Saturday, August 28, 2021

I Am Back... Sort Of

I am back from vacation but sooo behind on everything. We got back a week ago. The vacation was wonderful - I hope to write it up on Adjusted Latitudes soon, and I'm currently sharing pictures from each day on Instagram (I'm @restlessrabbit42 over there).

I was worried about the airports and airplanes but mostly people followed the mask rules and it felt OK. We managed to keep to our rule of no indoor dining and no indoor anything with masks off. It meant more dinners in at our AirBnB than we'd usually do, but that is why we booked AirBnBs and not hotels. I thought I might get us all rapid tests before school starts on Monday but the at home rapid tests are sold out everywhere and so oh well. We'll be signing the kids up for the school district's testing program, so starting next week they'll get a weekly test.

I feel OK about the start of school. My kids are going in person. The district has a mask mandate, now expanded to include outdoors except when eating. The district listened to some good experts last year and have upgraded air filtration and installed CO2 monitors (as a way of monitoring air circulation). California issued a rule requiring all school employees to be vaccinated or get tested weekly. My younger daughter is continuing in our Spanish language immersion school. It is a small school that we know well and that did a good job with reopening last year. My older daughter is starting high school - so more kids and we don't know the school yet. But she's fully vaccinated. 

So yeah, I don't feel great about it but I feel OK.

I have so much more I could say about the COVID stuff but it is nothing new. 

The vacation and coming back to be immediately overwhelmed at work again was an edifying experience, though. I have to fix some things at work for the sake of my health, both mental and physical, and for the sake of actually being able to continue working until retirement. I may have more to say on that at some point, but not yet. I'm still figuring out what to do but I have a clearer picture of the problem.

I don't have time to go through and pull out links today. As I mentioned above, school starts Monday and so there's a lot of things to do get ready. We are also getting solar panels installed starting Monday. That was not our ideal timing but the permitting that we were expecting to take six weeks went through really quickly and so we already pushed installation out further than the solar company wanted. We are also getting a battery so we need to clean the garage to make space for that. We need to clean the garage, anyway, because Petunia really wanted her last year of Lego robotics that I had promised her. It was supposed to be last year, but that didn't happen and so we decided to do it this year. It will be in the garage with the doors wide open even when it gets colder, and we will all be masked all the time. And yet all of her teammates wanted to come back. I think kids are missing their activities. 

All of which is to say... I am back in town, back to work, but not really back here. Maybe next week.

But here's a bunny at least:


Have a good weekend everyone!

5 comments:

  1. Welcome back!

    Good luck with school and getting back on track. We've been back at in person school for three weeks with similar precautions and we've heard of about ten positive cases district-wide. I suppose it could be a lot worse but we feel at least a little bit on pins and needles.

    I'm very much feeling similarly with regard to work. We're going through some tough times right now that would be challenging without having spent the last year and a half in a pandemic. It's extra challenging now when we have so few emotional reserves yet to roll with new punches. I'm doing my best to create some though, baking this weekend, and pacing myself as best I can while also parenting a young kid and a baby.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous1:35 PM

    THANK YOU for taking the time to write and post. You make more of a difference than you could know. IF and AS it is possible will be highly interested in how you change your work environment and demands.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Alexicographer5:36 PM

    Welcome back -- I'm glad you were able to take what sounds like a real, even if tweaked, vacation.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Welcome back!

    This: "The vacation and coming back to be immediately overwhelmed at work again was an edifying experience, though. I have to fix some things at work for the sake of my health, both mental and physical, and for the sake of actually being able to continue working until retirement."

    I have felt like this for years. Vacations are terrifying because of all the work to do before, all the work that will await when I come back, and the fact that there is always something "urgent" and it's actually impossible to be completely away. I hate and dread vacations.

    And yes, no amount of vacation leaves me relaxed enough that I don't get in full stress mode the minute I get back to work. Over the nearly 20 years of work I've been constantly gaining weight and I am 100% sure the nonstop stress -- mainly over funding -- is the main culprit. There is no way to make the job less stressful. I just need to not die before retirement. Or write a bestseller and retire early? I would if I had any headspace to write.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous5:35 AM

    I hear you on the work thing. I have never been so burned out and I'm not sure how to claw my way back to enjoying my job. The kids FINALLY being back in school should help, but maybe the lack of childcare/exhaustion went on too long for a straightforward recovery. I'd love to read your thoughts about work. You always have good insight.

    ReplyDelete

Sorry for the CAPTCHA, folks. The spammers were stealing too much of my time.