phyncke

Yikes - it has been a while since I posted here. Did not realize that. I have been here and working and all that so not much to report this month. I will do the run down.

On my car - I have gotten the funds together to fix the transmission and will be getting it fixed next week on the 22nd of April. So that is good. I am trying not to drive the car that much and just doing essential things. To the store and home really.

Last week, I took Friday off for a personal day and went to San Francisco with my friend, J***. We got lobster rolls at Luke's Lobster and went to Stella Bakery in North Beach. I got a cannoli there and it was so delicious. I really love cannoli's. Their are the chocolate chip kind and really fresh and so very good. We used to take Uber's around the city but this time we walked the whole way and that was really fun. We got lots of steps in and got to see what was happening there. I have to say I noticed that there were not many people in the city and that there are lots of closed businesses there. The pandemic has not been kind to SF. We ended up at the Ferry Building there on our way back to the ferry home and it was really quiet there and lots of the businesses in the Ferry Building were closed. It is very sad. I had a good time but it is sobering to see the effects of the pandemic on SF. I hope things come back or revitalize soon.

I am reading a really good book right now. I heard a short story by Shirley Jackson on NPR's Selected Shorts recently and that got me interested in her writing so I found her book The Haunting Of Hill House at the used book store and am reading that now. It is beautifully written and really absorbing. So happy to be reading it. I am also still reading David Sedaris - The Best of Me and those stories are very funny - I read those in doses and also still reading Down Girl - The Logic of Misogyny for book group - we do a chapter of that each week for book group. I always have multiple things on my book shelf. Lots of things going on for the literature.

Work is busy - I had an event recently - my awards ceremony for mentoring and it went really well on Zoom - we had 80 people there and that was great. The awardees felt well cared for so that makes me feel good. I have another event coming up for fellowships students and need to do stuff for that and student competitions today. So lots going on.

That is about all for me. Just wanted to put a post up here. I am really upset about the incidents that have happened with the Police recently in the USA. I cannot believe they happen when the trial for Derek Chauvin is happening. Like seriously? When is this going to stop?

Hope you are doing well where you are there. Peace.

Hello - here I am - still alive and reasonably healthy here on the West Coast, USA. The pandemic is raging here in my country and we have no national leadership on the epidemic. Nada. The White House is about to come out and tell us that we have to "live with it" and so it looks like we are on our own and that local government will have to deal with this. No national guidance and leadership on this at all. The countries that are doing well with this have had central leadership on it and strong central leadership - from what I can see through observation and reading articles - New Zealand is one example of this - strong leadership. So we are quite literally screwed here and a lot of people are going to die because of it. When Trump was elected - he used the word carnage in his inaugural address - seemingly talking about previous Administrations - well that was foreshadowing to this time - and this is the carnage we are living through - the large death toll from an unchecked pandemic. This is horrible and he is to blame. He keeps saying that he thinks it will just go away. The man is delusional. He truly is.

One thing I am looking forward to is this upcoming book from Mary L. Trump - she is the President's niece and it looks to be an insider expose of the Trump family. I lived with her in college so I am extremely excited that she wrote a book about her crazy family. Finally, she is going to get it all out there. I have not been in touch with her since college but I plan on trying to write her after I read the book. It is a psychological analysis of the family and has lots of inside dirt on them. Should be very good. You can find it on Amazon under her name as the author. The Trump's tried to block the publishing of this book but have failed so far at that so this is going to be released. Yay!

Anyhoo. I am still working from home and will be for the foreseeable future - probably until January 2021. That is what they are telling us. I am ok with that though it does get a little lonely. I miss the interactions at work and the people. I live alone so it is lonely here. I do live in a house with 4 other apartments but we are not really hanging out at all. So that is that.

I am amazed and glad that the race issue has exploded in the US - I am in full agreement with the BLM protestors and think it is time that we work on this. The problem has been with us since the foundation of our country and before - time to deal with this and change our society to one where all are treated equally. We have a lot of work to do and it will not be easy. I am doing some reading on this right now and learning about our own history - it is not pretty and not nice.

Anyhoo - that is a lot of heavy stuff. Hope all is well with you where you are.