Day 4 - Los Angeles lifts its vaccine mandate. A vax card is no longer required.
B. and I hiked The Beast today…
We ate at Birds Restaurant for breakfast…
I finished this book today…
4/3/22. Sunday
5:15-5:45-I’m up before my alarm, but I have cramps and feel like shit. I take two Advil and wait for it to kick in.
5:45-6:00 - I go downstairs to say good morning to the animal, but she’s asleep on the couch and doesn’t acknowledge me other than to weakly wag her tail. I warm up my coffee. When the dog hears the microwave, she jumps off the couch and staggers over to say good morning. I take my coffee outside and stand around waiting for her to go potty. Return inside and cheese for her; coffee for me. I go upstairs.
6:00-7:00-I’m down 2 pounds so I guess eating cheese before bedtime doesn’t affect my weight? Shower. I sit in the shower, drink my coffee, and ice my eyes. Lotion. Light make-up. I put on my hiking uniform and several layers: T-shirt, zip-up long-sleeved, hoodie, cargo pants, beanie. It’s cloudy and looks like rain.
7:00-10:30-B arrives and we drive to Whitney Canyon to hike The Beast. Although we’ve been here before, we take the wrong trail for the first 30 minutes before finally figuring out that we’re on the wrong trail. We started on the left side, when The Beast is on the right side. B. and I backtrack and start hiking the almost 90-degree incline for the next 1 1/2 hours. The views are incredible! B. Estimates we’re at 2000 to 3000 elevation but I think it might be higher. We approach what appears to be a stopping point because there’s a rusted gate here, although it’s easy to step over the gate and continue if we wanted. Two girls coming down the mountain tell B. and I if we hike to the top of The Beast (5 miles), we’ll be able to see “all of Sylmar.” Not much of an incentive as Sylmar is disgusting so B. and I hike back down. As we’re coming down, more people are coming up, including people on dirt bikes (NOT motorized). I can’t fathom how these people are able to ride dirt bikes up a straight incline!
10:30-11:30-B. and I drive to Clark’s Diner, in West Hollywood, for breakfast because L. recommended it. The line is out the door so we go to Birds instead. As it so happens, Birds was featured in the Bosch series, in one of Michael Conley’s books.
11:30-1:00-We’re seated inside and nobody is masking. I feel a little uncomfortable, but try to reassure my self with the fact that I had Omicron in January. I have the scrambled eggs and sidewinder potatoes, along with two Mimosas. The food is really good and B matches my Mimosas and orders...something??? Everything tastes great! I pick up the tab for this one.
1:30-2:30-Driving home.
2:30-5:30-We arrive at my house and B. comes in for awhile. We talk politics and B. leaves.
5:30-7:30 - As usual, ever since contracting Long Covid, I need to lie down after strenuous physical activity although now, more often than not, I need a nap regardless of what I’ve done during the day.
7:30-8:00- I take more Advil for my cramps and listen to Death, Sex, and Money.
8:00-9:00-Kitchen duty and I ready my coffee and lunch bag for tomorrow. I microwave a frozen pre-packaged quesadilla for dinner and it tastes terrible. I finish the Invisible Corset in preparation for Bookclub Brunch with Mom and L. and this book happens to be one of my favorite books.
Lauren Geertsen is 26-years-old and poses the following hypothesis:
“The invisible corset is a set of beliefs that make women as uncomfortable and restricted in their bodies as physical corsets once did. We can’t cut the ties of the corset until we identify and reckon with those strings.” Lauren says that “Beauty” is one of the corset’s strings and says the following:
“Imagine how different beauty would feel if you truly had a choice. You’d be equally confident with and without mascara. Like your male colleagues, you’d feel no need to apologize for not wearing make-up today or for looking tired. You’d feel no pressure from your job, partner, or social circle to hide your ‘visible signs of aging.’ ”
Coming back to the classroom after the pandemic, this passage resonated with me. At home, I was conducting class via Distance Education, through recorded lectures. There was no need for make-up, professional attire, uncomfortable shoes, etc. When instructors were forced to return to the brick-and-mortar, I noted how much time and mental energy it took to select a professional outfit, apply full make-up, blow-out my hair, etc. I didn’t have to do any of that when I was teaching from home. Add 2 hours driving time, round trip - and this is only for College No. 1 - and I’m down 4 hours every time I have to teach in person, something that my male colleagues do NOT have to worry about. Two of those hours are spent on hair, make-up, outfit, all in an attempt to look professional so I will have legitimacy and credibility in the eyes of the students. It’s bulls—t.
When I discussed this section of the book with L., she said it made her re-consider the term “self care.” L. says that her generation - Gen Z. - is all about self care, but Lauren points out that make-up, beauty products, creams, lotions, are all marketed under the misleading label of “self care” and cost a ton of money. L. says she now questions whether or not she is genuinely engaging in self care or if she is just being manipulated by the “beauty complex” and other advertising propaganda.
Clearly, women are being manipulated. True self-care, at least for me, is going for a hike or a bike ride, taking time to exercise, walking with my Striders club every Thursday, or going birdwatching. None of these activities cost anything and I always feel better after I’ve engaged in them (well, not always with regard to my Insanity workouts, but you get the general idea); however, women are encouraged to pay for their self-care.
Lauren goes onto say, “the cultural beliefs that create the invisible corset make women uncomfortable, restricted, and exhausted in our bodies and this makes us hate our bodies because we hate feeling this way…and we’ve learned to internalize this state as normal and necessary…
And I’m only on Page 21 of the book…
Another issue Lauren discusses is our fear of body fat. She writes: We’ve accepted the belief that thinness makes us beautiful, successful, lovable, desirable [I’m going to personally add “professional’]. A woman who is afraid of fat is easily manipulated and kept under control. In fact, corrupt authority figures, abusive partners, and profit-hungry industries define desirability in such a way as to control your behavior.
I couldn’t agree more and I’m SICK of constantly managing my weight on a daily basis; constantly doing Insanity workouts that hurt my body, my bones, my muscles [most of the time I’m stiff and in pain]; exercising at 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. simply because I didn’t have time to exercise on that particular day and feel compelled to “get a workout in” even though I’d rather go to sleep; constantly restricting my carbs and only allowing myself 2 bites of pasta alfredo when I would rather eat a small bowl; constantly worried about a TWO-pound increase [who cares???!!!]; constantly depriving myself of food that I would enjoy eating; constantly ensuring that I don’t eat anything after 3:00 pm, but no later than 5:00 [which is, routinely, a losing battle]. This behavior is soooo extreme and I hate it……….
I don’t want to be like this…I just want to enjoy my life.
Why can’t society leave women alone? If women are overweight, why do we have to comment on it? Why can’t we just let them be?
This book is a sobering look at the daily societal pressure women face to be attractive, young, and thin. Highly recommend.
9:00-12:00 - I upload a few blog posts; then
12:00-1:30-grade 4 extra credit papers for Core Class No. 1
1:30-2:30-Oops - I accidentally fell asleep.
2:30-3:30-I take the dog out and lock up. Nighttime routine. I listen to Crime Junkie. Bed