Covid

It’s curious to see my response to a bout of Covid is not much different from what it was in early 2020. Despite a negative test, symptoms tell me everything I need to know. I have to remind myself every day this week that, given the regulations, I’m not obliged to quarantine. Nevertheless, Anja and I are both barely able to walk the dog. I work half days, and spend my afternoons in bed with hot water bottles.

• I’m making an attempt this week to make my weeknotes more of a personal record rather than a performance of how exciting my week is. What I’ve written answers the question I might ask myself seven years from now: what was life like this week?
• I went on the road for on-site research on Tuesday, and was delighted by the particular nursing home that we visited. It seems many Dutch healthcare organizations have understood that environments that resemble the real-life environments of patients contribute to their overall wellbeing. The various spaces we saw were tailored to what life must have been like when the elderly clients were younger: a fifties barber shop, a diner-like restaurant. It was endearing. More professionally, I continue to be stunned by the working lives of people in healthcare. Having to balance tight budgets and strict schedules on the one hand and genuinely wanting the best for clients on the other is not an easy feat.
• It seems like I did pick up Covid while there.
• I’ve begun watching Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and I love my life. The farther I become removed from the humanities major version of myself, the easier it becomes to admit I love monster disaster stories.
• I’ve also begun watching the second season of The Morning Show, and two episodes in I understand why Anja urged me to really, really give it a try. Reese Witherspoon making out with Julianna Margulies is not the stuff of dreams I thought I needed, but here we are. Acting, storyline etc. also good.
• The Israel-Hamas War continues to rage, which has begun to feel like a weird name for the conflict. I wonder what it means that, when I Google those words, the Wikipedia entry to which I’m directed is 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
• I will never have first-hand experience of what it means to be a Jewish person in the world today, although I’ve been having a second-hand experience that has been leaving me… perturbed. When people discover my partner is Jewish, the tone of the conversation shifts. Not in a pro-Palestinian way, but in the way Jenna Maroney felt the urge to touch Liz Lemon’s hand after learning that Liz had met Oprah on a flight (which, of course, turned out to be a random Black woman).
• While I tested negative, I did spend Friday evening and night in bed with a fever and a body that felt as though it had been hit by a truck. Anja did test positive on Sunday, and so now we’re quarantining. March 2020 all over again.
• I keep thinking a lot about Osama Bin Laden. About the lack of context given by the journalist who shared parts of his Letter to the American people on social media. How TikTok and X, at least for a moment, were rife with people who were barely born when 9/11 happened, proclaiming support for Bin Laden because he had pro-Palestinian things to say. About the importance of digital literacy in the classroom.
• Whenever I’m ill, I bake or cook. I feel bad not doing anything and lying in bed all day, and following a recipe always seems like a good way to pass the time. This week, I made apple crumble custard vlaai. You can take the girl out of Limburg (and thank God for that), but…

• First of all: not a great week. I continue to struggle to notice when I feel stresed or overwhelmed, and it never fails to result in my body giving me a clear sign. On Monday evening, in the midst of a busy work month, my body said “SIT. DOWN.” I needed undtil well into the weekend to feel myself again.
• One of the signs my body knows to give it a very mild version of conversion disorder: I lose the ability to listen to a conversation while I walk without feeling very dizzy. Isn’t the body a beautiful, very annoying, but magnificent thing?
• I start back up at work on Thursday, working the mornings until the weekend. It’s good to acknowledge things aren’t great., It brings clarity and rest.
• On Friday evening I attend the first edition of a new local film club I joined. It confirms what I already know: I love the horror genre, and I love discussing cinema with people who didn’t finish film school Anja I’m looking at you.
• Ever since we visited Hija de Sanchez in Copenhagen Anja and I have gotten really into Mexican food. By now, I’m so well-versed in the art of a simple-but-sublime taco, that I whip up a delicious meal. Who knew tacos required so little filling?
• On Saturday, I visit Micropia, a zoo-adjacent museum about microbes. I expect to be queasy throughout the entire visit, terrified by the unfortunate-looking mini animals that live in and on every part of my body. Instead, I’m amazed by the beauty of nature. During the mini class I ask a question about algae: if their bodies move towards light and they’re under a microscope for a while, where light comes from all sides, what happens to their health? The laboratory assistant tells me the museum swaps petri dishes regularly so that the algea don’t die. What happens before death, though, I wonder.
• On Sunday, Chenelva comes over for afternoon drinks. She’s one of those rare people: an instant connection and plenty of common ground to grow out friendship on. We marvel at how little we know about queer BIPOC Amsterdam.
• We’ve completed the first season of the Dutch reality show “B&B vol liefde”, in which B&B owners invite four dates into their home. Hate-watching reality television with Anja is one of my favorite pastimes.

• Cooler temperatures! After the hottest week I’ve experienced in months, things were back to comfortable Summer weather. By the time I’m writing this the sky is gray and it’s raining, but this week’s weather was cheerful and moderate.
• On Tuesday and Wednesday I gave two big UX workshops at week to help coworkers understand how they can use UX in their daily work. I’ve been giving workshops for well over a decade, always trusting my instinct to figure out what a particular group or context required. At work, though, we have two wonderful scrum masters who are well-versed in the art of facilitation. I learned a lot from their feedback, and saw a hugh jump between the quality of the first day and of the second day.
• I caught up with a special friend on Wednesday, a young woman I met because we were treated for the same health condition. Her life as a Psych major couldn’t be more different from mine, and yet the red threads our lives resemble one another. I’m fortunate to call her my friend.
• I had missed a few weeks in my RSS reader, but I was pleased to see Manuel Moreale’s People & Blogs is off to a good start. To hell with Anja calling me a geek for being into the IndieWeb, I love visiting other people’s websites. I suspect I love reading what they have to say about those websites even more.
• Last week, I had met an amazing couple of lesbians who invited me over for a casual dinner party on Friday. After a particularly challenging week, it was comforting to hear their experiences as people of color in the world today. I’m already looking forward to inviting them to our place.
• On Saturday, Anja and I kicked off the weekend with a spontaneous redesign of our living room. We finally got rid of my desk, which was a Covid-era purchase used for our home office. What remains now is Anja’s bigger desk, which functions as a dining room table that she hates more than I do. The removal of our home office allowed us to place our sofa there, which has giving the living room a significant amount of extra space. The dining room table continues to double as an office whenever we put our ultrawide monitor there. I like modular living, and I’m feeling less and less awkward about the way we’re going about it in our house.
• At the end of our cleaning sprint Anja mentioned it was a beautiful day for this accomplishment, since it was Rosh Hashanah. New living room, new beginnings.
• After visiting Anja’s mom in the afternoon, we biked to Kriterion to Watch Oppenheimer
• Much like the last few days, I’m not in the best of states. There’s an old sadness that keeps saying hello, and I’m slowly beginning to think it might be time to get some help with it.
• I’m nearing the end of my journal, and I’m surprised by how unnervous I am by the few pages I have left. In this past, like the rest of the world, as it appears, I had trouble finishing a journal in a relaxed manner. Looking at the first entry, I see I have 29 days left until it’ll have been one year exactly. Hello nerves.

• IT IS HOT STOP CLIMATE CHANGE NOW. I don’t think I’ve seen hotter days this year than week 36. Getting out of a hot shower and feeling equally wet fifteen minutes later. Lemonade barely wanting to walk outside. The sun beaming so feriously we can’t keep the windows open. Thank you, Jesus, but please make it cooler.
• There’s something sweet about seeing Amsterdam through the eyes of friends from abroad. On Tuesday, I couldn’t have been more excited to welcome my Vine & Fig friends Pickles and Patrick to the city. They’re two Irish Catholic gay men named Patrick, so we try to make it work any way we can.
• I was saddened by the fact that Jacob, Patrick’s husband, couldn’t make it because he had to stay home and help their dog Jude recover from surgery. All week, I felt like we were missing a limb.
• I joined the V&F leadership team in mid 2020, and we’ve been growing a friendship since. The moment I saw them I knew we were going to get along perfectly in real life, too. Finally getting to embrace them felt like to most natural thing in the world.
• Their AirBnb, which is located just off of Vijzelgracht, was absolutely ridiculous. A three-bedroom penthouse overlooking De Pijp, enormous backyard below, include Swedish saunas and swimming pools. This is how the other half lives.
• I made time to hang out with the Patricks every day they were here, which took us to sweet places. I took them to Takeichi, my favorite ramen place where I always order anything but ramen, and to Studio K, where they met Lemonade, who chewed through her leash in what seemed like a quiet moment.
• On Friday, we went cheese and wine tasting at Abraham Kef in Noord. It reminded me of how much I love cheese. It was the first thing I was able to say after I learned to say “momma”. I want to make my own cheese.
• After dinner at Thuskomme on Saturday we took silly mugshots with my Polaroid camera.
• It is truly wonderful to spend time with the Patricks, with whom I weave in and out of conversation topics like it’s nobody’s business. One minute we’re talking about sex toys, and the next about the Book of Job. Knowing they were going to be leaving made me cry a little bit, but then I remembered our friendship had survived without physical get-togethers for three years already.
• On Friday, I met with Mpho to chat church business. I’ve been discerning all Summer about how I would want to be involved in the church now that it’s becoming a church plant, and I decided maintaining the website and social media was a commitment I could make.
• On Sunday, All Saints held her homecoming gathering after the Summer break. Kyle Rader, our new minister, was there for the first time. I liked the elder millennial vibe he brings to the service. It was intimate and lovely, although I seriously missed the pianist. After the service, we gathered for a potluck dinner in the bishop’s garden next to the church. I showed the logo ideas I had been working on, to friendly compliments.

• Met Tim Bleeker at Somerlust Park on Tuesday, a get-together that started as “chilling in the park”, and which turned into grabbing a drink at l’Osteria. The venue is not one I can recommend. When requesting a bigger table because more people would be coming, the waiter scoffed at us. Then he closed the red velvet roped entrance. Later, his colleague told me people often just barge into the venue, ignoring waiters’ requests. I couldn’t imagine the type of person that would do this, and then I looked around.
• I still seem to have a pinguecula because of the time I spent in an airconditioned car not too long ago, although my eye is far less red than last week. I feel guilty for disgusting any reader with this information, but hey, they’re weeknotes. Long story short, I now have sunglasses.
• Watched Hillsong, A megachurch exposed, and learned a lot about how the church has propelled itself into popularity. Knowing how anti-queer the church has always been, I never felt comfortable attending a service in Amsterdam. The early 10s fashion made me feel nostalgic, though.
• Had a lovely workshop at work about effective team work. It was inspiring, educational, and great for a sense of collaboration, not just with my peers, but also with the company’s leadership. It’s wonderful to be a part of a company that walks its talk so enthusiastically.
• I’m struggling to be a good dog mom to Lemonade, seeing Anja’s conduct and training as much more effective and kind. I’ve been working to praise her good behavior more than I punish her mistakes.
• I was off on Friday, and I went to an early-morning showing of Talk to Me (2023), which I’ll most likely do again. A cute retired Amsterdam couple were discussing their elaborate weekend cooking plans, which I found delighting. They proceeded to talk all throughout the movie.
• I tidied Annelie Wambeek’s house now that she’s coming back from her month abroad. I brought her some eggs, bread, milk, some treats, and flowers, and I made sure to leave the house smelling fresh. I hope it makes her feel good when she comes home tonight.
• I spent Saturday and Sunday tinkering on the website, and feel good about the results.
• I’ve been on the hunt for a good strategy for Bible study in Obsidian, and I managed to find a verse-per-file translation of the King James Bible on FaithBasedProductivity.com that I added to my Obsidian vault. It took a couple of days before the whole thing was properly synced across my devices, which I suspect might be the result of Obsidian Sync not be able to perform background syncs. It made me consider switching to iCloud Sync for a second, but honestly I can’t be bothered. I’m keen to see when I’ll actually begin using the 33,613 files that are taking up over 100 mb in my vault.
• I found myself missing church this week. I’m excited for All Saints Amsterdam to start back up again mid-September. I’m curious to see what’s in store for us.
• Mark Delany came over for Lemonade cuddles and dinner on Saturday. I made Tacos, successfully if I do say so myself, and we had a lovely time catching up and discussing what really matters: the fact that Mark uses the word “taco” as a standard synonym for female genitalia. I’m still laughing.

• The first week back at work is fairly quiet, I even found myself on the verge of boredom at one point. Organically, this makes me feel bad, but I remind myself that weeks before and after holidays tend to have this effect on my life. I tell myself I’m just landing.
• No one can convince me the municipality of Amsterdam isn’t using major construction projects to show tourists how crap the city can be. On Sunday, I go for a long bike ride to Amsterdamse Bos and back, and crossing the Berlagebrug I’m struck by how quiet the street is without cars racing by. I like it.
• I finished watching The Righteous Gemstones, and I miss them already.
• Anja’s still off for the summer, and I’m watching her slowly recover from being my personal chauffeur for two weeks
• The Summer makes me not want to cook. It’s no help that I’m using Annelie’s apartment to work while she’s travelling, and that I use the occasion to order poke bowls for lunch. I’m surprised by the quality of Poke Perfect’s teriyaki chicken bowl, extra edamame.
• I’m reading and enjoying Robin Meyer’s Saving Jesus From the Church (2009), a tool to make my interest in orthopraxy more tangible.