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.