Day 33 - CDC recommends all J&J patients get a booster after 2 months

…Sarah Gilbert, vaccine creator…

…and her corresponding Barbie…

Mattel creates 5 Barbies commemorating female scientists…

11/22/21. Monday

6:00 – L. leaves for her long day at Otis. 

10:00-11:00 – I’m up and I go downstairs to greet the dog. I have to leave at 1:00 so I don’t have much time. She’s awake and running around and, unfortunately, she pooped next to the front door (sigh). We go outside and I stand around, waiting for her to go potty. Return inside and coffee for me; broken sugar cookies for her.  I clean up the dog s—t in front of the door then report to my office. 

-I read and grade the last Socratic Seminar paper. Then, I scan it, post the grade, and email it to my student. 

11:00-11:30 – I finish chopping the rest of a half of a zucchini and add a few more items to my lunch bag. 

11:30-12:30 – Shower. Lotion. I put on a professional blouse, black slacks, and black half-boots. I listen to The Daily. 

12:30-1:00- I take out my braids and listen to What a Day. 

1:00-1:30 – I check email at College No. 1 to see if any of my F2F students are converting to online instruction. One of my F2F students reports that his wife and kids contracted Covid. He says he wants to come to class, but feels he should stay home and take care of his wife and kids.  Uh, yes – of course you should – but there’s also the Covid protocol that says if you’ve been exposed to Covid you should quarantine for 10 days!!  This important point seems lost on the student. I email him and inform him, in no uncertain terms, do NOT come to class. 

The OSD student from my Core Class – the bane of my existence – sends a stupid email alleging that I said during the Chapter 3 and 4 pre-recorded lectures that the Final would contain questions addressing content from some of the podcasts and how should she go about taking notes when she listens to the podcasts. I never said that AND at this late stage in the semester, there is one podcast left that the class needs to hear. I respond, via email, that I never said that and the Final contains exactly ONE question from ONE podcast. I send her the link to the podcast. She sends me three e-cards that I don’t bother to open, thanking me for taking her mental condition into account and working with her. I don’t bother to respond. Fuck you. 

-And now I’m going to be late to class…   

1:30-1:45 – I load everything in the car and leave.  

1:45-2:45 – Driving. I eat my Hawaiian chicken leftovers in the car, while putting on my make-up, while listening to Citations Needed. 

2:45-5:30 – In class and there are exactly THREE F2F students in the class.  What the hell am I doing here? Lecture goes well because it’s just the four of us and the autistic student [Student No. 3] is usually asleep. 

-At 4:00, student R. W. arrives, walks to the top tier, and starts coughing. At 4:10, I break the students and R. W. reports to my desk, stands to the side of the pexi-glass barrier so he is directly in front of me, and pulls his mask down to tell me he’s sorry he was late, there was a public transportation issue…and then coughs directly in my face! I say, “Are you sick?!  To which he replies, “Yes…I’ve had a cough for several days now, but I thought it was important to come to class because…” I cut him off immediately and tell him to get the fuck out of here!  I inform him that he is experiencing Covid symptoms and he’s just exposed me and the other students. Leave! Now!!  He leaves. 

-5:30-7:00 – Class dismissed and I leave. My book club starts at 6:00 but it’s obvious I won’t make it because I wasn’t able to break the class early – too much is going on and class is running behind.  To add insult to injury, I didn’t finish Boundaries. I listen to Best Laid Plans on the way home. 

-I’m disappointed that I had to miss Book Club. 

-Home and I unload everything. 

7:30-8:00 – I start kitchen duty immediately. For some reason, I’m exhausted.  I ready my coffee for tomorrow and listen to Crime Junkie. 

-L. returns from Otis and shows me Mattel’s most recent Barbie creations – five, Covid-19 female scientists. L. and I compare the Barbies to the actual scientists.  One of the scientists, Sarah Gilbert, is an older, 50-something female, who wears no make-up…yet the alter-ego Barbie for this scientist is totally glam, although they at least put horn-rimmed glasses on her. Also, ONE of the five scientists is recognized and a Barbie created to represent this doctor, simply because she saw the first Covid patient. So what?! That’s all you got for the fifth Barbie? The doctor saw a Covid patient?  You’re really digging deep with that one, Mattel. You couldn’t find better female representation? 

8:00-9:00 – Although I missed Book Club, I still like the book and I plan on finishing Boundaries. 

9:15-9:45 – I do a 30-minute Insanity Max – Sweat workout. 

10:00-11:00 – the leaves in my backyard blew into convenient piles near the side of the house, so I take a trash bag outside and shovel the leaves in.  I don’t want to pull my clippings trash can out to the backyard and possibly wake up my neighbors, so I just shovel leaves into a trash bag. 

11:00-12:30 – I return a paper to the student who stayed home with his family and because R. W. is black, I email him the quizzes that he missed today after I kicked him out of class. I don’t need any trouble…especially some student pulling the race card. 

Yesterday, I scanned/returned two papers to my students but forgot to include sample responses to two questions for their review…so I scan the samples to the above students now.  

At the same time, another student emails me that his wife has a perforated uterus from a botched surgery and can he turn in his Socratic Seminar essay late?  While I feel horrible for his wife, I thought I was done grading this s—t.  Another paper left to grade? F—k! 

12:30-1:30 – I have a “free day” tomorrow, relatively speaking, but didn’t appropriately plan for it, so I return to the “LA Times Gift List” that B. gave me to see if there’s an interesting boutique I can visit. I’d like to have an “adventure” tomorrow, if possible, but I have no idea what to do or where to go.  Poor planning on my part. I finally settle on something, though. Stay tuned. 

1:30-2:00 – Nighttime routine. Bed.