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Day #61 of Self-Isolation in Epidemic Central
I kind of went into isolation later than a lot of folks, because my organization sent the non-essential aka administrative support/professional services group home at the last minute. The US started locking down around the weekend of my birthday.
Nervous habits
I've noticed that I've developed a couple nervous habits - such as the fact that I obsess about cleaning everything that enters my apartment, regardless of what it is. However, surprising as it may seem to the casual observer, this has not stopped me from ordering take out for the first time in...okay I don't know how long. I'm ordering pizza and a strawberry/asiago salad from San Remo again - because it is so frigging good. This round, I have a pepperoni and half mushroom pizza. A whole pizza costs about $18, which isn't bad, and the salad - $12 dollars - but the salad lasts three-four days, and the pizza two days. So deal.
Also, I keep obsessing over masks. Thank you internet for that. I gotta to give the internet credit - if I wasn't worried about it before, I am now. Particularly Twitter and FB. I now worry over if I have the right mask (yes, I'm comparing masks - and there are an amazing variety of masks out there - although most people appear to have the cheap blue/white disposables or bandanas - either turned into masks or just tied around their faces like bandanas), if I've touched it, and if I have, infected myself, and what if someone else isn't wearing one (which is unfortunately more frequent than you'd expect).
So I decided not to take any walks this weekend. Been sort of tired and lazy. Also I'm trying to relax my left shoulder which is drifting into frozen shoulder territory. You'd think the walks would be relaxing and they are for the most part, except for the fact that the grim reaper appears to be lurking the corners in the guise of Darwin Award Wannabees and the fact that my mask has a tendency to fall off my ear, or drift up my face..and I'm adjusting it. I started wearing a hat to keep my hair out of my face, only to find myself touching and adjusting the hat to keep it from slipping off my head. (I can't win.) As a result, shoulders are tensing up.
Laundry
However, I did discover yesterday that doing laundry in my sink can be a relatively calming and almost zen-like experience. Hand-washables only, which hang dry without any issues. Not everything can be washed effectively in a sink or tub. I have a big, deep sink in this apartment, so not a problem. This apartment has a great kitchen, unlike the last couple of apartments which had horrible kitchens. Anyhow, washing, rinsing, rolling up in a towel to wring out the extra water, and hanging up in the bedroom on dryer rack - was oddly comforting.
I will have to brave the laundry room again around memorial day weekend to get the linens and non-handwashable items cleaned. I'm braving it once a month now - figure the less time spent down there - the better.
Family
Talked to mother and then later my Aunt K. Apparently my father got confused today and called his sister, my Aunt K - to ask her about his funeral, and if he could have it in the Catholic Church if my mother had been excommunicated for believing in abortion. My poor Aunt, who is an atheist and not a practicing Catholic, was understandably confused. My mother hadn't gotten on the phone yet. He'd managed to call her - somehow, without my mother's knowledge. (I thought he'd forgotten how to work the phone.)
Apparently, my Uncle (the Priest) had informed my father that non-Catholics couldn't participate in the funeral service or receive communion. And that anyone who was pro-choice couldn't either. He wouldn't give communion to Joe Biden for example.
Aunt K: Don't invite Joe Biden to the Funeral.
Me: OR just don't invite Uncle Pat. I'm sure we can find someone more reasonable.
Mother: Your father wants Pat.
Aunt K: Just tell him it's all taken care of.
Me: And with any luck, My Uncle will predecease my father and it won't be a problem.
Aunt K and Mother: Now, now.
Me: Well there's a good possibility of it happening, he's 78, he's less protected than my parents, and he thinks that this thing is a hoax because he's a Trump supporter, plus he lives in Florida.
Aunt K: This is true. Florida will most likely be the next epi-center. We're opening everything tomorrow - including "tattoo parlors" - which are of course considered essential (heavy sarcasm).
I really am struggling with my Uncle right now. He's been stressing my poor father out. My Uncle and Aunt suggested the members of their church and friends be the participants in the funeral instead of family members. But my father no longer feels comfortable with his former friends from church - they aren't critical thinkers and very conservative.
Me: Yet they are far less conservative than my Uncle. They know that non-Catholics can participate in funerals, just as they can in weddings. They also know that people aren't ex-communicated for political affiliations.
Mother: Your father is confused.
Me: And my uncle is making it worse - stop talking to him.
Church
I go to the Unitarian Church - which to date has been doing an excellent job with the whole streaming worship bit. It's easier - because our rituals consist of lighting candles for each other, welcoming each other, singing, and a lot of speeches. Not hard to do electronically.
Anyhow, Zoom failed at 10 AM today worldwide. So they sent out a new link. Not everyone got it. So there were issues. Some got there, a lot just stayed on FB. People discussed using a different system - they said they looked into that - this is the best. They aren't wrong. I've been on four different ones, and it is the best. That's why everyone is using it, and a lot of work places can't.
It was funny however today - when during their social/fellowship gathering afterwards. People were asking why they weren't in a break room. (They chose not to go there.)
G: Can we do it here? In the main meeting room?
Tech Support: Well yes, but most of the people here have left their computers.
G: Is anyone here?
E: I'm here.
J: I'm here.
G: Can we do it?
I'm giggling through this. I find the interactions via Zoom amusing.
An interminable meeting followed.
Mother: Could you leave it?
ME: Well, yes and I did. It started at 12:15/12:30, I left around 1:25 PM.
Mother: That's a full hour.
Me: I know, an interminable one that I will never get back. The problem with Zoom meetings - is they are reading off movie screens and not seeing people, so they don't know that people are going to sleep, wandering off, or restless. And they are spending way to much time thanking everyone and patting themselves on the back. The only person with any real news - we couldn't hear without a lot of feedback. I gave up.
I also hate meetings. I find them annoying.
I just want the information - I don't want the chit-chat, and the brown-nosing, and self-congratulations. It's not unlike listening to a commentary to film or television. Way to much patting each other on the back, not enough information. I don't know why humans feel the need for all this external validation, but we do.
And things are getting weird
You may or may not be able to get access to this but...a man decides to recreate the final number from Dirty Dancing with...a lamp.
Also according to the NY Times you can make ice cream in a Mason Jar and according to a friend online - in a ziplock bag if you don't have a mason jar handy. (I don't have the ingredients.)
And this courtesy of elisi:
When an anesthesiologist who is on the front lines of the Covid crisis in the U.S. is putting her life on the line every day, how can you possibly thank her? Well... if her favourite show is Buffy the Vampire Slayer, maybe you can get a few actors from the show to come say thanks to her?"
It wasn't just a few actors...I was crying at the halfway mark
Nervous habits
I've noticed that I've developed a couple nervous habits - such as the fact that I obsess about cleaning everything that enters my apartment, regardless of what it is. However, surprising as it may seem to the casual observer, this has not stopped me from ordering take out for the first time in...okay I don't know how long. I'm ordering pizza and a strawberry/asiago salad from San Remo again - because it is so frigging good. This round, I have a pepperoni and half mushroom pizza. A whole pizza costs about $18, which isn't bad, and the salad - $12 dollars - but the salad lasts three-four days, and the pizza two days. So deal.
Also, I keep obsessing over masks. Thank you internet for that. I gotta to give the internet credit - if I wasn't worried about it before, I am now. Particularly Twitter and FB. I now worry over if I have the right mask (yes, I'm comparing masks - and there are an amazing variety of masks out there - although most people appear to have the cheap blue/white disposables or bandanas - either turned into masks or just tied around their faces like bandanas), if I've touched it, and if I have, infected myself, and what if someone else isn't wearing one (which is unfortunately more frequent than you'd expect).
So I decided not to take any walks this weekend. Been sort of tired and lazy. Also I'm trying to relax my left shoulder which is drifting into frozen shoulder territory. You'd think the walks would be relaxing and they are for the most part, except for the fact that the grim reaper appears to be lurking the corners in the guise of Darwin Award Wannabees and the fact that my mask has a tendency to fall off my ear, or drift up my face..and I'm adjusting it. I started wearing a hat to keep my hair out of my face, only to find myself touching and adjusting the hat to keep it from slipping off my head. (I can't win.) As a result, shoulders are tensing up.
Laundry
However, I did discover yesterday that doing laundry in my sink can be a relatively calming and almost zen-like experience. Hand-washables only, which hang dry without any issues. Not everything can be washed effectively in a sink or tub. I have a big, deep sink in this apartment, so not a problem. This apartment has a great kitchen, unlike the last couple of apartments which had horrible kitchens. Anyhow, washing, rinsing, rolling up in a towel to wring out the extra water, and hanging up in the bedroom on dryer rack - was oddly comforting.
I will have to brave the laundry room again around memorial day weekend to get the linens and non-handwashable items cleaned. I'm braving it once a month now - figure the less time spent down there - the better.
Family
Talked to mother and then later my Aunt K. Apparently my father got confused today and called his sister, my Aunt K - to ask her about his funeral, and if he could have it in the Catholic Church if my mother had been excommunicated for believing in abortion. My poor Aunt, who is an atheist and not a practicing Catholic, was understandably confused. My mother hadn't gotten on the phone yet. He'd managed to call her - somehow, without my mother's knowledge. (I thought he'd forgotten how to work the phone.)
Apparently, my Uncle (the Priest) had informed my father that non-Catholics couldn't participate in the funeral service or receive communion. And that anyone who was pro-choice couldn't either. He wouldn't give communion to Joe Biden for example.
Aunt K: Don't invite Joe Biden to the Funeral.
Me: OR just don't invite Uncle Pat. I'm sure we can find someone more reasonable.
Mother: Your father wants Pat.
Aunt K: Just tell him it's all taken care of.
Me: And with any luck, My Uncle will predecease my father and it won't be a problem.
Aunt K and Mother: Now, now.
Me: Well there's a good possibility of it happening, he's 78, he's less protected than my parents, and he thinks that this thing is a hoax because he's a Trump supporter, plus he lives in Florida.
Aunt K: This is true. Florida will most likely be the next epi-center. We're opening everything tomorrow - including "tattoo parlors" - which are of course considered essential (heavy sarcasm).
I really am struggling with my Uncle right now. He's been stressing my poor father out. My Uncle and Aunt suggested the members of their church and friends be the participants in the funeral instead of family members. But my father no longer feels comfortable with his former friends from church - they aren't critical thinkers and very conservative.
Me: Yet they are far less conservative than my Uncle. They know that non-Catholics can participate in funerals, just as they can in weddings. They also know that people aren't ex-communicated for political affiliations.
Mother: Your father is confused.
Me: And my uncle is making it worse - stop talking to him.
Church
I go to the Unitarian Church - which to date has been doing an excellent job with the whole streaming worship bit. It's easier - because our rituals consist of lighting candles for each other, welcoming each other, singing, and a lot of speeches. Not hard to do electronically.
Anyhow, Zoom failed at 10 AM today worldwide. So they sent out a new link. Not everyone got it. So there were issues. Some got there, a lot just stayed on FB. People discussed using a different system - they said they looked into that - this is the best. They aren't wrong. I've been on four different ones, and it is the best. That's why everyone is using it, and a lot of work places can't.
It was funny however today - when during their social/fellowship gathering afterwards. People were asking why they weren't in a break room. (They chose not to go there.)
G: Can we do it here? In the main meeting room?
Tech Support: Well yes, but most of the people here have left their computers.
G: Is anyone here?
E: I'm here.
J: I'm here.
G: Can we do it?
I'm giggling through this. I find the interactions via Zoom amusing.
An interminable meeting followed.
Mother: Could you leave it?
ME: Well, yes and I did. It started at 12:15/12:30, I left around 1:25 PM.
Mother: That's a full hour.
Me: I know, an interminable one that I will never get back. The problem with Zoom meetings - is they are reading off movie screens and not seeing people, so they don't know that people are going to sleep, wandering off, or restless. And they are spending way to much time thanking everyone and patting themselves on the back. The only person with any real news - we couldn't hear without a lot of feedback. I gave up.
I also hate meetings. I find them annoying.
I just want the information - I don't want the chit-chat, and the brown-nosing, and self-congratulations. It's not unlike listening to a commentary to film or television. Way to much patting each other on the back, not enough information. I don't know why humans feel the need for all this external validation, but we do.
And things are getting weird
You may or may not be able to get access to this but...a man decides to recreate the final number from Dirty Dancing with...a lamp.
Also according to the NY Times you can make ice cream in a Mason Jar and according to a friend online - in a ziplock bag if you don't have a mason jar handy. (I don't have the ingredients.)
And this courtesy of elisi:
When an anesthesiologist who is on the front lines of the Covid crisis in the U.S. is putting her life on the line every day, how can you possibly thank her? Well... if her favourite show is Buffy the Vampire Slayer, maybe you can get a few actors from the show to come say thanks to her?"
It wasn't just a few actors...I was crying at the halfway mark
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That video for the doctor was really sweet.
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Well maybe not. He's a priest in a secluded retirement home for priests, and they are locked down for the most part in central Florida - about an hour and a half away from Tampa.
He'll probably outlive us all. The asshole. I don't really want him to die, but right now, I very much would like to smack him upside the head with a huge bible. There's a couple of folks who really need their Ebnezer Scrooge Come to Jesus Moment to happen - about now.
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kerk