Covid Chronicle - Week One

I thought I'd write up short journal-ish entries for the first week of semi-quarantine. I've been doing a pretty good job of taking this seriously...I think the only place I've been this week other than work was the gas station. 


Monday - March 16th
Mostly business as usual. We found out this morning that the legislature was suspending session until further notice. We decided our office would function remote-ish, with only one person in the office at a time, while the other two worked from home. 




Tuesday - March 17th
- Happy St. Patrick's Day! Blow me a kiss from 6' away, I'm Irish! 😁 ☘
- Day One working from home.
- One of the suggestions I read for those newly working from home was sticking to a routine, so I decided to give it my best shot...other than sleeping in a little, since I was saving time by not driving to work. 😴
- Another tip was to get dressed like you're going to work, instead of staying in your pjs all day. While I'm sure there will be a day when I shall remain in comfy clothes, today I wore a nice polka dot sweater and black skinny jeans...well, and Batman socks (shhh, don't tell anyone! 🦇). 
- I decided to go make up-less...it would be a nice break for my skin and save a little money/product.
- I read some of Emma, which is the book we're currently reading for book club. We were hoping to go see the new Emma together, but with Marcus Theaters shutting down, that's been put on hold. 😕
- I decided to make a quick breakfast, since I was at home (normally I don't eat breakfast). I'd bought a few "Just Crack an Egg" containers during my Covid-prep buying and decided to try one (the Denver Scramble, I think). It reasonably good and super easy to make. You literally just crack an egg into the container, add the ingredients (each are in their own little packages) and microwave it for a total of 70 seconds. The ingredients are pretty good too - no preservatives or artificial flavors, 5 Carbs and 9 protein (not including the egg).
- As you might imagine, it was a pretty quiet day. I responded to a few emails, kept in touch with some coworkers...checked and cleared up the boss's email...and I may have played some Oregon Trail and Words with Friends.
- After work I finished Season 9 of American Horror Story: 1984. While it wasn't one of my favorite seasons, it was way better than Cult or Apocalypse (I ranted about them in a post back in 2018), which were both garbage. The best two seasons are still Murder House (first season) and Roanoke. 



Wednesday - March 18th 
- My turn in the office
- Signed up for Novel in a Day 9.5 - a special apocalyptic edition. I participated for the first time last October. If you feel like writing a chapter of a book in 24 hours, you should sign up and give it a try! 
- Another quiet day...only two phone calls - one from a regular crazy and the other from a coworker checking in. 
- Watched part of the president and governor's press conferences with Covid-19 updates.
- Read some more Emma. 
- Helped a friend test run Google Hangouts so we can still have a remote book club meeting on March 28th. Video calls are just bizarre. No me gusta a camera in my face! 😳 
- In the interests of walking/moving around more, I downloaded Pokemon Go for the first time. 
- I started watching Midsommar*, but was unable to finish it (after work, of course!). 



Thursday - March 19th 

I brought one of my presidential duckies home to
accompany me while I work from home.
I left Washington at work to guard the Capitol, while
Lincoln hangs out with the TARDIS.

- Day 2 working from home.Well, kinda. My cousin ended up driving to Lincoln on his way home to Chicago, so I worked in the morning and am using vacation time for the afternoon, since there wasn't pmuch working going on (other than checking my email periodically).
- Made another Just Crack an Egg for breakfast, this time the "Protein Packed Scramble," with bacon, pork sausage and cheddar cheese.
- We made homemade fettuccine alfredo for dinner. Mom made the noodles and I made the sauce. It's one of our "signature meals" because it's so freaking good. Freshly made fettuccine noodles are amazing and definitely worth taking the time to make (instead of using boxed). Ditto with the alfredo.
- Watched the last 30 minutes of Midsommar. 
- Got to hang out and catch up with my cousin & Matt, who was able to join us for dinner.
- Learned that David Spade has a late night show on Comedy Central (whaaat?!).
- Tried to go for a walk with mom around 9pm. We made it to the end of the street before heading home. The temp was dropping and it was super windy...not my cup of tea!
- Speaking of unpleasant weather, there was a severe thunderstorm warning, a tornado watch AND it snowed (though not much). Crazy pants! ❆ 🗲



Friday - March 20th 

It was freakin' cold in
the office this morning! ☃

- Back in the office this morning...which was an igloo. When I walked in, it was 52°. Now it's a whopping 54°. Part of the reason is our leaky windows. There was literally a breeze in here for a bit, with cold air flowing through the window. The other is the heat isn't running for some reason. So weird. 
- Played some more Words with Friends and Pokemon Go.
- My folks and cousin brought Piezano's Chips to the office for lunch. Yum! 
- The office was mostly quiet. I sorted the mail, went thru emails and fielded a couple calls. 
- Read more Emma. Got to get it finished before the 28th! 😬
- Made hot chocolate (at the office) 'cause it was frickin' freezing! 
- Found out that Lincoln now has their first confirmed case of Covid-19, bringing Nebraska confirmed cases to 37 (as of 3/20). 
- It was just officially announced that the legislature will reconvene next week for 3 days (beginning on Monday) to pass an emergency appropriations package, so we have the funds available to deal with this whole Covid-19 catastrophe. Things will briefly get back to a semblance of normalcy for a couple of days, before everyone scatters back to their respective corners of the state. 
- UPDATE: first spider of the season appeared in the basement tonight. 😫 


In general I'm doing ok. I'm stressed, but not worried exactly. We're taking reasonable precautions and are trying to be smart about not going out or being around too many people. I know everything is going to be alright in the long run...but I'd also kinda need a hug and for someone to tell me everything is going to be ok. Wait...I guess an air hug? From 6' feet away? I don't think that will have the same affect. This whole social distancing thing is making physical touch as a love language even more frustrating than usual. 😐


Here are some more things you can do while self-quarantining: 

• Play Oregon Trail
• Virtually tour a famous museum, national parks, aquariums or zoos (especially the penguin cam!). 
• Watch a virtual concert. 
• Attend Mass, either live streamed or once they've been archived. I know two priests in the Lincoln Diocese who are making Mass available this way - Fr. Miller (whose YouTube Channel is The NerdFather) and Fr. Faulkner. 
• Participate in Pray More Novena's Pandemic Novena starting today (March 20th).
• I finally caved and downloaded Pokemon Go. I figured it would be a good way to get me outside, walking around and is another game where I can "interact" with friends. 

Any fun/exciting/educational additions for the self-quarantining list? If you've played Oregon Trail, how far have you made it? In one of my games, I made it less than 100 miles because someone stole all by one of my oxen and then the last one died, so I was stranded. At least I didn't lose anyone to typhoid or dysentery that round! 😬



~ Katie Q. 🐧

* Midsommar mini-review (contains spoilers) 

While it was better, more nuanced and interesting than Hereditary (same writer/director), it rubs your face unnecessarily in the excessively graphic violence and the ritual sex scene (shudder). One example of the violence - a tenet of the commune is that people live in "circle of life" seasons:

0-18=Spring, childhood, where you're brought up by the village and all live together in dormitory style housing.
18-36=Summer, a rumspringa of sorts called their "Pilgrimage."
36-54=Fall, they are of "working age," full adults
54-72=Winter, when they become mentors, guiding the next generation of sociopaths, I mean community members.

Dani (Florence Pugh) asked what happens after 72 and Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren) makes a throat slashing gesture. Dani thinks he's kidding, but he's not. Shortly thereafter everyone at the commune attend a suicide ceremony where two 72 yr olds sacrifice themselves and "complete the circle"  to ensure prosperity by throwing themselves off the top of a quarry looking ledge and smashing onto a rock slab (in hindsight, it probably symbolized a sacrificial altar) below. There are close ups of the fall and resultant carnage. I think the upset and terror of the situation would have been more demoralizing for the audience if they hadn't forced you to have a front row seat to the gore.

So while Jack Reynor is excellent as a gaslighting, asshat of a boyfriend and Florence Pugh does a great job playing a traumatized, codependent girlfriend...oh, and Chidi, I mean William Jackson Harper, is in it...it's not a movie I would recommend.