We took Harry back to school. We are empty nesters again. We’re happy and sad and yadda yadda. I miss him. I miss Bellana.
I don’t have a problem with them being at school. I am loving the trip, seeing where they are going and how they are getting there and all of that.
I am just tired of all the other shit. I am so tired of Covid. Just feeling overwhelmed and absolutely sick of it all. I want our lives back. I want to get back to a world where stopping for gas isn’t something that makes me feel afraid for my health and the health of my family.
I don’t know. I just want this crap to be over, you know?
If you were super curious about how The Netherlands is handling the quarantining of visitors from other countries, here’s what I know.
Bellana entered the country on Thursday morning, January 13th. She was allotted some time to get from the plane to her final destination, which was something like three hours by train, and then once she was where she was going her quarantine began. On Monday she will take a Covid test. The results will take 48-72 hours to return but once they do (assuming a negative result) she’s free to move about the country.
So worst case scenario (that doesn’t involve a positive test) is that her quarantine starts on 1/13 and ends on 1/20. Note that in The Netherlands they would say her quarantine starts on 13/1 and ends on 20/1, but that’s neither here nor there.
One funny note from our FaceTime. She has changed her weather settings on her phone to Celsius. She said it was currently 2 degrees. Jen laughed and said it was 2 degrees here too. Doing the math, our 2 degrees is -16.7 degrees for her. Brrrr, babie.
So now you’re up to date on the Dutch quarantine process for international travel. I hope you all enjoyed this little lesson.
I didn’t go out for car music today. Nope. I was going to. I woke up at 6:45am (on a Saturday, you savage!) and my watch told me it was 2 degrees out. Yikes. Well… we’ll see how things look after my shower and stuff. When I was all dressed and ready to go my watch told me it was 1 degree out. Welp, maybe next time.
That’s one thing dropped from the to-do list. We are hoping to add one thing too. There will, hopefully, be a FaceTime call with Bellana today! All the way from The Netherlands where she is quarantining and probably super bored. I still haven’t decided if I want to share their YouTube video or not. I’m hoping they post things regularly so we can feel like we’re a distant part of their adventure. Fingers crossed. I probably won’t post the videos here. I don’t know. Maybe, but probably not.
In closing, yesterday I listened to a podcast that broke down the Grace Under Pressure Tour video that Rush released in 1984 or so. It brought this little masterpiece back to the front of my brain and it doesn’t show any signs of leaving any time soon.
Fear. A sort of suite. Sort of. In 1984 when Rush released the Grace Under Pressure album, the song The Enemy Within was subtitled Part One of Fear. Well what the hell did that mean? They eventually explained it to us. One of my friends in Junior High said he had figured it out, but I don’t believe him.
Fear is a three song suite-ish that includes one song each from three albums… in reverse.
Part One is The Enemy Within from Grace Under Pressure, released in 1984. Part Two is The Weapon from Signals, released in 1982. Part Three is Witch Hunt from Moving Pictures, released in 1981.
Simple, right? If I remember correctly, Neil said he numbered them in order of the hardest to write to the easiest… or was it the other way around. Damn it. I don’t remember for sure. It doesn’t matter, they were numbered based on the writing process, that’s all you need to know. I don’t recall if The Weapon and Witch Hunt were ever officially given a Fear subtitle on any subsequent release, but they might have. There was also a fourth song, Freeze from Vapor Trails, released in 2002, but they never played all four of them together. In fact, they never played Freeze live at all. They were never supposed to play Witch Hunt either. That was written and recorded as a studio only thing as there were little things that couldn’t be pulled off live with just three people at the time. As a result, this arrangement is a little different than the Moving Pictures album and that was something that Rush just didn’t do, making this version extra special. Years later, as sampling and triggering technology caught up with the band, they did do Witch Hunt as it was originally arranged. I really like this one though. It lacks the cowbell in the beginning, well most of it at least, but it adds that killer guitar solo at the end. Awesome.
Gee, I hope these videos actually play though… seems like a lot of people have posted this with the sharing options off. Yikes.
Friday. Lunch break. My Covid hair is so long right now that it’s actually giving me a headache. Is that even possible? I’m looking at Wednesday as the day I get it cut. I am going to look and feel like a different person. It’s going to be weird.
Wednesday is also the first step in the weight loss surgery process. I’m just going in to have my vitals taken. Safe to assume I will crush the scale when they weigh me. My back has become such a problem that I can’t really exercise at the moment. It is going to be a really tough time for me but if I don’t do it I am going to die of fat. It’s that simple.
Bellana and her roommate just posted a video to YouTube detailing their journey to The Netherlands and their first couple of days in quarantine. I really want to post it here but I don’t know if I should. I want to though.
Harry just came home. He’s been working for one of the gig-economy internets services. Two customers stiffed him on tips. They both suck. Actually, I don’t know that for sure, they could just be going through tough financial times, but they did stiff my kid so I am mad at them. At least he’s home. He’s planning on going out again at dinner and we will miss him. He’s going back to school on Sunday and I don’t want him to go, but I do want him to go, but I don’t want him to go. Aw, crud.
Bellana and Kenny’s YouTube post is giving a tour of their apartment. The views of the city are amazing. I want to just watch it over and over but I have to go back to work. Blah. Three hours and nine minutes to go.
I started my lunch break a little late today. It’s now almost over. I need to dump the brain droppings so that I can get through the afternoon.
Eternals is out on Disney+. Hopefully we’ll get to watch it with Harry before he goes back to school. Did I mention that Harry’s going back to school? With all the drama over Bellana going to The Netherlands, I feel like we’ve been giving Harry the short end of the stick. We are driving him back to school on Sunday. Another drive to Vermont and back. I really enjoy that drive. I just wish he was coming with us for the return drive.
He did well in his first semester, obviously. He’s spent the last few weeks working for an internet based delivery company who shall remain nameless as he tries to build up his bank account while he still can. I remember those days. There was never enough money. I also remember trying to stretch $5.00 worth of gas across a full week so that I could stay on my budget. Ah, college life.
I am going to miss him, of course, but unlike his sister he is still close enough to us that if we need to get to him for whatever reason we can. It’ll take 3-4 hours, but we’ll get there. The Atlantic Ocean and the circumference of the Earth make that really tough in Bellana’s case.
What else is going on? I mentioned Jen going crazy in her office and in the living room by re-doing all of the plugs and extension chords and stuff. Basically she rewired half the house. It was amazing. This weekend… maybe… I will do the same to my office nook in the bed room. I have a big power strip that will replace all of the little once I have daisy chained in here. I’m going to have to take down the whole desk and start from scratch. Unlike Jen, I don’t mind working at a cluttered desk, but even I have my limits. I won’t say it will be neat when I am done, but maybe it will be a little more logical, and electrically safer. All of that because the love of my life inspired me.
What else? Car music tomorrow? Maybe. Depends on the weather. I would take a minute to check the forecast, but I have to get back to work instead.
May your afternoon be happy and productive and free of fascism and shit like that.
We got up around 6:30am today, about an hour and a half ago, and saw a text from Bellana saying she was on the ground. The flight tracker I was watching last night had the plane on the ground in Amsterdam right on time. There’s a six hour time difference so I asked her if she caught her train out of Amsterdam to her final destination and she said yes. They are in their rented apartment and starting their border-crossing-covid-quarantine. I am not sure how long. 10 days, I think. Maybe less with negative tests? I’m not sure.
The important thing is, she made it to where she needed to be. Sigh of relief. Now I have to find a way to talk her into coming home for a quick visit. Heh Heh. Kidding.
In the immortal words of Obi-Wan Kenobi, “another happy landing.”
Bellana’s plane is in the air. She’s going to be crossing the US/Canadian border shortly, somewhere West of Saint John, New Brunswick.
We got some texts through just before she boarded. We wished her a safe flight and told her that we love her. Next stop is Amsterdam, around 1:30am or so our time. I will watch the flight tracker for as long as I can, but if I am still awake when she lands it’s going to mean a really crappy day at work for me tomorrow. Old people like me need all the beauty rest they can get.
Harry’s here. We thought he wouldn’t get here until after 9:00pm, but he walked in around 7:00. Bonus. We watched episode three of The Book of Boba Fett and all is well. Go ahead and talk about it. You can’t spoil me anymore.
It’s just a distraction as we wait for happy landing news from The Netherlands. That’s the kind of good news I need in my life.
Inside the Red Head's Head 