Day 36 - Los Angeles lifts its vaccine mandate. A vax card is no longer needed.

My highschoolers gave me a beautiful purple orchid for Teacher Appreciation Day…

5/5/22. Thursday

5:00-5:15-My alarm goes off, but I stay in bed for transition time.

5:15-5:30-It’s time. I HAVE to get up so I go downstairs and say good morning to the animal. She limply wags her tail so I start warming up my coffee in the microwave. Here she comes…the dog puts her paws on my thighs so I can pet her. I cue her to go outside and we head towards the backyard. She does her business and we return inside. Cheese for her; coffee for me. I go upstairs.

5:30-6:25-I sit in the shower, drink my coffee, and ice my eyes while listening to the The Daily. Lotion. Today, I’m wearing army-green-colored pants, an ivory blouse, and a black tank top underneath. I load all of my bags in the car and I’m out the door by 6:25 am.

6:25-7:40-Traffic horrible. Leaving this late was a mistake because it’s especially congested on the 405. I might not make it on time and I’m stressed out. I put my makeup on in the car and eat apple slices and almond butter for breakfast, while listening to the Ezra Klein Show.

7:40-8:00-Arrive and thankfully there is still available parking. I review my lecture notes, finish putting on my make-up, and walk straight into the school, bypassing the office entirely. I’m sick of signing in. By now, staff should know me and the standing thermometer is largely obsolete [you can have a raging case of Covid and still NOT have a fever] so why am I signing in and checking my temperature EVERY time I come here?

8:00-9:30-Class is in session and the girls give me a beautiful orchid for Teacher Appreciation Day! I’ve never received ANYTHING for Teacher Appreciation Day before so I am genuinely touched.

-I lecture on Part II of Chapter 12; then

-we watch 30 minutes of the documentary, Knock Down The House. I assign the rest of the video for homework.

-While the students watch the video, I complete post-it notes to accompany the lesson plans I made last night for 5-12-22, when I’m in South Dakota. I leave the lesson plans on Mr. Gonzalez’ desk. I hope he can cover the class. He won’t have to do A THING because the students are assigned a documentary to watch during class time, on their phones, followed by a Video Quiz on Canvas.

9:30-9:50-Class dismissed and I stop by the principal’s office and leave the second set of lesson plans for her so she knows what’s going on. I’d rather NOT discuss my absence with her at all because I know Mr. Gonzalez and I can work this out amongst ourselves, but some supervisors go ape shit if they think they’ve been left out of the loop, even if it involves the smallest of changes. You know the type…the insecure, micro-manager, who secretly feels inferior to most of his/her subordinates because he/she doesn’t know as much as the employees. They compensate by micro-managing the SHIT out of their underlings, even when the micro-managing involves activities that have no relevance or significance to the organization. For some reason, it makes these assholes feel better about the fact that they’re incompetent.

To be fair, I actually love the principal at this Charter School. She’s great and I don’t anticipate this type of petty behavior from her at all…but, she’s also a recent new-hire and I don’t know her well enough yet, so I’m hedging my bets.

10:00-12:00-I drive straight to the Medi Spa for my Botox appointment. Traffic is horrible and I get to Encino around 10:40 and park in a residential neighborhood, around the corner from the Medi-Spa, for awhile, while I eat the salad I packed in my lunch bag.

11:00-11:30-I call B. and we discuss our hiking plans for tomorrow; then

11:30-11:45-I eat a Chocolate Chip-Peanut Butter Lara Bar and listen to Citations Needed.

11:45-12:00-I drive to the Medi-Spa parking garage.

12:00-12:15-I’m at my appointment and the staff are masking, but the two receptionists put their masks on AFTER they see me enter the lobby. I’m not sure how this particular masking technique helps. For example, if they’re contagious, but only put their masks on when patients come in, conceivably the virus is still floating around the room. Patients DO NOT have to mask so they could contract it.

-I was just here last week, but it’s too traumatic for me to undergo filler injections AND Botox, simultaneously - I’d rather space out the injections. Abel does my frown lines and I’m out the door in minutes.

12:15-1:00-I drive home.

1:00-2:00-I bring in all of my bags from the car, put everything away, clean the kitchen, and ready my coffee for tomorrow.

2:00-3:00-I heat up my mozzarella sticks from yesterday and read Women in the Picture. Yesterday, I realized that I only read ONE book for April. This is totally “unsat” so I’m going to make it a point to get more reading in this month. My original 2022 resolution was 50 books this year…I don’t think I’m going to hit that goal.

I start a load of laundry.

3:00-5:00-I take a nap.

5:00-6:00-I wake up totally out of it. My face hurts and I’m not sure if I’m going to make my Striders walking group, but I missed last week because of my filler injections so I should definitely go. I listen to the Political Gabfest while I debate my options.

-I’m going. I change into my T-back, long, tank top, my workout leggings, and my turquoise Nike’s, freshen my make-up, put my hair up, and try to wake up. I move everything from my purse to my backpack and fill my hydro flask.

6:00-6:15-I drive to the Striders location.

6:30-7:30-Sara is there and she waves and says hello and remembers my name. I missed last Thursday so it’s pretty remarkable that she remembers my name after two weeks. I discuss with her what I learned about Cash Balance vs Defined Benefit, under the CalSTRS retirement program (recall that she’s a financial planner) and surprisingly, she has also researched these options. I tell her that I’m currently working on the conversion paperwork.

I did my “follow-up” too and mention that I listened to the podcast she recommended, The Thing About Pam, in addition to the “mockumentary” The Thing About Pam, which was her second recommendation. I also ask Sara how her ukulele lessons are going.

Two weeks go, Sara mentioned the podcast Real Perfect and discussed an episode about a gerrymandering court case that she found interesting. I casually said the case in question was probably Baker vs. Carr; she followed up and confirmed that it was.

Sara then asked if I had altered my morning commute times to see if I could finally get out of the carpool lane. It’s shocking that she recalled this part of our conversation, it was so innocuous. I respond that I’m still in the carpool lane.

We talk about things to do in the community and I bring up the free Concerts in the Park series that are held at Central Park on Saturdays during July/August.; she already has the dates in her phone. She also went to Party at the Point where L.’s Dad’s brother and his wife [T. and C. and their three girls] went the other day. When I mention the Botany Hike that’s held every 4th Saturday at the Placerita Nature Center, Sara says she recently hiked “the loop” and had to jump over the creek a couple of times. B and I did that hike two months ago.

Sara and I are also walking with a black female - I don’t get her name - who seems nice and has a young son and daughter. Her daughter likes either skating or skate boarding. It comes up that L. is 20, and an artist at Otis where she makes feminist art. I tell both women that L.’s favorite mediums are charcoal and oil but she also likes collage. I ask Sara what she used to do in San Diego; she said she either went to the beach or hiked/biked every day. Sarah says she misses San Diego.

Sarah’s also in my hiking group, but I don’t see her as much at that venue because I teach on Tuesdays and am unable to hike most of the time. Thankfully, this teaching gig will be ending soon and my Tuesdays will open up. Renee (leader of the hiking group) will be conducting hikes during the interim session, at a cost of $15 per hike, which Sara might join. Currently, she has a personal goal to do six hikes in six days, but adds that she’s afraid of snakes. Sarah has an older brother who is married and lives in Santa Clarita; last weekend, they donned skates and skated along the paseos.

The Striders group finish their standard 3 miles in one hour and class is dismissed.

7:30-8:30 - I drive to Sprouts and buy tomatoes, apples, cheese, cottage cheese, sliced turkey meat, Justin’s peanut butter packets, chips, oat milk, eggs, chocolate bark, 1 lemon, and an avocado; the total is $63!! I finish listening to the Political Gabfest.

8:30-9:15-I drive home and start eating my bag of chips in the car. Uh oh. I put everything away; then

9:15-10:00-I take the dog for a walk.

10:00-11:00-I water all of my plants. I can feel my body start to stiffen after the walk.

11:00-12:00-L. had an art critique at Otis involving one of her pieces that she removed from the art studio to bring to Otis. It’s back now, so I pull out the ladder and rehang it. Then, I hang a masterpiece that L. recently had framed-it’s huge-as well as a black and white print screen she did of her Dad’s father, i.e., her grandfather, who is long since deceased. I also hang one of her mini-collages that I personally framed myself. L. has a few “privates” coming this week, so I make sure to hang her creations front and center, where the students can see her work. It’s hard maneuvering in the art studio and I’m stiff and exhausted.

12:00-2:00-I go to work (enter my home office).

-I check email at College No. 1 and disable both classes in Canvas because the semester is OVER!!!.

I calculate Final grades for both classes at College No. 1, review Attendance, and post semester grades to Admissions and Records. Then, I print out the semester grades I just posted, add it to the Attendance packet, and scan everything to the special Admissions and Records link.

Next, I compile the “Student Learning Objectives (SLOs)” for Specialty Class 1B by adding the points from their Socratic Seminar assignments. I also compile the SLOs for my Core Class by reviewing their Finals and tallying which questions they missed concerning California government and which questions they missed concerning the Federal government. I post my calculations to the SLO database.

When I’m done, a new message that I’ve never seen before pops up in the database, instructing me to submit an Action Plan for both classes, to be used for Fall Semester 2022. I don’t think so. Unless you can rewrite history’s No Child Left Behind policy, endorsed by George W. Bush during his presidency, there is nothing I can do. No “Action Plan” will change the fact that my students are horrible writers and fully-formed by the time they arrive at College No. 1. This is as good as it gets and nothing will alter that reality, no matter how many services are available for these kids. I submit nothing and log off the system.

-College No. 1 is done.

2:00-3:00-Nighttime routine. I set my clothes out for tomorrow and listen to Dateline. Bed.