Wednesday, Feb 26. Piece of Cake

Day 33. I wake up at 11:11. Make a wish. Old friends I haven't spoken to in years are reaching out. I have lots of fun things I want to do today but start with the news and some strong coffee.
I'm told I need to try to get more invoices from a tax office to keep getting paid. I ask them to hold my money. I'm surprised when a delivery guy is allowed to come to my building, and I pick up a package. Xiaolin tells me that things are almost back to normal, but I'm wary.
I work on a new song on my ukulele, and sign up for a course at MIT called "Principle and Practice of Human Pathology." I download my textbook, known colloquially as "Big Robbins." Know thy enemy, know thyself. To boost my productivity, I subscribe to a lecture series called Pathoma. Later, I take a break and continue my journey in a juicy SciFi novel.

I worry about people coming back and reinfecting us, after a month of quarantine. What's China going to do? Restrict travel back in?

To relax, I listen to a stoic audiobook, and I paint. Stoicism's most famous principle founded mindfulness meditation, and the AA mantra "serenity prayer." I can only control myself. I must not panic over things beyond my control. Everything outside of my control, I dwell on diminishes my ability to focus on what I can control. Ok, so there's a virus outside, I can't stop it, but I can manage risks and boost my diet and health. I can't control public policy, but I can learn and enjoy my days productively and happily, using 100% of my energy to focus on the 1% I can change to live the best life possible.

As I listen, I paint Dungeons & Dragons miniatures under the warm light coming through my window. My shoulders relax, and in the blink of an eye, I'm 12 years old, and my dad and I are shopping for miniature figures of heroes and monsters. I used to be good at painting. When I started up again, resisting the urge to glob paint and patiently dry brush practiced discipline and restraint. Being ok with making mistakes is a grounding technique that allows creativity and happiness to bloom.
Xiaolin tries to buy some vitamins, but they are all parked on the Yangtze at Wuhan. This summer we'll go to Canada and stock up. Part of me wants to buy a little cottage and become an off the grid hermit, but once this passes, living in a high-tech supercity is pretty cool.
Iran's deputy health minister is sweating buckets as he delivers a briefing about how COVID is under control. Hours later, he admits he is quite ill with the disease. Countries downplaying the risks are much more susceptible than countries that conduct thousands of tests. South Korea has administered over 12,000 tests, American only 450. When trying to evaluate the crisis, I use situational awareness and trust my gut. Actions speak louder than words.

I make pizza sticks with a wasabi hummus dip, a fun little invention so refreshing to eat it brings tears to my eyes. We have noodles for dinner, and Xiaolin is excited to try to make an egg cake. I'm enthusiastic in my support, and we work soundlessly together. She's delighted with it. Sometimes when life cracks your eggs, you have to make a cake.

Dr. Bruce Alyward from Canada, who leads the WHO expert team, has plenty of sensible advice. He also praises China's ability to curb the infectious spread much faster than models predicted with our historically unprecedented quarantine. The interesting thing about it is that at last outside of Hubei, it's mainly precautionary. There are no zombies, very little infected, and everything still works. But now we're returning to work and lowering our emergency state, and I worry about what will happen next. We still have no immunity, no vaccine, and a false sense of safety. The last piece of news I get today is with the rate of infected coming under control, Some cities in China are trying to stop infections coming from abroad.