Quarantine Psychosis

My apologies for my extended absence. The truth of the matter is, I haven’t felt much like writing the past few weeks. Between a few health scares within my family circle and the news about all the surges in Coronavirus cases around the country, my anxiety levels have been fairly high since early July. My allergies have been particularly brutal, leading to a daily assessment of whether or not I should check for dust mites or start writing up my Will.

The other night we watched the episode of Next Generation where Lieutenant Barclay (we’ll call him Broccoli) drives himself mad wondering whether he was bitten by an alien organism in the transporter beam or if he’s just suffering from paranoid delusions. He checks his pulse and other myriad bodily functions obsessively every few minutes for symptoms of “Transporter Psychosis” to the point where even his shipmates are concerned for his mental wellbeing. I see way too much of myself in that episode and I don’t like it.

We did take a short vacation to Alexandria Bay (the NY end of the Thousand Islands) so that was nice. We got to sip margaritas by a tiki bar on the waterfront and you could almost forget we were in the middle of a Pandemic. Got to tour a castle. Take a boat tour. Dip in the hotel pool. It was all very safe, socially-distanced, and the hotel we were staying at was very meticulous about mask use and cleanliness, which I was very happy for. All the same, I still feel a little anxious about the trip. I’m always anxious.

I’ve decided I need to find ways to occupy my mind (apart from obsessively checking the Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker daily), so I’m forcing myself to write regularly again. About something. Anything. Which means, dear readers, that you may be subject to some pretty frivolous stream-of-consciousness material in the days to come. You are forewarned.

Speaking of frivolous, stream-of-consciousness stuff, we also watched the first episode of the latest Muppets series Muppets Now when we got back from our trip.

I didn’t like it.

The first episode was not nearly as clever as Muppets ABC. Still, I’ll reserve final judgement until the remainder of this season’s episodes air. Its currently in Muppet purgatory. I’m generally a big fan of the Muppets so I hate to be a party-pooper, but I feel like its geared toward a much younger audience. I’m a grumpy old woman.

Tonight’s movie lineup includes Hamilton, which I’ve somehow managed to go 5 years without seeing. I have a funny feeling I’m going to be underwhelmed given all the hype its received since its inception. But maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised. I did enjoy the local Park Playhouse production of In the Heights last summer. If nothing else, the movie lineup for tomorrow night includes a Cary Grant double-feature of His Girl Friday and Charade. Cary Grant does not disappoint.