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Ugh! So much to do, too many little new things to do coming in at a steady clip, making everything else take longer to get done! Again: I'm just whining. I'm still fortunate. I have a job. I have income. I have hours. I have a job.

Washington State's emergency stay-home order, extended twice until May 31, officially ends today. But, with new directives in an effort to allow some closed-down businesses to re-open, although King County is still not approved for even that much. Officially starting June 8, but hopefully happening now, all workers must wear face coverings.

No one at PCC has asked me to start working at the office again, and much as I would love to, I still feel very strongly it is not safe, and I would actively push back against such a request. There's a reason why the likes of Amazon and Microsoft told their office staff to work from home at least through October.

When I last talked to Eric about this, last Thursday, I said I basically expect to work from home through the end of the year. I have no idea whether that will actually bear out. If I do return to the office before the year ends, I have no clue when that may be.

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Shobhit and I finally did book our anniversary trip last night. Remember the plan to rent a yurt at Kayak Point, which had been a great suggestion by Karen? Totally thrown out the window. First off, something key must have changed, because their reservation grid had several yurts open for most weekdays over the next couple of months the last time I checked, but it was not until yesterday that Shobhit could confirm he had Monday and Tuesday June 22 and 23 off of work. And when I checked yesterday, all the yurts were booked solid, through fucking July!

I did find an alternative I was totally willing to go for: River Meadows Park near Arlington, also in Snohomish County so they were also open for reservations—a bit further inland, but not booked up; and being part of the same county park system their yurts were exactly the same. But, Shobhit really wanted to spend some time on a coast, apparently any coast. He seemed open to Kayak Point because it's on a Puget Sound shoreline, but he did not want to stay just on a river. Even though it was still not that far from the Sound, which we could have driven to easily.

But, whatever. I'll admit I became more open to this only after Dad told me about what he read hotels were doing as safety measures. I have no idea if it applies to the place we booked, but we went to Hotels.com, found a nice place with a good rating and a reasonable price, and even though that still meant the cost was roughly double what I would have paid for the yurt, we booked a place in Long Beach. It's called Boardwalk Cottages, looks lovely and quaint, and is located only a few minutes walk to the beach. I expect we'll still stick pretty much just to our room and the beach, maybe go to the nearby state park (Cape Disappointment, where I was going to stay with Dad and Sherri over my Birth Week; we can still go back next year for a bike ride though), and that's fine. Just any excuse to get away from the fucking condo for longer than just a few hours, for the first time in three months.

I think I will still see if I can't get a COVID test shortly before leaving. It will bring me some peace of mind. And maybe we can get brunch with Dad and Sherri somewhere when we're driving through Olympia.

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In other news, the protests continued yesterday. It seems the city blocked off access to downtown, and so a huge demonstration moved its way up Capitol Hill, in spite of the 5 pm "voluntary curfew." I did not join them, but I only noticed it because they were visible from my condo, passing by all of two blocks away.

I have missed out on too much history by ignoring things like this. When Obama got elected in 2008, I went to sleep that night wondering why the fuck there was a loud helicopter above us for so long. I only learned the next day that huge crowds of revelers had gathered on Broadway to celebrate, and I always wished I had realized that and gone to join them.

What's happening now, though, is a little different: it's happening concurrently with a global pandemic, which Washington State is barely getting under control. Most of those marchers had masks on, but I still would not have felt save from the virus in the midst of a huge crowd. Nor would I have felt safe around a massive police presence. Those people were braver than I, and that's okay. I don't think any violence happened in Seattle last night like what happened Saturday, but still . . . frankly I am on board with everything happening. Well, with the exception of the many people reported to sabotage the demonstrations and instigate violence never wanted by sincere marchers. Either way, it's important to note that even Stonewall was a riot, and "peaceful protest" never paved the way for any lasting change. You won't catch me moaning about the looters at all, let alone spending more time complaining about them than about police officers shooting and killing unarmed people of color.

There's a fantastic account on TikTok I follow, of a young gay guy in Missouri who is super smart and has been making the case for defunding all police departments and simply doing away with them completely. And I must say, his arguments are ones I have never heard before, and are honestly pretty convincing.

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[posted 12:33 pm]