Thursday, July 23, 2020

Note to self

Hello! Came here looking for an old post my mother wanted the link to, so she could show it to someone at work. Decided to poke around, and found this in my drafts. Might as well publish it, 'cause it's still true, and I may very well need the reminder.

Originally written in November of 2016:

So, in case I forget in a few years, and anyone hears me wonder aloud whether I should try contact lenses again, and why I stopped wearing them in the first place, please:

1) Give me a slap upside the head.
2) Point me to this post.
3) Make me read the following explanation:

It's because I can't see in them! No, it's not that I got lazy and decided to just wear my glasses full time. It's because I got tired of settling for sub-par vision. Peripheral vision is great and all that, and it's lovely to not have a colored frame around your field of vision, but what the hell use is it if it bloody fades in and out? If it gets cloudy for no reason? If suddenly, after hours of OK vision in front of the computer, your eyes refuse to focus on the frickin' clock across the room, or road signs, or the head-sign of a bus (thank heavens the buses talk now, or I would've accidentally wound up in another town)? Oy.


Ahem. Seems I was a little irritated, there.

And now, back to 2020.

So how the heck is everyone? I hope you are all well. I am currently working from home (which I have dubbed the Hermitage) while helping my department cautiously plan a phased return to work. I will not be one of the folks returning right away. I can still get plenty done from home, and I am not thrilled with the idea of going back to campus as we receive an influx of people from all over the world. I don't care if we'll all be masked, I am still very nervous. So I'm waiting this out and gonna watch what happens.

My family is fine. No one has gotten sick yet (knock wood). My parents' county only had a couple of cases so far, and that was early on. My sister is working remotely, my brother-in-law's job is considered essential (he works at a lab for a pharmaceutical company), and they have all sorts of protections in place. I haven't seen much of anyone in a long time, except for occasional trips out into The World when I just want to be near(ish) to people. I'm getting groceries delivered and I have to tell you, I may never go back to doing it the other way, except maybe for specific produce needs. It's so nice to get it all done at once and not have to worry about whether I'll be able to schlepp it all home on the bus. I have pulled all the flowers out of my front patch and am growing tomatoes, cucumbers, and herbs instead -- except for two Asiatic lilies that I decided to leave where they were because a) they're established; b) they don't take up much room; and c) they're pretty. Also? They smell good.

When not working, I've been embroidering and knitting. I just started a knit-along project by Romi Hill that will hopefully end in a nice bi-color shawl made out of bamboo yarn. She's been doing weekly classes online to explain and demonstrate the various parts of the pattern, and to answer questions. People are signed up from all over. There's at least one person from Canberra in the class.

Sophie's fine. She transitioned to The Two-Legs Staying Home All the Time just fine. I think to her it's like a Christmas vacation that just hasn't ended yet. Some folks on Twitter and Instragram have posted videos of their cats being very annoyed at all the people being around all the time. I think there's at least one person I follow whose cat has decided to live in the basement until things go back to normal.

All right, I should probably get back to work. I will probably post again soon, because it's not like I don't have the time, right? 

Again, hope you're all well.

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