Hi guys. My writing mojo got derailed a couple of weeks ago. We’ve been dealing with some unbloggable kid drama, which fried my brain. The situations are slowly getting sorted out, so I’m starting to feel normal again. Whew. Picked a bad year to try Dry January.
So, what’s going on? I mean beyond Wordle.
Well, the royal family has been doing lots of drama. That’s about the only news that I could handle this week. I’ll write about it, but in the mean time read this piece.
Story from our plumber. He said that he saw a young guy driving a brand new Ferrari. He asked him where he got it. The young guy said, “my dad owns a Covid testing facility.” Plumber said, “Covid is never going to end, because it’s making some people rich.”
Watching: Belfast (loved it), Encanto (one good song, mostly bad), Station 11 (meh), Yellowjackets (watched one episode, wow)
Cooking: Roasted, Crunchy Broccolli. Tonight, shepherd’s pie, because I have leftover mashed potatoes and a snowball of ground beef in the freezer that I want to use up.
Doing: Staying close to home to save money: visiting local pubs, cleaning out the basement, eating up random freezer food with goal of Net Freezer Zero by the end of the month, organizing photographs from 2021 to make albums.
Working: Kids sucked the life out of me, so just getting head back to normal. Writing pitch for two year anniversary of covid. Filling out application for substitute teacher license. Filling out a grant application.
Apt. 11d 
–College Kid started class this week. This is her first term with two math classes at the same time, so fingers crossed. She says a fair number of classmates were zooming in.
–The school kids went back to school today after an unplanned 5-day MLK weekend.
–Still trying to figure out local COVID stats, which got snarled by the holiday. Possibly a peak? Not sure.
–We have people working in the house this morning, and I’m playing cat chaperone to keep new kitty from bolting out the front door. We haven’t figured out our procedures yet.
–We’re really enjoying the reopening of the cafeterias.
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Oh my gosh.
https://mobile.twitter.com/mfa_russia/status/1483417022105104393
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted, “#OTD in 1654, the Pereyaslav Council unanimously voted for the reunification of #Russia & #Ukraine.”
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This was followed by a 13-year war between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with significant territory accruing to Russia, but no biggie.
I’m sure it’s fine.
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We are also following the Ukraine news which feels like another marker of the end of the American century after having watched the first season of Volodymyr Zelensky TV show (which we thought was great) and the impeachment. I see no good choices though spouse things we should join the war (with son having just filled out the selective service registration, I and kiddo are not so eager).
Also followed Kazakhstan, because kiddo has a Kazak classmate (on a year abroad fellowship). Maybe we can hope for an end to the Rusian decades instead? But, probably not as long as Europe is increasingly dependent on Eastern energy.
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bj said, “We are also following the Ukraine news which feels like another marker of the end of the American century after having watched the first season of Volodymyr Zelensky TV show (which we thought was great) and the impeachment. I see no good choices though spouse things we should join the war (with son having just filled out the selective service registration, I and kiddo are not so eager).”
Earlier in the day, I was getting ready to say that firm language and lots of arms to the Ukrainians from the international community could prevent a full-scale Russian invasion…but then Biden had a press conference.
Biden said that if Russia did a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, that there would be a major response. (It wasn’t at all clear what that response might be.) However, he said that if there was a “minor incursion,” that there would be disagreements among NATO allies as to how to deal with it. (I feel like Biden wasn’t supposed to say that part.)
CNN says that the Ukrainian government sees Biden’s comments as a “green light” to Putin. The CNN correspondent also adds that the “minor incursion” is assumed to be Putin’s preferred option all along.
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I have been super excited to adopt Mirabel as my Disney avatar, a choice everyone in the family agrees with. 11D is probably Merida? I have a Fei Fei, Raya, and Mulan in my social circle, too and am loving the expansion of the depictions (also, a Snow White, several Elsas, an Anna, and a Belle). I play this game in my head, though my daughter’s friends used to play it out loud.
So, I can’t judge Encanto all that well. I did not think the songs were memorable, on the whole, and thought the grandmother deserved more judgement than she got. I am always sympathetic to themes of the burden of fulfilling a preordained destiny because of your talent (Luisa, as an example).
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Guessing I’m probably Maleficent!
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Belle, obviously.
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Yes to Merida.
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Re Covid-created wealth, and the reluctance of governments to let go all of their social control power.
Read a really good take on this – mostly from the UK perspective (but suspect US is on the same Covid track) – which basically says we’re in the final gasp of Covid, it’s on its way out as a threat to humanity, and about to become just another endemic viral infection.
The problem is persuading Governments to let go of the social controls and mandates, and to persuade people who’ve been traumatized over the last 2 years, that it’s OK to start living again.
Take away for me:
“You should think about your next few months the way you should think about your next few decades.”
Is this how you want to live your life?
https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/covid-end-game?fbclid=IwAR0ZVK9nudc3bR4Wqm3cOi2LheqpVq-UBZpRNL3nqkK69ajoQceKirFPHNo
Of course, it’s probably a little further away for us in NZ – who are still waiting for the Omicron wave to hit – but we’ll get there.
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Also with a derailed January at this end of the world.
Unexpected (and very expensive) bills for car, cat and child.
Outgoings approximately 5x incomings this fortnight (no panic, that’s why you have savings) – but it’s a bit of a shock to the system!
Also kid has a really nasty summer cold – which means that, in this current Covid conscious world, we are pretty much housebound (in very hot and humid weather).
The only good news is that he got his week-long-holiday-programme of musical theatre in before the cold (actually, probably caught it there).
He got to do some scriptwriting (he’s not willing to admit it, but he’s got a real talent there), act as the straight-man (bio-security officer) in a comedy routine; and had a solo as a sea monster, singing Under the Sea from the Little Mermaid. Also picked “Carnival del Barrio” from “in the heights” as the senior dance – which has made him think that Latin dancing isn’t too bad! – as well as now having the whole sound track on re-play constantly.
As always, he had an awesome time singing, dancing and acting. You can just see how important this stuff is to these kids – they just light up, not only on stage, but with a whole group of other kids who just ‘get’ them.
So had one shining star on the horizon for him, in what has otherwise been a pretty disappointing long summer holiday.
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“Well, the royal family has been doing lots of drama. That’s about the only news that I could handle this week.”
Also Harry packing a sad because he’s been told he and his family don’t qualify for round the clock protection by the special RF police bodyguard squad if/when they visit for the Jubilee.
Although he’s (reportedly) offered to pay for it – it’s not the money, it’s the manpower. Especially in this Covid environment, where *every* element of the police are stretched thin.
The police have said that they’ll be protected at official events when they’re with the rest of the Royal family (processions, BP balcony, etc.); and that if there is any specific (and credible) threat to them, that the protection will be reviewed.
But that they are not allocating rare and expensive bodyguards to chase away journalists and photographers – which is actually the only threat that H&M are worried about.
H&M are welcome to bring their own security, but they won’t have any special privileges (not good enough, according to H)
My take on it is that M doesn’t want to go (knowing that she’ll be ripped to shreds in the British papers and cold-shouldered by the RF), and doesn’t want H and the children to go without her.
But realizes that there will be a lot of negative publicity in *not* going – so is searching for a figleaf of a credible reason to stay away.
So has primed H with the ‘security threat’ story – knowing it’s a trigger for him (protect my family from the evil journalists who killed my mother)
Thought it was a particularly cunning move from Charles to offer to host them, while they are in Britain (for the Jubilee or at any other time). Knowing that Meghan would say it’ll be a cold day in hell before I’ll accept.
Which automatically puts H&M in the wrong – turning down a safely protected residence (Charles has round the clock RF security), AND the chance for the children to meet/get to know at least one grandfather.
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Ann wrote, “Thought it was a particularly cunning move from Charles to offer to host them, while they are in Britain (for the Jubilee or at any other time). Knowing that Meghan would say it’ll be a cold day in hell before I’ll accept.
Which automatically puts H&M in the wrong – turning down a safely protected residence (Charles has round the clock RF security), AND the chance for the children to meet/get to know at least one grandfather.”
Yeah.
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So, trending on my twitter, Nina Strohminger’s survey of her Wharton business students about what the “average American worker” makes. I didn’t force myself to guess, but did ask younger kiddo He asked questions (per capita per household, per worker) and was off by about 20%. People are tweeting bashing Wharton, but the professor says people generally get the number wrong generally (and, it’s not a trivial number to calculate).
Guesses at 11D? (even if you don’t post)?
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Feels relevant to children entering the workforce. A quote at my elder’s private HS was for the kids to say that they didn’t want to be “rich” but that they just wanted to have the life they have now, with counselors & teachers knowing most of the kids did not understand what that meant in the distribution of people in general.
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bj said, “Feels relevant to children entering the workforce. A quote at my elder’s private HS was for the kids to say that they didn’t want to be “rich” but that they just wanted to have the life they have now, with counselors & teachers knowing most of the kids did not understand what that meant in the distribution of people in general.”
I’ve told my teens what our monthly burn rate is. Our oldest kid is an aspiring spinster, and I’ve told her that $40k plus good insurance is fine for a single lady (especially one living with her parents) but I’ve also been clear to the big kids that having a family our size (mom, dad, three kids and a cat) and roughly our lifestyle requires north of $100k a year. I’ve encouraged my teenage son to shoot for an eventual income of the equivalent of $100k today. (I think you could–and we did–do the same lifestyle for less with itty bitty kids who mostly live on milk and Cheerios, but life with teens is different.) Husband and I also do our monthly budgeting in earshot of the kids and I often have the budget sheet out. Both of our teens have good savings for their age and when they start working this summer, we’re going to have them save more.
I believe the median income for married couples with minor children in the US is in the neighborhood of $100k. There’s a LOT of difference in income between non-married and married households with children.
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I try to open but it is surprisingly difficult to talk about our burn rate because it’s so different from what I grew up with. We did not plan for it in our lives and would not want our children to organize their lives with that goal in mind (which would impose enormous constraints). So we talk with less information about others that we know.
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bj said, “I try to open but it is surprisingly difficult to talk about our burn rate because it’s so different from what I grew up with.”
Our 16-year-old boy (whose classmates are “all” getting licenses right now) was recently chafing at our family transportation situation and wanting to know why we couldn’t solve some scheduling conflicts by getting him a license. We explained:
–We only have the one car, so in order to benefit from having an extra driver, we’d need an extra car.
–Our insurance would immediately shoot up $1000 a year.
–We’d also have additional maintenance and gasoline costs.
Hence, it would be extremely burdensome for the family for him to be driving right now.
I don’t want the kids to feel bad about what we spend on them, but at the same time I want them to understand, we’re not being mean–these are our current resources.
Kid really wants to work this summer.
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New Mexico is calling out the National Guard for schools, apparently
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bj wrote, “New Mexico is calling out the National Guard for schools, apparently.”
Wow.
New Mexico is an interesting example, because they are relatively highly vaccinated, but for whatever reason, they still seem to be struggling a lot (mortality is at 0.9 per 100k per day).
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Brad Congdon tweeted, “I realize everyone on Twitter is treating it as accepted knowledge that university students prefer in-person classes, but they’re also capable of risk assessment. I polled my 120-student class, and only 12 wanted the course delivered face-to-face.”
Me: Oh, you sweet summer child. It’s easier to fake attendance online and it’s a lot easier to cheat.
That said, it is convenient that sick or quarantined students can just Zoom in. And a 120 person face-to-face lecture is not that different from Zoom.
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I don’t know. Things may be different in Texas, but up here, colleges have gone remote, mid-semester, or just shut down the campus without warning, at various times in the last two years. It makes it hard to justify paying for on-campus housing, when even extracurricular contact with other students could be a reason for a student to be expelled.
So it’s quite reasonable for students to start to structure lives outside of the college’s authority, with, perhaps, reliable part-time jobs and reliable landlords who won’t suddenly lock them out of their housing. They can even make friends with people their own age. Maybe even, gasp, eat a meal with them!
My sister’s daughters have at times been sharing houses with friends in various states. All the friends have been attending (remotely) different colleges.
More worrying, to me, is that we’re starting to hear from friends that their children/grandchildren, etc, have chosen to drop out of college, due to dissatisfaction with the experience. Or lack thereof. I don’t know about you, but being locked in a room, without social contact, is not something I would pay lots of money for.
I do hope that these friends’ children are ok. Some colleges have seen massive increases in suicides. (https://www.telegram.com/story/news/courts/2022/01/13/mental-health-crisis-wpi-students-feeling-uncertain-after-six-student-deaths-three-suicide/9183551002/)
I’m not surprised colleges are seeing an enrollment drop.
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Cranberry said, “I don’t know. Things may be different in Texas, but up here, colleges have gone remote, mid-semester, or just shut down the campus without warning, at various times in the last two years.”
I don’t know about Texas colleges in general, but I know that Hometown U. has been in-person for all of the pandemic except for March-August 2020. There was strict indoor masking for 2020-2021, but 2021-2022 has been pretty normal and chill except for classroom/lab masking. Hometown U. had such a big enrollment bump for 2021-2022 that they bought out part of a downtown hotel to house freshmen, they encouraged summer and spring start dates, and they paid freshmen not to start in the fall.
So far so good, but Omicron is a wild card. This is Hometown U’s first week of class, and I see that roughly 1 in 8 people on campus currently has an active COVID case (using the new 5-day standard). Looking at the campus numbers for today, it wouldn’t surprise me if some kind of adjustments need to be made, but it would also not surprise me if the classroom masking requirement gets dropped once Omicron passes over.
“So it’s quite reasonable for students to start to structure lives outside of the college’s authority, with, perhaps, reliable part-time jobs and reliable landlords who won’t suddenly lock them out of their housing. They can even make friends with people their own age. Maybe even, gasp, eat a meal with them!”
Yeah.
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The eldest child had big problems last semester. Ian’s therapist said that she has a lot of college kid clients. Said a whole lot of them developed social anxiety during the shutdown, couldn’t manage in person classes again, and have dropped out. With one semester to go, someone here is touch and go about finishing. Ugh.
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When I heard about the latest kid leaving her college, I realized (gut-check) that I didn’t see it as a huge problem for her. Everything is so upside-down, I don’t think there’s the same stigma about it as in 2019.
Even then, though, there were many students who weren’t completing their degrees in 4-years, living on campus all 4 years. Many students have spent time away on internships, or year abroad programs, or have changed colleges for whatever reason. It’s not like 40 years ago.
I think the Covid era has been truly terrible for anyone with anxiety. I would not say that I’m particularly anxious, but I do tend to worry if I’ve turned off the stove, about 1 mile after leaving the house. My family knows about this, so they tend to tease me about this, about 1 mile down the road. There are times when I have to reassure myself, such as, “Yes, you turned it off. It has a safety that turns itself off after X hours, there’s no need to turn around, you’ll be late.”
I can only imagine how bad it would be if I had to overcome unreasonable worries about germs, when all of a sudden, the whole world is encouraging hyperchondria. Or if I were a self-conscious teenager, to function with the threat of expulsion for normal social interactions.
One factor in everything starting to fall apart has been the increased cost of a college education. I’ve observed many more students stressing the economic value of a degree. (Thus, an increase in unhappy engineering students.) If you’re taking classes you find not that interesting, but stressful, but don’t have the comfort of making friends or even seeing their face in person, it is much easier to say, “S**w this. It’s not worth it.”
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Cranberry said, “I can only imagine how bad it would be if I had to overcome unreasonable worries about germs, when all of a sudden, the whole world is encouraging hyperchondria.”
And if you are worried, you can find hyper-anxious people online to be worried with.
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