The Good, The Bad, and the New and Interesting...

As we end week seven of quarantine, everything still seems very surreal and apocalyptic. More so than usual actually. People walking around with masks on as it is the norm, which it is now, is just very hard to comprehend. Like how did we got here? A strong pathogen combined with poor leadership and lots of lies? Yes. But it didn’t have to be this way, which is the saddest part.

This week, days 43-49 of stay-at-home, from April 27-May 4, I wanted to write this post a little differently than usual. Instead of a day by day round up, which to be honest, was getting a little tedious and boring to write (as I am sure it may have been to read). So for this post, I am going to give a little breakdown of the good, the bad, and the interesting.

The Good: I continued to go on some amazing walks this week that have been good for the body and the mind. With the spring weather (also incredible), it was easy to take off in shorts and a tank and head out to get in some miles and strengthen this leg. I went downtown on Michigan Avenue a lot and just loved being down there with so few people and some really, really great photo opps. I have always enjoyed taking photos on vacation and/or of cityscapes, especially on my runs, and absolutely despise it when people are in view, so early in the morning, or ya know, during a pandemic, is ideal for people-less photos. I got great ones of the Board of Trade, the Art Institute Lions (with their new Chicago flag masks), the Michigan Ave bridge, and other usually crowded streets and places, without any people in them. I do plan to get some of them printed at some point, or maybe put on canvas like some of my NYC photos. 

Also, I continue to make improvements with my knee. I went to get it measured again and am now able to get it to bend 103 degrees, which is 10 degrees more than about 10 days ago and less painful each time. I have also done some walks without the brace as well to see how I can do without it.

 

Some other random goodness: 

-My dad came and we had a great, much needed socially distant visit

-I watched Can't Buy Me Love which is one of my all-time favorite movies

-The Last Dance continues to impress and bring up some great childhood memories

-I had my first DQ blizzard of the season and now that I know its much closer than I thought, this could be a dangerous discovery.

The bad: Zoom/Google Meet online meetings are just plain ole annoying. They're more exhausting than in person meetings for whatever reason and I hate staring at myself on the computer. Often times, I turn off my video so I don't have to look at my face from what is usually a very unflattering angle. Also, I feel sometimes people say things during these meetings that they wouldn't normally say in person because they feel they can hide behind their screen. Joke is on them though because they can't see me rolling my eyes 100x at them. Ugh.

I also continue to also be amazed by the amount of inconsiderate people I pass on my walks. I try to stay in areas that aren't highly populated, but sometimes that's unavoidable. The people who who feel they can take up the whole sidewalk with their pets or strollers and partners, runners who come out of nowhere with no mask on and are inches away from you dodging in and out of people (just go on the fucking street), and my least favorite person on the sidewalk, the couple holding hands who can't bare to let go and walk single file for a whole five seconds. It's not like they aren't with their partner 24/7 in the house, but they also feel the need to be on top of them for their walk and don't deem it important to unlock hands to let people passing to have the appropriate social distance. It's just so fucking rude. Ahhhhhh.

The new and interesting: CPS made their much anticipated grading announcement for the rest of the year and it actually wasn't bad at all. They pleasantly surprised me. My biggest fear was that they weren't going to allow us to fail any kids even though have done no work at all (before or after e-learning began), and make us pass those kids even though they don't deserve to pass. However, they decided that instead of F's, we could give an "Incomplete" to students who did not participate in the remote learning. The students will still need to make up the credit for the class that they would not have passed, but their GPA won't be harmed from an F.  And students that have worked to improve their grades during this time by completing all the work will get a letter grade (and not just a pass for pass/fail) for their hard work which will at least be nice for them to feel their work is being rewarded.

 

Additionally, earlier this week, I got a call asking if I wanted to move up my knee procedure to next week, but I declined. I honestly don’t know how comfortable I feel going to the hospital now myself, let alone having to have my parents take me there and home, since I will need a ride there and back since I will be under anesthesia. I haven't even been in close quarters with them to be in a car with them, even though I would sit in the back and in a mask. But I've waited long enough for this procedure, so what's a couple of extra weeks waiting to make sure the hospital has everything more routine as well.

So anywho, with this week down, hopefully we only have four (ugh, that's still a lot) to go of this before we start to loosen up the rules. Who knows, maybe some restrictions will lift sooner if people do what they are supposed to do. Wear a face covering, wash your hands, and don't hang out in groups. It's really not that difficult. Let's all just do it for each other and for ourselves. Please and thank you.