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shadowkat1. New York vs. the Corona Virus
The Corona Virus appears to be winning, but New York is not going down without a fight.
I'm starting to feel trapped. Or locked up in a comfortable but odd solitary confinement, while the creeping death lurks outside my doorway. My mother's words, not mine. But it fits.
The edict came down from above - aka New York City Mayor and Governor - that everyone in NYC now needs to wear some sort of cloth mask before going out in public. Now I keep getting text messages from NY COVID Hotline to make sure I done a mask anytime I go into a public space, which is basically any time I leave my apartment.
One person on the Next Door Nieghbor COVID Support site posted that you need to wear masks - runners and bikers should as well. Because runners could spit it into the air and you could walk into it or bikers could, or they could spit it on the ground and you could get it from the ground.
This was of course shot down very quickly. "Please refrain from posting false information on this site. And don't post anything without legitimate backup. Don't post things that you heard from a friend of a friend - that how misinformation gets spread. Have a link to a reliable site. And oh, you cannot get COVID-19 from the ground. There is NO reliable information supporting that. Yes, you can get it from someone who exhales in a confined space like your apartment, but not from brushing past a runner. The breeze and air disperses it. There's no legitimate evidence supporting that!"
LOL!
Anyhow we are all supposed to wear cloth masks now - they recommend a thicker coth like a t-shirt or bandana. So, I'm guessing the headscarf I was using may be too thin? I have banadana's though, at least two, and a various scarfs. My mother wanted to know when the face masks that I ordered are supposed to arrive - sometime next week, hopefully.
We're Not supposed to wear the N-97's - those are reserved fro health care providers (we're in short supply and need to reserve them for the health care providers). Speaking of which - an emergency alert just popped up on my phone asking all health care providers to go to a health care facility immediately and lend a hand. Somewhat alarming - but NY had over 582 people die in 24 hours - a record, apparently. (Lovely, NY is setting records now.)
The other bit of news is that they've closed all the playgrounds now, and while they have not closed the parks - people have been advised that the police are instructed to break up large social gatherings and fine people at least $500. (Who knows the city could make money off of selfish assholes.)
My emotions are all over the place. One moment I'm laughing, the next I'm irritable, the next in tears. Easily set off.
I'm terrified of disappearing into the hospital system, and being forgotten in a tent in the Brooklyn Navy Yards, with no one around. That's the worst part of this - people are dying alone. None of their loved ones anywhere near them. As J, one of my managers/co-workers, told me today over the phone, they are piling up the bodies in the hospital corridors - because they have no where to put them. There's too many. It breaks my heart to think about it. It's really really bad in NY and getting worse by the minute. Governor Cuomo said it was like a slow moving hurricane. The US jumped past Italy in deaths and total cases, and NY is getting closer every day. We have over 57,000 cases in the city alone, with over 1,300 hundred deaths. Nassau County, the County just East of us on Long Island has over 12,000 cases, Suffolk County over 10,000 cases -- NY State has over 100,000 - we are above Italy and China now. We have more cases in NY than China. Fucking hell.
It's odd the things I took for granted. (My natural tendency is to say "you" but I've notice over time that people have a tendency to interpret the "you" as relating to them "personally" and not generally speaking. So trying to break myself of the habit - it's a struggle. It doesn't sound right to my ear to say "I" instead of "you" in that sentence.)
Such as walking to the grocery store or food coop or Wallgreens. Or going downstairs to do laundry, or picking up a package without a fear of getting cooties. Or just taking a walk outside to the park without wearing a scarf or mask over my face.
Not that today is necessarily a great day to go out doors, it's overcast and cold with passing showers. Tomorrow and Sunday on the other hand -- are supposed to be quite lovely and in the sixties. Mother nature is mocking us.
2. Almost forgot...
Mother:So apparently, there's a cruise ship wandering about the Eastern Coastline and Carribean that can't dock. Or no one will let it dock.
Me: Really? Does it have cases?
Mother: Apparently it has 25 cases and no one wants it. It doesn't know where to go. It had gone to the Carribbean, but none of the Caribbean islands would let it dock. Miami doesn't know what to do with it - so it refused it.
Me: So it's just stuck out there? It had to leave around Mid-March...
Mother: Yeah, it left around the time all this was happening, people did it anyway and now they are stuck with sick people on a cruise ship and can't get home.
Wonder if it ever found a place to dock. That was a few days ago.
Americans are stuck around the world - they went on vacation and now they can't get back. There's a whole group of them stuck in Peru. (I'm extremely happy that I chose not to book that trip to Peru for the first two weeks of March, I'd have gotten stuck down there and that would not have been good. Although Peru, does have less cases than NY does.) I'm guessing this thing is killing the travel industry, not to mention the airlines.
I did hear on the news that a private jet company is gearing up to rescue all the trapped Americans trying to get home.
3. Laundry and Recycables
Mother: Lets put this into perspective, you have enough clothes right? Underwear you can always just wash out in the sink and hand dry?
Me: Actually most of it I can hand wash and hang dry except for the towels and linens. And possibly some of the jeans, not sure about socks...not that I'm wearing socks that often..
Mother: So, you can put that off for a while.
Me: I do have a lot of underwear.
Mother: So, not needed for a bit. Just hand-wash the things you need. Also in regards to the recycables - can you just put them in a corner somewhere? I mean they won't collect bugs or smell right?
ME: Most likely not. They've been cleaned out. And I have them in a corner of the kitchen. I could also put them in the hall/foyer if I had to.
Mother: So schedule a time - say Wed of next week to revisit it. Maybe the new elevator will be completed by then? And you can try to take them down during your work day or at an off-time.
Me: That's possible.
Mother: And don't think about it at all until then. No worrying about it until Wed of next week.
I got off the phone, meditated for a bit, and then I washed my yoga pants (they are made from bamboo fiber - I got them in Costa Rica - very soft and most likely should be hand washed and hung to dry any how. I've been putting them in the gentle wash and hanging to dry, but today I washed them in the kitchen sink and hung to dry. Also washed a yoga top. Both are kind of like work PJ's and I want to wear them next week.
I may wash out some underwear at some point, and bras. Although I do have enough.
Also the recycables can wait a bit - it's not bad. They aren't taking up too much space at the moment.
4. Unitarian Universalists vs. the Corona Virus
My Church has fully embraced technology after several years of pooh-poohing it and telling people to check their cell phones at the door. It's gone hog-wild with Zoom and Facebook.
Zoom is kind of like Skype or an advanced version of Skype.
They have worship service on zoom, daily checkins, dinner parties, dance parties, book club, afternoon tea/coffee hour, bed-time stories, home-alone check-in's, parents/family checkin-s, meditations, yoga...
I'm doing more with my church than I did before the Corona Virus. Or I can. Why?
I didn't like traveling up there, and I kind of like interfacing through computers.
5. Meetup Groups and Museums and other retail outlets vs. the Corona Virus
* The Green Grape - my favorite food/liquor store in Fort Green has extended their delivery range to Park Slope, but they still don't include my zip code. Ugh. If I still lived in Carroll Gardens it would be included.
* King County Wines stopped deliveries - now you can just pick up.
(I'm thinking the universe is telling me that it doesn't want me to drink my way through this crisis, because I can't get alcohol to save my life - I can however get CBD gummies. So all is well. Amazon does not sell alcohol. Chocolate yes, alcohol no. And not really CBD either - it's hard to tell.)
* Brooklyn Museum of Art sent me an email. Because I'd supported it in the past.
Here's a snippet:
Rest assured that team Brooklyn Museum has been working hard since our closure and remains committed to you, our community. We have expanded the content we offer across our digital platforms and have been sharing weekly newsletters with resources for all ages, including families and teachers, as well as activities and tools that engage our collection from afar. We’ve also been helping our city’s relief efforts where we can. We recently sent 2,800 gloves normally used by our conservation team to New York’s hospitals, while our wonderful food partners, Great Performances, fired up our kitchen to make 8,000 daily meals for health-care workers and seniors in need.
Like other cultural organizations, we also are grappling with serious financial issues and planning for an unprecedented―and therefore uncertain―future. But this isn’t the first time our nearly 200-year-old institution has been through a crisis. From the Civil War to World War II, from the 1918 influenza pandemic to September 11th, we have an extraordinary history of serving our city and nation during moments of hardship, and of coming through stronger. The Brooklyn Museum is a survivor.
One thing is sure, with a population of over 2.5 million, Brooklyn needs us to come back strong. Brooklyn is among the communities hardest hit by COVID-19. I’m deeply concerned about the health, grief, and financial well-being of our neighbors. I worry about our children. How many of them went home from school without computers or access to the internet? How are they being educated at home, and how will they be able to catch up? Above all, how can we, your Museum, help?
Our city’s artists and other cultural workers are also on my mind, as they are facing long-term economic hardships. This is a serious concern for us all since the arts is one of the largest industries in New York, and the vibrancy of our city relies on a strong cultural economy. It is imperative we find ways to help our cultural workers and creators navigate these troubling times. In the meantime, I am grateful for all the ways they are providing uplifting content for the world, and I look forward to seeing how they will help open hearts and minds, and help us heal.
* The Meetup Groups are hosting things online now, such as speed dating, chat, jigsaw puzzles (complete one and post it online), book clubs, movie discussions, and weirdly there's loveasmaze - single walks in parks to relieve stress. (Eh, not sure that can work unless you can get people to walk six feet apart.) The therapy walker in my neighborhood tried that for three weeks then gave up. Also, movie nights for $5 and $8 dollars - at AMC Theaters? Eh, aren't they closed?
* Meanwhile all the retail outlets that have online catalogues are hosting massive sales. Buy furniture, bedding, etc for 70% off - Macy's, West Elm, Pottery Barn, etc. No one wants to buy clothes, pillows, print books, sheets or bedding. I don't. I'd have to figure out how to clean it. Groceries are bad enough.
6. ME vs. Insane Opera Singers and Yodellers while picking up mail
Another package came (CBD Gummies - no not the masks)- this posed a bit of an issue. To get it, I put on my plastic gloves, bandana, and went downstairs, had to hunt for it. Scored it, then went to mailboxes, retrieved mail, and went back upstairs. Unlocked door. And did my routine, which involved spraying the package and the door with antiseptic, spraying the mail. Spraying the plastic gloves. And my keys. Then washing plastic gloves, then hands. Making one wonder why I bothered to put on the gloves to begin with.
Anyhow, during all this the crazy opera singers and yodellers felt the need to well sing.
Me: Please stop singing! You cannot sing.
Opera Singer/Yodeller - halts for a bit. Silence. Starts up again.
Me:I'm serious - stop it. You sound like a stuck cat, actually worse than that.
Opera Singer/Yodeller - stops. Silence. Then starts up again.
Me:Seriously stop singing! Or I'll start singing. And you really, really don't want to hear me sing!
Opera Singer/Yodeller stops for a bit then starts again.
Me (I imitate the yodele/opera singer)
They stop abruptly.
I think they can me when I shout? Overall it's a quiet place. I didn't hear a soul most of the day. But I do have the insane opera/yodeller who feels the need to sing every once and a while - in a language I do not recognize.
If it were good, it would be one thing. But it is not. It sounds like a stuck pig who ran into a bunch of cats.
Living in a 77 unit apartment complex with no terrace or back yard during a pandemic, in epidemic central definitely poses its own series of challenges.
The Corona Virus appears to be winning, but New York is not going down without a fight.
I'm starting to feel trapped. Or locked up in a comfortable but odd solitary confinement, while the creeping death lurks outside my doorway. My mother's words, not mine. But it fits.
The edict came down from above - aka New York City Mayor and Governor - that everyone in NYC now needs to wear some sort of cloth mask before going out in public. Now I keep getting text messages from NY COVID Hotline to make sure I done a mask anytime I go into a public space, which is basically any time I leave my apartment.
One person on the Next Door Nieghbor COVID Support site posted that you need to wear masks - runners and bikers should as well. Because runners could spit it into the air and you could walk into it or bikers could, or they could spit it on the ground and you could get it from the ground.
This was of course shot down very quickly. "Please refrain from posting false information on this site. And don't post anything without legitimate backup. Don't post things that you heard from a friend of a friend - that how misinformation gets spread. Have a link to a reliable site. And oh, you cannot get COVID-19 from the ground. There is NO reliable information supporting that. Yes, you can get it from someone who exhales in a confined space like your apartment, but not from brushing past a runner. The breeze and air disperses it. There's no legitimate evidence supporting that!"
LOL!
Anyhow we are all supposed to wear cloth masks now - they recommend a thicker coth like a t-shirt or bandana. So, I'm guessing the headscarf I was using may be too thin? I have banadana's though, at least two, and a various scarfs. My mother wanted to know when the face masks that I ordered are supposed to arrive - sometime next week, hopefully.
We're Not supposed to wear the N-97's - those are reserved fro health care providers (we're in short supply and need to reserve them for the health care providers). Speaking of which - an emergency alert just popped up on my phone asking all health care providers to go to a health care facility immediately and lend a hand. Somewhat alarming - but NY had over 582 people die in 24 hours - a record, apparently. (Lovely, NY is setting records now.)
The other bit of news is that they've closed all the playgrounds now, and while they have not closed the parks - people have been advised that the police are instructed to break up large social gatherings and fine people at least $500. (Who knows the city could make money off of selfish assholes.)
My emotions are all over the place. One moment I'm laughing, the next I'm irritable, the next in tears. Easily set off.
I'm terrified of disappearing into the hospital system, and being forgotten in a tent in the Brooklyn Navy Yards, with no one around. That's the worst part of this - people are dying alone. None of their loved ones anywhere near them. As J, one of my managers/co-workers, told me today over the phone, they are piling up the bodies in the hospital corridors - because they have no where to put them. There's too many. It breaks my heart to think about it. It's really really bad in NY and getting worse by the minute. Governor Cuomo said it was like a slow moving hurricane. The US jumped past Italy in deaths and total cases, and NY is getting closer every day. We have over 57,000 cases in the city alone, with over 1,300 hundred deaths. Nassau County, the County just East of us on Long Island has over 12,000 cases, Suffolk County over 10,000 cases -- NY State has over 100,000 - we are above Italy and China now. We have more cases in NY than China. Fucking hell.
It's odd the things I took for granted. (My natural tendency is to say "you" but I've notice over time that people have a tendency to interpret the "you" as relating to them "personally" and not generally speaking. So trying to break myself of the habit - it's a struggle. It doesn't sound right to my ear to say "I" instead of "you" in that sentence.)
Such as walking to the grocery store or food coop or Wallgreens. Or going downstairs to do laundry, or picking up a package without a fear of getting cooties. Or just taking a walk outside to the park without wearing a scarf or mask over my face.
Not that today is necessarily a great day to go out doors, it's overcast and cold with passing showers. Tomorrow and Sunday on the other hand -- are supposed to be quite lovely and in the sixties. Mother nature is mocking us.
2. Almost forgot...
Mother:So apparently, there's a cruise ship wandering about the Eastern Coastline and Carribean that can't dock. Or no one will let it dock.
Me: Really? Does it have cases?
Mother: Apparently it has 25 cases and no one wants it. It doesn't know where to go. It had gone to the Carribbean, but none of the Caribbean islands would let it dock. Miami doesn't know what to do with it - so it refused it.
Me: So it's just stuck out there? It had to leave around Mid-March...
Mother: Yeah, it left around the time all this was happening, people did it anyway and now they are stuck with sick people on a cruise ship and can't get home.
Wonder if it ever found a place to dock. That was a few days ago.
Americans are stuck around the world - they went on vacation and now they can't get back. There's a whole group of them stuck in Peru. (I'm extremely happy that I chose not to book that trip to Peru for the first two weeks of March, I'd have gotten stuck down there and that would not have been good. Although Peru, does have less cases than NY does.) I'm guessing this thing is killing the travel industry, not to mention the airlines.
I did hear on the news that a private jet company is gearing up to rescue all the trapped Americans trying to get home.
3. Laundry and Recycables
Mother: Lets put this into perspective, you have enough clothes right? Underwear you can always just wash out in the sink and hand dry?
Me: Actually most of it I can hand wash and hang dry except for the towels and linens. And possibly some of the jeans, not sure about socks...not that I'm wearing socks that often..
Mother: So, you can put that off for a while.
Me: I do have a lot of underwear.
Mother: So, not needed for a bit. Just hand-wash the things you need. Also in regards to the recycables - can you just put them in a corner somewhere? I mean they won't collect bugs or smell right?
ME: Most likely not. They've been cleaned out. And I have them in a corner of the kitchen. I could also put them in the hall/foyer if I had to.
Mother: So schedule a time - say Wed of next week to revisit it. Maybe the new elevator will be completed by then? And you can try to take them down during your work day or at an off-time.
Me: That's possible.
Mother: And don't think about it at all until then. No worrying about it until Wed of next week.
I got off the phone, meditated for a bit, and then I washed my yoga pants (they are made from bamboo fiber - I got them in Costa Rica - very soft and most likely should be hand washed and hung to dry any how. I've been putting them in the gentle wash and hanging to dry, but today I washed them in the kitchen sink and hung to dry. Also washed a yoga top. Both are kind of like work PJ's and I want to wear them next week.
I may wash out some underwear at some point, and bras. Although I do have enough.
Also the recycables can wait a bit - it's not bad. They aren't taking up too much space at the moment.
4. Unitarian Universalists vs. the Corona Virus
My Church has fully embraced technology after several years of pooh-poohing it and telling people to check their cell phones at the door. It's gone hog-wild with Zoom and Facebook.
Zoom is kind of like Skype or an advanced version of Skype.
They have worship service on zoom, daily checkins, dinner parties, dance parties, book club, afternoon tea/coffee hour, bed-time stories, home-alone check-in's, parents/family checkin-s, meditations, yoga...
I'm doing more with my church than I did before the Corona Virus. Or I can. Why?
I didn't like traveling up there, and I kind of like interfacing through computers.
5. Meetup Groups and Museums and other retail outlets vs. the Corona Virus
* The Green Grape - my favorite food/liquor store in Fort Green has extended their delivery range to Park Slope, but they still don't include my zip code. Ugh. If I still lived in Carroll Gardens it would be included.
* King County Wines stopped deliveries - now you can just pick up.
(I'm thinking the universe is telling me that it doesn't want me to drink my way through this crisis, because I can't get alcohol to save my life - I can however get CBD gummies. So all is well. Amazon does not sell alcohol. Chocolate yes, alcohol no. And not really CBD either - it's hard to tell.)
* Brooklyn Museum of Art sent me an email. Because I'd supported it in the past.
Here's a snippet:
Rest assured that team Brooklyn Museum has been working hard since our closure and remains committed to you, our community. We have expanded the content we offer across our digital platforms and have been sharing weekly newsletters with resources for all ages, including families and teachers, as well as activities and tools that engage our collection from afar. We’ve also been helping our city’s relief efforts where we can. We recently sent 2,800 gloves normally used by our conservation team to New York’s hospitals, while our wonderful food partners, Great Performances, fired up our kitchen to make 8,000 daily meals for health-care workers and seniors in need.
Like other cultural organizations, we also are grappling with serious financial issues and planning for an unprecedented―and therefore uncertain―future. But this isn’t the first time our nearly 200-year-old institution has been through a crisis. From the Civil War to World War II, from the 1918 influenza pandemic to September 11th, we have an extraordinary history of serving our city and nation during moments of hardship, and of coming through stronger. The Brooklyn Museum is a survivor.
One thing is sure, with a population of over 2.5 million, Brooklyn needs us to come back strong. Brooklyn is among the communities hardest hit by COVID-19. I’m deeply concerned about the health, grief, and financial well-being of our neighbors. I worry about our children. How many of them went home from school without computers or access to the internet? How are they being educated at home, and how will they be able to catch up? Above all, how can we, your Museum, help?
Our city’s artists and other cultural workers are also on my mind, as they are facing long-term economic hardships. This is a serious concern for us all since the arts is one of the largest industries in New York, and the vibrancy of our city relies on a strong cultural economy. It is imperative we find ways to help our cultural workers and creators navigate these troubling times. In the meantime, I am grateful for all the ways they are providing uplifting content for the world, and I look forward to seeing how they will help open hearts and minds, and help us heal.
* The Meetup Groups are hosting things online now, such as speed dating, chat, jigsaw puzzles (complete one and post it online), book clubs, movie discussions, and weirdly there's loveasmaze - single walks in parks to relieve stress. (Eh, not sure that can work unless you can get people to walk six feet apart.) The therapy walker in my neighborhood tried that for three weeks then gave up. Also, movie nights for $5 and $8 dollars - at AMC Theaters? Eh, aren't they closed?
* Meanwhile all the retail outlets that have online catalogues are hosting massive sales. Buy furniture, bedding, etc for 70% off - Macy's, West Elm, Pottery Barn, etc. No one wants to buy clothes, pillows, print books, sheets or bedding. I don't. I'd have to figure out how to clean it. Groceries are bad enough.
6. ME vs. Insane Opera Singers and Yodellers while picking up mail
Another package came (CBD Gummies - no not the masks)- this posed a bit of an issue. To get it, I put on my plastic gloves, bandana, and went downstairs, had to hunt for it. Scored it, then went to mailboxes, retrieved mail, and went back upstairs. Unlocked door. And did my routine, which involved spraying the package and the door with antiseptic, spraying the mail. Spraying the plastic gloves. And my keys. Then washing plastic gloves, then hands. Making one wonder why I bothered to put on the gloves to begin with.
Anyhow, during all this the crazy opera singers and yodellers felt the need to well sing.
Me: Please stop singing! You cannot sing.
Opera Singer/Yodeller - halts for a bit. Silence. Starts up again.
Me:I'm serious - stop it. You sound like a stuck cat, actually worse than that.
Opera Singer/Yodeller - stops. Silence. Then starts up again.
Me:Seriously stop singing! Or I'll start singing. And you really, really don't want to hear me sing!
Opera Singer/Yodeller stops for a bit then starts again.
Me (I imitate the yodele/opera singer)
They stop abruptly.
I think they can me when I shout? Overall it's a quiet place. I didn't hear a soul most of the day. But I do have the insane opera/yodeller who feels the need to sing every once and a while - in a language I do not recognize.
If it were good, it would be one thing. But it is not. It sounds like a stuck pig who ran into a bunch of cats.
Living in a 77 unit apartment complex with no terrace or back yard during a pandemic, in epidemic central definitely poses its own series of challenges.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-04 06:49 pm (UTC)Funny you should mention that -- I just took a survey about that this morning. I'm surprised by how much stuff people are buying given the long-term financial impacts. But I guess even so it's not extending to furniture -- I don't imagine getting delivery would be easy these days.
Also your comments about different online efforts makes me wonder what this would have been like were we all in a pre-Internet time. I suspect a whole lot more chaotic.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-04 08:39 pm (UTC)In regards to pillows and bedding and linens and clothing - you have to wash it. And if you don't the ability to do that easily...as my brother told my mother in regards to his wife's business - no one wants to buy expensive boutique clothing or home goods right now. She had to shutter it for the time being. And is looking into doing other things.
There is a lot of panic buying or compulsive buying. I had to stop myself.
Also the retail outlets are going nuts with sales. They keep telling me it's for a limited time only - yeah right. Also, I keep feeling sorry for their staff in the warehouses.
I think without the internet - this would have been if not worse, more difficult - if the Spanish Flu Epidemic or the Black Death is any indication. Edgar Allen Poe wrote a horror tale about it once - Masque of the Red Death, about a masquerade held during the plague, or in spite of the plague, and everything confined with it as a result.