My Wish List for 2021

I want the vaccine. I want YOU to get the vaccine. And I want it to be safe and effective.

I want safe and effective treatments for COVID that don’t require you to be a government official with access to the best, government-paid health care to get them.

I want more compassion and empathy for everyone and less animosity.

I want people to stop getting COVID and to stop engaging in behaviors that make it more likely that they will get COVID and spread it to people like me, who have assiduously followed all of the recommendations to stay safe and healthy.

I want to see health care workers, people in nursing homes and other essential workers move to the head of the line for the vaccine, ahead of the politicians who claimed that COVID was a hoax.

I want everyone to remember how many people died in this pandemic, even the people who chose to ignore it.

I want health care workers to get a break. The pressure on them has been unrelenting. 

I want heath care workers to have all of the supplies they need to stay safe while saving lives.

I want to lose the weight I gained in quarantine – and the weight I was supposed to lose before the quarantine.

I want the “Karens” of the world to see themselves on video and think about the example their behavior sets for their children and grandchildren and how it affects our society.

I want to see restaurants and small businesses be able to again open their doors, pay their employees, make money and serve the community.

I want law enforcement personnel to do their work safely and effectively without singling out Black people or people of color for the harshest and sometimes fatal treatment.

I want equality for all people because all lives can’t matter unless Black Lives Matter.

I want to better understand the restrictions people who don’t look like me have and how they have to constantly “code switch” their behavior to fit in to a world that caters to white people, and what I can personally do to make it better.

I want kids to be able to go out and play and have other kids over and fall down and get up on the playground again.

I want the immigrant children separated from their families to be reunited with their parents. 

I want to be able to go outside without the need to wear a mask. But I will continue to wash my hands better and more often, a lesson learned this year.

I want teachers recognized as the heroes they are and to get their proper respect and better pay.

I want people on social media to stop portraying themselves as Constitutional scholars or epidemiologists.

I want us all to listen to medical and scientific experts and not charlatans who have something to gain for giving their “advice.”

I want the My Pillow Guy to go back to selling pillows and not COVID cures. Not that I’d buy either from him.

I want to make reservations for dinner, not for takeout, and sit at a table with friends. I do not want to eat alone.

I want to eat dinner without having to clean up after myself.

I want to be with my friends, to spend time and laugh and hug and hang out and just be friends again. Zoom can't replicate the feeling of being with the people I truly care about.

I want to stop stockpiling toilet paper, paper towels and napkins for fear they won’t be available.

I want to stop doing food inventory and deciding whether to adopt a LIFO or FIFO policy in managing my pantry and freezer.

I want to do things on the spur of the moment.

I want to see Broadway shows and concerts and sporting events live and in person, with lots of cheering and high-fives.

I want to go to the movies.

I want to go to a store and wander around aimlessly. And I want to be able to try on clothes.

I want to get my hair cut when I actually need a haircut and not out of fear of an impending lockdown.

I want to go to the nail salon.

I want the government to be honest and do the right thing, putting the rights and safety of the people first.

I want to stop all the acrimony that this year has resulted in the end of relationships and friendships because of divergent points of view.

I want the government officials who have profited illegally from the pandemic to be brought to justice.

I want to see justice served on those in power who squandered their responsibilities and put themselves first.

I want to see the Rutgers Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams stay safe and healthy and win National Championships for the first time.

I want to see and hug my best friend for such a long time that it will be really awkward when we finally let go.

I want to understand how I can be a better person and make the world a better place.

I want this nightmare to be over and I want good health for everyone.

I want the vaccine.






 

December 2020 Message from Tina - Tina's Tidbits

I am at the stage of online shopping where I find a package outside my door and think, “I wonder what this is.”

Is anyone else ready to eat dinner at 4 PM or is it just me? I mean it’s practically dark by then, so I think it is nighttime. I need a better (healthier) routine!

Recently I bought a roll of invisible tape. Now I can’t find it.

The verdict is in on the heavy question of using a weighted blanket, and it is a go! The blanket I have is for a twin bed (I sleep in a queen, as befitting someone of my stature) so I have the blanket spread across the bed. I wouldn’t want to carry that thing around – it is really heavy when you have to lift it – but when the weight is distributed over the area (sounds like a math equation is coming!), it is spread out enough so I don’t feel crushed. I think I am sleeping better, although I am still not getting enough sleep to suit my needs. Is 10 hours too much to ask? Yes, it is a little harder to turn over and tougher to make the bed, but sleeping with the weighted blanket makes me feel cozy and tucked in. I just hope I don’t need a rapid escape from the bed because I’m pretty weighed down now. And I am keeping it.

About once a year I try mustard just to confirm that I don’t like it. Today was that day. Confirmed, although I do use a tiny amount in my egg salad. Just not on a hotdog.

Last week I gathered up all of my myriad of catalogs with the intention of going through each one and doing any necessary shopping. I was waylaid by going for my second shingles shot since I was due to get that completed. And then I started going through my will so I could call my attorney and make changes (none of you are in it, by the way, so don’t start cozying up to me now). And just for fun, I parted my hair on the other side to see what it looked like. No one at CVS noticed. You could say I am either very distracted or very productive. Your choice.

This year’s holiday gift suggestions from Amazon are a little different from previous years. There are lots of masks – medical looking-ones and cute, colorful ones – plus face shields (nothing says, “Merry Christmas” like a plastic face shield), disposable gowns (and I don’t mean to wear to Cinderella’s ball), and those dryers used for manicures at the nail salon for those folks now doing their nails at home (raises hand).

It is not possible to have a Zoom meeting without having to say, “Mary, unmute yourself!” at some point during the session.

Right after GLITTER on the “Bane of My Existence” list comes Styrofoam. No matter how carefully you handle it, little white pieces break off and cling to you, the furniture and the floor. And you can’t avoid it totally because things are shipped with it, like a medication I take that has to be kept cold so it is shipped in a Styrofoam container. Nothing is easy. 

I don't think anyone misses me as much as Kohl's. They keep sending me these pleading, desperate text messages to try to entice me with their sales. I hope they are still around when it's safe to go out again.

Signs of the times: I keep a mask hanging on a hook by my front door for those rare occasions when someone rings my bell and I have to open the door and speak. I’m ready!

Raise your hand if you predicted at this time last year that we would all be wearing masks (those of us with common sense, at least) and that masks would become a kind of fashion statement. I ordered several custom-made masks as Christmas gifts this year and I guarantee that idea was not on my radar in 2019.

I recently put on a pair of real pants, the kind with a button and a zipper, for a Zoom meeting. Not that anyone could see them, but along with wearing earrings, I felt like Cinderella at the ball.

My sweats are now classified as regular or “dressy.” Hey, throw on a scarf and who can tell the difference on a Zoom call?

I’m a little concerned about losing my identity. Sometimes my phone won’t recognize my fingerprint when I try to sign on. It’s really me!

You know what young people don’t have to deal with that was a challenge for my generation? Toll calls. You would try to call after 9 to get a lower rate, or maybe reach your uncle in California on a Sunday afternoon to keep costs down. Now most of us pay no attention to the location of the person we are trying to reach or the length of the call. I recently watched an entire Rutgers Women’s Basketball game while on the phone with a friend who sits with me at the RAC to see live games. It wasn’t exactly like being there, but it was the next best thing – and it was FREE!

Sometimes as I sit in my office, my printer begins to make noises as if it is getting ready to print even though I haven’t sent anything to the printer. I guess it is raising its little printer hands as if to say, “Hey, I’m ready! Print something!”

When I bought a mesh bag to keep my socks from disappearing in the dryer, I thought I had closed off escape routes. Now, one of the two wool dryer balls I use instead of dryer sheets has also vanished. I found the other one hiding out in the sleeve of a sweatshirt I had washed and dried but the first one remains missing in action. I have a feeling that the next time I change the sheets, I will find it hiding away, tucked in a corner. 

It is so loud in my house in the morning! Between the inevitable sneezing, coughing, throat clearing, sniffing, nose blowing, stretching and groaning, this house echoes with a cacophony of sounds all emanating from one person: Me. It is good I live alone. 

The “Real Housewives” reality show franchise has featured women in locations from Beverly Hills, Atlanta, Washington, DC, New York and other places where overdressed wives (and ex-wives) live. Recently I heard an ad for a new version in Salt Lake City. Really? Real, dolled up Mormon housewives get a show? If that’s the case, I propose “The Real Housewives of Canal Walk,” that would be shot in my active adult community. I can imagine the senior ladies getting all spiffed up for trips to the doctor, for a mah jongg game, book club meetings, an outing to Costco and the like. That would be a REAL reality show!

The only thing I like less than handwashing the dishes is emptying the dishwasher on the rare occasions when I use it. There’s a conundrum.

I am fairly certain that the “Jeopardy” folks wanted to offer me the job as the new host after the sad death of legendary Alex Trebek, but his shoes would be much too big to fill. Without Alex, the show will never be quite the same. All-time winner Ken Jennings is slated to take over on an interim basis, and I have a feeling other folks will get on-air try-outs, too. I won’t wait by the phone.

I recently received an email from Mercedes with an offer to buy things like a Mercedes fleece pullover for something like $139. You would think that after buying a $60K car (and I haven’t bought a car since 2013), they might throw in for FREE a sweater that advertises their cars. Among other things available for purchase was a rolling suitcase, which is just what I need in case I want to move upstairs from my first-floor bedroom – because that would be the only traveling in my future!

My photography club issues monthly challenges where members submit a photo one month of a landscape or shapes and another of patterns or other subjects. Last month we were supposed to submit photos that represented “before and after,” showing how an original photo was edited or enhanced to make it better. I took a different approach. My “before” picture was a peach. My “after” was the pit. I may not be taking many pictures these days, but at least I have retained my sense of humor.