Well, the toilet paper apocalypse, at the very least, is subsiding.
It’s not true everywhere, of course. There’s still places I go where the shelves are empty, but not everywhere. It’s becoming routine to find toilet paper again. Yay humanity! The greater problems are still out there. The pandemic, for instance. We’re at the point where some people desperately want things to return to normal(ish), and there are people who respond, “No way, idiots!” So civil discourse is about the same as it’s always been. Comforting? I guess?
I‘ve backed off Facebook. I was checking it obsessively. For a while, kept trying to come up with funny things to say. People in general are going back to normal there. Again, this does not mean normal is returning or will return anytime soon, but it’s good to see.
After admitting last week that I stopped eating breakfast, I of course started eating breakfast again. Found another new peanut butter cereal, so of course am having that now.
I was pretty productive last week. I edited or looked at some projects I’d been working on previously. Squire’s History of Oz looks good. Found I had actually pretty much finished Modern Woe, the latest collection of poems (if by “latest” you allow me to mean material written literally a decade ago). That’s a project that was kind of disrupted before the pandemic, thank you. I’ve had an interesting past six months. I’ve had an interesting last year, and I’m coming ever closer to a year without my niece, and am still trying to make sense of that.
I started outlines for two last Space Corps books. Space Corps is the largest project I have ever worked on, and the thing I still hope to hang my legacy on (but who can control these things?), and I’ve spent years developing these outlines. These last two, I’ve been slow to work on them, but again, a lot has changed over the years, and I work at a different pace. But it finally seemed like the right thing, to use this time to work on them. I mean, I personally would consider myself an idiot if I didn’t.
The family continues to merrily converge for a video-chat game night on weekends, and even though I’m still not playing along, I’m glad it’s happening. This is how COVID-19 will be remembered, in the grand scheme. I have nothing but deep sympathies for those who have suffered, but for a lot of us it’s a moment that’s giving us a huge opportunity, and it’s good to see it being embraced, however it may look.
I mentioned, I think, the Colorado friend with the anthology he wants to do, and it occurred to me that the story I’m working on now (Pat is being driven crazy by its inability to stay on track with the vampire thing) will be as appropriate as anything to give him for it. I’m really proud of this one.
Now, if I could just get some reassurance that I won’t have to wear a mask when I go back to work...
Everyone is supposed to wear a mask at my work. About five percent of us do. Then again, what the heck. We're probably getting that herd immunity Sweden is getting.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Sweden's not getting that. They have one of the highest death tolls in Europe. https://www.newsandguts.com/does-social-distancing-save-lives-look-at-sweden-and-denmark/
DeleteThe problem is red states like Florida are reopening with absolutely no scientific or medical rationale. Cases aren't necessarily leveling off or going down and there are no provisions to test people. The "herd immunity" thing is a myth. The idea that young people (and you're not even that young anymore) won't die from it is another myth. On Facebook my sister reposted something saying 98% of people survive. To which I said sure they survive but something like 60% suffer a complete loss of taste and smell. Many others suffer lung damage that could take decades to heal--if it ever does.
ReplyDeletePeople--including many of our so-called "leaders"--are not taking this seriously in this country and I just do not understand why. Over 200,000 have died worldwide. Over 54,000 in this country alone. Like someone posted on Facebook, you could fill a whole baseball stadium with the number of dead people.
Unfortunately most of these people with their cavalier attitudes aren't likely to understand until them or someone they love gets seriously ill or dies from it. By then it's much too late.
Even if they don't tell you to, wear a mask. And gloves. Better to be uncomfortable for a few weeks than dead.
"Civil discourse is about the same as it's always been..." Very true.
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