Yeast Less

Which one of you is hoarding all the yeast?

Needing active dry yeast for a baking project planned for the weekend, I went to the two local markets yesterday and found none, so I headed out of the area today, checked two markets in that area. Still no yeast.

There must be a lot of baking going on in self-isolation.

Not planning to go any further out of the area, I gave up on the idea of baking and decided to try a different recipe.

Can you guess what it is?

Only thing missing is gluten-free masa, which I hope to arrive by the weekend so I can get started. If it doesn’t arrive, then it’s back to the drawing board as to which recipe I’ll experiment with this weekend.

I’m having better luck with finding needlepoint floss.

I managed to get the two colors I initially ran out of. One source, I found after scrounging around on the internet, would only sell in bulk — lots of 12. But okay, I needed it, so went for it. I was able to purchase three of the other color from a source I found in the United Kingdom. I repeat … THE UNITED KINGDOM YALL! But I got my missing colors and feel lucky to have found them.

It cost me though. What pre-pandemic I could walk into a craft store and purchase for $4, ended up costing $41.

Once active dry yeast becomes available, I imagine the yeast won’t be the only thing to rise. What normally runs around $3.99 a packet is going to rise in cost exponentially.

Then There Were Two

Another review popped up on Yelp.

I didn’t personally know the first reviewer — at least I don’t think so. I’ve probably seen her around, but I don’t know the name of everyone I pass and greet. But I immediately recognized the second reviewer to be my across the quad upstairs neighbor Quiet Old Guy — Church Lady’s “friend”.

Whereas the first reviewer gave management a two star negative, Quiet Old Guy gave management a five star positive.

“I have lived at this location for 2 years. We have the best management and maintanance team. The team don't work for us, they work with us. Some residents think they live in a rent to own location and complain when they can't have their way. We should thank God for an affordable location and a caring staff”.

My immediate reaction was bless his heart, then I laughed out loud.

Fact checking through the blog, I find Nosey — downstairs corner unit across the quad, informed me a resident had moved into the vacant unit just before the 18th of October 2018 and described him as “a Black man and doesn’t walk so good”. So, not quite two years.

Though he still drives, he does appear to have medical issues, is very slow moving, depends on a cane.

He comes across as quite a nice old school gentleman — stiff, formal, respectful of women, respectful of authority, and it’s quite obvious from his physicality/his aura that he’s not had an easy time in life. So, I understand the five-star rating.

QOG has never shared with me where he was living before, but others have: Shadow came from a rundown property where there was drug dealing, assaults, burglaries. The 33-years married couple, that had a domestic violence issue last year, came from a community where there was unchecked reverse racism — residents called them names and were mean to them because they’re white. Then there was Christian Writer, who’d complained of being treated badly by neighbors in her previous community. And, on two other occasions, new residents stopped me as I was walking, introduced themselves and said how happy they felt to get a unit in this complex after having been on the wait list for a great while. So, to residents having experienced worse, here is nirvana.

So, I understand QOG’s five-star rating. He now has a safe, clean place to live, nice friendly kind neighbors, even has a lady friend — probably the best he’s had in a long time.

However, “best management and maintanance team … they work with us”?? That’s a stretch. But, we see through our perceived notions, expectations and past experiences.

Be Careful What You Ask For

Especially if what you’re asking is someone’s opinion.

Management posted another Activity Packet to our doors yesterday. Included in the packet was a sheet asking, “How Are We Doing? Want to leave your feedback. Here’s how! Go to YELP.COM …. Choose star rating and leave review … Thank you for your FEEDBACK, it is greatly appreciated.”

My immediate thought was hot damn! this is going to be good.

Are they serious? Do they really not know they’ve put themselves squarely on the railroad tracks and the train is coming?

I right away went to Yelp to see if there were any reviews and whatdoyaknow. Someone had immediately, that very day, posted a review.

“Although it's a beautiful place, you don't get to "live" here. You can only have 3 plants on your patios. You can't hang bird feeders or wind chimes, anything that may need to be attached to the railing on the patios. There is no designated smoking area. You have to walk out to the sidewalk and stand by the road, a busy street and I don't find it safe with the fast cars, accidents in front of the entrance or the homeless/drug addicted people badgering us for a smoke. The wash rooms almost never have all of the machines working at once. We are responsible to call for maintenance (the number on the machines). Most of the time when I need to do laundry, someone has filled up all of the working machines and then I have to wait all day. If you want a visit from someone or a delivery, good luck getting them inside the complex. Half the time the call box out front is broken. If they do manage to get in, there is approximately 12 visitor parking spaces for the over 200 apartments. All of this has been a problem before and during this Covid-19 problem. We are just expected to sit in the apartment and watch TV. We can't grow tomatoes or other veggies, enjoy the birds, relax with a hot cup of coffee and a smoke on our patio, no simple pleasures are allowed. We just exist.”

She didn’t lie, and pretty much summed up how the majority of the old folks feel … just allowed to exist.

Lucky for this management group, few residents will post a review. But only because 1) many aren’t even going to read the packet posted to their door 2) many do not have access to a computer and 3) some are not computer literate — like the resident who long ago told me her daughter tried to teach her, but she was too afraid of the computer to learn. Also, for those who would like to post a review, but have no computer, the computer they go to in the Game Room is not accessible during this lockdown. All lucky for management because, otherwise, even though this management group is not the worst, they’d find themselves soundly trashed on Yelp.

Be careful what you ask for.

This reminds me of a kid who was courting me in the workplace. He delivered the mail to the floor I worked on, would stop by my desk, chat me up, try to impress me.

I was never interested, but not because he was young. It was because he was young AND immature. But I was nice, didn’t run him off, just listened to what he had to say.

Then came the day when I guess he figured he’d won me over. Looking for validation, that I was into him, he asked, “What do you think of me?”

Foolish me. I thought he wanted to know what I saw. Which was something to the effect, “You’re the kind of person that is all show, no substance. You don’t do nice things for people unless it’s in front of others, so those others can see and be impressed.”

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE TALKING TO ME LIKE THIS!!!”

I must have hit the nail on the head, touched an area he thought was hidden, because he forgot he’d asked me “What do you think of me” and I was merely giving him what he’d asked for — my opinion. 

However, I learned from his reaction. Thereafter, when anyone asked me what I thought of them — and for some strange reason a few others have, I say, “Do you really want me to answer that?” After which, there is a brief period of silence as the individual considers, sees something in my eyes, then says, “No. Never mind”.

As for the mail kid … wanting to show me a thing or two — which demonstrated just how immature he was, he began vigorously pursuing another girl on the same floor. I was unaware of it at the time, wouldn’t have cared had I known, but his immature mind thought it would be a way of getting back at me. At any rate, the girl he was pursuing did not like him, found him to be too aggressive and, when he wouldn’t stop asking her out, she filed a complaint. Never saw or heard anything about him again after that.

Can’t wait to see how management is going to handle this Yelp review. They can’t call in their lawyers and demand the resident remove the review, because they asked for it. Their only option is to come up with a face-saving response or ignore and hope no one else reads the packet, gains access to a computer and posts a review.

If I were management, I would have posted a “How are we doing” survey, so they could control the narrative. I myself would be happy to get some things off my chest in survey form, but don’t feel my smoke detector issue is Yelp review worthy. But good on management that I woke up this morning and found the driveway gate had already been repaired.

Wonder Diva

Heading out for the university this morning, to qualify in the Wonder Diva Virtual 5K and earn my swag ─ already received on the honor system, I saw the driveway entry gate was down. Gone actually.

Gate down, no security, I fully expect our cars to be broken into and/or stolen.

While standing there, wondering what could have happened, a resident ─ whom I’ll name The Preacher walked up and said a delivery truck had “backed up into the gate”, essentially destroying it.

I don’t see how a truck could have taken out the gate by backing up, when there's an entry side and an exit side, but whatever.

I’ve seen Preacher around for maybe two years, but hardly say anything more to him that good morning because, the one time we did get into a discussion about ─ I can’t remember exactly, but think it was about something No. 45 was doing or had caused to happen, and Preacher’s response was, “I always go by the bible” and he began to refer to the Book of Revelations and how everything that’s happened with No. 45 was prophesized.

He wasn’t wrong. It’s just that I felt like he was mansplaining to me, like I was some idiot woman and he this all-knowing male.

Preacher was ─ against complex rules not wearing a mask and, at one point during our very short interaction, he coughed, which made me glad I at least was wearing one.

Jerk!

Earlier in the week, I’d spotted Younger Sister heading for the mailbox … without a mask.

“Where’s your mask?” chastised I.

“Oh you know how it is”, said she. “It bothers me”.

No, I don’t know .... But Covid-19 is going to bother you a whole lot more, I thought to myself as I walked away.

Then, a few days ago, a mask wearing woman in the market walked by me and asked, “Are you doing okay”.

“Un huh??????” answered a confused I, wondering why she was asking.

“I can’t breathe. Feel like I’m about to pass out”, she went on to say. “You must be used to it”.

“I guess”, was my reply as we both went our separate ways.

Some folks are making such a big deal out of such a minor thing, when the risk of what the alternative will do to your ability to breath is major.

At any rate, arriving at the University, I found barriers preventing me from parking on campus.

I ended up parking at a shopping center about a half mile away and began tracking my time and pace from that point. Once I’d made it onto campus grounds, I found the area to be a lot safer than the last time ─ when it was completely deserted. This time there were landscapers and construction people on the property. There were also campus cops ... a lot of them. I think I counted something like eight cars here and there.

When I saw they’d found a guy camping out near the closed food court area, I understood why so many cars. Campus and dorms are empty. Lots of places for interlopers to ride out this pandemic.

They didn’t arrest him. Just made him pick up his belongings and leave.

No doubt he’ll be back under the cover of darkness and find a better hiding place.

At any rate, Wonder Diva Virtual completed. Took a little over an hour because, with no one to compete against, there was no need to hurry. Lol.

Carded

I got carded this morning.

Deciding I needed to run by the bank for emergency cash, I drove out of the area.

Passing Costco, I noticed there is no longer a line around the building. There was a short line near the front door, so it appears panic buying is over and the line was probably due to a limit of how many can be inside at one time.

Entering the bank, I saw they’d finally caught on and spaced the open tellers every other window, rather than side by side.

If you will recall, it freaked me out last time I did banking because, though we were spaced self-distance apart in the line to the teller, once at the teller I found myself sandwiched between a customer way too close to my left and another way too close to my right, which prompted me to tell the teller to pass on to his manager the suggestion the open windows be spaced out.

I don’t imagine MY suggestion had much merit, but someone evidently woke up and distanced the tellers.

At any rate, I learned there is now a limit as to how much cash can be requested through the pin machine. I’m not talking about the limit imposed on ATMs outside the bank, I’m talking about there’s now a limit on how much one can request inside, using the pin at the teller window.

I don’t know if this is everywhere, but this new restriction certainly surprised me. I don't see the logic.

The funds were there so I say to the teller, “Do you mean this is all I can take out?”.

“No. You can take out more, but not through the pin. I have to write out a withdrawal slip for you”.

And that’s what the teller did, but isn’t that what we did before the age of technology ─ fill out deposit and withdrawal slips? Are we now reverting to kicking it old school?

THEN he carded me ─ “Do you have a valid form of ID?”

Pre-pandemic, it sufficed that I entered the pin, but I guess this new request is due to our mask wearing.

I showed him my drivers’ license, got what I wanted and was outta there thinking to myself that the license couldn’t have been all that helpful because I was wearing a mask and he couldn’t be sure the faces matched, but whatever. It’s a new world out there.

I swung by the craft store on my way back to the freeway and noticed there is also no longer a 3-hour line around that building. Just a few folks in line along the front.

I didn’t join in. I’ll wait until things go back to when I can walk right in.

I guess the golf course is essential, because I saw a group playing on the greens. Couldn’t see if they were wearing masks.

Safely back at the complex, I checked my phone and saw this ....

Ooooh look John Gray, Walking Dead’s Darryl tweeted me goodnight.  LOL!

Happy Self-Isolating Mother’s Day

There being no Mother’s Day celebrations here at the complex, management posted little candy packets to our doors over the weekend, along with a new thing they’ve instituted to take the place of actual activities — an Activity Packet.

The packet consists of 1) a color me page (no crayons or color pens/pencils though, lol); 2) a couple crossword pages; 3) word search page; and 4) a couple mazes.

I do enjoy crosswords, word search and mazes, but I’m far too busy with my needlepoint project. I don’t have time for any of it, but I do think some of the seniors will enjoy the packets.

Also in the packet is “Resident Activity Suggestions at Home” which suggests we take a stroll over to the Community Garden to “Enjoy the shade from beautiful mature trees and birds who are always singing. There are 3 benches spaced more than 6 feet apart where you can visit with neighbors safely if desired. Pease wear your Mask”.

No thanks. I’m good without visiting outside. Besides, the Community Garden ─ created by residents before this management group took over, saved from being razed by them ─ because it’s a Certified Wildlife Habitat, when management’s construction crew tried to plow it under, might have murder hornets in those mature trees. Lol.