Music – consumption, some fiddling with software synths but nothing serious.
Graphics – mostly photoshopping graphics found on the net for use in my buildings, as here. Also some 3D modeling & printing.
And the usual consumption of news, music, etc.
I have successfully used teflon tape.
I have a weekly zoom call (cameras on folks!) that appears to have been cancelled for today. The invite was confusing and I don’t want to screw up, so I’m listening to zoom hold music for another 2 minutes before I call it.
Edit: zoom hung up on me, so no meeting. woo/meh.
I remember March of Twenty.
By April the majority of us were voice only. Currently, grunts and agitated typing are the most I respond with.
Marketing and Sales has a definite culture 
Most of my meetings at work have always been voice-only or screenshare. But this year, since we’re not meeting in person at all, the company has decided that we should have regular video chats for socialization. Silly games, telling things about ourselves, solving puzzles together, even doing show and tell as if we were in 2nd grade.
But they’re labeled as happy hour, and drinking to make it tolerable is expected. 
I got roped into video chat secret santa, complete with santa hats to be sent out to the whole team from an especially energetic team member. In fact, I politely declined, but when the number of interested folks was an odd number, they said they knew they could count on me even though I’m technically a contractor/vendor. So yay for my customer service skills? It’s all cool, but it ain’t my cup of tea.
My commerce profile on FB Marketplace. In case anyone might want to view any of my merch.
At the hospital for some minor surgery on my husband. So far, a robot has made me a salad and a computer has texted me to tell me the operation is underway.
What a world.
I had an appointment with my new doctor today; we go to a residency clinic, so I never have the same one for more than a year or two. I didn’t get a flu shot because they’re out of the vaccine, so my son and I’ll have to go to Walgreens for ours. And I make an appointment in a month for my yearly wellness visit.
My project to grow a mustache-beard combo is officially one week old. And it’s off to an unimpressive start. I’m aiming for a “Tony Stark,” but so far it just looks like I’m recovering from a particularly rough weekend.
Here is a picture I took of myself this morning:
Well, there’s this:
Or this:
No worries, here’s an extremely unflattering picture of myself from right now. (I would never show this to anybody else, but you guys get a pass.)
So you see, you could do worse.
(For the record, my hair’s wacky because I just got out of the bath and dried it off).
Also I’m starting to like the white hairs. Might as well, they’re gonna be here as long as I am.
Please tell me the masks are sitting on some sort of hook, they’re not actually PINNED to the bulletin board!!
Nah, they’re hanging off a pin (the one from ‘Next to Normal’, a local theatre production about insanity and its effects on the family that was totally awesome). I miss going to shows like that - just local people performing in their spare time because they like doing it or like what the show’s about.
I hang 'em up so they can dry out (from breath moisture or whatever) and let anything on them die off. After a week I consider them good again. Although I haven’t actually needed one within a week, I think that’s a decent enough timeframe. I always have a fresh one in my pocket nowadays in case somebody comes over to visit, but I have these used ones to fall back on. Not N95, but even a used cloth mask is better than nothing.
Nah, you’re looking fine.
Come to think of it, some time I should write down all this stuff that’s on my pinboard. Of course, some parts of it I don’t even remember because I can be quite the drinker, and now it’s just a brightly-colored armband. But there’s a lot there, and some of it I remember.
The concerts, the theatre shows with local improv people, the burlesque shows, the haunted houses, and hanging out with my stepdaughter and acting goofy for the cameras. It’s been a wild ride, and it’s so nice to look back on it now and then. To know that, even if right now is bleak, I can and do live life, and will again.
One of the advantages of working remotely is being able to put some soup together around noon and let it slowly develop over the afternoon.
So, I want to wish everyone a happy soup year!
And a soup-er 2021 to you too!
