Author’s Note: Given my own chronic health condition not much has changed for me even post-vaccination. But, I’ve been having fun though, watching, observing and listening as people “return to normalcy.” This post is a pondering on an amalgamate of some of those observations. You’ve likely seen it, but have you done it? You know, […]
Caution: Twist and Turns May Be Ahead
I was all set to sunset Pandemic Ponderings this month with the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps the pontification and consternation about this once in a century event would now be in the rearview mirror, I thought to myself while brainstorming new topics to write about. Alas, then the universe said, […]
Welcome to the Strange Times
There were the Before Times – complete with crowded bars and weekends when we planned to get away from the hustle and bustle. Then there was 2020 – the love child of a dumpster fire and a murder hornet’s nest. There will be the After Times – when we’re drunk on joy and high on […]
Mind Your Language
There’s a bee that’s been in my bonnet for the duration of the pandemic. It’s about words. Specifically, the use (or shall we say, misuse) of words like lockdown and quarantine. Let’s put things in perspective: If you have been interacting with one or more human beings, you are not in quarantine. If you go […]
Laugh. Cry. Sing. Shout.
One year. One shocking, saddening, sobering, stressful year. It was last March when most of us (in the US) began sheltering-in-place. Thus began a flipbook of individual journeys that made up one collective sojourn. So what do you do when the pandemic isn’t over, but one year is? You know when sometimes you […]
Interpreting the Interpretations
I belong to a semi-exclusive club. Let’s call it the Invisible COVID Club, not because we have COVID, but because we’re petrified of getting it. We are the “people with underlying conditions.” If we get COVID-19 we’d likely end up all alone on a ventilator and quite possibly, worse. We’re already a statistic and don’t […]
Panic During the Pandemic
Everything is a little worse (or a little weirder) during the pandemic. Panic is no exception. With the pending US election, anxiety levels have been at an all-time high. Is this because this is considered to be the most consequential election of our lifetime? Is this because the United States is the most divided it […]
The Pain of Perspective
We hit 200,000 deaths in the U.S. from COVID-19 earlier this week. Despite the related infographics and headlines, it didn’t seem like anyone was too shocked. too bothered or too affected. There were other stories in the news and other items on our to do lists. There was a sense that we should be in […]
Thanks for the Melodies
Remember at the start of the pandemic when people were saying this was the ideal time to learn something new or adopt a new hobby? Hats off to all who mastered a new language, became mixologists or finally read that one Jane Austen novel that got left behind. Me? Not so much. I had intentions, […]
The New Normal? Try Again.
I’m not a fan of the phrase, the new normal. Aside from it feeling hackneyed, it’s also binding. And during a pandemic, we have enough restrictions, don’t we? If we say that the state we are in is the new normal, we give it permanence, even if it is subconsciously. There’s nothing normal about this time, nor […]
