Hot and Busy
Ugh, it's been disgustingly hazy hot and humid lately, with no end in sight. I mean, I've had worse, but that doesn't make it fun. Thank God for central air conditioning.
Spent another four hours weeding and picking things out of my veggie garden on Sunday morning; I had to get up at 6a in order to get it done before it got too meltingly hot. Really should have gone out to pick things today but I didn't get to it - the day was just too crazy-busy: weekly shopping trip, a run, phone call with our financial adviser, then an entire afternoon in the kitchen helping MiniPlu make an apple pie as part of her promposal to her bf (friend hosting a small at-home prom on Friday), then making the most amazing zucchini bread from one of the baseball bats I picked a week ago, and then going straight from that to making dinner. After dinner I had TKD class (more on that in a minute), walked the dog (still ungodly putrid out, even at 8:30p) and by then it was dark - too late to pick stuff. My zucchini plants are dying but I've got green and purple beans, pea pods, about a bazillion cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers and prolific amounts of herbs to keep up with. Plus smaller amounts of corn - the avalanche is coming, but not quite yet - broccoli, lettuce and I'm watching peppers and larger tomatoes ripen.
And YES! I've been able to go back to TKD class! How? Well, when the school first reopened their doors at the end of June, I texted Mrs. K to ask if there was ANY way they might be able to stream class, or record some classes, or something, for those of us who weren't ready to sweat in an enclosed space with 12-20 other people, even with social distancing. (Currently one of the schools is holding class outside, but even still - that's a lot of huffing and puffing that I'd rather not do around other people, especially as masks are voluntary. Plus, did I mention it's really hot?) Finally, last week she and Master K asked if I would serve as their Guinea pig for a trial run with Google Meet. (They let me attend that class for free, in exchange for helping them out, which was a nice bonus.) Basically, they've set up someone's cell phone on a tripod at the front corner of the dojong, positioned so I can see Master K in profile, plus most of the first row and one or two people in the second row, and are using Google Meet to stream the lesson. Plus side: I get a proper workout, and get back into training. And no one can see how rusty I am, lol. I'm working out in the partially-finished "teen nook" so I can hook my laptop to the TV and have a much bigger screen to watch. Downside: That section of the basement is carpeted, and absolutely nowhere in the house is there truly enough room. I can't ask questions in real time, and I have no way to have my technique critiqued. I can ask questions in chat, and during break and after class, someone comes to see if there's any questions and passes them on to Master K, so questions CAN be addressed, just not in the moment. The first class I did was also one involving some mental gymnastics and that was harder to follow online - like, I understood the directions but it was harder for my brain to latch on to what it should be doing, without it happening live right in front of me. But still - it's definitely better than nothing and I don't have to drive 1:30-1:45 each way. I've signed up for 2x/weekly lessons (instead of driving to PA once a week) so my tuition has gone up a bit, but it's very much worth it to me.
I miss those people so damn much. Everyone in my line of sight is someone I know, and I dearly wish I could say hello to them.
Gem has been safely home for a whole week now. We had her checked out by our vet the day after her return, and she SEEMS ok - eating and drinking, no scars or other damage. The vet said it was unlikely that, after just 4 days, she picked up anything nasty, but as a precaution, we're keeping her isolated in the "pool room" (so named because the pool table is in here - as well as my sewing stuff, and it also serves as random extra storage). It has glass French doors so Gem can look at us and we can see her, and it also has several windows she can look out of. We make it a point to come in several times a day to pet and scritch her - in fact, I'm sitting on the floor now, typing and scritching our little black cat. (I even took a short nap on the floor with her one day - she let me literally hold her paw, and went to sleep herself. It was adorable.)
She can't be tested for feline leukemia and other things for a couple of weeks - apparently those things don't show up right away - so she's in here until at least Aug 10-13ish (test is the 10th; the 13th will mark 30 days of quarantine). On the one hand, I'm sure she's not that thrilled to be stuck here. On the other hand, the two cats who like to bully her can't get to her, and she LOVES that. (And yes, they still try to stare at her through the glass door.) She also got one of those behind-the-neck flea/tick treatments, just in case. But otherwise, she seems fine, and has settled back into being at home. Still so SO thankful this story had a happy ending.
MiniPlu will be away at college in less than a month. Freshmen move-in dates are Aug 18 and 20; we don't know yet which she will get, but I'm hoping it's the 20th so she has less time to sit around and be homesick before school starts. Students will only get a 2-hour move-in window (and then parents must depart immediately), and MiniPlu is NOT happy that we won't be able to stay longer and help her get set up and settled. She registered for classes yesterday - and was EXTREMELY lucky to have been assigned an early registration slot. Reg opened at 8a (EDT), and her assigned time was 8:18a. She was in and out of the registration process in literally less than a minute. Apparently tons of kids with later slots found most or all of their classes to be full, with a lot of frustration. MiniPlu herself had had some panic over the weekend, trying to find classes that worked around her already-assigned Freshman Seminar, but she did eventually find some.
MiniPlu also got her dorm assignment today. She has a room that's supposed to be a double, so it has more than the usual amount of floor space: 252 sq ft/23.4 sq meters. I just looked up the square footage of my previous dorm rooms (that not having been readily available when I was there) and MiniPlu's is definitely bigger! My rooms were all perfectly decent sizes, at 140-150ish sq ft/13-13.9 sq m, so it's hard to imagine her swanning around in such a big room by herself. Not sure if they'll leave all the duplicate furniture (for the non-existent roomie) or not. Her dorm is at one end of campus, so hiking to the dining hall will be a pain, especially in bad weather, but once the gym opens, she'll be REALLY close to that, and also close to the social-science building, so that's ok. And she's not far from the library. It's not the nicest dorm but it's not the worst, either, so I think it'll be ok.
We've started stocking up on stuff she'll need/want - a dorm fridge, stuff for a first-aid/basic medication kit, toiletries, laundry soap, etc. I have absolutely NO idea how we're going to get her stuff up there, though. Ship it? Rent an SUV? (MiniPlu has my old Subaru Forester, which might have worked ok but it's old and no longer trustworthy for long car trips. Will's car has a lot of trunk/boot space, but it's not as flexible for bulkier items (like the fridge). Any suggestions?
I mentioned the friend hosting a mini Prom at her house on Friday. It'll be just about the same people from MiniPlu's party (the same 8 guests, plus MiniPlu and the host girl's bf). They all agreed to do promposals for each other (even the single girls) so nobody would feel left out. MiniPlu's bf did a scavenger hunt, requiring MiniPlu to drive to various friends' homes, to get the next clue to get to the next friend's house, before finally ending up back here. The boy showed up about 15-20 mins early, being unsure how long it would take MiniPlu to finish, so I sat on my front walk while he sat 8 feet away on my porch, and chatted with him a bit until she got back. In return, MiniPlu baked his favorite pie (apple) and then, as a joke, made a poster that said "Would you be my sweetie pie (she drew a pie here) and go to prom with me?" Except they NEVER call each other sweet pet names, ever, so she'd crossed out "sweetie pie" and written "homie" under it instead, lol. They're having another one of their socially-distant outdoor group hangouts tomorrow, so she'll bring the pie and poster to that.
Books: I recently finished reading Becoming Nicole aloud to Two, about the trans activist/Supergirl actress Nicole Maines. (Apparently she used to be an Aranu'tiq camper, which is pretty cool, too.) Two loves the Supergirl show and, of course, he loves that there's a trans actress on there, so he enjoyed learning about her story. I kind of skimmed some of the heavy-duty science stuff, in the middle, but otherwise, it was good. (Turns out Nicole and her identical twin brother are adopted, which I didn't know, either.)
Currently reading aloud Stay Gold a YA romance novel involving a trans guy and a cis girl. So far, it's been great - funny and also real-feeling. We're about halfway through so we'll see how the rest goes.
I also read lanai's second book in her romance trilogy, Worth the Wait. Another sweet story, following the same two characters from the first book as they navigate the first few years of their marriage and some of the bumps that happened in their lives along the way.
Currently reading The Scottish Boy - the de-Stucky'd version of an absolutely awesome Big Bang fic I read 3 years ago. The author pulled it, de-fandomed it, and got it published. Even though I've technically read this story (twice), I'm loving reading it again, with the little tweaks she's made to it. If anyone wants a m/m historical story set in 14th-century England, with well-researched period and historical details, I HIGHLY recommend it. (Note: there IS graphic m/m sex at various points - I know that's not everyone's cup of tea.) Anyway, I bought my copy through the crowd-funded Unbound publisher, but it's also on Amazon in Kindle form now, and will be in paper form next week: The Scottish Boy by Alex de Campi.
And, ugh, how did it get this late? Again?? Sigh. Off to bed to sleep and try not to think about how living in the USA right now is like watching a slow-motion train wreck you can do nothing about. >_
Spent another four hours weeding and picking things out of my veggie garden on Sunday morning; I had to get up at 6a in order to get it done before it got too meltingly hot. Really should have gone out to pick things today but I didn't get to it - the day was just too crazy-busy: weekly shopping trip, a run, phone call with our financial adviser, then an entire afternoon in the kitchen helping MiniPlu make an apple pie as part of her promposal to her bf (friend hosting a small at-home prom on Friday), then making the most amazing zucchini bread from one of the baseball bats I picked a week ago, and then going straight from that to making dinner. After dinner I had TKD class (more on that in a minute), walked the dog (still ungodly putrid out, even at 8:30p) and by then it was dark - too late to pick stuff. My zucchini plants are dying but I've got green and purple beans, pea pods, about a bazillion cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers and prolific amounts of herbs to keep up with. Plus smaller amounts of corn - the avalanche is coming, but not quite yet - broccoli, lettuce and I'm watching peppers and larger tomatoes ripen.
And YES! I've been able to go back to TKD class! How? Well, when the school first reopened their doors at the end of June, I texted Mrs. K to ask if there was ANY way they might be able to stream class, or record some classes, or something, for those of us who weren't ready to sweat in an enclosed space with 12-20 other people, even with social distancing. (Currently one of the schools is holding class outside, but even still - that's a lot of huffing and puffing that I'd rather not do around other people, especially as masks are voluntary. Plus, did I mention it's really hot?) Finally, last week she and Master K asked if I would serve as their Guinea pig for a trial run with Google Meet. (They let me attend that class for free, in exchange for helping them out, which was a nice bonus.) Basically, they've set up someone's cell phone on a tripod at the front corner of the dojong, positioned so I can see Master K in profile, plus most of the first row and one or two people in the second row, and are using Google Meet to stream the lesson. Plus side: I get a proper workout, and get back into training. And no one can see how rusty I am, lol. I'm working out in the partially-finished "teen nook" so I can hook my laptop to the TV and have a much bigger screen to watch. Downside: That section of the basement is carpeted, and absolutely nowhere in the house is there truly enough room. I can't ask questions in real time, and I have no way to have my technique critiqued. I can ask questions in chat, and during break and after class, someone comes to see if there's any questions and passes them on to Master K, so questions CAN be addressed, just not in the moment. The first class I did was also one involving some mental gymnastics and that was harder to follow online - like, I understood the directions but it was harder for my brain to latch on to what it should be doing, without it happening live right in front of me. But still - it's definitely better than nothing and I don't have to drive 1:30-1:45 each way. I've signed up for 2x/weekly lessons (instead of driving to PA once a week) so my tuition has gone up a bit, but it's very much worth it to me.
I miss those people so damn much. Everyone in my line of sight is someone I know, and I dearly wish I could say hello to them.
Gem has been safely home for a whole week now. We had her checked out by our vet the day after her return, and she SEEMS ok - eating and drinking, no scars or other damage. The vet said it was unlikely that, after just 4 days, she picked up anything nasty, but as a precaution, we're keeping her isolated in the "pool room" (so named because the pool table is in here - as well as my sewing stuff, and it also serves as random extra storage). It has glass French doors so Gem can look at us and we can see her, and it also has several windows she can look out of. We make it a point to come in several times a day to pet and scritch her - in fact, I'm sitting on the floor now, typing and scritching our little black cat. (I even took a short nap on the floor with her one day - she let me literally hold her paw, and went to sleep herself. It was adorable.)
She can't be tested for feline leukemia and other things for a couple of weeks - apparently those things don't show up right away - so she's in here until at least Aug 10-13ish (test is the 10th; the 13th will mark 30 days of quarantine). On the one hand, I'm sure she's not that thrilled to be stuck here. On the other hand, the two cats who like to bully her can't get to her, and she LOVES that. (And yes, they still try to stare at her through the glass door.) She also got one of those behind-the-neck flea/tick treatments, just in case. But otherwise, she seems fine, and has settled back into being at home. Still so SO thankful this story had a happy ending.
MiniPlu will be away at college in less than a month. Freshmen move-in dates are Aug 18 and 20; we don't know yet which she will get, but I'm hoping it's the 20th so she has less time to sit around and be homesick before school starts. Students will only get a 2-hour move-in window (and then parents must depart immediately), and MiniPlu is NOT happy that we won't be able to stay longer and help her get set up and settled. She registered for classes yesterday - and was EXTREMELY lucky to have been assigned an early registration slot. Reg opened at 8a (EDT), and her assigned time was 8:18a. She was in and out of the registration process in literally less than a minute. Apparently tons of kids with later slots found most or all of their classes to be full, with a lot of frustration. MiniPlu herself had had some panic over the weekend, trying to find classes that worked around her already-assigned Freshman Seminar, but she did eventually find some.
MiniPlu also got her dorm assignment today. She has a room that's supposed to be a double, so it has more than the usual amount of floor space: 252 sq ft/23.4 sq meters. I just looked up the square footage of my previous dorm rooms (that not having been readily available when I was there) and MiniPlu's is definitely bigger! My rooms were all perfectly decent sizes, at 140-150ish sq ft/13-13.9 sq m, so it's hard to imagine her swanning around in such a big room by herself. Not sure if they'll leave all the duplicate furniture (for the non-existent roomie) or not. Her dorm is at one end of campus, so hiking to the dining hall will be a pain, especially in bad weather, but once the gym opens, she'll be REALLY close to that, and also close to the social-science building, so that's ok. And she's not far from the library. It's not the nicest dorm but it's not the worst, either, so I think it'll be ok.
We've started stocking up on stuff she'll need/want - a dorm fridge, stuff for a first-aid/basic medication kit, toiletries, laundry soap, etc. I have absolutely NO idea how we're going to get her stuff up there, though. Ship it? Rent an SUV? (MiniPlu has my old Subaru Forester, which might have worked ok but it's old and no longer trustworthy for long car trips. Will's car has a lot of trunk/boot space, but it's not as flexible for bulkier items (like the fridge). Any suggestions?
I mentioned the friend hosting a mini Prom at her house on Friday. It'll be just about the same people from MiniPlu's party (the same 8 guests, plus MiniPlu and the host girl's bf). They all agreed to do promposals for each other (even the single girls) so nobody would feel left out. MiniPlu's bf did a scavenger hunt, requiring MiniPlu to drive to various friends' homes, to get the next clue to get to the next friend's house, before finally ending up back here. The boy showed up about 15-20 mins early, being unsure how long it would take MiniPlu to finish, so I sat on my front walk while he sat 8 feet away on my porch, and chatted with him a bit until she got back. In return, MiniPlu baked his favorite pie (apple) and then, as a joke, made a poster that said "Would you be my sweetie pie (she drew a pie here) and go to prom with me?" Except they NEVER call each other sweet pet names, ever, so she'd crossed out "sweetie pie" and written "homie" under it instead, lol. They're having another one of their socially-distant outdoor group hangouts tomorrow, so she'll bring the pie and poster to that.
Books: I recently finished reading Becoming Nicole aloud to Two, about the trans activist/Supergirl actress Nicole Maines. (Apparently she used to be an Aranu'tiq camper, which is pretty cool, too.) Two loves the Supergirl show and, of course, he loves that there's a trans actress on there, so he enjoyed learning about her story. I kind of skimmed some of the heavy-duty science stuff, in the middle, but otherwise, it was good. (Turns out Nicole and her identical twin brother are adopted, which I didn't know, either.)
Currently reading aloud Stay Gold a YA romance novel involving a trans guy and a cis girl. So far, it's been great - funny and also real-feeling. We're about halfway through so we'll see how the rest goes.
I also read lanai's second book in her romance trilogy, Worth the Wait. Another sweet story, following the same two characters from the first book as they navigate the first few years of their marriage and some of the bumps that happened in their lives along the way.
Currently reading The Scottish Boy - the de-Stucky'd version of an absolutely awesome Big Bang fic I read 3 years ago. The author pulled it, de-fandomed it, and got it published. Even though I've technically read this story (twice), I'm loving reading it again, with the little tweaks she's made to it. If anyone wants a m/m historical story set in 14th-century England, with well-researched period and historical details, I HIGHLY recommend it. (Note: there IS graphic m/m sex at various points - I know that's not everyone's cup of tea.) Anyway, I bought my copy through the crowd-funded Unbound publisher, but it's also on Amazon in Kindle form now, and will be in paper form next week: The Scottish Boy by Alex de Campi.
And, ugh, how did it get this late? Again?? Sigh. Off to bed to sleep and try not to think about how living in the USA right now is like watching a slow-motion train wreck you can do nothing about. >_