At least it's an opportunity to do more writing... in shiny things

Yikes - this just shows how fragile our lifestyle is, I guess, and how quickly we can be catapulted into a bizarre new world of quarantines and social isolation and shortages and rationing etc etc etc. I’ve always wondered how Americans would react to having limitations forced on us, and now we’re about to find out. My parents were Depression-Era children and WW2-Era teenagers, and as a result were great at being conservative and making do and not expecting everything to go their way. Which is quite shocking when WE’RE careening towards the same territory.

Baker B and I are SO SO fortunate, though. We can both work from home, we work for a university that’s doing all they can to get their students and employees through this, we don’t have kids so haven’t got a house full of bored children at home with us because schools are closed. Our cats are very happy about this situation. We have insurance and sick time and vacation time if it comes to that. We have enough money to buy what we need and to stockpile what we are going to need if the state shuts down, but we don’t have so much money that the stock market crashes are going to matter to us. At least not directly. We live in a small rural college/tourist town, where it’s easier to stay away from people and nobody is fighting over toilet paper in the grocery store. We are natural social distancers, being introverts and not that crazy about hanging out with other people to begin with. We like each other and don’t mind being stuck for long periods in the same house. Mostly.

I started working from home on Tuesday. I had to get a laptop from the university since I just have an iPad and can’t easily access everything I need with that, and although Baker B has a desktop, we figured he would need to use it. As it turns out, he also has a work laptop AND a desktop, so he’s brought his laptop and the tower from his desktop home, and we now have a whole lot of computers. I have been quite shocked- happily shocked- at how easily I can do everything I need to do from home, other than print, and we need to stop printing as much as we do anyhow. It DOES take about a million times longer to do my things here, but I am sure once I get used to it, it will be a lot quicker. I have two screens at work and it really slows me down to flip back and forth on one screen - spoiled!! - but it’s possible. Of course. I also can’t seem to find a good spot to work from, and move from couch to spare room bed to the table the cats have their kitty cubes on. I have very poor posture/ergonomics when it comes to using the computer - right now I’m sitting cross-legged on the saggy couch- so it’s making my back hurt. I did order a “lap table” so that should help, and we’re bringing my office chair home tomorrow so I can use that at the table. Baker B has a “study” downstairs with a table so he’s okay with me monopolizing the upstairs.

So the first few days have been a… challenge… what with distractions and the hunt for a perfect spot to work from, and several Zoom meetings (in which I appeared to be the only person propped up on their spare-room bed with cats walking across me - yay for being a total professional!) but it’s getting easier every day, and I LOVE not having to drag myself physically to the office. Mr. Organized and Miss Tattoo and I have been using chat and messaging each other a LOT, which also helps in the “this is so weird and unsettling” department. Overall, I keep thinking, I could REALLY get used to this

And now I have the perfect opportunity to actually start writing regularly, and catching up with everyone, since I will have a lot more time if I am hanging out at home all day every day. And it’s history which needs documenting. SO, wash your hands and stay away from everyone, and hooray for the small bright spots!