the stressed out and dehydrated post

[rose_griffes]

I just realized that I missed paying bills at the beginning of the month. Life is missing so many of the usual cues that it completely slipped my mind. Bah.

Work: as with many school districts, students in the town where I work have the choice of face-to-face (with everyone wearing a mask) or online classes. The details may differ - my district is requiring online students to learn synchronously, so I'm Zooming and teaching kiddos in the classroom at the same time.

It's... a lot. I'm getting better at it, but even "simple" things like managing what's on the big screen for the students in the classroom and what's on the computer screen for the students at home can be a challenge. Also, wearing a mask all day has led to me drinking less water, which has led to headaches and trouble sleeping. It took me until today to make the connection that dehydration is the key factor. Er, rather, one factor, possibly of many.

---

I haven't even thought about the remix fic challenge. Other than to ponder that perhaps mid-pandemic wasn't the best time to sign up for such a thing! I want to re-immerse myself in the source material, but I may have to be a bit choosy about what to re-view. A character-based revisit might be in order, rather than a complete overview of ALL the source material.

This means putting Burn Notice on notice on hold. I'm now in early season three, and still enjoying it. It is VERY good mid-pandemic fare: predictable enough to be non-stressful, full of fun character dynamics that slowly evolve, and the violence is minimal and generally limited to the "bad guys" suffering. Or Michael Westen suffering, but it's not over the top and it turns out that Jeffrey Donovan is fun to watch in almost any circumstance, so it's all good.

Comments

[senmut]

My phlebotomists have said the same about hydration. It's so hard in the fast pace they have to slip to the empty room and take a drink.

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, the combination of talking + mask wearing has surely affected a lot of teachers in terms of educed drinking. I can't imagine the confusion of having to teach online + in-person at the same time either. You all are amazing.

[elperian]

Ugh, your school situation sounds SO stressful :(

Burn Notice is just solid enjoyable fare. I'm glad you're having a nice time with it!

[foreverdawning]

Work sounds difficult but I'm glad you're getting the hang of it now

[rose_griffes]

Understandable! Their situation is even more constricting than mine; I can pull up my mask and get a drink as needed--assuming I remember to do so. (I'm having to teach myself to take drink breaks once or twice each class period, because the style of teaching is different when I'm tethered to a computer for my online students.)

[rose_griffes]

The ways I used to teach, with a lot of wandering around the room and a lot of breaks for movement for my students, are basically off-limits now. I'm tethered to a computer for my online kids and we can't really do the "everyone hi-fives their speaking partner and participates in a dance break" thing now...

So the habit of getting a drink during those kinds of breaks has been broken. I have to build new habits.

[rose_griffes]

BN really is a solid show! There's some long-term story growth but it's not super-stressful. The cases of the week have always had a positive resolution (at least so far). Thumbs up.

[rose_griffes]

Thanks! I'm at least doing better about drinking water, so that's something.