Day 13 - Mask mandate REINSTATED by LA County Dept. of Health

I finished this book today…

2/28/22. Monday 

8:30-9:30 – I stay in bed and finish Professional Troublemaker.

9:30-10:00 – I go downstairs to greet the animal and find several pieces of poo in front of the doggie door.  Why not take the extra steps and poop outside?  She was inches away!  I don’t understand. I clean up the dog shit and we go out to the backyard.  I wait for her to finish her business then we return inside. Coffee for me; cheese for her. I go upstairs.

10:00-11:15 – Shower. I sit in the shower, drink my coffee, and ice my eyes while I listen to The Daily and Best Laid Plans.  Wash hair. Lotion. Blow dry hair and full make-up. For now, I put on yoga pants and a T-shirt.

11:15-12:00 – I take my trash cans out then take the dog for a walk while I listen to Marketplace Morning. HOWEVER, unbeknownst to me, I forget to close the gate behind me after I take out my trash cans. This is completely unlike me.  Long Covid brain fog? After our walk, we return inside and the dog goes outside to the backyard via the doggie door, which is not unusual. I open the door to the backyard a couple of times to call the dog in for treats, and I notice there’s a bit of a delay each time I call her to come inside, but I think nothing of it.  It’s only when I’m loading my car to leave for College No. 1 that my neighbor tells me the dog was wandering around in the driveway and the street, before returning back to the yard (she probably entered the backyard after I called her to come in for treats). After the dog’s second return to the backyard, my neighbor and her son kindly close the gate.

-I’m shocked that I left the gate open. I’ve never done that before.

-Kitchen duty and I ready my coffee for tomorrow.

12:00-12:30 – I do a last-minute check of course content and fix a few errors. I prepare Midterm Announcements for both classes and schedule them to automatically post at 2:30 and 7:30.

12:30-1:00 – I change out of my yoga pants into my “Sexy Librarian” uniform:  Khaki-colored slacks, a cream-colored, spaghetti-strap camisole under a black-and-white, long-sleeved ruffled blouse.

-I leave for College No. 1

1:00-2:00 – Driving. I have overnight oats and listen to The Double Shift.

2:00-2:30 – I stop at Building Facilities to finally pick up the key to my classroom., where I’ve been teaching for TWO months. I had to leave early in order to retrieve the key to my classroom, which was finally created for me. Keep in mind that I ONLY get paid for my classroom time (3 hours). In other words, I’m not compensated for arriving early, nor am I compensated for my drive time (2 hours round trip).

2:30-5:30 –There are only 4 f—king students in class.  Once again, I took a shower, dressed in professional attire, put on a full face of make-up, then drove 60 miles and depleted a half of tank of gas ($25) for 4 students who are capable of taking this class online. What a waste of my time! One of the students is the highschool student who sits in the back of the room and does her highschool homework while I’m lecturing, which I find incredibly rude. Another student is the OSD student who infected us with Covid on the 8th and caused a quarantine. Yes, she’s back.

-I lecture on two chapters to these FOUR students, while the remaining 16 students in the class listen to the exact same lecture online. Then, I show the documentary.

-I send an “email blast” to my online students, asking them to report which slide they’re currently viewing.

-I send an email blast to  my online students regarding the Midterm.

-I deploy the Video Quiz and break the class (4 students) at 5:00 so I can make Bookclub.  The online class continues on to the end.

-I take Attendance and email the students who were absent.

-I publish course content in preparation for my 6:00 Specialty 1B class.

5:00-6:00 – Driving. I listen to The Double Shift and eat a salad enroute to Bookclub.

6:00-7:00 – Specialty Class 1B is in session.

-At Bookclub, and there is a new librarian, named Zoirda, who is leading the group (So far, John and I have been the only members of the group)! Leslie, the other librarian whom I really liked, transferred to the Glendale library without telling us. I like John much better than I did previously – he’s actually very funny. 

 I hated this book. Professional Troublemaker is written by Luvvie Ajayi, a 30-something Nigerian woman, who immigrated here as a child and made it big through her blog, Oprah’s endorsement, and her speaking arrangements. This is her second book and the crux of the text is don’t be ruled by fear. Whenever possible, Luvvie uses her deceased grandmother as a point of reference and an example of someone who has never been ruled by fear. Throughout the book, her grandmother is portrayed as some sort of Nigerian royalty, and whenever festivities or parties are held, the entire family shows up in matching dashikis. To me, the dashikis are similar to a “family crest” and your station in life determines the dashiki you’re allowed to wear.  This is my interpretation, but I might have all of this wrong because I’m not steeped in the culture. 

There’s a lot of slang in this book and what’s referred to in literary circles as “black dialect” comes through loud and clear. I can’t relate to most of the content because I’m allegedly a “white woman with privilege”, although I refer to myself as a member of the “privileged poor.” [I coined that term and I’m pretty proud of it (insert smile emoji here)]. I will say that the second to the last chapter drops a bombshell as it pertains to her grandmother’s life and the reader is provided with her full, rich, incredible, history.  Luvvie’s grandmother escaped an arranged marriage with two of her siblings and arrived in some province with nothing. Then. she built her life from the ground up…it is so inspiring and I was left wondering why this chapter was relegated to the back of the book. The book is worth reading for this chapter alone. 

Luvvie ends with a chapter entitled “Find a Nigerian Friend.” This chapter is so stupid and John said it  should have been eliminated. entirely. He then makes a passing comment about his son, who happens to be a teacher in Tokyo. When I ask what his son teaches, John is silent: “You don’t know his field, John?”, I tease. He then goes onto say how unhappy he (John) is with his son. According to John, his son is very intelligent, liked science, and decided to be a doctor. His son was accepted into a pre-med program and  doing well, when he (his son) decided he no longer wanted to be a doctor; he wanted to pursue music instead. John said his son is, in fact, a musician, and applied for a seat in an orchestra, but did not get in. Now, John says, his son is teaching…something. He reiterates that he is NOT happy with his son.  

Wow…must be tough to be John’s kid. 

Bookclub ends. Our next book is The Nature Fix.

7:00-7:30 – Driving home.  I listen to Routine and Things, a new podcast, but I don’t like it.

7:30-9:00 – Home and I log onto Specialty Class 1B. The students’ papers are due and they’re emailing them to me, while at the same time working on the participation component of the assignment on the Discussion Board. I print out their papers, one by one, and respond to some of their emails. Tonight’s agenda is a mini-lecture and a Chapter Review quiz.  There’s also a short documentary and a Video Quiz.

9:00-9:30 – a few more papers come in and I print them out.

9:30-10:00 – I take Attendance and send nasty emails to the students who scored Ds and Fs on their video quizzes.

10:00-11:00 – I place a Wine.com order and also order a few things from Walmart.

-L. returns from Otis. She made a collage out of cars from advertisements in her 1970s Playboy magazines, then turned it into a huge poster, using the advanced equipment at Otis – it looks incredible. Now, she’s trying to screen print three white male douche bags on top of the car poster, but screen printing is a difficult process. In fact, students are allowed to minor in this technique at Otis.

11:00-11:45 – I set my Filofax folder out for tomorrow and get ready for bed. I updated course content for my highschool class the previous Sunday. I set my alarm for 4:45 a.m.