I don't know how this is possible but it seems to be getting harder and harder to deal with this damn thing. Is it just me? How are you all out there? Hanging in there?
So here we are 8 months into this thing and it's actually worse than when we 1st started. How's this for current stats:
Worldwide: 61.4 million cases. 1.44 million deaths
US: 13 million cases. 264K deaths
OC: 73,152 cases. 1,559 deaths
Yeah. You read that right.
It's insane you guys. I wake up every morning between 3 and 4am with massive anxiety. I just spin and spin and spin. I'm going to be giving some different CBD things a shot. I can't handle this.
I will say I feel like we're handling it better - sort of. Like - the hospitals and doctors have found many ways to fight this thing with drugs and what not and are doing a better job and keeping people off ventilators and alive, but they are filling up again which is scary. There is a couple of vaccines coming that look promising, hopefully by early next year? California has a mask mandate in place so basically everywhere you go you have to wear a mask if you're indoors or outdoors and can't socially distance. There are actually people giving a shit (I feel most, but there are still jackasses) and trying to be safe, not have parties or big gatherings, keeping visits outside and socially distanced, wearing masks and washing hands, etc. So we're like - taking it better? But the virus is kicking our ass.
It's taking a huge mental toll too. My therapist says therapy has of course tripled. Her patients, including myself, are really struggling. My poor sister in law who has never dealt with anxiety has has like 2 panic attacks. People are angry. Depressed. Exhausted. It's so awful. I come into work still 3 days a week, and yes it's kind of nice and quiet to be the only one here but it's also hard and sad. I'm doing a million things that aren't in my job description just keeping this office kind of going and helping everyone get what they need, etc. I don't mind it most of the time but it's really difficult and being under paid and under appreciated doesn't help. And it's just fucking sad and lonely. I really miss people! Chapman had to pull back to full remote again because:
We've actually backtracked. Governor Newsom made this colored tier thing. Based on what color tier you're in - depends on what can be open, etc. We were in the Red Tier for a while (The second to worst but not the worst!) but just a couple of weeks ago we rolled backwards and are back in the Purple Tier. That's the worst one. Outdoor dining only, no gyms, no movie theatres, amusement parks have never opened back up. Etc. Etc. Etc.
Right before shit went down I did attend a tea. My mom had bought tickets for us a couple of months ago, and it was set up super safe - tables way spaced apart, everyone masked. Very safe and very comfortable. The 4 of us who went are in the same quarantine circle and all very careful so we all felt totally fine to go and I'm glad we did. It was safe, fun and a nice break from the world burning.
The theme was Enola Holmes. They had it set up super cute, we played a little game with our spunky masked host and got a grateful thank you from Paris in a Cup at the end thanking us for keeping them in business. I feel so damn bad for all the restaurants right now. But they did it right and did it really safe.
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| Solving Mysteries |
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| Yum! |
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| Prettiest little soup |
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| My best "Holmes" outfit |
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| Goodies to take home |
The holidays are upon us. LOTS of people aren't giving a fuck and traveling and seeing family anyway - so I'm sure we're going to just continue to spike and not get better until who the hell knows when. Pat and I were having a hard time figuring out what we wanted to do since both our families were still doing Thanksgiving. My family was doing it outside and we're really small so I was leaning towards that, but we ended up deciding to just have our own Thanksgiving at home. Just the 3 of us. His point - when the hell are we EVER going to do this again. Fair. And honestly was probably the best and safest choice.
It ended up pretty good I'd say! We ordered a half of a Peking Duck (None of us care for Turkey) and made some of Pat's favorite Thanksgiving side dishes. We watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and Tower Heist!
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| Here we go! |
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| Even Elise contributed |
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| Father Daughter Cooking Lessons |
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| A staple |
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| Ready to eat! |
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| We done good for our mini stay at home Thanksgiving! |
It breaks my heart that all theatre is basically shuttered right now, I've seen so many close their doors including 2 I've worked with - Attic and Stages. I have so many friends out of work because they work in the business - or at Disney which has currently laid of 32K of it's employees. People are making do of course - finding other jobs, odd jobs until we can come back but I so worry who is going to survive this. A friend of mine who both he and his wife are Broadway Actors are now making bracelets they sell on Etsy. I purchased a couple for Xmas gifts just so I can help support. It just sucks. But there are some people trying new stuff. For example - the night before Thanksgiving we went to a Stranger Things Drive Thru Experience! I was so impressed! You never left your car - kept your windows up and tuned your radio into a certain station. You heard everything through that. You drove through a few areas and basically watched a show! It was so neat and felt amazing to be watching theatre again! The whole thing was super theatrical and the actors were great! The logistics were also super impressive! We bought a bit of merch after and they way they parked you, you electronically bought stuff and they brought it to your car in a bucket so it was contactless. So great!
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| Little pre-show |
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| She was great! |
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| Dustin! |
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| Flying Eleven! |
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| Decked out in our Stranger Things attire |
We got out hiking a bit too. Weather has been off and on but nice lately so we even got Elise out! Pat and I also hid our very 1st geocache! You can read about that in my next geocaching blog but that was really cool.
So here we are. All trying to deal. Trump is on his way out and the transition is finally able to move forward for Biden so all we can hope is that he can get things moving in the right direction. It seems our country has just turned into one big dumpster fire. I'm sure cases are going to continue to spike with the holidays and people just not taking precautions but what can ya do. We try to be safe. Keep our social circle small and distanced when we do see people. Wear masks. Wash our hands. But try to find the safe fun when we can. We do still eat out sometimes but only outside (which is all you can do right now anyway) and we do things like that Drive Thru when they pop up.
I'm so fucking over this though. Yes it's taught us all to taking NOTHING for granted. To slow down. To get creative. But I'm done. I'm tired. The toll on our mental health and the economy is getting worse and worse. I'm ready to take the lessons we've learned and get back to our lives. Hopefully as a kinder society.
Hang in there my friends!
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