well this sure the fuck is a thing that's happening isn't it

[stunt_muppet]

So. huh. last time I posted here there like. wasn't a worldwide pandemic and it hadn't been a week and a half since I left my house.

I'm okay - I'm actually very fortunate in that I'm able to work from home, I'm still getting paid, we're well-stocked on food and toilet paper, and i have Fiance living with me so I'm not completely alone. no one I know is sick so far, and my family's able to stay home as well; Fiance's family is also safe and well.

I'm scared - of course I am - but in a weird way it feels like the outside world is finally matching how I've been feeling since 2018 with the sense of looming doom and uncertainty/fear of the future, which ironically makes it way easier to talk to people about it and way easier to make logical preparations for emergencies and, i don't know. believe that i might be able to band together with other people and help each other or something.

I've been doing a lot of cooking and freezing soups to stretch out our necessary trips to the grocery, including trying some new recipes, and I'm in the process of disassembling some old bedsheets to make into masks and washrags. Saving scraps for compost and bones to make my own broth, and I was able to get some yeast on our last grocery outing so I can potentially make my own bread for the first time. It's not real self-sufficiency, not by a long shot, but it feels like a start, and one I needed to make. 

Hope you're all holding up okay out there, and if you're stuck working the "essentials" you're able to stay safe.

Comments

[stunt_muppet]

Our bosses at work have been really talking up the virtual classes we can take if we have nothing to do, which is nice, but if I really wanted to switch fields at this point I'd probably have to go get a whole other degree, so just taking extra classes feels sort of pointless when I could instead be clearing out the backlog that I normally never have time to work on.

If there's no one physically in the library I don't know that there'd be much harm in you going there to take care of things like the book drops, provided you had gloves and everything. I'm glad you're able to do that and keep on top of things.

[shannonsequitur]

I went back today for the first time since last week, and there’s actually very little shelving to be done. But yeah, no public, minimal staff who try to spread out, everything from the book drops sits on a cart for three days before it’s checked in, etc.

I haven’t gotten involved with it yet, but the library took on a project to sew cloth face masks for the city’s health department. The first batch was a huge hit, because they requested 2500 more. So staff from every branch have been working a few at a time (so it’s not too crowded) to make those. I’ve been reluctant to get involved since I don’t want people to know how helpless I am with a sewing machine, but apparently a few people measure and cut the fabric, a few people sew, and a few thread the ribbons or elastic. So I guess I can still get involved without embarrassing myself.

ETA: I meant to ask if you’re still getting married in June or if that’s shot to hell now.

[stunt_muppet]

Good on the library both for keeping everyone safe and for getting involved with that mask project! And yeah, I know even with my rudimentary mask-making it's helped a lot to have Fiance on fabric-cutting duty while I focused on the sewing, so you'll be plenty helpful without getting on the sewing machine.

We did have to reschedule the wedding. Right now the state the venue's in is closing all stores and events until June 10th, and we were scheduled for June 20th; it was outside the closure deadline but it still felt like cutting it too close. So far we've moved it up to early September, which should be early enough that the pastel-y color palate we picked doesn't look too weird. Even if it did, whatever. I'm sure people will get it if I just pick up the summer wedding I had planned and move it slightly later in the year. It's not like everyone else's lives haven't been put on hold.