CoronaQuarantine, Day 27
Not a lot to update you on today. It's kind of amazing any time there is, honestly, given that we're all just stuck at home pretty much all day every day—except for "essential workers," of course, which evidently includes Shobhit, I suspect simply because Big 5 sells firearms. Shobhit has more than once suggested it maybe also makes a difference that they sell certain supplies like propane, butane and sleeping bags, but right now I would bet money that the tipping point in this decision is their firearms sales. Which is dumb as shit, but whatever. It puts Shobhit at greater (and by extension, me) at greater risk, but also keeps his work hours going. It's a double-edged sword if ever there was one.
Anyway. He actually had the day off yesterday, and actually I did drive the car to the office after I finished working to swap out the latest stack of receiver reports. So, I got out for about forty-five minutes, and it was sunny enough that I needed my sunglasses. It was actually kind of nice.
When I got back Shobhit was nearly done preparing a salad for dinner that turned out to be quite tasty. And, I found another dumb and mindless but entertaining action movie to watch on HBO Go: True Lies, which I had not watched in decades. I was kind of surprised Shobhit clearly had not seen it; I also forgot it was a James Cameron film, and that the next film he made after this one was Titanic—Shobhit's favorite movie. True Lies probably qualifies as James Cameron's only straight-up comedy, although it is still more action than comedy, and lots of its "jokes" land with a thud. I looked up the budget because the production was plainly insanely expensive: $115 million. Titanic later dwarfed that with its notirious record $200 million budget, but even $115 million was pretty insane, especially in 1994.
It's also quite long, in true James Cameron style: 144 minutes. So by the time we finished, after some pauses and an intermission to make chai, it had taken up the rest of the evening. It still made for a fun evening though, especially given the circumstances.
Oh, I did wind up awake much later than usual because Lynn started IMing me on Facebook Messenger after I got into bed, and we chatted for a while. Even though she works in an area with access to lots of data as it changes day by day, I kind of feel like she's still a little unrealistically optimistic about a lot of stuff. I told her I wish Seattle Pride would just officially cancel already, so I could stop deluding myself into thinking any hope it would happen. She asked when that's scheduled for, and when I said the last Sunday in June, she suggested it was possible. But, you know what? I just don't see it. Huge crowds being allowed by June? Working in office again, gradually re-opening restaurants, those sorts of things—maybe. But festivals? Unless the spread of infections takes a turn so hard for the better that it shocks people, which is unlikely, it strikes me as an irresponsible thing to go forward with, from a public health perspective.
I mean, yes, Washington still seems to be ahead of most areas when it comes to cresting the curve. But that doesn't really change the truth of anything I just noted.
And that's it, really! What else can I tell you? I could list the things I have to look forward to, which thankfully includes at least one thing every day between now and Friday: week two of our family "virtual get-together" on Zoom is at 5:00 this evening. I'm going to see if I can't get on while sitting in a chair out on the balcony, just to provide a nicer backdrop than my bedroom. Last week I still had to switch to the iPad and move to the living room, because using my desktop in the bedroom with the light coming in the windows behind me turned me into a silhouette and no one could see me.
Tomorrow is my regularly scheduled lunch with Karen, which hopefully she'll be up for doing via FaceTime again just as we did two weeks ago.
And then two things on Friday: First, at work, our regularly scheduled "Town Hall" will be conducted on Zoom. This has an invite for all the office workers, which is over 100 people, so that should be interesting. An email was sent out detailing the format, which made pretty clear there won't be any free-for-all for multiple people to talk at once. That's clearly for the best, when you're talking 100+ people potentially on one Zoom call. It was even recommended that we keep our audio on mute to block out tons of background noises. I guess staff can send in questions for Cate between now and then, and she will answer selected questions during the meeting—including any new ones that come in during the meeting itself, requested via private chat to the admin for consideration. Maybe I'll initiate private chats with other coworkers during the meeting if and when I get bored. That should be fun.
And Friday evening is when this month's Happy Hour is scheduled with Laney, which clearly once again cannot happen in person. I emailed her today to confirm and she did so, adding she might even have wine herself for this go-round.
I'll have to take receivers back to the office again on Saturday. Shobhit has a full shift of work that day. Maybe I'll walk, just to kill time. Or finally ride my bike again! I seriously need to get out again, for more than just a few minutes at a time. Even if I can't be hanging out with people. I am getting cabin fever, although I have to admit as well that it sure is nice just having an open balcony. I never thought I would appreciate that so much. This whole experience is really reconfiguring how a lot of us approach gratitude, not to mention learning the power of letting things go. We're having to let go of a lot more things this year than ever before, countless simple pleasures we once took for granted. At least live remains pretty good, relatively speaking.
Oh! I nearly forgot: then Sunday is Easter! The one time in Easter we're all forced to spend it at home and not traveling to spend it with family. Presumably we'll do an extra family Zoom meeting that day. I might even make deviled eggs. I mean, we have to do something.
[posted 12:31 pm]