Well, what do you know? It’s April and the whole planet is still basically in prison.
Next on my list is a number of provinces here in China have decided to open up school campuses but only for 9th and 12th grades sometime during this month. I guess that means those students and their teachers are expendable. Look, you fools. Either it’s safe for everyone or it’s not. Beijing has not announced such a thing yet, although the schools’ management (in my school’s case, my department head) contacted all teachers for those two grades to see who was actually in Beijing “to prepare for return when announced by the municipal education commission”. I guess my new career as a canary is on hold for the moment.
This one actually happened in March, but I just remembered it. I’m trying to relax a few days ago, playing a word game on my phone, and one of the answers was endemic. Not funny! (Well, yeah, I guess it is.)
When I was in the military, I was stationed in Okinawa which is across the date line from the US. Before I got on the plane to come back to the states, I bought a newspaper. After I landed, I got several hours of entertainment by showing off a copy of “tomorrow’s” newspaper.
Our Chewie auto-order was due to be delivered on Thursday. It looks like it will be delivered on Saturday instead. No critters will starve, but we do need more chew toys, so this is a valid April mini-rant.
I’ve been drinking International Foods Cafe Francais “coffee drink” in the morning for years. Yeah, I’m no coffee snob. My local grocery quit carrying it last year and Target is the only place that has it. I usually buy 6 or 7 cans at a time since I’m not a big Target shopper. I was running low and didn’t want to go in person to Target so I ordered 8 cans online about 2 weeks ago. It was supposed to arrive tomorrow but I got an email today that the order has been delayed. I’m on the last can. :eek:
April’s already off to a lovely start, with my bathroom ceiling raining and maintenance unwilling to come in for fear of contagion. I’ll be lucky to HAVE a bathroom ceiling by the time things calm down.
My Grumpy Cat calendar is going to be particularly apt this year. April’s page (picture of the Grumpy One in a basket of colored eggs) has a caption reading, “Spring is here…I’ll be inside.”
Some idiot running a site here called “InternsinBeijing” decided it would be funny to send out a news announcement saying that foreigners are no longer permitted to work in China until the corona virus pandemic is over. Of course he linked to the actual offfical government announcement that China is not pernitting foreigners to enter China at the time, not that foreigners are out of a job. The idiot did this as an April Fool’s Day joke. He’s probably going to find out how humorous the government finds his stunt. It’s probably safe to say that for one person, his “joke” might come true.
Life’s good. Got tech training paid for by a big multi-national tech firm that then hired me. Was on bench, collecting a paycheck for months without doing anything more than monitoring my email and the occasional phone interview. Health benefits kicked in on day one. They are important, but Ms. Hell is doing well now, no hospitalizations for over a year and no sign of cancer over two years post-chemo. Hellboy has found his stride in high school and making good grades. Finally I get an assignment and am working, learning new tech skills (greatly mitigating my anxiety about being told “nevermind” about the job). Also working from home, so I don’t have to commute or wear uncomfortable clothes. Even have a regular D&D game playing online with some great folks every Saturday. Life’s not been this good . . . shit, for me, EVER!
And there’s a pandemic. A literal plague that looms an order of magnitude or more greater than the tragedy of 9/11. I can’t even share the fact that I survived the Hellish last 20 years because now everybody is suffering. I even feel guilty because our client is a goddamned pharmacy. One of the VERY few industries likely to come out of this ahead. I couldn’t think of a more safe, stable, position to be in if I tried.
I’m only 50 and feel the same. With the gym closed and my fridge ever so close, I’ve been making a point of getting out and taking long, speedy walks every evening. With the nasty weather front moving into Minnesota today, my rhumatizz started poking at me last night. Managed a mile, before hobbling home. Stupid arthritic knee.
My city has a general junk out once a year. Put your broken down, unused crap at the curb and it will be picked up. My neighborhood’s pick up is tomorrow, but people have been dragging stuff out since Monday. Which has lead to a huge influx of junk pickers.
So, not only are people having to dodge each other on the crowded sidewalks, those who walk in the (usually quiet) streets are having to dodge loonies not paying attention to anything but what they can score from other people’s refuse. I appreciate they are taking possible usable things, keeping stuff out of landfills, but damn.
It’s currently -2F in my neck of the woods right now, and I’ve got over a foot of snow in the back yard. It’s supposed to snow, off and on, for the next four days. I’ve barely gotten out of the house at all in the past week- I didn’t even step outside yesterday. Luckily, I’ve got a lot to entertain me here in the house, and a pretty good home gym set up.
Wait 11 years, until you’re my age. I can’t be on my feet more than a few minutes at a time, then the back pain makes it necessary to sit down and rest. When I go food shopping I have to use the shopping cart as a walker.