A Journal of the Pandemic #4

Well, it finally happened. I went into de facto quarantine.

Last week was the first full week of alternating work schedule, and it gave me two three-day weekends in the process. We have three buildings in the child development center system on base, and last week also saw all three combined. The best thing about all this was the chance to see some kids who had shuffled to other buildings over the past year or so. On Thursday I got to see one I had been particularly missing, an adorably sassy little girl. (But they’re all adorable, of course!) Then Friday evening we received notice that one of our staff had tested positive for COVID-19, and Saturday evening were informed that the program had been put on hold until further notice.

So here I am at home, like so many others, waiting for things to change for the better.

Last week also gave me a clear example of how irrationally some of this is unfolding when the apartment complex made it clear it had locked up the laundry room. There was a true April Fool somewhere when the sign posted indicating it would reopen on the 1st turned out to be a nasty lie. Management had previously sworn there would be no interruption of laundry service. I called on Friday to find out what was happening, and the receptionist unlucky enough to be manning the desk at this time had only vague answers, and asked if I wanted my information passed on? Well, it’s kind of beside the point now, isn’t it? I hauled my extra load of laundry to a local facility, and of course paid more, but at least it was finally done. Then of course I found out I wouldn’t be going back to work soon.

The numbers have started to pile up. Testing is still less than comprehensive, but the response remains level, at least officially. We still believe our drastic measures are completely justified, even while petty bickering suggests not enough was done soon enough, which is still completely insane. This is a completely unprecedented event. Literally everything we’ve done is already far more than has ever been done.

We’re stuck in a holding pattern. I have plenty of experience with free or merely extra time on my hands. I have no commitments outside of work, no family living with me, or living with family (which itself is anomalous in the general outline of my life; literally everything about it seems to have aligned precisely to make this entire experience as easy as possible). I’m not worried about how I will pass the day or the week or however long this lasts.

I didn’t write last week. I really should have, right? I worked two days. But I guess I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Now I have no restraints on my time at all. I can write to my heart’s content, which is every writer’s dream, and perhaps nightmare. Anyone who’s read this blog previously knows I tend to accumulate projects. I’ve got the one I’m actively working on, more I want to tackle, and of course last week I had a breakthrough on another...

Heck, I didn’t even read much last week! But over the weekend I started to rally in that regard. I watched a lot of stuff. Story of a generation. And now I’m going to do other stuff. I ordered literally tons of comics on Friday, will hopefully get that by the end of the week. I have, at the moment, financial wiggle room, and I want to spend it where it will help, where it will foster the kind of world I hope is still around in a few months.

Hopefully when I do another of these, I will be able to say I wrote a good amount of material, and maybe even share some good news about the pandemic. Stranger things have been happening...