COVID-19 Test: Up my nose with a very long Q-Tip! The health worker who tested me had gotten so good at the process that, when she experienced some difficulty breaching my right nostril, she had another swab up my left and out before I even knew what was going on. I swear I saw her grin just before we drove away.
Stephens virtual class: I love this Zoom stuff! (I have a history in my teaching career of loving stuff I start out hating or vociferously arguing against. I’m not very smart.)
First-ever absentee ballot: 100% success. Thanks, fellow voters, for supporting the school bond in these tough times.
Louise Erdrich’s The Night Watchman: Even the acknowledgments choked me up a bit; on other fronts, it includes some of the sweetest and wittiest discussions about and depictions of sex I’ve ever read, and I now know “boogid” is Chippewa slang for “fart” (there’s a female character who always boogids immediately after eating a hard-boiled egg).
Neighborhood: Nicole and I read and enjoyed a cocktail on our front porch without all hell breaking loose in our vicinity.
Streaming for Shut-Ins:
The warm twang of this great Floridian graces a brand new and very solid album, but I always turn in this direction when I “need” him.
Every Zoom class is weird in a different way. Most of my students showed up, but they were all sans video–understandable, as it’s an 8 a.m. class (I was looking a bit grizzled myself). I checked to see if they could hear me; they ALL used the chat function to affirm. I asked if they were doing ok, if they had any questions about the research paper they’re writing, if they had anything interesting to report. Five count. Nothing. So I proceeded with a stimulating discussion of (drum roll!) MLA style, pausing every five minutes to check for comprehension–and to check the participants. They remained “in the Zoom room” for the whole mini-lecture, but other than affirming again later that they could indeed hear me, they made no comment. I wished them well and encouraged them to reach out anytime for help, waited a five count, then said goodbye. Ghostly.
Nicole made 52 peanut butter cookies yesterday. She said she made 52, that is–I counted them myself and there were only 44. In other food news, is there anything wrong with having a grilled cheese sandwich every day? I don’t think so. Has anyone tried putting pickle relish on one? I have done it thrice (Wickle’s Wicked Relish, of course) and I believe it’s for real.
My project was hammering back in some wayward nails on the back deck. I know: I need to raise my game when it comes to projects. I also applied five new bumper stickers to my pickup and ran some old electronics out to recycling, only to find the place was closed. I hadn’t driven for about three weeks, so it felt good to get out, though I discovered there’s no exit south onto Rangeline off of 63 if you’re heading north from the Paris Road exit. (This is more gripping than an MLA citation style mini-lecture.)
I unfortunately had to experience a clip from yesterday’s briefing. Every day a new low. My music-proxy response?
The Overeem Farewell Tour: Dispatches from the Public School Trenches 