Tablesaw!

Pretty boring month, right?

OK, so let's see what's been happening.

Well, I voted in the Democratic Primary on Super Tuesday. That was three weeks ago; it's the same month. I don't even have time to get into that whole mess.

On March 5, I was already starting to get anxious about what I was hearing about COVID-19. I work in a coworking space, and while I had my own office (shared with one other person), I spent a lot of time in the community kitchen, and I was starting to feel uncomfortable. I told my boss I was going to work from home starting the next day. I work at a small startup, where a few people already work remotely, but my CTO and I have tended to work closely in person. At the time, I had planned to work from home on Friday and Monday, then return for the staff meeting on Tuesday on site, to make further decisions there.

On Sunday, March 8, I saw my parents, sister, and nieces in person, for what may be the last time in a while. My oldest niece had a basketball game, and I watched with the family. Afterward, we went to Olive Garden, where we we had an alcove to ourselves and washed our hands. Later that day, I got an email from work, the CEO and CTO had decided that the whole company would be working from home. It felt good to get a head start on social distancing.

On Monday, March 9, I had tickets to see House of Games with David Mamet in person. I was pretty anxious about going, it would probably be a crowded space, but it wasn't a thing I really wanted to miss. A mishap with our cars meant that I ultimately couldn't make it, which was a bit of a relief.

My five-year wedding anniversary was on Saturday, March 14, and we'd planned a small weekend trip to Catalina. If you don't know, Catalina is a small island 26 miles off the coast of Los Angeles, easy to see when the air is clear. But it's a little isolated, the only way on or off the island is via ferry. And in the week leading up to the trip, I was increasingly anxious. Psyche wanted to go, practicing social distancing and cleaning/sanitizing as we go. I wanted to cancel, increasingly convinced that I had been exposed, and worried that symptoms would manifest while we were on the island, cutting off access to the ferry and stranding us away from our well-stocked home.

Psyche won out. She finds it easier to relax while out of the house and was more confident in our ability to stay responsibly isolated. And a somewhat rainy weekend meant the village was pretty empty, making it easy to give everyone a wide berth. On Saturday, we did a golf-cart rental to drive around the island for an hour taking in the views looking toward Long Beach. We spent a lot of time making plans for the next time we go and can do things that require closer quarters, like the mini submarine for reef viewing.

In the last week, restrictions have gotten progressively tighter, and we've avoided going out. We ordered delivery on Tuesday, which was a wonderful moment of normalcy, even if we had to tell the delivery person to leave the bag outside the door, and wait for him to leave. On a trip to our post-office box to pick up some delivered supplies, I grabbed In-N-Out on the way home (they've had a sock-day policy since before the pandemic). The PO service is going through some changes too. They're an essential business, so the can (and according to service agreements, must) stay open to receive mail, but they have contingency plans for progressively worse scenarios. I signed up for a "virtual mailbox" service, where they email pictures of all mail and packages, so we can avoid trips to pick them up unless they are critical.

We also went to Psyche's office to pick up some supplies as she's working from home now too, and on the way back, we tried to find a place along the way home to get out and breathe. But as you may have heard Angelenos who had been told that social distancing in nature was okay all headed out at the same time to many of the same places, defeating the purpose. At a usually quiet beach, we saw a small crowd of people (and possibly the remnants of a classic car show that had decided not cancel?), and as we drove along the coast, most of the vista points had a few dozen people. We did eventually find a spot with only a handful, where we could stay several yards away from the others, and the views were incredible. The rain, combined with reduced car use has kept the air cleaner than I think I've ever seen, and from Rancho Palos Verdes, I could not only see downtown Los Angeles, I could pick out individual buildings.

Today, we made a trip out to bolster our grocery supplies, particularly our fresh vegetables. We went to a local Japanese market, because there have generally been reports that businesses run by and geared towards Asian Americans have been hit with the extra damage of racism. They still seemed well stocked, but most of the stores around here seem to be doing well. Regardless, it was quiet, and it was easy to keep distance from other patrons.

For dinner, we made minestrone, and paired it with bread that Psyche baked yesterday. Both were delicious.

Some other things I've been doing:

( Movies, TV, Music, Puzzles )

Phew. What's next?

This past weekend was a lazy one, like the New Year weekend before. (The Xmas weekend was stressful, with most of my Christmas Day trivia written on Christmas Eve.) temptingcuriosity and I went to LACMA on Saturday, avoiding the bigger events (Kubrick and Caravaggio) and indulging our own personal preferences (Surrealist Drawings and Maya artifacts). On Sunday we stayed in, made bacon pancakes, and lounged around because it was cold outside.

I asked her what she was looking for from the new year, but I already knew what her year looked like, when I thought about it. Really, I wanted her to ask me the question. I know I want to get hired permanently at this new job, but past that I wasn't sure. Talking about it, I realized that I wanted to create more in 2013. Not a particular thing, or a big thing, just lots of things.

Recently, I say a lot that I'm too much in my head. I talk to folks a bit more on Twitter, and I'm talking to people in person, but I'm not getting things out in non-conversational settings anymore. As a true geek, I worry about the narrow bandwidth of talking to people one-on-one; I just don't have enough time to tell things to everyone I would like to. Blog posts allow you, my friends and readers, to time-shift the Tablesaw experience to fit your schedule (something I know I appreciate).

But while blog posts are always things I need to do more often, to get into the habit of writing long things (or just short things that aren't twitter), what I want to do is just create more things that I can share. And saying it the other day made me excited and happy. A good sign, I think.

This year I don't just want to do things I love, I want to make new things to send out into the world with them, so that my experiences can travel beyond the horizon of my personal bubble. I want to write about at least one thing a week, TV, movie, game, what have you. I want to make some more puzzles, definitely at least one thing I can bring to the NPL convention in Austin. I want to finally hide a geocache in LA. I want to make some games, eventually, somewhere. There's a pre-Companions DW/AW game knocking around in my head that mostly needs a lot of research (that TemptingCuriosity is eager to help with).

My birthday is on Thursday, and I turn 35, a number that is a multiple of the amount of fingers on one hand, which means that I'll probably freak out sometime this year, though I'm successfully blocking it out for now. It's a good time to have a plan, and it's a good time to have a plan that focuses so much on simple joys. Last year was not a good one, this one will be better.

While doing dishes, I heard music coming through the open windows. I went to investigate, I discovered a giant street fair. Now I am getting a Coolhaus ice cream sandwich.



Also, Andy Dick is selling poetry.

I mentioned Quora in my last post. It's a weird site, and I'm going to post about my experiences with it.

It's not a site that I would have really gone to on my own, but a friend has been raving about it, so I've been trying it out. It has a "real names" policy (not clearly defined, but presumably on par with Google Plus, from which I am still banned). However they do allow one to make certain actions anonymously, so I am making anonymous actions, to which I sign my name Tablesaw. All this to say that if you are on, or go to Quora, you won't find me as a user (and please don't look for my "real name" profile, if you happen to know my government-ID name).

Anyway.

My friend Kat posted this in response to the question, "What are the most civilized things about civilization?" It reads in part:

The worst thing about civilization, then is the blind drive to preserve the civilization regardless of the cost. We're currently facing the possibility of the collapse of the oceanic ecosystem, and meanwhile, time is wasted squabbling over profit and political gain. We argue about precepts set down during a long bygone age, and about insults in the manner of address and commerce and privilege between our subdivisions. I am as guilty of this as any other.

It inspired this on chat:

Kat:

I think I just undermined myself: http://www.quora.com/Civilization/What-are-the-most-civilized-things-about-civilization/answer/Kat-Tanaka-Okopnik

Tablesaw:

Howso?

Kat:

I just declared that all Social Justice and discussion about food and anything else pales in importance compared to global ecological crisis.

Tablesaw:

The way you framed it, yes. But actually considering your opinion, no.

Tablesaw:

Your answer posits a thing that is most important for civilization, but your previous examples suggest pinnacles of civilization come from rigorously pursuing a single goal.

Tablesaw:

Your concern also stems from the assumption that reaching your posited end goal is a straight line that will not require steps like reducing the influence of racialized social structures.

Kat:

ahhh, nice.

Kat:

Pity you can't comment anonymously. :P

Kat:

(You'll have to post a separate answer and cross-reference mine if you want to remain anon)

Tablesaw:

I don't really care to for this, since I'm mostly responding to your private question about what you've said. Reframing for public consumption in Quora's framework is too tiresome.

Kat:

*nod*

Tablesaw:

If you'd like, I can link to the Quora answer, then share our brief chat transcript on DW.

Looking at what I'd like in terms of gifts (for the holidays and beyond), it's very similar to last year:

• Booze. My bar has grown strong and bountiful, and I always appreciate new and interesting contributions to mix with.
• Wardrobe. I'm owning up to the fact that my wardrobe contains the following things:
  • Jeans worn casually
  • Chinos worn casually or at work
  • collared shirts worn at work or over
  • Nice T-shirts
  • and occasionally a casual sport jacket.
  New additions to any of those categories are welcome. For T-shirts, think along the lines of Threadless or sites like Threadless. Sizes can vary, but pants are usually 38/34, fitted shirts are 17.5x34/35, T shirts are XL.
• Music. I still don't get enough of it on my own. Things I've lost from my high-school years (early alternative and trip hop) are what I usually look for when I hit Amoeba.
• Stuff to do. Movie passes, theatre tickets, nice restaurants. Things to go out and do.
• Miscellaneous T[hings]
  • A juicer, to go with the new stuff I've been doing with the bar and cocktails.
  • I would still like a tie clip
  • One of these fancy teacup things

Once again, strongly avoid books, videogames, and DVDs, which I already have too many of and not enough time for. The only possible exception is The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, since I'll probably play that immediately, regardless of my gaming backlog. Because, you know, it's ZELDA.

My rice cooker stopped working a little while ago, and I'm finally breaking in the new one. It was a bit of an ordeal. First, for some reason, the target closest to me refuses to sell rice cookers. So I had to make a trip to the one in Glendale. But the rice cooker I got was missing the measurement cup (with its strange for-rice-only cup size), so I took it back. The new one I got seemed to have been opened, but I couldn't see what was missing. Turns out, what was missing was the instruction manual. But since I have the internet, I'm not going to begrudge the person who had to pilfer a copy from Target. But regardless, brown rice and steamed broccoli to accompany my fish.

Speaking of having the Internet, I now have a new phone, which is, as they say, "smart." This phone has been made possible by Virgin Mobile's low-cost data plan, the decline of my old phone, and the death of my digital camera. This means that all you folks who love to text can now text to me, since I no longer have to pay for each one. Also, you can send me pictures via text, because I have the ability to look at them. Phone number's the same, ask me if you want it.

As for old things, I'm getting a wisdom tooth pulled again. My advantage this time is that I'm going to know, in advance, that the pain will end, and that I don't need to freak out about every little thing. But you can probably expect me to be sending everyone texts about how much pain I'm in/what good drugs I'm on.

Hey, the food's ready.

I spent the weekend with many wonderful people. But I spent it in Boston, a city that hates me and wants me to die cold and alone.

So before I talk about the Hunt and all the other noteworthy things from this weekend, I would like to alert Boston to a few things.

• I just walked out to get a salad made of locally-grown organic vegetables. Also, I was wearing sandals.
• In fact, it's so warm, I need to open up my windows to make sure the house cools down a little.
• Southland is fliming outside my house tomorrow. Literally right outside my window.

Yeah, fuck you, Boston.

(P.S. Boston People I still love, mkay?)

I'm hungry but don't feel like eating. Or perhaps I want to eat but I'm not hungry. Either way, I'm feeling ambivalent about dinner. I guess this is what happens when I'm not picking something up on the way to game night.

Going in the oven now.

I'll update with the results in a bit.

This time it wasn't my hair. As I was eating spaghetti for dinner, one of my stitches came out. So I've now got a black thread hanging down from my upper gums.

Nothing else seems to be a problem. I've called my dentist and asked for guidance, which I'll receive tomorrow. I guess I'm shift back down from pasta to soup, though.