“Remoted” Workday 179 / Day 268 (Wednesday)

Sunrise over the Classy Lady.

The day began with a colorful sunrise barely glimpsed from between the houses and over the Classy Lady, a fine water vessel that has not moved for a couple years since being parked in a backyard neighbor's yard. Classy Lady is possibly the most expensive yard decor in the hood. 

After that, it was another day of more of the same. Dogs, coffee, work, food. Letting dogs out and letting them back in, all day long. They stare at me, I let them out. They bark outside, I scurry to let them back in. They stare me down again and they get cookies. While this is going on, Pavlov and his dogs come to mind, except in this case, the dogs are delivering the cues instead of the human. Double Milk Chocolate Milano Cookies arrived in a Prime delivery so at least I got a cookie (or ten) for my efforts, too. The rewards here in Pavlov's remote lab and clinical study are not always that generous.

To shake up the rut of more of the same, there was a trip to the outside world after work. In the dark! A list of needed items had been carefully drafted. After entering Big Lots through the magic of the automatic doors, it was discovered there was no list in any coat pockets or my purse. The entire store was traversed in an effort to jog the memory with visual reminders.

While traversing the aisles, impulse items were discovered that were definitely not on list. Jalapeno gouda? Yes, please. And disinfecting wipes! It’s been so long since seeing any of those available online or on a store shelf that I declared them extinct and stopped writing them on any lists. A full shelf display felt like a holiday miracle. There was one item on the list that was remembered and sought. Unfortunately, there were no door hangers for the wreath in the stripped bare seasonal section, or anywhere else.

While attempting to follow the arrows and navigate the store in the designated socially distant pandemic fashion, there were many failures on the part of each of us in the handful of customers present. There were bonding moments as we apologized and commiserated over our confusion. It was not entirely our fault. The way the arrows were marked on the floor, the nearest arrow might be at the end of the row, too far to see, or potentially blocked by the guy talking on the phone who seemed to pop up everywhere. Or maybe there were actually many tall guys with remnants of brown hair, wearing a blue mask and an olive colored coat, standing in the middle of aisles throughout the store, talking too loud on a cell phone. Anything seems possible these days, even if it sounds insane.

Despite the guy on the phone, this trip was quite pleasant. Traffic was light, and even though the parking lot was busy, Big Lots was not. Back at home, while storing the disinfecting wipes under the sink, there was a container of wipes already there. What the heck? For at least three months, I’ve thought there were no more wipes and they were under the sink the behind the trash bags the whole time.

The empty tape dispenser on the table was a reminder that tape was on the forgotten list, which I expected to find on the kitchen table, but it is still mysteriously missing. It will be an adventure trying to determine what else was on the list and still needed. Sadly, playing “what did I forget” and “how can I avoid going out” is the level of adventure these days.