pearlite

I'm sort of bearing up. Almost. Anxiety levels change during the day--I try to manage in a kind of point-to-point way between things that were/may be still positive. A very mild annoyance or amusement [I can't tell the difference at the moment] are the lingerie ad links that show up with this site. I've never shopped for clothes online, much less scanties. I may look at china or grocery delivery sites, but no undies. Hmmm. And cocktail hour, peaches? You mean trying to drink enough to stall the anxiety? Cocktail might be a bit of a diminutive term here. Then I learn we should be washing our hands after handling/opening packages or mail, and groceries. If I had a shell, I think I'd curl up in it. And joimaroxeu, thanks for the book recommendation--I got it today. Your post was wonderful! I thank you, boes!

Yeah, scavenging or scrounging is how I thought of my forays down the street with stores near me. If I felt humorous, and God I hope I will again, I remembered my favourite characters from WWII POW movies; Great Escape, Stalag 17. Because the scrounger characters were usually my favourites--I end up being the supply sergeant for Maison Pearlite. So now [and in the US you don't have this problem] I have managed to use an old bottle delivery service that PLL and friends in their misbegotten adolescences favoured years ago. Ontario's booze sales are provincially regulated, so booze delivery is not a normative thing here. I found a local craft beer delivery service for her... One issue down. Two weeks since I've been in a large-format food or other store, and not planning on doing so soon. Praying a lot. And including you all, too.

This is my absolute favourite meme of the moment--sorry, the size is fixed as is; I can't shrink it.

Agreed here--from the moment I heard the "Queen of the Night" tag, I thought, hmmm, the Q of the N isn't a completely lovely character in the opera. In fact, unlike Marlena, she rages--and has daughters who are key players. Although I guess we could relate Dr R to Sarastro. Nah. Not worth the effort.

Happy Birthday SWEEPEA59!

Ditto from pearlite! We don't have the mobility that you do here in Toronto. We're a breath away from being confined to our homes by provincial dictate. We have to basically self-isolate. And I'm still goosy because the increase here is in "community cases," not returning travellers. We're being told not to shop, even in what are called "essential" stores that are still open. And frankly I'm starting to feel antsy about shopping period. One of my local vegetable stores, and we rely on these downtown, is still not using sanitizer on bank touchpads or counters, and they're not wearing gloves or putting out sanitizer on the counter. I just walked farther to another veg store--plexiglass shield, gloves, and cleaner. I'm continually anxious and worry every time PLL goes for a walk. It's not even nice to go for a walk here because streets are mostly empty except for people trying to figure out how far from you to get.

Oh yes, she's wonderful!

Yes, but unless I can update my Apple TV box, we don't have that many available--Britbox and Acorn only run on the new Apple TV box. Apple stores and all non-essential stores are required to close by midnight tonight in Toronto. The Canadian Baking Show, not really worth watching. I'm going back to Shetland--I agree it's wonderful. I'll look up the other two procedurals, thanks, I check TCM daily for things to record. News, I can't watch--it fries my nerves, and I just check for anything related to city or province, then leave it alone.

Same with me, snap! And I'll be hitting up some Fellini w Mastroianni in your honour up here. I am overwhelmed and having difficulty not touching my face! Toronto's declared a state of emergency and the province is going into lockdown. I have to avoid news most of the time. Stay well, caro! The attenrion-span issue's a real thing, isn't it? I know I'll be going back to my beloved studio-era flix--Babs Stanwyck's my gal, and I have a pile of noirs 'cause they were a specialty of mine. I hope the soothing outweighs the crazies. For both of us.

I was thinking, by way of trying to keep my nerves in check, that we might start a "What are you watching" thread. I know my tastes will differ from many people but we might make some discoveries that others could enjoy. And "enjoy" is a rare commodity at this point. CDN Netflix is more limited than the US version, but anything I'd suggest from there will be available in the US. To start, I tried "Humters" last week on Amazon and couldn't get past the first episode...even with Pacino serving a lot of ham. Too comic-booky for me [remember my tastes will differ] {Calgon Take Me Away Rating .5/5] I'm saving the last ep of "The New Pope" -- a slice of heaven and exquisitely made. [Calgon Take Me Away Rating 4.75/5] Last night I watched "The Current War" [Apple] with Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon, about the rivalry between Edison and George Westinghouse--fascinating for me, aside from anything else, because I've taught a lot of this material in various film and media courses. It's engrossing and well made. [Calgon Take Me Away Rating: 4/5] PLL was carrying on about Truffaut, so we watched [or she looked up occasionally while texting similarly confined friends] "Breathless," and I remembered how much I loved Belmondo. And maybe the stupid French New Wave dialogue not so much. [Calgon 3/5] Next is to unearth the DVD player because I have literally hundreds of movies... Not a network TV person [other than two soaps] and not a fantasy person. I am looking forward to "Self Made," about one of my sources of fascination, Madame C J Walker [Netflix], with Octavia Spencer, whom I adore. There's a start, if anyone's interested.

Be grateful for small things post: We had a new episode! With some good scenes in it. With vets. Best: Traci and Ashley [sorry I still loathe the hair colour] having Abbott moments on Abbott couch. Next, Jill in Chancellor living room...now she was talking to Billy [can't win 'em all] and Lily, but grateful is the operative word of the day. Jill doing something different--renting office space at Dark Horse--no roaring hell, but it beats watching newbies. Under that heading, a moment of Jack. Almost okay, but gratitude, remember: Theo getting another ass-kicking--can there be enough of those? Ever? Lily and Devon renewing their relationship--sorta neutral, but okay. Close to utter shite but the message of today's script is "togetherness" or teamwork, or something: Victoria and Sharon [spare me any of this], then Victoria realizing it takes a village to put up with her crap. That's what I've got.

Happy Birthday jpagano5!

Oh boes! I'm so sorry to hear this! My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Never a table for one, boes! Other than Lani and Eli, Show is fast-moving and watchable. [Have you tried Y & R? It's a definition of torture at the mo.] Orpheus--I find the actor interesting, as I did in his previous appearances, and James Read is such an enjoyable actor to watch as well. The little subplot of their backstory is just that--a little subplot. But I'll take it.

Apparently life isn't bad enough, we get a repeat? I guess I'll always have Dr Rolf...

Thanks for the article! And I'm going to Amazon for the book--about what I need at the moment. There were a few decent books about soaps in the early 90s but not much since then.

This is basically how anyone who teaches feels right now.... And sure, Gloria Gaynor rules, but.

Trying to de-escalate my attention-level for economic concerns is a struggle, and I feel for those who are directly punished because of this situation. After only a few days of relative isolation, the anxiety levels are already hard to live with--even enduring work-based Zoom conferencing is annoying because the answers are "we have no answers." My part of the city is quiet and stores are shutting down, but apparently the downtown core is even more desolate: https://www.narcity.com/news/ca/on/toronto/covid-19-in-toronto-has-left-the-6ix-looking-like-its-never-looked-before?fbclid=IwAR0CT_8aSzYpoJq6IT_u15Z4rn90qQLOQ2OW3k6nmwA8yuPHK5iGHTj6CoM

Well, my tiny plan to shop only on my nearby street... Not looking so good after all. Restaurants, bars, libraries, and pretty much everything retail that's classed as "non-essential" is now being ordered closed here. And the stores on the street have window signs posted about either closing or restricting purchase of items, stopping use of cash for purchases, and lack of supplies. Apparently my local pet store, essential to me and the cats, will be classified as non-essential, and their suppliers are starting to short out as well. All this as federal and provincial governments reassure us of our robust [their word] supply chains for essential retail. And yes, Trudeau is on about closing airports except for freight and diplomats... I never thought I'd experience anything like this, and I feel for all of us.

A selfish reaction today: I'm someone who enjoys grocery shopping. It seems useful and pleasant. Until last Thursday. Keep in mind I gave up Costco years ago--it gives me hives and I tend to be a little optimistic in the face of scare stories. The toilet paper thing, okay; I accepted the limitation to two packages, but otherwise the store closest to me seemed more or less normal. And then yesterday PLL [who is today nursing an epic hangover and being told drinking your brains out will not delay the end of the world] and I safari'd over to a large-format local supermarket--Sobeys for fellow Canadians. Close to the door, fancy produce and cheeses--all normal. I had hopes. And then huge empty areas in aisles, many of which were kind of hard to understand; i.e., ice cream, butter. We got depressed and couldn't find half of what we were after. But wait, there's more! My local LCBO [liquor store] was fairly normal and well stocked shortly after opening this morning. I thought, well, maybe Loblaws won't be as nightmarish as Sobeys was yesterday. Fat chance. Pasta aisle empty, frozen boxed food cases empty, no paper goods of any kind, no vitamins, no toothpaste [? who eats that?] and so on. Luckily as I live downtown I have lots of local independent stores along the retail street 3 houses away. Except for booze, I can cover most things without going into chain stores. I hope we all weather this well!

Mac will do the work and it’s a great school. Don’t worry! Me I just worry as PLL sets out for an evening with friends and those do go on—on the premise that there won’t be any evenings for a while. Paranoia of her teenage years has returned, i feel crazy about this.

Well, if it's of any use to you or your grand daughter, I can tell you this--because I work for a university/college--this holds for Canada, because almost all our universities are partially public: even in the events of strikes [of which I've lived through five], the main single obligation any university has to its students is this: to provide them with both the subject-content they contracted/paid for and evaluation thereof. Given current circumstances, delays in delivery of subjects or changes to methods of delivery [i.e., online, Skype, and so on] are inevitable. But those delays or alterations to delivery methods don't mean that students will never receive what they've paid for. Those changes just mean waiting, nerve-wracking as it undoubtedly is for many. Believe me, I'm arse-deep in trying to work things out with my faculty, students, and the administrations of two institutions. The focus is to get content material and response-systems up and running as fast as possible for students.

The tide, in terms of anxiety and closures, turned yesterday in Toronto. Finally the universities and colleges are shutting down "live" classes and trying to work out policies. I'm knee-deep in emails to my faculty and students, and probably miles from working out solid details of how to proceed. My anxiety levels are not good; like everyone else, I've never experienced anything of this scope or magnitude. Stay well all of you!

So all Ontario public and high schools are now shut down for at least three weeks. Maybe the universities and colleges could wake up... Pearlitelite is hosting a conference in April and her friends who are professors at Yale and Harvard just emailed her to say the schools prohibit them from traveling for at least a month or more. They all want to reschedule—and that’s nice. BTW I did buy some toilet paper.

Hmm, I have yet to join the toilet paper stockpiling, and as of two days ago, I found lots of hand sanitizer at the small corner store along the street from me. And my local LCBO [liquor store] said there's no panic buying yet. Toronto has 3 or 4 cases, and Ontario 42--but it's a very big province. One university up north has shut down live classes, but all the rest are in a holding pattern. I was a bit creeped out yesterday when I went in to teach and sit in on another faculty's class. It's unsettling because we tell students to stay home if they're coldy but each week, more don't turn up, and we're really not sure what to do. Maybe it's time to buy some paper products.