Apr
1
SCHOOLS LIKELY CLOSED FOR REST OF YEAR, trumpeted the headline on our local paper this morning, right under OFFICIALS SAY WORST IS YET TO COME.
Well. At least it isn’t March anymore, so we’ve all got that going for us.
Here in Oregon we have an executive order to stay home whenever possible (“Stay Home, Save Lives”) along with some specific restrictions which have increased as the days go by: first it was gatherings of no more than 250, then 25 or more, etc. Now it’s all gatherings of any kind unless a six-foot distance between people can be maintained. Restaurants and bars were limited to takeout and delivery right away, then all “non-essential” businesses were closed (amusingly, cannabis stores are apparently considered essential). Playgrounds were open for a while, but are now closed and/or covered in warning tape. Campgrounds are closed as well as state parks, along with a ton of hiking trails and day use areas.
The only place I’ve been recently is the grocery store, which has become both an exotic destination (“Ooh, something to look at other than my living room!”) and a big fat bummer. Tape on the floor to keep carts apart, masks everywhere, people giving each other suspicious looks and crossing aisles to increase distance. A forever-empty shelf where toilet paper and paper towels once were.
It’s all a blur at this point but I think the day our family officially began some form of quarantine was March 15. That was back in the disbelief stage, when I couldn’t get my head around the fact that four days beforehand my friend and I had still been dithering about whether to cancel our weekend trip to San Francisco and sending each other menus from restaurants we wanted to try. We were so close to not canceling, which of course seems crazy in retrospect but it just felt like such an unlikely risk at the time — which was right before things started to change so insanely quickly on what seemed like an hour-by-hour basis.
So I guess we’ve been in lockdown for about two and a half weeks now, which is at least marginally helpful for me to focus on: sure, it feels like it’s been ten thousand years, but it hasn’t. This all sucks a whole lot, but it’s neither negotiable or impossible. We’ve been doing it, we’ll keep doing it, and it won’t always be like this.
Mar
30
I keep feeling like I should preface every self-indulgent complaint here with an acknowledgment about Big Picture Perspective and Gratitude but … oh, let’s just not.
I mean, this is a blog, and it’s not even one of the cool professionally-designed niche-focused modern ones where I get to call myself a content creator. For the eighteen years (!!!) I’ve been writing here it’s been a solace, a place to vent and navel-gaze and try above all else to capture the temporary in some way. Every page in this messy unorganized website is a moment in time; a pause button pressed, a memory held in digital amber.
Which is really to say there has been a shitload of complaining documented here over the years and I’m glad for it. How else would I remember the hilarious Mouthfart toddler stage? Or the heartcrushing details of saying goodbye to Ashley, Dog #1. Or the time our couch developed a vagina?
Maybe I won’t particularly feel like revisiting this lockdown-prompted return to daily blogging, but the act of journaling offers a respite from scrolling the news and being stuck in my own head. If nothing else, it is a thing to do, in a time when reclaiming even a tiny sense of personal productivity feels like a win.
ANYWAY, gosh, that was probably an unnecessary amount of leadup for what I really wanted to write about today, which actually isn’t particularly whiny: what are some of your favorite distractions or mood-boosters right now?
Mine, in no particular order:
• Tiger King on Netflix, of course. As I recommended to a friend who is mostly baffled by the appeal, you should at least see episode 2, because while the first episode sets the stage the next one just throws down forty-nine minutes of solid WTF where you keep thinking each revelation/hairstyle can’t possibly be topped by the next but NOPE.
• The new season of Ozark, which I am really liking although it is as squintingly dark as ever — dark in topic but even darker in terms of lighting, I’m pretty sure the entire set shares one 25-watt bulb.
• Barre3’s online workouts, the free-for-90-days Peloton app, Blogilates on YouTube. My usual workout routine has completely fallen apart and I know there’s no use in beating myself up over that, but I also know that exercise is critical to my mental wellbeing. As it is with so many things right now, some days are better than others in the healthy-coping-mechanisms department.
• Audiobooks in general, because I’ve been having a hard time focusing on reading. I enjoyed listening to Jessica Simpson’s memoir, which encompasses much more than the tea regarding John Mayer but that particular tea is pretty fascinating and will likely solidify your opinions of his utter douchebaggery.
• This self tanner. I decided it was the perfect time to try something outside of my cosmetic comfort zone, and you know, I’m not sure why it makes me feel a little better to have the kind of skin tone that implies I’ve actually left the house in weeks but it does. Fake it till we make it, friends.
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