DAY 109 STILL FEELING LIKE I AM HAVING A FLARE

Day 109 since I left the house.

I am having issues with my eyes.  I don't think it is blocked tear ducts, it feels different.  They hurt.  Maybe something is going wrong.  Maybe I need to rest my eyes more.  I stare at computers and TVs all day. 

Until tomorrow...

DAY 108 FLARE AGAIN?

Day 108 since I left the house.

I may be having a flare again.  It is not like I over did it this past weekend.  (that was sarcasm)  I basically laid around and watched four movies.  I am so fatigued.  My eyes are having problems from the Sjogrens syndrome.  I think things are going south again.  I am going to bed.

Until tomorrow...

DAY 107 HAPPY PRIDE!

Day 107 since I left the house.

I woke up and decided to start watching the last two Gay/Lesbian movies from the film festival.  I had my day all planned out.  Movie in the morning, catch W. Kamau Bell speaking virtually at Pride, Book Club first time, movie number 2. Sounds like a full Pride day.  Best laid plans, don't they say?!

The first set of movies was called Boys in Shorts (or something like that) and it is a bunch of shorts like the movies I saw yesterday.  I will tell you what I think without telling you about them:

• Matt and Dan Pics? - it was about texting and I thought it was the funniest of all the shorts.
• When in Rome - was short and I can't say anything without giving it away but it was too funny.
• Go Go Boy! - about a boy wanting to dance. It was cute.
• Pete Can't Play Basketball - I think the title says it all.  It was cute and made more sense after I saw the Q&A section after the movie.
• About A Short Film - this was so odd I am not sure if I liked it or not.
• Blow Job - it is not what you are thinking (get your mind out of the gutter) and the shortest short in this film festival history.
• Island Queen - It stars two famous people (Jesse Tyler Ferguson from Modern Family and Rachel Dratch from SNL) and is okay.  It wasn't as funny as I thought it would be considering who is in it.
• The Dick Appointment - First the sound quality was bad and I couldn't hear all the dialogue with my volume all the way up.  It is about Grinder in a good way.  I thought it was sweet.
• Short Calf Muscle - It was interesting considering the current climate with BLM.  I thought it was good.
• The Shawl - I thought it was good but Stevie Nicks is a weird thing to do a short like this about.

Those were the shorts in the first movie.  Then my friend S called and we caught up since she moved 3 hours from her previous home and got a new job that she loves. 

I turned on to see W. Kamau Bell from CNN talk at Virtual Pride.  He has a show United Shades of America on CNN.  He lives in Oakland and he is seen all over Northern California.  I have never seen him but others have.

Then I tried to log onto the Book Club.  It is an existing book club but I thought I would check it out.  The zoom said 3pm.  It was at 2pm.  The zoom was wrong. Whoever booked the zoom put in the wrong time.  That was a bust.  So I decided to watch the second movie.  I clicked on the link and bamm it didn't work.  It said I was too late.  I thought I had until 7pm.  I sent an email and minutes later I got an email back stating there was a problem and I did have until 11:30 pm. 

So I started watching the movie Summerland.  It was really good.  I expect to see it in the movie theaters (if we ever get back into movie theaters) [Let me take this time to remind folks to wear a mask when you leave your house if you are not.  Stand at least 6 feet apart.  This was a public service announcement.]  It was that good.  It was about Britain during World War II when the kids were sent out of London to the countryside to protect them from the bombing.  This boy is sent out to the country to live with a woman who doesn't want a child in her home.  The story is SO much more than that.  I thought it would be slow and I would hate it (in all honesty I didn't have to pay for it and I got it for free so I thought why not watch it) but it was exactly the opposite!  It moved along quickly and it kept my attention all the way through.  There is a quick cameo by Penelope Wilton who starred in the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  Also Tom Courtenay who starred in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society had a supporting role.  I loved this movie!

Until tomorrow...

DAY 106 PINK SATURDAY AND MOVIE REVIEWS

Day 106 since I left the house.

Today is Pink Saturday, the day before Gay Pride.  Usually there is a big celebration with people in the streets.  Not this year.  My friends party is obviously cancelled in person but turned virtual.  It starts in a few hours and I will report on it later.  I just wanted to get my movie reviews written while they were fresh in my mind: (if you are not interested in these movies, skip down a bit)

I watched two Gay/Lesbian film festival selections this morning.  Since I have the virtual party this afternoon I wanted to knock out two of the four movies I paid for first thing today.  Last night I had to watch RuPaul's Allstars Drag race to kick off the weekend.  Okay here are my impressions of the movies:

First I watched the what is called Girl's in Shorts; which is a collection of short films.  Some are really short like 3-5 minutes.

• Break In - It is about sending a text to a person by mistake.  I really thought it was funny.
• Dinette - It was so weird I am not even sure I can explain it.
• The Secret Gardener - It was about straight women and it was stupid.
  
• CC Dances the GoGo - It was about a gogo dancer and I thought it was really well shot and interesting.
• I Know Her - It was super short so I can't say anything about it without giving it all away but it was FUNNY!
• Were You Gay In High School? - It was about high school crushes and I thought it was well done.
• 6:23 AM - It was about forgetting someone's name.  I thought it was good.
• Peach - It was about a date or not.  I found it frustrating.

Then I watched a regular length film called Stage Mother.  There was a lot of hype about this movie in the "booklet" online so I decided to view it.  I am SO glad I did.  It was laugh out loud funny  and it made me cry.  It was SO well acted.  I think it should go to theaters.  It stars Jackie Weaver who received Academy Award Nominations for Best Supporting Actress for both Animal Kingdom and Silver Lining Playbook and Lucy Lui who you know from Ally McBeal and Elementary.  It also stars Adrian Grenier from Entourage.  A great cast!  It is a movie about a drag queen who passes away and leaves his drag club to his estranged Southern mother.  I highly recommend it. 

I went to my friend's virtual Pink Saturday to hear a drag queen sing.  It was a 30 minute concert.  It was very nice and she sang one of my favorite songs The Rainbow Connection by Paul Williams.  She does a lovely version of it.  I like The Carpenters version too.  It was a great way to celebrate Pink Saturday.  It is such a cold and windy day, I am find staying inside today!

Until tomorrow...

DAY 105 THREE BEAN SALAD AND PRIDE WEEKEND

Day 105 since I left the house.

Happy Pride Weekend!  It doesn't really feel like Pride Weekend.  Normally I would be getting ready to either walk in the parade or watch the parade.  Tomorrow is Pink Saturday and there would be a big party.  I would be meeting friends for ice cream or a drink.  The restaurants and bars would be super crazy.  The energy would be exciting.  The Gay/Lesbian film festival is this weekend too.  I would be going to see a movie or two.  You will read about the events I participate in.  Last night I was supposed to zoom with a lesbian author but the zoom link didn't work.  Tonight I watched RuPaul's Allstar's Dragrace to kick off the weekend.

I made a Three Bean Salad today.  I have been craving a three bean salad for weeks but I have not been able to get waxed beans delivered.  Today I decided to use garbanzo beans instead. I used green beans, kidney beans and garbanzo beans.  It has to sit for 12 hours before it is ready to eat.  I am so excited to eat it tomorrow.  It looks delicious.  I can't wait to eat it.

This weekend I will make a burger and eat it with the salad.  It will make a good lunch or dinner.  I hope the weather cooperates for Pride Weekend.

Until tomorrow...

DAY 104 RODENTS DEALT WITH

Day 104 since I left the house.

I had the Pest Guy come today and spend over an hour working on the rodent issue.  Here is the low down (and I mean low down):

It seems that the rats/mice are coming from the neighbor's house next door through the wall.  They dug through the wall and entered my house under my front stairs.  They couldn't find anything to eat in my garage (you only have to learn that lesson once in a life time!) and then burrowed through my wall to get to my hallway and then chewed the stripping off my door to get out.  They are not the smartest because if they had gone a few feet down, the door doesn't meet the floor and they could have casually walked/crawled right under the door instead of burrowing through a solid wall.  It would have cost me less too! 

So the guy took cement and filled the holes going to the neighbor's house.  Then he took metal plates and covered the holes made in the sheet rock.  I still need someone to come and fix the stripping on my door but that is an issue for another day.  He then took three traps and put them in places where he saw droppings just in case Marvin the Mouse or Randy the Rat is still lurking about.  Lucky is now banned from the garage for the foreseeable future.  She loves peanut butter almost as much as rodents. 

It wasn't from the chickens after all.  Although the Pest Guy said they were probably looking for food and they got a whiff of the chickens and took off to go find them.  We shall see how this all plays out.  I was super surprised to hear they entered from the neighbors and not from the chickens.  But he is right.  The outside of the door was not chewed at all.  Only the inside.  So they were trying to get out to the chickens.  Doesn't mean they won't try and come back.  Time will tell.  But for the moment I won't have rodent filled nightmares and Lucky won't be sniffing at the door.  Ah, city living.

Until tomorrow...

DAY 103 RODENTS IN MY WALKWAY

Day 103 since I left the house.

Two days ago I noticed that some rodents had chewed a hole in my wall.  It seemed concerning but not an emergency.  Then yesterday I saw that another wall had the paint chewed off and the rubber around my door chewed off.  This was SUPER concerning.  I called the Pest Guy but it was the end of the work day so I had to leave a message.  The message was an urgent one like "HELP".  Today I must have called four times and kept getting voicemail.  My assumption was he is really busy after being locked down.  He called me in the afternoon and he is coming tomorrow.  I told him he has to distance himself and he said no problem.  I don't need to tell him what to do and I plan to put signs up just in case.  He is going to text me when he gets close so I can unlock the door.  He can call me from downstairs.  We don't have to have any contact at all.  When he is done, I can go down and disinfect the area. 

I think my neighbor with the chickens and I will need to have a conversation.  This is the 4th time I have had a problem with rodents since they got the chickens.  I asked them to move them and they have not.  I think this is the last straw.  The chickens are too close per the city ordinance and we gave it a chance and it is not working out.  They are going to have to move them or get rid of them.   I feel bad because they like those chickens but I think I have been patient. 

We shall see what the pest guy says tomorrow.  I have taken photos for evidence.

Until tomorrow...

DAY 102 STONEWALL AUTHOR TALK

Day 102 since I left the house.

I have been trying to keep myself busy.  I have signed myself up for zoom author talks, zoom movie festivals, video webinars for work, and an online bookclub.  I figure these are just up my alley.  I like to go to things but I hate to commit.  I like to learn things but I hate to actually attend seminars/classes.  So zoom or online is perfect!  I can sign up and if I change my mind, I can not log on or just cancel and no one will ever know.  I can leave a webinar early and there is no shame.  No getting up out of the chair and slinking to the door while the speaker is speaking or waiting for a break to quickly run out of the room.  I just click the LEAVE button.  Bye! 

Tonight I listened to a speaker who talked about Gay and Lesbian life before the Stonewall Riots.  It was a bit dry but interesting.  I learned some history.  It also made me think of ways to make his presentation more interesting and how to spice it up.  Plus I did some work while he spoke.  I have a hard time doing one thing especially when the one thing is not holding my full attention. 

Until tomorrow...

DAY 101 STAYCATION?

Day 101 since I left the house.

My presentation went well today.  I stayed up late last night and worked on it.  Sharing documents on Zoom can be wonky. 

The cases in the west coast are going up and our governor has said that anyone 65 or older or if you have a pre-existing condition, you should stay inside.  I was actually thinking of maybe taking Lucky for walks while people were at work but forget that now.  There have been 47 deaths in my area.  It is a small amount considering and in my state there have been many thousands but not in my area.  My area was quick to shut down and quick to wear masks.  It is uncommon to see someone mask-less.  Not like what I see on the news in other areas. 

If this is still wave #1 and it is increasing, I have gotten my mindset ready that this is going to go on much longer than I was hoping for.  Getting out in December is a dream.  I need to get my head around being in here through next June and just hope it is sooner.  I need to work out a plan and organize myself.  Do a little more organizing of Lucky and Sunny.  Finish my emergency plan.  Really get serious about this.  It is not going to be a short term stay at home.

I have been thinking of having a Staycation.  I have heard of people having Staycations before and thought they were interesting but not for me.  Well, maybe they are for me.  If you don't know what a Staycation is, it is a vacation where you stay home.  I am home.  I want a vacation.  Here is how I was going to plan it:

1. Pick a time when the weather is great!  Now is not the best time, it is too windy and cool.
2. Maybe send Lucky away.  At least for the day so I don't have to deal with her and she gets lots of exercise. Today she was away all day and she is knocked out.
   
3. Blow up my baby pool and fill with water in the backyard.
4. Clear out the backyard so I can relax.  Put out my folding relaxing chairs.
5. Put a vacation message on my work email.
6. Pick a good book.
7. Order in food and no cooking except for barbecuing.
8. Make some good mock-tails.
9. Sleep late.
10. Take long baths.
11. Watch movies.
12. Zoom a few museums.
    

Doesn't that sound wonderful!  I have to plan this, I think. 

Until tomorrow....

DAY 100 LANDMARK

Day 100 since I left the house.

Day 100.  I feel like I hit a landmark.  100 days.  There is an ad here that keeps playing.  It says "Count all of the the hugs you haven't given, all the hands you haven't held, all the dinners you haven't shared with friends, and the trips you haven't taken. Keep track of them. Each one means one less person vulnerable, one less person exposed, and one step closer to a healthy community."   I have started thinking of all the times I would have gone to help a friend in need and I can't.  Or gone to a family function and can't.  Or made a decision to do something but couldn't.  I don't have a list but I am definitely thinking about it.

But I am also thinking of all the people who are helping me by bringing me groceries, buying things at Home Depot and getting them to me, collecting my mail, walking up my steps (when they do not have to) to pick up my mail, taking my dog to the vet, and helping me in so many ways!  How I appreciate them in ways they will never understand. 

I got to talk to some family for Father's Day and some friends for my weekly chat.  I also hung some photos of Happi. 

Until tomorrow...