Pandemic social distancing diary thread

#948

First self-portrait in fifteen years. Mechanical pencil.

portrait012
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#949

I’ve ironically become more social than I’ve been in years. E-mailing and texting people I’ve not seen in a while. Being more active online. Annoying my family by picking up the saxophone for the first time in over a decade. It’s strange.

#950

Lol, college is back in session. This town is crawling with students from Chicago. Nice move.

Also, half my relatives in Chicago are all positive they’re all screwed for two weeks.

#952

still pretty much iso up here in SLC, although the city/state is doing pretty good on the numbers. We’re on a large downward trend. Good time to get out into the mountains, most definitely.

seems like everyone here is pretty somber and hunkered down as well!

Now… if I could only stop playing Warframe and focus on some music… XD

#953

Yeah, my sister said Moab is back in full force. Can’t stop those fucking tourists.

#954

Hey, while you’re all isolating and identifying more with a plastic lego man than a person, come do a BB track!!

#955

^ Ha! Nah, I just tried to get back into Japan, but this tattoo will cause problems (also I want to get a plastic butt and bang it. Never done plastic before.)

Salutations, far thee well, my music making abilities are totally fucked for now.

#956

bruh
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#957

Ha…I may have been a bit drunk and having a conversation in Japanese when I posted that… I knew I told SOMEBODY I wanted a plastic butt…

#958

#959

Also, I work 72 hour weeks and my software is still screwed, and I moved. No time for beat battles. Okay, off to work.

EDIT - whoops. Make that 76.

#960

So, my university is unveiling this phased approach to re-opening campus this semester. It’s not going to be fully in person, but it will be opened to students, staff, and faculty, though I think a majority of classes are going to be online.

They just announced this last week, as this week was supposed to be when students started coming in. In the first phase, they start classes only online, so ALL classes are online. The next phase, on Sept 7, they start bringing in first year students, grad students, and law students into the in-person classes. Then in phase 3, they bring in everyone else who’s taking in-person classes. But the thing is, they’re also gonna be doing testing for all individuals, TWICE a week, and honestly the whole thing just sounds so exhausting lol.

Of course, we were already basically all remote over the summer and all the covid jazz, but when we were returning, we had to get a test and only return if we had a negative result, which we did that part. But now we switched to this phased approach, where EVERYONE on campus will take a test twice a week. Luckily it’s a spit test rather than the one where they stick a q tip up your nose.

idk, being someone who’s working in a live audio/lighting position at the university, where essentially, I’m pretty sure almost nothing is going to be happening for the remainder of the semester. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I’m getting paid, but I’m pretty sure I’m mostly going to sitting around just reading tech papers and books to pass the time.

Now there’s news reports of at least three universities I’ve read that opened, but then shut down after their COVID cases just spiked (Uni North Carolina, Uni of Michigan, one other…), and I’m feeling like we’re just gonna shut down again lol. Honestly I kinda hope we do, cuz at least then I’d know I’ll be staying home until January.

Granted, I’m a little concerned still about the budget. My department specifically falls within the student government, which is paid for by student fees, so we’re not funded by the general university budget, so while the university if taking budget cuts, that won’t affect us. However, student enrollment IS down, and further I’ve heard that with so many students taking online classes, they’re offering student fees to be optional (even worse), so we may be making budget cuts ourselves, and being the guy who’s supposed to be doing live sound and lighting for events that are just not happening, I admit I am kinda concerned.

I am the new guy still tho, which i feel miiight help. Also, as we’ve suffered the loss of the previous coordinator, as well as most of our student techs leaving and not being able to replace them, we’ve actually dropped our budget quite a bit (tho admittedly, it wasn’t a planned reduction).

idk. I am honestly kinda considering putting out applications to different places. Even if we get through this semester, I’m wondering if we’ll even be able to have big events by the Spring semester.

#961

^Welcome to the world, dude (and I mean the world). I fucking HOPE you’re getting paid. My second job is at a school, and it’s a nightmare for everybody but the janitorial staff.

But really, don’t quit your job and look for other work, if you get paid. I work with baddass women who bust their fucking asses while pregnant in a factory, and I got a one dollar meal from some high schooler from taco bell tonight. Maybe stick with it?

I am so fucking happy with my situation right now. No bullshit, my 38 years of life have lead me to this moment.

My friend Mio in Japan, my VERY GOOD FRIEND who everybody should know from my various music releases and links on this site, has a college degree and can barely make ends meet. “How’s your new job? How much do you make?” “Not enough.” My other friend is living off of miso soup. I sent her this message the other day about visiting Japan and seeing her in simple English: 20200819_232456

Two drunkass rednecks just drove by…

Honestly, I’m good. Focusing on getting me and my parents (I live with them…it’s a fucking sweet setup, and my mom (who’s a teacher who retired thisbyeat at the PERFECT time) outta here.

I’m rambling. Goodnight! Very interesting times, indeed.

#962

I mean, I’m not quitting my job unless I have other work, I’m mostly talking about putting out applications, as the process of going from application interview itself can takes months.

#963

^ No worries! I’ll be there a year from now.

#964

This ummmm thing we are putting up with,covid,democracy,income inequality,free range oligarchy etc.
has me quite bummed.i find myself missing my cat’s peanut and pipsqueak.it has been over 2 years.
so i am planning a kitty!not sure if i should get a young shelter cat or a kitten.but i do miss a kitty keeping me company.they are quite loving and fun despite rumors to the contrary!

#965

argh I’ve been seriously considering getting a kitty, but the apartment I moved into this year doesn’t allow any pets so I’m stuck for at least this year, because the apartment was a really good deal. I’d like to have a kitty tho.

#966

yeah,i am not supposed to have a pet,and this place is tiny.but my neighbors have cats,and the guy downstairs has a dog.sooooo. ima do it anyway.i still miss my lil buddies but i think a new lil buddy would help.
too bad about no pets,i think that is entirely communist!

#967

Life’s pretty good for me, all things considered.

My work is not at all impacted by Covid, and back in March my company sent over half of the company across the State home to work with gear provided.

The current plan for the length of working from home is “indefinite”.
Works for me. Our department production rate has gone up with everyone being home, and because we feel more in need to check in on each other with meetings, we’re more in tune than ever.

I’m saving $400 in gas a month. However, we’re spending about $300/month more in groceries since we’re not waiting for discounts, but just buying in larger lumps in fewer visits. Still, ~$100 savings is still good.

I’ve got my office set up, and I get to keep staying at home for the rest of the year at the very least.
I always prefer working from home, but they rarely have allowed it in the past - even though there’s seriously no reason for me to drive 40 miles to sit in an office to click and type on a laptop for 8 hours.

Our kids have been home schooled for years (because allergies which lead to two ER visits from public school), but the home school here is more like a charter school (teachers and gear provided and you teach what the teachers don’t - basically, you teach the core stuff).

So really…since we’re not very social anyway, we’re enjoying our personal condition pretty well.

Cheers,
Jayson

#968

Yeh its always good to have an emergency food supply :wink: