Games, school and Andy

 This photo was taken during Governor Andy Beshear's address that he gave to the residents and citizens of Kentucky having to announce that Kentucky has to report that we now have over 1,000 covid related deaths here in the commonwealth. I found that the address he gave was really emotional and sincere about having to mourn and remember those that we've lost around the world but also here in the commonwealth.  

With people showing their support to those who have lost people during this pandemic with green lights, we wanted to show our support as well but we had an issue because the lights on our front porch is out and use old bulbs that hardly get made anymore. So something that we thought to do was to make cranes for every Kentucky death related to covid since the start of the pandemic when KY first got a related covid death. My family has done our best to keep up with the numbers reported to us by Governor Andy Beshear.

I'm doing my best adjusting to taking all online classes and trying my best to keep up with my work since i'm not in classes or in a dorm to keep track of myself more easily. The one thing I'm hoping to not do again is to not do my online homework for my calculus class because that hurt last semester especially after the switch to online.

 I spent Wednesday of last week having to take a Calculus 3 test. We were asked to join a zoom meeting to be on as we take the test. While I get why they're doing it, I found it a bit annoying because I had to have my camera on while taking the test, and it was slightly uncomfortable for me. Part of the reason I didn't like it that much is that the camera on my laptop seems to be bad. If I have my camera on, I would be cast in darkness even if I had the sunlight and an overhead light on in the room. O

So there's a game that has recently gotten big even though it was released around 2 years ago. I had asked some of my family on Friday if they wanted to play it, and we got a lobby and played few games. We got on a zoom meeting so we can talk just not through the game chat. Before we actually started we tried to discuss which platform (zoom or discord) was the best option to talk through when we had the ability.  On Saturday, I spent a little bit of time to play 2 games with my parents and grandparents, of the game called Among Us. I made a discord server for us to do it on because I'd thought that that would be the best way, partly because I was watching some people stream the game and that was how they were doing it. 

Sports

 I watched several of the UK football games, by going to the two home games and the one that happened this past weekend against Georgia. I have also tried to watch the girls soccer game but haven't been able to do it too much, as I did last year since those games spectators are invited by only the players and coaches. I watched the Volleyball game against Tennessee and Missouri on TV. even though I wanted to watch the Tennessee one when it was at Memorial Coliseum.  Some of the other sports I would like to possibly get into but can't really keep up with them that well. 

Hockey could be the one that I would like to get into the most that I know about, however the games for UK happen to be at a place that I can't get to because I don't have a car and no one to drive me there. I also don't like that the games start at midnight. I might be a bit of a night owl but I have a bit of a problem in that I just can't stay asleep after I wake up and start to function a bit. My body follows the circadian rhythm a bit too well, and will wake up at a bit of sunlight and then I can't get back to sleep which sucks for me because I tend to always be partly active and stay up a bit late.

These photos were taken during the football game against Georgia this past weekend, unfortunately we lost the game but it was a decent experience to be able to get out and watch the game and not have to watch it on TV. We followed the guidance to the best of our ability and we were surrounded by a few people socially distanced but not entirely following the mask mandate. The group of four that we were because that is how they sold seats in, were me, my dad, my grandfather, and my cousin: me and my dad are under the same roof and have been the entire time. My grandfather and my cousin is great and mostly kept their masks on when need to, but not all the time. The section that we were in is the opposite of the student section, our section seemed to be socially distance in the right seats besides the ones behind us because there was only one row between us and not the two or three that the others are.

Birthday

 Today's my birthday!!!!!!

So it's my birthday today and I turned 21. It feels a bit weird that I had to turn 21, a bit of a contrived milestone in the life of a United states citizen to be more free and to be able to drink legally now. I spent my birthday focusing a bit on writing an essay for a class, as well as doing a midterm for one of my math classes. 

After I was done with that, with it being on a Tuesday,  in the evening I went on a zoom meeting with the writers group that I am apart of, once I joined, my mothers name was mother of birthday kid, so they remembered/knew it was my birthday. In the first couple of minutes before they started they wished me a happy birthday and we introduced ourselves again because we had a new person and that has been the norm for a while, we introduce ourselves and say what we like to read and or write. In the month of October the writers group was being lead and focused on how to create characters, so we talked about that for the rest of the time. 

After writers group, since it was my birthday I wanted to play the among us game with my family, so we got onto a zoom meeting at like 8pm EST or around there and 7 CST for my cousins and aunt who played. We played a little bit and they gave me happy birthday wishes. Throughout the day I got a couple of texts from my grandparents that both attended the zoom meeting and didn't. 

covid, class and college

I think that covid hasn't really been equal in the opportunity for learning during this mess. I think that it has mainly hurt those that are from a lower class family. I also think that the rural folks are a bit harmed too because of possible access to liable and stable internet. I think that it also hurts those who can't access the help they need as well as they could have without this stuff. There's a possibility that there's also not having the help at home that some need, with parents working and cant help with an issue and to make sure they're doing the work and looking after themselves without the ability of a babysitter.

I am not sure mostly because I don't think I know what the hardship clause would entail, if it was like if the student wasn't able to perform to standard due to accessibility, then yes I think that there should be a clause stating that in this time where we have to do online stuff and those who aren't technologically adept enough at the moment shouldn't be punished because they don't know what to do about something. 

My experience with online learning has been mostly positive, I have been doing decently well in making sure I remember which class i need to hop into the zoom meeting. I'm not sure enough to make a decision about the job market after this.

Among Us

 So there's a game that has recently gotten big even though it was released around 2 years ago. I had asked some of my family on Friday if they wanted to play it, and we got a lobby and played few games. We got on a zoom meeting so we can talk just not through the game chat. Before we actually started we tried to discuss which platform (zoom or discord) was the best option to talk through when we had the ability. 

The game mechanics are fairly simple, the gameplay is about you're on this ship that needs a bit of fixing but there are anywhere between one and three imposters whose goal is to either kill everyone, vote out people or sabotage the O2 or reactor. When a crewmate finds a body they hit a report body button that calls everyone to a meeting to discuss the body and to try to figure out who the imposters are. It was a good time to play a couple of games with my cousins, grandmother, and parents.

Community dinner

 The church that is across from my house has been doing before this mess a monthly community dinner. The dinner was very popular in the town and they most of the times were very full close to max capacity which is around 123 people at once. This thing started by a semi-famous local chef named Ouita Michel. The church has been trying to continue this thing partly, by handing out the meals while trying to follow all of the regulations right now. 

They took calls earlier to try to find out how many there about they need to have made. At around 5 or 5:30 my mom went over to help hand out some of the boxed up to-go containers that weren't reserved. The church handed out the leftovers on the street for anyone to pick up. While they were still there, me and my dad needed to walk the dogs and we happened to walk by there and a couple of people that was there started to pet them for a short amount of time.

Online class Math test and Among Us

 I spent Wednesday of last week having to take a Calculus 3 test. We were asked to join a zoom meeting to be on as we take the test. While I get why they're doing it, I found it a bit annoying because I had to have my camera on while taking the test, and it was slightly uncomfortable for me. Part of the reason I didn't like it that much is that the camera on my laptop seems to be bad. If I have my camera on, I would be cast in darkness even if I had the sunlight and an overhead light on in the room. On one of the zoom meetings with my family I was sitting on my own laptop with the video on and I was not very illuminated and my parents were sitting almost next to me on a different laptop and they were fine. This photo was some of my work on the test, I felt fairly good about it when I was taking it.

On Saturday, I spent a little bit of time to play 2 games with my parents and grandparents, of the game called Among Us. I made a discord server for us to do it on because I'd thought that that would be the best way, partly because I was watching some people stream the game and that was how they were doing it. However there is a slight mistake with that right now, the other people were on discord on their phone so I had to mute them myself during the game to try to make it better to play the game. I was possibly the only one to be on discord on the laptop myself so I had to split some attention to play the game and to be ready to unmute everyone. I will need some more help with that if we were to try that way again.

Social Media stuff

I've been watching this group of acapella called home free and they've done a song called Quarantine. This group has been doing some releases of music videos of songs while the members are filming their own part at their own part of the country and has been doing social distancing in the videos. I also like another song that they did was Everybody Walking this Land. You can tell by the videos that they have to adjust to doing things in their own homes, and do their best to record their own part and combine all of the videos to blend nicely.

There's a Facebook group that I became a part of, towards the start of this pandemic. The group is like a support group for some people in Kentucky, but there's some people in the group that are there even though they aren't from here or currently live here. The group is called Andy Beshear memes for social distancing teens. They started the group to show support for Andy and the decisions he has had to make during this time. The page has a bunch of great memes that have come out of the semi-daily press conferences.

there's another youtuber that is French and gives her reactions to things as well as to inform about some of the misconceptions about the French. She has also done a few vlogs lately to show some of France, mainly the countryside. In this video she talks about what's it has been like and some of the restrictions and some of the loosening that has happened at the time of the video was posted, which was about 2 months ago.

Watching Football

 So I spent this past Sunday tuning into the live worship service that the church does. The church was suppose to have a soft reopening for some of the congregation if they so choose to show up, but they had to follow certain guidelines for being there. 

After that I spent most of the rest of the day watching NFL, and being excited to actually watch sports again. I'm a decent fan of the Bengals and Cowboys and watched most of their game's that they played respectively. Unfortunately for both of those teams, they both suffered losses that were a bit questionable with penalties late in the game. I have some hope for both teams to have a decent season, but I think that the Bengals need a better line and the Cowboys need to play consistently with a bit help from Tight End's and secondary is needing help. Both teams had a few key injuries that could have possibly altered the outcome of the games. 

Continuing about Football, I really hate Brady so seeing that he lost yesterday I was happy about that, especially since it was the saints that handed him the lost, I happen to just really like New Orleans. My uncle is a big Chiefs fan, so them winning on Thursday was nice to see for him. I am hoping that the Steelers either lose or tie the Giants tonight, because I hate the steelers but also the giants are in the same conference as the cowboys so I want it a bit easier for Dallas to have a better chance at getting a playoff berth that is why I'd want it to end in a tie.

Food and Andy's Address to Kentucky

I think that my family has gone out and do takeout from restaurants a bit more now than before because of convenience. So our diet didn't really change that much but it probably got a little bit worse for myself at least. We have done some things that we make ourselves at the house. It seems that at the beginning we were a bit more active because we were walking our dogs a bit around town, but then the walks been getting shorter because one of the dogs started to have problems walking. So the distance has become a bit less, and now we partly just let them out around the front yard and then sit and watch objects pass by us for a bit until the mosquitoes get to be too much then we go inside. 

My parents work hasn't really changed much because one works for papa johns and volunteer at another place but they closed down, the other works for the state. My mom is still doing for the food place as a delivery driver and my dad has been working at home.

This photo was taken during Governor Andy Beshear's address that he gave to the residents and citizens of Kentucky having to announce that Kentucky has to report that we now have over 1,000 covid related deaths here in the commonwealth. I found that the address he gave was really emotional and sincere about having to mourn and remember those that we've lost around the world but also here in the commonwealth.  

Response to Pandemic and Trusting info

I typically turn to find information about covid at least for Kentucky's response from Governor Andy Beshear and the updates he gives 4 times a week now. I trust the team that do those updates that the Governor gives and for the most part the WHO, I don't really trust the white House because they are handling this horridly and dismantled the response team that could have been helpful and saved a bunch of lives. The white house team besides Dr. Fouci have given contradicting statements about it as well as not following their own guidance that they give.

I think I might know some people that are following the silly maybe faulty information given by the White House that also goes against what has been done here in Kentucky. I'm sad when I see people walking without their mask on because they are the reason that quarantine is lasting as long as it is and helping to cause the almost 1,000 deaths that has been reported in Kentucky so far in this pandemic.

I probably would say that it's the politicizing this pandemic and the responses that could be the most dangerous for people in the US especially those in Kentucky since we're a swing state that typically has the cities tend to be more liberal while the rural areas are more conservative.

This video is of me walking one of my dogs with my mom walking the other but wasn't shown in the video because they were behind me and the dog has some balance issues. I was around the church that was across the street from where I am residing. This one is a female American Staffordshire terrier mix named Selma.

Online Church

 With me being home with my parents, I've been watching the online worship services that my home church is doing. The church started to do online worship services the first Sunday every thing started to close on March 13 of this year. They started out with a bit of bad quality but that's to be expected, the average age of the church before this was fairly old, so it would make since that they weren't ready for it at the beginning. They have been learning but it's still sometimes iffy on the streaming technology front, some of my family, including me, could help them with the technology but we don't want to because we know that it's a bit of a time consuming task and it's not going to be perfect either way so we don't want part of the blame for issues. Also we know that saying yes to helping is going to make us be the reference for other similar tasks for a long time following that.

Zoom Meetings

 My family every 2 or 3 weeks has a zoom meeting to talk. We've talked about current stuff and asked about classes that the under 25 kids are taking at college or high school. We talked about several other current stuff like possibility of sports and some of the sports starting back in the next few weeks. The ones attending were my grandparents that live in Versailles Kentucky, my other grandparents that are outside of Columbus Ohio, and my Aunt and Uncle that lives outside of Chicago. My cousins didn't join but we talked about them and their school stuff, like one of them is in their school's band and they are sort of meeting. The latest meeting we've had was the day after the Kentucky Derby, so we talked about it for part of the time. We've usually talked for about an hour or two then decide on when we will do the next zoom meeting.

In Versailles, the public library does a writers group program almost every week that I've attended for a while now. When I was in the dorms on campus during the school year, I didn't attend as frequently but now with me staying in my hometown and zoom partly taking over the communications platforms the group is now not meeting currently in person but they are doing zoom meetings which I can be apart of. The meetings are fun, and still has the same sort of atmosphere as when I was going regularly in person, even though were are now online. My sibling, that hasn't attended for a bit, has now attended the online meetings so that's a bit nice.

Online classes on zoom have been fairly well, there's been a few times when people aren't muted when they thought they were.

Andy and class adjustments

 This is me watching the update that Kentucky's governor is doing. The rest of my family wasn't able to watch that day because they had to work and can't get off in time. My father works from home but he is typically somewhere else working. After I hear the numbers, I get out the papers we need to make the cranes and then give him about half of the ones that need to be made for that day.

My family also really likes the ASL interpreter, Virginia, partly because we think that it's fairly cool, as well as we a bit of experience in signing a bit. We really enjoyed it when they had the daily learning of a word or phase in ASL from either Virginia, Rachel, or Rachel(I don't know how they spell their name).

I'm doing my best adjusting to taking all online classes and trying my best to keep up with my work since i'm not in classes or in a dorm to keep track of myself more easily. The one thing I'm hoping to not do again is to not do my online homework for my calculus class because that hurt last semester especially after the switch to online.

Governor Andy and making Cranes

 

With people showing their support to those who have lost people during this pandemic with green lights, we wanted to show our support as well but we had an issue because the lights on our front porch is out and use old bulbs that hardly get made anymore. So something that we thought to do was to make cranes for every Kentucky death related to covid since the start of the pandemic when KY first got a related covid death. My family has done our best to keep up with the numbers reported to us by Governor Andy Beshear. 

 After a little bit of time one of our cousins that live in Lexington made us an Kentucky wood carving that has a green light behind it. We have it set up on the front porch but we typically forget to light it up so it mainly just sits there in the dark, but we try to show support to others, even though, so far, my county has had no reported deaths, but we have over 200 reported cases in my county now.

My family has also been watching Governor Andy Beshear give his updates when they come on. I wasn't a big fan of when they decided they should switch from 5 pm to 4 pm to give the updates because it slightly messed with me letting out my dogs and my mother would miss most of them because she is still working part time at a restaurant. My family that I've been in contact with that live in Kentucky usually tune into watch the updates that Kentucky's Governor. We all have watched to help us get through this, he's been very helpful to a lot of Kentuckians.