Tuesday, March 10 - Drive-by Sneezing

Day 46. I wake up exhausted by the incredibly full day I stuffed into Monday. I have missed the blending of cycles from work that comes before sleep or appetite, that drive. Some strong coffee later, the cobwebs are wiped. I've got nothing on the agenda today before "D&D: 8 PM," and that's a great feeling. I get ahold of my editor, and she takes a look at the nearly 3000-word mess that was my Monday. We tidy for a while, and then I get to work on my "Drive By Jorah Kai" video, laying in tracks, ironing out titles, and rendering video.

Xiaolin gets a phone call, some community leaders for our condo area called. The woman was alarmed after seeing a foreign name on the entrance sheet yesterday.

"Who is this foreigner? Is he new to Chongqing? Why is this foreigner inside our building? Did he rent the condo?"

"No," my wife says, "he is the owner, it's his house. He is my husband."

Unbelievable, but they seem to be concerned about foreigners coming back from hotspot areas. They're really tightening up.

I go out to get a package, and as I turn to walk back, I hear a sharp intake of breath. I turn around, and a middle-aged man bends over, pulls his mask down off his face, and sneezes into the open-air twice. The sound echos off the nearby buildings like a ricochet. Everyone around freezes caught like deer on a highway in the headlights of this bioterrorist, this unfortunate man with criminal manners.

New studies show COVID-19 can transmit 4.5m in a closed air-conditioned environment.

I wanted to run back and tell him off, but I do the calculations, physics equations and numbers whirl through my mind's eye, as I considered Pythagorean theorem and the matrix style 360 bullet-time effects as his disease-ridden mist sprayed the area. I was on the periphery of his sneeze-ease vector, so I job away, leaving the other unfortunate souls to their fate.

Back home, I decontaminate myself, but feeling the urge to sneeze next to Xiaolin, I got up and ran to the bathroom where I sneezed into my shoulder, not once, but five times. I scrubbed myself with soap and scalding hot water until I finished Bohemian Rhapsody in its entirety before I returned to our room.

I help edit my editor's project she's doing on the Coronavirus. A second set of eyes and all.

I wish I could see the happy dance of millions of introverts as all parties and public gatherings are canceled.

We head out to do some banking for Xiaolin. It's a nice walk, 15-20 minutes. Sunny and warm. A few days ago, this would feel like a huge deal, but after yesterday, I'm feeling more relaxed about spending time in public, with precautions.

We get to the bank, and Xiaolin signs a form to go inside to make an appointment with a teller. They wave me away when I try to enter. They make it very clear they don't want the hassle of having to report a foreigner inside their bank. I understand, after the phone call this morning. They're all on edge, trying to keep things together.

I wait for about an hour, listening to the render demo, pacing around in the sun to get my steps in, and enjoying the funky grooves of my band's music. Some police look at me weirdly as they walk by. An hour later, Xiaolin comes out. She said the whole staff was quite alarmed to see me. They couldn't figure out how they knew I wasn't Chinese with all my gear, goggles, and a mask covering everything up. They asked, "did he go back to his country?" And she said, "no, no, we've been here the whole time, 45 days…" and they calmed down again.

We're walking back, but I'm sweating from all my clothes and the two masks and goggles after an hour of dance walking in the 25 degrees sunny weather.

In my mind's eye, I'm back at that thing in the desert, after candy backflipping through the dust and spending a morning watching the sunrise at the temple and having champagne for lunch at the Champagne Lounge where we were playing a Root Sellers gig. By the time we realize we haven't had water, it's been hours, and we're dehydrated, walking through the desert. Galen dragged his violin through the sand. We were lost for hours until we finally righted ourselves, got back to camp, and I collapsed into a heap of frozen margaritas.

We make it back to the school gate, and I leap back to the present, wiping my sweaty brow. Only then do I realize, that if I fail the temperature check, they might call the police and medical personnel to take me away before I can explain I'm only sweaty from dancing in the sun.

I take off my jacket, sweater, and long sleeve shirt, and mop my sweaty brow and hair.

We cool off for a minute, but then I head through, hoping for the best. He points the gun at me, and somehow I'm ok. We pick up a package waiting for us and head back home.

We take a rest, clean up, and change my clothes. Try to render the video again and dump it onto my phone and meet Xiaolin up on the garage, aka "the gym," and get some sun. My face is glowing. I'm smiling, and life is good. I watch the video again, with titles.

My face has some serious "goggle burn" from all the gear. It's uncomfortable and I imagine will get worse as the weather heats up.

We grab a quick dinner, some fresh greens steamed, and rice, and then I work on some writing for a bit.

At 5:30 PM I catch Xiaolin sitting on our bed with her outdoor clothes, on a video call with her sister. I yell for her to get those clothes by the door and spray down the bed with a strong alcohol spray. She's letting her guard down after 50 days, but I won't tolerate it and will protect us as much as I can.

I would literally kiss whoever invented blueberry yogurt if it wasn't for COVID-19. Been too busy to eat lately, but this is hitting the spot! Squee!

All of Italy is now under quarantine (From the northern 1/3 yesterday). A lot of people are shocked, but it was pretty obvious if you were paying attention. You can't let people run from the quarantine zone south and then be surprised when the disease follows. "The right decision is to stay at home. Our future is in our hands," says their leader.

Reducing visitation at an Italian prison caused a riot that left many injured and seven dead. It's a microcosm for the country. Italy is one of the world's most popular tourist destinations. We had a fantastic summer vacation tromping around Italy. They're economically suffering, slow-growing GDP, and now with tourism out the window, a population on edge and a collapsing health care system; this to a perfect storm. The rest of the west is watching to see how a less disciplined society will deal with the necessary draconian measures required to save millions of lives and contain the virus.

Big smiles today as the New York Stock Exchange opened. It didn't last long. Trading was halted in 4 minutes after the dow fell 2000 points. This is the biggest slump since the financial crash of 2008. People have long wondered what would be the pin that popped our bubble or bubbles, but we found it today. COVID-19 was the giant golden needle in our haystack.

In Chongqing, the daily confirmed cases continue to decline since February 2. Of the 576 confirmed cases in Chongqing, 241 were imported. The other half, 247 second-generation cases were infected by close contact (mainly family and friends) with the first-generation imported cases. Almost one hundred, 88 cases were community spread in Chongqing, accounting for 15.3%, according to an expert named Yang. We are trying to get back to work and almost there, as long as we keep a tight lid on people coming into the city.

I grew another batch of sprouts. Tomorrow we'll make some soup, banana bread and a pineapple pie. That's a big agenda for a quiet day at home.

Xiaolin dials up another salsa dancing class on the internet. I ask her to go easy on her shoulder, and she agrees.  I snap a photo and she seems to be having fun.

At 8 PM, I get into another session of our online Dungeons & Dragons came, channeling the bravery and coolness given by RZA to play my Afrosamurai Fis the Fierce. He's one of my favorite characters from my books, and it's fantastic to play him in a D&D game with my friends.

It's fun, but we almost get into some PVP over how to shoo away some wolf cubs we come across. It's alright, new party problems but we'll be fine.

Finally, after a dozen or more technical issues, I manage to upload my video of yesterday "Drive-By Jorah Kai" to Youtube. It's my drive-by sneezing, an hour of found footage to my old music. It's got some tips and examples of a city thriving due to our strict measures. Maybe it will be of some value to my global tribe.

After the game, around 12, I head to bed and relax with Xiaolin.