What Day Is It Again?

Well, here we are on Sunday evening, 37 days into our shelter in place order due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Or 59 days. Or 26 days. Or 42. I mean, really, who knows? The days have just kind of flown by and melted into one another, like little cubes of ice melting in a big glass of water. Life has just been one big glass of stay at home isolation. Which, for introverts like myself, isn't that big of a deal, to be honest. It's kind of, dare I say, fun. At times. And in certain ways.

Extroverts must be going out of their minds right about now.

Actually I see it's been 20 days since I last wrote here. Almost three weeks! Has it really been that long? Days melting away. I took the opportunity to grow out my facial hair. Or perhaps I was just too lazy or not inspired enough to shave. In any case, this is the longest I've let my face just...grow. It's not too bad, or at least not as bad as I thought it would look. Too much grey though. When did I get old? Well anyways, I shaved it right after this photo was taken. Baby face! And this took nearly two weeks to grow. Yeah, my facial hair doesn't grow fast.

So here I sit, alone at home, my son gone off to his mother's house for the week. Routine routine routine. I'm on the couch typing on my new MacBook Pro, which I just received via FedEx yesterday. My own treat to myself, I suppose. Or a belated birthday present? My old iMac Mini, from late 2014, is still kicking. But it's slowing down. Quite noticeably, in fact. I often have to get up and walk away while it's trying to process simple tasks. So this new computer will give me a burst of speed, not to mention a whole lot more portability. Did I mention I'm sitting on the couch? I could be sitting anywhere, really. But the point is, I'm not confined to a desk. Or, as it happens, the kitchen table, which is where my Mini currently sits. Now I have to get used to having a smaller screen size, hopefully not straining my eyes too much. I could have gotten the 16" model - maybe I should have - but it was $600 more than this 13.3" one. So, money saved.

It remains to be seen how long we're all going to be under this stay at home order. A few weeks, a few months. My Alaska cruise for June has been cancelled, and all summer events at Sac State have been likewise scrubbed. There's already whispers of maintaining social distancing and relying heavily on online teaching when the fall semester resumes. Ha - I talk like the spring semester is already over. It should be in full swing at this point, with music filling the halls and 8 concerts a week. Now, nothing. Silence. But it's too early to tell at this point what the fall will hold. I think by then, anything outside of our "normal" ways will be more precautionary than anything. No one really knows enough about this virus. But everyone is scared of it. Well, except all of the young people out at the parks playing volleyball and those creating small protests against this shut down, which are popping up here and there.

And I get it. I mean, I'm an introvert, and in general I loathe shopping. But I miss being able to shop normally and at whatever store I choose, instead of just picking from the few that are actually still open. And I miss being able to go out to eat too, not that I did it much, but every once in awhile it's a nice way to get out of the house. And I miss seeing people and talking face to face and going to the movies. And I miss hugs. But for now, I'll shop online and pick up things from the front curb of stores, and in general spend a lot more time walking out in nature instead of enjoying the pleasures of old. And all in my own little neighborhood community. Where, incidentally, golden poppies are blooming in scattered patches across the fields.

I miss my day trips to San Francisco, to my soul city.

So tomorrow is...Monday. I think. Time to resume something resembling work, from the comfort of my kitchen table. And we'll see how much can be done, and how much the world situation improves. There's already various cities across this country talking about resuming something like "normal" life. Or at least, reducing the restrictions and allowing more stores to reopen in some capacity. We'll see what happens, I suppose. And I'm sure that in 2 or 5 or 9 days from now, I'll again be wondering: What day is it again?