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Today was short but felt long
Mar. 8th, 2020 10:21 pmYesterday I started the day at ten am because our Manager Kelly was very tired the night before and a small group meeting of York's African American Historical Preservation Society was going on, including me, so Kelly gave me the keys to close up and I promised to open in the morning so he could get in and I could give them back.
I miss having my own set of keys. It was much more convenient. But they re-keyed the locks because who knows how many people had the old keys so they decided to reboot. And then we were supposed to set up a good system for volunteers to sign out the extra set of keys but that hasn't really happened so if Kelly doesn't remember who has them, he's down to just his set.
Anyway, I had mentioned to another volunteer, Mary Anne, how run down Kelly has been since the death of his dear friend Georg Sheets, who was also his co-editor at Showcase Now, and because she is a very kind soul Mary Anne came over to keep him company for part of Saturday. While we waited for him to get there we swept the downstairs and most of the upstairs and talked about other needed Spring Cleaning. She operated the dustpan while I handled the broom. It felt very companionable and kind of like old times, since Mary Anne has been involved since before I joined the group in 2016 and back then there was still construction work and restoration going on in the house, so it sometimes seemed like we were always cleaning.
We noticed a couple of signs on the wall from Black History Month needed taking down or putting back up, so I grabbed the tape to do that and Mary Anne started sweeping the front porch. While I was about that project, the Census called to interview me as follow-up to my application to work for them this year. I answered all of their questions and she indicated someone would follow up by email. Just then Mary Anne got my attention - we had a visitor in need of a tour. I went down to give him one while she went back out front.
I had planned to leave in time for an 11:00 volunteer interview over at the Rainbow Rose Center, but when our visitor arrived it was still a bit before 11, so I started the tour and then Kelly arrived, so I handed it off to him. I was concerned to realize it was almost ten after 11 (I do lose track of time when talking about history), and sat down to notify the volunteer I was running late but still coming, by email. BUT when I opened the Rainbow Rose Center email, I was surprised to realize I had an email from her from Thursday indicating she had to reschedule. As the tension of needing to leave left me I realized I was very tired and decided to leave anyway.
When I got in the car I realized I was also very hungry-- I had failed to eat my mid-morning snack! I had slept in in the morning, because Rosie's usual 7:15 small routines synchro swim practice had been canceled. I usually take her to that and go upstairs to the yoga studio for a dance workout until she is done at 9. My whole usual Saturday routine was in disarray.
So... I went home. I had some food and then crashed for an open-ended nap, and slept until 2:30. I really was tired!
I got up and helped with the remaining cleaning needed before Brian and Rosie's D&D Gaming Group arrived at 4, then hung out for a bit with the group while Brian was printing a few extra reference sheets upstairs (he's gamemaster for this campaign).
My plan for the rest of the evening was to help register voters at both the Dare to vote SHINE concert at our historical theater downtown, the Appell Center, AND at the Dominican Independence celebration at the Crispus Attucks Community Center. This was a crazy plan. The Dare to Vote concert was also a campaign event for Tom Brier, one of two Democratic Candidates who are trying to unseat our Republican incumbent US representative, Scott Perry. I got to the theater a little early, and met one of the theater ushers. It was her first day volunteering so I reminded her where the Volunteers room is, and how to get from the Strand (Big) theater over to the Capital (small) theater, where the concert was. She was nice so talking to her was nice too.
I met the theater manager and discussed set-up logistics, so when the campaign folks got there I was able to manage the set-up process so we got the number of tables and chairs we needed to have in the lobby, got a power cord with power, got tablecloths on the tables and got them in place, etc. The idea was it was a free concert, but you had to be a registered voter to get in (unless you were too young for that, then it was free) and if people weren't registered to vote, they could fill out the form for that on the spot. They had computers so they could check everyone's Registration status.
I still think you should just automatically be registered to vote when you renew your driver's license at 18 (or over). Our system is such a mess.
Anyhoo, twice I switched between the two events and I was pleased I made it back to the theater in time to see Tom give his speech. He can give a speech, I'll give him that, and he can speak to people's pains, but I did not hear him suggest any solutions to the problems he mentioned, which was disappointing.
As I had planned, I finished the evening over at CA so I could get a plate of food after everyone else had eaten. I didn't have anyone come by my table to Register to vote even after I made a sign, so I was kind of bored but the music was nice and after people-watching for a bit, I noticed that people sitting watching the band kept their heads in pretty consistent positions. So I got my stack of blank paper and my sharpie back out and started practicing my caricature drawing.
Only one picture turned out really badly, partly because my model got up to dance a couple times in the middle. I redid it, faster, and it was pretty good. I did three pictures I liked and gave them to their subjects, who seemed pleased.
I really understand now why Rowserworld recommends a thick black marker for hair. With a medium sharpie dark hair takes forever!
Right.
So.. according to the title I was going to talk about today. Today I slept in, changed some clocks, went to the Jacobus firehouse to meet my friend Jackie for her monthly "show rural Republicans that Democrats are regular people" group show-up at the breakfast Firehouse fundraiser. When I sat down I found out her table companion had been meaning to contact me anyway about Rainbow Rose Center stuff, so we had a very productive conversation!
I came home, napped, ate, showered, and headed to gig from the children's party/entertainment company I freelance for. I usually facepaint for them but this time I was helping out with a small petting zoo for a rabbit-themed birthday party. They also had a bounce house and I believe the Unicorn even made an appearance out front: the whole shebang! I had fun getting to know the critters and sharing them with the kids. We had lots of rabbits, but also two guinea pigs, a chameleon, a Russian tortoise (small), three hamsters, and a Chinchilla. That last was SOOOOO SOFT! Bunny's ears are smooth and soft, but this critter was just soft soft. And it's got big eyes, big ears, and a slightly coiled up springy tail. We left the bunnies in their pens, but over the course of two hours I took out one hamster, the chinchilla, and one guinea pig for periods of time so the kids (and adults) could get a better look at them and pet them more easily than when down in a pen on the floor. I just adore guinea pigs. I also picked up the tortoise a few times to show people. As long as you don't move fast toward the front of their heads, tortoises are a lot more calm about being picked up than mammals. This one was only about 6 inches across. Easy to pick up.
So I got to play with animals, and get paid! The mom even gave me a tip! That's a first for me. And I also had an enjoyable conversation with the main bunny handler, Juan. In case you're wondering, the chameleon was not in a pen at all. Our other handler had it on him the whole time, until the end when my boss Nicole put it on her head and then went around asking people, "Have you seen our lizard?"
She's a fun boss.
After that I came home, had a snack, had a Gratitude call with my sister, sent Rosie's playmates home when their dad texted me to, and then had a two-hour meeting with one of my new Rainbow Rose center volunteers here at the house - longer than planned, partly because I was tired and kept going off on tangents. She left and Rosie and Brian and I had leftovers dinner while watching the end of Golden Eye, which she had started earlier in the day. And now it is late and I should go because tomorrow I have a Rainbow Rose Center Board meeting at 6, and meanwhile I am trying to get a fellowship grant application put together by end of day Wednesday.
Wish me luck!
I miss having my own set of keys. It was much more convenient. But they re-keyed the locks because who knows how many people had the old keys so they decided to reboot. And then we were supposed to set up a good system for volunteers to sign out the extra set of keys but that hasn't really happened so if Kelly doesn't remember who has them, he's down to just his set.
Anyway, I had mentioned to another volunteer, Mary Anne, how run down Kelly has been since the death of his dear friend Georg Sheets, who was also his co-editor at Showcase Now, and because she is a very kind soul Mary Anne came over to keep him company for part of Saturday. While we waited for him to get there we swept the downstairs and most of the upstairs and talked about other needed Spring Cleaning. She operated the dustpan while I handled the broom. It felt very companionable and kind of like old times, since Mary Anne has been involved since before I joined the group in 2016 and back then there was still construction work and restoration going on in the house, so it sometimes seemed like we were always cleaning.
We noticed a couple of signs on the wall from Black History Month needed taking down or putting back up, so I grabbed the tape to do that and Mary Anne started sweeping the front porch. While I was about that project, the Census called to interview me as follow-up to my application to work for them this year. I answered all of their questions and she indicated someone would follow up by email. Just then Mary Anne got my attention - we had a visitor in need of a tour. I went down to give him one while she went back out front.
I had planned to leave in time for an 11:00 volunteer interview over at the Rainbow Rose Center, but when our visitor arrived it was still a bit before 11, so I started the tour and then Kelly arrived, so I handed it off to him. I was concerned to realize it was almost ten after 11 (I do lose track of time when talking about history), and sat down to notify the volunteer I was running late but still coming, by email. BUT when I opened the Rainbow Rose Center email, I was surprised to realize I had an email from her from Thursday indicating she had to reschedule. As the tension of needing to leave left me I realized I was very tired and decided to leave anyway.
When I got in the car I realized I was also very hungry-- I had failed to eat my mid-morning snack! I had slept in in the morning, because Rosie's usual 7:15 small routines synchro swim practice had been canceled. I usually take her to that and go upstairs to the yoga studio for a dance workout until she is done at 9. My whole usual Saturday routine was in disarray.
So... I went home. I had some food and then crashed for an open-ended nap, and slept until 2:30. I really was tired!
I got up and helped with the remaining cleaning needed before Brian and Rosie's D&D Gaming Group arrived at 4, then hung out for a bit with the group while Brian was printing a few extra reference sheets upstairs (he's gamemaster for this campaign).
My plan for the rest of the evening was to help register voters at both the Dare to vote SHINE concert at our historical theater downtown, the Appell Center, AND at the Dominican Independence celebration at the Crispus Attucks Community Center. This was a crazy plan. The Dare to Vote concert was also a campaign event for Tom Brier, one of two Democratic Candidates who are trying to unseat our Republican incumbent US representative, Scott Perry. I got to the theater a little early, and met one of the theater ushers. It was her first day volunteering so I reminded her where the Volunteers room is, and how to get from the Strand (Big) theater over to the Capital (small) theater, where the concert was. She was nice so talking to her was nice too.
I met the theater manager and discussed set-up logistics, so when the campaign folks got there I was able to manage the set-up process so we got the number of tables and chairs we needed to have in the lobby, got a power cord with power, got tablecloths on the tables and got them in place, etc. The idea was it was a free concert, but you had to be a registered voter to get in (unless you were too young for that, then it was free) and if people weren't registered to vote, they could fill out the form for that on the spot. They had computers so they could check everyone's Registration status.
I still think you should just automatically be registered to vote when you renew your driver's license at 18 (or over). Our system is such a mess.
Anyhoo, twice I switched between the two events and I was pleased I made it back to the theater in time to see Tom give his speech. He can give a speech, I'll give him that, and he can speak to people's pains, but I did not hear him suggest any solutions to the problems he mentioned, which was disappointing.
As I had planned, I finished the evening over at CA so I could get a plate of food after everyone else had eaten. I didn't have anyone come by my table to Register to vote even after I made a sign, so I was kind of bored but the music was nice and after people-watching for a bit, I noticed that people sitting watching the band kept their heads in pretty consistent positions. So I got my stack of blank paper and my sharpie back out and started practicing my caricature drawing.
Only one picture turned out really badly, partly because my model got up to dance a couple times in the middle. I redid it, faster, and it was pretty good. I did three pictures I liked and gave them to their subjects, who seemed pleased.
I really understand now why Rowserworld recommends a thick black marker for hair. With a medium sharpie dark hair takes forever!
Right.
So.. according to the title I was going to talk about today. Today I slept in, changed some clocks, went to the Jacobus firehouse to meet my friend Jackie for her monthly "show rural Republicans that Democrats are regular people" group show-up at the breakfast Firehouse fundraiser. When I sat down I found out her table companion had been meaning to contact me anyway about Rainbow Rose Center stuff, so we had a very productive conversation!
I came home, napped, ate, showered, and headed to gig from the children's party/entertainment company I freelance for. I usually facepaint for them but this time I was helping out with a small petting zoo for a rabbit-themed birthday party. They also had a bounce house and I believe the Unicorn even made an appearance out front: the whole shebang! I had fun getting to know the critters and sharing them with the kids. We had lots of rabbits, but also two guinea pigs, a chameleon, a Russian tortoise (small), three hamsters, and a Chinchilla. That last was SOOOOO SOFT! Bunny's ears are smooth and soft, but this critter was just soft soft. And it's got big eyes, big ears, and a slightly coiled up springy tail. We left the bunnies in their pens, but over the course of two hours I took out one hamster, the chinchilla, and one guinea pig for periods of time so the kids (and adults) could get a better look at them and pet them more easily than when down in a pen on the floor. I just adore guinea pigs. I also picked up the tortoise a few times to show people. As long as you don't move fast toward the front of their heads, tortoises are a lot more calm about being picked up than mammals. This one was only about 6 inches across. Easy to pick up.
So I got to play with animals, and get paid! The mom even gave me a tip! That's a first for me. And I also had an enjoyable conversation with the main bunny handler, Juan. In case you're wondering, the chameleon was not in a pen at all. Our other handler had it on him the whole time, until the end when my boss Nicole put it on her head and then went around asking people, "Have you seen our lizard?"
She's a fun boss.
After that I came home, had a snack, had a Gratitude call with my sister, sent Rosie's playmates home when their dad texted me to, and then had a two-hour meeting with one of my new Rainbow Rose center volunteers here at the house - longer than planned, partly because I was tired and kept going off on tangents. She left and Rosie and Brian and I had leftovers dinner while watching the end of Golden Eye, which she had started earlier in the day. And now it is late and I should go because tomorrow I have a Rainbow Rose Center Board meeting at 6, and meanwhile I am trying to get a fellowship grant application put together by end of day Wednesday.
Wish me luck!
