Day #12 of 30 Day Book Challenge

This is Day #12 of the 30 Day Book Challenge.

Today's prompt is Name a collection of short stories

Oh lovely. I did that in the last selection.

The only ones that I seem to remember vividly are by Edgar Allen Poe. I've read a lot of short story collections. English Lit Major, remember? You read a lot of short fiction as an English Lit major.

I do remember one or two by others. But I'll be boring and pick the master of the form:

Edgar Allan Poe - Complete Collection of Short Fiction.

And the... Ten Best Film Adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe's Work.

And here's a topical one from the collection, The Masque of the Red Death.

Watch on YouTube

Day #8 of the 60 Days of Gratitude Challenge

The rest of the days are HERE.

Today's prompt is What Lesson in Life are you the most grateful for?

I almost skipped this one, but a word came automatically to mind.

Humility.

I'm grateful for being humbled by finding myself on the opposite side of an argument.

In this case the lesson happened when I was about seven or eight, perhaps even younger. ( Read more... )

Day 237 of the Corona virus diaries..

It's getting darker earlier and earlier in my particular corner of the Universe. The sun is starting to sink now around 4:50 pm, if not before.

I feel as if I'm pulling myself through the day. Slept intermittently last night, plagued by nightmares.

1.) Online - via meetups or the Kesington Neighborhood Facebook page or a Facebook fan page - people are doing odd things. I see this in the news as well. Making me wonder - if I'm the only one who thinks there is a pandemic going on. Or rather, my idea of dealing with said pandemic is vastly different than others.

I discussed this with Mother tonight.

Mother: Your father is driving me crazy.
Me: I think sometimes I'm going crazy. Someone posted on my neighborhood Facebook page that they wanted to make friends and get a boyfriend, and was there a neighborhood meetup group. So people were saying oh - maybe we could get coffee sometime or take a walk -( Read more... )

Told mother about the Four Seasons Landscaping press conference. She was amused. This was during our daily phone chats.

2.) New York has jumped up to the dreaded 2.68% infection rate now. The Microclusters are at 4.68% - most likely not helped by all the partying that happened over the weekend.

COVID fatigue is a dangerous disease.
( Read more... )

Here's the plan regarding micro-clusters and zones. Instead of locking everyone down - they just lock down the infected areas..



Not sure that showed up - so go HERE.

3. The Doofus has decided to tour the country with rallies - to bolster support for his determination that the election was stolen from him.

Except he doesn't have any money. ( Read more... )

I wish the Doofus would just go away. I'm looking forward to the year in which I don't have to hear anything about him - at all. Hopefully that will be 2021. I'm apparently not alone in this sentiment.

I've been wishing that he would just disappear for a very long time.

I'm tired of waiting.

4. At least three people who attended an election party at the White House have test positive for the virus, including the White House Chief of Staff and Ben Carson.

You'd think they'd have learned their lesson by now and not gone to the White House for parties of any sort. But apparently not.

Party = Coronavirus. Indoor Party in particular. Hello.

Biden may want to fumigate the White House before he moves in with his wife and rescue dogs.

5. I've been hearing more sirens of late. I don't know if that means anything or not.

Somewhat annoyed by the news that the NY State Board of Elections was going to begin counting the mail-in absentee ballots today. Uhm. They received mine on October 30. Why wait? I better have my vote counted. I'll be frigging furious if its not.

Actually I'll be furious if the mail in's aren't counted. Every vote should be counted. We worked hard to get everyone to vote.

Also, the fact that more people voted in this election than ever before is an astounding achievement - if you consider we did it during a pandemic. The last time we had a pandemic, hardly anyone voted. They had the lowest voter turnout during the Spainish Flu Pandemic in 1918. Then again, it was 1918, we didn't have the ability to do mail in ballots and early voting back then.
Although I don't know why - they did have a mail service.

149 million voted to date, and the absentee haven't been counted yet. I have a feeling that the gap between Biden and Trump is about to widen a bit more, and we're going to be able to win the House Majority, at least. We have 216/217 to 199. All we need is two more, and it's signed sealed and delivered for the House. The Senate will most likely be more narrow.

6. Apparently My Niece died her hair blond. (She inherited my brother's copper penny hair...so why she feels the need to die it is beyond my mother and I.
Also she looks Asian, which is interesting. We're not sure why. My sisterinlaw isn't Asian, nor does she look it, and the almond shaped disappearing eyes come from brother or our side of the family. We're not Asian either. But people keep thinking she's Asian. Which I guess proves how ridiculous it is to judge anyone based on their looks - isn't it?)

Anyhow...

Mother: Did you or anyone die their hair back in Junior High and High School?
( Read more... )

7. The picture below is from yesterday's walk - even though I did take a brief walk to the pharmacy this morning - only to discover my debit card wasn't working - apparently the banks systems were down. The woman answering the phone sounded a bit like a robot.

I also got yet another phone call from the car warranty folks. They keep calling me. I keep pushing "2" - add me to the do not call list. Only to get called again. The message is the same - "this is your finale notice regarding the extension of your car warranty" - I should be so lucky. It's clearly not. Because I've gotten this notice at least twice a week for well over a few months now. I got fed up and pushed one to talk to a rep.

Sales rep: Since your car warranty is now up, we can extend it for several months if you -
Me: I'm going to interrupt you right there. I'm curious about something.
Sales Rep: Well, if you would let me finish -
Me: How are you going to extend a limited warranty on a car that doesn't exist? I do not own a car and haven't for at least twenty years now -
Sales Rep: Uh..you had the option -
Me: I've pushed 2 - asking you to stop calling me over and over again. But you keep calling, always saying it is the final notice. Clearly it's not. Are you stupid? Or maybe a scam and I should report you.
Sales Rep: Mam!
Me: what?
Sales Rep: Goodbye Mam, have a nice day.

I blocked the call. And reported it to the FCC. Yes, I know, on cell phones you don't answer. But this is a landline - that I use mainly to talk to mother, and I had no clue who was calling.