Being Monday, spirits are not particularly high. Heck, spirits weren’t that high for most of the weekend. I’m just kind of on the low point in the curve, but that’s what it is. The Zoom-based virtual wedding party/thing was kind of fun; we enjoyed spending time with friends in a Brady-Bunch like array on the monitor, and I got to play a tune or two. My friends’ wedding (scheduled for early June) isn’t likely to happen the way they expected, so this was a nice way to salve the wounds a bit.

Otherwise for the weekend, I did the shopping, washed some clothes, made some chicken salad, ate some falafel that my lovely spouse made, lost my first full game of Civilization VI (picked it up on a steam sale a while back) to the Russian Empire AI by only a half-dozen points, and even managed to sell a couple of copies of my record while bandcamp was waiving it’s processing fees on sales – another 20 bucks is another 20 bucks.

Beyond that, though, I spent a fair bit of time just, well, existing. Due to current circumstances, my imperfect brain and emotional state just seem to get stuck in a rut…I mean, more than usual. I miss playing my gigs and going to cons. I miss hanging out with my fellow grocery store barfly friends once or twice a week. I miss the (relative) lack of conflict when I’m out and about taking care of shopping; I miss being able to reliably buy paper products…

I know what’s being done right now is exactly the right way to handle this situation, and I know it won’t be forever. I’m not going to say I miss normal, because it’s pretty damned obvious that normal wasn’t working. On my better days, can even convince myself that we’ll build a new normal that makes things better on the other side of this. But, I’d be lying if I said I don’t find at least some of the current situation tedious and wearying.

But, as they say, we keep calm and carry on. I continue to try to find peace in solitude (my introverted tendencies make this easier for me than some), adapting to my work-from-home routine, laptop in front of me and a cat pleasantly dozing just to my left. I can still venture out for walks or rides when it’s not constantly raining like it’s been the last couple of weeks…

We will manage, occasionally kicking, screaming, and sobbing, but we’ll manage.

Wanna know what helps, though? Some of the cool, creative stuff people are coming up with to fill the time. Exhibit A, this excellent and entertaining video organized by stuntwoman extraordinaire Zoe Bell, and featuring lots of her film industry friends. It’s joyous:

Anyway; we’ll keep rolling along, because it’s all we can do. Stay safe and sane, folks.