My coronavirus story so far part 2 (4/25/20)

Month #1
Month #2
Bathroom Hijinks (Month #3) part 1
Bathroom Hijinks (Month #3) part 2
Hey folks,

    I thought I would give yet another update on my self in our second month of lockdown as April reaches its conclusion. While I always knew, intellectually, that this was going to be a marathon rather than a sprint--the days are starting to wear down on me. It's kind of funny that I was always someone who stuck at home and didn't go out much but still manages to feel like its pressing in on us. My wife is agoraphobic with social anxiety so this was something I thought she would be able to handle well but she's terrified every time I go outside. Basically, she thinks I'll end up attracting something terrible while trying to handle the daily essentials.

My quarantine pen.

     Speaking of which, "essential workers" is something that really puts things into perspective. As much as I admire healthcare workers during this horrible crisis, I also note that it's the clerks and grocery store clerks as well as the truck drivers who are keeping people alive during all this. They are definitely essential because none of us are living on self-sufficient farms these days. Aside from doomsday preppers and hardcore survivalists, I don't think anyone can avoid going out for months at a time to restock.

    I actually did try to stock up on various supplies left and right to make sure we'd be fine for a month or so. Yeah, that was a big failure. I think I actually went out more than I usually did because no sooner did I think we were stocked up then we ran out of something else "essential." It doesn't help that Amazon and Post Office shipping has slowed down to a crawl. I ordered some masks on April 7th and am still waiting for those. A toilet paper order we placed also got cancelled after waiting a month (thankfully, that shortage didn't turn out to be nearly as bad as perceived).

    But yes, I do think essential workers are heroes. They're the boots on the ground that are keeping us alive during this crisis. However, they didn't volunteer to be heroes and a lot of them are working the job because they're terrified of losing their house or apartment during all this. I've always been as economically Left-leaning as you can be in a house that raised me seriously with the belief the communists were going to kill us all (and it is a stupid-stupid evil system). To me, this really does illustrate we need a lot more rather than less social protections. Even if you're a die hard fiscal conservative, you should believe now is that "one in a million time" to cast aside those beliefs for the duration of the emergency.

They aren't even medical masks.

    Still, it is crazy how zigzagged people are taking it in my state. In the local Krogers, we have everyone wearing masks and gloves while you have to go in a line to take one of their sprayed down carts. However, the Big Lots next door has none of that, just some tape on the ground to tell you where to move. One day I went to Krogers and everyone was wearing a mask (I had a t-shirt around my face) with it looking like an Umbrella Corporation laboratory. Another day, everyone was going about their business as normal.

    The toilet paper shortage has at least ebbed. It's got plenty of people price gouging on it online but if you go to a few stores, you're bound to find enough rolls to get you through. My wife bought a $60 set last month and almost did it again before I brought home two packages of Ultra Gentle Charmin to satisfy her fears. Hand sanitizer is still impossible to find in any stores I visit but hopefully that will change as well. It's the paradox really. Toilet paper is rare because people are hoarding and people hoard because toilet paper is rare.

    Weirdly, I've been less concerned about politics than I was before this crisis. For me, I've just sort of dismissed the Federal government throughout all this. Instead, I've been constantly checking updates on the science of everything. I've been hoping and praying that a successful treatment would come out whether it was Trump's hydroxychloroquine [nope], remdesivir [probably not], or antigen-filled plasma [jury's still out]. The disappointments there have been heartbreaking because we can't stay closed until a vaccine and the numbers of deaths just keep going up.

    Job-wise, I'm still okay because writing hasn't stopped being a thing I can do. I've released THE FALL OF THE HOUSE which is the end of my Red Room trilogy and a prequel to the United States of Monsters books. I also finished my PSYCHO KILLERS IN LOVE book that I think people will love. It might also end up in stores too. Currently, I'm plotting out THE HORROR OF SUPERVILLAINY and working with Michael Suttkus on the second Morgan Detective Agency book, BRIGHTEYES. I actually wonder if I should put the coronavirus in the books that take place in 2020 but am unsure how I'd even manage to deal with such an issue.

    Writing turns out to be actually pretty hard when you're under self-quarantine because your mind is perpetually distracted from anything not coronavirus related. I've also been listening to the reports of people less fortunate than me. Yesterday, I had to help an old woman who'd had her social security check stolen get shelter for a week. A good friend of mine is in quarantine away from his family because of geo-political bullshit. Other friends are putting up their entire family because they lost their jobs. My mom is also deluging me every day because she's bored out of her skull without church to go to. I admit, I feel a bit guilty trying to play through the entire Yakuza series. 

    So, another day goes by as I hope for this nightmare to end. I've got it much better than people who have lost loved ones and family to this. I also have it better than those who are terrified of where their next meal is coming from. Certainly, I'm riding out this disaster better than some. I may even have already survived the coronavirus since my "unidentified respiratory infection" in February turns out to have been something that could have well been coronavirus now that they've determined it entered the country much earlier. Still, it's a miserable situation and I feel like it will get worse before it gets better.