If life mimicked TV

 I've been watching a medical drama and it sure seems like patients are always unexpectedly going unconscious right as the doctor says everything is fine. Also, in the first season, the poor doctors couldn't go anywhere outside of work without running into people almost dying in the middle of the street. It's very similar to the murder mystery conundrum: the sleuth can't go anywhere without constantly encountering dead bodies.

Which got me thinking about what if this happened in real life in other professions? I'm an archivist, and my profession will (probably wisely) never have a TV drama series. And I do feel like I end up doing outreach for my job wherever I go, but my work duties aren't actually outreach. So, what if everywhere I went, I ran into people who needed their papers archived, stat? "Quick! I need my file cabinet arranged and described! Someone please help! Is there an archivist available?"

Or what if mail carriers were constantly running into people who needed packages delivered NOW? A grocer who, every time he left his house, ran into people needing produce and delivery trucks trying to transport cold cereal?

Or a farmer who ran into cows needing milked while riding the bus? Apple store employees constantly having to solve tech problems (oh, wait. That IS reality). Opticians running into people needing glasses, custodians always running into messes (probably also fairly realistic), sports announcers always ending up in the middle of a basketball game or tennis match having to announce (this could be pretty entertaining), or engineers having to construct bridges on their way to the movies? Accountants trying to have dinner with their spouse and getting interrupted by an emergency audit!

Thank goodness most professions don't run into life and death or any other emergencies outside of work. I, for one, would not cope well. (Thus, archivist). But it could be pretty entertaining. 

 

Back to normal?

Last week we were supposed to start working in the office again, like normal.* Except that half the people weren't there, which may have been because of some HR/director last-minute messaging about coming in that ended up being confusing, or because people are working hybrid schedules mashed up with 4 10s, 9 9s, or who knows what else, so honestly, it seems absurd to call it "back" to normal, because, well, not so much.

On Tuesday, though, we had a division meeting, and so lots of people were there, and we all wore our masks, and when we got out of the meeting, instead of just me and a couple of coworkers going back to our desks, it was a horde! I did NOT like it. There were far too many people. Oh, no, no, no. Not because of COVID. Just because I am more introverted and haven't had to share my space with anyone for 18 months-ish, and when I did go in the office, there was less than half the normal staff there. And I liked it that way. And now there are people everywhere, and I want them to go home! Or at least for me to just have my own little office hidden away in some corner where people forget about me until I emerge from the depths to go to a meeting or something.

Also, this mask thing. I don't have to wear one at my desk, but I do in public areas, but my desk is semi-public (it's a cubicle. I hope every business is really re-thinking the health and safety around cubicles at this point) and so it is a very blurry line between desk and public space and I keep forgetting because I haven't had to wear one, and basically, do we all feel like it's a Groundhog's Day scenario and we are back at last April? "Should I wear a mask? Is it safe to work? COVID is no big deal, or is it? What is going on?!?!?!" 

Yeah. So, we have gone back to that normal, but I think that isn't actually what we were shooting for.

Petrichor

I love rain. I love storms, with lots of rain and thunder and lightning. I love puddles and the sound of rain. And I love that rain smell--which has a name: petrichor. 

We got a lovely storm today. It wasn't nearly long enough, but it was a storm. And it had the sounds, and the clouds (I do love that dark grey sky!) and the smell and the thunder and lightning. It was a lovely way to wind down from an intense workday. 

And with any luck, there will be more tomorrow. Here's hoping!!

Construction here, construction there

Construction, construction, everywhere! 

I'm not even kidding. My city right now feels like someone decided to bulldoze and start over. 

My apartment complex, and the building next door, are being renovated. 

The major tourist attraction is being renovated and earthquake-proofed.

The convention center is being renovated and expanded. 

There are half a dozen high rise apartment buildings going up, probably in a 1-mile radius of me, not to count all the buildings everywhere outside of that.

And the roads! I don't know if someone just had a lot of spare concrete or something, but so many roads are being relaid. 

Everywhere I go, stuff is being built. Which feels weird, because 1) pandemic, and 2) it feels like the planet is burning down, and some part of my brain is saying, "This doesn't seem good for the planet." But, also, the old stuff wasn't good for the planet, so maybe the new stuff will be? It's all so complicated! Give me calculus over climate math any day!

Also, there is a real drawback to so much construction. When it rains, my car ends up covered in a layer of dust, instead of nicely cleaned. Although, we're in a drought, so that is less of a problem than I'd like it to be.

And for a while, there was a bug problem. I think all the building was disrupting the insects' homes, so they came and hung out with me for a while, but I must not have been very hospitable, because they haven't been around for a couple of months. Granted, smashing guests with a shoe is not hospitable, which means my messaging must have worked.

Anyway, mostly I'm tired of all the building. It makes no sense, because most of it doesn't directly affect me, but I'm still kind of tired of it being everywhere. So, maybe we could finish something for a change of pace?

The mountains are missing

 Last Thursday, the mountains disappeared.

Smoke from a huge fire almost 709 miles away moved into town and literally, the mountains vanished. Couldn't see them at all. And, while they aren't Macchu Picchu, these mountains aren't subtle, so for them to just vanish was quite the thing.

Also, how is it that smoke can travel 700 miles and still smell like something is burning?! I am impressed. It's a talent. (Not a fan, but yes, impressed). My friend and I swore that it had to be something local that was burning but nope. We checked multiple news reports and it was not a local fire. It really was just smoke from the west doing a tour. 

The smoke was so bad that we were encouraged not to leave home if we didn't have to. I did leave home, but even having spent a lot of time inside, it was still pretty obvious that there was a problem. 

Today it seems to be clearing up--I can see the mountains again, even though they are still hazy. So that's good. Maybe it will clear up in time for this week's meteor shower. And at least I'm only dealing with smoke. Somewhere, someone has to put up with the fire. And they definitely got the short end of the straw.