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lydamorehouseI used to be a people person, I swear. I am still an extrovert who will liven up your Zoom call, but you know what I hate? PEOPLE.
Or maybe the suburbs.
Definitely suburbs.
Shawn and I tried to go out for a "mall walk" today. Here in sunny Minnesota, it is currently 1 F / -17.2 C, previously when we were out there was a wind chill warning. Being two middle aged women, Shawn and I are trying to find good venues for walking around where we don't have to worry about our skin freezing off in the cold air. Our local newspaper, the Star Tribune, had a lovely article about mall walking and their top ten picks. We thought, "Oh, well, we have a mall just up the way from us, in Roseville." So, we decided to walk around HarMar Mall.
Apparently, EVERYONE had this same idea.
Worse, because suburbs are not under mask mandates, well over half of the people walking were not wearing masks. At all. Indoors. Walking briskly. Breathing hard. EXCERCISING.
I will admit that I was not a good walking companion because I was as jumpy as a mouse at a snake convention. I flinched every time I saw someone without a mask. Shawn was pretty sick of me squirming and so we decided to try to find a better place in the city, where masks are mandated by order of Mayor Carter. We tried Bandana Square, but it's not a real mall, so it's not designed in any kind of easily walkable loop. However, I think we're going to try to continue there, since it is very, very quiet and there are a number of stairs that could make it a decent cardio workout, if we figure out a good route.
I am still coming down from the nerves of having been out and about where people clearly give no flying flaps that Minnesota's ICUs are still at capacity and that January was a record setting number of cases for our state.
All of this does make me wonder if I will ever enjoy crowds again. I was never the kind of extrovert who was like, "Woo! Stadiums! I love a crowded stadium!" Nor was I ever the crowded mosh pit sort. So, I don't know if what I'm feeling is actually damage from the pandemic, or if what I'm feeling is just an acknowledgement that I was NEVER a big fan and always just put up with crowded spaces because "that's just how it is."
I don't know.
I will say that I was also not pleased yesterday evening to discover that the soccer stadium is back in operation. I live close enough to Allianz Fields that last night's game f*cked up dinner. We had a very rare craving for hamburgers and cheese curds last night and I thought that I could just pop in the car and head to the nearby Culver's (a hamburger chain, unique to the upper Midwest.) When I tried to go the, like, eight blocks to the drive-thru in my car, I had to wait through several lights while drunken sports fans made their way from the bars to the stadium, all under the direction of the St. Paul Police. I mean, I guess it kept them from shooting unarmed Black men, but it was really clear that the cops were not working for the people of my neighborhood who JUST WANTED TO GET SOME FAST FOOD ONCE, but the revealers. I was so irritated by the time I got to Culver's that the fact that the screwed up our orders and we didn't even get hamburgers barely made a dent in my already white hot rage.
So, I mean, people, am I right?
Or maybe the suburbs.
Definitely suburbs.
Shawn and I tried to go out for a "mall walk" today. Here in sunny Minnesota, it is currently 1 F / -17.2 C, previously when we were out there was a wind chill warning. Being two middle aged women, Shawn and I are trying to find good venues for walking around where we don't have to worry about our skin freezing off in the cold air. Our local newspaper, the Star Tribune, had a lovely article about mall walking and their top ten picks. We thought, "Oh, well, we have a mall just up the way from us, in Roseville." So, we decided to walk around HarMar Mall.
Apparently, EVERYONE had this same idea.
Worse, because suburbs are not under mask mandates, well over half of the people walking were not wearing masks. At all. Indoors. Walking briskly. Breathing hard. EXCERCISING.
I will admit that I was not a good walking companion because I was as jumpy as a mouse at a snake convention. I flinched every time I saw someone without a mask. Shawn was pretty sick of me squirming and so we decided to try to find a better place in the city, where masks are mandated by order of Mayor Carter. We tried Bandana Square, but it's not a real mall, so it's not designed in any kind of easily walkable loop. However, I think we're going to try to continue there, since it is very, very quiet and there are a number of stairs that could make it a decent cardio workout, if we figure out a good route.
I am still coming down from the nerves of having been out and about where people clearly give no flying flaps that Minnesota's ICUs are still at capacity and that January was a record setting number of cases for our state.
All of this does make me wonder if I will ever enjoy crowds again. I was never the kind of extrovert who was like, "Woo! Stadiums! I love a crowded stadium!" Nor was I ever the crowded mosh pit sort. So, I don't know if what I'm feeling is actually damage from the pandemic, or if what I'm feeling is just an acknowledgement that I was NEVER a big fan and always just put up with crowded spaces because "that's just how it is."
I don't know.
I will say that I was also not pleased yesterday evening to discover that the soccer stadium is back in operation. I live close enough to Allianz Fields that last night's game f*cked up dinner. We had a very rare craving for hamburgers and cheese curds last night and I thought that I could just pop in the car and head to the nearby Culver's (a hamburger chain, unique to the upper Midwest.) When I tried to go the, like, eight blocks to the drive-thru in my car, I had to wait through several lights while drunken sports fans made their way from the bars to the stadium, all under the direction of the St. Paul Police. I mean, I guess it kept them from shooting unarmed Black men, but it was really clear that the cops were not working for the people of my neighborhood who JUST WANTED TO GET SOME FAST FOOD ONCE, but the revealers. I was so irritated by the time I got to Culver's that the fact that the screwed up our orders and we didn't even get hamburgers barely made a dent in my already white hot rage.
So, I mean, people, am I right?
no subject
Date: 2022-02-03 08:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-02-03 08:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-02-03 09:09 pm (UTC)Alas.
(FYI, I've found Culver's in Indianapolis and even CHarlotte, NC.)
no subject
Date: 2022-02-03 09:40 pm (UTC)All I know is that Mason was disappointed there were none in Connecticut, where he's going to school.
Culver's locations
Date: 2022-02-03 09:49 pm (UTC)https://www.culvers.com/locator/view-all-locations
(And not that TExas would've been easier for you to get to during that thing at the soccer field, either.)
no subject
Date: 2022-02-03 10:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-02-03 10:42 pm (UTC)It's taken this long into the pandemic for me to really miss human contact outside my household. And I never liked large anonymous crowds, even of "my people". I don't go to Convergence because holy yikes.
I'm sorry your reactions to people feel miscalibrated now. There's enough disconcerting stuff happening without that.
P.