Weekend Plans Post: The Many Joys Of Self-Isolation
I got the call on Tuesday. “Jaybird, you were in a room yesterday that had someone in it last week that has, this week, tested positive for Coronavirus”.
They weren’t in it the day that I was in it, mind. They were in it the week before. But the guy I got the call from WAS in it the week before and he was the guy I had been working with on Monday.
Which, according to official protocols, counts as “Indirect Contact”. According to management, direct contact mandates a 14-day quarantine period where you are not allowed to go into work and must work from home until the 14 days are over (and use vacation or sick time if you can’t work from home).
Indirect Contact, however, has an official policy of “use your best judgment”. What the heck does that mean? What if I’ve got crappy judgment?!?
Anyway, I’m self-isolating for a week and then I’m going to do a re-assessment come Monday. (Luckily, the work that I was doing this week was entirely research and catching up on documentation.) This means staying in the basement except for bed, sleeping in different rooms, using different restrooms, making individual meals instead of meals for 2, and, essentially, being like that episode of Laverne and Shirley where they put tape across the middle of the apartment.
And so this weekend is going to be more of THAT. Temperature taking, hand-washing, meals-for-one. (I do go out for jogs but they’re more or less in the middle of the street, well after rush hour is over, and I am no more out of breath than any given jog I’ve taken over the last few months.)
Fingers crossed.
So… what’s on your docket?
(Featured image is Tiger sleeping in the other quarantine room with the other quarantined person. Picture taken by Maribou.)
Fingers crossed indeed. I’m crossing mine. Keep us posted. And best to Maribou, too.Report
Back on the mat baby! Yes, it’s drilling and conditional training and not full sparring, but having four months away has so downgraded my endurance and flexibility I don’t mind.
Then it’s virtual nerd fest. We’re off to infiltrate the General of the Dragon Army’s camp and, hmm…keelz him, then maybe we’ll close that rift from Avernus.
Sunday I got a date with a hot chick, so it’s a trifecta of sorts.Report
Ugh, that’s terrible. Good thoughts that nothing develops and it’s just a boring however-many days.
“Use your best judgement” is one step away from “You’re on your own” which is kind of where I feel I am in this. There’s not much guidance or help offered professors here so I’m muddling along best I can and right now my plans for fall are “wear a mask, wash my hands like I was Adrian Monk, and try to stay 6′ from people at all times, and hope real hard no one who is infectious shows up to class”
I could teach all online but one of my classes is like 10 people and that seems a little ridiculous – they can all spread out in the room
I’ve decided to take a trip out to a horseback riding trail about 15 miles from here and walk on it. (I don’t own a horse; I live in town). I need to be outside. Not being able to do “fun” shopping or go to restaurants or see people will be a tiny bit easier if I can get out into nature a couple times a month. Also getting out into nature helps shut up the roar of worry in my head, at least for a bit.Report
What’s that? It’s Friday? Huh, I guess I’ll just …
[stares into the distance]Report
So, last Sunday my father passed away. And this is a good thing, as he suffered from Alzheimer’s, and it was intensely sad to watch to decline.
I am mostly OK with this, but just a little sad.Report
Very sorry for your loss, AaronReport
Oh, that sucks. I’m sorry that this is happening. Ugh.
What a crappy year.Report
Sorry for your loss. Even when someone’s suffering it’s still hard to go through. I just passed the year mark on losing my dad. (It gets better, not as fast as you think it will, but it gets better)Report
Sorry Man. Even with his decline I’m sure it wasn’t something you were really ready for. Be sad. Be happy for what he gave you. Just be. Its ok.Report
Thank you, everyone. In many ways, I was able to make my peace with his passing a few weeks ago when I traveled down to see him and was able to actually say goodbye. It was clear then that the time would be soon and that I would not get another chance to see him. He recognized me at first, but two days later I don’t think he knew who I was. His wife confided in me that he no longer recognized her, but that it didn’t matter, as she still loved him.
Alzheimer’s is a beast of a disease.Report
Condolences. My mom died at 92 last month. She was still sharp mentally, but was becoming disconnected from the world physically, first with failing hearing and then with failing vision. Also outliving so many of her friends and acquaintances. My sister and I both think that she was ready.
That reminds me that I need to rewatch Bicentennial Man. The critics may have hated it, but the tragedy of outliving everyone that’s important to you always rips me up.Report
Sorry Aaron. May his memory be a blessing.Report
I went on a jog on the jogging route that has a hill at the halfway point. As I jogged up the hill, I said “oh my gosh! I’m out of breath! Surely this is the first stage of the covid!” and I turned around at the top of the hill and jogged back down and realized that, no, I’m just a chubby guy who jogs to get exercise and jogging up a hill is a good way to get out of breath, when you’re chubby.Report