Quarantine meme

[owlmoose]

All my writing and posting plans have gone out the window, but I can at least manage to do a meme.

1. Are you an essential worker?

No, but the organization I work for announced on a Friday that we'd all be required to work from home as of the following Monday, March 16th -- and that Monday was the day my county announced its shelter in place order. So I've just finished up my 5th week working from home. My organization already has a significant percentage of remote employees, and I work with people all over the country on a regular basis, so most of my meetings were already online -- it was less of an adjustment for us than for a lot of people. And most of the work we can do is continuing, although some projects have been hit pretty hard (none of my work, fortunately).

2. How many drinks have you had since the quarantine started?

Just a couple glasses of wine, on nights I was already cooking with it. I have some hard liquor in my house, but nothing really to mix it with, and I don't like to drink it straight.

3. If you have kids... Are they driving you nuts?

No kids, just a cat. She is sometimes demanding, and has made a few conference call appearances, but overall it's been fine. I think she's more confused than anything.

4. What new hobby have you taken up during this?

Nothing new, although I'm gaming more than I have in years.

5. How many grocery runs have you done?

We're trying to keep it to once a week but haven't entirely succeeded. It's a challenge for us, because we don't have a ton of storage space and depend pretty heavily on fresh meat and vegetables. And we're still figuring out how much food we need to buy to make almost every meal at home (so far we've only gotten take-out once each week). In the old world, I ate out for at least half my meals -- breakfast every workday, lunch almost every workday, sometimes a brunch and/or lunch out on weekends, dinner at least two-three times each week -- so it's been a real adjustment.

6. What are you spending your stimulus check on?

Haven't decided. I might donate some of it and use the rest to help support local businesses, who honestly need it more than I do.

7. Do you have any special occasions that you will miss during this quarantine?

My 25th college reunion, the last weekend in May. There will be some online events, and we've been invited back in 2021 (assuming things are back to normalish by then), but it still really sucks.

8. Are you keeping your housework done?

I confess that I have mostly left this to T, who isn't working right now. He's doing a wonderful job of keeping up with things under the circumstances, but I really ought to get back to pulling my weight a little more.

9. What movie have you watched during this quarantine?

Abominable, which was really cute. Parasite is on deck; I want to see it but it might be too heavy for quarantine viewing.

10. What are you streaming?

In truth, mostly YouTube. We've been watching a lot of food/cooking stuff, like Gourmet Makes and Binging with Babish and America's Test Kitchen and Alton Brown. I've also been catching up on Lindsey Ellis's work, and started rewatching Critical Role Campaign 2. We're also keeping up on new Top Chef and Better Call Saul, and started Ghost Bride last week.

11. Nine months from now is there any chance of you having a baby?

Nope.

12. What's your go-to quarantine meal?

We've been doing a good job, I think, of continuing to cook a variety of food, eating down the leftovers, then making something new and different the next week. No dinner repeats yet, but if this goes on much longer I'm sure we'll go back to some things.

13. Is this whole situation making you paranoid?

I'm not usually very germophobic, but I am definitely paying more attention now. The place that makes me feel most uncomfortable is the grocery store. But I don't particularly want to move to delivery because I much much prefer picking out my own, and I also want to save those slots for the people who really need them.

14. Has your internet gone out on you during this time?

Our router conks out on me about once a week. Fortunately I just need to unplug and replug it. But it's particularly irritating when I have to log back in to the work VPN.

15. What month do you predict this all ends?

The more I hear, the more it seems like "all this" seems like it's going to go on at some level or another for quite awhile. But I feel like restrictions will probably start to relax in some way or another around June, assuming we can get it together with testing and the availability of PPE. Unfortunately I'm worried that's a big ask at this point.

16. First thing you’re gonna do when you get off quarantine?

Eat a meal in a restaurant with friends.

17. Where do you wish you were right now?

I mean, on the trip to Hawaii we're still in theory planning to take in September. But in practice I'm actually okay with being in my own home.

18. What free-from-quarantine activity are you missing the most?

Spending in-person time with friends, no question. I eat out with friends at least once a week and have a number of regular activities that involve going over to friends' homes, and I miss that a lot. Virtual hangouts are fine, and I'm glad we have them, but it is not at all the same.

19. Have you run out of toilet paper and hand sanitizer?

We've never really kept hand sanitizer in the house. T managed to stock up on TP about a week before everything happened, so we're totally fine on that account for awhile. We should probably buy hand soap soon, though. The thing we've had the most trouble getting when we need it is canned tomatoes, followed by rice.

20. Do you have enough food to last a month?

Not remotely. We don't have a ton of cupboard space, no garage or other outside storage, and our freezer is tiny, so we aren't prepped for that at all. Welcome to downtown city living! With what's in the house right now, we could make two weeks if we payed attention to what and how much we ate, but much more than that would be a stretch.