Living in the time of pandemic: COVID-19 (25)
November 23, 2020
Week 35 of COVID in the Bay Area.
Week 35, Day 241: I’m still slightly stunned that the election was called for Biden. I spent all last week doing my best not to think about it, not allowing myself to doomscroll as usual, and it helped keep me focused even if my anxiety was still keeping me on edge.
Now we have to fight for Georgia if we want to have a hope of a functioning government for the next four years. It would be terrible to be stuck with a Republican majority Senate and Mcconnell at the reins for another Presidency. There are so many ways he’s obstructed governance and I can’t bear to think of what further harm he has up his sleeve.
Week 35, Day 242: Confession. I had a plan to invest every Tuesday this year, rain or shine, market high or market low. What’s the opposite of a slam dunk on that? I did that instead.
At first I had a good reason: I was watching the winds of COVID and the economy, and decided to bulk up our cash to cover the rental as fast as I could. That required a pause on our plans to buy every week.
But then the market gyrations were plain weird and I hadn’t formed the habit of ignoring them yet as far as buying. I’m great at not selling. I’m absolutely awesome at that. But buying when the market is up? I’m not good at that. Yes, this smells like market timing. I have a little trouble with that!
So with this confession, even though the market is up, I’m making myself go back to my Buy on Tuesdays schedule this month. There’s not much of the year left but I had transferred a decent chunk of change to our brokerage earlier this year to force the issue and will keep on investing from that.
Week 35, Day 243: Our sofa! It has arrived! We have been without a sofa for a little over a month, I think? And I really did not like that time. I’m so glad I will have a sofa to rest on, even if it’s a compromise sofa. We had to get the one that would get here before Thanksgiving and fit our living room. We had to give up on the color and exact style we wanted.
Also construction has started and that’s going to be a trial on our nerves but if we are lucky and all goes well, we will have resolved at least some part of the moisture and mold problems we’ve been fighting and even maybe have a usable portion of the backyard before the end of the year. Hope hope hope.
Week 35, Day 244: Before my internal screaming reached a peak, I made myself stop working at noon and go for a walk. That was wise but I think the wiser thing to do would be to STOP ADDING THINGS TO MY TO DO LIST.
Can we do this? Is it possible?
(I don’t know.)
Week 35, Day 245: I was so relieved for Friday even while I was annoyed at how much work was still on my plate. Ah well.
We’d had my yummy low sugar low carb cheesecake every night this week and finished it today. That’s going to make for a sad dinner tomorrow when we’re all out of dessert. I’m tempted to make another one but if I do, I should probably freeze half of it so we don’t eat it five days a week again. I’ve contemplated making it in two smaller Pyrex containers instead of a regular pie pan to make it easier to store the second one.
JB has been getting into the Octonauts show and dammit if “Creature Report” isn’t stuck in my head on repeat. Help. Me.
Now you’ve got it stuck in my head too!
Hi Revanche. I hear you on the stock market investing …. the market just seems so ‘up’ right now and I am fearing a bubble. I recently collected a large sum of money to reinvest and I am scared to invest it right now just in case the market tanks which, yes, IS trying to ‘time the market’. In the meantime, the market has surged and I actually acquired the money at the ‘wrong’ time – I should’ve just left it where it was but it was with an ex-employer – and meanwhile, the money is now just sitting in a money market account earning ZIP while I futz around. SO. What did you do in the end? Did you invest regardless? I’m thinking I should just buy in, even though the stock I want to purchase is at an all time high. We have a new presidency and 3 potential vaccines so who knows WHAT the market will do? Or what will trigger a tank?