In my efforts to use up stuff in my beauty unguent collection, I managed to kill two bottles/tubs and one is probably going into the bin tomorrow, so I take that as a win.
Last night my prediction about skipping dinner came to fruition — I ended up nomming on chips and queso dip, supplemented by tater tots, so I take that as Not A Win.
Another successful night for The Potato off bed, and Avi also slept on the couch again (maybe she thinks dogs are no longer welcome on the bed?) so it looks like we have tentatively hit a plateau. I’m sure there will be another regression at some point, but for now, we’re going to keep on this track.
Today is mostly a catch up day. For the first time in three weeks I don’t have a one on one with a student scheduled, which I’m sure will just mean that next week I’m going to be slammed with student requests. I spent most of the morning doing little admin stuff, finishing up on the fiction selections for my finale issue of the lit mag (I still have two more picks to go but I’m rereading everything selected so far and trying to figure out how best to tie the bow on that selection), and dealing with the frustration of formatting my dissertation. I had a meeting planned with someone on the dissertation university team but ended up missing it, thinking it was at noon, but it was actually at 11. However, she was very sweet and jumped on at 11:45 am and by virtue of sharing the screen she answered all but one of my questions within the fifteen minutes she and I both had until our next meeting. Because I also had another meeting scheduled at noon that I had kind of forgotten about (and I see why I got confused now about the time of the formatting email).
When I got on THAT meeting, people made a comment about my messy workarea, so that felt great. I guess everyone is cleaning up their workspaces except for me? Sorry, Bruce, if I am keeping my isolation REAL! (Also, more shamefully, that WAS a tidied up work space — most of the mess is out of camera range because I am a terribly messy child.)
I know that all of you are waiting with bated breath to hear about my smoothie situation: the update is that frozen chopped spinach is a win! Today I had the tastiest smoothy yet, with probably too many frozen bing cherries, a huge glop of almond butter and half a package of frozen chopped spinach — absolutely delicious. The only downside is that I will need to fiddle with the liquid component, as apparently there was more water than I thought in fresh spinach — this was so thick I had to eat it with a spoon. Had to, as though it was a hardship — it felt like eating dessert for brunch, so no real problem at all.
Esteban was having a harder day than I did, so we ordered no-contact delivery and had pizza and fries for dinner (Mmmm I will genuinely miss Naked City pizza when we leave Vegas). Then I had to prepare for my final literary reading for grad school, which involved getting ready from the sternum up and both minimal and exaggerated makeup (your coverage doesn’t have to be flawless for Zoom, but you do need a bold eye and lip). I used it as an excuse to wear a super vintage IGIGI Pucci-inspired top that I almost never wear because it rides a little high for me, but since no one sees you below the nipples on Zoom it doesn’t matter, and the portrait neckline is great for teleconferencing.
A surprising number of people turned out for the cyber reading, including lots of local authors and many of my friends from all across the land, despite the late hour in the rest of the country. I read a snippet of my novel, the same snippet I read when I opened for AM Homes this fall at the book festival.
Many of the scheduled readers weren’t there, and I blame the fact that this was a hastily assembled production with nary 48 hours warning, but it was pleasant just the same and these moments feel like maybe all is not lost and that even if we had to go on like this for years, we would rally and organize and still find glimmers in the loneliness to make connections.
Speaking of which, tomorrow is the deadline for our Dearest Confinement Friend mail exchange. Sign up before the deadline and be treated to a bevy of notecards, postcards, and other fantastic personalized touches through the good old USPS. It’s free to sign up and just costs you the postage stamps you’ll use to spread your own fellowship to people who are fighting this feeling of isolation too.
