June 14th, 2022
Jun. 14th, 2022 04:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
innerstoryI'm pretty proud of myself for writing this. I often set the completely unreasonable goal of writing every day and then when that obviously doesn't work out it quickly turns into not writing for weeks or months. I never give myself the space to build capacity and it becomes this unfortunate cycle. This building of capacity is a big reason I find Quantified Self so intriguing. Its not just about outcomes, but also setting appropriate goals in the first place.
Last night was a bummer, my team is now one game back, and as such needs to win both of the final two games in the series to win. I do feel like we will force a game seven for two reasons: 1) We tend to slay after big loses, and 2) The league really needs all seven games to start digging themselves out of the financial loses brought on by the pandemic.
Now, with that last one I want to be clear: I do not think the NBA is fixed. What I do think is the League employs several strategies to nug the outcome to their ideal. This starts with sports media by setting a tone for the game that often the players pick up on and it has a subtle subconscious impact even to the most seasoned players unless they put themselves in a self-imposed media blackout. In spite of past bad actors I do not believe the refs are told to specifically call fouls to influence the outcome. But, the League can for example point out blown calls on the team they don't want to win from previous games while ignoring blown calls from the other side. This would be a way to influence refs focus so they don't piss of their boss.
Anyway, I'll be watching Thursday from my waterhole since however it goes I'm going to need to be in friendly company with a drink in my hand.
One thing has been stewing in my brain since yesterday that mildly derailed me. I had to go with a client I work with (I'm a social worker) and I got harassed by a person at the store. I'm standing there with my client with my back facing this person, they are solid ten paces behind me. They just start talking about masks, how Covid almost killed them, how they have all these conditions, and was basically confronting me about not wearing a mask. Now, keep in mind that there is no mask mandate in my State and this person was surrounded by people not wearing them. I'd didn't even realize they were even talking to me for a good third of what they said. There was no "pardon me" or anything like that, they just started talking.
So, I put my mask on and she talks at me a bit more after thanking me before walking off in the complete opposite direction of me....ie they didnt even need to go where I was. What really chapped my ass was that they chose to 1) Shop at 12:30pm or one of the busiest times of day in this store, 2) They were wearing a cloth mask so thin I could see their face under it (the store has free real masks), 3) They walked by several people in the direction they actually wanted to go who were also not wearing masks without a word, 4) This is a store with special hours for high risk people and they offer those same people free home delivery as well.
I do want to say I don't have problem wearing masks. I have a problem with being chosen out of a crowd for no reason, by someone who isn't taking any precautions, and insists on telling me their life story when a simple "Pardon me, I need to get by and could you wear a mask while I'm near you please?".
Objectively, I know that as a social worker I likely give off a vibe and that it was likely there were other issues going on with this person. At the same time I am burnt out dealing with the craziness of the pandemic and the never ending mixed messages I get from both my employer and the state. So, even though it was fine and a mask isn't a big deal I still wanted to get this frustration out because it was still impacting me. I am impacted by many things not necessarily aimed at me. The big ones are idle complaining and people feeling like they need to justify themselves for obvious, no-brainer things. Just get to the point, I don't have the bandwidth to handle more.
Last night was a bummer, my team is now one game back, and as such needs to win both of the final two games in the series to win. I do feel like we will force a game seven for two reasons: 1) We tend to slay after big loses, and 2) The league really needs all seven games to start digging themselves out of the financial loses brought on by the pandemic.
Now, with that last one I want to be clear: I do not think the NBA is fixed. What I do think is the League employs several strategies to nug the outcome to their ideal. This starts with sports media by setting a tone for the game that often the players pick up on and it has a subtle subconscious impact even to the most seasoned players unless they put themselves in a self-imposed media blackout. In spite of past bad actors I do not believe the refs are told to specifically call fouls to influence the outcome. But, the League can for example point out blown calls on the team they don't want to win from previous games while ignoring blown calls from the other side. This would be a way to influence refs focus so they don't piss of their boss.
Anyway, I'll be watching Thursday from my waterhole since however it goes I'm going to need to be in friendly company with a drink in my hand.
One thing has been stewing in my brain since yesterday that mildly derailed me. I had to go with a client I work with (I'm a social worker) and I got harassed by a person at the store. I'm standing there with my client with my back facing this person, they are solid ten paces behind me. They just start talking about masks, how Covid almost killed them, how they have all these conditions, and was basically confronting me about not wearing a mask. Now, keep in mind that there is no mask mandate in my State and this person was surrounded by people not wearing them. I'd didn't even realize they were even talking to me for a good third of what they said. There was no "pardon me" or anything like that, they just started talking.
So, I put my mask on and she talks at me a bit more after thanking me before walking off in the complete opposite direction of me....ie they didnt even need to go where I was. What really chapped my ass was that they chose to 1) Shop at 12:30pm or one of the busiest times of day in this store, 2) They were wearing a cloth mask so thin I could see their face under it (the store has free real masks), 3) They walked by several people in the direction they actually wanted to go who were also not wearing masks without a word, 4) This is a store with special hours for high risk people and they offer those same people free home delivery as well.
I do want to say I don't have problem wearing masks. I have a problem with being chosen out of a crowd for no reason, by someone who isn't taking any precautions, and insists on telling me their life story when a simple "Pardon me, I need to get by and could you wear a mask while I'm near you please?".
Objectively, I know that as a social worker I likely give off a vibe and that it was likely there were other issues going on with this person. At the same time I am burnt out dealing with the craziness of the pandemic and the never ending mixed messages I get from both my employer and the state. So, even though it was fine and a mask isn't a big deal I still wanted to get this frustration out because it was still impacting me. I am impacted by many things not necessarily aimed at me. The big ones are idle complaining and people feeling like they need to justify themselves for obvious, no-brainer things. Just get to the point, I don't have the bandwidth to handle more.
