Back at the Beginning

 Most of my job is spent working from a spreadsheet: a list of potential duplicates in the MassCat catalog given in alphabetical order. However, the program used to spot duplicates, doesn't recognize initial articles. I am now reviewing titles that begin with the word "The".

There are a lot of them.

In a way, it's a little discouraging. It's taken me years (six? seven?) to slog my way through the alphabet to arrive at the letter "T" - only to end up back at "A". Actually, I'm at "B". I feel like Alice in the looking glass: I think I'm going toward something, but in reality, I'm going away from it.

Actually, it's not that bad; it's more ironic.

After five months of working from home, I've finally developed a sort of schedule. I try to do my MassCat work on Monday, Wednesday and Friday like I did in the "old days". That gives me two full days plus the weekend, to do other things like housework or yardwork or just sitting around reading.

But as of last week there has been a change: I'm leading my exercise class again! This is sort of an experiment. I'm leading it once a week and virtually. The first week, we used Microsoft Teams because that is what the Town Hall uses for it's meetings. However, only 3 people managed to log on. And I could only see myself in a tiny box which kept disappearing. In a meeting, seeing oneself in a tiny box is no big deal, but I need to know that I'm lined up so that exercisers can see me and what I'm doing. 

This week, we used Zoom, but after 35 minutes of what was supposed to be a 45 minute class, the program shut down leaving me in mid leg lift. The plan now is to schedule 2 half classes (upper body, lower body), one right after the other and consider the time in between as a break. Beginning tomorrow, there will be an outdoor class in the park next to the Town Hall.

As happy as I am to be back (even virtually) with my class, I now have to review my work schedule. Given that I don't much like to do housework other than dishes or laundry, I could always give that up. But who else will clean? My housekeeper has not been here since mid-March. 

I miss her as much as (maybe more than) my exercise class.

Earrings in the Age of COVID-19

It's been a full five months since Massachusetts shut down due to COVID-19. I've learned some things  I never would have thought of if I hadn't spent so much time at home.

Since, basically, every day is the weekend in terms of going out and about, I'm always dressed in my "play clothes". Reading posts on Facebook, it appears everyone else is too. Pre-COVID-19, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I'd get up and dressed to lead my senior exercise class. After class, I'd go to work at the office. Because I'd be seeing people all day long, I'd want to look my best. That meant clothes without stains or holes, a little make-up, and earrings.

I love having pierced ears. I got my first set of holes while I was an undergraduate at UMass. My ear lobes became infected and I let them heal, which meant the holes closed. My second attempt had the same result and I resigned myself to clip-on or screw-on earrings. A few years later, I went to an ear piercing clinic and had hypoallergenic studs shot through my lobes. Finally! I could wear pierced earrings as long as I was careful about the quality.

When I finished library school, I treated myself to a second set of holes in my ear lobes. It was 1976 and two holes was pretty radical. I've been wearing 2 sets of earrings nearly every day ever since. I usually fill the lower hole first and choose a set of dangling earrings. Then I find 2 studs for the upper holes. Usually the studs are the same, but not always. If my outfit has several different colors, I look for studs with those colors. Choosing just the right earrings is serious business. If I don't go out on a particular day, I usually don't bother with earrings.

Enter the age of COVID-19, when I'm now mostly at home. After a few weeks, I realized, I hadn't worn earrings in a long time and I was afraid, even after all these years, that my holes would close. I now try to wear earrings every few days. I choose 4 studs. After all, who wears dangling earrings while cleaning the bathroom?

But when I go out, I revert to my former habit of 1 set of danglers and 2 studs. That has turned out to present another problem. 

When I first started wearing a mask, I used a bandanna with a batik design. It was very pretty, but I found it inconvenient to tie it and untie it if I was making multiple stops. And no one could see my carefully chosen earrings. I switched to a mask with loops that go around my ears. Now people can see my earrings, but I have to be careful putting the mask on an off as the ear loops can catch on my earrings.

In all of the literature I've read about coping with the COVID-19, no one has yet addressed the issue of wearing earrings with a mask. Am I the first to encounter this phenomenon?