Left to my own devices

Before the pandemic, before the dark times, I'd get a cold about once or twice a year. It was pretty normal, hence the term "the common cold." Heck, maybe it was sometimes a case of the flu? Maybe...  though I get the flu shot on annual basis which, granted, isn't foolproof, but does seem to help either stave-off getting it, or at least make the symptoms less severe. Sound familiar? Anyway, I haven't really had a cold (or the flu) in at least two years, probably longer. No doubt a big reason for this is because I've been fortunate enough to work at a job where 1) most of my work can be done remotely, and 2) my employer has been very cautious, and had us working from home for all but three months since the pandemic got underway in earnest, back in March of 2020. Reduced contact with people has very likely lessened my exposure to viruses, whether it be COVID-19 or the ones that cause the cold or flu.

We like to compartmentalize things. It's easier for us to group together a series of events under convenient umbrellas of designation, often times related to time. You see it done a lot when it comes to decades. People of a certain age will often get dreamy-eyed when referring to "the '80s" -- something I admit to doing -- though, if we're being honest, we've simply taken a disparate clump of years and made a connection to them because of a happenstance of calendar . Does it make sense? Sure, maybe, I don't know, why not? I'm talking about years and time and how we view them because 365 days have gone by, and we've ticked over into another year. 2022. I suppose that holds significance because of the aforementioned calendar that we're on, though one could argue that 365 days pass every day (except, maybe, on a leap year, though that's debatable), and so January 1st is really no different than August 1st, weather patterns notwithstanding. Bu...

It's been almost thirteen months since I last saw a movie at a theater. What was once a weekly ritual has, over the course a year, become an almost distant memory. The Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on everyone's lives, to both a greater and lesser extent. I'm pretty fortunate to be able to wax nostalgic about the lack of movie-going and, to be fair, theaters have been opened for some time now. However, even as theaters re-opened, I didn't feel comfortable going back. I have some underlying health issues that could result in a potentially serious time of it, should I be infected with the coronavirus. But now, Ashley & I are fully-vaccinated. So are several of our friends. We're going to see a movie tonight, at a theater, for the first time in over a year. I'm a little overwhelmed at the thought.

"Hello, how are you? Have you been alright Through all those lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely nights?" - Telephone Line ,  ELO T here was a time when I used to love talking on the phone. This was before the ubiquity of the Internet, before cell phones, texting, video calls, etc. It was also before I had a job, and much of the work I've ended up doing over the years has fallen under the designation of customer service, where I would interact with folks either in-person or over the phone. That can wear down one's capacity for certain types of contact methods during off-hours. This was before all of that. This was when I was a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed young person.

I'm not going to sugar coat it for you. The recent weeks have been pretty mentally and emotionally dire. There's a low-level hum of stress that seems to permeate every fiber of my being. And, yes, much of it is pandemic-related. I've been more fortunate than many, and I realize and appreciate that, but it doesn't mean my life hasn't been impacted, or that I'm devoid of stress points. I've started seeing a therapist, though so far those sessions have only mildly helped. The other night, in one of the darkest moods of late, I thought  "I don't think I'm going to make it through this pandemic. There's just nothing to look forward to anymore." Looking forward to things is something I took for granted in the pre-COVID days. It's doubtful I'm the only who can acknowledge that. Some of the things that filled my calendar were work or council-related, while others were more recreational. To be honest, I miss them all. While life during t...

There have been a few events during my life, some personal, some en masse, that have impacted my life profoundly. Their influence was profound, altering my perception of the world, and my life in it. I feel as though the current pandemic ought to be another one of those occasions but, honestly, I don't know what to think of it at the moment. There have been some short-term affects, but it is difficult to comprehend the long-term ramifications at this point.