Day 40-Los Angeles lifts its vaccine mandate. A vax card is no longer necessary.

Finished this book today…

5/9/22. Monday

8:30-9:00-I’m awake but I lie in bed for the next 30 minutes.

9:00-9:15-I go downstairs to greet the dog. She’s still asleep on the couch so I sit next to her and rub her tummy three times. We head for the patio and I stand around while she does her business. While I’m waiting, I water my snapdragons, the hanging plant, and my jasmine vines. I place the hose outside L.’s studio so she can fill the reservoir in her portable sink. I also take out the trash.

9:15-10:30-I read Run Towards the Danger and eat a donut.

10:30-10:45-L. finished her Queer Science project involving her crystal experiment and it looks amazing. She ran out of “Stick-em” letters and has to go to the Michaels in Gardena because the Michaels in our town doesn’t carry the same stickers so it’s a big mess as usual. L. also has a painting/project due at Otis by 8:00 am.

10:45-11:15-I finish reading Run Towards the Danger.

This memoir originated from a terrible accident that befell author Sarah Polley, Canadian, in 2015, after a swim at her local community center pool. While rummaging through the lost-and-found box for her missing blow-drier, a fire-extinguisher, mounted on the wall, fell on her head. The impact is so great that her teeth actually rattle. What ensues next is a 4-year concussion that affects Sarah’s life in horrible ways.  She can’t work, read, be exposed to bright light or any light for that matter without pain, can’t do menial tasks, take care of her children, or drive…and is basically just a shell of the person she used to be.  So much so that one day her husband breaks down in tears over the fact that he’s essentially lost his wife. 

After 2 to 3 years, friends and family accuse Sarah of malingering. In desperation, Sarah makes an appointment with an American doctor who reminds me of a carnival barker for PT Barnum – “a sucker born every minute.”  He tells Sarah that everything she’s been avoiding, like driving, writing, light, basically living, she must now embrace, no matter how emotionally or physically painful.  In fact, he tells her the title of this book: “You need to run towards the danger.” What follows is a memoir where Sarah addresses the most uncomfortable aspects of her life, chapter by chapter, essentially running towards the danger, per her doctor’s instructions.

For example:

In her youth as a child actor, Sarah scores the role of Alice, in Alice in Wonderland, for a traveling theater troop and hates it.  She would rather undergo scoliosis surgery then work another day as Alice so her doctor writes her a referral  and she has the surgery where her back is essentially broken so the bones can knit in a vertical line - it takes her months to recuperate. 

Then there’s the chapter addressing her sexual assault with the host of a prominent television show.

Yet another chapter details one of the worst cases of endometriosis Sarah’s doctor has ever seen upon opening up her uterus, coupled with a disastrous birth that almost ends in her death.

There’s also the chapter where, still working as a child star, Sarah has the leading role in a Monty Python film called The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. The set has no safety protocols whatsoever and she almost dies twice during the film: once during a pyrotechnic scene (well, it wasn’t exactly a near-death experience, BUT she lost a portion of her hearing) and again during a simulated drowning, which isn’t really “simulated” at all.  The actors are placed in a boat, in a tank, and the boat capsizes after a horse falls in (don’t ask).

And, finally, there is the last chapter detailing the fire extinguisher incident and her meeting with Dr. Collins. Sarah takes his advice and forces herself to engage in all aspects of life, even though it’s incredibly painful as a result of her concussion. After a month, she’s, improbably, cured.

This is a fascinating memoir.  Highly recommend.

11:15-12:45 -I go to work (enter home office)

I need to make sure the content for my Online class, at College No. 2, is ready to go while I’m in South Dakota. I post additional content then check the Module - Home Pages for the next two weeks for mistakes. Unfortunately, there are several mistakes because I originally created the Home Pages around 3:00 in the morning on any given day - that seems to be how I work around here. I edit the Home Pages and a few due dates, then correct the Syllabus and re-post. I also enter a podcast quiz into the Canvas shell, one question at a time. There are four answers to each question, all of which must be loaded manually. It’s laborious and I load the quiz in complete silence.

12:45-3:30-I have my leftover lasagna for lunch and compile the Discussion Board scores for my Online class.

-I write down those students who received Ds and/or Fs on their Video/Podcast quizzes, then send individual emails berating them for their low scores. I cannot believe how long this takes. I listen to The Daily, Best Laid Plans, and Lexis podcast referral, Conviction - Season 1.

3:30-4:00 - I send a lengthy email to a student explaining that when you don’t take the Final, your semester grade is a D or F.

I check email at College No. 1

4:00-6:00-I spend the rest of this time trying to download apps to install the “Dual Factor Authentication” that I’m required to use at College No. 1. I download an app and also try some free apps, but none of them work and I have to call Customer service to cancel the first app I downloaded. I’m disgusted this “project” took so long.

After two hours, I’m finally able to set up the “Dual Factor Authentication.” I tried it out and it works.

I check email at College No. 2.

6:00-6:40-I bring my personal email down to Inbox Zero.

6:40-7:10-I check the Home Pages for my F2F high school class for the next two weeks and make some small adjustments.

7:10-7:45- I update my IPad with my entire Class schedule for the Fall Semester. I also start listening to Conviction - Season 2 - The Disappearance of Nasaid.

7:45-8:30-I cull out podcasts that I think B. might like and email the list to him.

8:30-9:00- I complete a textbook requisition for College No. 2 using their new system. It’s complicated.

Life Administration

9:00-9:30

-I find a neon sign website and send to L. for her approval. We’re hanging a neon sign in her studio that says, “The Studio.”

-I place an Amazon Order for the Insanity-Asylum items that I need in order to do the work-out program successfully - rope ladder and jump rope. I also order diaper wipes and barrettes.

-I update my Master Inventory Spreadsheet and add the diaper wipes.

9:30-10:00-I change a light bulb, bring in my trash can, hang my newly acquired AA Degree in French, and unwrap the new hiking stick that arrived from Amazon.

10:00-10:30-I grade an extra credit paper and post the grade.

10:30-11:00-I eat the rest of my leftover lasagna.

11:00-11:30-L. surfaces and we talk for a while; then

11:30-1:00 - I watch the Garfield documentary that I’m assigning to my highschoolers and compile a 10-question quiz. In between, I log my receipts into my budget spreadsheet for the last two months.

1:00-1:30 - I load the Garfield documentary questions into the Canvas shell.

1:30-2:00 - Nighttime routine. Bed.