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I got a little more work done last night on my home video compilation video than I had the previous night. I had time while Shobhit was still working, until 8:30 and not getting home until nearly 9:00. We did watch a couple episodes of Designing Women after that, and prior to that while I was eating my macaroni and cheese with sautéed mushrooms dinner, I watched an episode of I May Destroy You on HBO Go. Pretty much the rest of the time, I worked on the video.

I'm working my way chronologically through my experience of Mom's life, putting still photos in between the video clips. I reached 1997, which meant inputting the video footage Dawn took on the day of Mom and Bill's wedding. This footage totals roughly 14 minutes, and I am including it in its entirety—one of the things I keep in mind when making this is what would hold Bill's attention in particular, and all of this with little to no editing will do the trick. It'll probably be the only thing I put in there virtually unedited. It did also extend the current working total run time to half an hour, so I am beginning to suspect I'll get to at least a full hour in the end, maybe even ninety minutes, which I would consider about ideal for this, in terms of what would be most valued by the people who cared about Mom the most. Her husband, her children, her grandchildren, her closest friends.

I still have about three Thanksgivings' worth of home video to get through, from 1998, 1999 and 2000. No, wait, four—I just remembered I took video my first visit to Wallace Thanksgiving Weekend in 2003. That's going to take up the vast majority of what home video footage I have left of Mom; after 2003 it'll jump forward to 2012 and Mom's 60th birthday party. By then the video clips are from smartphones and thus much shorter, and also fewer and far between; I'll have clips from 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019, all of them incredibly brief, so they will cumulatively take up very little time. That section of the compilation video will be otherwise padded out with photos and music.

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. . . Uhhh. Okay. I just had to stop in the middle of actual work because I realized, oh shit, I never posted today's blog! How did I just space this like that? So now it's being posted even later than it was yesterday, because I simply had a brain fart.

I did spend my lunch break in a bit of an unusual way, as I watched another episode of I May Destroy You using the new HBO Max app on my iPad, while I was eating. I'm now three episodes in and so far it's excellent. That must have been what threw me off, I guess. I deviate from regular routine and it throws a monkey wrench into the rest of my day!

Oh! I was going to say there's nothing else to report, but I just realized that's wrong. I texted my neighbor Alexia yesterday to ask if she wanted to walk to my office with me this weekend, and she wrote back that she wanted to, but . . . she accompanied her 89-year-old mother to a haircut last Friday, all three of them masked, and got a text from the hairdresser yesterday that she had tested positive for COVID-19. Shit.

Now. I'm not so concerned about myself just yet; I'll only go out of my way to get tested asap if Alexia herself turns out to be positive, and even that is unlikely—time has proven the efficacy of masks, no matter what the dipshits say. Granted, it may make a difference if all three of those people were inside a closed room for an hour. But, I keep thinking of the story of those hairdressers in Missouri who tested positive but had always worn masks, as had their clients, and none of their clients tested positive.

Anyway, this turned out to be fortuitous timing, because Stephanie (the one who used to be my boss at PCC) has been singing the praises of the free testing site on Aurora Avenue, no long lines, incredibly helpful and gentle staff, very easy process. She posted to Facebook about this on Thursday, we exchanged a few comment replies, and now I think maybe Shobhit and I should go there the week before we head to Idaho, just for some self-assurance.

And, because of that, as Alexia was noting how difficult it was to get through to her doctor for scheduling a test, I was able to refer her to this. She was in Bellevue attending her mom's doctor appointment (they immediately tested her mom, would not test her), and so she drove straight to this testing site from there, later texting me confirmation of Stephanie's testimonial. So, Alexia got her test yesterday, should theoretically have the results back tomorrow, and when she presumably comes back negative, we can perhaps take a walk on Sunday.

I think I'll still ride my bike to exchange paperwork at the office tomorrow, just so I have a place to go and something to do while Shobhit is working. Alexia and I can walk to Volunteer Park on Sunday.

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[posted 1:53 pm]