A friend commended me for maintaining this blog for over 20 years. I am unhappy as I am missing too many days. That being said I'll tell a tale of my adventures. Having an extra day helps me to tie up a loose end. On Wednesday I helped my friend David move. We were joined by his friend Mercedes and our mutual friends Katherine and Alex. I've seen a list from multiple sources of the most stressful things and moving is second. You have to make constant quick decisions knowing that you are losing your safe haven. The heavy lifting is the easy part. Friends help as emotional support as much as they do as physical laborers. It doesn't help matters that everyone has more stuff than they think. When I moved out of my house, we had a dumpster. I think the volume of what we threw out was greater than the volume of the house. All homes are TARDISes.
David lives I mean lived in Bay Ridge, maybe Sunset Park, the deep south of Brooklyn I live in the Northern Bronx, Given that it was not that difficult a trip as it was all on the D train. Still, it took an hour and a half. I listened to podcasts; the train wasn't too crowded, so the ride was stress free. That's how you know you're a New Yorker, you consider the subway ride the relaxing part of your day. We had a lot of work. A lot of time spent figuring out what to do next, and a lot of time looking for things we had in our hands two minutes ago. Our last roll of packing tape disappeared into thin air. If you are moving figure out how much of everything you need then double it. The silver lining was that I spent time with friends. That and real Brooklyn pepperoni pizza. How many times have a praised friends and food in my blog? I'm consistent.
I managed to not get hurt but at one point it came close. I was caring something in a box with a handle downstairs to throw out. The bottom of the box opened up of its own accord and as I went to catch the contents, I somehow found myself sitting on the steps. I never went through the moment of panic that I might fall down the stairs, but it must have been a possibility. If I was a paid mover, I'd be at the doctor today looking for a good excuse to sue. I really wouldn't but it is where my mind goes.
The biggest scare came before the move, I got an email from someone I was in a car with a subject line saying she tested positive for COVID-19. In the body it said she was going to be tested and that she just got her booster, so I figured things were safe. Then I discovered when I got home that she did test positive so yesterday I got myself tested. Both the rapid and PCR came back negative. We were both wearing KN95 masks, and I'm doubly boosted so I wasn't worried. We weren't in the car that long. This is the kind of thing I can remain rational about. If you minimize your risk with high quality masks and are doubly vaccinate your risk is not high. If you haven't gotten your second booster do so now. If you haven't gotten your first booster do so yesterday. If you haven't been vaccinated do so a year ago. Don't take chances and don't live in fear. There's a happy medium.
I got an email earlier this week asking my availability for a job interview. I immediately responded then didn't hear back for two days so I wrote again. Turns out they decided not to hire someone. I was not feeling good about that but last night I got an email and scheduled an interview someplace else. Wish me luck. The school describes themselves as giving a classical education but there is a strong emphasis on STEM. Their stated goal is to produce good citizens. I love that.
OK. I might go and help David again today. I have to see if and where he needs me. If I'm going to do that I better get moving.
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