Sheltering in Place

[Drunk Monk]

Face coverings are now mandatory in the Cruz. 

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssssssssssss!

[Drunk Monk]

DAY 37: yeah, it's still day 36. covidinsomnia again.

[Drunk Monk]

I slept in a grabbed two cycles. TGIF has no meaning.

I may have a date for a podcast interview today. I just need to find some sort of mike. For 20 years, I've been relying on company hardware for things like this so I don't think I have one. We'll see if we can sort it somehow anyway.

I also have a ZOOM meeting for JAH Med. We scheduled it months ago and figured we might as well make up some drama even though there's no foreseeable events for months to come.  I downloaded a Star Wars background for my ZOOM but I couldn't quuite figure out how to upload it without needing the app.  Maybe I'll play with that some more.  I gotta figure out what to wear. Thinking of going formal - Garcia tie, jacket, top hat. No pants though. Not for that crew.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Know your audience.

I can only change backgrounds *during* a meeting. No suave, but then it is only fellow Scotch-drinking fencers.

Could there be a.....DOOM Zoom?!?!?!

[Greg]

The Queen has been doing a convention. She made a corporate back drop for her meeting.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I had a photo of the Blue Ridge Mountains, kinda cloudy and moody. When I reached back to get the Scotch out of the cupboard, the other drunken coaches — er, *Esteemed Colleagues* started laughing as it looked like I just reached into a cloud and pulled out a bottle of hooch.

[Drunk Monk]

DOOM ZOOM! DOOM ZOOM! 

The JM Zoom went well. I'm glad I didn't have the background because it would have detracted from my suit and tie, which went over extremely well. Basically we just discussed covid issues. And everyone was drinking so it's all good. Our Cannaclub boss (a founding member who is killing it in the LA cannabiz) lit up a few joints during the meeting even. 

[cranefly]

Tomorrow we'll be Zooming a writer's workshop (members in North Bay, Oakland, Saratoga, etc.).  Might have to stand up Mifune tonight, because there's a 400-page novel to finish reading/digesting.  Hope he doesn't get upset.

But, yeah, a Doom Zoom could be interesting.  DM any way you can backdrop an animated gif?

[Drunk Monk]

DM any way you can backdrop an animated gif?

don't even tempt me.  

[Drunk Monk]

DAY 38: Today is the 2nd anniversary of our Sifu's passing as well as World Tai Chi & Qigong Day. I'll do my practice (which contains two of Sifu's sets), burn some incense, and hope to write a bit.

[Drunk Monk]

DAY 39: Sunday. Laundry. The finale of Homeland. 

Been pondering my lack of momentum on writing. Sure, there's this whole distracting pandemic thing, but I really need to get my nose to the grindstone because there might not be as good of an opportunity as now. If I can't get most of it done now, it's unlikely I'll be able to do so when this ends. If it ends. Maybe this is the end.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Not necessarily so. This pandemic eats a *lot* of bandwidth with the uncertainty and the fear for our loved ones. It is a deep and subtle stress, and very taxing. Cut yourself some slack. Nothing about this is normal, and I think judgements about “productivity” and it’s ilk should be shelved. Do what you can and keep doing what you can. It is enough.

[Drunk Monk]

Thanks for enabling my slothiness. I'm going back to bed then.

Actually, I feel ya. In fact, the next essay that I'm nibbling on for my school talks about self-care in this way. Did you read the last one? https://www.plumpub.com/kaimen/2020/shao...d-weapons/ There's this weird random bolding of words, an artifact of the school's lack of tech savvy. I kinda like that because it's so random and it feels like there's some underlying intention behind it. A happy accident from someone who loves a good red herring. That piece drew great reaction on sitonmyfacebook, which is always ego inflating. 

When my old neighbor dropped off the Jetta key, she was super stressed, freaking out that her index finger had become twitchy. She's young (30ish) and strong. It's surely stress. We told her not to worry because we both get twitchy now and again and it's part of aging. Heck, since I crossed the half century mark, I get worried if things aren't twitchin, ya know?

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Good article, and totally relevant. I see why it got such a response.

[Drunk Monk]

Thanks. It's a typical Kung Fu rant from me. 

I've been working two specific angles with these beyond just martial ruminations about the pandemic. First and foremost is to promote the Academy and my big bro Ted. They are actually doing fine through this. The Academy is their side hustle - their main source of income is Plum Publishing which imports books, dvds & vcds from PRC. Ted's sigO Deb worked for Logos for like 30 years (she always gave me a killer deal when I was selling all my martial arts samples back - found money, right?) so she knows the book biz very well. Plum is doing great. Everyone SIPing is hungry for their products so their biz is actually on a bit of an uptick. It's a three person company, Ted, Debbie and Linda (another classmate under Lam Kwoon) so they can fulfill orders under the radar, compliant to SIP orders. It's really the students I'm hoping to reach - keep those youngens engaged. I got two nice emails from some of our nooBs saying they found it inspiring, which was reaffirming. 

The other angle is Revelations quotes as subheads. I've reread REV several times since the SIP looking for prophecies (the pestilence horseman wearing the crown and corona meaning crown is my fav so far). I'm under this deluded notion that the Xtian right actually heeds the Bible and might listen to REV. I know, I know, that's mistaken, but I do love the language of KJV and REV is among my fav books so it bears repeating.