— चार हजार सात सौ आठ —

Shobhit keeps on going out of his way to be a source of stress when stress is the last thing any of us needs right now. It compromises immune systems and makes us more susceptible to infections.

He got annoyed, quite unjustifiably, at the length of my phone conversation with Gabriel when he called at 4:30 on the dot yesterday, which is the end of my work day. We were trying to figure out how to make the "Netflix Party" extension in Chrome work, so we could later watch something on Netflix together without being at each other's places. Social distancing and all that. The call took about 45 minutes, which as far as I was concerned I had time for. Shobhit didn't even work yesterday and there was no reason whatsoever for him to behave like there was any rush.

Instead, he spent several minutes in the bedroom just hovering over my shoulder, and offering idiotic peanut-gallery commentary like "this is a waste of time" and trying to say we were "wasting bandwidth." He mentioned how Netflix has already been asked to cut bandwidth in Europe. That hasn't happened here yet, though, and has no real relevance to Shobhit's actual motivations, which was that he just wanted to be an asshole. It's not like he is using Internet streaming any less; he took the day off yesterday and just fucking watched TV all day while I was working. So don't come at me with that bullshit. And his concentrated brand of hypocrisy is truly not something I need right now.

Besides, that article notes something Shobhit conveniently did not mention: simply watching something in standard definition rather than HD saves a huge amount of energy and more people doing that would likely make a greater impact. In any case, that's Europe and if North America encounters a similar problem we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

I needed to go swap out receiver paperwork at the office, and Shobhit decided to combine it with a trip to Trader Joe's because he wanted more spinach. That was all we got at Trader Joe's, and frankly we need to stop grocery store runs for just one single product. Even if it's to the grocery store (or to the office, which I am limiting to twice a week but I have to stay on top of receiving, for now at least), the more often we go out and are around other people the more we are putting ourselves and others at risk.

The office, at least, was totally dead when I went there this time—two people were leaving at the end of the day when I arrived and there were only two other people I saw still working. This was around 6:00 in the evening, and I suggested Shobhit stay in the car; thankfully he complied. The last thing I need is for people at the office to catch wind that I unnecessarily brought someone else, who still keeps coughing (Shobhit coughs so constantly that it's normal under the best of circumstances), into that space. As quickly as I could I filed away my reconciled invoices in their respective store folders, picked up my fresh stack, and went back down to the car.

Shobhit decided to go to the Trader Joe's in Ballard that's by the PCC. Maybe because he assumed the line would be shorter there than the Capitol Hill one only two blocks from home? They are only letting a limited number of people in the store, but the line does move pretty quickly and was not too long. We got our bag of spinach and we were on our way.

— चार हजार सात सौ आठ —

— चार हजार सात सौ आठ —

When we got home, we made palak paneer, which I must admit was pretty damned tasty. Whether it was worth going to the grocery store for a single product is still up for debate, but I was happy to have it for dinner, especially mixed with rice—which we forgot to buy as intended, so we just used a pouch of Tasty Bite packaged rice. We then ate and watched the penultimate episode of The New Pope.

I wanted to save the season finale for tonight. I spent a little bit of time captioning my Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade photos. Later I texted Gabriel that I would be available for a "Netflix Party" if he was within 15 minutes; otherwise, another day. He texted me back about half an hour later when I was just getting into bed. But, he had figured out the optimum use of Netflix Party during his "family time" with Stephanie and Tess, since they can't all just go somewhere and hang out together. So, we should be set whenever Gabriel and I can make time for it ourselves.

That was another thing that annoyed me about Shobhit's attitude. We're all just trying to find ways to connect with friends we aren't even allowed to see otherwise. I mean, excuse the fuck out of me. Granted, Shobhit had spent the day thus far unable to "hang out" with me, but it's not like that was anything out of the ordinary. Under normal circumstances I would not have even been home! In fact, I usually don't get home until about 5:30 because I walk from the office, and I was off the phone with Gabriel before then. So there really was no excuse for Shobhit's willfully childish behavior.

I suppose we're all stressed and worried. Still, no one should be going out of their way to make the stress worse.

Shobhit actually was still called in to work at Big 5 today, for his typical 7-4 Wednesday shift that starts with unloading the delivery truck. Frankly, it’s a relief. I needed a break already, and if Big 5 does temporarily close (which Shobhit still expects, as who's going to reasonably qualify sporting goods as "essential business"?), we're going to have to be extra careful not to go ballistic on each other. I need to do my part, but Shobhit absolutely does too. After he's been gone at work most of the day, we are likely to be fine tonight at least.

— चार हजार सात सौ आठ —

[posted 12:30 pm]