The New Sunday Funday

So that last post that went up on Sunday was written on Saturday - I was just waiting for pics to upload before I posted, which frustratingly would not happen!

What was missing from Saturday:

• That evening a robbery occurred in the building - somebody went through the packages in the lobby, stealing the "valueables" which didn't amount to much, luckily. They also went up to a few floors and stole packages outside the doors of some of the apartments.
• In addition to my standing Saturday evening call with my high school friends, I decided to participate in a Gay Club Quarantine "Dance" party. Going from 6 to midnight on a Saturday, but available for a shorter duration every night, it was offered via Zoom and on the night I attended had over 200 rooms participating, each with 1 to 5 attendees. As a series of rotating DJ's circulated through, the host would feature each room from 15 to 30 seconds, allowing them a chance to strut their stuff while being encouraged by chatters on the side. It was a hoot. 
• I also thought it would be a great time to drink copious amounts of alcohol.
• In a drunken state, I navigated the buildings social media re: the robberies, the gay quarantine and my friends checking it all out. Which all would have been fine and dandy had I not forgotten...

Sunday:

I arose with a clatter at 10.40am with a ferocious hangover. Travis and I mutually realized that we had to be at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan-side, by 11am in order to meet another couple. Our first social corona-outing, and we were about to be late. This caused me minimal stress - being a little late is expected in Manhattan, but Travis still struggles with this concept. He "encouraged" me to get ready as quickly as possible, so I quickly showered, threw on an outfit and walked out with him towards the bridge.

Of course our friends have been in Manhattan long enough to understand that being late (and flexible) are inherent to living in the big city. Three blocks from the bridge when we noticed that they had texted us, letting us know we would meet up in Brooklyn instead. 

As a result of our rushing out the door, we failed to realize the extent of our planned outing. For some reason I thought they only wanted to meet for a moment or two, say hi, then go on with their distanced day. Which in my state, was not going to be an issue.

Instead, we ended up Citibiking all the way to Red Hook and engaged in what will most likely become the new norm - a socially-distanced brunch in a park occurring early enough in the day that at it's conclusion an entire half of the day still existed! This included pizza, 3 drinks (+1 free shot) each, and a key lime pie. 

It wasn't until I got home that I realized the error in my/our ways. We failed to put on tanning lotion and subsequently I got one of the worst sunburns I have had in years. So bad that I barely slept on Sunday night. Every turn aggravated my skin, which led to a sleepless night.

Daryl, Calm Down

So I mistakenly thought I had a strong lead on writing a blog style story for the gay market over the last two weeks. I spent a fair amount of time working on a series of stories for it. What I thought were strong leads have subsequently gone silent. Soooo. We shall see?

Anyhow, I haven't posted shit since Tuesday. What has happened since then?

Well work of course. It's actually not quite as bad as it was. One of my projects has slowed down significantly. So it's back to the normal being busy. We did have a Town Hall call with our CEO and it seems as though our numbers are not horrible, so job stability is secure. Yeah!

Still doing the morning run/coffee grab prior to my work, with an abbreviated xfit workout after work.I think I'm averaging a bit more fit than I was, although I can't say for sure. I know I need to lose another 10 or so to really get to my COVID-19 weight loss goals.

I suppose the biggest thing was Travis and I got into an epic fight yesterday/last night but seem to have made up today. So boo/yeah. I guess all is good. Shite happens.

After a bike ride today we did a bit of a walkabout to the new LES park that has the swings and chilled on the grass a bit. I don't know how I have less time to read now during the virus than I did before it, but that's the case. Argh.

Oh yeah, this week also featured my takedown of that trash video about those two faux medical professionals discussing why we should be opening up America. What a load of shit, again.

And the crossword puzzle today!

Somewhere, Out There

Sunday night we watched the latest episode of WestWorld. I can tell they are working their way towards an action-packed finish, but I'm hoping this is the final season. I was enjoying the first two seasons so much, and while parts of the third have soared, I think the writers may have lost all sense of direction.

Monday was a grey day and I think both Travis and I were feeling a bit down. Is the end still not within sight? What brought a smile to both of our faces was watching "Circus of Books", a great documentary I highly recommend you all check out!

Today was an insanely beautiful day. It's tough fighting ones inherent nature to go out and celebrate spring. We did get to see the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds fly over the city during lunch today. Yes, it was quite cool, but also an unfortunate metaphor for how the federal government has responded to the crisis - just another flyover.

Our Goose is Cooked

There is this spot on the East River, near the north end of the old Fish Market at the Seaport, where I had noticed a lone Canadian Goose - an odd sight, I felt. I'm used to seeing them along the Hudson and East river parks, but never one on it's own. 

Every day, he has been there and even at night, when Travis and I do our Friday take out dinners from Seahorse. Once we order, we go down to the water to wait until it's ready, and we have noticed this goose either hanging on the beach or floating nearby. I was concerned that it got separated and lost, was slowly over time starving, or at risk of being attacked by some of the starving cannibalistic rats now roaming the city.

Randomly, on Saturday, I saw an acquaintance post on Facebook an image of a good with gooselings on an abandoned pier piling nearby, in their nest on top. Suddenly it all clicked together - nothing was wrong with the goose, it was just watching it's nest.

I went by on my run today, passing the spot both on my way out and back. While I saw the two geese (do they mate for life?) I did not see the babies. Nearby there were some gulls - I have a fear that they may have attacked and eaten the babies. Gulls are known for being vicious beasts that will eat most anything.

I'll make a point of heading back the next few days to see if the babies have survived...

Meanwhile, it was a mostly rainy day. Travis and I made it to the hardware store and he bought a number of supplies to support his urban gardening work, which I'll circle back to in a later post.

Sunday/Funday - right!?!?

Weekends in NYC

There was a time when a weekend in NYC was an enchanting thing. I would have plans with friends, personal time, spontaneous adventures night and day.

Now, it's essentially the same as weekdays, only you have to figure out how to spend that time you would spend working on a Monday thru Friday.

Thursday night Travis and I finished the "Little Fires Everywhere" series - which was great, but far more divisive than the book. It covered all the same plot points, included most of the same characters, but dialed up the drama. Not a bad thing per say, but I did love how the original book felt so realistic, which was lost on the translation.

Before the show, we did sing-a-long to "Lean on Me" by Bill Withers for the Essential Workers clap, which I personally found quite meaningful. There were 5 of us that night, and as silly as it may seem, it was heartwarming.

Friday day was the usual, Friday night we played some card games (Travis destroys me with almost every game) and then watched "Cabin in the Woods".

Today, our big event was dressing up and going shopping at Eataly, an Italian-style food market near the WTC site. Travis bought some items to create pizza at home, which I'm looking forward to. We are going to watch "All About Eve" later, which I've never seen and the Times had a big write-up about today.

And So I Wait...

Ugh, submitted my stories to the editor that was seeming interested in my pieces on Tuesday and still haven't heard back yet. I do have some other people from my writing group looking at them (supposedly) and I"m hoping to get their feedback soon so that I can make updates (and perhaps feel like I haven't totally failed to deliver).

Otherwise today was more of the same: run, work, lunch, work, at home WOD.

Travis found out today that they are officially working remote until after July 4th. It's not surprising on the one hand, but I'm not entirely sure what prompted this update. Things mostly seem to be improving, albeit slowly. There must be some financial benefit to stating that.

I need to get the lease signed for the apartment again. They are actually looking for a slight increase, which I find pecuiliar. There hasn't been an official update on the rental market - I feel like it's "frozen" - but I can't imagine that it's stable. People are going to leave NYC after this. And we pay all this money for the lifestyle the city provides, which is now in question.

Falling Behind while Catching Up

Okay, I've fallen behind by a few days. Primarily because I have an opportunity to write an actual blog-like column for an established online media source. I pitched them my idea, and they quite liked my first installment. The editor was looking for me to submit some follow-up posts, which I just did. So now I sit and wait and see what his response is like. Fingers-crossed.

The weekend including more biking and running of course!

Saturday morning I did another run across the Brooklyn Bridge, and again there was next to nobody on it. It's kind of amazing being on this bridge when it's empty.

Sunday was the standard bike ride north, from the southern tip of Manhattan to the northern.

Work continues to be busy - I keep hoping for a break, some breathing room. Will it ever come? Every time I think I get close something else comes up.

Travis and I finally got caught up on WestWorld. I have to save, after a strong episode or two, Season 3 is starting to lose my interest a bit. I enjoyed that it left the comfortable setting of the park, but it feels like it's swerved too far off course. Reminds me of the Matrix movies - the first was amazing, afterwards there was a steady decline. Sometimes people fall too in love with their idea and there is nobody there to reel them back.

TGIF?

Socially Distanced Running

So it's Friday, and after a long hard week, I'm ready to blow some steam off.

What does that mean:

• After work, Travis gives my hair a trim-up - much needed.
• I do a really tough crossfit workout.
• We go to the roof and do another essential workers clap-along.
• We Houseparty with Craig, Marcus & Kevin.
• We continue our Friday ritual by "commuting" over to Seahorse for our takeout dinner and quarts of beer.
• We come home and eat
• We become intoxicated in one form or another, followed by further binges of one show or another or a movie.

I'll let you know tomorrow if something else happens!

Oh, did I mention I blue myself? That could be a good piece for tomorrow...

The Only Sandy Beach in Manhattan (I think...)

Pardon this interruption - somebody introduced me to this fantastic DJ set from the musician Robyn, and I jamming out in front of my computer listening to it, so, yeah, TGIF after all!

Over the Hump Day

Wednesday, 4/15 & Thursday, 4/16

Yesterday was insanely busy with work and personal, so I just didn't get around to updating my blog. Sorry to all my fans out there! 😜

As already stated, I have a few projects that are running super hot at the moment, one of which was presented to it's sponsor late yesterday. Another project was supposed to go live next week, and while that's been delayed by at least a week, the combo of the two just means I'm crazy busy.

Once work was done, and after our 7pm applause, we watched most of Arias with a Twist, a drag show that I took mum, Vince and Kevin to over ten years ago. Certainly not the same watching it onscreen, but I thought it held up well.

I had to exit stage right before it ended though, as my writing group also met last night from 8 to 10pm.

When this all wrapped up Travis and I watched the final episode of Season 2 of Westworld. All in all a full day!

Today started with an early bang. We had to secure a dozen bagels for my roomie, Myndi, who is sequestered down in Phili and feeling homesick for some NYC touches in her life. There was an 8am pick-up, to get them fresh, followed by packaging, which included wrapping each bagel individually in wax paper, then inserting 4 of each into a gallon bag. We included her mail, a card and Travis drew a picture of the building - 6 pounds and $54 dollars later, the package was sent.

Otherwise a typical routine today. One of the more amusing, enjoyable events of the evening was the first attempt at getting New Yorkers to sing along to Sinatra's "New York, New York" with mixed sucess.

I have a promising lead on doing some freelance writing, which I need to get on now.

Death Becomes Us

The number of deaths in New York City skyrocketed today as they adjusted their numbers to include 3,700 additional likely deaths - those who did not pass away while under medical care (which were what were counting). For the ones who died at home, on the street, with family or alone. A sad day here in NYC even though overall the daily numbers still seem to be decreasing overall.

For myself, after a good nights sleep I got back to my normal schedule, and again it was a busy day. I can see a light at the end of the tunnel though - one of my major projects is nearly complete with development and the additional logistics associated with going live will lessen.

Home

At 7pm we participated in a "reading" of Emily St. John Mandel's new book, "The Glass Hotel." Instead of being able to go on tour to promote the book from local bookstores the industry, like all industries, had to adapt and hosted it online. The turnout was good (there appeared to be at least 400 users logged in, which certainly represents many more people) and the conversation was engaging and exciting. Amusingly her 4 year old daughter kept crashing the video session which has been a common issue with all parents of young ones during this "stay at home" lifestyle. Obviously, since Stations Eleven was about a global pandemic and such a popular book many of the questions returned to her prior book, but it was a balanced conversation overall. I look forward to reading the new book which is required anyhow for our next book club session.

The Glass Hotel online book reading

Still making great progress on Ronan Farrow's book, will most likely finish today or tomorrow.

Just Another Monday

So off to the races again!

Another restless Monday night - seems like that's a constant at least. The apartment felt exceptionally hot, despite a strong-ish breeze blowing through our windows, which is unusual for how our building is set among those that surround us. Eventually I got up and slept on the couch.

Subsequently I slept in, missing my run and my Black Fox coffee run, going straight into a full, "hectic" day of work. Hectic is in quotes as how busy can a day be when you never leave your apartment and 99% of the urgency is dictated by the project manager (me!).

I squeezed in a workout, Travis made an elaborate dinner (in lieu of the not so elaborate one we had last night) and here I am, trying to think of things to say!

Anyhow, here's hoping Tuesday gets off to a better start.

Easter Sunday

Weekends feel endless sometimes. I get in my exercise, Travis and I have our meals, but it's difficult to find other ways in which to entertain ourselves.

Last night we entertained ourselves by decorating Easter eggs - something more akin to Travis's skill sets than my own, of course. I merely dunked my eggs in the dye (okay, I brazenly tried to go half-and-half with a couple, with mixed results); he blow the yolk out of shells so as to hollow them out and create decorative ornaments with which he could adorn the Easter bouquet he bought.

Afterwards we played a few rounds of the card game Speed (in which Travis soundly beat me 90% of the time) while consuming too much alcohol, as one does when they are trapped at home with too much time on their hands and a stocked liquor cabinet/fridge.

Today was another slow start, but I'm not gonna feel bad about it. It's a holiday AND we don't have a lot to do!!!

After my run I spent the rest of the day on a few small housekeeping chores followed by some intense reading....

I did challenge myself to a new cocktail in celebration of the holiday - The Pink Bunny - in honor of the holiday!

COVID Positive at 7, Hungover by 11

When I first began hearing about the coronavirus, I don't think I was all that concerned about catching it myself. It was portrayed as being "mild" for most people under the age of 60, especially if you are healthy and lacking any preexisting conditions. Over the last month though, having heard some of the horror stories befalling people that are young and healthy, one thing I'm certain of is my desire to not catch this virus.

Having been in lockdown for nearly 4 weeks now, with news beginning to shift from doom and gloom to the initial stages of optimism, my concern for Travis and I is that we will get careless and infect ourselves at the latter stages of this outbreak.

So you can imagine the terror that initially struck me this morning when Travis woke up at 7am, took a 20 minute shower, came into the bedroom and announced that he was sick before preceding to the living room to doze on the couch.

I was still in an early morning haze, and after checking to be sure there was nothing I could do for him, I went back to bed to try and fall back to sleep. But the fear of how we were going to manage the infection in our home immediately began to haunt me. If he had it, I surely did. And if he had got it first perhaps my symptoms were hot his heels?

With these thoughts floating through my mind I gradually fell back asleep, to wake up at 10.30. I went to check on my passed out partner. We agreed, that what started out as COVID-19 at 7am, was more likely, upon an 11am reflection, a severe hangover from the martini, beers, Cosmopolitan mixture from the night before.

Once we got beyond this scare I went for long bike ride while Travis worked on some home improvement projects. Then we went for a walk through FIDI/Battery Park, which was deserted, including the Oculus.

Barren Oculus!

I Love You Always

My Anniversary

Thursday, April 9th

Fell a day behind, due in no small part to Friday Night Fights moving to Thursday. Well we went a few weeks without, and I suppose it's not surprise that there is a bit of tension after being holed up together for so long.

I woke up that morning after another restless night - my second where I thought an intruder may be in the apartment. Honestly, our neighborhood is super safe and have never really lived with much concern regarding our safety. These are unusual times though, and I'm fully aware that without a doorman or a double-doored entry, our building is very exposed and would not be difficult to break into.

Travis has been staying up much later than myself, 2 to 3 hours later, and has been in charge of locking up. I woke up one night, in the dark to use the bathroom, and when I got back to bed, lying on my side away from him, my mind began to spin on whether or not he had remembered to lock up that night. I was half-asleep, anxious enough to be not asleep, yet not awake enough to convince myself to get out of bed and walk down the hall to check the door. Caught in this state for a lengthy enough time, I had finally woken my lizard brain just enough to convince it to get up and just check the door already, when SUDDENLY I COULD HEAR NOISE COMING FROM OUTSIDE THE APARTMENT. I quickly sat up and spun around just as the bedroom door cracked open and a figure came into the room, and with my heart in my throat I screamed, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP?!?!?" as I suddenly realized it was just fucking Travis after all and the figure next to me in bed was merely a pillow under the blanket in a humanlike manner that fooled me into thinking it was he lying next to me. Turns out he was only just going to bed! ARRRGGH!!

Of course he drifted right off to sleep, while it took me hours to drift back into an uneasy slumber.

Otherwise, Thursday itself was just more of the same. Plus a few Houseparty with Lynn, Constance, Nadia & Mel.

Oh, reading Ronan Farrow's "Catch & Kill" - what a great read!

Friday, April 10th

I've never been the type to celebrate anniversaries, establish not ones that are not truly lengthy enough to justify the term, but after four weeks of quarantining ourselves in our home, the event is significant enough to take notice of.

Soooo, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

I'm not sure which is harder to believe - the fact that we have been staying at home for four weeks or the fact that we don't know how much longer this will last for. There is already an expected pressure from the federal government (ie, Trump) to try and get things back to "normal" by May 1st. But good luck convincing the states that matter that it's in their benefit to sacrifice their lives for his electoral benefit.

Our CEO actually gave us today off - Good Friday and a little mental health day.... I still did a bit of work as I'm so far behind on some of my projects, but I let myself sleep in.

Made good progress on Ronan Farrow's book, also listening to a hilarious essayist, Samantha Irby's "Wow, No Thank You" which is absolutely hilarious.

Hump Day

Rinse and repeat. What was good for yesterday...

1. Wake up.
2. Morning run.
3. Black Fox coffee cool down.
4. Shower.
5. Work, work, work.
6. Lunch break.
7. Work, work, work.
8. Rooftop workout (courtesy of Kyle Sela today).
9. Aperol Spritz & Essential Workers applause.

Since it was Wed, my newly formed writing group met today and they reviewed one of my pieces, providing great feedback. I need to get this done and submitted to something online.

Then a family Houseparty, which was fun. It's been awhile since we all met together, and the boys love it when we are all on. (The boys in this case being my nephews.)

Travis is throwing a surprise "Houseparty" for one of his best friends. He made cupcakes and I'll be damned if I'm going to eat all of those!

The death count in New York has been high the last two days, but the number of new hospitalizations is dropping, which is ultimately good news. It's 10 to 14 days until people get sick sometimes, even longer than that if they near death. So even though the death count is high now, the fact that new submissions to the hospital are lessening, it should in turn mean that two weeks from now the deaths should begin to drop.

Would that last paragraph have even been conceivable a month ago? We have already doubled the deaths here from 9/11, and are at 14,000 nationwide. Hopefully this will lead to some much needed change here in America. Both politically and from a prioritization perspective.

Tired on Tuesday

Got a good night sleep last night, so I felt great this morning. Got up and did a short run, which is my new "thing" to avoid crowded bike paths. Then I go to the one boutique coffee shop that is trying to weather the storm called Black Fox - great coffee, small business, gotta give it some love in these trying times.

Otherwise it was just another tough day of work - can't wait until this new site I'm working on is done, as it's taking up a ton of time as we wind down towards a security test. 

Outside of work there was my afternoon crossfit workout and 7pm essential workers applause. Travis and I did a quick walk through lower Manhattan, into Battery Park City, in between.

Quick tacos & burritos for dinner from Oaxca down the street. Then back to work. 

Burn and churn, man.

Manic Monday

But not really... It was a rough one. The city of New York, or Con Ed, or some shit like that, decided that 3am would be an appropriate time, mid-pandemic, to tear up and repave a Con Ed construction directly in front of our building. With heavy machinery, they tore up the street to "square" off the patch, flattened it, paved it, then painted it, not finishing until 9 in the morning.

Not a recommended start to a Monday by any means.

Luckily we got a good night's rest throughout the weekend so we weren't going in tired, but man it made for a long day. Luckily it was another busy one, so it passed quickly.

We got the official word that our PAUSE (meaning stay at home) would last until April 29th - man, I would hope it wouldn't last much longer than that.

My Strategic Projects team did a work happy hour - it was fun seeing everyone, but I couldn't tell how they fell about the violet hair. I'm not that close with them, personally, for them to feel comfortable weighing in on it I suppose.

Need to get a draft of my story submitted by days end, so signing off.

Sunday "Fun"day

We both woke up a bit hungover this morning. Last night we both chatted with friends a lot. I reconnected with high school friends again, including Tim, who is married and has lived in Australia for quite some time. Quite funny, the 6 of us, scattered across New York, PDX, Anchorage and Melbourne.

Travis and I then watched a moved called Blinded by the Light, which I wanted to like more as it was from the same team who did Bend it Like Beckham, which I loved as a kid... The newer film was about a British boy from a Pakistani family who want the best for him (meaning, become a doctor or lawyer) who inspired by Bruce Springsteen and a teacher to follow his dreams of being a writer. I loved the message, but the execution fell flat and the acting just didn't quite ring true like the earlier film (which must be 20 years old!) did.

Anyhow, slept late, we woke up groggy and Travis made a lovely little breakfast. Once we were done with that I took off for a long bike ride again, up to the tip of Manhattan and back again, wearing a face covering the entire way. Not so bad on a bike, but I still am annoyed that I need to adjust it frequently which means I need to put my hands near my face, which I was good at avoiding doing.

Travis spent the day mounting the television on our wall and organizing the tool kit. We again participated in the 7pm support of our essential workers with an Aperol Spritz in hand. I then had to spend the rest of the evening working, as my developers in Europe will be nearly complete with the day by the time I wake up.

Tomorrow will be Monday - the third one working from home. Crazy

Saturday, 4/4/20

Finally I'm caught up - no more back-dating my posts...

Today started out grey but ended beautifully.

I got up and went for my run on the Hudson. Since it had been raining earlier I figured that there would be less people out and about, which was a safe and accurate assumption. But I carried a neck wrap with me so that I could wear it when I went to get coffee afterwards. On the way back though I began to get nervous about the virus being airborne, so I wore it on my return. I thought it would be more uncomfortable than it was.

When I got home, I picked up the mail; Travis had a package which contained two N94 face masks, sent to him by a concerned friend. On the one hand I feel relieved, but on the other I feel bad taking these even these two masks from healthcare professionals that need them. Since they are not in packaging I'm going to assume that they are not something we could just turn into a hospital and in the end I doubt that 2 masks will make much of a difference. But where there are 2, there is bound to be more.

We aren't required to wear masks yet, but it's suggested. Not so much to prevent our catching COVID-19; rather, the assumption is that it's so widespread that it will help prevent it from being distributed so widely.

After some home errands, including making breakfast and cleaning up afterwards, then sweeping and mopping the floors, I took my paper to Battery Park to read in the sun. It was so warm out that I wore shorts for the first time in 2020.

I also Housepartied with my nephew Case so that I could show him the Statue of Liberty, which he is obsessed about. They are hoping to bring my nephews to the city in the fall although I don't know if any of us are sure that it will be safe to travel a long distance by then. 

At 7pm we went to the roof to hear and participate in the Essential Workers applause - which is quite raucous in our hood, with all the tall buildings. An uplifting experience to be a part of, something to look forward to on a daily basis.

Copyright: Travis Shumake

Copyright: Travis Shumake

The Approaching Weekend...

Thursday, April 2nd to Friday, April 3rd

You better work bitch! And I am. One of my projects needs to be ready to submit for security testing by the end of next week and we are running behind since. So there will be a bit work required this weekend in order to catch up.

I've started these last two days off with brief-ish morning runs. I miss that morning surge of adrenaline that I would get from doing Crossfit, but for some reason I'm having a hard time motivating myself to commit to that level of activity. The run is allowing me to at least listen to The Daily podcast before work, which was also part of my normal daily ritual, so at least I've managed to bring that back. (Although I need better headphones - the volume is too faint even at max volume which is due in no small part to the cheap brand I have.)

Each night brings more of the same - WestWorld or Veep binges mixed with phone calls or Houseparties with friends.

On Thursday night we did finally dye my hair a new color - violet for the time being, with royal blue coming soon.

Travis and I have both been fielding concerned calls from friends - understandably so. With over 100,000 confirmed cases and a death toll exceeding 3500, we are certainly at the epicenter of the crisis. Our neighborhood is a bit of an oasis from the crisis. Looking at the number of confirmed cases, it seems like there may be less than 20 in our neighborhood. We have been on lockdown for so long now as well, it seems unlikely that there will be many more new cases for us either. Although perhaps that's just being overly optimistic.

Catching up...

Thursday, March 26th to Wednesday, April 1st

I thought my life was pretty routine before the coronavirus. No each day passes, a mirror reflection of the one before it. Weekends are a slight variation of course - no work that has to be done, although since I'm stuck at home there is no reason not to push forward with the work.

Essentially I:

• Wake up & shower
• Grab coffee (typically at Hanover but recently began experimenting with Black Fox over on Pine) for the two of us
• Sit down and work, work, work
• Take a break for lunch - either leftovers or I pop out for something.
• Workout - depending on my schedule I may do this at the end of the day or in the middle. It may be a workout programmed by either my box (Crossfit Oculus) or my brother (who is a physical therapist). Or it may just be a long run or bike ride. OOooooohhh, variety is the spice of life!
• Travis makes dinner or we venture out to find something to bring home
• I write and read a bit 
• We watch a show or a movie
• Eventually I go to bed and Travis usually follows an hour or so later.

To catch up I'll talk about a few highlights:

• On Friday we reenacted Friday Night Fights - here's hoping that doesn't happen again!
• The weekend was actually quite rainy - which was good for me - made it easier to stay in.
• Still managed to squeeze in a long bike ride on Friday (when the weather was good) and a long run on the weekend, over the Brooklyn Bridge and through Dumbo (both of which were bizzarely yet expectedly quiet).
• Plenty of Zoom and Houseparty catch ups with friends new and old. So strange how out of touch I've been with some of these people
• I'm dying my hair blue - but currently stuck on blonde for a few days - blue will happen!
• Figured out our laundry place is only open on M/W/F from 9 to 3pm - so gotta time that shit right
• I refuse to do my laundry while living in NYC without a machine of my own - the cost to send it out is minimal and the time saved is invaluable.
• This may make me a snob. Or lazy. I'm okay with either label.
• I'm part of a book club, and we had our first online book club on Tuesday night. We had read "How We Fight For Our Lives" by Saeed Jones, an excellent memoir detailing the youthful experiences of gay, black man coming of age in the Southern states. Some further reflection on his sexuality would have been appreciated, but his writing is so beautiful and the focus of the story was on the relationship between he and his mother, which makes it well worth the read. 
• I'm not much of a memoir reader but I happened to finish this book the same day I finished the audio book of "Educated" by Tara Westover. Wow, was this book a knockout. The shit this woman went through in her childhood - insane that she survived it, no exaggeration. Highly recommend that everyone read it.
• And just before this I read the graphic novel, "Maus" by Art Spiegelman. What an amazing biography (I believe) of the author's fathers survival of the holocaust as a Polish Jew and their strained relationship as adults. Another big reco!
• Now that writing class is over, a number of us regrouped this last Wed, on April 1st to keep the energy going. A bunch of strangers who didn't really meet much in person, but there is good energy and I'm excited about our ability to keep it going on a weekly basis, through the virus at least.

Anyhow, I think those are all the true highlights. Now that I'm caught up I can spend some time on day to day thoughts.

Another Week of COVID-19

Sunday, March 22nd

The days are becoming a blur now, and because I got started with this blog a bit late it feels as though I'm forever playing catch-up.

Woke up, went for a run on the East River, showered, breakfast. You know the usual. Only the world is slowly melting down around me as this happens.

Governor Cuomo has been lauded for his handling of the crisis, especially in comparison to the buffoonery of Trump. He had a hilarious presentation today when he discussed how politics works in DC, typically. In pointing out that we are beyond a politics as normal point, his presentation included the point that it was "baloney" to proceed in this fashion - which they actually bulletted out. Loved that.

Otherwise it was reading, writing, wrestling and booze as per our individual Sunday rituals.

Monday, March 23rd and Tuesday March 24th

What can I say - work has actually been quite busy as I deal with my existing projects as well as the short-term urgent project I'm handling for COVID-19. It will be done soon enough, but man are there a million and one things to coordinate to be sure that is the case. I can't complain though, it certainly makes the day go faster.

I'm still struggling to get myself back to my normal routine, which would involve working out BEFORE work. I know I'll feel better once I get to that point, but Travis and I are addicted to WestWorld and it's such an involved, intricate show that it's hard to resist the binge.


Wednesday, March 25th

Work is still busy, but the most "interesting" aspect of my day was that I actually left my neighborhood for the first time since Friday, March 13th. My last writing class was this evening and I needed to submit hard copies of my two remaining stories to the professor beforehand (or so I thought - she actually extended the deadline due to the virus, but I did not realize that). So in the afternoon I had to:

1. Apply finishing touches to both stories - not perfect, but good enough for submission.
2. Go to the UPS store down the street (an "essential" business and therefore still open) to print these out (ironically we just purged the printer last month).
3. Debate with myself whether or not it was safer to use CitiBike or my own bike to get up and back:
1. CitiBike
1. Pros: Ride one up, park it, pick up another, ride it back
2. Cons: Last rider could be dying from COVID-19
2. My Bike:
1. Pros: Almost certainly not infected with COVID-19 (although in this day and age, who da fuck knows?!?!?)
2. Cons: If I can't park it near the entrance of her building, somebody could easily break my piddly-ass lock and make off with my bike.

I decided to go with my own bike, hugging the Hudson River on the way up to be "safe", before driving through the heart of the village to reach her place on 8th Street. It was an easy transaction once there and feeling enthused and adventurous, I biked through Washington Square Park and the middle of Manhattan back home. Nothing particularly exciting happened in the end, but it was insanely quiet (in most ways) yet remarkably busy (despite the warnings).

The course itself was encouraging and a group of us promised to stay in touch as a writing class after the fact. We shall see if it happens.

Saturday, March 21st

I woke up in bed, alone, around 4am. For a brief moment I thought to myself "Did Travis sneak out?!?", but then realized we were under quarantine. I got up, checked the couch. No Travis. What the hell? Then I realized where he was - yup, in Myndi, our roomies bed. Or rather, on top of the bed so as not to mess up her well made bed. I let him sleep, and went back to bed myself.

After 11 hours of sleep I woke up good and rested. Travis was still not in bed with me, so I made a point of nipping our disagreement in the bud as soon as he arose. This quarantine was just getting started; it would be a long few weeks (months?!?) if we were fighting throughout it.

As evening set we once again headed over to South Street Seaport. It was the most neighborly hoods in our area and the most likely to have things opened we figured. We walked around and grabbed beers from 

Later that evening I spent a very enjoyable 2 hours with my friends from high school on the Houseparty app (if ever trapped indoors during a pandemic, I highly recommend!). We hadn't all communicated collectively together in nearly 10 years, or so, when our friend Russell got married in Portland. It was great catching up on each others lives. Three of the five life in Portland, one of the Steve's lives in Anchorage (although is dating someone in upstate New York and may end up there eventually) and I, of course, live in NYC. 

By night's end I was good and toasty, but it was a fun night overall.