Wednesday, Mar. 4 - The Usual

Day 40. A real Italian quarantine. I wake up, make some coffee, and check my news stream. I send out a message - live stream coming up. I try it out and get to chat with some friends, which is nice, but my connection isn't stable. A friend asks me about whether they can still order things from China and I say sure, we're starting to run our factories again, but try to get airmail, because there might be a big bottleneck of ships waiting to sail at Wuhan. I get kicked off and it takes me a few times to realize Facebook doesn't want to me mention Wuhan, which is a bit of a trip, especially since I'm trying to tell people that things are getting back to normal as far as I know. It's still nice to connect with people.

After an hour, I find Xiaolin is up and relaxing, and we eat lunch together. I tune into Super Tuesday, and it's shocking to watch Biden creep up on all those states. I find it disappointing. I'm more upset Americans are voting against their interests, such as healthcare and progressive environmental policy, an existential threat of our generation, than I am about the viral pandemic sweeping the world.

My colleagues are all fretting about whether or what we will receive our salary. One legal notice says we are guaranteed a minimum of 70% of the minimum wage, but that seems to be pretty low. I've been told that works out to 1250 RMB or about $250 Canadian a month. It's good to keep some money in the bank for rainy days.

Last night's D&D was super fun, but now I'm kind of tired. I feel restless, and an inescapable, creeping ennui is strangling my joie de vivre until the sun peeks out, and it melts away.

I ask Xiaolin to join me for a walk or sit on the roof and get some Vitamin D. She's not into it. I tell her I'm going for a walk anyway and she suggests we go to RenRenLe supermarket. I don't love the idea, but I agree anyway. We get suited up and take a walk. Things seem like they're getting back to normal, minus the temperature checks, paperwork, and obligatory face masks. The streets are still quiet, but more shops are opening up, and there's a hint of a bustle as some people act like they... have something to do. Must be a few of them with jobs they're coming from.

On the way out of the school, we run into my friend, Patrick, vice-principal of campus B. He's pretty sure we'll be back at school soon, and it sounds good, but as I walk away, I have mixed feelings. I'm so excited, honestly, at the idea of getting out of the house. I'm a bit paranoid about doing it, too soon. I mean, it looks good, but all it would take is one student with a fever to kick us off again.

I feel excited, with the hope as we walk around that things are going to be normal, and in fact, a great, beautiful, spring soon. This makes me feel a bit weird when I get home and look around for new face masks and respirators that I could wear back to school next month.

I download RZA's new Guided Explorations EP, and really enjoy the experience in being chill in face of adversity. This is relevant.  

At RenRenLe, we see mushrooms are back, which must mean supply chains are running strong. We get some greens, some blueberry greek yogurt, and some cheese. Xiaolin uses the touch screen to self check out (ew), so I low-key order a stylus we're going to use for that purpose in the future.

We even stop for our favorite bubble tea, although they only allow one customer to approach at a time, the others must wait 1.5 meters apart, and feels a bit like 'airport security procedures' have become normal for even small purchases, like snacks and beverages. I notice the man paying for his drink has taken his mask down to pay and my eyes almost bug out of my goggles.

On the way back, I feel happy and productive, but we disagree over how to walk home. I want to cross the street so we don't smell the public toilet. Is that paranoid? Well, as the rank air of a public toilet travels into my nostrils, it moves over my nasal concha, into the upper part of my nasal cavity. Smells register in my nose when microscopic molecules, such as nitrogen, oxygen, methane, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide, containing airborne, bacteria-laden droplets of poop, which could contain aerosolized virus particles of COVID-19. If I can smell it through my mask, that means it's getting through my mask, doesn't it?

In contrast, she doesn't want to cross on the left side of the street since it's closed off by police. Some 'Do Not Enter' tape, possibly a closed-off building or some kind of contaminated area, we're not sure why. So I hold my breath, and we hustle home. You know, the usual.