When will we learn... COVID doesn't care what we want

 

It's not fun being the purveyor of uncomfortable truths. 

 

Our state decided to unmask and remove controls ... about 2 weeks ago.... just as BA.2 is popping up. after 4 weeks of FLAT line yet at still elevated numbers - no decreases from Omicron, we're now UPTICKING - almost 3000 new cases this past weekend alone. Over a thousand case per day in the 5 days since. 

We just won't learn. 

 

I was asked at one point - when do i consider it appropriate to remove the restrictions. We haven't hit the lowest number of last July (64 cases per day) and we need to be BELOW that daily number for 4 weeks AT LEAST before we stop fooling ourselves with this nonsense. 

 

It's very very clear. cases go up every time 2 weeks after we unmask, deaths follow three weeks after the upticks.... its VERY predictable. 

 

Wear a mask and you will save lives. It's that simple.

 

I'm ANGRY, I'm SAD, I'm tired.

 

I want to see my grandson, I want to see my wonderful children, I want to have my long overdue wedding with my loved ones present. 

 

That can't happen because people don't have the fortitude {or shall we say they feel too entitled) to accept that masking and shutting down community by community for a 4 weeks stretch is truly the only way to stop this virus that doesn't care at all what your political, religious, or other ideologies are. It's a virus, it propogates when we let it. The economy will recover, but lost lives never will.

 

Vaccines help - but they won't stop this train wreck that is happening. Masks DO!

 

This country is rapidly approaching 1Million deaths due to this virus - most of which could have been prevented by universal masking.

The Diplomat and the Vatican

 

After my mother and my stepfather had divorced, my half-sister Nira and I would end up traveling overseas multiple times per year to visit her father and his family.  Just before the first trip to Italy to see them, my mother sat me down at our kitchen table and informed me that she needed to give me some important lessons.  She laid out table settings on our scratched-up hand me down table and I was instantly confused.  She put down three forks, two knives, three spoons, two plates and a wide soup bowl, along with three drinking glasses.  She proceeded to explain to me that at meals I was to use the utensils from the outside in and then from the top, but that was not all.  I was never to cut with my fork, nor was I to switch which hand I held the fork in.  She had me practice cutting food, using my knife to position food.  It was all so complicated.  Even soup had to be consumed properly.  She told me.  “Never tip the bowl to you – and never draw your spoon towards you.  Instead, fill the spoon by drawing the spoon away then bring it to your mouth.  Then when you are nearing the bottom of the bowl, tilt the bowl away from you.”  This coming from my hippy mother was so very strange.  We barely survived day to day financially yet here she was giving etiquette lessons to an eleven-year-old.

Shortly after that, Nira and I went to Italy to join up with Nira’s grandparents.  On these trips to Nira’s family, I was sent as surety for my half-sister Nira, who was nine years younger than me.  My presence ultimately assured that at the end of our visit that both of us would return home as my mother feared that there would be a likely kidnapping of Nira by her family.  To many in Nira’s family I was to be tolerated.  I was “that woman’s child”, but that was not the attitude of Baba-Jun (grandpa dear). Baba-Jun always was kind to me, he always made an extra effort on my behalf.  I realize now that it was because he was not born into affluence – he had married “up” and understood far better than his wife did the struggles of poverty and what it took to fit in. I only vaguely understood what he was doing in Italy, in Rome, I knew he was an ambassador, but what that meant was unclear, until one morning, when things started to make sense.

Baba-Jun came to the breakfast table one morning, and as the butler carried dishes to each one of us to select from, he said that he wanted me to come with him for a ride.  This was a first.  I had frequently gone out with Homa-Jun (Homa dear – she chose not to be called Grandma in any language) during our visit, but this was the first time he had invited me out and he deliberately had not invited any others to join us.  After breakfast we took the elevator to the garage and got into Baba-Jun’s limo.  I was all eyes wide open.  Little flags fluttered on the hood of the car, and the chauffer navigated the tight streets of Rome, pulling up to a gate, guarded by two of the fanciest soldiers I had ever seen.  They wore bright gold, blue, and red striped billowing outfits and wore steel helmets topped with red feathers.  Baba-Jun turned to me and said, “These are the Pontifical Swiss Guards, and we are driving into the city state referred to as the Vatican.”

I looked up at the arch covered roadway as we crossed the gate. Once inside we had walked around for hours with him pointing out various things that were only seen by few, explaining that we were in areas not open to the general public. I had not been exposed much to Christianity but suddenly I was struck by the opulence, the regaled formality of everything around us, and knew that somehow this was sacred ground. Until then I had not understood that the Vatican is a city, within the city of Rome, that is its own nation, ruled by the Pope, and that just like other nations, there are ambassadors who are assigned to represent their nation to the Vatican. 

This was Baba-Juns job, and he had shared it with me… only me. He was a diplomat in more ways than one.

Full Circle - an interesting ending

As some of you may recall, I had an embarrassing incident several months ago in the nearby town of Holliston. Due to being startled badly, I had been very rude and unkind to someone who had only intended a kindness, primarily because I had been terribly frightened at the sudden approach from behind and the opening remarks by a stranger that seemed threatening. time has passed, and while on our routine walk, again, a red car approached, this time from in front of us, and the driver rolled down his window just as we realized it was the SAME guy. He waved and commented on how wonderful it was to see a couple like us (suggesting our evident 60ish ages) holding hands. he went on to say how he and his wife of 48 years had held hands till she died and how much he missed her. We exchanged pleasantries and he finally drove off, as I felt that we had come full circle, we laughed and laughed at the turn around of events. Small blessings

Not liking what I have become - now Eating humble pie

 I had a very humbling embarrassing and frightening moment today.  I think what frightened me most was how quickly I became that "ugly person" in the midst of a national crisis and a global pandemic.  I feel compelled to share with you how easy it is to be "over the edge" of the precipice when least expected.

My sweetheart and I were taking our walk today.  It's an absolutely beautiful, new england fall color day.  What could go wrong?

We had just crossed the street in Holliston, MA where we like to walk, and a bright red car pulled out of the parking lot behind us, and as the driver started to pass us, he rolled down his window and said in a loud voice "you know what I hate about masks".... 

every neuron in my body fired with those words.  panic, fear, terror, rage... how could this complete stranger assault us for wearing our masks while we walked??? I instantly saw a threat, a danger, I didn't want to let him say one word more because i was so very frightened.  I barely registered his next words, as I lunged towards his car flipping him off and started yelling at him as he said...

"... I hate that we can't see the beautiful faces of such pretty women"... 

He wasn't threatening, he wasn't menacing, he wasn't being mean in any way at all.  But I had reacted viciously and meanly, out of the terror and fear that seems to be so much a part of our world.

My sweetie walked around me to be between me and the car, pulling me away and urging me to calm down.  The driver, remaining friendly, said some other kindly things I didn't even hear before driving off.  

Half a block later, i bent over and cried, cried for the adrenaline and terror that had over taken me and cried over my vicious reaction that so completely took over my normal calm and peace keeping self.  I'm embarrassed, and sorrowful, that I returned a kind intention with such anger and hatred.  I had been terrified, but my terror had controlled me and kept me from hearing what was really being said.  He wasn't attacking my mask, he wasn't criticizing, he was just remarking, being friendly on a new england sunny fall day, that some beauty was being lost on the world... me.  

What have we become?  What have I become?  

Birthday Wishes

 I want to thank everyone for all of the amazing birthday wishes. This has been a great affirmation for me, and I really appreciate it. I woke this morning in a deep melancholy - and one by one you all have reminded me of what I have today.

8 years ago, I faced my 50th birthday alone, having, only two weeks before, walked away from a 30+ year marriage. I had woken up to finally acknowledge the poison that i had been living with daily, and had realized that if i did not leave I would not live. I was loathed, despised, shamed, and maligned every single day for many years, constantly being told how far i fell short of some mythical ideal. On my 50th, I walked down a street, while working on a project in France, and wondered - would i ever be worthy of being loved, would i ever be happy again, was i doomed to be alone, unloved, unworthy, and unwanted. I can't begin to tell you how difficult that year was for me.

Today, I can be thankful, joyous, and yet grieve. I am incredibly thankful for finding a man who absolutely loves and adores me and who I can love and adore in return. I have my children, and his, who also bring love and joy into my life every day. And I have all of you - who I have reconnected with, old and new - who remind me daily of what love, friendship, compassion, and mercy are.

My grief is partly born of the pain of the past, but also of seeing the daily toxicity occurring within our country that is so so so reminiscent of the toxicity of my marriage. The shaming, the blaming, the brutalizing, and the brainwashing of the soul of this country in the name of our so called "faith".

My number one wish/prayer on my birthday is that people start asking really hard questions about what they believe... and be honest about how their politics lines up with their faith. Faith is not a one "issue" matter, yet we line our politics up on issues that don't match what our faith to considers most precious - the souls of humans (all humans). We demonize concepts we don't even understand (why is obamacare EVIL? why is eliminating student debt socialist? how does immigration threaten your well being) and we propagate hate instead of demonstrating love, grace, and mercy. We sacrifice moral imperatives because of so called political ideology that is frankly abhorrent and truly immoral in that it sets out to demonize people and destroy souls.

Will you answer my birthday prayer today and stop the hatred?

What's your SuperPower?

I got asked this today, at yet another awesome lunch hosted by Treehouse.red

What is your superpower?

It made me pause, and I have continued to ponder the question in the hours that have followed.

I'm not sure how many of you recall the TV series Heroes, but each person, as they came into their superpower, also struggled with an aspect of not being "normal", and also when or how to use their power - either for selfish gain, or for the greater good.

So what was my answer?

I thought about what I had learned about myself from strengthfinders 2.0 - which had set me free from the burdens of trying hard to be something I was not, to instead sharpening my most powerful skills - being a Maximizer (one who brings out the best in others), being a Context (leveraging lessons learned to strategy), a Relator (developing relationships to work together to achieve a common goal) to become more effective and satisfied as a person.  But those are not necessarily superpowers...

I answered... I'm a translator.. any thing, any language, any jargon, I tend to translate to meaning for others.  This skill of mine has been pointed out to me many times...

My college professor had surgery on his larynx and as a result of the surgery and the cancer that had driven the need for the surgery, he could not speak.  After his surgery he returned to light duty at the university while he waited for his "electronic" voice box to arrive.  It was a tough time for him - his entire career relied on speaking.  He met one on one with his graduate students, and tried to carry on - mouthing, mumbling, and straining to communicate.  After a few weeks he got his box, which he had to learn to effectively control to be comprehensable.  He told me, after a month had gone by, that the whole time, I was the only one who understood what he was saying.  He attributed it to the possibility that I may have been unconciously lipreading. 

Years later, I had a few global travels for work with one coworker - we crossed paths with people that spoke only german, only french, or were having conversations in Hindi.  At first, my coworker assumed that I was some polyglot with an arsenal of languages, because he noticed that I was usually ignoring the person translating, having already absorbed at least 60% of whatever conversation was taking place.  After one particular conversation he was having with a friend on the phone in Hindi, where I garnered the remaining plans for the day listening to half the conversation in a language I did not know, he commented on my "gift" of comprehension.

I do the same translating technobabble to something non technical people can comprehend.  When my kids were young, I spent more times than I can bear to count in the emergency room, or dealing with medical specialists.  Inevitably, the doctor or nurse would go into medical mumbo jumbo, trying to figure out when I would get lost, but I didn't.  Then some would ask... are you a doctor? Nope.  I just absorb lingo... just fine.  Yes I have technical training - which helps me not be terrified by the lingo, but I somehow understand it.

In my work - I translate technical issues, and trends, and complex matters into stories, messages, and illustrations that my peers can act upon with confidence.  Yes... that's my super power.  I hear it, I understand it, and I make it comprehensible for others.

Old School/Techie Delight - ReMarkable

I should know better by now ... but I continue to be an "optomistic" early adopter.  I'm happy to say this time it has paid off.

I'm a tactile person. I need to take hand written notes as part of my information absorption process.  I understand it's a brain-hand connection associated with retention and memory.  But I'm also a techie, I travel a fair amount, and want to keep paper weight down. Kindle paperwhite was an early friend to me in that I could finally have books with me and not be leaving paperbacks at hotels because of my suitcase being too full.

So i wanted something similar for note taking... but never had much luck.  I tried using onenote, evernote, and every other possible combination of technology based note taking including my closest favorite LiveScribe.  but every single solution had some sort of drawback, till now.

I had seen ads pop up from time to time for this thing called ReMarkable.  An electronic ink deposition note taking device, doohickie.. whatever.  I kept thinking hmmm... interesting... can they really do that.  So I finally decided to try it out (a bit pricy, but it was time).

Here is the ReMarkable with it's pen (pencil).

The interface allows for easy organization and navigation.  It literally took 2 minutes to get through the setup.  The device connects via wifi to keep notes sync with either a desktop app or a mobile device app or both.  You can transfer pdf's and epubs to the unit for reading and marking up.

The big question for me was would the tactile interface really satisfy my expectations.  So many times I had found that the pen/surface interactions were so dissatisfactory I could not use them.  But when i tried ReMarkable, I was very impressed. 

The pen can simulate pencil, ball point, ink tip, marker, and even sketching pencils/brushes.  All black and white, or grey.  the ink color can also be set to white if you are wanting to selectively  sketch over prior dark colored sketches. 

the tablets surface has a cloth like or paper like feel that means the pen doesn't slip or slide around (like the glassy surfaces of most tablets), and the sensation of writing feels very normal.  The tablet is very thin, and is smart enough not to see heel of my hand as a source of input, even though many of the interface features are touch sensitive. 

the UI is pleasantly and elegantly simple and intuitive.  it's easy to change the pen features, including area wrap erase, move files, sort notebooks etc.  the underlying pages can be lined, grid layout, dayplanners, weekplanners, plain, and many more preset templates. 

One really interesting aspect of this unit is that it is "distraction" free.  It is what it is intended to be - a writing tool... no social media distractions at all!

I'm a happy person, I finally have a real note taking tool that means I can set aside my myriad of note papers and file away my handwritten notes electronically from now on. 

If you want a coupon for $100 off of this $599 marvel - feel free to drop a note in the comments.  As a new buyer they provided me with a few.