jedimentat

Kingfox turned 43, I turned 42. We got a Water Rower so that we could work out more. Currently, it lives in our library, right in front of the tv, so I guess it is amenable to our very tv-vegged-out lifestyle. I wish I could say that I have been rowing and listening to the sea shanties of TikTok this month, but in truth, I have still spent a lot of time zoned out and watching tv in the wee hours in my blanket cocoon. I have seen 30+ episodes of "Love Island," a sort of Jersey-Shoreish reality show from the UK. I just stare wonderingly at the hot people in bathing suits, all talking to each other *in person*, in a beautiful exotic sunny locale. Sometimes I'm not okay.

If you look at pics from Russell and I from "last" January, and then this January, it looks like we have aged an extra 5 years in one year, IMO. yikes, stress and grimness! I always enjoy checking in on the physical fitness stuff every January and re-setting goals. It won't be hard to beat 2020 in terms of fitness...I basically did nothing after last March, mostly because I lost my time-slot for the gym, gym availability, and was also pretty de-motivated. I have lost all my hard-earned arm muscle and core muscle from last year. Plus, I doubled down on the early (or wholeyear) winterbod; and drank alcohol every day; one drink a day from March through December, and sometimes more than one. I definitely felt the effects of this on my bod; first, it *was* great stress relief, but also by this past fall, my cheeks would flush red with rosacea after every drink no matter what type of alchohol it was, and I can see broken blood vessels in my skin that weren't there before the daily drinking. I cut it out this month, but it has been more difficult than expected, and I certainly miss 'taking the edge off' with booze. There's a lot of edge.

Kingfox had a special dinner for his birthday from a local Mexican place; flan *and* his fave tres leches cake, and enough food to feed an army (or to live in our freezer for a rainy day).

took some bday pics

bike riding at Alexandria Park (until Kirk's bike chain fell off!)

MLK Day-of-Service, we participated in some North H projects this year, making homeless kits and some letter writing.

Breaking open some geodes together

Liberty

Kirk

More on 2020; it has basically been my year of just fitting in small chores in between being at my kids' beck-and-call for virtual school. On an average day, I can fit in laundry, dishes, and making food, and that's about it in terms of time. We haven't even done a lot of compensatory extra 'special' things, because not a lot fits in-between Zooms that supplant full-time school from 9-3:30. I'm not complaining, because the alternative of sending the kids in, when there has been case after case and exposure after exposure, and also putting teachers at risk, is unacceptable, but I also know that this is/was not a practical option for every one. But it has been one of the major factors of 2020 for me. I feel like I saw my kids through this time period the best way that I could. It's not over yet. But now that we're looking at adult vaccinations in April and seeing how things go, it feels like we can start *thinking* about some other activities for the late spring and summer. Maybe even the last marking period in actual, in-person school...could happen, right?

lots of Mario, Pokemon, soooo much Mario Maker, which I think is such a neat game, and some Portal..

oh, laundry, everyday. this is what life looks like.

ticking off the to-do list, every day. mostly virtual school and day-to-day chores.

Liberty's sweet to-do list..

dog-walking

building a St. Basil's Basilica 3D puzzle together

doing some air-dry clay projects

Got a really sweet bday present from friends; this cookbook is *awesome*. Can't wait to make more things from it. We also played some D&D this month.

Smithy

lots of 'doggie-spa' weekends, with dog-baths, nails, etc. Really, it's been a golden time for our dogs

Porter

disposing of our Christmas tree with my doggie-buddy

new bread cloche

stir fry

making chicken broth

chicken salad with harissa dressing, and reading the new recipe books

Notes on Current Events: Jan 6 Capitol Riot

There was a Capitol Insurrection on Jan 6, during the last days of the Trump Administration, with all emerging info and craziness. Like, I'll try to mention some of it here. Watching it, it seemed like a sort of right wing rally that got out of control, but as new information emerged, it was insane, and pretty damning. Watching the footage of people pushing cops, and clubbing one to death with a fire extinguisher (while the people in charge equivocated and argued about sending in and mobilizing the National Guard), smashing and looting, and opening up opportunities to espionage. Yelling that they were going to kill prominent Democrats, finding out that some officials had given "tours" in advance of the riots to tip people the ways to go, that Ayanna Presley's panic button had been disabled in advance, and just the resulting InfoSEc nightmare. Congresspeople still refusing to vote against Trump after he literally told them to go march to the Capitol, and the resulting 6 days of "holy shit this man has the nuclear codes" and watching our ineffective government churn against itself. Such feelings of wanting justice for all of the wrongs, amidst hurried and hypocritical calls for "coming together!" from the side which had instigated and behaved so very badly. Even the head of our local NJ county freeholders led a *bus* down to the "Stop the Steal" rally. I signed a petition for her removal, but so far there's been literally nothing done. Seeing how some of them got in trouble, but certainly on a laughable scale next to the BLM protests, which everyone kept comparing bc of the ridiculous disparities in terms of reasons for protest, scale of illegal behavior, police presence and crackdowns, etc.

Jan 20 Inauguration of Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris

Post Capitol riot, DC filled with security forces ahead of the Inauguration..everyone sort of waited to see if anything was going to happen. The Inauguration on Jan 20., including the first female VP, and stirring words from the 22 year old poet laureate. Kingfox and I watched the concert together in the evening, emceed by America's dad Tom Hanks, and lots of Jersey representing (Bruce, JBJ, Ant). The ludicrousness (beyond outrage into just a sense of ludicrousness) of watching a wonderful dignified event and moving concert, and then switching over to Fox, where they were showing "Antifa riots" in Portland, smashing up a Democratic HQ. Anyway, I'm rambling, because it's just been soo, soo much. But the feeling of relief when Trump was gone...such a breath of fresh air. Knowing that the absolute fuckups like Pompeo would be clearing out. Knowing that Guiliani, Jared, Bannon, Erik Prince, Betsy Devos, and all manner of inefficient, damaging people, would be moving on. The relief of seeing the former first family get on that plane and make their exit.
Experiencing the first Day of Executive Orders, 17 on the first day, much needed= sigh of relief...rejoining the Paris Climate Accords, banning govt officials from becoming certain kinds of lobbyists for 2 years in a move towards actual ethics in our govt, invoking the Defense Production Act to make more Covid vaccines and more N95 production, and funding for states. (pic of Biden with actual binders of actual things, not just blank pieces of paper for theater); requiring masks on federal property during the pandemic (very much a reaction to how Republican colleagues infected others during the shelter-in-place during the Capitol attack and laughed). OSHA guidelines for more formalized workplace safety from Covid, and more FEMA vaccination sites. Halting the border wall. Halting deporations, and creating amnesty for immigrants and paths forward. Protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the Keystone Pipeline nixed. It is going to take time...In four years, the Trump administration reversed more than 100 environmental rules and was so damaging. I'm grateful that we didn't get into any *new* wars, or have a nuclear event, but we did have a massive hack by the Russians, and bungled the Covid response causing massive death in the US.