We got an email from the teachers yesterday saying that some kids are playing video games on their computers during virtual classtime and that the kids are expected to stay focused etc. etc. - I don't think we are quite that naughty, but I did open up my laptop to discover that my home screen wallpaper had been changed and the icon representing la p'tite in her Google classroom had been changed to a dragon, and she hasn't had access to the laptop except for during official distance-learning activities, so clearly a somewhat beadier eye is required. I also caught her yesterday going through the kindergarten level of Chinese flashcards supposedly because she couldn't figure out how to access the third grade ones - hmph, a likely story - but I gave her a pass on that one because I was feeling smug: I had only caught her because I was hearing words that _I_ recognised. Anyway. The point being: digital native. I think my best hope of not having every account I own hacked and used for nefarious purposes is for her to get religion, preferably some hideous old world religion that involves a very strict all-seeing & fierce deity, who has stayed current and issues specific edicts about not using your parents' Amazon account to order stuff they've refused to buy you or read their email when they're not looking.
A moment of discord in the afternoon when she DID NOT WANT to go out to exercise, but it was a beautiful day and we needed to get outside for a wee rollerskate/run up the greenway as far as the El Cerrito Plaza BART station: we pissed and moaned and clung to the back of my shorts all the way there, and then literally the moment we turned around to come home, all was once again sweetness and giggles and funny stories and pretending to be various animals: we got a lot of mileage (literally) out of 'preoccupied slug', 'despondent puppy,' and 'obstreperous hyena').
I know that there are people out there who live alone who have no physical touch with another human for long periods of time normally, but that is, if not by choice exactly, at least something that you theoretically could do something about: get a pet, pay for a massage, make a friend who will hug you, hire an escort, whatever. I had a conversation with K. - an avid tango dancer and massage therapist who lives by herself: she has gone three weeks with not a sausage, and there must be a lot of people like her out there who _are_ used to casual, frequent, affectionate touch from humans who are suddenly not getting it, which has got to be very hard. I was a bit horrified when I read recently about the hyperrealistic robotic sex dolls now available, but if social distancing is the future, we should consider making taxpayer-financed regular-to-slightly-dowdy-but-very-good-company dolls using the same AI technology available to anyone living alone. (The government can start buying hot nubile sex dolls for anyone who wants one only _after_ it starts paying for food, housing, health care and higher education for anyone who wants it). Meanwhile, I am getting my quota of cuddles from madam, who fell asleep last night demanding 'tighter hugs,' and sleepily announcing, "if my knickers aren't pulled up high enough, I can't sleep. That's a quote from Shakespeare."
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