Hints on how A.E. Graves spends her imaginary spare time
Here’s another modest-but-fun pen in my collection, with matching velvety ink. I’ve been surprised at how many shades of gray ink are available, especially since some are so subtle and pale that I’m unsure how they can be used…
My handwriting with this style of pen is nicer when it is not hurried, but all of this year I’ve felt like I have so much to write and so little time that I can’t slow down…
While I’ve fallen behind in my posts here and at my fine art photo blog, I have been posting images semi-regularly to mobilelene.blogspot.com, my smartphone photo blog.
Yes, you may question the wisdom of trying to maintain three blogs. (I mean, who does that?) Just… roll with it, please.
I’ll periodically cross-post new content from those sites here, just to add variety to my book talk.
Yes, it is outrageous. Yes, it is good practice. Yes, I’ve been at it so long that they keep updating the lessons AROUND me.
This year I spent time on Hawaiian, and then switched back to German. I miss Japanese, but fear that I forgot all the kanji already. I’m not cool enough for French and Spanish this year, though I’m happy that I found my notebook with Spanish and Japanese notes. (They… are not similar!)
Yes, I’m a paying member, so I was able to buy a “streak freeze” on the few days I couldn’t get to my lessons before midnight. But STILL. I’m… persistent! The owl (die Eule) mascot, Duo, is momentarily appeased.
You know what helps make it easier to get out of a warm, cozy bed in the morning?
Knowing that you baked a pie the previous night.
Just knowing that there is a freshly baked pumpkin pie somewhere in the house (well, in the fridge), waiting for the right moment to join a meal or coffee, is so ENCOURAGING.
(My recipe for a high protein, vegan pumpkin pie here.)
For someone with a very steady and predictable blogging habit, it’s exotic for me to START posting for the year in December. But… it has been quite a year.
In brief: a death in my immediate family, an enterprise-wide technology project, an underperforming vendor whose work I took on, an incompletely staffed team, a previously unenforced building code, a potentially broken bone, an immediate family hospitalization, a death in my partner’s family, countless COVID tests, and other events inflated 2023 beyond a year’s natural dimensions. It has been… an experience which would make for low-quality television, though there have been numerous comedic side quests which could be garishly animated to break the tension.
I still have books to write about, of course. I don’t plan to write often about coffee: though I enjoy my precious French press brews often, I don’t want to write about my local coffee suppliers in a commercial-feeling way, despite recent internet trends (which I’ll write about eventually). But there are plenty of books, and even Korean comics (!), to fill any perceived gaps.
So, I’ll get back to it.
So, I haven’t posted in a very long time, and… so much has happened that I can’t summarize it all today!
The highlights: I emptied my home of 20 years, moved to a neighborhood where all the little dogs have their own outfits, had a major structural retrofit start at my house, covered the work of multiple open roles at my job, photographed an amazing series of sunsets, spent a lot of time enjoying holiday lights, and caught COVID.
The books I was in the process of reading are all in storage, and most of my ordinary habits have been very much disrupted. I’ll get back to them, but I’ve been living in an interim (liminal?) state for months.
I’ll get back to myself and start posting again. In the meantime, best wishes for a healthy and happy 2023.
I’m here! I really am! I’m just… adjusting to a new schedule, commute, job, and all that stuff.
I read a stack of books before work started, but haven’t yet stayed awake long enough to write about them.
I did keep up my Duolingo practice, at least!
I’m quiet, but things are good. I’ll write more… soonish.
I was hoping to post a pandemic living update AFTER the omicron peak was far behind us, but the peak isn’t happening everywhere at the same time. While there is a lot of chatter about how the infections can be less serious with the omicron variant of COVID-19, they are still serious for too many people: the US is still losing more than 2,200 people to COVID EVERY DAY.
But: a downturn in local new case numbers after an alarming spike is still somewhat encouraging, and we’ll take encouragement where we can get it.
As noted in an earlier post, there aren’t many restrictions that affect me, as a fully vaccinated and boosted person here in San Francisco. I now have some fashionable and very comfortable FFP2 masks (a European variation of a good mask standard) for transit and indoor public places, and can largely go anywhere and do anything. Outdoor dining has been delightful recently.
The bigger things I’m not doing – like flying on airplanes to visit other regions – relate to my risk tolerance. Why go to locations with poor health figures (indicated by low masking/vaccine rates), dangerously full hospitals, and/or unusually high case numbers? No one is preventing me from going, but regions that are struggling (or which are actively opposed to infection prevention politically) are unlikely to be both comfortable and fun.
(There are still countries that are restricting non-essential travel, and I don’t blame them – the US did the same thing! Some are much safer to travel within than the U.S., but that’s also why they are closed to Americans right now.)
A friend in [a European country] who had COVID in 2020 said they are tired of COVID restrictions, but… they’ve been under so few meaningful restrictions over the duration of this pandemic that I’m wondering if they are just saying that to be polite. (Currently: restaurants there must have guests depart before 11pm, and there are limits on group sizes of 8 for dinner, 50 for other events… how would this even be noticeable?) Another friend in their country just got COVID this month, and so may view it differently, but it may be too soon to ask.
I’m just excited that ZERO friends have announced new COVID infections in the past two weeks! That bodes well.
I visited an office that requires masking and vaccine boosters (YES!), and was quite comfortable. It was novel and vaguely pleasant to be in an office and around other people in a place with a safety culture! I… could get used to that.
The sky is blue, the sun is low, and my home state is not on fire: it is a lovely day.
I’ve run my errands for the day, filled with the confidence that a well-fitting KF94 mask provides. The KF94s from Korea are new for me: I had been wearing lighter and lighter fabric masks (with/out layering as situations required) as the pandemic dragged on and our local risks sunk ever lower (high vaccination rates, low case numbers). The new omicron variant is more contagious, however, so we’ve been advised to step up our protection standards. KF95 is one of the recommended standards, and the masks I am wearing are quite comfortable, and hold their shape well around my face. I appreciate their stiffness in the right place, so the material doesn’t rest on my nostrils or mouth, even while wet.
Since I last wrote about the COVID 19 pandemic, the remarkable achievements of vaccine development and (uneven) global rollout have been overshadowed by more contagious variants, continued political opposition to infection prevention, and more contagious variants.
The U.S. has maintained its place as the country with the highest number of cases and deaths. I feel lucky to live in a city with great mutual respect and care, where most people are vaccinated, and most people wear masks indoors willingly. If more of the US was like this, I would have gotten on planes and traveled for fun, at least before omicron…
A friend in another region asked me how I’m managing, and I told her that the situation continues to improve: thanks to masking and air filtration, I get out of the house regularly, ride trains and streetcars, eat in (non-crowded) restaurants where vaccine confirmation is required (YES!), have visited several museums, and have even seen a few movies in movie theaters. A comfy mask makes many fun activities possible!
Four people in my long-distance social circle currently have COVID, and at least four relatives on the East Coast contracted COVID in December. Determination to celebrate the holidays with larger numbers of people with unknown habits comes at a cost! One friend wanted to host as safely as possible, and required negative tests to attend her 12+ person event: two of the negative-testing-guests turned positive on NYE morning, and had exposed other guests unknowingly, so even those precautions weren’t enough. Another friend had just three people over (such a reasonable number!) on NYE, and she still wound up with COVID, along with all of her guests.
This is a great time NOT to see your friends! 😀 (All my pals who postponed our planned meetings over the past two months have won my automatic forgiveness.)
Sign up for a phone exposure notification system! While on my first pandemic-era, out of state trip last month, I received a notification from MassNotify (the Massachusetts version of CA Notify, which my phone asked for my consent to participate in) that I was near someone on December 20th for the threshold exposure time who subsequently tested positive for COVID. While I had no symptoms and had already home tested (negative) as a precaution, I still appreciate the alert AND the instructions on what to do. This is a clever tool, and we should all use it!
I usually post a link to some data, so I’ll share the Year In Review from Johns Hopkins:
Right now: despite the new variant of the moment, I’m optimistic. We should have high quality masks distributed to us by health authorities, and access to home tests should be easy and cheap – we need progress in those areas! The fact that masks work, that vaccination numbers continue to rise, that good cleaning practices are in place at businesses, and that new businesses are opening up now are all encouraging. We need that encouragement! (I know I really needed it.)
