Day 50-Governor Newsom reinstates the mask mandate in California
L. and I go to Beach Cycle today…
After Beach Cycle, L. and I have breakfast at The Butcher, Baker, and Cappuchino maker…
“Striders” group…this is the sketchy park where I walked tonight…
2/3/22. Thursday
Omicron (BA1) is on the decline. But what about variants BA2 ad BA3? Experts are saying if BA2 and BA3 were more transmissible, they would have overshadowed Omicron (BA1) by now…but does this mean we don’t have to worry about a more lethal version of Omicron? Maybe BA2 is less transmissible, but more deadly…similar to Delta, which attacked the lungs…
6:00 – 6:30 – My alarm sounds. I get up and turn my alarm off. My body hurts so I take two Advil and lie down again.
6:30-7:30 – I’m up and I go downstairs to say good morning to the animal… she doesn’t want to get up. When I put my coffee in the microwave, the dog takes the opportunity to jump off the couch and put her front legs on my legs to say hello. We go outside and I survey my yard while I wait for her to go potty. She does her business and we return inside: turkey for her and I take my coffee upstairs. Shower. I sit in the shower, rest my head against the tiles, and ice my eyes. Lotion. Cycling uniform. Light make-up.
7:30-7:40 – l. returns from T.’s house with her overnight bag and pillow, fixes her hair, then changes into cycling attire.
7:40-9:00 – L. and I drive to Santa Monica for Beach Cycle. I eat overnight oats along the way.
9:00-9:30 – We’re early so L. and I sit in the parking lot until it’s go-time
9:30-10:15 – Beach Cycle! I booked our slots with Eric, the trainer who led the first class I attended, because I knew L. would like him. L. gets on the bike and Eric arrives and starts telling us to get ready. L. smiles and says, “He’s just like N.!” Yes, I know [insert smile emoji] Recall that N. is gay and L.’s best friend.
Beach Cycle is so fun! It’s a punishing routine, but I keep up and L. holds her own. Best of all, we get to gaze at the ocean while we’re working out and inhaling the ocean air is wonderful. Beach Cycle ends and I ask L. if she had fun. L. says she can’t wait to bring N. I’m a little crushed that L. didn’t say to me, “Lets do this again!” I asked L. if it looked like I was keeping up with Eric and the Beach Cycle routine. L. told me she said to herself, “Look at Mom!”, then added that she was impressed. Very nice compliment.
10:15-10:45 – We drive to the Butcher, Baker, Cappuccino Maker (BBC) restaurant for breakfast. L. made reservations for 11:00 a couple of days ago.
11:00-12:30 – I have a mimosa and the breakfast burrito and L. has the vegan burrito.
Drama is happening at the Art Studio (L.’s employer). L.’s supervisor sent a text/email blast regarding some sort of incident that happened to L.’s co-worker, K. The details of the incident are not provided, but based on the text blast and some of her supervisor’s comments, the assumption is that K. may have been sexually assaulted at the Art Studio. There are some strange instructions from La, the supervisor, to the rest. of staff viz lengthy texts that go on and on and on. La appears unhinged.
For example, La tells the staff to keep the door locked at all times; whenever possible, do NOT be alone in the studio; La has arranged for the Sheriffs to patrol the Art Studio at night. All of this withOUT telling the staff what happened. The end result - La has effectively scared the hell out of all of her employees and nobody knows what’s going on. To make matters worse, L. tells me that the lock on the studio’s front door is broken and can only be turned with pliers.
While L. and I are at breakfast, the staff start weighing in on the group text chat and asking La what the hell is going on. Without elaborating further, La sends a picture of a man taken from the video surveillance cameras that are mounted in the studio.
Side Bar: Headquarters installed cameras in every Art Studio franchise a couple years ago. These cameras are top of the line and capture everything, ostensibly so “Quality Control” can review the feed and provide constructive criticism to the staff regarding their teaching tactics, which happens weekly, but these cameras are ultimately a surveillance system. Think about it…would you want to come to work if you knew you were being filmed for the entire 6-hour shift? This is what L. endures every day.
As former law enforcement, I should add that this video system is top of the line and one of the best I’ve seen in my career. Think back to some of the Forensic Files episodes you’ve watched or the True Crime podcasts you’ve listened to…the video quality is grainy at best and the loop is incredibly short in that the feed records over the other feed usually every 60 minutes. Most of the time, you can’t even access the video OR it wasn’t working. in the first place.
Not so with the Art Studio video feed. The footage never loops and Headquarters is able to comb through hours and hours of feed if they want to and which they actually enjoy doing. This results in work-place harassment and a general hostile working environment. In the past, Headquarters has used video footage to criticize employees for what they’re wearing; to criticize staff for spending too much time with the kids when it comes to art instruction; and to question the employee if they are outside of the camera lens for too long.
Anyway, La sends a picture of a nicely dressed, 30-something, attractive, Hispanic male, with a big smile, that she pulled from the surveillance system regarding the incident that she keeps referring to, al the while providing no details. The “perp” looks like an all-American Dad - maybe his children are enrolled at the Art Studio?
Slowly, the pieces of this stupid puzzle are starting to come together. Apparently, K. (employee) was in the Art Studio alone, around 3:00 p.m. This ‘cat’ walks in and asks for some information, then starts trying to hit on K. Unfortunately for the Hispanic male, K. is gay. She’s scared and turned off by a hetero male’s flirty persistence. After about 5 minutes, he leaves. K. is traumatized and tells La what happened, which is nothing, then takes the next two days off because PTSD.
This is the incident? The man captured by the Art Studio surveillance system looks so friendly. I label this whole mess, “Curious George Meets Bad Dad.” Seriously…this is so stupid. While all of this is going on, La texts L. and asks if she can come in 15 minutes early, without explanation. This is short notice and L. says no. We’re in Santa Monica and L. can’t spare a 15-minute buffer as she will be cutting it close just to get to work on time. We leave.
12:30-1:30 –Driving.
1:30-2:30 – Home and I read the Curated Closet; then
2:30-4:00 – I take a nap.
4:00-5:30 - In accordance with my Curated Closet project, I try on several blouses and discard.
5:30-6:00 – I have my brunch leftovers and read the Curated Closet.
6:00-6:30 – I drive to Valencia Meadows Park for my Striders walking group. Only 5 people show up tonight.
6:30-7:15 – This is a faster than usual route, encircling a somewhat sketchy park and nice residential neighborhood. The park is only semi-lit and creepy…I’m a little nervous about getting mugged, but I make it back to my car in one piece.
7:15-7:30-Drive home
7:30-8:15 – I take the dog for a walk and listen to The Political Gabfest.
8:15-9:30 – Blog post.
9:30-10:30 – It’s Thursday, which means another episode of And Just Like That dropped. My firestick isn’t working so I take some time to troubleshoot the problem, then watch the most recent episode.
10:30-12:00 – I accidentally fall asleep
12:00-1:00 – In accordance with my Curated Closet project, I take pictures of the last 5 outfits I wore.
1:00-1:45 – Nighttime routine. Bed. I listen to Chameleon: Wild Boys during my nighttime routine.