Welcome to Quarantine City, USA.
I guess, as of last night, I’m out of work. The governor of the state of California has ordered all non-essential businesses closed. My job duties do not really translate to working from home, so I am technically unemployed, effective immediately. My bosses have graciously offered to pay us our normal salaries for the next month, but after that…who knows. It is my hope that we can reach a point in the next 30 days where it is safe to go to work again, but I’m not sure anyone knows what the future holds. We’re pretty much all in this one day at a time, now.
My old (dead) laptop used to have a file on it filled with songs I was writing, all in various stages of completion. Some were just two lines of lyrics I thought sounded pretty. Others were rough sketches of chord patterns. There were one or two fully formed songs that had matured as far as home-recorded demos. The name of that file — and I guess what I thought the end result of tying all those threads together would be — was “We Were Born At The Wrong Time.” It’s hard not to think of that right now and chuckle. No shit.
Other than going to and from work, the only real interaction I had with the outside world before today was the concert last Tuesday night. Since then it’s basically been me at home or at work, worried that I came in contact with the virus at the concert. That anxiety is starting to fade now, nine days later. Today I went outside for a run, and then about an hour ago I had to drive to the local grocery store to pick up an online order. Originally I tried to order 39 items ($175 worth of groceries) and they were able to fulfill 10 of my items ($41.38 is what my receipt says). Boo.
The fact that I had to get in my car and drive a few miles and then have someone hand me grocery bags has led to fresh anxiety about coming in contact with contaminated surfaces. I’ve been home for about an hour and already washed my hands four times. Two knuckles on each of my hands have cracked and bled from the amount of time I’ve spent washing them over the past week or ten days. I’ve got dark red dry patches on my wrists also. I’m a mess.
Come to think of it, the entirety of this post could have been contracted to just read “I’m a mess” and it probably would have the same amount of impact as the previous four paragraphs put together. But, since I’m holed up here for the duration of this “Stay At Home” declaration, I might as well update you with how I’m spending my time. Day 1 is just an introduction, I’m sure my creativity will increase along with my stir craziness. It’s only been about 7 hours but I’ve already made two hilarious (read: dumb) Instagram stories connecting the records I’m listening to with COVD-19 talking points.
I hope anyone reading this is staying healthy. These are weird times, but even sitting here in pajamas at five o’clock, it feels like I’m doing my part. So keep practicing social distancing. Wash your hands and don’t touch your face. Feel free to grow a plague beard if you want. I shaved yesterday and that’s what I intend to do. In the end, we’re all in this together.
Stay safe.
