In a bit of "wow, sometimes the timing is just really good" news, I discovered a couple of months ago that the house I had lived in for 25 years caught fire in the fall, and while no one was hurt and there was no real fire damage, there was TONS of smoke and water damage, so no one was living there and it was undergoing unreal amounts of repair/renovation.
Kinda glad I moved out on my own the year before that happened, me!
'Living in a pandemic but not ill' stuff:
My roommates and I are all anxious people in different ways, which has paid off outside of the occasional panic attack; one saw the pandemic coming in January, I'm an agoraphobe who has spent a lifetime preparing for a 'don't leave the house for a month or three' eventuality, and the other didn't take part in the pre-emptive prep but has taken over the during-pandemic disinfecting of everything using the supplies we prepped with and insisting on masks and gloves as appropriate. So basically we're still in good shape and intensely grateful for the ability to have reached this place.
Part of what that meant was shopping basically steadily through February and early March to build up our reserves, so we could take ourselves out of the equation if/when the panic buying started. That was a bizarre experience in shifting mindset, from normal shopping patterns to "I haven't been to a store today, I should go get things" to seeing the sudden tip over into panic buying all around me and thinking "welp, that's it, no more shopping, hope we got everything". That tip-over was amazing to see; before that, I could see that a few people here and there were doing the same sort of stocking up, but when you're in a store basically every day wow can you see the moment when Everyone Decides To Shop For The Pandemic.
We're not managing total isolation; someone walks the dog every day it's not pouring, and probably once a week someone has to go out for something at the pharmacy or the vet, and a couple of times now the corner store. But we keep it as limited as we can.
My job got intensely busy for a few weeks, but I was already working remotely almost 100% of the time so I didn't have to adjust to that on top of the workload, at least. There may or may not be layoffs down the road, but my boss thinks I'm safe. I do, too, honestly - the last few years have been great for my social capital at work, and I'm currently useful in a number of ways that many of my co-workers aren't. So that's good. My boss may not be as safe; he's great but he's also over 65, and it was pointed out to him that if we need to make cuts in the department, it might be better if retirement-age people took retirement voluntarily. Which is actually true and which doesn't change his timeline hugely - he was planning to retire next year sometime - but still. If he has to go I'll miss him like crazy, and selfishly I'm not thrilled at the idea of having to report to someone else; he's been my boss for nearly 25 years now, and I have a whole lot of autonomy as a result.
So overall the day-to-day is mostly the same, just with more company at home all day, more claustrophobia, and way too much candy because all of us wanted to be sure there was enough junk food for emergencies. /o\
Other stuff that's been happening:
I finally read Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser, a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder that had been on my vague list for several years. It was fascinating, not just for the background on Wilder but for the general history of it all, and especially the way it followed her entire life. Which, I know, biography, duh, but I read the books as a child in the early 70s and then watched the tv show not much later, and they were about Totally Olden Times and a generation long, long gone - but turns out not actually so much, really. Wilder died just a few years before I was born, during my oldest brother's actual lifetime. That is somehow a lot closer in time than my brain had ever parsed us as being before this. The early parts of her biography still felt like forever ago, but then it was also about things my parents lived through and talked about. It was weirdly hard to wrap my head around Half-Pint having electricity and a phone, but even more weirdly, it made it easier to grok the fictionalized-history aspect of the books. (Which Fraser addresses throughout, and it's clear that on some level Wilder was basically all about truthiness, which is just sort of mind-breaking. Stories were true even if they didn't really happen, or happened to different people in different ways, because they felt true emotionally.)
Anyway. The book is really interesting and I highly recommend it, although not if you're not prepared to see some serious feet of clay on Wilder about certain things, even though the biography is thoroughly sympathetic to her. The more personalized look at the history overall struck a ton of chords in me, with modern parallels that are just frustrating and fascinating. This has been sticking in my head a lot more than I expected it to. I don't want to turn this into a book report, but yeah. Highly recommend.
But! A week or two back, someone in the comments on a totally different topic linked to a different "collection" of posts by Devereaux, This. Isn't. Sparta., talking about all the ways pop culture gets Sparta wrong, particularly as seen through the lens of the movie 300. I started reading on a whim, figuring I'd see what the first few paragraphs were like, and then just didn't stop reading. It's engaging and well-written and interesting, and I wish he'd been writing the blog for five years instead of just one so I'd have more of an archive to catch up on. Good, good stuff. Also highly recommended!
Randomly: My decades-old degree in English has paid off once again, in that I was idly doing Washington Post crosswords the other night and as soon as I saw that I'd filled in "ode-n------a--" realized it had to be Ode on a Grecian (x), because of a paper I wrote 30-odd years ago.
The daffodils are blooming (see icon), but then the other day out on a walk with the dog it randomly started to hail very intensely. Ah, April.
I'm so glad to have found his blog! It's exactly the kind of writing I like, apparently.
I have my suspicions about what started the fire - my former landlord was a smoker, and the report I saw was that it started basically in his bedroom, so I'm guessing he fell asleep smoking. We were never chatty, though, and I haven't talked to him since I moved, so I don't know for sure.
Hugs! Hope you made it through yesterday's weather okay (actually I hope yesterday's weather didn't make it that far west, because eesh). I'm terrible about commenting but reading along when I'm not swamped, and you are doing an amazing job all around through all of this. <3 <3 <3
Oh yes Prairie Fires! I read it from the library, and was very interested indeed. I go through cycles of reading every Wilder bio I can get my hands on, in that attempt to sort of reconstruct as much fact as possible from all the angles, I guess.
Have you read Pioneer Girl? This was Wilder's original first attempt at autobiography, but wasn't reshaped and aimed at children, and it includes more grownup stuff like violence and tragedy and whatnot (plus a bit where an older boy gets young laura alone and tries to make her kiss him iirc, in an alarmingly molestation-like attack, but she fights him off).
It existed for a long time just as her archival manuscript, but finally a few years ago the South Dakota Historical Society actually had it published as "Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography", with TONS of marginal annotations, delving into facts, giving sources, explaining things. It is fantastic, HIGHLY recommended, and I wish I could pop over and loan you my copy. I own it in hardback, for better perusal of the huge amount of margin notes. :D
And hey, thank you so much for the reminder of that blog! I remember the link on Metafilter, and was like 'oh nice I will read this later, and then Events happened and I forgot all about it. It is definitely right up my alley!
I've never read any other Wilder bios; I'm not a big bio reader, which is weird now that I think about it, hm. I am fascinated by how much this fascinated me, and how much it keeps poking me in the back of my head. therienne and mollyamory are both thoroughly sick of me listening to something about the current state of the world and saying "y'know, in that Wilder bio I just read..."
It existed for a long time just as her archival manuscript, but finally a few years ago the South Dakota Historical Society actually had it published as "Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography",
oooooh. I have not read it! Just seen the references to it in Prairie Fires. I bet that's the book I originally came across on Metafilter a few years back, which is what got me thinking "I should read that Wilder book", but then Prairie Fires was the one that came up when I eventually went looking.
Amazon has it at the same price for hardcover and kindle and your reasoning has swayed me toward the actual physical object. That is going on my Amazon wish list for later this year. \o/
And hey, thank you so much for the reminder of that blog! I remember the link on Metafilter, and was like 'oh nice I will read this later, and then Events happened and I forgot all about it.
Heh, that was me exactly. When I realized the Sparta guy was the same guy I facepalmed all over. I really dig his writing style, and his balance between historical accuracy vs. good film/cinematography/whatnot.
You know, the Kindle version is tempting, though--it didn't exist when I pre-ordered my copy (yeah, I was a little excited :D ). As long as they do good links to the many margin notes, to make it easy to get there and back again. Because of course ebooks can be adjusted to be easier on the eyes, and also aren't as heavy as a big ol hardback with little margin print.
I had the sample kindle chapter sent to my phone, and tested out some of the links to notes in the introductions (not in the beginning of the autobiography itself, for some reason--there are links, but they don't work, so I assume the truncating of the sample cut the notes off). They seem to work very well! Easy to pop back and forth. And I tested one of the maps, and it works great, I can zoom in on it and everything.
So, maybe take a look at the sample chapter and see what you think, if in the end an e-version might suit your needs better.
Glad you all are still doing good. I also did a couple of shopping trips to stock up back before the panic buying set in, figuring that if it wasn't that bad then at least we'd be prepared for hurricane season. Our local grocery store chain HEB was actually preparing for the pandemic in January. In February I walked into the store one morning and the whole place smelled like Clorox, like they had spent all night cleaning it like it was an operating theater. I took the hint and bought a lot of extra rice and beans and sugar etc.
That's freaky about the place you used to live. Very glad that you got out of there when you did.
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arduinna
no subject
Date: 2020-04-15 12:31 am (UTC)Always great to hear from you.
Did you hear what exactly caused the fire?
no subject
Date: 2020-04-15 02:22 am (UTC)I have my suspicions about what started the fire - my former landlord was a smoker, and the report I saw was that it started basically in his bedroom, so I'm guessing he fell asleep smoking. We were never chatty, though, and I haven't talked to him since I moved, so I don't know for sure.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-15 11:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-15 01:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-15 02:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-15 02:13 am (UTC)I am so glad that you and your housemates are doing okay, for pandemic values of okay. I send love from the far end of the state.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-15 02:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-15 03:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-19 05:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-17 03:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-19 05:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-17 01:59 pm (UTC)Have you read Pioneer Girl? This was Wilder's original first attempt at autobiography, but wasn't reshaped and aimed at children, and it includes more grownup stuff like violence and tragedy and whatnot (plus a bit where an older boy gets young laura alone and tries to make her kiss him iirc, in an alarmingly molestation-like attack, but she fights him off).
It existed for a long time just as her archival manuscript, but finally a few years ago the South Dakota Historical Society actually had it published as "Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography", with TONS of marginal annotations, delving into facts, giving sources, explaining things. It is fantastic, HIGHLY recommended, and I wish I could pop over and loan you my copy. I own it in hardback, for better perusal of the huge amount of margin notes. :D
And hey, thank you so much for the reminder of that blog! I remember the link on Metafilter, and was like 'oh nice I will read this later, and then Events happened and I forgot all about it. It is definitely right up my alley!
no subject
Date: 2020-04-19 06:00 am (UTC)It existed for a long time just as her archival manuscript, but finally a few years ago the South Dakota Historical Society actually had it published as "Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography",
oooooh. I have not read it! Just seen the references to it in Prairie Fires. I bet that's the book I originally came across on Metafilter a few years back, which is what got me thinking "I should read that Wilder book", but then Prairie Fires was the one that came up when I eventually went looking.
Amazon has it at the same price for hardcover and kindle and your reasoning has swayed me toward the actual physical object. That is going on my Amazon wish list for later this year. \o/
And hey, thank you so much for the reminder of that blog! I remember the link on Metafilter, and was like 'oh nice I will read this later, and then Events happened and I forgot all about it.
Heh, that was me exactly. When I realized the Sparta guy was the same guy I facepalmed all over. I really dig his writing style, and his balance between historical accuracy vs. good film/cinematography/whatnot.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-19 04:40 pm (UTC)I had the sample kindle chapter sent to my phone, and tested out some of the links to notes in the introductions (not in the beginning of the autobiography itself, for some reason--there are links, but they don't work, so I assume the truncating of the sample cut the notes off). They seem to work very well! Easy to pop back and forth. And I tested one of the maps, and it works great, I can zoom in on it and everything.
So, maybe take a look at the sample chapter and see what you think, if in the end an e-version might suit your needs better.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-19 04:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-19 05:36 pm (UTC)That's freaky about the place you used to live. Very glad that you got out of there when you did.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-26 05:59 pm (UTC)