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Nov. 10th, 2019 12:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckThis morning started with a migraine. I got somewhere between 4 and 5 hours of sleep before I woke and couldn't manage to fall asleep again after. I was in that weird state of being too near to sleep to be able to get up to do anything about the headache but also hurting too much to manage sleep. I've been functioning at less than 50% mentally all day.
Thursday evening, there was a choir thing at Cordelia's high school, a parents' meeting for information about a trip to Spain that she doesn't intend to go on. I dithered a lot about whether or not I should try to go. It was fairly cold out, and with the meeting starting at 7:30, I expected a bus once an hour which might mean sitting at the bus stop for a very long time before being able to get into the building or after the meeting.
I wanted a better idea of the timing, so I looked at the bus website. The ride planner told me that I couldn't get to the school between 3:14 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. unless I walked a considerable distance (estimated as 20 minutes). I'm very nearly certain that it is possible to get there by bus between those times, but I wasn't willing to risk it. I also wasn't keen on spending between $30 and $40 to attend a meeting about something that Cordelia doesn't want and that we really couldn't afford if she did want.
I ended up sending the school board an email about the accessibility issues of having evening events at the school. The nearest bus stops are on the other side of the highway from the school. The highway exit ramps let out on traffic circles. The lighting is lousy, and there aren't sidewalks or any allowances for pedestrian traffic. It's not a safe walk in full daylight. I wouldn't want to do it at 7 p.m. which is full dark here at this time of year.
I pointed out that I can't possibly be the only parent who doesn't have access to a car all of the time and/or can't drive. I also can't possibly be the only one who considers cabs/Uber/Lyft prohibitively expensive for anything that's not life essential. The school has been there more than a decade, and the district and city have done damn all to make it safe for pedestrians to get there. 90% of the city of Ann Arbor is on the other side of the highway from the school, and the city is zoned for three high schools, so most of the students live on the other side of the highway, too.
One of the main barriers for Cordelia in doing extracurriculars is transportation. All of the kids who stay for those have to get on one city bus. She was pretty constantly stressed about whether or not everyone would fit and what would happen to people who couldn't get on or who missed the bus. School policy is that the kids can't wait in the building without adult supervision. There's a lot of emphasis on penalties for being in the wrong place.
This is the same school that made her think that they were going to close the building and kick all the kids out into the parking lot in a snowstorm to find their own way home. Cordelia doesn't trust them.
At any rate, even though it was around 7 p.m. when I sent the message, I got an email from the superintendent of schools less than two hours later. She said they're going to try to figure out a solution. I'm not sure what they can do, but I hope that this eventually goes somewhere. I've been meaning to complain the last 2.5 years, so it's past time that I did. I pointed out that the access issues most strongly affect poor families and parents with disabilities. I think I actually said 'ADA.'
I also finally sent an email to our representative in the state house to ask why Michigan law doesn't penalize bad faith by insurance companies. I don't know that that will go anywhere, but it definitely wasn't going anywhere without me asking.
I've made more progress on my UCon games. I think the space scenario is only going to need about another hour of work. A lot of what I want to happen in the game doesn't need to be in the character sheets or the setting material. I'd probably have gotten it done today if I'd had a reasonable amount of sleep. The superhero scenario will need quite a lot more than that, but I'm more optimistic about getting it done.
I have no idea why I'm still awake now. Hopefully tonight will be better than last night and tomorrow better than today.
Thursday evening, there was a choir thing at Cordelia's high school, a parents' meeting for information about a trip to Spain that she doesn't intend to go on. I dithered a lot about whether or not I should try to go. It was fairly cold out, and with the meeting starting at 7:30, I expected a bus once an hour which might mean sitting at the bus stop for a very long time before being able to get into the building or after the meeting.
I wanted a better idea of the timing, so I looked at the bus website. The ride planner told me that I couldn't get to the school between 3:14 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. unless I walked a considerable distance (estimated as 20 minutes). I'm very nearly certain that it is possible to get there by bus between those times, but I wasn't willing to risk it. I also wasn't keen on spending between $30 and $40 to attend a meeting about something that Cordelia doesn't want and that we really couldn't afford if she did want.
I ended up sending the school board an email about the accessibility issues of having evening events at the school. The nearest bus stops are on the other side of the highway from the school. The highway exit ramps let out on traffic circles. The lighting is lousy, and there aren't sidewalks or any allowances for pedestrian traffic. It's not a safe walk in full daylight. I wouldn't want to do it at 7 p.m. which is full dark here at this time of year.
I pointed out that I can't possibly be the only parent who doesn't have access to a car all of the time and/or can't drive. I also can't possibly be the only one who considers cabs/Uber/Lyft prohibitively expensive for anything that's not life essential. The school has been there more than a decade, and the district and city have done damn all to make it safe for pedestrians to get there. 90% of the city of Ann Arbor is on the other side of the highway from the school, and the city is zoned for three high schools, so most of the students live on the other side of the highway, too.
One of the main barriers for Cordelia in doing extracurriculars is transportation. All of the kids who stay for those have to get on one city bus. She was pretty constantly stressed about whether or not everyone would fit and what would happen to people who couldn't get on or who missed the bus. School policy is that the kids can't wait in the building without adult supervision. There's a lot of emphasis on penalties for being in the wrong place.
This is the same school that made her think that they were going to close the building and kick all the kids out into the parking lot in a snowstorm to find their own way home. Cordelia doesn't trust them.
At any rate, even though it was around 7 p.m. when I sent the message, I got an email from the superintendent of schools less than two hours later. She said they're going to try to figure out a solution. I'm not sure what they can do, but I hope that this eventually goes somewhere. I've been meaning to complain the last 2.5 years, so it's past time that I did. I pointed out that the access issues most strongly affect poor families and parents with disabilities. I think I actually said 'ADA.'
I also finally sent an email to our representative in the state house to ask why Michigan law doesn't penalize bad faith by insurance companies. I don't know that that will go anywhere, but it definitely wasn't going anywhere without me asking.
I've made more progress on my UCon games. I think the space scenario is only going to need about another hour of work. A lot of what I want to happen in the game doesn't need to be in the character sheets or the setting material. I'd probably have gotten it done today if I'd had a reasonable amount of sleep. The superhero scenario will need quite a lot more than that, but I'm more optimistic about getting it done.
I have no idea why I'm still awake now. Hopefully tonight will be better than last night and tomorrow better than today.
