Day 15-Monkey Pox is the new pandemic

First day of school for my 7:00-10:00 pm class at College No. 1…

8/18/22. Thursday.

9:00-9:30-I’m up, but I lie in bed for transition time.

9:30-10:00-Finally, I crawl out of bed, take the dog downstairs, and heat up my coffee. I go to work (report to my home office).

10:00-11:00-I play Audio lecture-Chap 11 (Part I) for Specialty Class 1A, on double speed, and note the edits for L.

-Last Xmas, L. purchased a mango cake from 83 Degrees to serve as a dessert. We had quite a bit left over so I cut it into several pieces and froze it. A couple days ago, I thawed out a few squares and I’ve been eating that for breakfast.

-I spot a slide that L. needs to format.

-I email the Audio lecture to L.

-Due to last night’s fiasco, I make the executive decision to play several lectures on my computer so I can record them on my Ipad-mini. I start with the Chapter 2 Lecture.

-I clean the kitchen and make another cup of coffee; then

- water three of my outdoor plants and fill the dogfood dispenser.

-Shower. I sit in the shower, ice my eyes, and drink more coffee. Lotion. I weigh 94 pounds today.

11:15-11:45 - I return to my office and check the Chapter 2 recording - it’s done.

-I play Audio lecture-Chap 11 (Part II) and note the edits for L.

11:45-12:15-I put my IPad in record mode, turn on the Audio Lecture for Chapter 8 (Part II), and start recording.

Return upstairs and I try on the tank tops that I ordered from Target (Athletic Housewife) and seven pairs of pants that I ordered from Nordstrom Rack (Garden Society Member). All of the tank tops fit, but only one one pair of pants fits; the rest are too big, even though I ordered either a size 4 or a Small. Six pairs of pants must be returned.

-I pull a few items from my closet and add to the Good Will bag.

-I also clean out my make-up drawer and scrub my toilet.

12:15-12:45-I check on the Chapter 8 (Part II) lecture that’s supposed to be recording onto my Ipad-mini. I forgot to plug in the microphone (sigh) and need to start over.

-I ready my book bag for class tonight and make sure I packed all of my school supplies. Then, I pack a lunch bag with a salad I made several days ago. There is literally no food in the house as the past several days have been consumed with this Specialty Class 1A Audio Lecture reformat project. I’ve done almost nothing else for days. I add some toffee peanuts to my lunch bag.

-I unfreeze a “Mystery Meal.” It appears to be leftovers from a previous rigatoni dish from months ago so I have that for lunch.

-Upstairs and I put on full make-up.

-Downstairs, and I record a brief PSA for Specialty Class 1A for Week 9 of the semester.

12:45-1:15-More recording. I set up my IPad-mini and start recording Audio ecture -Chapter 10 from my desktop computer. This lecture is 90 minutes.

1:15-2:15-I lie down, being careful not to mess up my make-up and hair, and take a nap.

2:15-3:30-L. surfaces and says she’s ready to make the edits for Audio lecture-Chapter 11 (Parts I and II). There are a couple of “dubs” she also needs to insert.

-At 2:30, the Chapter 10 Audio lecture is finally done recording.

3:30-4:30-It’s time for L. to airdrop the five lectures that I’ve spent the entire day transferring/recording onto my Ipad-mini into HER laptop. Then, she can drop them into the Canvas shell, just like old times, but… HORROR OF HORRORS!!, when L. tries to do this, an error message appears stating that each Audio lecture is, AGAIN, corrupted!!! OMG!!! How am I going to get these lectures into the Canvas shell??!! This is an emergency, especially due to the fact that Audio lecture - Chapter 2 must be posted in four days!!! L. and I can’t figure out why these files are corrupted - nothing makes sense.

-L. thinks for awhile and muses that she can probably convert the Audio files to a separate Google link that she can feature on a Google slide. She experiments with this and…it works. She creates five links for the Audio lectures that we edited two days ago and loads each lecture onto a separate Google slide. The hours I spent recording/transferring the Audio lectures from my desktop to my Ipad-mini were a complete waste of time because L. is able to create the links from the Audio lectures that were previously recorded on my phone.

All Audio lectures for Specialty Class 1A have been reformatted and posted to the Canvas shell. This project is done.

-I have L. create a Google link for the Chapter 15 Audio Lecture, for my current Core Class at College No. 1, for good measure. Last semester, I was forced to email this lecture to my students, but now it’s in the shell. I do the same for the Canvas shell at College No. 2.

4:30-5:00-I change into work attire, freshen my make-up, load my bags in the car, and leave for College No. 1.

5:00-5:30-I drive to Starbucks and order an Impossible Egg sandwich. This past week has been consumed with Audio Lecture edits and I haven’t had a chance to do any food prep…or home maintenance for that matter.

5:30-7:00-En route to my 7:00 pm class at College No. 1. Traffic is absolutely horrible; there are two accidents along the way and I’m in gridlock most of the time. I finish my Impossible sandwich and eat a small bag of toffee peanuts that I packed.

7:00-10:00 - This is the first day of school and I’m wearing ribbed, black bell bottom pants and a sleeveless top that is NOT working for me (it’s too short and almost cropped), and wedge shoes; I’m very uncomfortable in this outfit. Additionally, I have to wear glasses at night because my night vision has deteriorated. None of this is working for me.

Everything that could go wrong does. I forgot my Mobile mouse so I’m unable to advance the slides from the podium and when I try to play a short video, I discover the class speakers don’t work. I recall putting in a work order request for the speaker situation, at this very classroom, THREE semesters ago (I later verify this) and the issue is still not resolved!! Back then, I used my Beets speaker as a workaround, but I didn’t pack it tonight because a) I assumed the speakers were fixed; and b) to be honest, I forgot.

-I was hopeful that only a handful of students would show for the first day, resulting in a class cancellation, but this is not to be. Approximately 16 kids are in the classroom and four of them are still masking…talk about diehards…maybe they’re afraid they’ll get Monkey Pox. I do a condensed, mini-lecture, and break the class at 9:00 because I want to get the hell out of here. The students seem nice, but what the f—k are they doing, enrolling in a 7:00-10:00 pm class when they can enroll online and take it from the comfort of their own home? Why would anybody report to a brick-and-mortar classroom, EVERY Thursday, from 7:00 to 10:00 when there are online options? And not just at this school…there are online options everywhere. This is a Core Class - take it at a different community college and transfer it over! This is ridiculous!

I’m so pissed that I have to be here.

-9:00-10:00-Drive home. I eat the salad I packed in my car.

-10:00-10:30-I stop at Ralphs and buy an over-priced bottle of champagne because that’s all they have. I’m out of alcohol and after this terrible week I need it. Don’t judge me.

10:30-11:00-Home and I unpack all of my bags and put everything away.

11:00-12:00-Kitchen duty. I repack my lunch bag with leftover Korean barbecue and ready my coffee for tomorrow.

12:00-12:30-I change into workout clothes and do a 15-minute, Insanity Ab workout.

12:30-1:30-Nightime routine. Sunless tanning and I paint my nails. Bed.