It was not this cold outside today, but it was colder than I expected.
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The last time I went out walking, it was in the 40's. And I felt comfortable outside wearing a pair of jeans and a long sleeve shirt under a coat when I walked with my friend from my Thursday night group. Today, being 10 degrees cooler than my last outdoor walk, I figured that it might be a little too cold for me to walk outdoors. So I texted a friend, and asked if we could change our get together from a walk and maybe a bite to eat to just a bite to eat. And our plans changed, so that we could meet at a local brewpub.
Around 1 pm, we met at the empty brewpub and talked about many things. I talked about many of the things I mention in this blog: some with more detail than I write here, and some with less detail. One of the things I mentioned was that I had no place yet to go for Xmas. So now, I have a place to go if I have no other invitations for the day. Because it was warmer than either of us expected when we finished with lunch, we took the chance to move our cars out of the brewpub's parking lot to a place where it was safe to park the cars for an hour or so. And then we walked a short distance before turning back. (BTW: I found out that I need to put a pair of gloves into the pockets of my new coat.)
As I've mentioned here and elsewhere, I'm a bit concerned about how this winter is going to look like. Will people hunker down at home and take realistic precautions against being infected by the virus? Or, will they throw caution to the wind (albeit slowly) and allow the pandemic to continue its second wave? I plan to obey all of the restrictions put upon us by our state's government, as I don't want another lock down as is now about to start in California.
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Thinking of California for a minute, several of my acquaintances live in the San Francisco Bay area. My Aunt and Uncle live in Los Angeles. They will all be affected by the upcoming lock downs. The state is an example of a government which has delegated too much power to the people. At least one county (San Mateo) is not planning on following the governor's directive to do a 3 week lock down. Instead, they plan to perform a "Swiss Cheese" approach to closing things down, and as a result, have very little effect in stopping the spread of the virus.
Recently, I found a new search engine (people locator), and I may have found where an ex girlfriend of 44 years ago lives. If I'm right, I'll consider dropping off some snail mail just to say hello. I don't have much to say, I live on the other side of the country, and I pose no threat to this woman's comfort. So, I might have a pleasant response if I do this. The odds are that I won't send this letter. But it would be nice to reconnect with someone who affected my life in a positive manner and tell her this after all these years.
Another acquaintance in the Bay Area knows about my bi-gendered nature, and is comfortable with it. Hopefully, she will survive the winter, and that I'll get to see her on my next visit to the Bay area. It's been around 8 years since I was there last, and it's time to get out there again. This time, it'll be much more expensive for me to visit. But I'm coupling this trip with: (1) a visit to LA to see my Aunt and Uncle, (2) a broken leg train trip from LA to Seattle, (3) meeting up with my nephew in Seattle, and (4) a cross country train trip back home. It'll be an expensive trip. So it won't be something I'll do on the spur of the moment.
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Now that I've started to think of warm places, Florida comes to mind. I have some acquaintances I'd like to visit there, and have no intentions of doing so until the pandemic lifts. As is well known, the governor is a GOP buffoon, and doesn't take the pandemic seriously. He hews to the Trump party line. And this has put an ex girlfriend of mine (and her partner) at risk. No, I do not plan to visit this ex. But I would like to visit two people who have been mentioned in my previous blog before life made other plans for me.
Assuming I decide to visit Florida, my trips between cities will need to be taken as Mario. I don't trust this state's attitudes towards people like me in this political climate. One could easily get killed if the wrong people were to find out my biological gender doesn't match up with my gender presentation. As much as some people have no trouble "traveling pretty" (as Kim would put it), I still feel that I have to be very careful. But I'm not in any hurry. I don't plan on making this trip until next winter at the earliest.
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Hopefully, I will get back to traveling and meeting people sometime next year. I'm more than willing to pay the price in loneliness to get out the other side of this pandemic without catching the virus. But it is a heavier price than I'd like to pay to be on the other side....
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