Fun and Games Dept

We quarantined for ten days to accomplish this!

The backlot to the set of “Christmas Again”, a 2021 movie being filmed in our neighborhood. The production has a house shrouded in black fabric and other light blocking tricks two blocks from our condo; this afternoon I walked by and they were filming on the front lawn amongst a bunch of Christmas decorations. I looked the production up on IMDB and I recognized the star from the front lawn.

I know it’s fairly common for television and movie productions to be filmed in Chicago; I still find it quite neat to be right here in the neighborhood.

It’s very windy at the moment. Converting the wind in knots at O’Hare to the more civilian miles per hour in the United States, the wind is currently blowing at 28 to 50 miles per hour.

It made for an interesting walk through the neighborhood.

As a weather geek and an amateur storm chaser I have always been amazed and fascinated by strong wind. Wind at this time of year is very magical for me. It’s like Mother Earth is clearing out the Northern Hemisphere to settle down for her winter’s nap. Bursts of wind were swirling leaves and such around the neighborhood as I walked over four miles this afternoon. Luckily, my flight jacket kept me warm and I was able to shield my eyes from the debris blowing around. The “roar” of the trees was magical.

While others were bundled up bustling here and there on their errands or walking their dogs, I was out for a nice Sunday stroll in 50 MPH winds. Sounds about right.

I walk a lot. I average about six miles a day, usually taken in three different walks. My beginning of the day walk is the opportunity to listen to podcasts. My playlist generally contains podcasts about tech, but I also listen to some featuring humor or news commentary. Now that I think about it, what news isn’t commentary these days?

I also walk twice during my traditional work hours, once in the morning and once in the late afternoon. Lately I have been leaving my phone behind and opting to instead lose myself in my thoughts. I tend to solve work problems during these walks but occasionally I think about non-work topics as well. I rely on my Apple Watch to keep track of my steps and people are able to still reach me by text message. Responding can be a little tricky.

The only drawback is when I walk without my phone I have no way of capturing any photos. And lately I’ve been enjoying taking photos. The magic of taking the film to get developed is gone, but it’s fun to see photos on a bigger screen when I pull them up on my MacBook or iPad Pro.

But alas, my Apple Watch does not have a camera in it. And I’m OK with that.

The energy in the neighborhood has been amazing for the past 24 hours. Last night there were fireworks going off all over the place. Folks were dancing in the streets. Sounds of cheering and frankly, a happiness we have not heard in years, was present everywhere. The celebration of President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris is electric.

Here’s a few photos from our walk this morning.

There’s more in the way of blog entries coming this weekend, but I have to share, this song just keeps going through my head.

Congratulations President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris!

To my U.S. readers, please take a moment and vote in this historic election. It is your right and our democracy depends on this simple action from its citizens.

Vote with compassion. Vote with empathy. Vote with humanity.

Vote with your heart.

We’ve come to the end of what will probably be the last “normal” weekend (whatever a normal weekend has come to mean) we’ll have in the United States for a while. After this election, no matter the outcome, no matter when the votes are tallied, all hell will break loose.

I have taken Wednesday off as a Mental Health Day. As I made my request I jokingly said to the Director of the organization, “I’ll either be hungover, drunk, or stoned. Of course, I’m kidding about that”.

It might be the best avenue out of this mess.

I am so weary and tired and fed-up. I’m sick of hearing about every outrage that Trump has done or every set of clutched pearls because a Democrat did this. I’m also extremely tired of memes stating the likes of “If people can’t be friends with you because of who you voted for they’re not very good friends to begin with”. That’s just a sign of crass cluelessness, because why would I want to be friends with anyone that will gleefully vote for Trump? The man has lied through his teeth for years, has no plan at all for anything, worked with the Senate to shove through a Supreme Court justice that will probably vote to not only end my marriage but take away a woman’s right to choose, never mind the fact that his policies permanently separated children from their families at the southern border.

I don’t terminate relationships with people because they voted for Trump. I terminate those relationships because they have a very weak moral foundation and lack any sense of human decency or compassion. They are selfish. I have no desire to debate or discuss their reasons for voting for a man that has done all of these things.

And now my blood pressure is going up. I’m going to go off and enjoy what’s left of this Sunday. Daylight Saving Time is over and my circadian rhythm is happy once again.

At least that part of my life is normal.

I was encouraged by the number of Trick or Treaters in the neighborhood late this afternoon. Parents and kids were going from house to house. Familiar calls of “trick or treat” were yelled from the sidewalk.

The majority of houses had a table set up on the front lawn with an assortment of candy and a bottle of hand sanitizer. I saw a half dozen houses with some sort of candy delivery system, usually a bunch of discarded paper towel rolls affixed end to end. A grown up would send candy down the chute to the waiting child with a trick or treat bag. One house had a witch’s hat in the end of the delivery system, and the candy shot out the witch’s hat.

This little slice of normal in the neighborhood raised my spirits a lot. Of course, we don’t get trick or treaters, being five stories up in a condo building, but Earl and I are eating the candy in the spirit of the holiday. It’s the American thing to do.

I was happy to see neighbors still decorating their houses. This has been an ongoing thing since the beginning of the month.

It certainly helps the mental state of the neighborhood. Happy Halloween!