Sunday, August 02, 2020

Pandevidence

Looking through my photos from the pandemic months, you would think, absent the absent globetrotting, that life was marching along normally. True, I haven't taken any masked selfies yet (why not just hold up the mask in your hand to show it photographically? Are we really somehow enhancing our appearance with the mask? I'd say no.) so there are no telltale signs of a horrible disease roiling all of humanity's routines. I've continued to take pictures of what I always have. Plant life. Food. Selfies with hubby. And travel, yes, just more on a local scale. Plus ca change...

There are a few busts hidden in the pandemic photostream however. Here's one:



This is my four-screen setup I have now for work. Before, I spent very little time at my desk at home, but with Zoom classes with 38 students, my slow desktop computer with little monitor was not going to cut it. So the screens are 1) the class 2) the screen I'm sharing with the class 3) the next screen I will share with the class, (or different bits of the Zoom app), and 4) finally a screen where I can see the Zoom room the way that THEY see the Zoom room which is a bit different from what the host sometimes sees. It's exhausting I think more so than the classroom. And I seriously need an A/V tech but since that is out of the question, I muddle through as best I can.


Here is another bit of evidence. I haven't been photographed shirtless in a few years now (willingly) but I am down 20 pounds since March. It's funny, when you don't leave the house, there is never a gamut of lunchroom brownies, reception counter candy bowls and various edible student gifts to navigate. So I've just kept my calorie count low enough while stuck at home to lose steadily. Almost done now. And yes, I've been hungry for 4 months.


Oh look here we are travelling to our great nation's capital. The oddness of visiting Ottawa as phase 3 of reopening was occurring was spooky. Essentially a ghost town as Canada's borders continue to be shut and though we are being encouraged to spend travel money locally, it was clear not a merchant in town was making any money. Au contraire, I would say everyone who had opened was losing money by doing so. It was sad so we spent as much as we could. Grin.



But maybe it is such a ghost town because Canada is taking the pandemic so much more seriously than the US. This photo said it all as the two competing tourist lines for Niagara Falls shows. Which tourboat hosts the Canadians? We too took a boat on a river in a tourist locale. It looked like the boat in the foreground.


We were supposed to wear masks aboard but it was so dang empty, it wasn't really necessary. On the tour of the Ottawa River we took, there were 11 passengers and 5 staff members. See? Money bleeding. On the upside, I HATE crowds, so visiting our beautiful capital was probably more enjoyable for me than it would have been otherwise.


Another big change has been that I'm actually MORE social now than before. I've been playing werewolves with my camp friends twice a week and these evenings have become something to look forward to. Although the socializing is mostly virtual, it still satisfies the connection craving.


Like everyone else on the continent, I've been cooking up a storm. I draw the line at bread though. You can buy REALLY good bread cheaply. Everytime I've made bread, I've thought, oh great, I saved zero dollars and used up how much time to make this loaf? Not worth it. Deviled eggs though? Always worth it. And difficult to buy already made. (This is the token blogpost food photo, trust me there were a hundred others the last months to choose from.)


My friend posted this on FB so I must put it here for my memories. I've got to be 19 here, so pleased with our purchase of plastic yard flamingoes. Fun fact, I'm the only homo in the photo lol.


Finally, I'll leave you with this. This is basically how my brain sees the atmosphere. I know it is totally exaggerated but I will continue to do everything to avoid catching/spreading the virus. Fauci says he thinks we will have the vaccine for everyone the first or second quarter of 2021. That made me optimistic. Just another 9 months or so of this? Easy peasy. Let's hope science hits a home run on this one. Peace ya'll and thanks for stopping by. Mwah.