Y2/D308 - Mercury in Retrograde or Definitely Feels like it..

[shadowkat]

I went into the office today. And, ran into CB and Jay (who are on the A schedule).

CB and Jay: Hello SK
Me: Uh, wait...

I wander about and run into Chidi and Moscow (who are not on my schedule. I'm on the B schedule, they are on the A schedule).

Me: Okay, am I here on the wrong day?
Moscow: Yup.
Chidi: Hi Sk, oh, you came in on the wrong day.
Me: But, last week was Monday, Wed, Friday -
Chidi: The holiday threw everything off.
Moscow: I can give you a print-off of the right schedule? If you want it.

Silly me, I figured if last week was Monday, Wed, & Friday. This week would be Tuesday and Thursday. Apparently I was wrong. I swear everyone in my organization flunked logic 101.

Me in an email to management: So, I didn't get the updated schedule and came in on the wrong day. Not a problem, I can just WFH tomorrow and come in again on Friday.
BYT: Do you need the updated schedule, I can send it to you?
Me: Moscow already did.
BYT sends it anyhow.
Me in followup email: Or maybe I should just come in tomorrow and stay out Thursday and Friday?
BYT: No, stay out Wednesday only.
Me: Okay, now I'm confused. Do I stay out Wed and Thursday or just Wed?
[Also, am I being penalized for an honest mistake?]
BYT: No, I'm not penalizing you, I'm trying to work with you.
I meant to say stay out Wed and Thursday, and go back to the B schedule on Friday.

Chidi was upset at the end of the day for spending the entire day talking to his cubicle wall mate, and not getting work done. Apparently he's suffering from the same cabin fever that I am. I honestly think I came in on the wrong day - because I could not handle being cooped up another day in my apartment. Three was more than enough.



18. In 40 years, what will people be nostalgic for?

With any luck? Cars.

19. Do you like reality/competition TV shows? Why or why not? If so, which ones?

No. I watch the cooking ones occasionally, and Great Pottery Throwdown, but for the most part they irritate me.

20. How fast do you read?

I have no clue. But I am not a speed reader. I often have to re-read things to make sense out of them.

21. Do you like classical music? If yes, name your favourite composer(s).

Gershwin's (Porgy and Bess, American in Paris, Raphosdy in Blue), Bach, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Copland, Bernstein, John Williams, Hans Zimmer...

22. How often do you check your phone?

Not that often, much to the annoyance of anyone who texts me. I can go a day or two without checking it. I use the phone for just about everything but a phone most of the time. (Camera, computer, social media, heart rate, etc.)

23. What is your favorite thing to eat or drink in winter? [Whomever did this meme cannot spell the word favorite - I had to correct it.] Hot tea, usually English Breakfast, Chai, or Irish Breakfast with milk. I also love unsweetened coco with hot almond/coconut milk.

24. If you could switch two movie/book/TV characters, what switch would lead to the most inappropriate movie/book/TV show?

Buffy and Cyclops or better yet, Spike and Cyclops.

or

Spock and Spike and/or Buffy and Kirk

25. How often do you stay up past 3:00 a.m.?

I don't stay up past it. But I often will wake up at that time, go to the bathroom and go back to bed. I get up at 5:40 am in the morning.

26. If you opened a business, what kind of business would it be?

I don't see myself doing that. That's kind of my worst nightmare, to be honest.

27. Who was your worst teacher/professor? Why?

So many to choose from...Missy Taylor, she couldn't control the class and had no idea what she was doing, it was a complete waste of time. It was Repertory Theater in High School and the only class that I dropped. I dropped it for Study Hall.

28. Who was your best teacher/professor? Why?

Everett Reese (12th Grade English Teacher) for helping me learn how to write well. And Mrs. Viola (2nd Grade) for teaching me how to read.
There were others. But they had a lasting impact.

29. If you are an only child, do you wish you had siblings? If you have siblings, do you wish you were an only child?

While there are days I wish I was an only child - my brother can be a pain in the ass, when he wants to be, I am thankful for his existence. Life would have been dull without him, and I wouldn't have my amazing niece, who is the love of my life.

30. Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out? If you don't use top sheets, if you stay somewhere that does, do you prefer your sheets tucked in or out?

I don't know. They are tucked in to begin with but I tend to get them untucked pretty quickly.

31. Toilet paper: over or under?

Under, I'm not that organized.


**

Mother called to inform me that she just ordered the free COVID test from the US federal government online. While I informed her that I had purchased about $85 worth of masks and sent them to her.

ME: They are available? (the tests, not the masks - the masks have been available for ages and alas, are not free).
Mother: Yep, just ordered one online. I just called to tell you that.

Mother has finally accepted the fact that she cannot bring my Dad home. She no longer can envision him with her, and the person she does envision is no longer him - it's who he was before COVID began. He's too far gone now. It's as if he's living inside his dreams, with mother, and the rest of us, occasionally jumping in and out of them. Today he was doing a cross-word puzzle in his head, with various old co-workers, and hunting the key to it, so he could win a $1000. It made no sense, and sounded like a dream. It's true in a way, as some of us age the membranes between dreams, memories and reality seem to grow thin. Reality blurs.

The mind is weird.

Anyhow, the US Government has decided to send the highly accurate rapid at home tests to all residences within the US starting the last week in January.

"COVID-19 tests will start shipping in late January. USPS will only send one set of 4 free at-home COVID-19 tests to valid residential addresses."

Go HERE.

This is a savings of $28-60 per box. That's how much they were charging for the things at pharmacies, until they ran out of them.

At work, co-workers advised that most folks had either been exposed to COVID or had it. And that the true number of people who either had it or tested for it or died, wasn't recorded. I agree with that - I know too many people who tested positive that aren't in the system, because they took the at-home test, which is accurate in regards to positive test results.

Wales informed me that she definitely had COVID and tested positive, got it from the Met, most likely. Poor thing. She had herself all revved up, going to opera, delivering food - and wham. Oh, getting the tickets she got for the MET is a sign of the times - normally it's completely sold out.
**

I kind of fell down the rabbit hole on Twitter regarding the Whedon article. There are some true assholes on social media, mainly hanging out on Twitter, hence the reason I'm careful on Twitter. People tend to ignore me on Twitter - I only have 41 followers, and most of them are folks I knew here, or on Soap Twitter. I like being ignored. Being a Big Fan Name is something I do not want ever again. I kind of became that once - in the Buffy fandom, and it was scary.

The Whedon interview was weird. And as a result - controversial. Everyone read or perceived it slightly differently. Although everyone who read it, came to the same conclusion about Whedon, more or less. What they disagreed on was what in the heck the interviewer was up to. Because the article is framed in such a way that it isn't quite clear whether the interviewer is trying to excuse what Whedon did and what he says, and shift the blame on well, everyone else including the fans, or give Whedon enough rope to hang himself, or blame both Whedon, the fans, and everyone else for enabling the behavior and not calling him out on it.

Also, it's vague in such a way that sparks a kind of morbid curiosity. There's multiple twitter threads where folks are trying to figure out who the young actresses were that Whedon had affairs with on Buffy. Some don't really want to know and are fervently hoping it's no one in the main cast.
It wasn't helped by various folks claiming to know who it was - and stating it was an open secret - and not telling anyone, that just fuels the flames of curiosity.

I'm not sure I want to know. There's three or four actresses that I fervently hope it wasn't but wouldn't bet at all surprised about. Whedon from the article preyed on women in their early twenties, 22-25 seemed to be the age range. He was in his early 30s, and that's not a big deal. What's a big deal is that he was their boss, and had control over their careers. And his response to that criticism was..."yeah, I probably shouldn't have done that - it seriously messed with the flow of the power dynamic." Okay. It's also sexual harassment, but let's move on.

Fans have been morbidly trying to guess what happened behind the scenes of Buffy for years now. And I admit to a certain level of morbid curiosity, also a certain level of Schadenfreud. I was always critical of Whedon, and as a contemporary, envied his opportunities and success. I don't really now. There's a lesson buried in there, more than one. Hubris can destroy you is among them.

The Whedon Studies Association on FB has come to the conclusion that they need to be more critical of fandom, and the cult of the celebrity. I feel a little sorry for them (I'm not a member, outside of the FB page). For about a year now they've been debating whether to change their name - and finally gave up. Now, they are wrestling with the degree to which they enabled it. (They didn't. They didn't know anything. Nor did they fan worship or idolize Whedon like some did. The scholarly fandom really didn't. But fans do that - worship people and things. Because let's face you are going to worship something, just be careful what it is. People are not worth it, they'll disappoint us. And their art will as well. Trees are much safer, or sky, or the Universe.



***

Should go to bed. Current game plan is to get up at the same time as today, 5:40 am, and do laundry at 6 am. The laundry room opens between 6 am and 9pm.

Maybe no one will be down there? One can hope.

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

Mother has finally accepted the fact that she cannot bring my Dad home. She no longer can envision him with her, and the person she does envision is no longer him - it's who he was before COVID began. He's too far gone now. It's as if he's living inside his dreams, with mother, and the rest of us, occasionally jumping in and out of them.

I think that's pretty accurate. And also that at some point you recognize that the person you know has shifted, either becoming more of what they were or very unlike what they were.

[jesuswasbatman]

Did they put "favourite"? That's the British spelling.

[shadowkat]

Yup. Didn't know there was a British spelling of the word. Sigh, the English language continues to annoy me.