This holiday season has been weird

It didn’t feel like Christmas this year, and not only because I couldn’t totally ignore the news.

My schedule was off. Normally after Thanksgiving, I watch a Christmas movie or two right up until the 25^th.  Our usual schedule is this:

Christmas Vacation

Home Alone

Die Hard 1

Muppet Christmas Carol

The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

Die Hard 2

A Christmas Carol (Alastair Sim version)

March of the Wooden Soldiers

Miracle on 34^th Street

A Christmas Story

It’s A Wonderful Life

Tonight, Christmas Eve, I watched my first movie of the season: Miracle on 34^th Street.

I was already listening to my Christmas music long before Thanksgiving weekend. Most of our Christmas decorations are packed away and our little tree’s lights burned out. My Christmas village is on top of the TV but totally a-jumble. We haven’t remembered to pick up a new strand of lights and I just haven’t had time to set up the village.

I started training to be a customer service representative with Holland America Line, learning how to book and rebook cruises. Classes began on November 28 and will end on December 29^th. There is so much to learn about how to make a booking. You’d think it would be a simple thing, but it isn’t. There are a thousand details to remember and two different platforms to use. Not only that but there was also a great deal of out-of-classwork that had to be accomplished.

There were a couple of glitches. I was supposed to go live on the phones December 12^th and start earning but for one reason and another, that hasn’t happened yet. If all works out at this point, it’ll be the New Year before I start earning income. We’ve been having a rough time the last two months because of how prices have skyrocketed. We don’t really have enough fixed income to manage comfortably and that’s why I was looking forward to pre-Christmas income.

There’s another hitch. For some reason, I’m having connection issues with the platforms that Holland America uses and if I can’t get it all straightened out, I won’t be able to continue with them. We are trying a stronger ethernet cable to see if that will help. I’m kind of nervous about it because the cable I have now works just fine with every other website and platform, except for Holland America.

Even though I haven’t been writing about the garbage going on around us, that doesn’t mean I haven’t read about it and had strong feelings about it.   When I find myself feeling discouraged, I turn my music up higher.

The most recent doesn’t-seem-like-Christmas event was yesterday. I was busy with classwork and TB wrapped all the gifts except for the ones from me to him. We were having that bomb cyclone storm ("but there's no climate change!"), mostly heavy rain, and very strong winds. I took a break from classwork to wrap his gifts in the back of the house where it was secluded. As I was wrapping the gifts, I heard a ripping sound that seemed to come from above. I thought the wind might be ripping off shingles or even a part of the roof. I went to the front of the house to tell TB and our neighbor from across the street ran over to tell us the tree in our backyard had been torn from the ground.

 

This was a huge tree.  We went to look, and I took these pictures, completely stunned and appalled. There was no damage to us; however, the top of the tree damaged our neighbor’s fence and above ground pool. I learned that our homeowners’ insurance does NOT cover damage to our neighbor’s property. They allow $500 for tree removal, but we have a $500 deductible.

Ho ho ho. Not.

Even though the holiday season this year has been weird for us, we are going to fake it until we make it tomorrow and have a wonderful day with family. We will celebrate the birth of Jesus and enjoy our day despite everything.  We’ll watch It’s A Wonderful Life and realize how blessed we really are.

 

 

Looking For Work On Labor Day

Only someone who’s already retired would be trying this, right?  This is a search of necessity: living on a fixed income is very difficult these days, with rising prices everywhere.  We need to put aside money for emergency repairs and to save in case we decide to move next year.  There’s a lot of expense involved to fixing up a 50-year-old house.

What can I do?  I’m 67 and partially disabled in that I have physical limitations and am immunosuppressed.  I’m looking for remote work only.

It’s not easy trying to find legitimate remote work.  Many of the companies lure you in with all these opportunities and you learn fast it’s all click-bait.  There are a handful of places that have legitimate offerings, like Indeed and Linked In.  I have tried almost all the others and they are basically a waste of time.

I haven’t had much luck although I’d hoped my typing skills would help me.  What’s working against me: my age (who says ageism doesn’t exist?) and the fact that although my typing skills are awesome, I’m sorely outdated with my other Office skills, like Excel and Access.

I worked as a market research interviewer/supervisor for several years.  There are lots of market research companies out there that want interviewers but you have to qualify for a survey and hope that the pay is adequate.  My age and race usually screens me out of almost all surveys.  Besides, earning less than $1 for 20 minutes work is very unappealing.

What else is there?  I was an interpreter for the Deaf for most of my working career.  When I worked for school districts, I was more than an interpreter for Deaf students.  I was also a tutor.  Hey, that’s an idea!  Maybe I could be a tutor! I don’t have a teaching degree but applied to a couple of places anyway.  I have my fingers crossed for Book Nook.  I completed half of a videoed interview; I need to video myself in two teaching scenarios.  First, though, I want to practice the lessons.

So, Happy Labor Day, everyone who is already working and enjoying a day off.  I’m off to filling out more applications, wishing and hoping.

My favorite columnists each wrote something about Labor Day today and they’re well worth a read:

Heather Cox Richardson

Robert Reich

Dan Rather

Calling Dr. Frankenstein/Dr. Lang

An article about “zombie pigs” appeared in several of my newsletters last week.  I’m sure you’ve heard the story about pigs’ brains being regenerated after they’d died?  This article explains it really well https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/20382/20190418/zombie-pigs-scientists-restores-brain-activity-in-pigs-four-hours-after-death  I got the heebie-jeebies when I first read the news.  Once you’re dead, you’re dead.  Unless ... and this really creeps me out.

Right now, Ted and I are rewatched the old gothic soap, Dark Shadows.  It aired from 1966-71.  I was one of the kids who ran home every day from school to make sure I got there in time to watch the show.  I’m still a fan.  I write Dark Shadows fan fiction and have been to a couple of the annual Fests.  Anyway, we’re currently on the “Frankenstein” story line.

Barnabas, who’s suffered the curse of vampirism for almost 200 years, is being helped by Dr. Eric Lang and Dr. Julia Hoffman.  Dr. Lang’s theory is that he can transfer Barnabas’ life force to the sewn-together body and free Barnabas from the curse.  Now, why, in this day and age, did Dr. Lang resort to grave robbing instead of just getting a fresh, whole body from a hospital or morgue?  No matter.  Dr. Lang was playing God (or Higher Power).

Dr. Frankenstein, in the Mary Shelley book and in the movies, also was playing God by using experimental means to bring life to a sewn together corpse.  Why didn’t they just use a whole body?  I guess it adds to the horror to imagine the new body is made up of various peoples’ limbs, torso, and “Abby Normal” brains.

One question I’ve asked myself again and again when watching this Dark Shadows storyline or the many Frankenstein movies is:  what about the soul?  I believe we have souls that are part of our life forces.  I think when our bodies die, our souls move on to another plane we can’t see.  Call it heaven or whatever makes sense to you. 

The scientists at Yale were able to regenerate cells in the brains of decapitated pigs (they were already decapitated before the scientists got them).  It’s cool but it’s also spooky.  Will they get to the point where they can bring the organs of people back to life after they died?  Are the people the same as they were before they died, considering that with death their life force and soul are gone.

This could be a great technology for people who have organs that are failing.  Maybe it could replace transplants.  Maybe something like this could help repair brain damage in a living person that had an accident or a stroke.  It’s fascinating but at the same time it’s creepy.