Day 28 - CDC recommends all J&J patients get a booster after 2 months
L. and I go to Lightscape tonight…
L. finally pooped today….
11/17/21. Wednesday
7:00-7:45 – My alarm goes off but I lay in bed for transition time.
7:45-8:00 – Today’s class is not set up so I quickly hustle the dog outside because I still have to check course content and create a Discussion Board. I wait impatiently for her to go potty and she finally goes in the red rock flower bed. Return inside and coffee for me; pieces of sugar cookie for her.
8:00-8:30 – I check course content and am stunned to see that I wrote “No Class” for this Module. Why did I do that? It’s not Thanksgiving yet… I check the Syllabus and I wrote the same thing! “No Class” for 11/17/21. I finally remember that I’m supposed to be in Ireland this week, which is why I took this day off. Luckily, none of the students have reviewed the Syllabus in months and it appears that nobody noticed I wrote “No Class” for today’s Module in the Canvas shell.
-I quickly remove “No Class” from the Module heading, instruct my students to write “Here” on the Discussion Board, and then start watching the documentary.
-I check email at College No. 2 and note that the high school liaison sent me a new Final bell schedule instructing me to administer the Final a week earlier that I was originally told.
8:30-10:00 – I get to work rebuilding the last four weeks of the Syllabus, as well as the Modules in the Canvas shell. I have to take into account that we did, in fact, have class today and the Final will now be administered a week early. Due to these changes, I’m going to have to revamp the course content and possibly redesign the Final.
10:00-11:00 – I take Attendance for today and last Friday, then switch to Attendance for my Asynchronous class. Sunday, at midnight, was the last day for my Asynchronous students to submit their extra credit essays so I print them out.
I check email at College No. 1.
11:00-11:15 – I research the directions to remove my evaluator from my Canvas shells; then I do it. I don’t ever want to hear from him again.
11:15-1:00 – I pull up my budget and finish calculating my 2021 toiletries inventory spreadsheet so I can determine the remaining items for my 2022 inventory. Then, I split my final 2022 purchases between Walmart.com and Amazon.com and make my final purchases.
-In what can only be described as an epic fail, I order the book, Set Boundaries, Find Peace for my self-help book club, which is scheduled to meet in just three days. I’ve had a hold on this book at my local library for the past month and kept waiting for its availability, but it never happened. I’ve now been forced to purchase the book ($18) and depending upon its arrival, I’m not sure I’ll have it read by Monday. What a mess!
-I order pink twinkling lights for the ivy wall in the garage conversion.
-As stated earlier, L. refuses to select an easel and a chair for her drafting table so I email her links to both with the heading TOTAL REVIEW TIME: 1 minute.
-L. wants to move her record player and vinyls to the garage and needs a table. As you know, I’m over budget on this reno. The table will have to consist of two sawhorses and an old piece of glass that I kept after B. took apart L.’s corner desk a couple of years ago. I find two sawhorses that might work in the space and send to L. for her approval.
-I order two more spools of chain for the DIY divider project.
1:00-2:00 – I eat my leftover Impossible egg sandwich and read The Lazy Genius.
2:00-3:00- Shower. Lotion. Covid-19 uniform. Make-up. I eat a few more pieces of the Crumbl Cookies, but they’re just not that good.
4:15 – L. left Otis early so she could be home early so we could make our 5:30 tickets for Lightscape at the Arboretum [next to the Santa Anita Racetrack]. L. arrives, touches up her make-up, and we leave.
4:30-5:30 – Driving. We listen to The Daily – Who is the Bad Art Friend?
5:30-7:00 – L. parks but before getting out of the car informs me that she hasn’t pooped in days. If you’re reading this and thinking I’ve somehow betrayed L.’s confidence and trust by writing about it in this blog post, don’t worry about it. L. has no boundaries and told everyone who would listen - including her new boyfriend - that she has not had a bowel movement for some time. When she makes this announcement as we are getting out of the car, I say to her, “Why are you telling me this?” and she replies, “I just wanted you to know.” Uh, okay…
The Arboretum is a huge botanical garden and there are beautiful light “scenes” staged throughout the entire park. I’ll put a link in the show notes so you can watch a short video. Please make sure you watch the short video as it is so beautiful.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI_yg_9_xCGL95OBJw2oh_g
Even though it’s outside, everyone is masking. It’s amazing and there is so much to see. During daily hours, this place is known for the peacocks that wander around aimlessly and L. keeps saying, “Where are the peacocks?” [kind of funny].
Unfortunately, L. is fixated on the fact that she hasn’t pooped and keeps talking about it. She asks me and also texts her Dad for ideas to get this going. I suggest we start with coffee so I buy two coffees from the Lifescapes kiosk. I’m so sleep-deprived I’m not entirely sure how I’m still functioning.
L. continues to share what she’s been eating and drinking over the past few days. It’s immediately apparent that a significant change to L.’s diet over the past few days involves an increase in water consumption after the dentist told L. at her last cleaning, that she had a burgeoning cavity. Although I’m not a doctor, I think this might be the problem. L. responds, “But how can drinking more water stop me from pooping? Water helps!” I don’t know what to say, but this is the only recent change to L.’s diet so it must be the problem. Note: L. will later share her dilemma with K., a female friend who is also an EMT and K. will reveal that too much water causes the large intestine to swell, resulting in poop delays. When I hear this, I tell L. to go back to the ‘husk’ that she was and stop drinking so much water. I advise her to just brush her teeth more often.
7:00-7:30 – L. and I leave and I know more about L.’s bowel habits than I’ve ever wanted to know since she was an infant and I tracked that stuff. We try to find a place to eat, but the Japanese restaurant at the Westhills Mall only takes walk-ins and the wait is 90 minutes. at least everyone is masking at the mall. Lunasia, our favorite dim sum place, is closing in 30 minutes, so it’s also a no-go.
7:30-8:15 – L. and I give up and drive home. We continue listening to Who is the Bad Art Friend.
8:15-9:00 – In town and we stop off at Whole Foods where I get the miniature sushi 8-pack and L. gets something from the buffet.
Yes, the buffet is back. It turns out that we can’t catch Covid from utensils or surfaces because the notion that we could was a f—king lie. And don’t say, “the science was still evolving.” At the very time Fauci was telling us to spray down surfaces and wash our hands constantly, he was receiving information that Covid floats and is transmitted by breath. We know this because Bob Woodward had a recorded interview with Trump in January 2020, and Trump is telling Woodward that a contagious corona virus is “in the air” and “bad news” so we can assume Fauci also knew this information at that time…probably even before.
Had Soup Plantation and their sister franchise, Sweet Tomatoes, held out just a little longer, they never would have had to lay off 4,400 people and close all 97 of their restaurants. Unfortunately, they were acting on bogus information (see Fauci). The first Soup Plantation was founded 42 years ago in San Diego…now…gone. This is just one tiny example of the wreckage Fauci has caused… Consider the lives that could have been saved during the early stages of the pandemic if Fauci had actually told the American people to cover their faces. Our elderly population were so busy sanitizing their groceries and counter tops, that they made no attempt to mask…and died.
L. wants to try a few products to get her bowels moving again so I buy prunes, Metamucil, and some other product that L. selected. Of course, I pay.
9:00-9:30 – Drive home.
9:30-10:30 – Home and I read The Lazy Genius and eat my sushi.
10:30-11:15 – I do a 20-minute Insanity Max – Pulse workout, followed by a 10-minute Ab routine.
11:15-11:45 – Blog post.
11:45-12:45 – Kitchen duty and I ready my coffee for tomorrow. There is very little clean-up tonight. I dip a few pieces of popcorn into some hummus.
12:45-1:15 – Bullet journal
L. tells me she finally pooped! I reply, “I knew you could do it!” She said her Dad responded the same way. I kind of wish I had no knowledge of any of this…
1:30-2:00 – Nighttime routine. Bed