Waking up on the Wrong Side of 50

My daughter is home this semester.

But that’s a whole other blog.

But what do we do about adult children living at home?

A few weeks ago, my daughter was making herself breakfast- potatoes and eggs. She knows enough about cooking to know that you need to put the potatoes in the pan first so they crisp up. (She was using leftover roasted, so it wouldn’t take long)

I went into the kitchen to make tea. Her potatoes were in the kitchen but she wasn’t.

Of course the potatoes started to get a little crisp (not burnt yet)

1) Do I lower the flame?

2) Do I call my daughter in?

3) Do I let the potatoes burn?

What is the most important thing?

Do I teach my daughter a lesson about why you don’t leave cooking food unattended?

Or do I “safely” let the food burn, knowing I’m right there and aware?

What’s the best way to teach something?

Do we explain?

Do we let them fail?

Do we just do for them?

Discuss

Every night I go around collecting the masks my family has used that day. I put them in a mesh laundry bag so they don’t get lost in the machine. Husband and daughter think I’m a little nuts. They don’t quite get why they should change their mask every day.

So I said to them…

You should change your mask as often if you change your underwear

They looked at me blankly.

So I’m grateful that I have other things that I’m good at, because I’ve definitely failed as wife, mother and family matriarch.

What do you remember nineteen years ago?

What will you remember nineteen years from now?

We are going to go theoretical today.

Every person has a widget in their body. Hunans can’t live without a widget. If someone’s widget begins to fail, the Doctor’s must perform a widget transplant. It’s hard to get a widget because obviously, you have to wait for a widget donor, and it has to be a match.

Got me so far?

A widget becomes available.

The next three people on the list of donors are:

1) A- 50 year old. History of alcohol and substance abuse. Overweight

2) B-73 year old. At stage where everything is just a little off

3) C-23 year old. Medical Student. Takes excellent care of body.

Who would you give the widget to?

What is the 1,2,3 order that you put them in?

Why?

Now, look at the person you put first to get widget. What if they were your nemesis? Would you still want them to get widget first?

What if your third choice was a relative? Would that impact your decision?

Think of all the external factors. Are there any things that sway your mind to switch the order that you initially created?

What do you personally think about when making a decision? Do you look at just the facts, or do other things sway you?

Discuss.

On a side note: my computer crashed yesterday. I’ll be using my iPad until I get a new computer, and I’m worse on my iPad than my computer. So expect errors and such

As block editor has finally come to a computer near me, I’m going to try something today…..

Every time the song gets translated, a little piece of it changes. This is what happens in the retelling of a story. Some things get magnified, other things omitted, some things take on a new meaning.

Because this song is one many of us know, even through the translations, we recognize what the song is supposed to be.

But what would happen if we didn’t know the original song?

What if you thought you needed a star?

Does the dream need to come true?

True, the translator did a fairly decent job of translating. But how do we know which words and which ideas need to be relayed exactly?

Are we ever quite sure what we are being told from a second hand source? Or third hand?

What if the translator isn’t as good as Google translate? How do we know how good the source is?

When I played with this yesterday, one of the languages thought “lullaby” was a place, so my the time I got back to English the word had become Lalaby….

What’s my point?

I have no idea anymore. Too much copy/paste…

But just be careful when you hear something. Make sure it makes sense to you. Don’t relay stories that you’re not quite sure about.

Be careful what you copy and paste….be careful what you take as true. Listen with both ears. Think about what you hear.

Somewhere in here I have messages. If you can figure out what I’m saying, please tell me….

Too much translating for my brain today.

Too much block editor.

My daughter took a one credit pass/fail course over the summer. The class was practical: resume writing, linked in help, cover letter inclusions and how to act on an interview. There was one thing thought that the teacher did not know how to answer:

When you meet a prospective client or employer for the first time, what will replace the handshake?

When you meet someone now, what gesture are you going to use?

Do you bow?

Do you wave your hand in the air?

Do you nod your head?

Shake and immediately sanitize? There was a TV character Monk who had many issues, and he would expect someone to hand him a wipe after anyone touched him. Will we all become Monk?

And what if it’s a friend or acquaintance?

Hugs are taboo, much less the Euro two cheek kiss.

Do we all revert to the air kiss from six feet apart?

What about birthday parties?

Candles?

Don’t you shudder at the thought of someone blowing out candles and then everyone taking a piece of cake?

There have always been instances when we touch other humans: touch is actually good if it’s wanted.

But what do we do now that we don’t think touching is so good anymore?

Will we retreat further into ourselves and grow farther away from human interaction?

Will the next big thing from Apple be little pods that we can seal ourselves up in, full body condoms, ensuring that we will be distanced from those around us?

How do we replace touch?

More importantly, do we want to replace touch?

Reach out and touch me by commenting your feelings.

My daughter and I went out to an outdoor restaurant a few months ago. As the waiter bought us out menus the first thing they stated was that if we ordered an alcoholic beverage, we must order food at the same time.

You see, Governor Cuomo of New York made an interesting decision. He stated that during pandemic, alcohol could not be sold in a restaurant/bar without food being sold along with it. Of course, these establishments retaliated by selling “Cuomo Chips”- bags of chips for 1$. Then he started to define what constitutes “food” and all of a sudden a piece of cheese on two slices of stale white is being heralded as cuisine du jour.

Last week, one of New York’s state universities shut it’s in person operations. Reason: too many kids partying. Too many worries about disease spreading.

So let’s get down to the meat of the issue: alcohol.

In early contact tracing, clusters and spreads of COVID are being traced to situations where alcohol is being served. People have a couple of drinks: first off- it you’re drinking you’re not wearing a mask. (I have yet to see people drinking a beer out of a straw) Secondly, you’re probably not standing six feet apart from someone you don’t share a house with.

Alcohol and pandemic: is it a good mix?

Here’s my question:

IF alcohol sales had been banned in March, would COVID be over in the US?

to be clear- this is not my opinion- I am asking a question- see the question mark?? I highlighted the IF and the ?…

I understand that there are many who say that people would not have survived pandemic without alcohol: But- would not having it for two weeks stopped the early spread?

Would things be “more normal” now?

I asked one of my friends this question. Their response was “what about people who have an addiction issue?”

OK- fair question.

My response: Aren’t we trying to help the MAJORITY of the people? Wasn’t the whole point of lock down to protect the majority?

Did alcohol fan the flames of COVID spread?

Discuss:

This incident happened a few weeks ago, but think it’s still worth talking about.

I was walking home from the Farmer’s Market, bags of produce in each hand. Somewhat heavy. It was a a windy day as I walked along the streets of Manhattan, but in my mind there was not a care in the world…

As I was mentally singing along to my spotify playlist, a huge gust of wind blew my dress up in the air…and I mean all the way up….

Imagine if you will, My dress flung so high it’s practically over my head…

and I’m carrying heavy bags and I can’t quite get the dress down,

and I’m worried about my ear buds flying off into the avenue…

and all I could think was:

I am so grateful that I’m wearing hipsters instead of a thong…