Now the problem with having finished a first draft of this story is that I've decided none of it really works and I want to rewrite the whole thing from scratch

A captcha prompt just asked me to identify stairs and I’m reminded of the Terrible Secret of Space PAK CHOOIE UNF https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3_t2HDFM4nQ

Sudden spike of anxiety & dread today at the looming prospect of travel in late summer for an in-person work meetup. I haven't had any travel since February 2020 and that felt like a last-plane-out scenario, so I'm not anticipating it fondly.

Love too weigh my nebulous fears over long COVID vs nebulous fears of damage to livelihood via social disengagement

I know these are not particularly novel fears. There are many others like them, but these ones are mine.

And now I recall the additional fun context from my February 2020 travel:

I'd heard about this Coronavirus thing and was coming home from Berlin to PDX. I had a layover at SeaTac where they'd reported one of the first cases in the US. That was fun.

Also, I was runny-nose sick when I got to the airport - it was my usual sinus apocalypse that happens before / during / after travel.

Didn't seem like it was the plague itself, but I didn't really know and I wanted to get home.

I also felt like Dr. Peters getting on the plane at the end of 12 Monkeys.

But I got home and haven't been in an airport since. ✨💩

Thinking back fondly to the handful of times I awkwardly piloted a telepresence bot at the Mozilla office in Mountain View.

What I really want is for someone to carry me around on a tablet ala Dr. Theopolis and Twiki from Buck Rogers

Or do I want a Surrogate like from Arrested Development?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC0mTMz9CdM

Oh yeah and here's a picture of one of those old telepresence bots at the Mozilla office, I think circa 2010?

It was like a chest-high screen, webcam, and speakers on a stalk mounted to a mobile wheeled base like a souped up Roomba. What was fun was when someone figured out how to bump an elevator button and navigate between floors

Oh yeah, and I just found an NYTimes article talking about the bots! Bonus picture of someone holding a door for it to enter a conference room.

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/science/05robots.html

@rgegriff WHAT TIME IS IT? BEE-DEE-BEE-DEE-BEE-DEE-BEE-DEEP

@aurynn haha! :blobcatgooglycry:​

My work laptop is my first MacBook Pro in a very long time. I just started playing music on it and it has respectable bass...??? And it's a 14" laptop...???? witchcraft

Also my wife has reminded me that we may come into possession of a car in the next few weeks after almost 2 years without. The prospect of driving from Portland, OR to San Francisco, CA suddenly seems way more attractive than flying? I am willing to admit my brain is dented.

But 10 hours by myself in a car with podcasts & audiobooks feels more tranquil than probably 5 hours dealing with airports and a plane and crowds and all of that

@Greg I distrust American rail but I haven't actually tried a train in a very long time

@erosdiscordia Yeah, I'm probably on the extreme high end of cautious but it really damages my calm to contemplate all the airport breathing

@erosdiscordia We drove about 40 hours straight from Michigan to Oregon for our move a few years ago. Other than needing to clockwork-orange my eyes toward the end, it was a very nice drive

@erosdiscordia Yeah, most of the continent east-to-west after a jog north-to-south to get out of the mitten

@erosdiscordia Yeah, I remember being particularly fond of stretches of Nebraska & Wyoming. Did not appreciate Idaho (very long and samey from south to north), but back to being fond when we entered Oregon. Traversing mountains is... well, I'm glad we have roads at least nowadays.

@jrconlin Haha I can hear this toot

@erosdiscordia Well, we managed "Deadman's Pass" at one point, which was a little white nuckled for me 😅​ https://www.dangerousroads.org/north-america/usa/4792-deadman-pass.html

@molly0xfff protip: drink water too! I forgot that yesterday and same result

You know a thing I love over on birdsite? When someone self-censors f*ck but the rest of the content of their message is just vile overall otherwise. I guess that's ye olde web forum swear filter culture?