Tag: Quarantine

Ponderings

The Great Quarantine

FanTC

Wait, we’re STILL in quarantine?

By this time last year, the entire world was experiencing some form of dread and fear of the unknown while shutting themselves up in their homes and staring at the television screen with sleep-deprived eyes.

We didn’t know what was out there. After shows like Bird Box, Containment, Virus, and even the strange one that specifically focused on adults and killed them or turned them into zombie-like blood-suckers, fresh in our minds, we felt an edge of terror wondering if this would be our final hour.

Daybreak – that’s the one with the kids surviving in a Lord of the Flies style. Took a heck of a lot of googling to find it.

I haven’t been sick for an entire year. Not a single cold or fever. Imagine all the germs we’re protecting ourselves from by sanitizing and masking up – or SUIT UP! as I like to say. I suppose that is something to be thankful for. And we didn’t lose our jobs which is itself a blessing.

But we’re still here, aren’t we? We’re still living this hellish nightmare of an invisible murderer. Let’s face it – there are no answers, and looking to government to “save” us like some cosmic Superman is childish. No one has the answers. Even this vaccine is still in trial stage. You know it. I know it. We all subconsciously hold our breath when someone we know gets the shot, like we’re waiting for hell to lay down its cards and we’ve just lost.

But you know, my body hasn’t felt this tranquil in years. I don’t have office stress. I sleep more. I’m spending more time with my husband – and I STILL like being around him. I’ll bet a lot of families are enjoying the same. I’m sure it’s hard with kids. But I bet it’s also nice. I bet relationships are growing stronger in ways you won’t realize until much later. I wonder if this will cultivate a grateful generation – just grateful to have friends and be connected, go to school, sit in class, and some day sit in an office or behind a register just grateful for what they have.

This is my hope. Let’s see what we gained. It might not come to harvest for years, but keep watering the seeds of your labor.

This has been,

Fanny T. Crispin

Ponderings, Raw

Quarantine Week #14

FanTC

It is sometimes difficult to believe Covid-19 has impacted our world for so long, but here we are. It is currently our fourteenth week since Wisconsin schools shut down. Summer has arrived. Families are getting together. These are good things.

I have contemplated shutting down the “Quarantine Week” blog. Corona is in our world, ladies and gentlemen. It is an unfortunate reality, but we must adapt as well. We must now be conscience of our elders and immune compromised comrades. We’ll have to add Covid to our cough, cold, and flu season awareness. Everyone is talking about “new normal” or “going back to normal.” This is what you can come to expect.

On the positive side, we have seen some beautiful improvement to Earth and nature as a result of humans taking a break from being industrious. This is also good. Maybe more of us have come to realize there must be a healthy balance in our lives between work and rest. Remember to be a little more kind, a little more patient, and to be aware of others.

This has been,

Fanny T. Crispin

Raw

Quarantine Week #13

FanTC

We’re easing back into it – this thing we call life.

Have you noticed the belt has gotten a little tight lately? Me too. I’m definitely less active working from home. This week, I took up running (you know, Couch-to-5K but probably more couch and less 5K.) It’s difficult to begin something you’ve never done before. Brand new to the sport, feeling like you’re doing it all wrong (I know, it’s running. Can’t really mess that up unless you biff in the middle of the street with all your Safer-at-Home neighbors judging you. It could happen.)

We’ve been working on eating healthier too – and wow, I almost spat out that oatmeal.

No sugar added, they weren’t kidding.

Geez.

Okay, I’m back with a lump of unprocessed sugar and some cinnamon. Sorry, but what a rude awakening. Beautiful morning, the sun is shining, the cat is frisky chasing imaginary bugs. Take a bite of breakfast and shock yourself into flavorless bitterness. I can’t believe my husband eats this oatmeal, but then again, he has a greater tolerance for things than I do. I can get passed the gritty texture if I don’t think about it too much.

Why are we doing this? Who makes this stuff and decides “Yeah, this is gonna be great. People will LOVE my oatmeal-powder concoction! These nuts are weird. I’m going to throw them in too!”

This has been enough of,

Fanny T. Crispin

Raw

Quarantine Week #12

FanTC

Have you been watching the news? It’s all starting to sound familiar, isn’t it? There was a case identical to this a number of years ago. There were riots then, too. You know what this proves, doesn’t it?

People don’t change.

No pandemic blog post this week, friends. My heart’s not in it.

This has been,

Fanny

Raw, Thoughts

Quarantine Week #10

FanTC

This is normal.

I don’t know why conspiracies bother trying to stay hidden. They inevitably crawl out of the woodwork and blow their cover. I’m friends with hard rightists and hard leftists, and it’s been whiplash watching them battle it out on social media. I’m not sure I prescribe to the political religion, but I do think there’s always something going on behind the curtain which certain persons don’t want the general public to see. This I believe all day long. But there are other people more gifted in this field of study than I, so we won’t get into it here.

I had a strange encounter with political religion the other day. I made a light-hearted comment about modern plumbing on a friend’s meme they reposted, and one of their acquaintances made due purpose to comment on my comment. Again, I was talking about plumbing. They made it about capitalism shaming. I’m not sure the point they were trying to achieve, because I was in no humor to humor them.

If we were in a cafe – I and my friend – and one of her friends happened to show up, overhear our conversation, and decided in that moment rather than introduce himself politely, talk of the weather, the coffee, any number of other pleasantries, he decides to immediately conversation shame someone he has never met before and turn a half-heard subject into his political platform, it would be like that. It would be exactly like that.

We comment on other people’s comments all the time, sometimes positively, but sometimes negatively. Social media has put all of us into one big room together and provided permission for us to talk to anyone we want without proper introduction or pleasantries.

I suppose it would be odd if everyone went about introducing themselves and providing small talk on Twitter…

“Good day! My name is Robert. How do you know Anne?”

“Hello! I’m Clara. Oh, Anne and I met at the library. We shared a love of dragon fiction!”

“Jolly good! I love dragons myself. The meme she just posted on which we are both commenting rather makes me envision Capitalism as the great evil dragon of our time!”

“Oh… You’re in the camp of depicting dragons as evil villains? That’s really disappointing. I don’t like you. Good bye.”

“Well, if you didn’t want to get hurt, you really should have private messaged Anne rather than comment on her meme!”

 

This has been,

Fanny T. Crispin