Not Quite a motss.con iv (via Zoom)

On Sunday, December 19, 2021, the soc.motss.con bunch had another Zoom call.

We had 21 people over the course of the three-and-a-third hours I was there. I had fun catching up, and it seemed like others did too. Discussion topics (as I wrote them down, but not necessarily in chronological order) included:

• Covid, boosters, masks, tests, what to/don't do, etc.
• Bottle/can return, composting, recycling, trash
• Extra apartments
• [Zoom tech support]
• Cruise ships, ports denying entry, mask requirements on board
• Boosters, burnout from worrying, anti-maskers, reactions
• Holiday travel plans
• Haircuts
• Overlooking the undertaker's back alley
• Airports, travel, conferences, (high school) reunions
• Planning for the next motss.con... perhaps on another schedule (as opposed to Jun CFP/vote and trying for 2022)
• Shoplifting, gangs, decline of society
• Football, stadiums, and not caring
• Exercise, ellipticals, stationary bikes
• Home ownership, lawn care (and grass replacements), snow removal, raking leaves, etc.
• Social transmission versus workplace transition, backchannel information about transmission in social venues
• Building renovations and remediations, architects, landscapers, construction contractors, sexism etc.
• Closing things over the holidays, extended outage possibilities
• Zoom in cars, car washes, driving tests (internationally and whose is harder), whether you need a car, stick versus automatic, costs to own and operate
• Ubiquitous networking and photography, curating your personal brand from middle school onwards, cultivating you public image, recoding self and others
• Archiving both physical and electronic media
• Accordions, bagpipes, and other music, and playing outside versus inside
• Moving in (and unpacking after months or years), downsizing, and retirement communities (with continuing care... and mixed emotions)
• Memory care facilities and aging
• Doing drugs again in your 70s... Liptor doesn't count
• Mailing lists, multiple Google identities, groups
• Having kids and grandkids; when one's former student is a great-grandfather; menopause
• Whether schadenfreude is appopriate when the wilfully unvaccinated die; racism and how the government has fucked over minorities and how that leads to mistrust; schadenfreude for being shunned might be different
• When to get and decorate and take down your holiday decorations