Day 9 - Mask mandate REINSTATED by LA County Dept of Health

Striders met at Stevenson Ranch tonight…

Russia invades Ukraine and they are at war. It’s such a horrible turn of events and I predict that this topic will dominate the news cycle for at least the next 30 days.  How will the alt-right create dissension now? No one gives a shit about Covid, masking, vaccines, CRT, etc. as Americans adapt to living in the shadow of WWIII and a potential nuclear war... Will the conspiracy theorists and Q-anon manufacture fake news that Ukraine is putting microchips in our gasoline in order to increase their number of You Tube followers?  Seriously…what kind of conspiracy theories will stem from this terrible invasion? There’s not really a war?  The United States’ govt. is manufacturing a war that doesn’t exist to explain the increase in gasoline right before the Midterm elections? Take a moment to think of the wackiest conspiracy theory possible…rest assured you will see it in the coming days.

 2/24/22. Thursday.

4:45-5:10 – My alarm goes off but I can’t get out of bed

5:10-6:10 – I go downstairs to get my coffee and ice.  The dog is still asleep and too tired to get up. I warm up my coffee, grab my ice, and go upstairs. Shower. I sit in the shower, drink my coffee, and ice my eyes.  I listen to The Daily. Lotion and I put on my “Sexy Librarian” attire, i.e., a long-sleeved, knee-length, turtleneck dress, covered in roses on a black background. I grab all of my bags and leave.

6:10-7:10 – Driving.  Traffic is terrible and I’m resigned to the fact that I will be in the carpool lane every Tuesday and Thursday. I listen to What a Day and What Next. I arrive at the Charter School and park in my favorite parking spot, the only spot that will ensure access to the Exit when I leave at 9:30.

7:10-7:40 - I eat my overnight oats and review my lecture notes.

7:40-8:00 – I enter the Office, take my temperature via the standing thermometer [“Temperature Normal!”], and sign in.  Then, I walk to Mr. G’s room.

8:00-9:30 – Today’s itinerary is lecture, podcast, and a podcast quiz. I work on my bullet journal while the podcast is playing.

9:30-10:45 – Driving home – traffic is horrible. I listen to Organize 365 and eat my salad on the way home.

10:45-11:00 – I bring in all of my bags and unpack everything.

11:00-11:30 – I eat the last remnants of my salad, tortilla chips, and hummus.

12:00-1:00 – I change into my yoga pants and a T-shirt and take a nap.

1:00-2:00 – In accordance with my Curated Closet project, I’ve been amassing a huge pile of clothes that I need to take to Goodwill.  However, we have a relatively new shop in town, called Runway Fashion, that L. frequents.  You can take your clothes there, staff will go through them and select items that they can sell, then give you either cash or store credit. I want L. to tell me which clothes are viable options for Runway so I place the clothes that I’m getting rid of on my bed so L. can cull through the items.

2:00-2:30 – I have a conversation with B.

-L. takes her car to Gerber Automotive for an appraisal per instructions from “Orlando”, the claims’ adjustor. Gerber appraises the damage at $2100, but Liberty Mutual will take $1000 off the top because that’s my deductible. L. stands to gain $1100 and there’s no way we’re going to fix this vehicle when we’re close to unloading it.

2:30-3:00 – I put the remaining clothes I have for Goodwill on my bed and L. quickly goes through the items pointing at clothes that Runway might take.

3:00-4:00 – I make three separate bags of approximately 20-25 items each for Runway, but L. says to dole the bags out over a period of weeks because that seems to be the secret sauce for getting the biggest refund. If I drop off ALL the bags at once, L. says I won’t make as much money.

-I put the rest of the clothes in trash bags for Goodwill.

4:00-5:15 – I grade a Socratic Seminar Draft from one of my students.

5:15-5:30 – I change into my walking uniform.

5:30-6:00 – I thaw a Xmas dinner that I previously froze and eat.

6:00-6:30 – I drive to Stevenson’s Ranch, tonight’s meeting place for my Striders walking group.

6:30-7:30 – There’s an odd number of walkers for this walk so, “Candy”, the Striders’ coordinator, proclaims that she is walking with me tonight. Candy is a retired, credentialed teacher, with an emphasis in junior-high math, who worked at a juvenile detention center (“camp”) for approximately 25 years.  After what sounds like an exemplary career, Candy was charged with child abuse after she nudged the bottom of a student’s shoe with her shoe so he would move in line with the rest of the students who were sitting cross-legged on the gym floor, waiting for an assembly to start. The student filed a complaint and because child abuse is a criminal charge, Candy was immediately removed from her position and re-routed to a small utility closet, where she made copies and did light filing until the LA County District Attorney’s Office and CPS completed their investigation, which lasted between 6-12 months.  Can we say “target”, anyone? These charges sound ridiculous…clearly somebody wanted Candy removed from her post for whatever reason. 

Candy returned to the classroom.  Less than a month later, Candy removed a piece of paper from a student that contained gang signs and graffiti, a clear violation of the rules.  The student filed a complaint, lying and alleging that Candy grabbed him by the wrists.  Once again, Candy was immediately removed and returned to the closet, where she was to remain until Investigation No. 2 was completed. This time, Candy went out on stress (paid leave).  The day before her stress leave was to run out, Candy returned to work, cleaned out her desk, and left the job for good…no retirement party, no good-byes. This happened ten years ago and she hasn’t worked since. 

Candy has been coordinating Striders for almost as long as she has been teaching [23 years], but now wants to hang it up.  She has not shared this information with the other walkers/ladies yet…apparently, I’m the only one who knows.  Until three years ago, Candy had a female Striders’ partner until she had bypass surgery and never returned.  The two would cover each other for vacations and time off, but that ended when her partner decided not to return. Candy has not technically had a day off for the past three years and would like to take a road trip across the United States with her husband [this is her 3rd husband; Candy is his 4th wife – they’ve been married for 20 years].

Her husband has his own business and is close to retiring from the “wood” business. Lumber companies sell her husband disfigured pieces of wood that can NOT be used in other industries such as home building and he, in turn, cuts it, cords it, and sells it as firewood to regular individuals. Her husband is done when the last remaining cords of wood are sold, which will likely happen soon. Candy is looking for a partner to replace her old partner so Striders will have coverage when she goes on a cross-country trek with her husband in the near future. 

I think about volunteering. If I was her partner and provided coverage for a 3-month stint, it’s likely I would take over Striders as a natural segue when Candy decides to officially leave.  But this would be a commitment for me…do I want that commitment? It’s not about the money as Candy only makes $15 an hour.  She has two, 1-hour, walking days, which equates to $30 a week, but Candy says getting paid any amount to walk-and-talk is a bonus, as these are activities that she enjoys doing. Why am I even considering this? 

The walk goes a bit long tonight and ends around 8:00.

8:00-8:30-Driving

-L. was supposed to be home at 8:00 tonight so I could file her taxes…she’s not here.

8:30-9:15 – I take the dog for a walk.

9:15-10:00 – Blog posts. I accidentally fall asleep.

12:30-1:30 – L. and I have a long conversation about how much she hates her job and the terrible working conditions. She goes to bed.

1:30-3:00 – Blog posts.

3:00-4:00-I upload the blog posts; then

-I scan the Draft assignment that I graded earlier to the student

-I email links to three podcasts to L. that we discussed previously.

4:30-5:00 – Nighttime routine. Bed.