Day 12: Counting Squares

I had a video call with Cheryl last night. While I was waiting for her to join I noticed that, when you wave your hands really fast in front of the camera, it creates an unusual effect.

I looked out my back window around 6:30 this morning and observed in the dawn light two amorous blue jays in my yard. The guy impressed his intended by hopping in circles around her, but when he tried to close the deal, she’d have none of it. He gave up and flew away into the bushes. She followed. But wait: maybe that was two males, because they were both brightly colored.

The toilet paper situation is not quite as dire since I received the four rolls from Ma, but I’m rationing: carefully unrolling one, two, three squares at a time.

Ever seeking something to occupy my underutilized mind, I searched online for more art prompts and found a site that generates them. Here’s the inspiration it spat out for me to draw: In the distance, a great beast rose from the treetops.

Eleni told me about a 12-week MOOC class on Coursera called Bugs 101, offered by the University of Alberta. I signed up for it just to see what it’s like.

I’m trying to snack less, but pants are clearly tighter than when this shelter in place started.

It’s fun to look through the digitized images from Mom’s scrapbooks, which she’s kept since 1949. I just opened a file at random, and this is what was there:

Jay, Kate, Dad, Ginna, Ma, 1964

I was just telling my housemate Elana that I’m having a hard time focusing on activities, and minute to minute jump from one to the next like a flea. She was amused to picture my head on a flea body, so I had to Photoshop it for her.

Okay, I’m going to go watch The Good Place on Netflix for 30 seconds. Then I might give Coursera’s Introduction to Arthropods video a try. Forty-five seconds later, I’ll check my e-mail and then run back to Netflix to sample the series that Molly wants me to see, called Pose. Give me a minute for that, and then it’ll be time to pace. I don’t know what’s wrong with my concentration, but my lack thereof is frustrating.

3 comments

  1. I’m sorry you’re so antsy-though it’s a perfectly reasonable response, under the circumstances. I wonder what a FitBit would tell you about your pacing. Could be surprising. I’d also like to point out that it was just a few days ago that you wished you were being more creative with your time but look at you now!

  2. I’m relieved that you’re doing well on the TP front. Thank the heavens. Be cautious.

    That is a very fearsome and convincing beast. I like it.

    If your pants are getting too tight, you just need comfier squishier pants.

    You make a very elegant flea.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *