Excursion -- At A Distance

I really needed a walk after barely leaving my apartment for more than a week. Also, I wanted some elastic to try to make a few masks.

I have an N95 mask, sure. But that's for emergencies. Namely, if I get sick and need to go to the hospital.  (Its original purpose was for sanding pottery, or maybe I have it in case of SoCal fire season. I forget.)

But the point of these non-surgical masks people are wearing is to stop yourself from touching your face when you're in the supermarket or pharmacy. So I'm planning to make some masks tomorrow, but I only had a little strip of red elastic left over from I-don't-know-what project.

"Maybe Target has elastic," I thought. Followed by "I seriously doubt it." Have you ever seen Target's sewing section? It's for sewing buttons, really. (Walmart, oddly, has a great sewing section, but that's not nearby, and it's crowded and horrible even under normal circumstances.) 

Anyway, there's one of those mini-Targets a mile away, and it has both groceries and a pharmacy, so it's allowed to open. And since I feel like a slug, off I went, elbowing the complex door open and not hitting crosswalk buttons. All the humans I encountered hugged the other side of the sidewalk. No one is going near each other for now.

When I got to Target, I had to wait on an X on the sidewalk since only a few people are allowed in at a time.

There were a lot of bare shelves where the TP and Purell had presumably once been, but that wasn't my mission. My target at Target was the sad little sewing section, which was indeed pathetic.

There was definitely no elastic in the sewing section.

So I went to the hair section. I think this will work.

Bonus: I got in 10,000 steps today, even though this mission required a lot of hand scrubbing and two Clorox wipes.

Hoarding

Most of you know I've gone around the world with a backpack a few times. Just me and 40 pounds on my back for extended trips, sometimes a year, sometimes a few weeks.

What not all of you know is about a kind of hoarding you do when traveling this way. It happens to me when I take long car camping trips too.

You hoard little packets of things. Salt. Pepper. Soy sauce. Single wipe packets that come with finger food. Tiny sewing kits from hotels. Little soaps.

And then, after months of traipsing around on public transit across Zambia, Indonesia, Mongolia, Bolivia...you go home. You go into ShopRite or Ralphs or Kroger...one of the 24-hour mega supermarkets.

And the choice is overwhelming. Holy shit. Look at all that stuff!

And you still hang onto condiment packets for a few more months. What if the next time you go to ShopRite, the shelves are bare, or that specialty item has magically gone away, like at the ShopRite in Kampala?

Today, as I looked at the empty paper and pasta aisles in Vons, I wondered if maybe that's going to be us in 4 months. Still buying pasta to stash under the sink. In case tomorrow, Vons is out of pasta again.

But Do They Sell TP?

I can see the supermarket from my balcony.

Gonna have to go there eventually. Only 100 people allowed in at a time, so everyone else has to wait outside, six feet apart.

Rats!

Caught without Tylenol, Sudafed, or toilet paper, his cavalier lifestyle finally caught up with him.

Legally Isolated

We're all homebound now, except for trips to the supermarkets, pharmacies, and hospitals. We're also allowed to go for walks, runs, or bike rides.

Today's tips gleaned from headlines: Take a walk, but don't go near other people or touch things. Clean your mobile device (aka phone) with rubbing alcohol or 70% alcohol wipes.

And for me, on morning of day 3 as I figure out how best to manage WFH...make your bed first thing and don't let dishes pile up. I haven't done YouTube yoga yet this week, but that's coming too.

Today's temperature: 97. No virus symptoms yet.

Last Look

Made one last run to the office this afternoon. I had to unlock my door to let IT collect my old laptop so someone can use it to work from home.

See you in a few weeks or months, Batman. Don't let the Joker touch your face.

Maybe Not So Smart

I stopped by the French place for a takeaway turkey sandwich.

I spotted the locally made hand sanitizer for sale on the counter. Thought I'd support a local business.

"I'll get one of these," I said. I picked it up, scanned for ingredients but saw none.

"Does it have 70 percent alcohol?" I asked.

"No. That dries your hands."

"Sixty percent?"

"No. It has essential oils to kill the virus."

"Never mind."

I put it back. I'm currently eating the sandwich as it dawns on me this might be a mistake.

Death by turkey sandwich.

Working from Home

Here's my new office for the work-from-home initiative. To be honest, my first instinct was to go to home-home as quickly as possible and ride this out in Jersey City. But I only have a mini-kitchen there and no freezer. I'm better equipped for quarantine here in Burbank. 

My new office looks a lot like where I usually spend my time at home, but with a swapped-out WB laptop.  

Freelance Marie used to work at home every day, but always made sure to leave for lunch or for the gym.

"Otherwise, I'll never see other humans," was my reason to never keep food in the house.

Work-from-home Marie is good with being alone and used to social isolation but OMG those dirty dishes...

In Search of Oats

I went to the (somewhat crowded) supermarket at 7 a.m. on a Saturday because I ran out of steel-cut oats.

The Vons shelves were a lot emptier than the aisles, but there was a single pack of Red Mill steel-cut Golden Spurtle sitting forlornly at the end of the cereal row.

Things are looking up.

Let's Do This

Yesterday at work was a "Does everyone have what they need to work remotely in case of shutdown" kind of day.

Marie: "You want to know how to make comics alone from a laptop, from any location? THIS IS MY MOMENT."

Just Making Sure

All right, bidet attachment is successfully installed and ready for operation.

...

You did say norovirus, right?

Preparedness

I have this and a bunch of food. Ready as I'll ever be, I guess.

Pandemic Hacks

Just go with one of these and you won't have to fight your neighbors over toilet paper during Flupocalypse.

Two Colorist/Editors

These two photos popped up together somewhere on social media or my computer. I've already forgotten where and it was just a few days ago.

But these made me laugh. 20+ years separate these photos of me and my friend Steve, but we're still both kinda the same.

Law-Abiding Citizen

I nearly had another altercation with the motorcycle cop who hangs out at the dead end where I jaywalk on the way to work. (It’s a dead end, c’mon.) But I saw him just as I stepped off the curb. Stepped right back as he revved his engine.

Not this time, copper!

I had a conversation with another would-be jaywalker who’d stopped just in time. She pointed out we could’ve walked to the end of the cul-de-sac and back to the other side of the crosswalk in the amount of time we stood idle. Maybe next time.

So Quaint Now

Remember when we were worried about mumps because some people's immunity had worn off, and then there were all those unvaccinated people?

I had a titer test and sure enough, I need a new MMR because I show no immunity to measles.

But that's all so last year.

Monument to Mammals

Look what I ordered from Shara Porter for my Jersey City house.

Should go well with all the animals in the backyard.

Busy Weekend

Out for three nights running. Last night, I went to see Pandora's Box (the black and white Louise Brooks vehicle) at the Egyptian and tomorrow night I have pottery class.

If I’m still alive by then.