Covid Updates part who-knows-what

I have a few different places I record my pandemic thoughts--my journal, my blog, a special Covid-19 notebook I have--but it gets to the point where I don't even remember what I've written where, or if there's even a "part i, ii, iii" to all of it. Because, when we get down to it, this feels like the song that will never end. Or like that part in Jacob 7 where Jacob mentions that "our lives passed away as it were unto us a dream." Yep. It's feeling a lot like that nowadays--nowaweeks.

But here are some snapshots of our endless numbered days (if you get the music reference I am making, you will get virtual brownie points--which may or may not be translated into real brownie points once everything settles down).

[typical work station.]

[sam and i re-created a work of fine art.]

[repin's ivan the terrible and his son.]

[we went on walks around capitol hill.]

[secret garden house.]

[complete with home-made face mask, courtesy of betsy.]

[sam and i re-created another work of fine art.]

[i indulged my vanity with sunglasses and selfies.]

[sam and i went to a "pick your own produce" place and wore face masks and brought our own knives, so sam looks like a surgeon in the kale.]

[you can't tell, but i'm smiling.]

[BIG shoutout to some friends in my department who sent over a pile of Super Kontik cookies. MADE MY DAY. And subsequent days, because Sam and I are still enjoying them.]

[slightly crazed, but oh-so-happy to have a coconut Super Kontik cookie Tim-Tam Slam style.] 

We feel incredibly blessed that our friends and family members are safe and whole, but we know that it not the case for millions in the world, and we are doing what we can to flatten the curve. I hope that this next week of the pandemic treats us all more kindly than the last week, whatever the state of your last week may have been. 

Some Quarantine Updates

Earlier last week, Sam and I left Princeton to head down to DC. We knew that there would be stringent measures in the Northeast, and we wanted to be in DC with Sam's family if there were going to be lockdowns (which there subsequently have been--both in New Jersey and in DC). It was good we left earlier rather than later, since starting yesterday, there has been a travel advisory for New York and New Jersey. So we're in DC for the time being (though I really hope I can get back up to Princeton by the end of April). We'll see, I guess. There's so much uncertainty, so it's hard to plan--research, travel, anything, really.

[beautiful princeton in the springtime.]

[i'm convinced that princeton is prettiest in pink.]

Before leaving Princeton, I stopped by the library to gather up any odds and ends in my carrel and to say goodbye (since I really don't know if I'll be coming back there). I was only given a 30 minute slot to get what I needed. Luckily, I didn't have to grab all of my books, some friends had been able to gather together my books five days before--I was out of town and there was an unexpected announcement that they were closing the library for a couple of days, and some friends (shout out to Miri, Bailey, and James) answered my panicked texts and went to go get my books out of my carrel for me. There ended up being about 3 boxes of books and 6-tote-bags of books. In other words, I would not have been able to get all of my books out in 30 minutes. So I am incredibly grateful to them for doing that. Instead, I was able to grab a couple of leftover things out of my carrel and just spend the time feeling melancholy and nostalgic instead of panicked.

[sign of the times]

[empty reading room. very abnormal.]

[everything is GONE. so, SO weird.]

[of course i had to document myself feeling sad. i mean, i guess i didn't have to. but i did.]

[documenting for posterity's sake. and my vanity's sake. but also, look how tired my eyes are. this has been A RIDE.] 

[the vastness of eternity.]

While in quarantine, I've been organizing my research files, writing, reading secondary sources, trying to learn more French, brushing up on my Russian, stress baking, and taking daily walks (although it's much more fun to call them "daily constitutionals"). Writing those things down make it sound like I'm being more productive than I really am. I promise you--I am not being as productive as I usually am. 

[more signs of the time from our passive-aggressive neighbors in princeton.]

[making pancakes.]

[now onto cookies.]

[walks around tacoma park.]

[beautiful cherry blossoms. not the ones around the tidal basin, because those are #offlimits, but these ones in a tacoma park neighborhood were beautiful, too.]

[a rare day when i actually get dressed AND do makeup.]

[maybe it's her, maybe it's quarantine. JK, this one is definitely a maybelline--or a maybelline-adjacent--look.]

Another thing I am doing while I listen to audiobooks is this dot puzzle. It's kind of hard to explain, but it's kind of like a color-by-number picture, but instead you stick on little dots with wax to create a picture: 

[you can't really see the picture, but it's to the right and it will be van gogh's "cafe at night" when we finish it.]

It's mindless, but it also is one of those things where I feel like I'm actually producing something tangible, so it helps me deal with stress. 

Hope you're all healthy, safe, and well during these "unprecedented times" (as every email from Princeton's administration likes to call them).