I had plans of finishing the hand weeding on the strip between the plumbago and the neighbor's fence. A patch of root plumbago was crowding the final stretch. My leg hurt too much after the driveway yoga for me to feel comfortable taking on that chore. It threw my whole day off.
I also had big plans to file my ad with Wyzant, an online tutoring advertisement service. I find the whole process confusing. It listed me as available for in-person tutoring within a nine-mile radius. No, no, and no. I only want to tutor remotely via Zoom or Google Meet. I had plans to call but went ahead and worked in the library pulling books for St. Patrick's Seminary. Doing that feels comforting.
I finished off several shelves and packed up three more boxes. I covered each box with paper because I am repurposing product boxes. Wrapping the boxes with paper reminds me of when I was a child between ages five and ten, and I helped my mother wrap packages for her parents still living in Berlin after the war.
The project to get Yvette's ceiling soundproofed from the room above is in another phase. I had the Pergo floor pulled up, laid acoustical matting, and new carpeting. That didn't work. I had Scott screw down the subflooring through the carpet. That didn't work. Now, we're up to taking down Yvette's bedroom ceiling, securing anything that seems loose from that angle, stuffing fiberglass insulating in, and putting up 5/8" sheetrock instead of the usual 3/8" or ½." Step One: Scott was off the Home Depot to buy the materials.
Later in the day, my leg felt good enough for me to take on that weeding job. I had to get on my hands and knees and pull out the plumbago roots that had spread into the two-foot cleared area. Nothing is better for my hip than the strain of doing that chore. I can feel my glutes strain, and the hip feels fine.
I took a shower before I took Elsa for her before dinner walk. I finished up the fresh tuna steak B. had given me the other day. I ate half of it last night. I left the rest in the marinade until tonight. Tonight, I made sure the broiler was hot before I put the fish in. That worked better. Tomorrow I'll have a hot dog; Thursday, I will have nachos at Reuben's in Hilo when I go over to get my fingerprints.
Sandor called to ask how Judy was doing. I told him she sounded just fine. He said that was a good sign. People with septic shock often sound so out of it, the EMTs think they have had a stroke. This gives me encouragement that she is not going to take a turn for the worse.
Adam looked up septic shock on the internet; only 50% of the people survive. As it was, Judy was in an ICU unit with a tube in her neck for pressers, low blood pressure medication. She came in with a reading of 80/40 and a high white cell blood count. Jez Louise!
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Musings:
We in the USA are big on a meritocracy, getting what you get through your personal effort alone. Someone wrote a book on the topic of the downside of meritocracy recently. When I Googled looking for the name, I found there are many books written on this subject.
There are two types of 'reward,' monetary and recognition. Hmm! How do I express this clearly? Financial: if you achieve economic success, it is all your own doing; Corollary: if you don't achieve monetary success, it is all your own doing. People look down on you.
There is little willingness to see personal success as much a result of dumb luck as effort. I'm a teacher. Teachers put in incredible hours. We have jobs that require the kind of focus required of air traffic controllers. We can't even take bathroom breaks without making sure someone is covering for us. We can't say no to someone who wants our attention unless we already gave it to another teacher-related chore. Nonetheless, no teacher ever becomes rich at this job. One could say it is their fault that they chose to teach as a profession. That would be true, wouldn't it? Does that mean that we are less than someone who decided to pursue wealth? Tricky, no?
So that leads us to another kind of merit. Valuing people for the work they do regardless of what it is. Teacher, garbage man, ditch digger, coal miner.
Question: which type of merit is more critical: financial or social? Have we been seduced by Mammon?
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