Day 49-Governor Newsom reinstates the mask mandate in California
I finished this book today…
2/2/22. Wednesday
San Francisco ended it’s mask mandate yesterday. Beginning 2/1/22, office workers, gym members, bars and restaurants, and other “stable cohorts” of people may remove masks indoors again. The catch is that individuals in these “stable cohort groups” must be current on their vaccinations, to include the booster. Additionally, foregoing a mask at a mega-event of 500 or more people is also acceptable. Those individuals who cannot meet the vaccination requirements must show proof of a negative Covid test.
San Francisco is one of the most progressive cities in America and is renown for the masterful way that they handled the AIDS crisis in the 80s. When Covid hit in 2020, SF issued a shelter-in-place order before any other locality. They are public health masters…this is why I can’t believe what I’m hearing. No masks? In San Francisco? I think this is a mistake. This is exactly how I felt when Biden and the CDC told the vaxed they could take off their masks and celebrate 4th of July as Covid Independence Day, just as Delta was sweeping our ranks. I didn’t buy it and kept my mask on the entire time as B. and I navigated the filthy/dirty Gas Lamp District in San Diego. Sure enough…after millions of people celebrated the 4th of July, sans masks, coughing and breathing and infecting each other with Delta, the CDC issued a statement saying, “Quick…put the masks back on!” Too late. We were all infected with Delta.
No more masks? What about the Omicron B2 variant? The B2 variant is currently making its rounds…are we really going to pretend, as a society, that Covid doesn’t exist anymore? We’re at 950,000 deaths and climbing…more deaths than any country in the world…
8:00- L. leaves for work. She decided to cover her co-worker’s 7-hour shift today instead of attending classes at Otis because she needs additional scratch this month.
9:00-9:30 – I’m awake because the contractor I requested for the second bid on my skylight is coming at 10:30. I go downstairs to say good morning to the animal and note that she pooped near the front door (sigh). I sit next to her for kisses and cuddles and rub her tummy for a long time. Finally, she grabs her toy and we go outside where I wait for the dog to do her business. Return inside and coffee for me; pieces of turkey for her.
10:00 – The contractor calls me and asks if he can come at 3:00 instead.
10:00-12:00 – I read Loved and Wanted, then break for almond-butter toast.
12:00-1:00 – Shower. Lotion. Light make-up. I listen to The Daily. In accordance with my Curated Closet project, I try on most of my blazers and discard.
1:00-2:30 –I have some cheese and crackers, then drive to Valencia Meadows Park so I know where to go for tomorrow night’s walking group (Striders). I find the park then take the time to complete a bullet journal. I listen to True Crime Garage.
2:30-2:45 – Return home and I secure the dog.
3:00-3:30 – “Tim”, the roofing contractor, arrives and surveys the damaged skylights. He gives me a bid of $500! The first contractor quoted me $2500! Sold. Tim says we’ll be in touch.
3:30-5:00- I finish Loved and Wanted.
This book took guts to write! Christa Parravani is just like Eleanor in Everything I Have. Married to a loser “screenwriter”? “show runner”? “producer”? [I can’t figure out what this guy does] who is perpetually unemployed, Christa is supporting herself, her husband, and their young daughter with freelancing, adjunct instructor gigs, and a book she published. One of the most shocking passages in the book is the fact that her husband, Tony, only pays their phone bill! Christa frequently asks Tony for money so she can cover bare essentials, like food, and he routinely refuses…yet, the family is forced to live in Santa Monica so Tony can be close to those Hollywood jobs that never seem to materialize. Christa has no access to any of Tony’s accounts – she’s not allowed. In response to her numerous requests for financial help and access, Tony merely says, “I struggle with transparency” and gives her nothing.
It’s the classic older man/younger woman trope, but lately, in the memoirs I’ve been reading, it’s the older men who have nothing going, then attach themselves to a younger woman, like a leech, because they see the potential. Christa is a graduate student when she meets Tony, “a writer of stature. Tony was known in a way I have never been known”, but she should have added the word, “yet”, because Christa is a fine writer in her own right. Theirs is a fairly fast courtship…Tony proposes with a full-carat solitare diamond ring, which, in retrospect, is probably cubic zirconian - I doubt Christa ever had it appraised – and then, on the eve of their marriage, he tells Christa that he is completely broke. No money. No savings. Bad credit. Nada. Although his first book was a success, he can’t explain what he did with the money. Can’t explain…or it’s a secret? Here’s where Christa should have “cut bait and run.”
Instead, Christa promises Tony that she’ll carry them on her student loans; “he’d get back on his feet, it didn’t matter if he was broke. What mattered to me is that I loved him…” and in that moment seals her fate – and the fate of her children - for the rest of her/their life/lives. Sadly, just like in Everything I Have, the reader can see the red flags a mile away. This guy is a straight-up parasite.
But the book isn’t about her marriage, per se. Christa gets pregnant within the year and after her little girl, Jo, is born, has difficulty making rent, doesn’t have enough for groceries, can’t pay the utilities… From the jump, Tony and Christa have separate accounts because “his wages were subject to liens” so Christa puts the majority of their expenses on her credit card – no bank will issue Tony credit – and racks up tens of thousands in debt in her name. “…wages subject to liens”??? I have Tony pegged for a deadbeat Dad who is probably on the hook for child support from another relationship but pretending that he has no source of income.
It’s almost as if Christa is a ….single mother. Seriously, I’ve been there…(raising L. was hard), BUT minus the 230-pound anchor that Christa calls her husband. It’s so obvious that she’d be better off without Tony, but Christa says he “cooks our meals and he spoons me.” Oh brother!
Christa realizes their life is unsustainable in California, especially since they’re going to be evicted and, in desperation, takes an Assistant Professor job at West Virginia University and forces the family to move. Strangely, Tony eventually ends up working there also, although the details of this are never provided, and Christa, finally, for the first time in their marriage, knows Tony’s salary, which happens to be more than her salary [this is also unclear]. Does Tony give Christa any of his income? No. At least he still pays the phone bill. Keep in mind that Christa and Tony are MARRIED, live together as one household, and now they have TWO kids. And she is still supporting them. To make matters worse, Tony frequently leaves his post, taking unpaid sabbaticals to fly to Hollywood and work on shows that never end up running.
Here’s something: Christa also does the laundry and, every week, removes dozens of lottery “Scratchers” from Tony’s pockets. Can we say “gambling addiction?”
Here’s the crux of the book. In 2015, Christa gets pregnant with child number 3 and wants an abortion. She is so strapped for cash that there is no money left to support and raise a third child, but she can’t get an abortion because she lives in West Virginia. Even though it’s legal, nobody within a 100-mile radius will perform one. Christa can’t afford to go out of town and pay for a hotel stay for the 2 days it would take for her to recover before she drives home. Her insurance doesn’t cover abortion and she can’t come up with the money to pay for the abortion on her own. Christa’s also afraid to take time off from her job as an Assistant Professor because she is relatively new and doesn’t know what that will do to her career. She never considers what a 3rd child will do to her career.
When all is said and done, having an abortion in West Virginia is just too inconvenient and Christa simply doesn’t have the access or the money. By default, she is forced to have the baby. This part of the book is also shocking…we’re in 2015!!
In the midst of Christa’s pregnancy, Tony leaves for yet another Hollywood job that never gets off the ground and is MIA during the entire 8th month of her pregnancy, which happens to be the hardest for Christa, medically and physically. Oddly, it is never addressed how Tony has money for airfare and living expenses in California, when Christa couldn’t afford a 2-day stay at a hotel [to recover before driving 100 miles back to her home] next to the closest abortion clinic in her state.
This book was fascinating to read in the most disturbing way…it’s like watching a traffic accident unfold. 5 stars and highly recommend.
I microwave an unidentified meal that I froze two months ago and have it for dinner. It’s so cold and windy, I’m going to pass on taking the dog for a walk today.
5:00-6:00- Kitchen duty and I ready my coffee for tomorrow. I also pack my lunch bag and make overnight oats.
-L. returns from work and T. arrives shortly thereafter…then they both leave because L. is spending the night at T.’s house.
6:00-9:00 – Blog posts
9:00-12:00 – I upload blog posts while listening to my own Audio lectures – double speed – for Chapters 5, 6, and 7 of my Core Class. I take notes where the content needs to be cut so I can tell L.
-While I’m listening to my Audio lectures, I go through my 2-drawer filing cabinet [built into my desk] and 3-hole punch papers and invoices for my “Home Binder” in accordance with The Paper Solution book that I recently read.
-I return to my Core Class and review the corresponding slides to make sure the material is still current. L. needs to update a couple slides.
-I record two PSAs and download to the Canvas shell.
12:00-12:45 – I lay out my cycling clothes for tomorrow then start my nighttime routine. I set my alarm for 6:00. Bed.