Very indirectly I know two people who had Covid-19. Both died.
One was my friend's mother in the original outbreak at a nursing home.
The second was yesterday...the president of our HOA.
How can it be? I'm a hermit. Two people. Two.
I didn't know the HOA president very well. But, he was nice and friendly. I saw him last at another owner's Christmas Party. He went on a fantastic trip to Australia in the summer or fall of 2019. It involved diving the Great Barrier Reef and the Outback. He put on a presentation for our condo community about it sometime earlier this year. I didn't make it to the presentation, but hearing him talk about it at the party made it clear it was a life-affirming trip. I'm glad he experienced it. That will probably be a thing people say...we're all glad he had that trip; he lived those moments fully.
I'll miss him. I didn't see him often, which means I'll be surprised all over again when I remember that I'll never see him again.
In the other instance, my friend and her mother had what I might call a 'problematic' relationship. The Friday before her Mother died she was able to spend a few hours with her. I don't remember if it was on that day, but they've had conversations over the years and most especially recently in which the Mother and my friend came to an understanding. My friend's mother acknowledged she wasn't the Mother people might want, and my friend was able to say with a pure heart that, today, she loved her mother and didn't have any 'issues' standing between them. After her death, my friend heard that her mother was very popular among the other residents at the nursing home. What a blessing, that they were able to express their love for each other in the end.
My sister is a nurse at a hospital. She hasn't had to deal with anything yet, but said that next week she has two 'floor' rotations, which I believe means she might be around coronavirus patients.
Donald Trump is the worst president in the entire history of our country. There is no one worse. He has bungled this crisis from start to finish. First he denied coronavirus was even as big a deal as the media was making it out to be. He's sure the media hate him and that they're making coronavirus into a big deal because they want him to suffer at the election in November. When he finally decided it was a big deal, he said it wasn't the federal government's responsibility to help states get the medical supplies they need. As a result, they end up bidding against each other just to get enough medical supplies to handle all the cases they have. They still don't have enough. When Trump did finally get some supplies out to the states, he was mad at the governors of some states (Washington included) because their governors weren't appreciative of him and the work he did. He wants them to be more appreciative. He'll say he wants them to be appreciative of the health care workers and the CDC and those people, but in fact - those people HAVE been thanked, so the only person that didn't get thanked was Trump.
Everything is about Trump - even if it's not, he'll make it about him.
In other news, I only got a 3.8 in my Political Ecology of the World Food System class. Disappointing. Not because its a 3.8, which is a fine grade. But because it ruins my streak of 4.0's.
To top it off - if that classmate had not dinged me 5 points on the peer review, it would have been a 4.0.
I wish I had the chutzpah to say something. I don't. I barely deserved the 4.0 in my other classes so I should just be grateful and move on. Especially considering I could have tried a little harder on my final paper and retrieved those five points. So - I guess its a matter of perspective. I'll take responsibility and stop blaming the peer reviewer.
***
I've become a fan of Tik-Tok. I don't have an account but I look at the For You page videos and many of them are fun and funny. I can tell there are a lot of families that enjoy each other's company. And lots of talented people. And, there's some silly ones and boring ones. But, all in all its easy to get sucked in.
When people talk about having all this time to read and clean closets and stuff...that seems foreign to me. I've been working, and I'll start back to school, so my days are no different.
At some point, everyone's going to go back to their regular life, and I'll just continue on as I am.
That feels sad.
It also assumes I will have a job. That's still up in the air. I hope I can hold on, but don't know if that will be possible. If construction is shut down (which it is in Washington) then there will be less money coming in. My job is not essential to anything at the company. I would like it if they cut our hours in half or something like that. Anyway - I have my bills paid, I owe mortgage and regular living expenses and am still paying for things I can cut down on. I have my fingers crossed that this pandemic ends before my job does.
I watched the last two episodes of Season 1 of Star Trek Picard this week. It was pretty good. I like Star Trek for what I imagine it can be as much as for what it is. There are ideas that make me ponder. I do think they've gotten away from thinking about different ways people live. For instance, the end of this series has some thoughts about immortality and the idea that our inevitable death is one thing that gives life its meaning.
I think that's the exact kind of thing someone who has to die would think.
I imagine there are beings in the universe who live forever, and they think life has meaning for other reasons.
Like maybe they understand that life goes on and on and on into infinity even if its in different forms.
Anyway - that's it for now.
Stay safe!!
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