greetings from Bedlam in shiny things

It is just remarkably difficult getting used to being back on campus again after working remotely since March of 2020. The noise alone is driving me completely over the edge. ( And OMG, as I was writing that.... the fire alarms went off. And we had to go stand outside in the rain for 20 minutes or so. AND as we were standing there, out in the open with the rain pouring down, we all got notifications about a tornado warning!!! So, thank you for illustrating my point so nicely, Universe!)

Other than the fire alarms, and the tornados which happily have not manifested - yet- there are chairs shrieking in the neighboring classrooms as people move them around with each class period, there are perpetual sirens outside, (we are near an ambulance … hanger? Whatever they call the place where they keep them on standby) (and the street we’re on has a 25 mph speed limit so of course there are people getting pulled over multiple times a day). There are car alarms - one went off three times this morning, for at least five minutes each time. There are non-stop vehicles who rattle the windows with their ridiculously loud engines (apparently that is a thing now, it is EVERYWHERE and it’s not just because I’ve become a cranky ancient crone who wants all you damn kids out of my auditory space) as well as ridiculously loud sound systems also rattling my windows. There are the swarming students clustering in the hallway right outside our offices - and I won’t even mention the annoyance of the ones who sit in the floor with their legs stretched out ready to be tripped over. Or stand right in the doorway staring at their phones. Okay, I will mention it. AND of course I can hear everyone in the other four offices in our little cluster, although at least that’s mostly very muffled and none of us are noisy people.

I have resorted to Youtube videos of rain/fans/assorted white noise, which helps a bit. But I’d much rather bitch about having to be back on campus dealing with the noise and fighting the traffic and the zombies staring at their phones and walking straight into me- or in front of my car if I’m coming through the parking lot - and all the other stuff that I did not have to deal with while working from my living room table, WAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

Boy I loved working remotely. And I won’t be a bit surprised if we end up there again. Like everywhere else, covid cases here have skyrocketed in the past few weeks. And now the students are back, joining what seems to be half of the population of Florida, a state which isn’t exactly being a shining example of how to fight a pandemic. Our town reinstated a mask mandate last week, so hooray, we’re back to masks while indoors. Thanks, antivaxers and antimaskers, who are generally one and the same! Good work!

Agghhhh. At least if we go back to working remotely it will help offset the great annoyance/disappointment of not ever getting to go anywhere ever again for the rest of my life. I’ve been nagging Baker B to go to Charleston this summer, while we still have a chance, and he’s just not going for it. He’s had issues with neck pain since he was in college, and it’s been a little worse lately, so he doesn’t want to go to a place where all we do is walk on pavement for miles. And stop for shrimp and beer, then walk on pavement again for more miles. Which I do understand, and he finally, FINALLY went to the doctor several weeks ago to get it checked out. The doctor says it’s probably mostly arthritis (yay, aging!) but is also sending him to physical therapy once a week to see if that will help. Of course it took forever to get the appointment but his first one was last week and it actually did seem to help. So I kind of thought that maybe, maybe he’d agree to a few days in Charleston.... but no!! It isn’t totally cured yet.

He is not nearly as unraveled by this as I am. He is not a good traveler and although he loves Charleston, it’s like pulling teeth to get him to go anywhere at all out of his comfort zone, which is… pretty much right here. Especially after the VERY long vacationless stretch we’ve had. We didn’t go anywhere for ages even in the Before Times due to his mom and my dad having multiple crises. I had to go by myself to my cousin’s daughter’s wedding three years ago because his mom had just fallen and he needed to stay close by. We went to Charleston for two nights two years ago to buy the New Fit (which was fun but also really stressful, as we were buying a car), and spent… one night I think in Bluefield West Virginia, also two years ago. Before that it was Christmas of 2017 in Charleston!!

No wonder I feel deprived. I actually was going to go to Charleston with Kim this summer if he wouldn’t go, but she’s very rudely thrown me over for another friend, who is not obviously making her the Alternate Choice who has to wait to see if someone else will make up his mind about whether he will go or not. How thoughtless of her. I would also happily go by myself, but I do have plans to go visit my cousins in Delaware in early October, so that’s my trip. I hope. I forked over the extra money for a refundable plane ticket since things are looking grimmer daily. That’s just a long weekend but will be lots of fun. If it actually happens.

Baker B thinks I need to quit whining because we DO have a trip planned, as of last night. And we’ve had two other trips to this same place during Covid Times, so I need to also stop saying we never get to go anywhere! We’re going to Beech Mountain, which is like half an hour from where we live. And a place where we often take day trips. We did this last October for four nights, and again in April for four nights. SO, we’re doing it for another four nights at the end of September! And… it is better than nothing. It’s actually worked really well because we get an Airbnb and while he hikes all day (that is his thing and it’s especially his thing up there) I use it for a writing retreat. And both the other times he only stayed there one night so I got a mini-vacation by myself which was great. But the downside is there is seriously NOTHING to do up there, other than hike. Which is why it’s a really great place for a writing retreat - no distractions aside from nice long walks! It’s mainly a ski resort area so in the off season most restaurants and bars are closed (not that there are many to start with) and there’s one general store called Freds that’s fun and an icon but is still not enough to occupy you for four days. Or even half an hour. That is, seriously, pretty much it. Everyone drives to our town for entertainment. Obviously there are also no crowds so it’s an excellent Pandemic Days Getaway. I did not think I wanted to do this again at all, but…okay, if I can’t go anywhere else other than maybe a long weekend in Delaware, fine. It’s starting to sound pretty good.

And this whiny entry has gone on WAY too long. Next time I will discuss why I am taking all these writing retreats, and also post some pictures of the Van Gogh exhibit I went to a month ago, which is more proof that HAVE actually been SOMEWHERE lately.