Thursday night. To quote the early 21st century bard known only as Rihanna, “work work work work work work.”

Apparently, an adjacent boss recently described me as “a ball of energy.” Heh. I’d be more impressed if that actually translates into something real.

I’m staying in touch with my relatives through a text group chat: apparently, my little nephew in New York has developed a maple syrup addiction. He went so far as to record a little video asking me to send him some from Canada. How could I possibly say no to that?

Xgf said that yesterday she braved the long taxi journey to three different appointments to get her torn leg muscle looked at. She got an X-Ray the same day (go Canada!) and an appointment for an ultrasound in the near future. (Still not too bad, Canada!)

In DuoLingo adventures, the French word for “the weekend” is “le week-end.” Heh.

In covid news, as more and more schools around the US are starting to reopen, there are some frankly horrifying pictures of crowded school hallways with hardly any kids wearing masks. One school district went so far as to threaten students that if they take pictures or post them online, “there’ll be consequences.” ACLU has gotten immediately involved – good for them. One school official said that enforcing mask compliance is hard because “it’s a personal choice.” Funny how they don’t have the same issue when it comes to enforcing arbitrary wardrobe rules for teenagers.

In British Columbia, retired Canadians have found a new hobby: tracking American boats that dock in BC instead of going north to Alaska. (That’s the only way they can make it past the border, thanks to the Alaska exception.) Some Americans are trying to fight back by disabling their transponders soon after crossing the border. I’m not a boat guy, but that sounds like a pretty big no-no.

The tensions between Canada and the US are getting worse: Trump has just announced that he’d restore the 10% tariff on Canadian imports. Trudeau has immediately replied that Canada will retaliate dollar for dollar, eh. (He might not have said “eh.”) Hard to say why this is happening right here and now: the cynic in me thinks it’s just another attempt by the White House to hijack the news cycle and make it about anything at all other than the pandemic. Ho hum. I wonder if at any point things will get bad enough that Canada will start giving out bounties for reporting illegal Americans. Heh. After all, 80% of Canadians want to keep the border closed, and that kind of solidarity is nothing short of remarkable. Ye gods, I’m so happy I’ve escaped to Canada before this whole mess began.