Day 0
At 1 PM, San Francisco mayor London Breed and five county public health officials simultaneously announced that the whole San Francisco Bay Area will be under "shelter-in-place" mandatory lockdown stage for at least the next three weeks. Went to office one last time today to bring my plants home. Somebody's got to water them and keep them alive!
The first full day under the mandatory "shelter-in-place" order. We don't have to go to work today (even if we want to, because working-from-home can be distracting). So I was sleeping in a little longer. Until I heard the garbage truck's signature engine sound. Of course the garbage collector had to do his round extra-early this very day! Murphy's Law in action.
Panic!! Forgot to place the garbage bins at the curb last night!!! I ran downstairs in my pajamas to take the bins out. But alas! Too late! The garbage truck has already driven past our house and moved on to two houses down our street. But I don't play tennis and chase those fugitive balls for nothing! I literally chased the garbage truck lugging my trash bin with me. The driver saw me in his rear view mirror and stopped. Long story short---my garbage bin is cleared for this week. And I got to socially interact with the garbage truck driver for the first time in my life---from the safe distance of more than 6 feet, recommended by the county public health officials, i.e. without compromising anybody's safety. #smallvictories#SafeSocializationInTheTimeOfCOVID
Day2
After a long day of staying at home (work-from-home for me and my husband; no school for our son), this is the family conversation:
Husband (sounding tired): "I badly need a walk, man!"
Me (pulling his leg): "You badly need a walkman?" (smiles)
Son (genuine question): "What is a walkman?"
Me (pulling his leg): "You badly need a walkman?" (smiles)
Son (genuine question): "What is a walkman?"
Day 3
Every day is “bring your pet to work day” now. As much as they love their human friends, I bet the pets love to hang out with their own kind too. After all how much of multiple humans yapping over multiple video calls at different corners of the house can one take! This morning, I found Biscuit by the door, eagerly waiting to get out, hoping to bump into his neighborhood friends. Currently there is no evidence that your animal can become ill with COVID-19 or that they can spread it to other animals or people. (https://kstp.com/…/can-your-pet-get-coronavirus-he…/5678711/).
But it becomes an interesting gymnastics when the human owners have to maintain a 6 feet social distance between themselves, but the dogs want to play with each other. We are definitely living through a very weirdly unique time when everyone is feeling connected with others more than ever because of this unifying threat, but is denied the well-known social gestures of proximity. #SocialExperimentInTheTimeOfCOVID #PetsInTheTimeOfCOVID
But it becomes an interesting gymnastics when the human owners have to maintain a 6 feet social distance between themselves, but the dogs want to play with each other. We are definitely living through a very weirdly unique time when everyone is feeling connected with others more than ever because of this unifying threat, but is denied the well-known social gestures of proximity. #SocialExperimentInTheTimeOfCOVID #PetsInTheTimeOfCOVID
Day 4
"Creativity must have these pregnant phases of nothingness to retool its cradle, i.e., your brain." I am recycling my own words from an old blog (http://mblogger-detritus.blogspot.com/…/07/ode-to-boredom.h…) that I wrote back in 2013. Right now all of us are a little on the edge, a little bored, a little frustrated. But I can see that the creative juices are starting to flow. One of my friends ended up painting Van Gogh's Starry Nights. (Yes, I am talking about you, Melissa Agrillo 
). An ex-colleague said she is finally decorating her new home. While walking around the block with my dog, I see neighbors' gardens are looking extra-beauitiful.
The urge to learn something new, or at least improve on something that I already know the basics of, is a constant for me. But these days, that urge is way more keen, because of the forced deprivation of the sensory overload that our regular life throws at us. Still, I was a little surprised myself when the first "creative" pursuit that I picked up this week is learning emoji. We trivialize emojis, but it is one of the most cutting-edge areas of law (https://abovethelaw.com/…/02/is-emoji-law-going-to-be-a-th…/ Professor Eric Goldman--couldn't resist a shout out to you). And thanks to my tennis buddy Sony, who is the most savvy emoji user in my friends' circle, patiently teaching me, the world of emojis is finally opening up to me. I am thrilled to discover that you can communicate so effectively when you know how to use the right emojis, and for that matter, the vast repertoire of other non-textual tools, including graphics and memes. For a mid-lifer who has a very strong preference for the classic manner of communication through written words only, this is nothing short of a miracle. So in a very convoluted way, thank you COVID-19 and social distancing. #RenaissanceInTheTimeOfCOVID
). An ex-colleague said she is finally decorating her new home. While walking around the block with my dog, I see neighbors' gardens are looking extra-beauitiful.The urge to learn something new, or at least improve on something that I already know the basics of, is a constant for me. But these days, that urge is way more keen, because of the forced deprivation of the sensory overload that our regular life throws at us. Still, I was a little surprised myself when the first "creative" pursuit that I picked up this week is learning emoji. We trivialize emojis, but it is one of the most cutting-edge areas of law (https://abovethelaw.com/…/02/is-emoji-law-going-to-be-a-th…/ Professor Eric Goldman--couldn't resist a shout out to you). And thanks to my tennis buddy Sony, who is the most savvy emoji user in my friends' circle, patiently teaching me, the world of emojis is finally opening up to me. I am thrilled to discover that you can communicate so effectively when you know how to use the right emojis, and for that matter, the vast repertoire of other non-textual tools, including graphics and memes. For a mid-lifer who has a very strong preference for the classic manner of communication through written words only, this is nothing short of a miracle. So in a very convoluted way, thank you COVID-19 and social distancing. #RenaissanceInTheTimeOfCOVID
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