Friday 5: III III III III III

From here. I hate the way this formatting turned out but I’m not going to spend my whole Saturday trying to make it pretty.

  1. Who are your three latest celebrity crushes?

My main lockdown crush is Mona Kosar Abdi, co-anchor on ABC’s overnight (on repeat all night) news program World News Now. I’ve kept crazy hours this past year, and while I keep the TV off during the day and most of the evening, if I’m up very late, I like having the news on. Especially when Mona’s on, because she’s utterly gorgeous and exceedingly smart in a field where everyone’s smart.

My most recent crush is Jessica Kleinschmidt, a baseball reporter in the Bay Area, mostly covering my favorite Oakland Athletics. I listen to Buster Olney’s Baseball Tonight podcast every weekday, and he had her on recently to talk about the Athletics. When she’s not delivering baseball stuff, she talks a lot about what it’s like to be a woman in sports journalism, and she paints a suuuuper discouraging picture. Posts like this on IG are another reason I’m crushing. It’s total BS that she has to put up with this crap, but she does. Every fricking day.

Annie Clements has been on TV a lot this past year, as she’s the bass player and back-up vocalist in Maren Morris’s band. Maren’s had quite a year and she deserves it, but I was familiar with Annie because I listen to a lot of bluegrass and bluegrass-adjacent music, so I follow Americana musicians on social media, including Annie. Women bass players are already badass, but Annie is extra badass.

2. What three strange things have you done during the pandemic?

So much strangeness. Doing my laundry every week (in recent months every other week) at Manoa Laundry at 2:00 in the morning probably tops the list. It was a major inconvenience, and kind of stressful, but it gave me some much-needed out-of-house structure in a crazy time. Picking up McD’s at the drive-through on my way was part of the structure — my only dining out for most of the year.

Going to the office one day every weekend isn’t strange — I’ve been doing it for four years. It’s usually just for a little while, remnants of always going to my classroom on weekends during my teaching career. This past year, however, I only go in on weekends, specifically on Sunday because nobody else is around. I’d rather not, most of the time, but it keeps me connected to my workplace and it’s a good time to do some undistracted thinking.

This is really strange, since I’m such a keep-to-myself person. I’ve become acquainted with my letter carrier. Like, acquainted enough (although we’ve only met face-to-face once) that when I’m on the road and he sees my car, he waves at me and I wave back. Late last summer I left him an Amazon gift card because I’ve relied on Amazon this year, and I appreciated his important role in getting me my stuff. Then when we met, he thanked me in person (after leaving me a nice note) and we had a short conversation. It led to waving from behind steering wheels.

Oh. I also bought a $50 box grater. Very strange.

3. What three goals do you have for the weekend?

Lots of sleep. Lots of reading. Some sunshine and fresh air. I’m keeping it simple.

4. What three things are you avoiding?

Uggggh I’d rather not even think about this. I’m avoiding taking my damaged vehicle to the shop for an price quote for the insurance company who’s paying for repairs. It’s just such a hassle. I’m avoiding making an appointment with my ophthalmologist, which is a big deal because my eye problems aren’t limited to bad vision. I have a glaucoma-like condition (my record actually uses the word glaucomic) I can’t neglect, and I missed last year’s appointment. I’m avoiding housecleaning.

5. What three things are you feeling pretty good about?

The start of major league baseball for sure. It’s such a comfort. I’m feeling good about my parents being vaccinated, and my being two days away from fully vaccinated. It means I’ll be able to go over on weekends again. I’m feeling pretty good about work, since I had a very productive week — the kind of productivity my coworkers actually see. Some of my good work is pretty invisible. Some of it is very visible. I like both types, but this noticeable type helps because it more directly makes a difference in other people’s work.

Heading into the weekend with slothful intentions. I’ve got the Athletics vs. Astros game on and I’m headed back to bed for a nap.

2 Replies to “Friday 5: III III III III III”

  1. I used to be so on the ball with doctor appointments. I don’t know what has happened (ok age) but it feels like each specialist’s yearly appointment is a game of Russian Roulette between I AM VERY ILL AND DON’T KNOW IT and I AM FINE. So I put off the appointments for over 2 years (can only blame one on COVID) and now I really need to buckle down. I have 2 scheduled.

    I have also returned to McDonald’s during the pandemic and it was like walking into the embrace of an old friend.

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