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It's very hard not to nap. It's chilly outside and has been drizzling and I'm sitting next to two big sleepy cats who are purring and/or snoring a little. The contractors are getting close to done on this round of the attic - it's looking much better and is a lot more comfortable to be in, what with being thoroughly insulated and having pretty pine-scented walls and actual windows (we've had open vents that we plugged with insulation every winter for the last 20 years). Given that we've had to add an electrician and roofers, I'm terrified to see the final bill but confident that it will be a nice, usable space. Speaking of roofers, they identified issues with the chimney that will have to be fixed. Our handy guy made his third visit last week to drive the squirrels from their happy new nest in the porch roof. They defeated him, so now we get the super-spendy wildlife removal guy, who will trap, transport far away and do repairs; he starts this Friday. Then my main pair of glasses broke (headed into the "not covered on my new insurance because state employees don't need no stinking vision insurance" optometrist and hope my HSA card from my previous job is still active on Wednesday). And one of my Mother's Day tasks? Moving Mom's ashes from the box on the porch where they've been living into the pretty handmade urn I got for them. ALL the fun!
A gay Ugandan refugee in Kenya who follows me on Twitter checked in on me this morning to say hi and see if I was okay, so I do want to note that while all of the above sucks and is quite stressful, it is not life-threatening, and as long as I don't get fired or furloughed and nothing else huge goes awry, we'll be okay. And realistically, even if I did lose my job, we could manage for a little while, even under these circumstances, which is more than a lot of other people can say. My acquaintance in Kenya is going through very tough times; he and his fellow queer refugees are in a fair amount of peril, even though they're no longer in Uganda (being out and LGBTQ in Uganda is pretty much a death sentence) and they're trying to start up an income generation project to keep themselves afloat (most of them lost their gigs due to COVID-19 shutdowns. If you are so inclined and able to do so, you can donate here - a little goes a long, long way. The Go Fund Me is being administered by another online acquaintance, one who I've known for a couple of years, and the money is making its way to Geoffrey and his group, which both of them have confirmed. There are many news stories about conditions at the camp, if you want to learn more.
Otherwise, I'm working on projects, working on the Pride Month StoryBundle (once again benefiting Rainbow Railroad and LGBTQ refugees, as well as participating authors) and got to go to the new gay-owned chocolate shop, Dancing Bear Chocolates, in North Minneapolis, which opened this weekend and has tasty stuff. And I visited The Cafe Meow, our charming new local cat cafe, on the way home (for tea, not kitty time). I'll be on a bunch of programming at Flights of Foundry next weekend, which looks amazing and I recommend signing up; I think it will set the standard for future online cons. I'm watching stuff online and reading and going to meetings and so forth and watching plays and generally making the best of things, with a certain amount of grumpiness. I hope all of you are staying healthy and participating in your communities however you can.
A gay Ugandan refugee in Kenya who follows me on Twitter checked in on me this morning to say hi and see if I was okay, so I do want to note that while all of the above sucks and is quite stressful, it is not life-threatening, and as long as I don't get fired or furloughed and nothing else huge goes awry, we'll be okay. And realistically, even if I did lose my job, we could manage for a little while, even under these circumstances, which is more than a lot of other people can say. My acquaintance in Kenya is going through very tough times; he and his fellow queer refugees are in a fair amount of peril, even though they're no longer in Uganda (being out and LGBTQ in Uganda is pretty much a death sentence) and they're trying to start up an income generation project to keep themselves afloat (most of them lost their gigs due to COVID-19 shutdowns. If you are so inclined and able to do so, you can donate here - a little goes a long, long way. The Go Fund Me is being administered by another online acquaintance, one who I've known for a couple of years, and the money is making its way to Geoffrey and his group, which both of them have confirmed. There are many news stories about conditions at the camp, if you want to learn more.
Otherwise, I'm working on projects, working on the Pride Month StoryBundle (once again benefiting Rainbow Railroad and LGBTQ refugees, as well as participating authors) and got to go to the new gay-owned chocolate shop, Dancing Bear Chocolates, in North Minneapolis, which opened this weekend and has tasty stuff. And I visited The Cafe Meow, our charming new local cat cafe, on the way home (for tea, not kitty time). I'll be on a bunch of programming at Flights of Foundry next weekend, which looks amazing and I recommend signing up; I think it will set the standard for future online cons. I'm watching stuff online and reading and going to meetings and so forth and watching plays and generally making the best of things, with a certain amount of grumpiness. I hope all of you are staying healthy and participating in your communities however you can.