Living in the Time of Corona

Good evening everyone and I hope you are still safe and sound, and nursing your second or fourth cocktail during the time of Corona.  I know I joke a lot about the drinking and you know I am only kidding right? People who really know me, will say that I am really a teetotaler. Ok have you stopped laughing yet, just checking to see if anyone is paying attention to who is writing this daily tale.  I feel I have to address it as I read in the paper this morning that liquor stores or “packies’ as we affectionately call them in my fair state, are doing well and their business is actually up about 20%. Quite frankly I think they are bullshitting us and it is probably a lot higher, maybe under reporting?  I was talking to my niece last night and I would never think of her as someone who is a “drinker” I am talking about Kelly, don’t worry Amy no one would think it was you, but she told me she loves the new service at her store. She says the only money they are spending is on food and booze, and it may lean heavily to the latter.  Apparently you place your order and they come out and put it right in your trunk, coincidentally my girlfriend Celia confirmed the same experience as now as any good journalist, I have verified two sources. Well I am still supporting my local store that has no drive up capabilities, but if you find yourself without payment some evenings no problem pay next time, so which would you choose?  I carried my bottle of Ketel One home yesterday and said skip the bag, I just carried it in my arms like a new born baby. I told the guys it is a short walk, and still light out so I don’t think I will get mugged, and out of my cold dead hands, I don’t think so……..

Today was another work day but I did oversleep, I was so mad, I am trying hard to get back into the routine, but not easy. I was up at 5:30 and watching the local news, switched to cable news at 6am and same old crap so just fell back to sleep. Anyway an hour later than expected I was on the road with my coffee in my Yette, that my roommate made for me, but I had to wake him up to make it, someone is getting lazy. I could sense his frustration today when I kept calling him because I couldn’t figure the Sonos out on my phone, and I really want to blast the music when I am working, especially if it is just me and maybe a few others.  I think he was having a lot of techie calls this morning and He was almost a little short with me , I know I am impatient and will just ring and ring, but I need an answer right away. He had to fend for himself today for breakfast and lunch today and I think he was feeling the side effects of not having a personal valet to serve his meals.  Well rest assured we had a very nice dinner this evening, and have to say the routine is not so bad, as the cooking is doable and I love that he does all the dishes, including the pots and pans. We are getting into a routine for meals, but really it is what we have to look forward to, for our activities, and I am profoundly grateful that we don’t have any food insecurities, truly heartbroken when I read and hear about those out there that are suffering, hope help is on the way.  I look forward to the day when I can sit down at our table next to my friends and break some bread, drink some wine and enjoy each other’s company in person and not on Zoom. I know I constantly wish it wasn’t all about the zoom or the distance but dammit it is the world we live in today, so I guess I will just have to figure it out.  Tomorrow is Friday , TGIF, and there will be no Happy hours after work tomorrow, but I can go in and blast the music as loud as I want, and have a dance party with myself, and most people know I love to dance, and I really don’t care who is looking. I want to share a video a friend sent me tonight, it is a bit long, and I know so many people have even shorter attention spans than usual but it is a really good primer to start back to work.

Just sayin

Hello everyone and hope you are happy, healthy and sane.  I feel like we have to check in on our friends and family, every day and not only worry about our temperature but also our mental health. We all have good days and bad days, and those days that no matter how much ice cream and Cape Cod chips we eat, we just can’t seem to feel better. Well now imagine you are a nurse, and you are going to work every day in a toxic environment, and you don’t even get combat pay for going above and beyond what anyone is asked to do in their daily job.  But please don’t fret because today is National Nurses Day, and Hallmark is missing out on this one, because we can’t get to stores or they can’t get to work to make the cards. What we can really do for nurses today is first and foremost a BIG THANK YOU, for doing what you do every day and hopefully with all the PPE you need, in a clean and safe environment. So I want to take a few minutes to personally thank all the nurses, out there who show up every day and do the job that I hope they will still love, when this is all over.  Today was a big day for us in Massachusetts as it was the first official day of mandatory masks and I have to say I am not the most compliant. The Governor did say mandatory when it is not safe to social distance, so I do pull it up and down while I am walking around the city, but I still get my glasses fogged up, and wonder if anyone has found a way to solve the problem?  I know here has to be a lot of us out there that ae experiencing this issue, and I want to know how you are dealing with it. I did see on a news clip today that a woman walked into a store with a mask on but it had a hole cut out over her mouth, and she told the guy working in the store it was because so she could breathe. I don’t believe she realized that her mask was really null and void, but hey good effort. I am grateful for all the masks that people have sent me and also if you have any tips on how we keep the ties tight enough, that they don’t slip down your face that would be great.  I feel like a new person these past few days because I am doing something new, and that is called going to work. This is true I actually get up and leave the house before 8am, and not going to lie the first few days were extremely difficult but I did manage to get out of the house. I am not saying it was easy, the first day was tough, even though I have been working from home every day these past several weeks, it is just not the same when you actually have to get dressed in real clothes, that can be worn in public. I have made trips to the local convenience and package stores shamelessly in my PJ.s, and make no apologies. I mean why bother getting dressed sometimes.  So it was mixed emotions that I ventured out, but I have to say for those few hours spent in the store I almost felt like life was normal and there wasn’t this horrible thing happening outside the door. We are doing a good job of keeping a distance and only one or two of us, so I believe we are following all the rules and guidelines. I am sure the best part about these past few days is Techie gets to have this Loft all to himself, and I won’t be bugging him all day long with my many requests. I did call once today to find out how to connect to Sonos, and happy to report while speaking to him I actually figured it out on my own. Who knows there may be time soon when I won’t need to call on him to put on the Netflix for me, it just doesn’t work every time with the voice activation, and I don’t know what I am doing wrong, but luckily for me I have a very nice roommate to guide me. I did manage to hit a grocery store today, and stock up on treats for my grandkids.  I try to put all the junk food at the end and ask them to bag separately, and of course have to tell the grocery clerks it’s not all for me, sure they have heard that before.  I am doing my grandma duties and bribing my way to be the favorite one.  Of course as I load the bags into the back of the car I do slip half the junk into my own bags.  This crazy thing is happening at our house, that we are just not used to but we are eating our Ice cream sandwiches and Nutty buddy cones late at night, granted they are mini ones. I am thinking it is a side effect of this virus or maybe even a way of combating it because it just overtakes me and I have to have more than a few, I guess I am going to give in and next time I am just getting the adult size, because really nobody is checking on me or shutting me off. Techie is a real enabler because I always pass him one and he never refuses where in the past I have told him to tell me no, but he just says sure.   I wish I could do weight watchers online, but it’s really self-defeating for me as all the points are used up with the first of many cocktails.

Just sayin,

Hello everyone and how are we all doing today? Thankful that you woke up on the right side, and yes there is a pulse so get up, and get out it is a beautiful day. Today was a glorious day to be outside and thankful to hit the ride on my bike and get some exercise, at the same time enjoying the sights of the city. I may have mentioned that is almost joyous to ride your bike in the streets of Boston with so little traffic. We have lived in the city for five years and love to cycle but the move brought its challenges, and often on weekends we would leave the house by 6 am so we could get a jump on getting out of the city, to some bike trails. Well put one in the plus column for the virus, boy that sounds obscene even saying it, but we have to look for the good in everything and anything, lest we go mad. I rode around the city today and decided to take the leap and cross over the Mass Ave Bridge and see what was happening in Cambridge. For those who are not familiar with our fair city, the Charles River divides Boston from Cambridge, and hello you have crossed into another country as far as the cultural divide.  My heart will always be in Cambridge and I truly love the culture of Birkenstocks with socks, and I hope my final days will be living in 02138.  If you were living in Cambridge today you would be perfectly comfortable in your pandemic wardrobe, as a matter of fact it probably wouldn’t look to different just indoor and outdoor leisure attire. The “high tech” is located in Kendall Square as well as a great movie theater that serves up a mainstream and and alternative film, along with the best fresh popcorn at the Kendall theater.  Cambridge has their fair share of the “hottest restaurants” but you don’t have to dress and the conversations will be much more cerebral but none the less, just as expensive. I am sure Cambridge people have more bookcases in their homes because it may be in the purchase and sale when you buy a home about how many bookcases you have to have per square foot. Cambridge has a few colleges you may have heard of Harvard and MIT and across the river we have Boston University, Boston College, Emerson, Suffolk, Northeastern and I can’t even begin to name them all, but I can tell you their styles will be different. BU will be more the NYC higher fashion crowd, BC is total prepster, the Dave Mathews concert crowd, and Northeastern has had a makeover and so many more. I can venture a guess that there are more Vegans in Cambridge than Boston but then I could be wrong because Cambridge has Bartley’s Burger Cottage AND Boston has Chloe. I generally like the live music better in Cambridge but then Boston has Symphony Hall. Anyway enough about the tale of two cities, I got off track, and I hope someday we can all come back to exploring both sides of the river at our own pace. I want to see the boats back on the river, having launched at community boating where I learned to sail, about 40 years ago for a few bucks, I am sure it is more today but still open to the community. I just want you all to realize that you don’t need a passport or visa to go between the two cities there are no border agents and it is glorious.  If I may add one more difference Cambridge has more Bike lanes, so you can make your own deduction.

We got home late today and made a frightening discovery really nothing in the fridge for dinner and really need to do a grocery run, have to set the alarm for the elderly tomorrow morning. I am getting so full of myself, because normally I would say to Techie where are we dining tonight?  But I went through our limited pantry and once again I created a feast for my roommate and Mom I am spoiling him rotten. When will this end?  I am using leftovers and veggies that are close to getting tossed, I am a regular freaking Martha Stewart. I don’t even know if she uses leftovers but you pull it out of your tuchas and get it done. It doesn’t look like this lock down is going to end soon , so no dining out anytime soon, and when I start talking about the sour dough starter someone please shoot me.

Just sayin

Forty days and forty nights, and then there was sunshine and it was safe to come out, and this was all just a set for a movie. Let’s all intend for this to be true because if some of you can remember the craze years back with Oprah, if you believe it will come true, something to do with a secret. I am not totally sure but it was all BS to me.  I am a new person embracing meditation, all that peace love and happiness crap, if that is what it takes I will take it.  Wasn’t a good day for me today, weather was crappy and I threw out my back, so tried a heating pad and stretches but to no avail, just an old overworked back, and I keep no pills in the house, as I prefer liquid pain killers. The only problem is I have a strict rule about no Martins till after 5 pm. Day drinking only allowed when on vacation, and doesn’t look like there will be one anytime soon. Today I would be grateful to just get back to work, and not from sitting in front of a computer. I may have mentioned it is not my style. Honestly the thought of heading back into the world with a face mask, to be with people is more than a little bit of a downer, and keep thinking twilight zone, but have to be ready to adapt.  I see a lot of clever designs of masks with cute sayings on the mask but I only want mine to say FU, but that is not nice and not the way I feel towards everyone, but I am thinking people may like it because that is what they are feeling, what do you think?  I read today the Merriam-Webster , based here in Massachusetts, for the first time ever fast tracked the approval process, and added 20 terms to the dictionary in just 34 days, where previously AIDS took two years. Covid-19 shot to the most searched words on their site. Apparently it was a global search that led to the fast tracking. We have all heard about the Covid-19, quarantine, zumped, or covidiot referring to a rule breaker about social distancing.  I wonder if all these new words will be challenged while playing scrabble, got to get them in the dictionary real fast.  I hear in Europe the term “hamsterkaufing” refers to those hoarding food like a hamster. So what do we call someone here that hoards toilet Paper?  Full of shit?  The person who buys up all the hand sanitizer and then tries to sell it as a super profit, Darth Vader is Mr. Clean’s real father and someone has to pay. The person who buys up all the yeast to make it difficult for all these new bread makers, Candida, go to whole foods they can help you there.  Peanut butter I believe does help with anxiety and we are over reacting if we think there is any reason to be anxious, Mr. Nutty Buddy. The old saying “who was that masked man” takes on a whole new meaning as now it will be rare to see someone out and about without a mask. This is a concept we should all embrace because  now when we are socially distancing, in our conversations they won’t be able to read the emotion on our faces, be it a smirk or a smile. Just think of not holding these emotions in any longer, just let it loose in the mask and pray it doesn’t fall. I wonder what it will be like when it is finally declared that masks are no longer required, and if people will willingly surrender what they have been hiding behind these past few months. Now you will have to put on the invisible masks who used to wear, and I am going down a dark hole.  I don’t want to get philosophical here and I can’t believe I am going to admit it but I would just love to ride the T again, after all I have my senior card, and most times I enjoyed the humanity of riding the train. I always love to observe everyone on their devices, and never making any eye contact, God forbid they may have to offer a seat but then again no one was looking up.  Today I bet they will pay more attention because they will wonder if that person next to me has the virus. I remember may years ago when I first commuted in Boston riding the train, while reading Stephen King’s novel the Stand, yes a real live book, and if someone sniveled or sneezed, I wanted to move away from them, imagine, that was fiction.  I believe I told you all I have been watching a show on Amazon called “Fortitude” and I finished it today, can’t really recommend it because it is too close to what is happening today. The one thing is, it is set on an Arctic Island off the coast of Norway and they do drink a lot of Vodka just straight shots at all hours of the day and night, and I honestly think it’s what keeps them going.

Just sayin

Hello everyone and how are we all doing tonight, adjusting to the new normal and snug as bugs in a rug, at home?  Yesterday I mentioned I am suffering from quarantine fatigue, and the same holds true today, but I decided tomorrow I am turning over a new leaf, or at least by May1st. I am going to get dressed in the morning, as if I had a very important appointment, which could require a shower and maybe a bit of makeup. I attended several zoom meetings today, and apparently that is the key to feeling whole, is pretending we have someplace to be, and pretend these meetings are in person. I would like to thank all those personally, who sent me notes about their personal grooming and I appreciate it, but don’t really want to know about trimming the hair in your ears or nose.  You will all be pleased to know that I did click buy, on one of my carts and chin hair removal strips are on their way, and will give an unbiased review once I give it a shot. I am going to even do something with my hair, well probably put on a hat for the time being. I am going to have my coffee at 630-7am like I have been doing for years but that means I have to get Techie out of bed in the morning, because since this thing hit, he doesn’t get right up to make my coffee, like he used to, that is the only thing I ask him to do, since he knows the recipe and he does wants to share in the cooking. I also learned today that I should be doing some meditation every day and think of the things I am grateful for, and I am pretty sure I tell everyone every day that I am grateful for Techie, and now you know about the coffee as well. My roommate has been into meditation for a long time and most recently the last 5 years since we moved to this loft, it has become increasingly more important. He will always say to me is there anything else you need, because I am going silent for the next half hour and he puts on his headphones and turns his stressless chair to look out the window.  Sure sometimes I forget and find myself yelling over at him for no good reason, and then remember off limits. I have to to tell you all when I first met techie many, many, many years ago a few years in, he decided he wanted to practice Buddhism and took up Nichiren Shoshu where he did a lot of chanting and meditating.  I remember when I would visit on weekends he built this case to house his Gohaonzon, not sure of the spelling but basically it had two doors that he would open when he was doing his chanting. He had made a really nice oak case as he used to be a really good woodworker, till he shredded his thumb and finger on a tool.  I am sure he can still run a really good sander and pound a few nails.  Anyway I came to visit one weekend and there was this really nice oak cabinet on a stand in his room and he told me, please whatever you do, do not open that cabinet. Say no more, I can certainly respect someone’s privacy, but you just shouldn’t phrase it that way, under no circumstances, because now for sure I am opening those doors. Imagine my surprise when it was just like a scroll or something, and I am not demeaning anyone’s beliefs here just putting it all in context to someone who doesn’t get it, over and done, there wasn’t another girl’s phone number in there and I was moving on. Of course as our relationship continued and I got to know what I was up against, serious Jewish mother afraid of her son marrying a shiksa, I realized why he turned to meditation, both to tune out his mother and to take up a new religion to relief stress and achieve happiness. One thing about my roomie he doesn’t want to be part of any organized semblance of a religion so that soon went by the wayside but I know from experience it has helped him navigate the roller coaster of life.  I have been trying to subscribe to some form of meditation I even read the book 10% Happier, and pretty sure I came about more than 25% happier.  So tonight before I go to sleep and never quite sure when that is going to happen, I will repeat all my reasons to be grateful. Last night at 11:30, I started watching a show on Amazon called Fortitude and sucked me right in, shut it down at 5 am and finished the rest at naptime this afternoon. I don’t recommend it because of all things it is about a virus on an island in Norway, dam I wish I had known that before I started. Today we had some sad news and a close friends Dad passed away so it really brings it close to home, and we must remind ourselves to live and laugh, every day because you never know what is coming.

Jus sayin

R.I.P. Gerry you will be missed and were truly loved.