sat down between two people - big mistake. The guy, like they always do, felt the need to spread-eagle, and the gal next to me - was not moving. I was wedged between them with groceries. I wasn't able to get up and move to a more spacious seat until one stop away from my home. Also didn't have enough room to read my book - they guy was taking up all the space.
***
As the days wear on, I find myself growing more and more used to wearing the masks. I wear the KN94 masks - they are fairly comfortable and I feel protected. Plus I can breath well in them, unlike the cloth, which I struggled more with. I should have enough to make it to January at least.
I wear them everywhere but at my cubical, outside (six feet away from people), and my apartment. All stores, public places, transportation, and work - I tend to wear them. It's a federal mandate to wear them on all public transportation, hubs, stations, etc. And since I work for a transportation agency - it's enforced.
I am slowly getting used to being around a lot of people again - without fear. It's disconcerting and kind of eerie, but doable. Nothing like an hour and a half commute twice daily on public transportation to get one used to being around a lot of strangers. I have a feeling flying won't be that big a deal. Nor will going to a movie theater. I'm getting the flu vaccine next Wednesday - so hopefully no major side-effects. I don't usually have anything but a sore arm, and fatigue, kind of like the COVID vaccine.
**
Soap Twitter amuses. As does Book Twitter. The appeal of Twitter - is apparently the ability to interact with famous folks. I don't usually. Although I have from time to time - and every once and a while one of them will like or respond to my tweets, surprising me in the process. Today Ellen Kushner did - she responded to my tweet about so many folks from my organization dying from COVID. COVID, the great unifyer.
Okay, tired. So off.
Random picture of the evening...
no subject
Date: 2021-11-19 02:29 pm (UTC)I've been invited to a Thanksgiving family to-do, a few days after Thanksgiving, but it's in a part of town I'm not familiar with and at night, so I'm debating not going. Supposedly all the adults are vaccinated, but there will also be a bunch of kids too young to be vaccinated yet... I don't usually meet anyone when I walk up the street to our communal mail boxes, so I don't wear a mask. The other day, a woman with a baby wrapped up well in a blanket in her arms was going to get to the boxes before me, so as usual I stopped well away and let her get into her box with out me getting close. When she was finished and walked away I went to take my turn. She looked back towards me smiling a couple times as she crossed the street to her house, and I smiled back.
no subject
Date: 2021-11-19 03:55 pm (UTC)Good to know it was miss-able. I slept in, woke up at 6:15, but went back to bed to sleep til about 8:30, since I took the day off.
Hmmm, I can understand the hesitation. Is the get-together far away? And the area of town well-lit?
I don't know how much a fan you are of the meal itself? Or how close you are to the folks involved?
Those are the factors I'd evaluate - but I'm very good at talking myself out of stuff, unless I really really want to do it.
That's a lovely interaction with the woman with the baby. In NYC - close personal interactions are impossible to avoid. Although as a co-worker pointed out recently - the fact that our infection rate is hovering at 2-3% and we have folks going to broadway shows, concerts, sporting events, restaurants, bars, etc - is probably proof that the vaccines are working and we're building up immunity? (shrugs)
no subject
Date: 2021-11-19 05:46 pm (UTC)I don't really know anything about the area where the get-together will be. I did look up the house on Google maps street-view. It's a little subdivision house, an old one for Tucson, probably from the late 1950's and probably not a great neighborhood these days. It's across the street from a little city park, which means parking won't be a problem, but I have no idea how long the lights in the park stay on these days. There would be at least 5 siblings plus their spouses plus kids, plus the siblings' parents, the sibling's mother being my sister's daughter. There are aunts and uncles on the husband's side who might be invited too. I'd like to see them all. Hate to be standoffish. But it's an awful lot of folks in a small house, considering I haven't been inside a house with anyone else since March 2020!
no subject
Date: 2021-11-19 10:07 pm (UTC)I don't know. I'm obsessive about logistics. Also escape routes. LOL! It's not an easy situation.
no subject
Date: 2021-11-19 04:03 pm (UTC)I hadn't realized until yesterday that Mike's department (or maybe the whole campus) is allowing people to come into lectures remotely and only requires in-person labs. Would that the instructors could stay home for the lectures! He said only about 20% of his class tends to attend remotely and it's as much due to the distance of commuting as Covid concerns.