josie

I see lock down a-comin' It's rollin' round the bend And I ain't hugged my family Since I don't know when I'm stuck in my apartment Pandemic's draggin' on But folks keep throwin' parties Pretending nothing's wrong Hope you're all keeping well. Having our first lockdown of the studio due to a positive case. Person was posting a billion pics out partying on halloween...sans mask.

... pass.

oh yes. "PC Master Race". both are insufferable, apple fanboys and PC build-it-yourself-or-you-suck folks Gamers tend to be PC. Artists tend to be Apple. Everyone else it really doesn't make a difference- just what file UI you prefer and if syncing devices is an issue.

Whatever the case... what a mess. Aaand it won't work for me past that. So I guess I'll just wait some more. Love it.

So... I don't know if the website went through some updates over the weekend but someone told me to type my address in all caps and for the first time I was able to actually see if i was eligible or not. now apparently my 2019 filing hasn't gone through yet, but they won't just mail it, no that 'd be too easy... But if you can't get through, monkey with the case sensitivity. Fantastic UI work, as always.

Goodness. I suddenly have a hankering for overpriced smoothies and skin care.

Toxic culture. Nepotism. Overreaching. Audacious to the point of failure. Bloated. Run by committee. Doomed for mediocrity. Why hire talent when you can hire relations? Because that always works out. I'm talking about my first job. And my current. And this. Why is this so prevalent? Oh yeah, because empathy and hard decisions are difficult and not within practice for many people. Because it's easier to recite corporate slogans than it is to practice humanity. Because that "vacation in Tahiti" is possible if you just squeeze a couple more lemons a liiiittle harder- there'll always be more for your unlimited lemonade. Sorry, I'm just tired of working for/seeing others work for companies where we all have 1-2 side jobs/parttimes in addition to the 8 hour full time and still can't afford a house but the bosses really want that new beach house to supplement their old one. Tale as old as time, I guess. If you need me, I'll be relaxing in quarantine on my superyacht* *pool floatie in a kiddie pool drinking a genny kolsch But hey Knowing is half the battle. This *****'s in the light now. We've all felt it. We've all had a squirmy sensation. Now it's out there, and maybe something can be done about it. Or at least we can all gnash our teeth and direct our frustrations through our keyboards, our wit as sharp as guillotines. Edit: one of my aerial students' father's is in the org. Lower rung, but been there awhile. I got excited, oh that's so cool, the mother got this uneasy look on her face and said "well, it's tough. it's a tough place to be. but yeah yeah it's totally cool". I told her I'd gotten a phone interview with them back in the day and she said she was kinda glad it didn't work out for me. I thought of her when I saw this quote: "I used to feel proud to tell people I worked for PSE," said a current employee. "Then there was a point I just had to force a smile when talking about my job. Now, when people ask me about openings, I tell them not to apply."

Don't worry, I'm here to bring the average down

I'm addicted to those frickin' SpinDrift ones

Nope. Pretty sure I'm eligible but nothing. Site won't help either. When it happens it happens- I'm happier to see my friends who need it get it right now.

I am so very glad for you :)

In my nerd reading over the years the 1917 flu pandemic killed young able bodied people at a higher rate than the usual old/young demographic because of cytokine storm. Overdrive. A month or two ago I was telling a friend over lunch all about it because the name is so cool sounding (we had a weekly "let's get lunch and talk about what weird gross medical thing we read about" deal going). Sounds like some X-Men character. I really hope that warmer weather, ventilation, and open windows can help. Nothing worse than people crowded together in closed places for this sort of thing. Again, with 1917, some native american communities fared better than others as they would take a sick person, quarantine them in their own tent, leave the flaps open and continually keep incense or other herbs burning nearby (as per belief). The ventilation and proximity distance led to recovery, and less spread than the overcrowded hospitals in "civilization". But that illness was lightning fast. This one is so insidious because it's so slow to incubate.

Yep. That's the end of my aerial studio. Financially we won't survive this. Just one of many business casualties. But if it saves lives, worth it. But if your gym or favorite place has memberships or merch or anything, consider tossing some bucks their way, or vocal support. A local outcry of love might make the difference to an owner's livelihood.

My mother always said the worst curse to put upon someone was "may you live in interesting times". My good friend is a nurse at ECMC. 2 unconfirmed cases in the ER in quarantine as of last night and a family that just returned from France. Just be patient, kind, and careful. Be extra nice to the people working the checkout registers, etc. There's no win. We either take precautions and the outcome isn't as horrifying as potentially expected and everyone crows that it was no big deal/overblown, or we don't take precautions, ***** hits the fan, and we're all standing there with our proverbial sausage in our hands going "why didn't someone do something?" I personally don't care to find out how well I handle bilateral pneumonia, nor do I care to see how my ailing 73 year old father takes to it when a simple cold almost knocked him out this month. But if people wanna doomsday prep, well, whatever. No sense in getting nasty when this is out of everyone's control. We're all learning how to handle this unprecedented situation.

It's Bell Let's Talk Day. About a year ago, I was low. Bad. Anxious. Sick. Suicidal. Horrible to be around. Also about a year ago I finally got the guts to go to therapy. A couple months later I got on anti-anxiety medication. Reader, for the first time in 20 years, I'm not suicidal. I'm actually pretty happy. That doesn't mean my life is perfect- there's storms coming still, big waves tossing me around, stress in levels I've never felt- but I can handle it for the first time in my life. My coping skills are much stronger. If you're on the fence, let this be the sign to reach out. Reach out to me if you like. I'll listen. If it's a money thing, reach out to me, I'll kick some bucks your way if your insurance is sh!t and you can't afford to see someone. I want that for you. Mental health is not your fault, but it IS your responsibility. Your physical health hinges more on your mental health than you know.