Spontaneous Musings

Went back into the office again - which required venturing out into far below freezing temperatures (single digits and possibly below 0) to get there. On the news they were saying thirty minutes outside would result in frostbite. Good news, my walk to the subway is about ten minutes or twenty all together.

Not to worry, bundled up. Tight and cozy, like Yanuk of the North (as one co-worker used to call me). Considered wearing a wool sweater but thought better of it - I get hot flashes. And sure enough I was hot and sweaty by the time I got to my second train, peeling off layers inside the train itself, which is heated. They retired the cold trains that weren't well heated about a year or so ago.

The pandemic brought with it - new trains.

I've not managed to make it through the week without either a panic attack (two this week) and a skirmish with BYT (two this week associated with the panic attacks).

T (aka cubicle aisle mate) informed me that I scared her on Wednesday, when I didn't come in. At first no one came in - and it was deserted. Then Babs and A showed up. But she got worried about me, and so did Babs. T told me that I always came in on the right day - so something must have happened.
(I told her the story.)

Not the best of work weeks. But I may be making some progress through the tangled bureaucratic web instituted by bad management practices.

Found out, while I was in his cubicle getting information (I had a mask on, he did not) that AA had COVID last week, was very sick with it, and this is his first day back. They've lessened the time out or isolation period from fourteen days to five, so the airlines can run. Another co-worker informed me that his flights to Florida to visit his brother had been cancelled by Jetblue. Apparently the airlines are still having issues in that regard.

Also, our attorney - has apparently had COVID twice now. Half my workplace, and most of the people on my floor have either had COVID, or been exposed to it. T said her entire family had had it, except her. So she's optimistic she'll remain COVID free.

***

Interesting thing about that Whedon article that I did not know - the journalist interviewed a lot of people in the Buffy and Whedon fandom. She interviewed the scholars who set up and organized Whedon Studies Association, and conducted all of her interviews last spring. They are upset because while the group is mentioned (in a derogatory bordering on insulting manner), their interviews and the information they conveyed isn't. Also she took them seriously about certain things, that they were joking about.

I found how the author of the article focused on and criticized/judged the fandom unsettling. But I didn't know she had contacted them and actually interviewed them prior to writing it. I found out when I responded to someone on the Whedon Studies Association FB Page - that I thought the journalist may not have understood where the fandom was coming from. They said - she should know, considering how many interviews she'd conducted with them.

This is why I chose not to go into journalism. I find a lot of journalism rather unethical and exploitative.

Spoke with Gabe today, and she made a salient point - "everyone is a villain in someone else's story, as I keep telling my son, we're not always the superhero, sometimes we're the villain in another's story. For example to the family we out bid on our house, we're the villains."

I think this is true. It's why I keep trying to give folks the benefit of the doubt.

***

That's it for tonight. I need to watch something fluffy for the weekend. Happy. Last weekend was way too dark and gloomy, I ended up depressing myself, so by the end of this week I was crying on the train and feeling kind of hopeless.

Feel better now - having had a hot shower. And a pleasant chat with mother.
We're both accused of not having filters by my rather judgemental brother, who doesn't like to share things with folks. I don't either - people know rather little about me actually.

Whoa. I just got liked by Ellen DeGeneres on Facebook. In answer to the question of "what did you want to be as a kid?" I responded, "novelist, still working on it".

Random Photo of the Evening