Another weird synchronicity in my recent life changes.

The past number of years, I'd bought this one cat charity calendar sometimes for myself, but more often for my uncle and my one assisted living client with disabilities, because of their love of cats. When I went to go check in with them about getting one this year, though, after my uncle had passed last winter and after my move away from the city that I'd lived in and all for like around fifteen years, there was nothing on their website about them, and they never responded to the email that I sent them. It's like the cat charity calendar also got closed out with that whole phase of my life.

Long-term reading projects (2 of 2): Josephus.

So, after the second edition of our "long distance summer book club" this past summer - we each read a scholarly work and discuss it over the phone in apt chunks - my one (Mormon) colleague was saying that he's always wanted to read all of Josephus, and it would be fun to do it together. So, for my housewarming present, he bought me a one-volume edition of this old translation of all of Josephus's works, and he's already starting to read the Autobiography, though he's busy with this semester's classes already and he won't be able to really devote time to it until after his classes end. He also said his mother wanted to read it because some relative of hers had a copy of Josephus growing up, so she's started reading the Autobiography already, too. So, I think after I finish the Hebrew Bible, I'm going to read the Autobiography and then wait for him to discuss it, and while I'm doing that, I'll spin my wheels and work on the Dead Sea Scrolls in translation. Then, this summer I'll switch to reading Josephus intensively whenever he's ready, and then move back to the Dead Sea Scrolls and then go back to the New Testament, to finish off my course of reading the entire Bible in translation. And then after that, whenever that is, I'll read some classic apocrypha collections, then move on to the Gnostic gospels. Such plans! Such fun. "Living my best life."

Long-term reading projects (1 of 2): Hebrew Bible.

It's interesting to be closing in on my goal of reading the entire Bible in translation. As of this month, I have like a handful of chapters in 2 Chronicles left, and then I'm done with the Hebrew Bible. I guess a lot of people start with Genesis, but my goal wasn't to read the whole Bible in any particular order, just to read it all, so I went with the prophets first because I felt like it, and then like Ezra/Nehemiah since I didn't know them at all, and then after polishing off a lot of random writings, I went back to Genesis etc., and am now petering out in Chronicles. I have to admit, I find Chronicles a lot more interesting than I thought - like, I had heard of its depiction of King Hezekiah's Passover, but I had never actually read it, and I found it quite moving, the idea of having an open festival to bring in the wayward northern kingdom, and this as an implicit template for later people to renew ritual practice and religious life after the Babylonian exile had ended. Also, I wonder if it now counts that I've read the entire Bible? After all, I've read the entire New Testament in Greek, so I guess you could say once I'm done with 2 Chronicles, I've accomplished by goal, though I'm definitely going to go back and re-read the entire New Testament in translation, as well as the entire scholarly apparatus, out of curiosity to see what's there.

More masking issues.

Overall, masking here is pretty good, but it can get spotty at times. On my way back from a doctor's appointment that I needed to go to to get my non-Covid vaccinations in order for a class I'm taking, the bus had like four people get on who had severely improperly worn masks or no masks on at all, and they were spread out evenly throughout the bus where it's not like you could really distance yourself from them. Though, thankfully they weren't really talking, and the bus ride was only ten minutes, so you felt decently safe in your N95 mask, though maybe if that particular bus route ran a bit more frequently I would have hopped off it and just waited for the next one. Then, after that, I hoppped off and cut through this shopping center south of downtown, and I popped by the one (Italian) restaurant that I'd seen to see if they had any homemade pizza left, or maybe to get a sandwich to go, only, when I step up, like two or three of the five counter workers are completely maskless, and there's no plastic divider around the counter at all, and there's just this like (early 50s) (white) (woman) with a mildly know-it-all face and long black hair parted on both sides around her pretty pale skin, talking into customers' faces from like three feet away without a mask, and I totally get the vibe that she's the (Italian-American) owner or family of the (Italian-American) owner, and might be a weird anti-masker Trumper. So, I just looked around and decided against it and left. When I had been past there earlier I had seen two workers at the end of the shift and both were safely masked, but this was just a totally different and much weirder vibe. I mean, we're in the middle of a huge infection surge, and they're doing *that*?

Mall trip (2 of 2): Taxi ride back.

Since I had like two big shopping bags and a rolled-up 5'x 7' rug to take home, I couldn't really schlep that stuff on the bus, so I had to call a cab to come drive me home. It turned out to be an hour wait, so I chit-chatted a lot with the (younger) (Latina) girl who worked at the discount home goods store, who told me about rising crime in the area, like how her boyfriend who lives in a bad part of town was out in the middle of the afternoon waiting for a bus and some guys drove by in a car, twice, looking at him - "What race is your boyfriend?", I was like, and she was like, "Black" - and who was saying, too, that she thinks that Black Lives Matter went a bit too far, with how they burned stuff down and how people don't respect the police and all. Then, just as the store is closing at like eight, the cab comes, and the driver comes out, and he's this (large) (later middle-aged) (white) guy with a scruffy beard and pig eyes, and no mask. So, I had to make a quick decision, so I didn't say anything, got my stuff in the trunk, and then opened the window on my side for the drive home, to air out the car, as I rode along in it in my N95 mask. And, even though the guy was quiet and seemed almost borderline developmentally disabled - he was taciturn beyond anything I've ever seen, and not in an unfriendly way, but almost like he didn't know how to talk and respond to people - he did see right away that I rolled the window down, and he cracked his window to increase air circulation in the car. That was really a wake-up call on masking in the area... People here tend to be very good, but it just never crossed my mind that I could be trapped in a car with a taxi driver who was not wearing a mask, why would anyone ever think that?

Mall trip (1 of 2): Purchases.

I'm not much of a shopper, but my post-holiday trip to the local mall turned out to be stellar. My gray coat that I've had for years was giving out, and it was like a late fall/early winter coat, so I needed an equivalent one of those, and maybe a coat for when it got colder but wasn't yet in the temperature range where I'd go and pull out my parka. And, beyond that for clothes, I would also ideally find a pair of boots, and maybe a pair of simple but classy black sneakers in the $30-40 range, and fill-ins for different stuff (hat, scarves, maybe a few tops). And, I found all of that, and at decent or really good prices, too. Like, my one new coat was only $80-90, and then I found a down coat by Eddie Bauer for like $140! And all were perfect fits and in really good colors and styles. Just steals. I was also looking for a few home furnishings, and I found a room rug that was pretty much exactly what I was looking for for $90, and I picked up a new curtain rod, too, for @$12. Again, I don't like shopping all that much, but I'm just floored by what I got, and all on one trip, too, with no real compromises over styles or goods or prices.

Displaced Neighbor Levity.

So, for my new little apartment cottage, I splurged and bought some taupe polyester curtains, since the light blue ones that came with the place were ugly and didn't match my stuff at all. After I put them up, then, I texted my one art school friend who wears women's clothes, and said something like, "And if your friend [first name] starts complaining about the color of my new curtains, you can tell them that it doesn't matter what they think." ...I think my ongoing persona in this situation will be the crazy new neighbor who's always causing drama over nothing...