CoronaQuarantine, Day 89: Seattle Protests, Day 10
Day 89 of "CoronaQuarantine," albeit in the middle of gradual reopening . . . which is, inevitably, making infections slowly rise. King County still has almost exactly half of Washington State's COVID-19 cases, and remains the sole county in the state that has only progressed to "Modified Phase 1," keeping us on track to take way longer than anyone else to move forward with any real measure. That said, the page does say "Phase 1" allows for "Limited nonessential" travel, and since our trip to Long Beach in two weeks is the only nonessential travel we're doing at all during this phase, I'm deciding that means we have permission to do it. Pacific County, where Long Beach is located, is in Phase 2, which really makes no difference for our plans aside from allowing us to book a hotel there for two nights: we'll otherwise still be isolated, and I envision spending pretty much all our time either on the beach, in our room, or at the nearby state park. The one key thing about "Modified Phase 1" is that it permits outdoor gatherings of 5 people or fewer, which makes me also feel better about the idea of maybe stopping by Dad and Sherri's the Sunday we drive to the coast—which will also happen to be Father's Day—and just hanging out for a bit maybe on their back patio or in their back yard. I'd really like to see them in one way or another that day.
And also: Day ten of Seattle protests—although that's really a reference to yesterday; they started locally on May 29. I've only been counting them myself since May 30, which is why I'm actually basically one off in my counting. There were no sustained flash-bangs last night, thank god—at least none that woke me up, although I still didn't get great sleep thanks to having to get up to pee at about 4:15 this morning.
There was, however, a new Black Lives Matter march last night at 6:30, moving literally right under our condo for the first time: it moved from the East Precinct down at 12th and Pine, up to where my building is on 15th and Pine and further, I have no idea where to. I did, however, literally run to another room to fetch my phone when I saw them coming, and I took a video that recorded the crowd passing pretty much in its entirety; it lasted about four minutes. Some memorable chants included "Say their name! Breonna Taylor!"; "Say their name! George Floyd!"; and this one really stuck with me: "Out of your homes! And into the streets!"
I would be out there with them, actually, if not for COVID-19. When I posted the video, Jennifer posted a comment asking, "You're not walking with them?" I replied that I would be under other circumstances, but I'm doing what I can in other ways. I'm donating what and where I can, I am making my support abundantly clear on a daily basis, sharing resources when and where appropriate, and educating myself. I just can't bring myself to take that step of joining a huge crowd where, although most of them are wearing masks—a very good thing—not all of them are. And all it takes is one person who is contagious to be around a bunch of people, masked or not, without their own mask on. And then there's the concern about tear gas forcing people to take off their masks and cough all over the place, further exacerbating the spread. No thanks! I believe these protests are all absolutely necessary, and I support them without judgment, but much like my role in my job supporting stores from the remove of the central office (or currently, my home), so shall I support the movement.
Anyway. Alexia did not walk to my office with me yesterday. She said she was feeling unusually exhausted, maybe sleep deprived. We have always walked with space between us and with both of us wearing masks, but I suppose it should be noted we did not stay quite as far apart last Friday as we had on previous walks. I let my guard down about that just a little bit. It's still unlikely that I would catch anything from her even then, but it will still be a real concern if she has to get tested. She texted me her own brief video of the march yesterday from her window, not realizing I had been recording it too; I wrote back to ask how she was feeling. She said she really just thought she needed sleep and she was going to go to bed at 8:00. She just hadn't been sleeping well in a while, which is something she has mentioned on more than one of our walks.
So, I rode my bike to the office, now on the new tire I got on Saturday. This got me to the office right after 5:00, which was still mostly empty but I nevertheless had to be more conscientious about wearing a mask in there, what with the receptionist still working. I signed in and out and was there roughly 15 minutes, exchanging the receiver paperwork and getting the cup of vanilla and lavender flavoring syrup for my tea latte on Friday.
I've had some real difficulty riding my bike back up the hill, but having tires not properly pumped up clearly makes a difference. The guy at 20/20 Cycle on Saturday (I had to stay outside) pumped up both tires and oiled my chain, so the ride yesterday was almost shockingly easy. And, I was back home by about 5:45. Then, at Shobhit's suggestion, I mad a simple dinner of Indian meal and rice meal packs. After that I started to make chai, only to discover there was only a few drops of the regular milk left—and I had already put everything else into the pot. So, I made it with almond milk. This is not something I can recommend, in the end.
But, just as I was finishing with the chai, Gabriel called me. I had actually been thinking about calling him for a few days, but mostly avoided it because even with stay-home orders, he has both work and parenting to contend with which keeps him just about as busy as he ever is. Evidently had some time last night, though, and he wanted to get his "Matthew fix," which was sweet. We talked for a full hour, and I learned they are moving into their new house near the end of next week. He's not going to let anyone besides his immediate family inside the house for a great long time, like once the pandemic is over, but he still suggested I come down sometime soon thereafter and hang out social-distanced on their back patio. I can't touch anything and I have to bring my own drinks. He's super OCD about keeping everything sterilized, but that's fine. Even under these constraints I am delighted by the idea. It's been way too long since I've gotten to hang out with him.
Shobhit, once home from work, spent the whole evening watching his news programs. He didn't even want to stop them to watch Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, so perhaps we'll do that tonight, after going to Costco. I still came out to sit with him for a little while after getting off the phone with Gabriel, and then I went to get ready for bed. Shobhit was actually in bed himself shortly after I was.
[posted 12:41 pm]