The Days March On in Book Seven: Reconstruction 2020

I hope everyone is faring okay. I know many of us are not; but hopefully there are pockets of comfort, of happiness, of support. Last night via Laptop, I communicated with a friend in the Bronx and a friend in L.A. It is good to see and talk with people. It is especially good to see and talk with people facing much higher risk as that does help me remember what others are facing.

In an effort to be a responsible community member, I am restricting going to the store as much as possible. I’m trying to keep my grocery shopping to once every two weeks if I absolutely need something, once every three weeks otherwise. It does make me figure out more when it comes to cooking but it also means there’s just one more extra thing to do around the house taking up time. Two, really, as it also increases dish washing time. Which wouldn’t be too bad but for the damned dog.

Since she proved that she could not share a level of the house with me while I am working, I keep her upstairs throughout the day while I am in the basement “at work.” But the problem enters when “work is over” and I come upstairs. I give her a walk, I play with her outside, there is some small indoor playtime. But her level of energy? She wants more. Or something else is going on. See, typically- I’ll leave the bedroom door open and Nala sleeps in the bed with me. This week, she comes into the bedroom, confirms I am asleep, then leaves to stare out the windows and fall asleep on the couch. Except for last night (or the night before) when she came in to the bedroom and whined almost an hour after I fell asleep. I let her out and told her this was her one night time bathroom break. A few hours later, she was beside me again whining. I ignored her. She got louder and more insistent. She started putting her paws on the bed in a “pay attention to me” sort of way. So after letting her out (just to see if it was some bathroom emergency… it was not) I put her in the kennel. Today? I figured… she’d been in the kennel… I’ll let her come downstairs with me to see if she can handle it. She could not. Within 48 minutes I had to put her back upstairs and shut the door because of the whining and begging for attention. Maybe I’m a bad Dog Dad or maybe I’m not right for a dog with this much energy? Or maybe the upheaval between Martha’s departure and COVID19 and me Working From Home have thrown her off and maybe when this is all over, maybe she and I can find an acceptable normal?

Though work is trying to find a Temporary New Normal these days and that’s going terribly.
I’ll admit that the “performance” issues stem largely from the fact that I’m an actor more than I’m a lawyer. A lawyer would likely be the same person in person or on the phone. I’m… not that guy. Me in a suit in a courtroom is a professional, put together, capable attorney. In jeans in my basement is… well… me. So right off the bat… I’m very “out of my element.” But it appears that this is actually something that is common as even the judge and court reporter are doing hearings while they are at home on the phone. As evidenced by the fact that a hearing which normally would have taken a maximum of 45 minutes just took 120 minutes. So… yeah.

But that isn’t even the worst part! The County wants us to track our hours. Even the full time employees. In an effort to “make sure all employees receiving pay are working.” Excuse the fuck out of me?! How about this… how about you give your County Attorneys the benefit of the doubt that we’re working our butts off and you forget about “verifying” if we’re doing our job? Mostly… I’m insulted by this but also… upset that they are essentially going to/trying to prove that AT HOME is less productive than at the office. But… uh… duh for multiple reasons! 85% of what we would do at the courthouse is now simply NOT happening. And considering that courthouse days were two or three days a week… that means that (whether we were in the office or not) we would be experiencing a sufficient drop in productivity. But that doesn’t mean we’re not still holding hearings, filing cases, and planning on how to handle the mess coming our way when TO BE DETERMINED becomes DATE KNOWN. I’m just… yeah, upset that they’re doing this. Especially since, as Boss and I were thinking “they can’t mean us” the County now says our department is 2 weeks behind on pay. GR!

All that being said and… I’m still going to go into the office tomorrow afternoon. Hooray for the “essential but not essential but no Shelter In Place order anyway” bullshit. But tomorrow’s hearing is super important to me so I want to be best positioned. It is about keeping a 4 month old safe when her parents are Meth Dealing Drug Addicts. SO yeah… best to get her somewhere safe!

I think I’ll spend the rest of my day (between obsessively checking my e-mails and responding to every legal filing) by eating lunch, walking the dog, taking a much needed bath (pain doesn’t like what’s going on), and trying to play with Nala a little more. Strength, Hope, and Safety to all of you!