Is it 2021 Yet?
Jun. 4th, 2020 09:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taz_39Seriously you guys.
This f***ing year.
My week was "normal", whatever that is any more.
Despite living in Orlando, I didn't see whole lot of disruption due to the George Floyd protests. I think they mostly took place downtown and were mostly peaceful. That's good. Orlando's government offices are downtown, and that's who needs to be targeted for these demonstrations imo. Not residential neighborhoods, not shopping plazas (although I guess there was some looting over by Millennia Mall, WTH people are finding worth looting over there is beyond me.)
My dad posted something negative on facebook which sparked a whole big family argument, with my sisters and I basically ganging up on him. I stayed pretty well out of it, except to make one comment, that I wish my Dad wouldn't cherry-pick negative events and instead focus on the postive actions taking place during this time. But it was still upsetting to see my family disagreeing publicly like that. I love my dad but he tends to be pretty negative and also refuses to look inward a lot of times. Not to make a blanket statement but, typical Boomer stuff, kind of. Oblivious to his own racism, if that makes sense.
Anyway, in an effort to keep my own blood pressure down I stayed out of it.
I have lots of black/brown/all sorts of shades of friends, and I'd rather focus on making sure they're ok and have what they need, that I'm here for them and the people/organizations that I can actually help. I would also like to work on my own knowledge and understanding, so my sisters and I are going to read some books on race together. That, to me, is positive action I can take.
Raging on social media does nothing for anyone but perpetuate outrage and negativity. That's my view anyway.
Going along with trying to keep my sanity and some calm in all this chaos, I decided not to make posts on anything political/social whatsoever on social media. No one needs to know where I stand. No one needs to hear my Ted Talk about my widdle feelings. All of the internet is in an uproar, everyone is screaming to be heard over each other and the noise is so loud you can't hear anything. I'm just not going to do it.
Instead, I posted all the things I would regularly post. Garden pics. Food pics. Sending little "happy birthday" messages to my friends. Liking their pictures or statements. I just want people to know that when they see a post from me, they can know, without a doubt, that it's not going to be some inflammatory rage post or overshared meme or yet another reshare of violence and hate. I want my friends to know that whaever I post will be something to bring peace, or just a little break from the constant stream of unrest coming from every direction right now. That's all I want to contribute online right now, is a safe space and a little breathing room.
Maybe that's selfish, but hey. We can all post what we like on our pages, right?
So then! Work this week was kind of crazy because we're trying to go back to the old (longer) way of monitoring people. But we also now have to monitor and troubleshoot the people who are in the new beta work from home project. And we have to hop on calls ourselves. And the CapTel headquarters was damaged by flooding in Wisconsin so we've been covering their call load as well. It's kind of...a lot right now. We're all doing the best we can, but I wonder how long this is going to go on, and what changes will result from all the constant shifting responsibilities at work.
At home, the pollinator garden is starting to attract some new insects!
This is mostly because the milkweed has finally bloomed!
I managed to film two different species of butterfly enjoying my milkweed: a pipevine swallowtail, and a queen butterfly.
Both male. "My milkweed brings all the boys to the yard", lol!
My other plants are doing really well too. The little watermelon seed I planted just a month ago is now longer than my arm. It was starting to latch onto the mint plant, and I was kinda concerned about how long it might get (I'm reading up to 12ft?! Sh*t), so I went out and got some chicken wire and jerry-rigged a trellis for it. I'll train it to basically loop around the trellis as many times as it needs to as it grows. Maybe this will help keep it off the mint and mystery sprouts.
On Wednesday the watermelon had both male and female flowers blooming! I made sure to pollinate them right away. Hopefully it takes.
Dang, there's so much going on with my plants but I don't want to drown you all in pics.
My vanilla has finally attached itself to its host tree so soon I'll be able to untie it.
The mint plant is getting huge, with some leaves as long as 4 inches. I've never seen a mint plant that big!
Might have mentioned this last week, I had two passion fruits growing and they both fell off the plant, still green. I thought maybe something was wrong, or that a recent storm might have knocked them down. But once I brought the fruit inside they started to turn pink, then purple! After about a week I figured I'd better cut them open or risk them rotting. They were fully formed, just like any you'd buy in a store. And they tasted delicious. I was so happy! My plant is probably just young and not ready to really produce yet. And that's fine!
What else, what else. Jameson had his first "gig" on Saturday, livestreaming a rehearsal while his band got together in a mostly empty bar to play. Even if most people aren't comfortable attending live events like this in person yet, I still think it brings hope that we'll be able to hang out with each other again soon, and share some drinks and laughs.
On Wednesday, besides pollinating the watermelon and building it a trellis, I mopped the floors and dusted and had a make-up steno class. It's the end of the semester and I've done pretty well, ending up with a 97 overall. It's amazing how much I've learned...I remember when spelling words like "smart" and "dog" were difficult, and now I'm typing entire paragraphs with full punctuation and everything. Crazy! I hope this continues to be a good thing, and something that I'll be able to earn a living with later on.
Wednesday night I didn't feel like cooking, so we got pizza. I had gone grocery shopping earlier and on a whim had bought angel food cake and berries. It took only a few minutes to whip up some homemade whipped cream to make an awesome light fluffy dessert :)
Thursday I got up and took a little walk outside to see my plants, then spent some time goofing off online.
Right after lunch I drove out to an Asian grocery in Kissimmee for soba noodles (Publix, Target, and Walmart did not have them).
While waiting in line to check out I saw that someone had posted in a pollinator gardening group on facebook, saying they had found "native" milkweed (also called swamp milkweed) at a Florida Lowe's! This caught my attention because there's a possibility that tropical milkweed (the very colorful kind pictured earlier) can actually harm some butterflies. I've been looking for native varieties for a while, but there are no nurseries near downtown Orlando and the big chains seem not to have it very often.
Anyway, I scooted right over to a nearby Lowe's. I looked all over and couldn't find anything but tropical milkweed :/
As I was leaving, an employee came running up to me to ask if I was the one who has asked about swamp milkweed. He said there was only one left, and he had just put it on the discount rack! Two dollars! Lucky me!
As I was checking out the woman in front of me saw what I was holding and got excited, asking if there was any more. Unfortunately there was not, and I only had one plant so couldn't split it up for her. But she seemed not to mind. In my excitement I posted a picture of the milkweed to the facebook pollinator group. And one of the first comments I got was from another member, saying, "Ah, it's you. I was the one in front of you in line at Lowe's." HA! Small world! Of course it would be a fellow gardening group member looking for native milkweed!
Anyway, I got home with my prize and was excited to find that it already has two seed pods as well! This means even if this plant dies, I can try to propegate the seeds. Awesome!
Later in the evening I did my breakfast prep and a load of laundry, then started dinner. I found a recipe for 30-minute beef soba noodle bowls with honey-glazed veggies. I've never made soba before, it was really delicious! The beef was a little undercooked, I don't have a lot of experience cooking beef and need more practice. The radishes and brussels came together easily with a quick stir fry and the honey tamari coating. A very easy dish, and very tasty!
After that Jameson taught a class while I wrote up this blog. Then we had more angel food cake :)
Things are crazy out there.
This week I was grateful for a lot of things. Things I wish everyone could enjoy.
It would be really nice if we could get everyone closer to their happy place. Everyone.
This f***ing year.
My week was "normal", whatever that is any more.
Despite living in Orlando, I didn't see whole lot of disruption due to the George Floyd protests. I think they mostly took place downtown and were mostly peaceful. That's good. Orlando's government offices are downtown, and that's who needs to be targeted for these demonstrations imo. Not residential neighborhoods, not shopping plazas (although I guess there was some looting over by Millennia Mall, WTH people are finding worth looting over there is beyond me.)
My dad posted something negative on facebook which sparked a whole big family argument, with my sisters and I basically ganging up on him. I stayed pretty well out of it, except to make one comment, that I wish my Dad wouldn't cherry-pick negative events and instead focus on the postive actions taking place during this time. But it was still upsetting to see my family disagreeing publicly like that. I love my dad but he tends to be pretty negative and also refuses to look inward a lot of times. Not to make a blanket statement but, typical Boomer stuff, kind of. Oblivious to his own racism, if that makes sense.
Anyway, in an effort to keep my own blood pressure down I stayed out of it.
I have lots of black/brown/all sorts of shades of friends, and I'd rather focus on making sure they're ok and have what they need, that I'm here for them and the people/organizations that I can actually help. I would also like to work on my own knowledge and understanding, so my sisters and I are going to read some books on race together. That, to me, is positive action I can take.
Raging on social media does nothing for anyone but perpetuate outrage and negativity. That's my view anyway.
Going along with trying to keep my sanity and some calm in all this chaos, I decided not to make posts on anything political/social whatsoever on social media. No one needs to know where I stand. No one needs to hear my Ted Talk about my widdle feelings. All of the internet is in an uproar, everyone is screaming to be heard over each other and the noise is so loud you can't hear anything. I'm just not going to do it.
Instead, I posted all the things I would regularly post. Garden pics. Food pics. Sending little "happy birthday" messages to my friends. Liking their pictures or statements. I just want people to know that when they see a post from me, they can know, without a doubt, that it's not going to be some inflammatory rage post or overshared meme or yet another reshare of violence and hate. I want my friends to know that whaever I post will be something to bring peace, or just a little break from the constant stream of unrest coming from every direction right now. That's all I want to contribute online right now, is a safe space and a little breathing room.
Maybe that's selfish, but hey. We can all post what we like on our pages, right?
So then! Work this week was kind of crazy because we're trying to go back to the old (longer) way of monitoring people. But we also now have to monitor and troubleshoot the people who are in the new beta work from home project. And we have to hop on calls ourselves. And the CapTel headquarters was damaged by flooding in Wisconsin so we've been covering their call load as well. It's kind of...a lot right now. We're all doing the best we can, but I wonder how long this is going to go on, and what changes will result from all the constant shifting responsibilities at work.
At home, the pollinator garden is starting to attract some new insects!
This is mostly because the milkweed has finally bloomed!
I managed to film two different species of butterfly enjoying my milkweed: a pipevine swallowtail, and a queen butterfly.
Both male. "My milkweed brings all the boys to the yard", lol!
https://instagram.com/p/CA81ImhArSa
https://instagram.com/p/CA_GYcNAT6l
My other plants are doing really well too. The little watermelon seed I planted just a month ago is now longer than my arm. It was starting to latch onto the mint plant, and I was kinda concerned about how long it might get (I'm reading up to 12ft?! Sh*t), so I went out and got some chicken wire and jerry-rigged a trellis for it. I'll train it to basically loop around the trellis as many times as it needs to as it grows. Maybe this will help keep it off the mint and mystery sprouts.
On Wednesday the watermelon had both male and female flowers blooming! I made sure to pollinate them right away. Hopefully it takes.
Dang, there's so much going on with my plants but I don't want to drown you all in pics.
My vanilla has finally attached itself to its host tree so soon I'll be able to untie it.
The mint plant is getting huge, with some leaves as long as 4 inches. I've never seen a mint plant that big!
Might have mentioned this last week, I had two passion fruits growing and they both fell off the plant, still green. I thought maybe something was wrong, or that a recent storm might have knocked them down. But once I brought the fruit inside they started to turn pink, then purple! After about a week I figured I'd better cut them open or risk them rotting. They were fully formed, just like any you'd buy in a store. And they tasted delicious. I was so happy! My plant is probably just young and not ready to really produce yet. And that's fine!
What else, what else. Jameson had his first "gig" on Saturday, livestreaming a rehearsal while his band got together in a mostly empty bar to play. Even if most people aren't comfortable attending live events like this in person yet, I still think it brings hope that we'll be able to hang out with each other again soon, and share some drinks and laughs.
On Wednesday, besides pollinating the watermelon and building it a trellis, I mopped the floors and dusted and had a make-up steno class. It's the end of the semester and I've done pretty well, ending up with a 97 overall. It's amazing how much I've learned...I remember when spelling words like "smart" and "dog" were difficult, and now I'm typing entire paragraphs with full punctuation and everything. Crazy! I hope this continues to be a good thing, and something that I'll be able to earn a living with later on.
Wednesday night I didn't feel like cooking, so we got pizza. I had gone grocery shopping earlier and on a whim had bought angel food cake and berries. It took only a few minutes to whip up some homemade whipped cream to make an awesome light fluffy dessert :)
Thursday I got up and took a little walk outside to see my plants, then spent some time goofing off online.
Right after lunch I drove out to an Asian grocery in Kissimmee for soba noodles (Publix, Target, and Walmart did not have them).
While waiting in line to check out I saw that someone had posted in a pollinator gardening group on facebook, saying they had found "native" milkweed (also called swamp milkweed) at a Florida Lowe's! This caught my attention because there's a possibility that tropical milkweed (the very colorful kind pictured earlier) can actually harm some butterflies. I've been looking for native varieties for a while, but there are no nurseries near downtown Orlando and the big chains seem not to have it very often.
Anyway, I scooted right over to a nearby Lowe's. I looked all over and couldn't find anything but tropical milkweed :/
As I was leaving, an employee came running up to me to ask if I was the one who has asked about swamp milkweed. He said there was only one left, and he had just put it on the discount rack! Two dollars! Lucky me!
As I was checking out the woman in front of me saw what I was holding and got excited, asking if there was any more. Unfortunately there was not, and I only had one plant so couldn't split it up for her. But she seemed not to mind. In my excitement I posted a picture of the milkweed to the facebook pollinator group. And one of the first comments I got was from another member, saying, "Ah, it's you. I was the one in front of you in line at Lowe's." HA! Small world! Of course it would be a fellow gardening group member looking for native milkweed!
Anyway, I got home with my prize and was excited to find that it already has two seed pods as well! This means even if this plant dies, I can try to propegate the seeds. Awesome!
Later in the evening I did my breakfast prep and a load of laundry, then started dinner. I found a recipe for 30-minute beef soba noodle bowls with honey-glazed veggies. I've never made soba before, it was really delicious! The beef was a little undercooked, I don't have a lot of experience cooking beef and need more practice. The radishes and brussels came together easily with a quick stir fry and the honey tamari coating. A very easy dish, and very tasty!
After that Jameson taught a class while I wrote up this blog. Then we had more angel food cake :)
Things are crazy out there.
This week I was grateful for a lot of things. Things I wish everyone could enjoy.
It would be really nice if we could get everyone closer to their happy place. Everyone.
