COVID Singles Empowerment Day 2021

​I love the fact that Valentine’s Day and Singles Empowerment Day fell on a three-day weekend this year.  I love the fact that I have President’s Day off at my new school.  Thanks to being single, I can move wherever without having to worry about a spouse/partner and kids, unlike some colleagues I have who are stuck and are just trying to survive.

My stomach barely survived my overindulgence last night, as I woke up at 6:30 this morning with some pains.  Fortunately, Tums and Gas-X helped.  My plan was to get that discount candy first thing in the morning before everyone else made their way in.  I was told the manager at the Giant Food hadn’t come in to guide employees on the discount, so I took a nice walk to the Target at Cleveland Park and made my purchase, which will probably stay in my closet for a few months.  I was the only customer in there at 7:15 this morning.  Now that’s dedication!

​After I made my way back, I used the weight room to work my biceps and back.  This was followed by some reading and watching the 60 Minutes episode I DVRed last night.  The topics: Solarwinds, Bill Gates’s plan to combat climate change, and a gymnast’s strategy to keep training through COVID.  The last one was my favorite.  Afterwards, I fell asleep with Chester on my stomach.
 
When I woke up at about 11, I had an appetite, so I ate the last bagel I had transported from New York (insert product placement for Suffern, NY’s Bagel Train, a must-visit when I go there).  It was perfect timing, because I finished up my cream cheese too.  After this, I did some binging of that show Community, about community college students.  The characters are terrible people, but their antics are amusing.
 

After a few episodes, another nap was in order (also with Chester on my stomach).  I then spent some time working on an article for Syllabus, a free online academic journal that showcases innovative syllabi.  I’m developing one for a course on How to be Single and Happy, but this one’s more developed than the one I taught last year.  I’m also including a unit on Global Singlehood, where students read about singlehood in European and Asian countries and compile a research project on singlehood in a country of their choice.  I can’t wait to teach that someday! 
 
I was supposed to attend a virtual workshop on Antiracist Practices in Grading, but there were some power outages in College Station, Texas, the host site, it was postponed indefinitely.  I was slightly disappointed, but that freed up more time to write, read, and play my guitar.  I also remembered I needed to reread Chapter 6 of Bella’s Singled Out to formulate some discussion in my class Wednesday (they’re reading the book and will have the opportunity to meet with Bella).
 
For dinner, it was some leftover Super Bowl chili and I finished up some taco shells and taco meat.  For dessert, it was some Valentine’s Day candy.  I had to have some of the discount candy on Discount Candy Day.  Over dinner/dessert, I watched The Super, an early 1990s comedy starting Joe Pesci as a slumlord sentenced to live in his own Harlem tenement.  When I got done, I saw Bella posted an article about Dr. Ruth and her stupid Tweet about hunting for the one for next Valentine’s Day.  Could Ruth be any more unenlightened?  I was delighted to see a number of people tear Ruth down, and of course, I Tweeted my comments as well.  It’s Singles Empowerment Day; how can I not?  I also did the same thing to my cleaning service, who opened with the line “You had a great weekend, you set the table for Two…” and closed with “…let your partner know you appreciate them.”  We have to speak up!

​As I write this, I’m grateful to have had a fun weekend, but I realized I made some grave omissions: while I spent the weekend indoors, I also had some texting contact with Misti, Heather, and Emily, fellow singletons and awesome friends.  And Elyakim invited me to be an admin on his Happy Singlehood Group, and we’re meeting tomorrow with Kris Marsh to discuss a possible collaboration for a TV show.  My background in Mass Media can hopefully help with this.
 
Back to the real world tomorrow.  Fellow singletons (and even you coupled folks), I hope your weekend rocked as hard as mine did.  Now, time to wind down for the night.