Seconding -t, Jesse. Though I feel simultaneously certain that I need more info and that, if you answer, I will regret having asked.

There was a time when I had a glimmer of hope that this terrible year would at the very least push some transformations in things that already weren't working well. It fills like more and more of that is slipping away.

This. And also what ND said. And Volans. There were so many options, over the course of all those terrible months, we could have explored but we as a culture were utterly uninterested in rethinking anything.

Up in Reno, getting ready for bed because my mom has to check in at the ENT center at 5:30 tomorrow morning. The second vaccine dose really knocked me on my ass: chills and fever last night, and today I was so worn out that I lay down and took three separate naps. My mom is stressing out but also firmly focusing on the fact that by this time tomorrow it'll all be over and done and she'll be home again, resting and being fussed over and sternly telling the cat to stop walking on her chest.

Our dad's house is sold, as of about an hour ago, to one of the developers of The Sims and his wife, who used to live in San Francisco and drove up yesterday and walked around the property and fell in love with the land and the view. They have at least one kid and it'll be wonderful to have the place occupied by a whole family, but it also feels deeply strange. I know there are many, many Buffistas who've been through selling or outright losing a family home full of history, good and bad, and what a mess of feelings it brings up. There's definitely a huge dose of pure relief here--settling out the estate has dragged on and on with no end in sight, and one of my brothers especially has been almost totally ground down to a nubbin by it all. It's so good to have one huge piece of it off his plate.

Though I feel simultaneously certain that I need more info and that, if you answer, I will regret having asked.

Less spicy brains, but I am as JZ in this.

I'm glad that the house is sold and not a drain any longer. So hard trying to take care of everything.

Ghost (in the Snow) was a) not a fan of the actual snow we had Sunday and Monday and b) just booted all over her bed in the sunroom-type patio. Said room is not exactly indoors so I cleaned up the still kibble remains of her just eated dinner and will clean more deeply tomorrow. She seems fine otherwise. Could be a lot worse.

Buffista puppers, your humans love you so much; please don't have so many digestive issues indoors. Poor noodles.

And it's yet another Jewish holiday that our community can't celebrate together. Blah. (This one is a relatively low-key holiday, and it actually could pretty easily be done with an outdoor celebration -- it's a holiday for trees, so outdoors is actually on-brand for this -- but really, nobody at this point has the energy to plan something like that.) And I didn't plan ahead well enough to even get some almonds and dates, which are the foods that we're supposed to have.

Hil, have you tried "think, pair, share"? You give the class a question that they all think about (you could probably send it via email ahead of time), then you pair up the students to discuss it, then one (or both) of them reports out on their conclusions/ideas. If you pair up the two talkers, the others will have more pressure to step up.

My other thought is to have a Padlet, and have it shared on screen, maybe with some prompts, and have the students type simultaneously, and let them comment on other answers. Then if you see something interesting you can point it out and have the person share more....

Not encouraging how, Jesse? Like, society is fucked? Or something else?

Yeah, just like that. I mean, they weren't like, "BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES!" or anything, but they also weren't like, "This is obviously a six-week blip that is automagically gone now and all is well."

They (Homeland Security? I forget) issued a warning about the possibility of domestic "unrest" for the next little while, too,

Sara is positive for COVID. I am ... exhausted, and getting tested again later, but Ben and I have to quarantine for two weeks either way. I am also angry at her, guilty and ashamed, and just over everything in general.

Sorry to whine.

I just saw that about the domestic terrorism, Amy. Expires in April, from what I read. Because of the March 4 tarradiddle.

Sorry to hear about Sara, hope she comes through ok. Bummer about needing to quarantine, I hope you escape the actual virus

I guess it is not their job to comfort us with lies, Jesse. Alas.

Sara is positive for COVID. I am ... exhausted, and getting tested again later, but Ben and I have to quarantine for two weeks either way. I am also angry at her, guilty and ashamed, and just over everything in general.

Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear all of that.

I guess it is not their job to comfort us with lies, Jesse. Alas.

"Lie to me"!!!