Not that I don't try...but Zoom just either isn't the same or it's all work. There's this thing that my supervisor says every Sunday about "reveling in being surrounded by people who get it," Which, you know, five years ago felt easier because a. I was just eager to talk to somebody who didn't know where my freckles are, right? and 2.I am relatively surrounded by anti-vax sentiment here, so, like, in that sense they did "get it" more. But, now, affectionate teasing of him aside, I find myself thinking "That thing that he describes...have I ever truly felt that, ever?" and I have to say mostly not. Maybe for a little while in either my biggest Crip Power period(Now that I'm not in that, I can say I was annoying and fully overcompensated in the manner of every convert, ever. As sorry as I am that we didn't fully change the world for summer '93) or in the earlier days of my time as a Buffista, when we all had more time to play. And I really do like the PDA people, but they know and like Me as Activist and they, you know, live with the other parts of my package and personality, not really that they love them. They want the machine, the one who pretends she likes showing up ten weekends in a row.

But it's something I preach all the time - proximity matters.

The changes in the city and the pandemic fucked me for this one. A critical mass of my conveniently local friends moved either moderately inconveniently far away (driveable for dinner or brunch plans, but a pain in the ass) or hope-they-have-a-guest-room far away. Combine that with the kids graduating high school and parent friends thus going empty nester, and we don't get out much these days.

I do have one good friend who's just slightly inconveniently far away, but our socializing has to work around her chemo schedule, and we have parent friends two and a half blocks away (their kid, like ours, is still in the house and going to the local community college) who we hang out with from time to time, so it's not complete isolation, but it's a lot more isolation than I had going into 2020 (ah, back when we were the ones planning to move!), I tell you what.

Timelies all!

Tired. This was not helped by having a number of nights in a row where I woke up coughing several times. I end up being wobbly in the morning. (Thing I learned: Sit down when putting on slippers in the morning. Subsequent thing I learned: If you are falling, do not grab the partially broken earring rack that isn't attached to the wall. Someday I will find where all those little post earrings went...)