Day 22-Monkey Pox is the new pandemic

Taught my F2F classroom tonight [every Thursday]. Total drive time - 3.25 hours round trip. Total lecture time - 7:00 pm-10:00 pm [3 hours]. For those of you who can’t add, 6.25 hours out of my day.

8/25/22. Thursday

Get this - public health officials are now saying, loud and clear, that it’s our responsibility to avoid contracting Covid. Dr. Dean Blumberg, Professor of Medicine and Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at UC Davis Children’s Hospital says the following: “Everybody at this point in the pandemic is able to take responsibility for preventing infection in themselves… So people can be vaccinated, they can wear masks, they can up their masking with an N95 or K95, they can social distance…these are actions people can take to protect themselves.” In other words, if you catch the “rona”, it’s on you - you’re the asshole that let it happen.

Today I learned that if you had Covid previously, your immunity is practically useless against the BA5 sub-variant because BA5 is not affected by “previous host immunity.” In fact, nobody really knows how long your immunity will hold when you go toe-to-toe with BA5, although most scientists are in agreement that immunity protection against BA5 has a 90-day expiration date. After three months, you’re done - the magic immunity shield evaporates and you can get BA5 all over again. But, this is just a guess…

Seriously, folks, how long does your immunity last? Most of us have already been infected multiple times at this point. Are we covered for 90-days? Two months? Two days? The new Fall booster [you know - the one that’s only being tested on mice?] is coming out in September. Riddle me this, Batman - why would anyone get another booster without knowing the amount of protection it provides? Hard pass for me.

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8:30-9:30-The dog licks my face to take her outside so I pull myself out of bed and we go. I stand outside and wait for her to go potty - it is relentlessly hot and my plants need to be watered. Waking up to this heat every day is depressing and we’re at temperatures topping 100 degrees. Coffee for me and still pushing those Korean barbecue leftovers onto the dog. I unload the dishwasher per usual.

9:30-11:00-There is no time to waste. A bike ride is out of the question. I go to work.

-I have to record an Audio Syllabus for my “Einstein” high school students. I start playing Vivaldi’s Spring in the background, pull the paper Syllabus for my Synchronous Online Core Class, and record the Syllabus via my phone.

11:00-11:30-I make a few notes regarding the Syllabus.

L. Is taking a mini-vacay with that sketchy guy she met on cruise. Colin Two-Hatchet and L. booked a room at a West Hollywood hotel and I won’t see her for the next four days; he flies in from Kansas tomorrow morning. Tonight, L. will be partying with her co-workers at some bar and won’t be home until 1:00 am.

-L. and I have a meeting scheduled at 12:00 today so she can show me how to convert Google slides into a pdf document for both my “Einstein” students and that crazy OSD bitch. I can’t figure out how to convert the file.

I text L. and tell her I’m ready to “share” my Audio Syllabus with her so she can email it to me so I can drop it in the Canvas shell. She says she’ll be home in 30 minutes.

11:30-12:30- I pull the trigger and order the transcribed lecture from Rev.com for that crazy OSD bitch even though she’s already listened to Audio Lecture - Chapter 2; commented on it; and received a 9 out of 10 on the corresponding chapter review quiz. I pay $118 for this service. One positive - this website is so user friendly I can’t quite believe it. A far cry from the 29 tutorials that AP [Dept. Head for IMF] emailed to me for the Yuja platform. Allegedly, Rev.com only uses human transcriptionists - no AI [artificial intelligence] - and Audio Lecture - Chapter 2 will be transcribed and ready by tomorrow.

-I field emails at College No 1 and provide students with Add Codes so they can crash my classes. AP has still not responded to my questions regarding how to navigate the Yuja website and which tutorial I should view.

-L needs to make a partial payment for her car insurance today, which means I have to pay it because her Dad and I split the cost. This year, we’re going in thirds: Me, my ex, and L. I ask L. if she has her portion and she texts that she Zelled it to me on 8/22. Thanks for telling me - I had no idea. It’s not like I check my accounts every day. I go online and pay her car insurance in full.

-I reschedule my therapy appointment.

-I start a load of laundry.

-I check email at College No. 2 - good news. In the event there is ever an opening at the non-existent VIRTUS training that I’m required to complete, per my Catholic High School’s mandate, I will receive 3 hours of professional development credit. Whatever.

12:30-1:00-L. returns, acting as if I’m an inconvenience and that she can’t be bothered to help me. She walks me through the steps of converting my Google slides to a PDF for that crazy OSD bitch, then shows me how to email a link for the slides to my “Einstein” highschoolers. Lastly, I share the Audio Syllabus with L., she air drops it, then emails it to me and everything works. I pay L. her standard $20 hourly rate.

I won’t see L. until midnight on Monday.

1:00-2:30-I report to the kitchen and break down the four dishes I cooked yesterday into multiple meals which I then place in the freezer for the next two months…maybe they will last four months. I break down the brownies and freeze them, too. I have to add a few things to my meals so they’re tasty in the future, like shredded cheese for my zucchini vegetable dish and diced pickles for my No Bun Burger Salad. I make two barbecue shredded chicken tacos, with red onion and cilantro, on hard corn tostada shells to eat on the way to class tonight and I have a few bites of my burger salad as I’m meal prepping. I leave a lot of dishes in the sink -no time to do them - and listen to the Political Gabfest.

2:30-3:30-I kick into high gear because I need to leave at 5:00 today so I can set up my devices for my F2F class. Upstairs and I hang my laundry, fix the inserts in my bikini top, and then start coloring my hair. I listen to The Daily and Organize 365.

3:30-4:15-I let the color set and read Tell Me Everything.

4:15-5:15-Shower and I rinse out the color, then place a bag of ice on my eyes. Lotion. I blow dry my hair and listen to What a Day.

5:15-6:30-I grab my bags and I’m out the door by 5:15, en route to my F2F class at College No. 1. Traffic is okay, but I feel OFF today, like I might be experiencing some sort of Covid brain fog. Long Covid?

6:30-7:00-I’m in the classroom early to make sure I can pare my Beets speaker with the desktop computer. Did I mention that I found a work order request I submitted two years ago for the speaker in this very room? It was never repaired.

-Nothing in the Canvas shell will project onto the screen so I call IT. He tells me to toggle the Windows button on the keyboard with the letter P, which solves the problem. How the hell was I supposed to know that?

-Additionally, there’s some drama with my mobile thumb drive [this is a device that enables me to advance my slides when I’m standing across the room, at the podium…oh, that’s right…there is no podium in this room. Over the past couple years, I have half-heartedly submitted requests for a podium to Maintenance, but never received a response. Now, I just walk back and forth, holding my notes, and advancing the slides from various parts of the room]. There is no available working port on the desktop, so I can’t insert my thumb drive. Frustrated, I yank a bunch of cords out of the mainframe - I have no idea what they do - and this frees up a port so I can insert my mobile thumb drive. Magically, everything is working now.

7:00-10:00-Chapter 2 comprises one of my longest lectures of the series but I try to mix it up with music from the Hamilton sound track, a 30-minute documentary, and some President trivia.

At the end of the lecture, one of my students asks if I’ve truly read Madison’s Notes. I reply, “Yeah, because I’m a geek like that.” The male student says, “That’s cool” then asks what I think about “indentured servants." Are they slaves, too?, he asks. No, because they have an opportunity to pay off their debt. They might never pay it off, but at least they have an opportunity. Another question: “What do you think of the prison system?” I say, “The criminal justice system is jacked up.” He laughs.

This 2-minute exchange is the highlight of my evening. I like this student.

10:00-11:00-I walk to my car and drive home.

11:00-12:30-Home and I put all of my bags away [book bag, lunch bag, backpack, etc.], clean the kitchen, make a large batch of overnight oats, ready my coffee, and pack my beach bag because I am going to the beach tomorrow, damn it! No matter what.

12:30-1:00-I’m exhausted but I absolutely must get in a workout. I take a moment to remind myself that exhaustion is just a state of mind.

1:00-2:00-I change into workout clothes and do a 30-minute Insanity Max - Cardio workout.

2:00-2:45-Sunless tanning. Nighttime routine and I listen to Dateline. Bed.