Day 12 - the WHO names Omicron a “variant of interest”
Trail ride today…
12/6/21. Monday
Bill de Blasio, the Mayor of NY, mandates that all workers must be vaxed by 12/27/21. I suspect by then all New Yorkers will be infected with Omicron and it will be too late. The US is averaging more than 100,000 new Covid-19 cases a day, the highest level in two months.
Delta is still driving the pandemic although another Californian tested positive for Omicron, a student from the East Coast. Over 99% of infections right now are attributed to Delta, according to the “experts.” Fake Faucci says Omicron is spreading rapidly, but is less dangerous than Delta – it’s more contagious but causing milder symptoms. But is it milder because 60% of the population are vaxxed and the symptoms are mitigated?
6:00 – L. leaves for her long day at Otis.
10:30-11:00 – I heard the dog barking earlier so I go downstairs to say good morning to the animal. She’s running around the living room and seems agitated, sniffing near the front door and whining. When she sees me, she jumps on the couch and rolls over on her back so I can rub her tummy and then we go outside. I see that she pooped in two places on the patio (sigh).
11:00-12:00 – I scanned Attendance and the semester grades for my Thursday Core Class at College No. 1 a couple days ago, so I take this time to upload the information to the Admissions and Records database.
-I upload a blog post
-My garage doors are in! Now I need “hardware.” [door knob/bolt]. I send an email to “Kellie” at Elite Builders with links to hardware that I’m interested in and I ask if Elite has different models in stock. Kellie emails back that they do NOT carry hardware – it has to be ordered. More delays! How disappointing!
12:00-12:45 – I have two shrimp tempura for lunch, some of B.’s pineapple-fried rice, and read Deep Work.
12:45-1:45 – Shower. Lotion. I put on jeans, a T-shirt, a sweatshirt, and a sleeveless jacket.
1:45-2:30 – I drive to the Equestrian Center for my trail ride.
2:30-3:45 – Arrive and I have to sign and initial a stack of paperwork relieving the Equestrian Center of all liability. It appears that the paperwork was prepared by a legal firm so I’m anxious about this – did something happen to a rider? I’m assigned to a 20-year-old horse and “Rochelle” is my guide. In order to get to the trail, we have to cross a busy highway and pray that the cars will stop for us. Very dangerous! Then we walk down a semi-steep hill to finally reach a flat expanse of dirt, rocks, and scrub brush. The view leaves much to be desired and both of our horses keep tripping on the mini-boulders/rocks – Rochelle’s horse almost falls to his knees. I think we’re walking through a dry creek bed and my horse stops constantly to nibble on bushes. He’s not gentle about it and my wrist keeps slamming into the horn of the saddle every time he jerks his head.
Having said all that, Rochelle is lovely and I learn all about her life. She’s 31 and a single mother with a 6-year-old son, who has epilepsy – the bio-dad is largely out of the picture (what a surprise). Rochelle is a double-major at CSUN and will receive her BA in Women and Gender Studies AND English Literature, June 2022. She holds down two jobs – of course she does…what single mother doesn’t?: 1) She’s a TA for one of her professors and teaches remotely; and 2) working at the Equestrian Center is her side-gig. All of this, while attending college and single-handedly raising an epileptic child. Her son was only recently diagnosed, which was a relief for Rochelle as medical experts couldn’t figure out what was going on for about a year and, currently, the meds that he’s taking appear to be working.
I’m always interested in time management so I ask Rochelle how she’s able to keep all the balls in the air. What systems does she use? Rochelle has a huge white board in her bathroom featuring all the days of the month and she fills in her schedule accordingly. The white board is in the bathroom so she can see, every morning, at a glance, what’s going on for that day.
4:00 –4:30 – I tip Rochelle $20 and leave.
Driving home.
**Introspection
I really liked Rochelle – she reminded me of myself when I was around her age. But walking across a busy highway on an old nag is dangerous and the fact that my horse kept tripping on rocks during the trail ride was really scary. I was anxious and afraid he was going to fall…ON ME! None of this was helped by the fact that I had to sign my life away, initialing disclaimer form after disclaimer form, before I could even mount the horse. Something bad must have happened…
4:30-6:00 – Home and I collapse in my chair. I read more Deep Work.
6:00-6:45 – I take the dog for a walk and we run into my Asian neighbor whom I’ve seen around and “Pudge”, her pandemic-dog. Pudge is a friendly and rambunctious puppy and his “mom” lets him sniff and jump all over my dog because she wants to teach Pudge to be social and make friends. I encourage all of this but my dog is such a kill-joy…god damn…she tries to run away, but she’s on leash and can’t…then ends up wrapping the leash around my entire body a couple of times…like you see on cartoons when the dog literally runs circles around their owner? I can’t even have a conversation with my neighbor, my dog is so out of control. We part ways.
7:00-9:00 – I finish hanging the chain divider project in the garage and listen to The Productive Woman review various books she’s read for the podcast. I also listen to Citations Needed.
9:00-10:00 – I reframe one of L.’s photographs, then add soap to the portable sink soap dispenser. I’m starting to stiffen up from the horse ride…or maybe it’s residual from yesterday’s workout??
10:00-11:00 – Kitchen duty and I have some pimento olives, cheese, and crackers.
11:00-1:00 – I’m super stiff so I take some Advil, sit in my chair for a minute and…I fall asleep.
1:30-3:00 – bullet journal
3:00-3:30 – I shut everything down and set the alarm.
3:30-4:00 – Nighttime routine. Bed