The Stir Crazy has me in a big way tonight. I don’t know why. I’m trying very hard to not let things get to me. Especially things that shouldn’t get to me. I don’t want to be an asshole so I’m hiding in the office, watching Locke and Key (it’s not that good. Not bad, but not that good) and trying to write lyrics about hiding and locking yourself indoors and all that fun stuff.
I think I just need a nap.
We did watch JoJo Rabbit tonight. What a fantastic movie. I really enjoyed it. It totally makes sense that it was nominated for 20434725 Oscars.
There is no end in site to the working from home. There is no end in site to the social distance. Even when the end comes, will we be willing to risk a new outbreak? Will we be willing to venture out into the world of groups and crowds again?
Given that there is no difference, logistically, between a day at work and a day at home, and because there are no other alternatives to those two states of being, what good would taking a vacation day be?
The answer is, probably… none. It wouldn’t be any good at all. It would be a waste.
I just put in for a vacation day on my birthday though. I mean, fuck it. Why not?
We could subtitle this one as the brain scrambled files. I woke up this morning 100% convinced it was Friday. I’ve spent the last four weeks thinking every day was Thursday, and now that it actually is Thursday I think it’s Friday.
As Jimmy from South Park would say, “I mean, come on.”
But enough about me, how are all of you doing? Are we all hanging in there? Are we all doing the right things and staying safe while somehow not losing our minds with all this crazy?
Okay, maybe a little more about me. I have done so much laundry over the last few days it’s out of control. All of it washed, dried, folded, and put away. The put away part is like a miracle on top of a miracle. I haven’t gotten dressed out of a laundry basket once this week. I am frankly amazed. Yesterday was bed sheets, the kids are in for a clean sheet treat when they come over tonight, and today is bath towels. With the exception of the clothes we are currently wearing, and a couple of items that are currently in the washing machine as I type this, neither my wife Jen nor I have a single article of dirty clothing between us. Dishes too. Our dishes are looking at us like, we’ve never been this clean before. More over, we’ve never been this clean so soon after being used to cook dinner!
All of that is down to Jen keeping me on my toes. If it were just up to me we’d be living in squalor and the house would have already collapsed around us. She’s keeping me honest. She’s keeping me sane. I don’t know if she realizes how important she’s been to my well being over the last month or so but she’s been a lifesaver.
I had a good day at work yesterday. I was asked a question that originally came from one of our customers. They were asking for a way to do something that would make their handling of COVID-19 patients about 0.0000001% easier. I immediately knew how to handle it but it turned out I was wrong. If they made one teeny tiny change to their workflow I would have been right, but it also would have defeated the entire purpose of said workflow. Yesterday morning one of my coworkers made a suggestion that changed the way I looked at the problem (THANK YOU!!!) and I had it up and running in-house a few minutes later. Today it was presented to the customer and it made them happy. That in turn made me happy. I was dumb for not thinking of the fix myself but I was close and I just needed a little nudge in the right direction. Fortunately for me I have great coworkers.
There is no seed in the bird feeders, but there was just a woodpecker sitting on one of them. I just thought you should know.
What is it about working from home that makes me need to clean my glasses two or three times a day? I think it’s the light in the room combined with the curtains being open and the size of my monitor, but while I’m working at the office I feel like I clean my glasses once a week or so. Now that I’m working from home every day? I am cleaning them all the time? What’s up with that?
Speaking of the office, can I just say that as someone who drives an average of about 70 miles each business day, I haven’t needed to put gas in either one of my cars for about four weeks? Do you have any idea how unbelievable that is to me? I’ve been commuting to one of this companies buildings for over 15 years now and I can probably count the number of work weeks that didn’t include at least one fill up on one hand. I might be able to count them on one finger. This feels… universe altering… or something.
I’m eating too much junk food. Almost all of it is down to stress eating. I have cut back this week, which is good, but I don’t think I can stop the stress eating entirely without removing the cause of the stress… and that ain’t happening any time soon. I’ll figure it out somehow. We’re all making sacrifices. We’re all adjusting to this new (please please please let it be temporary) normal. I’ll figure it out.
In closing, I hope you’re all doing okay. I hope you’re all hanging in there. We’ll get through this together. One day at a time, kids. One day at a time.
I keep notes on each day’s progress when I do the RPM Challenge. I don’t know why, it just seemed like a good idea once and I never stopped. That was probably five or six years ago. In February I usually label each day’s entries as Day 1/28 or whatever. This year it was Day 1/29, thanks leap year.
Now that we’re working on an April RPM Challenge I’m holding with tradition. I labeled the first seven entries this month as Day n/31.
Just let that sink in for a second. Remember, it’s April… Day n/31.
Yeah, I just fixed them all.
Dumbass.
I took out the garbage. When I came back in the house my beautiful bride, Jennifer, was standing in front of the cabinet in which we keep our box of garbage bags. I said she needed to take a step to the left….
I then proceeded to pull the entire chorus of Do The Time Warp from The Rocky Horror Picture Show out of my teeny, tiny, little brain. Now, I’ve never been much of a Rocky Horror guy. I saw the movie. It was goofy but okay. I would guess I’ve heard the song Time Warp maybe… three times in my life?
And there it was… the whole chorus… spewing out of my idiot, stir crazy head.
I guess technically week #4 started for me last Friday after work. It started for my wife last Wednesday. Still, it’s the first work day for me so I’ll go with today.
The worst news from the weekend came from New Hampshire and Maine. We’ve been reading stories online about people from out of state getting harassed in certain regions of those two states. Harsh words being said in parking lots, rocks and bricks being thrown at cars with out of state plates. Stuff like that. I can pretty much guarantee that 99.9% of the stories are bullshit, and 99.9% of the remaining 0.1% are just assholes with small dicks trying to feel tough on the interwebs. It doesn’t matter though. I can take a hint. You don’t want us there? Fine. Just don’t expect me to show up with my vacation dollars after all this is over. You don’t want me now, then you don’t get me then. Simple.
On the upside, the forecast is calling for a beautiful day today. We’re hoping we can open up all the windows and air the house out. I’ve been looking forward to that since before this all started. We were walking around the back yard the other day and saw new buds forming on one of the trees. Spring is here, kids. Finally.
We’re not sure about the whole face mask thing. Personally I think it would be a better use of our resources to give all of the face masks to all of the hospitals, but really what do I know. We don’t have any in the house. We’re looking for alternatives and will probably end up just chopping up some old t-shirts. I have an order out for some bandanas from an amazon seller, but the chances of that getting delivered this week are slim. The delivery estimate still says April 10, but I’m not banking on it.
We came up with a very goofy alternative to walking around the block. We’ve been (kind of) speed walking through the house. Bedroom to the kitchen to the dining room down the hall to the living room back into the dining room through the second door to the kitchen to the bedroom, count the lap, then reverse and do it again. The mayor of Boston is not our mayor at all, but yesterday he recommended everyone wear masks any time they leave the house. That’s more than what the Feds recommended, but it’s probably not the worst idea. They also put a 9:00pm curfew into effect starting today. In this neck of the woods, what ever Boston does usually filters down to the suburbs eventually so I expect Methuen to make similar recommendations soon enough.
We’re probably done going on get-out-of-the-house-but-not-the-car road trips for now. I don’t know if we’ll walk around the neighborhood until we can figure out a face mask situation. We’ve still managed to avoid going to any stores of late. Jen is an instacart guru at this point. As long as they keep picking up our orders and we keep washing everything off when they deliver it, I think we’ll be okay.
The kids don’t come back until Wednesday. I’ll feel better about the state of the world once they are here. Outside of that, we’re okay. We’re stressed, and a little freaked out, and really getting tired of all of it, but otherwise we’re okay.
Three weeks down… still going… no end in sight.
It’s okay.
I’m all caught up on the three CW DC Comics shows that I’m still in to. I finished Bojack Horseman, Picard, and Discovery. Now what? I watched the first five episodes of Altered Carbon something like a year or more ago. I just started episode six… if I can remember what’s going on I’ll try to run with it… I don’t have a lot of optimism on that. I want to watch Lock and Key too. You is also out there unfinished. I don’t know. Part of me wants to just do a full Walking Dead rewatch. I don’t know.
Over the last year or so I have sort of rediscovered King Crimson. Big time. Listening to the 1981-1984 line up is making me think… is it time to start playing with guitar synthesizers? Back then you needed to buy a whole new guitar to do that. Later you could do it with just a new pick up. Now you can do it with pedals alone. I’ve been watching demos. It’s a major rabbit hole. I don’t really want to go there. I mean, Albert King never used a guitar synthesizer, right? I don’t know.
The weather has been shitty for a week. Rain rain go away and all that shit. April showers bring May showers and everything. Next week we might hit the 60’s. That would be nice. I very much want to go outside, even if it’s just to sit on the patio. If we’re all going to be stuck at home for… ever… then I want the weather to be nice enough for me to take my conference calls outside. I want to cook on the grill… at least until it runs out of propane. Not sure how we’ll replace that. Gas stations are essential, right?
I’m gonna play some guitar today, I think. It’s not much, but it helps.
The kids are at their father’s this weekend. I wish they were here. All of this crap is somehow easier to deal with when all four of us are together. It’s easier to worry about how they are holding up when I can actually see them.
I got them mean old quarantine blues.
Get in the car. Drive around. Go home. Welcome to the social distance road trip.
Inside the Red Head's Head 