Day 3 - Mask mandate REINSTATED by the LA County Dept. of Health
I finished this book today…
Governor Newsom announces the state’s plan concerning Covid-19… Stupidly, this plan is called SMARTER [Shots, Masks, Awareness, Readiness, Tests, Education, and Rx-Prescriptions] which is basically a tutorial for learning to live with Covid. News affiliates throughout the country are citing California as the first state in the nation to state publicly that we are now entering an endemic stage and leaving behind the pandemic, but it’s very telling that Gov. Newsom does not utter the word endemic today, even though he has previously referred to the SMARTER plan as his “Endemic Plan.” This is because LA County Omicron cases remain “High.” Are we truly in an endemic? Doubtful. Omicron remains a pandemic.
A recent study reveals that the apparent lesser severity of Omicron was more a function of the fact that more people were vaccinated – or dead - as opposed to Omicron symptoms being intrinsically less serious. In other words, Omicron is just as bad as the previous variants, but more people have immunity now and the Omicron symptoms are more manageable. This was not the case for L. and I, however. We were both vaccinated and both very sick and I still don’ know definitively if I have Long Covid.
Information from the DUMBER plan reveals our new secret weapon…sampling wastewater. Yes, my friends, our pee and poo will be closely monitored so we can see when the next pandemic is coming. However, there’s a caveat…sampling will only occur in a few areas (the reason is unclear but is probably due to budget constraints). If one of the areas is Orange County, we’ll never be able to head off the next variant at the pass…Orange County residents are too white and wealthy to contract Covid. In other words, “their shit don’t stink.”
2/18/22. Friday
7:00-7:30 – I’m up and I go downstairs straightaway to say good morning to the animal. She’s awake and rolls over on her back so I can rub her tummy. I sit next to her for kisses and cuddles, then hand the dog her toy and we go outside. I wait for the dog to go potty and see that she pooped on the patio (sigh). I also note that none of my sprinklers came on this morning! The dog finishes and we return inside: coffee for me, cheese for her. I check the garage and try to turn on the pink sparklers nestled within the fake ivy wall – they don’t turn on. I plug in the portable space heater, but it doesn’t work. I suspect a tripped breaker and investigate the electrical panel around the side of the house. I see the problem, flip the breaker switch, and the sparkling lights come on. I pick up the dog poop and head upstairs.
7:30-8:30 – Shower. Wash hair. I sit in the shower, drink my coffee, and ice my eyes. I listen to Organize 365. Lotion.
8:30-9:00 – I blow-dry my hair. Light make-up.
9:00-11:30 – In accordance with my Curated Closet project, I try on the last of my blouses, one at a time. Discard. I am finally finished culling my blouses and shirts. I put on gray leggings and a button-up pink cardigan. The roofer texts me that his guys will arrive between 1:30-2:00.
11:30-12:30 – I make scrambled eggs and add cheese. Then, I have breakfast. I listen to The Daily.
12:30-1:00 – I have a couple pieces of Sees Candies and finish Floating Feathers. What a book!
The author is a doctor who specializes in reconstructive surgery, but has a horrible fall off a roof, while trying to fix a leaky skylight. This resonates with me because it is exactly what I’m trying to do, except I called a licensed professional who is on his way now. Dr. Zbar is found motionless, on the ground. 911 is called and Dr. Zbar is transported to the hospital, via ambulance, where his wife learns that he has the following injuries: 10 rib fractures on his left side; a clavicle and scapula fracture on the same side; 3 rib fractures on the right; a sacral fracture; a massive hematoma on his left thigh and buttock; a temporal bone fracture on the left with paralysis on the left side of his face; 2 intraparenchymal hemorrhagic contusions in the right temporal lobe; one contusion in the right inferior lobe; and a “partridge in a pear tree.” All these injuries, even after it appears that he broke his fall by grabbing onto the rain gutter that runs the length of the house. Miraculously, all of his teeth are intact.
I don’t want to give the book short shrift, but there is not much to the plot, although I enjoyed it immensely: Dr. Zbar becomes a patient and acquires first-hand knowledge of how fucked up our health care system. is. What a surprise. Then he writes a book about it…this book…and provides solutions. Will anything change? As long as hospital administrators define hospitals as “for profit” endeavors and Big Pharma continues to line the pockets of our politicians with money earned from opiod addicts [Sackler family, you know who you are] then, no, nothing will change.
1:00-2:15 – The roofers arrive, assess the skylights, and diagnose the problem: the tile pan was filled with debris, which caused the underlay to deteriorate, and now two of the skylights must be repaired.
-L. leaves for the Art Studio
2:15-3:30 – Nap
-L. returns for a brief lunch and tells me how terrible teaching/work is going for her today. She leaves.
3:30-4:45 – Bullet journal. I listen to Maintenance Phase. The roofers finish the job and leave. Cost is $500.
5:00-6:00 – The kitchen is a mess from the skylight repair. I vacuum the entire downstairs.
6:00-6:30 – I have a piece of squash lasagna and listen to Maintenance Phase.
7:00-10:30 – bullet journal and blog posts.
11:00-12:00 – I talk to L. about her college classes, her savings account, and my Curated Closet project.
-I need to record three new AUDIO lectures for Chapter 10, 12, and 13, because the current lectures are outdated. In order to make recording the lectures an easier process, I commissioned L. to transcribe the current lectures and negotiated for a lower hourly fee. L. agreed to $20 per hour for this project [$10 less than her regular $30 per hour fee - I think she gave me a ‘Mom’ discount - and is currently hard at work, transcribing Chapter 10. She says it’s slow going and I don’t doubt it. That’s why I’d rather pay her to transcribe these lectures instead of doing it myself.
12:30-2:00 – Blog posts.
2:00-2:30 – Nighttime routine. Bed.