Nothing is going on. It’s been awhile since I’ve posted
anything but that’s why. When “The Masked Singer” is the biggest thing you’ve
got going, it’s a slow news life.
I am totally sucked into “The Masked Singer,” though. I can’t
watch it when it comes out but I track it down on Hulu as soon as possible
afterwards. The ironic thing is, I am one of the least culturally literate people
ever. There are four judges and a host on the show, and I’ve heard of one (but
not in a good way) and know who another’s father was. They make guesses and
eight times out of 10 I have no idea who the guesses are, and then when someone
is unmasked, I have to wait until the host announces who it is.
They’re down to the finals now, two men and two women. My
sentimental favorite (clues point to Nashville) probably won’t make it another
week. Another one I liked just bumped out. The guest host, Sharon Osborne (who
I’ve heard of tangentially but know so little about I was surprised at the
British accent) knew the person – Bret Somebody – from way back. I never heard
of the guy, but I have heard of the band he apparently fronted/fronts: Poison,
though I couldn’t tell you a song they did. Hair rockers from 80s or 90s is the
best I could venture.
That I’ve just written two paragraphs about a television show
illustrates how bored I have been during this pandemic.
Another regular has been watching “Sunsets and Songs,” or
something like that, via Facebook. One of my favorite songwriters, Paul
Overstreet, and his wife got stuck in the Cayman Islands so he broadcasted a
little show every night they were there, singing songs and telling stories. His
wife filmed it and had the sunset in the background. I didn’t watch it live but
would do the replay in the mornings. Now they’ve been repatriated back to the
U.S. and I they are continuing it from their farm. It’s been a nice diversion
but it’s only 40 minutes or so. Well, that’s if the internet works. Usually it
doesn’t so it takes me about an hour to watch it.
Like most people who are lucky enough to still be employed,
I am mostly working from home. I’ve been down to two days a week in the office
but signs point to that cutting back further next week. Both April and May are
holiday-heavy in Belarus; between local and federal holidays, there are seven
in two months. Next week is a three-day work week: M-W-Th. When I left on Thursday,
it hit me I wouldn’t in in there for solid week.
The work-from-home thing is pretty rough in many cases,
though it’s nice to be able to do laundry while I am working. What I can do
from home is a bit limited, but not as bad as I thought it might be. Mostly,
the lax workload stems from the fact we are only focusing on the bare, bare
minimum so it’s been hard to scrounge up work. The first two weeks I was fine
because I finished up a huge project, but since that’s done and dusted, I have been
taking online classes from our academic institution. The classes don’t directly
relate to my job but might be useful down the road. If anything, they’re enlightening
as to what everyone else does, so it’s not a total waste of time. It feels like
it, though.
Belarus is closing in on 10k cases now and they’re
escalating rapidly. Still, there’s no directives from the government to shut
things down, although the vast majority of people are taking precautions.
The weather is finally looking nicer and lots of people want
to go outside. Fortunately, Minsk has tons of parks and open green spaces, so
walking maskless is a good option. Yesterday, three of us and my adjunct dog
took a long, long walk along the river, which meanders through the city. It
turned chilly twice and sprinkled, but other than that it was a really wonderful
walk. Wish I could motivate myself to go alone.
When I got home, I did pretty much nothing but scroll
through awkwardfamilyphotos.com and play on jigsawexplorer.com. It’s not been
really exciting.
There’s been way too much screen time lately, whether it’s
been online games, reading books or listening to podcasts. Even the Russian
lessons I’ve been able to do involve screens – I use Mango Languages and have
gotten into a lesson I found on YouTube. We have a language instructor at work
but I’m just not advanced enough to be able to do lessons over the phone.
I ran out of books. A friend offered to loan me some actual paper
ones but I can’t get them unless I go into the office sometime after she goes
into the office, so that’s on hold. I also have about six on hold and they all
say they should be ready in about two weeks. I’ve read so many books this past
year – since discovering the Kindle – and they’ve been all over the place. The
most recent one I read that really grabbed me was “Stranger in the Woods” by
Michael Finkel. It’s about a man who lived in the Maine woods for 27 years with
no human contact.
