Teleworking fool

As the year ends, several people in leadership roles have reminded my co-workers and I to beside to fill out our annual telework form. This forced to the forefront of my brain something I have been considering as the pandemic has stretched on. 

I don't think I can go back to the office ... ever.

I was going to tell my boss in a quick little video meeting, but in another meeting that morning I loudly told people something and was asked to email them. I could tell they didn't understand.

So I just emailed my boss. She was fine with it.

I'm not.

But transferring at work is transfer to my left. At home, all transfers are to my right.

Plus, I am farther from the bathroom at work, and I haven't been able to work with a physical therapist since February.

I know I made the right choice. Will I be able to live with it though?

Halfway out of the dark

 Doctor Who Christmas specials are, well. special.

Which is why I subscribed to HBO Max last night.

There are other reasons (Wonder Woman 1984), but the Christmas specials are the main one. 

And of them, 2010's A Christmas Carol just gives me goosebumps throughout, so my niece and I watched it last night.

It did not disappoint.

Of all the top moments, a voiceover near the beginning always gets me:

On every world, wherever people are, in the deepest part of the winter, at the exact mid-point, everybody stops and turns and hugs. As if to say, “Well done. Well done, everyone! We're halfway out of the dark.” Back on Earth we call this Christmas.

I rarely feel "halfway out of the dark." But I'd like to.

Christmas miracles

What, you are no doubt thinking, is a snowman doing in the Nativity in Bethlehem? Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Sure. But a snowman? I think not.

This is a special snowman. He not only spent years at the nation’s newspaper, so reminds me of my heady days there, but also is made of Christmas snow, which as we learned in Frosty the Snowman, turns into snow whenever a “December wind kisses it.” Santa never says it has to be a cold December wind.

Incidentally, Frosty lives for others, sacrifices himself and is born again, a very appropriate theme for Christmas.

Moving from right to left, VenomFang was a bad dragon. He laid waste to the hometown of my Dungeons & Dragons character, Bud the human fighter, in a campaign by a nephew. He got his comeuppance, though. My brother, several nieces and I “whacked it in two and fixed its wagon.” One of those nieces made me a little VenomFang.

When my siblings and I were young, we had Breakfast Buddies, these little Winnie the Pooh figures that went on a spoon to keep you company as you ate your cereal. I don’t actually remember using them that much, but I use the 21st century version that my nephew gave me all the time. Spider-Man sits on my computer monitor.

Also, like Frosty, Spidey sacrifices himself and is reborn. Actually, most of the superheroes in the Nativity are.

Rocket Raccoon is not one of them. At least as far as I know. I have not read a ton of Guardians of the Galaxy. He is just around to shoot up any bad guys.

Groot (well, Baby Groot here) is. Another gift from my niece, Groot will fit in in a manger. He’d probably enjoy being a shepherd.

Daredevil is another martyr. But I thought the story was so dumb, I stopped reading the book for a while. As a HeroClix figure, he is small but mighty.

Then you have Santa and the Big Three.

In the Nativity, there needs to be someone in a wheelchair. You can never wrong with Professor X. Like Rocket I am not aware of any martyrdom, but he has died a lot. I havae just not read enough X-men. With Cerebro, he could let could let everyone everywhere know about the birth, no need for the lucky few to hear angels on high.

Then there’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a true martyr. She’ll fight of any forces of darkness the Big Three face — Herod, I’m looking at you.

What's next

My alarm woke me up yesterday, and I noticed a light on out in the living room.

I am usually the only one up, but whatever, I thought.

As Fame was getting my shoes, my niece poked hiker head in my room and asked if I needed help or something.

I said no but then realized I needed socks because my feet were outside the covers for most of the night and quite cold. She did, then Fame was handing her my shoes, but putting those on meant she had to put on my shorts first. So she did.

"What's next," she would ask, so she helped me transfer and pull up my shorts.

"See, I can do this," she said before she took Fame out and fed her.

Not that I ever doubted it.

It's a responsibility-free life

I love It's a Wonderful Life.

Jimmy Stewart's great. Donna Reed is almost as awesome as Buffy. And the theme "no man is a failure who has friends!" How can you not get chills when all his friends show up and start giving George money? I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it.

But ....

I love it despite its flaws, chief among them is that without George everyone is a massive jerk. What happened to personal responsibility?

• Mary becomes an old maid, which would never happen because she is Donna Reed.
• Violet seems to have become a prostitute.
• Bert the cop? Gun-happy a$$.
• Ernie's wife leaves him.
• Gower goes to prison -- OK.
• I accept that Harry dies without George, but every man on the transport? Did the military not put another pilot in Harry's place?
• Why can no one besides George stand up to Potter? But OK, maybe everyone lost all their money in the Depression except Potter.

My biggest problem is Nick the bartender. He seems to be running a mob bar, threatens customers with physical harm and becomes evil.

One person should not be the catalyst for so many people just not being jerks.

Now that I got that off my chest, you know what I am watching now.

Siri, stop embarrassing me

 My niece has a friend who lived with us last year, and I put her in my phone because she did her schooling online so she was around if needed.

Very early in the morning on Friday, like 5, I needed to call my sister.

I said, "Siri, call [my sister]."

What Siri heard was "call my niece's friend," whose name starts and ends with the same sounds as my sister's. So it did.

There is a moment after the call starts when you can hand up with no connection, and I did try. But my finger would not hit the hangup button.

Then, the ringing stopped and a voice came on. Voicemail fortunately. I hung up.

I asked my niece over the weekend her friend said anything to her about it. I got out the words, "Did [friend's name] ..." before she started laughing.

I am deleting that contact.