2018.05.02 - Day 49

I felt bit grumpy first thing this morning. I get annoyed at care workers when any spare moment they have, the phones are whipped out and they are looking at social networks. It just sends a message of disinterest in you and is very rude I think. I asked one of them that, if she was out with her boyfriend, would she just spend the time looking at her smartphone. She said yes because he is doing the same!

Eliza – I remember that painting from an art history course in which there was a case study on Caillebotte, a French Impressionist painter, who later, because he was quite rich, spent less time painting and more on supporting other Impressionist artists. One of his more famous paintings is Les raboteurs de parquet (floorscrapers.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Caillebotte

And no, I don’t see a cat either :) edited 10:35, 2 May 2018

#Unlearning Isolation

Physical therapy with my daughter. Normally I would wear my i-pod or bring my i-pad and, after greeting everyone at the facility, find a quiet corner. I did bring the Home Ludens book, just in case, feeling that a paperback would create less of a wall. Not sure if I'm right about that, because I didn't test it...

I did feel really aware of micro-signals, just having made the intention to perform the experiment. :) I noticed right at walking in, how fast people shift from open mask to closed mask, myself included. I'm friendly. Yet, even as friendly as I am, I noticed default signals I send after greeting and asking/answering any questions, saying strongly that I'm then done and much less available. A curtain closes. All gestures, facial expressions, body language.

Just like the people working behind the counter who do have other things to do. Except not everyone there did have something other they 'had' to do. I didn't. :)

I'm not addicted to checking my phone, but even at home I'm likely to be listening to something on my i-pod, and I've noticed the dog doesn't engage with me much when I have earphones in. Maybe that's what made me choose this experiment first, to try to measure the differences between barrier signals that objects send (what you were feeling too I guess, Zen, although what you describe is at the very least unprofessional).

I didn't get to test the paperback because I decided to run some errands instead of staying there the whole time. So, next time. :) edited 21:00, 2 May 2018

Hard to concentrate today. New meds. And surprisingly vicious vaccination. Glad I made today's soup yesterday! Tomorrow is another day - though not guaranteed.

Sounds like a drag, Storm! :( Hope you start feeling better. Please send soup. ;-)