By: Revanche

Living in the time of pandemic: COVID-19 (173)

September 25, 2023

Year 4 of COVID in the Bay Area.

Year 4, Day 178: It’s “I feel like a SLUG” Monday. The weekend was too long and too much, and didn’t end until about 2 this morning because of painsomnia, but it’s over and I’m putting it behind me. A shame that I can’t put the PEM behind me just as expeditiously.

I managed huge piles of work and my expectations. The remaining giant piles can wait until tomorrow and it will be ok. It is not a judgement on my prowess that some days I can’t do the work of four people. I also gave myself extra time to go pick up JB so I could sloth as slowly as I needed without worrying about running late. Before giving up for the day, I picked a second Lakota family to shop for before September is over.

Something set off my bag lady syndrome. I’m balancing a flare up of my occasional “must hoard resources!” instinct alongside my usual must-help-folks-personally motto. Might be partly because we’ve given a lot more than usual in a single week to folks who needed cash, might be something else triggered my old insecurities. I often worry we don’t help people enough and then have to remind myself it’s ok to live our own lives too, we don’t have to give until it hurts every time all the time. We still have a responsibility to look out for our futures and the kids, as much as we do to give back to the community.

Smol Acrobat was a giant pill at dinner but cooperative during bath time. It doesn’t quite even out but that’s better than the usual terrible at dinner, terrible at bath, and terrible at sleep trifecta.

Year 4, Day 179: Another slow and late morning. We’re still recovering from the weekend, I’ll probably be sluggy all week. My eyes were irritated the whole morning, I assumed it was because my eyeglass prescription is out of date, but it may actually be because the wildfire smoke had been blowing in. I didn’t notice the smell until mid afternoon, when it had become cloying and gross. On that theme, I missed an important detail in a text which led to some complications in the kid pickup routine. Then the dinner place we were going to try was closed today. Also irritating!

We needed batteries and shampoo and deodorant from Target so I took a shot at buying a wallet too. My current wallet is too small to hold what I need in the billfold. I picked a double zip wallet and crossed my fingers. At first look, it seems too big. I’ll give it a shot but it feels very much like playing the Goldilocks of wallets. Where oh where is the perfect wallet size?

PGE emailed: “Your energy bill is going up. Understand why and what the next steps are.” Oh, great. That’s what we needed, another bill going up.

Year 4, Day 180: It’s time to work on everyone’s salary bumps, here’s hoping my asks will be finalized by the time this publishes!

Air quality was still garbage today. The kids at daycare got some outside time but by late afternoon everyone had to go inside. It’s not as bad as it could be (roughly 110-120) but it’s irritating and can’t be good for them to inhale those particulates. Glad Smol was ok with masking when I picked them up.

PiC and I shared an early birthday lunch today: Peruvian!  Then it was back to the grindstone to catch up on piles of work.

Year 4, Day 181: Air quality is at a yellow rating today which, to me, means mask up outside so I don’t love that the daycare considers that “outdoors is fine, no limits”, but I get that we’re more cautious than most.

I’ve worked late every night this week, tonight included, to free up my Friday for some me time. No plans, it may be as uncomplicated as reading for a couple hours and then cleaning the house. Or I could take myself out to Daiso which I can never enjoy with kids. I don’t anticipate being in the mood for grand adventures but we shall see what the day brings.

Bluesky is picking up as old Internet friends who abandoned Twitter are chatting on there more. Functionality still leaves a lot to be desired but it’s good enough for now.

Year 4, Day 182: Friday food! There was that 3 course lunch from the Peruvian place. We shared it (takeout, I’m not volunteering to catch the scads of COVID going around here if I can opt out): yuccas frites, lomo saltado, and chupe de camarones. Yoo-ka? Yuk-a? We can’t agree on the pronunciation. A swoon with every bite, it was so good. We saved JB a couple fries (a bit begrudgingly on my part), it goes with a fabulous green dip that has a bite. We also tried the local chicken and waffles place and everyone enjoyed it. What’s not to love? Smol Acrobat was really happy to get waffles for dinner and ate their chicken with minimal complaints. JB plowed through their portion without stopping to breath. I also picked up a side of French toast to round out breakfast for dinner.

Oh I forgot to mention this before! I think I forgot. Amy Jo Cousins works with the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights. In 2021, she launched the Virtual 1 Mile & 5K Run/Walk and this year’s Waymakers fundraiser runs from Friday, September 15th through Sunday, October 1st. And in addition to the race itself, if you can’t donate money, they have a sponsor who will donate dollars for miles. You’d register here for the Waymakers virtual race, then connect your Strava account to their sponsor’s site here to record your miles logged between the dates above. We joined my good friend Shep’s team, the Hermits’ Union, and we’re currently in the lead for miles donated! That’s really great.

Also good friend Jaydot shared this petition that looks like a really important cause if you have a few minutes to help out: Help Individuals with SMA Save for their Financial Futures

The synopsis from their site if you don’t want to click through:

The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Program is an economic lifeline for individuals with SMA and other disabilities in helping to meet basic living needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. 

However, the program penalizes individuals with disabilities enrolled in the program if they save one penny more than the program’s outdated asset limits of $2,000 for individuals or $3,000 for couples. This discriminatory policy puts individuals with SMA and other disabilities at financial risk in emergencies. 

Bipartisan legislation (H.R. 5408 / S. 2767) would increase the limits to $10,000 for an individual and $20,000 for a couple and index the limits to inflation. In addition to promoting financial security, the legislation would also fix the marriage penalty that exists in SSI.

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