Conditional vs. Unconditional I finally settled into my staycation today. I slept in late, had a nice leisurely morning, then decided to take a walk. By the time I started the walk, I had logged in 1700 steps (according to my Fitbit). By the time I returned home, I had hit about 12,000 steps. Whee! …
Members of the TLTeam let us into their worlds during this time of social distancing.
Sparkling Isolation – Day 70
Permission to do nothing. Today marks 10 weeks of being isolated in my apartment. I have gone out a few times for curbside pickup of meals, walks in my neighborhood, a couple of trips to the grocery store, and a couple of actual ‘social’ meetings (from a distance). But I have spent the bulk of …
Sparkling Isolation – Day 69
Feng Shui aerobics. It started out as such a minor thing. I decided that I needed to finally mop the hardwood floors in my living room. In order to best mop around the area rug, I had to move some furniture away from the perimeter and fold the rug up. Easy peasy. Now, several hours …
Sparkling Isolation – Day 68
Spring in the Midwest. The coronacoaster keeps on rolling along. Yesterday was a low point. Today, the coaster seems to be slowly inching it’s way up the hill again. I’m not in a fantastic emotional space today, but I’m far better than yesterday. One of the mood enhancers today was the sunshine. After a couple …
Sparkling Isolation – Day 67
What’s the point? Some days are better than others. Conversely, some are worse. Yesterday was a particularly bad one for me, and today is only slightly better. I am at the beginning of a ten-day vacation – or more accurately a “staycation” since there’s nowhere to go and nothing to do. I should be feeling …
Sparkling Isolation – Day 66
Prep, cook, eat, clean, repeat. I mentioned this yesterday, but I honestly do feel like I am in some weird dystopian remake of the movie “Groundhog Day.” My apartment is not small, but at 66 days into being isolated alone in that space everything I do feels like a repetition. Up until today, I have …
Sparkling Isolation – Day 65
Next to normal. Today was a bizarre one for me in the ongoing world of being isolated and quarantined. It was my first day of official “staycation.” Sadly, at 4:30 p.m. yesterday my supervisor called me and told me he needed a document as soon as possible, no later than Tuesday. Really? What part of …
Sparkling Isolation – Day 64
The good old days. Today I have been struggling with feeling of melancholy and a sense of general hopelessness. It comes and goes, not overly strong but enough that I notice it and have to stop and acknowledge that it’s there. Tomorrow I start a ten-day vacation in order to use up some time that …
Sparkling Isolation – Day 63
Eeyore and Chicken Little Most of us are familiar with the two fictional figures I mention here. Both of them are famous anthropomorphic characters who have made up part of the fabric of the childhood for many of us who are “of a certain age.” Although I don’t often look to Wikipedia for any sort …
Sparkling Isolation – Day 62
Zoomed out. Not too long after we all went into quarantine, people started to complain about video conference burnout. Zoom seems to be the most popular of the online options, so the terms “Zoom burnout” and “Zoom fatigue” and “Zoom exhaustion” have started to enter our popular lexicon. In addition to Zoom, I have recently …
Sparkling Isolation – Day 61
Anthemic indie rock. Sometimes the way Spotify classifies groups makes me laugh. One of my favorite bands is the Austin-based group The Rocketboys. On Spotify, they are called “anthemic indie rock.” Actually, that’s fairly accurate, but it still is a term that feels a bit pretentious. If you don’t know this group, you definitely need …
Sparkling Isolation – Day 60
Diamonds. Today is the 60th day of my quarantine and, obviously, the 60th day of this sparkling isolation blog. I checked online to find out what the traditional anniversary gift is for a 60th anniversary. Turns out it is diamond. In a metaphorical sense, we often use the image of a diamond in the phrase …