Y2/D332 - TGIF and all that jazz
Feb. 11th, 2022 10:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatMother: And the latest saga of your niece..
Me: Okay
Mother: Her boyfriend's family has invited her to vacation with them in the Turks & Caicos Islands in May. Your brother says that his parents are awfully romantic about them and think they are soul mates. I decided to remind your brother that he did the same thing with his wife way back when he was 19, when he told me he wanted to marry her then.
[Note - my brother and his wife got married in a swimming pool in their 30s when she was 9 months pregnant, after living together for 17 years. I kid you not. That actually happened. I wrote a post about it and everything. In fact, I enjoy shocking co-workers and folks with this story all the time. Conventional is not exactly my family's motto. And, my sister-in-law thinks I'm eccentric. I'm not the one who got married in a swimming pool while my mother was squatting in a house on Miami Beach.]
Apparently niece is traveling to Palmero, Italy, and Barcelona in a couple of weeks for Spring Break, then her boyfriend is coming up - to take her to visit Scotland. And she's been able to relax a bit - since she's not graduating and her grades are basically pass/fail.
I'm trying really hard not to be envious of my niece. So I decided misery loves company and I'd make you all envious too. Granted all this travel is during a pandemic. What hits me is how nice it must be to be dating such a wealthy boyfriend from such a wealthy family, while your own wealthy family has enabled you to travel about Europe and study in London during a pandemic.
The fact that she is studying human rights advocacy is cool, but also hilarious. I don't think she has the faintest idea what it is like to be discriminated against or bullied. I did, I don't think she does.
I am grateful...don't get me wrong. And very proud. The love of my life is having the time of her life. She's not in pain. She's enjoying life in all the ways that she should - the pandemic be damned.
I just wish I could be enjoying it with her - and not vicariously through her, but I'm guessing my brother, mother, and sisinlaw feel much the same way. Also, I do get a kick out of watching my brother deal with his daughter doing all the crazy ass things he did with my parents in various ways.
I discovered a new game on Instagram that I played on my phone - but I'm bound to get bored of it soon - since it requires payment and I don't pay for games. I'm not a gambler, no one in my immediate family is. Nor are we that into games. I wish sometimes that we were - since it's a great way to meet people. But alas, no.
The game is a Designer Game - you design rooms. But what you can do gets limited by how much money you have. And you compete with others who do the same. I'm not bad with design, interior and otherwise, I'm just cheap. I hate spending money on furniture, hate having it delivered and can't assemble it to save my life. Also, hello, pandemic.
**
Thank God it's Friday. I need two days away from work nuttiness. This morning, I compared a contractual comparison/analysis. It was kind of like comparing a pineapple to a banana, to be honest. I pulled up various items from both, and compared them in an email. Also worked on a contractual addendum, among other things.
So, lots of legal writing and analysis. I'm tired. And craving something creative. I may work on revising one of my novels or finishing one of them this weekend.
Mother: I told your brother that I feel like I'm always complaining. He said, yes, I did. But he lived with me and was used to it.
Me: Nobody always does anything. It's not possible. Just because you are going through a complaining stage (because you are in pain and losing your husband to Alzheimer's and miss him) doesn't mean you do it all the time.
Toxic positivity is when you tell someone that they are always negative, or that they shouldn't feel negative emotions, or should be positive and think positive all the time. Shutting down how they feel. It's important to give folks the space to feel stress, negative emotions, etc - so they don't get bottled up. If you can't deal with them or listen, don't, leave. But let them have that space.
Will most likely jump between The Expanse and The Olympic Dance Skating competitions.
***
News...
* The Australian government declared the koala an endangered species.
Drought, bush fires, disease and habitat loss have drastically reduced the numbers of an animal that is an emblem of the country’s unique wildlife. Government estimates suggest the animals could go extinct by 2050 without intervention.
* In the U.S., gray wolves will regain federal protection across most of the country. A court ruling struck down a Trump administration decision to take the animals off the endangered species list.
* According to the John Hopkins COVID DASHBOARD OF DOOM (they gave up on the map some time ago) - the US has surpassed 900,000 deaths.
US
28-Day: Cases 13,203,631 | Deaths 65,445
Totals: Cases to date 77,651,852 | Deaths 918,451
* The Rams and the Bengals will face off at the Super Bowl on Sunday in what is almost certain to be the most watched television broadcast of the year. Even those who aren’t fans of football have plenty to look forward to.
The halftime show will feature Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Kendrick Lamar performing the first ever rap-focused intermission. And if you watch only for the commercials, you may notice a pattern: lots of cryptocurrency.
Eh, I'll skip. I don't like the Rams, the Bengals, or Rap.
* The Times has a dialogue with folks about living with the virus. My difficulty is - there are 65,000 deaths a day, if not more. My heart goes out to the health care workers.
“I don’t feel ready to ‘live with the virus.’ Part of me wants to, but my husband and I have spent the last two years being hyper vigilant to the point that I can’t fathom what normalcy would look like. I know that if I attempted to ‘live with the virus,’ I would likely feel a level of anxiety I don’t care to experience.” — Danielle Lovell, Carrboro, N.C.
“As a health care provider, I’ve been ‘living with the virus’ since March 2020. It’s absolutely consumed my professional life and spilled over greatly into my personal life as well. I don’t know that I’ll ever stop living with it, in the sense that there is some trauma from the last two years that will stick with me, probably forever. I want desperately for this to be over, but I am terrified of continued surges that will overwhelm our already fragile health system. I’m devastated at the thought of losing more lives to this. But I get that the current restrictions are taking a toll. I don’t know what the right answer is.” — Elizabeth, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Those were the only two statements I agreed with.
I'm worried about mother, who's left knee is killing her. She's moving less and less now. It's bone on bone. Which means a knee replacement. But first she has to get new teeth - and that's not happening until February 28ths. She's missing various top teeth - due to a gum infection that had to be treated and her implants had to be removed. They are creating new ones and will insert them on the 28th, couldn't get an earlier appointment.
Here's a picture...
Because I want to be on a beach right now..(I even looked up Turks and Caicos, and freaked out over all the COVID crap).
Me: Okay
Mother: Her boyfriend's family has invited her to vacation with them in the Turks & Caicos Islands in May. Your brother says that his parents are awfully romantic about them and think they are soul mates. I decided to remind your brother that he did the same thing with his wife way back when he was 19, when he told me he wanted to marry her then.
[Note - my brother and his wife got married in a swimming pool in their 30s when she was 9 months pregnant, after living together for 17 years. I kid you not. That actually happened. I wrote a post about it and everything. In fact, I enjoy shocking co-workers and folks with this story all the time. Conventional is not exactly my family's motto. And, my sister-in-law thinks I'm eccentric. I'm not the one who got married in a swimming pool while my mother was squatting in a house on Miami Beach.]
Apparently niece is traveling to Palmero, Italy, and Barcelona in a couple of weeks for Spring Break, then her boyfriend is coming up - to take her to visit Scotland. And she's been able to relax a bit - since she's not graduating and her grades are basically pass/fail.
I'm trying really hard not to be envious of my niece. So I decided misery loves company and I'd make you all envious too. Granted all this travel is during a pandemic. What hits me is how nice it must be to be dating such a wealthy boyfriend from such a wealthy family, while your own wealthy family has enabled you to travel about Europe and study in London during a pandemic.
The fact that she is studying human rights advocacy is cool, but also hilarious. I don't think she has the faintest idea what it is like to be discriminated against or bullied. I did, I don't think she does.
I am grateful...don't get me wrong. And very proud. The love of my life is having the time of her life. She's not in pain. She's enjoying life in all the ways that she should - the pandemic be damned.
I just wish I could be enjoying it with her - and not vicariously through her, but I'm guessing my brother, mother, and sisinlaw feel much the same way. Also, I do get a kick out of watching my brother deal with his daughter doing all the crazy ass things he did with my parents in various ways.
I discovered a new game on Instagram that I played on my phone - but I'm bound to get bored of it soon - since it requires payment and I don't pay for games. I'm not a gambler, no one in my immediate family is. Nor are we that into games. I wish sometimes that we were - since it's a great way to meet people. But alas, no.
The game is a Designer Game - you design rooms. But what you can do gets limited by how much money you have. And you compete with others who do the same. I'm not bad with design, interior and otherwise, I'm just cheap. I hate spending money on furniture, hate having it delivered and can't assemble it to save my life. Also, hello, pandemic.
**
Thank God it's Friday. I need two days away from work nuttiness. This morning, I compared a contractual comparison/analysis. It was kind of like comparing a pineapple to a banana, to be honest. I pulled up various items from both, and compared them in an email. Also worked on a contractual addendum, among other things.
So, lots of legal writing and analysis. I'm tired. And craving something creative. I may work on revising one of my novels or finishing one of them this weekend.
Mother: I told your brother that I feel like I'm always complaining. He said, yes, I did. But he lived with me and was used to it.
Me: Nobody always does anything. It's not possible. Just because you are going through a complaining stage (because you are in pain and losing your husband to Alzheimer's and miss him) doesn't mean you do it all the time.
Toxic positivity is when you tell someone that they are always negative, or that they shouldn't feel negative emotions, or should be positive and think positive all the time. Shutting down how they feel. It's important to give folks the space to feel stress, negative emotions, etc - so they don't get bottled up. If you can't deal with them or listen, don't, leave. But let them have that space.
Will most likely jump between The Expanse and The Olympic Dance Skating competitions.
***
News...
* The Australian government declared the koala an endangered species.
Drought, bush fires, disease and habitat loss have drastically reduced the numbers of an animal that is an emblem of the country’s unique wildlife. Government estimates suggest the animals could go extinct by 2050 without intervention.
* In the U.S., gray wolves will regain federal protection across most of the country. A court ruling struck down a Trump administration decision to take the animals off the endangered species list.
* According to the John Hopkins COVID DASHBOARD OF DOOM (they gave up on the map some time ago) - the US has surpassed 900,000 deaths.
US
28-Day: Cases 13,203,631 | Deaths 65,445
Totals: Cases to date 77,651,852 | Deaths 918,451
* The Rams and the Bengals will face off at the Super Bowl on Sunday in what is almost certain to be the most watched television broadcast of the year. Even those who aren’t fans of football have plenty to look forward to.
The halftime show will feature Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Kendrick Lamar performing the first ever rap-focused intermission. And if you watch only for the commercials, you may notice a pattern: lots of cryptocurrency.
Eh, I'll skip. I don't like the Rams, the Bengals, or Rap.
* The Times has a dialogue with folks about living with the virus. My difficulty is - there are 65,000 deaths a day, if not more. My heart goes out to the health care workers.
“I don’t feel ready to ‘live with the virus.’ Part of me wants to, but my husband and I have spent the last two years being hyper vigilant to the point that I can’t fathom what normalcy would look like. I know that if I attempted to ‘live with the virus,’ I would likely feel a level of anxiety I don’t care to experience.” — Danielle Lovell, Carrboro, N.C.
“As a health care provider, I’ve been ‘living with the virus’ since March 2020. It’s absolutely consumed my professional life and spilled over greatly into my personal life as well. I don’t know that I’ll ever stop living with it, in the sense that there is some trauma from the last two years that will stick with me, probably forever. I want desperately for this to be over, but I am terrified of continued surges that will overwhelm our already fragile health system. I’m devastated at the thought of losing more lives to this. But I get that the current restrictions are taking a toll. I don’t know what the right answer is.” — Elizabeth, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Those were the only two statements I agreed with.
I'm worried about mother, who's left knee is killing her. She's moving less and less now. It's bone on bone. Which means a knee replacement. But first she has to get new teeth - and that's not happening until February 28ths. She's missing various top teeth - due to a gum infection that had to be treated and her implants had to be removed. They are creating new ones and will insert them on the 28th, couldn't get an earlier appointment.
Here's a picture...
Because I want to be on a beach right now..(I even looked up Turks and Caicos, and freaked out over all the COVID crap).
no subject
Date: 2022-02-12 01:20 pm (UTC)For a few years of my adult life, I was rather financially comfortable. And I really was happier! Those people who say money doesn't bring happiness are wrong, at least in my case. So nice being able to eat out plenty, drive a decent car, go on vacations (even just within the US), etc. I don't have it any more, haven't for ages, but at least I appreciated it when I did. So, yeah, must be nice, heh.
no subject
Date: 2022-02-12 02:29 pm (UTC)Her boyfriend's family has a lot of money apparently. They went skiing in Utah over Christmas (and got COVID, her boyfriend's family not niece (who did not join them), which I was highly amused by).
no subject
Date: 2022-02-12 02:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-02-13 02:42 pm (UTC)It's painful.