Back in the Groove

That’s the plan at least. After taking so much “time off,” I’ve really been looking forward to getting back to something resembling normalcy. I’m already super excited for this semester, because I (theoretically) will have so much more time. No teaching. No kitchen remodel.* True, this is Skiing Time, which means Denisa and the kids turn into complete ski bunnies, and I see much less of them, but Ferris and I will be just fine at home, seeing as how I have so much reading to catch up on.

(Not really. I’ve given myself permission to not catch up on anything I missed while I was otherwise occupied last semester. The best way to get nothing new done is to commit to doing all the stuff you were supposed to. It’s like credit card debt. Just let that debt go.)

Of course, there’s the huge question of “Will COVID screw this semester up?” And even though I have yet to ever be right when I’ve made predictions about COVID, I’m still optimistic in a pessimistic sort of way. I fully expect the month of January to be not good at all, in terms of case loads. I think a ton of people will be out sick, and I expect that to likely affect businesses and schools, as there just aren’t enough people to keep the lights on for a while. But after we get through that, I’m hopeful that things look better on the other side.

What will “that” look like, though? Just how big of an effect will Omicron have on hospitalizations and deaths? I’m less rosy on that than many. Looking at the numbers, I expect hospitalizations to go up significantly. Not nearly to the point as caseloads, but still enough to be more than we’ve ever had, just due to the sheer number of cases. For Maine, that will be very not good. We’re already close to breaking, and that’s before things go nuts. I think the overwhelmed health care system will result in side effects that complicate matters, and I really feel bad for my friends in the industry. And for my friends who need medical help for the next few months.

That said, I don’t know that there’s any way to avoid this. I’ve gotten vaccinated and boosted. So has Denisa, and my kids are all double vaxxed. I’m hopeful that means when we get it, it’s not severe. But I’m expecting to get it at this point, and to have it feel somewhere between “nothing” and “bad flu.” We’ll see how that works out for me.

But I’m still hopeful that the semester proceeds more or less as planned, with just some speed bumps along the way.

There’s so much that I want to get back to. Reading. Writing. Baking. Exercise. Eating normal food. Researching random stuff without being under some sort of deadline. Playing Magic. The last four months have consisted of me giving most of that up, and it’s the sort of stuff I look forward to most. It’s nice to be reminded of just how important it is to me, but . . .

No more reminders, okay?

In any case, expect to see me back here each weekday again. We’ll see what I come up with in terms of topics. Oh–and Happy New Year!

*I mean, there’s still some to be done. The sunroom needs to totally be finished. It’s only insulated right now. All the floor in the kitchen needs to be done. More trim has to go up, and the door to the bathroom has to be installed. There will also be painting that needs doing. The counters will come at the beginning of March, and then (because clearly I’m an idiot when it comes to doing the same thing and expecting different results) we’ll be renovating a bathroom in March as well. Going to turn it into a small laundry room and a small bathroom. No big deal. Just completely ripping the room down to studs, switching out all the plumbing and electric, and then insulating it, adding heat (to a place that’s never had it), and painting it. Should be a cakewalk, right? For one thing, I have a separate functional bathroom that we can use, and this bathroom is in such a poor condition now, that no one in the family likes to go in there . . .

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