Thankful for the Last Dance

Here we are folks, just finishing week five of the shelter-at-home/quarantine/stay at home order. Some days are good days and go by quickly and productively (well, that's relative) and some days, the hours go so so slow.

I have mentioned I have a routine that I keep and I try to stick by that as much as possible to keep some normalcy. I don't like being trapped inside and feel as though fresh air and movement are keeping me as sane as possible in times like that. I am trying to do things that make me happy and keep me busy, but after a while, the reality of what's going on the world seeps in and is hard to swallow. I know none of this is permanent and eventually things will go back to normal, so if this keeps people healthy and safe, then it's what we have to do.

(Day 29) April 14: This morning I went over to Athletico because I have been curious about any improvements I've made over this time regarding my knee bending. Although physical therapy has been open, I have opted not to go to avoid exposure to more people and surfaces. I've walked past Athletico multiple times on my walks and wave to my PTs through the windows and it's always nice to see their smiling faces.  I've been taking longer walks and doing some bending exercises at home and really thought that my self-bending has increased and I wanted to get measured and also see if I could finally do one revolution on the bike. I figured if I could do that, I may be able to start taking low-stakes bike rides. The PT let me know a time when no one else would there so I could come in. We both wore masks while she was near me and measuring. I was so confident getting on the bike, but alas, I could not make a full revolution yet. I'm not going to lie, I was bummed. I really thought I was going to be able to. When pedaling backwards I was really close at going around all the way, but going forward was definitely not happening.

When the PT measured my knee, I got to almost 74 degrees by myself which was a huge improvement. Huge. When I stopped going there when lockdown began, I was getting to maybe 45 degrees by myself on a good day and about 65 on a really great day with them pushing. So getting to 74 solo was a big deal and I was happy with that and will keep working. I had thought I was able to get to 90, but it's something to keep working for. I know I've said this before, but I should've been running and biking and back to normal by now, but with all the post surgery healing complications, what should've been 6-8 is still five months and counting. Ugh. But I'll get there, eventually. Hopefully.

Also today, my mom came to visit.  From the driveway. She brought me some masks and a few other odds and ends and it was just really nice to see her in person (and not on FaceTime) and talk to her from about 10 feet apart. It was a quick visit, but I think a much-needed one for both of us.

As with most days too, I had lots of time on my hands. So I made a record six TikTok videos and finally had the balls to post one. I'm so hip, its crazy. I was cracking myself up and entertaining myself incredibly, so it was time well spent. So what if I'm 100 years too old for that app. Quarantine makes you do crazy things.

(Day 30) April 15: This morning I awoke to snow on the ground (I mean, really Chicago?!) and my stimulus check deposited in my bank account and it was perfect timing. My credit card bill with my many thousand dollar deposit for my summer trip was due and this helped me not have to go too deep in my savings to pay it off.  It was definitely bitter sweet though paying this bill since this trip to Bali and Australia is more than likely going to be cancelled due to many travel restrictions that will still be in effect this summer. Time will tell, but going abroad is seeming quite doubtful.

As far as work goes, now that remote learning is more-so in full effect, CPS has activated Google Meet for us to use with the students to video conference and chat with them so I decided to hold a virtual office hours with my students. I did my seniors on one session and my freshman in the other. The kids genuinely seemed excited to connect with me and with each other for a little while. I hope more join in next week on the session.

Tonight I also did a virtual Friends trivia with some friends. We all connected on Zoom together and then with the company doing the trivia. I was hesitant to participate at first because I had been on google meets for so long in the morning, but it was something different to do. Although run very inefficiently and slow as we all agreed, it ended up being fun. I saw a virtual flip cup game on TikTok that I want to do with my friends sometime soon as well.

(Day 31) April 16: It was cold out again, but there were some clear blue skies and I took a walk on a different route today to mix things up. I have stopped going through the park so much because it seems to be getting busier and I want to avoid as many people as possible on these walks, so I've taken to explore Old Town and Lincoln Park a bit more.

(Day 32) April 17: I woke up to it snowing again this morning which like, WTF Chicago, it's spring. Be better. This weather was the perfect excuse for me to watch the new Netflix dating show Too Hot to Handle that was released today that I had been looking forward to watching since reading about it. It was eight 35-45 minute episodes so definitely was a doable one day binge watch and I nailed it. It wasn't amazing, but def kept me entertained. 

 

Also today, a huge announcement was made by the governor that school won’t be meeting in person for the remainder of the year. It's going to continue to be remote for the rest of the school year. I knew this announcement was going to come based on other states doing so, but I still don’t fully understand why this was made so early. I mean, I understand that social distancing at schools is damn near impossible and having schools meet again this school year could be dangerous, we could've still waited it out a bit more and followed the numbers to make the official call. Especially because CPS goes until almost the end of June, even if we started June 1, I think even three weeks for the kids is beneficial from an emotional and social aspect, if not an educational one. I still have a ton of questions on how they are going to handle students who are failing (meaning they were failing when this all began and have most likely also done no e-learning assignments to even attempt to raise their grades). And since kids grades can’t go down, why would a kid with an A even bother to do any work moving forward for the year unless they want to actually gain knowledge, which I do know some of them do. Since grades can't go down, and there is nothing higher than an A, this will really show which kids are indeed intrinsically motivated to learn. 

 

This school closure announcement really did disappoint me. I'm sad for many of my students, but especially my seniors. They are missing out on special times with their friends and classmates at school as well as major high school milestones like prom and graduation that almost certainly won't happen in person, if at all. 

(Day 33) April 18: After a couple days of winter weather, we were finally back to spring here, at least sun and sky wise, and we are getting there temperature wise. Now if we could only get rid of these intense winds, I could really get my tan on. I spent a decent amount of time today, but the wind made it difficult to really enjoy. The big accomplishment of the day was a group TikTok I had seen it online and immediately sent it to some of my friends who were easily convinced to participate. We had all agreed to take a video of ourselves receiving a drink, taking a sip, and passing it on and when put all together in a video, it looked like we were all passing the drink to the next person. If I do say so myself, it came out really cute.

(Day 34) April 19: It was another day of amazing spring weather and a great long walk all the way to Lincoln Park. I am going further and further each time and it's giving me some confidence with my leg and hopefully building strength.

Tonight on TV was something I have been looking forward to for a while, The Last Dance on ESPN. Finally some sports. I have been missing them like crazy. This docuseries on Michael Jordan's final season with the Bulls wasn't supposed to be released until June and thankfully ESPN moved up the date after much debate due to everyone in the country being at home. The first two episodes were so incredible. The nostalgia from those times when the Bulls were the best team in the world brought up so many fond memories from that time. I can't wait for next week's episodes already.

(Day 35) April 20: I slept horribly last night and woke up early, but got started on the productivity right away. Laundry, school work, and another masked trip to Trader Joe's to go grocery shopping. All before 9 am. It felt good to get it all done so early and out of the way, even though I had nothing else going on. It gave me the rest of the day to relax some more and not stress about getting all that done. 

Another week of quarantine gone and it's getting a little easier as the weather gets nicer because at least I can be outside on the roof with no one around me, getting fresh air, and getting a little tan. But if it continues to be nice, it's going to be hard to just sit still and only keep to the roof since there aren't many other options. We shall see. They haven't announced an extension of the stay at home order, but I'm sure it's coming soon enough. I wouldn't be surprised if we keep it up the entire month of may before attempting perhaps a slow re-opening. #SummerTimeChi is definitely going to be an interesting one with so many gathering restrictions in place. As with all of this, time will tell.