I’ve been very on-edge over the last week with the development of the Coronavirus pandemic. The WHO officially declared it a Pandemic today. At work, they’ve been frantically searching for volunteers to staff the call centers downstate and perform other epidemiologic work according to individuals’ skill sets. The Governor, in addition to declaring a State of Emergency for NYS, has now quarantined a portion of New Rochelle where there is a cluster of cases identified. They are sending in the National Guard over the next few weeks with food and supplies. Most of the colleges in the Northeast have shut down and advised students not to come back after spring break; classes are being conducted remotely. Stores are selling out of crucial supplies, like soap and toilet paper.
I’m trying my best to stay calm and obey the immortal wisdom of Douglas Adams: DON’T PANIC.
In college, I kept an assignment pad to track my homework and projects. I pasted this reminder in big, friendly letters on the front. It mostly worked.
Instead, I’m cataloguing 20-second choruses from musicals I can sing to myself as I wash my hands.
I’m also doing shots of Krupnik every night when I get home from work. Its half for stress, half medicinal. I’ll really need to expound on the medicinal and spiritual benefits of this fine Polish Liqueur sometime, but that’ll be the subject of a different blog post.
To add insult to injury, we (ok, mostly me) are struggling with Daylight-savings time this week. I am NOT a morning person at the best of times, and now my internal clock is perplexed as to why we have to get out of bed an hour earlier in the morning and go to bed when we’re still wide-awake.
Me at 3 am
Me at 9 am
The salve for these wounds has been, as is usually the case, a combination of cheesy musicals and good sci-fi. Disney, Star trek, and the Orville have all been tapped. If things get really bad, we may have to bring out the big guns:
This was my “sick movie” as a kid that I’d put on that would always make me feel better when I was ill. Thus, I have spent many hours on the couch in a feverish state watching this movie.
I can only hope that the arrival of warmer weather will see a drop in transmission; that this is as seasonal as the regular flu. Why oh why do we live where the air hurts our face?
Prior to posting this I did some google research to see if my title’s reference to “Love in the Time of Cholera” would be appropriate to use within the context of this post, never having seen the movie/read the book. Its not. But—after reading the sparknotes synopsis I am fascinated…It sounds equal parts romantic and bizarre and darkly funny that I may have to actually make time to read the book if I do become quarantined at home for 2 weeks. I suppose there are a lot of things I’d have time to do if I were suddenly stuck at home for 2 weeks….
Nah, who am I kidding? I’d just have Hello Dolly running on a loop, and accomplish absolutely nothing.
mandymelodies.com 