By: Revanche

Living in the time of pandemic: COVID-19 (293)

January 12, 2026

Year 4 of COVID in the Bay Area

Year 6, Day 259: You know a thing I miss? When people enjoyed media such that for most books or tv shows or movies, you could Google the title and find at least 5 sites dissecting various plot lines and explaining what happened. Sometimes I can’t hear or understand what’s going on and those explainers were great. I also miss Google working properly but those days are also long done.

Currently steeping in senioritis. All the more ironic that I didn’t have senioritis as a student. Deep breaths. Make it to the end of the year. Focus on things that matter: getting help out to people who need it. Whine to the friend who is currently happily unemployed and doesn’t mind empathizing that I keep having to go to work.

Huh. It’s funny. This is usually where I tell myself that people (and dogs) depend on me as a surefire way to make me shake off the malaise and buckle down. Now the thought just makes me tired and resentful. My brain has evolved past only prioritizing everyone else as survival?

Year 6, Day 260: I FIXED THE PRINTER. I actually fixed it yesterday but the printer refused to admit that I had indeed safelisted it on the ISP for a full 24 hours. Today I went over to give it another piece of my mind, I have so many of them to spare, and saw that the wifi icon was finally lit up. I WIN.

*snoopy victory dance*

Pondering my evening workout selection (in the 8-11 minutes I might have in an evening to squeeze it in, so don’t let me misrepresent this as anything so glamourous as actual workout time), all my muscles responded as if to the Little Red Hen: not I, said the arms. Not I, said the legs!

In the end, everyone got it.

60 squats. 51 band pullaparts. 45 calf raises. 47 bicep curls (5 lbs). Trying to remember if I actually did do that 3rd set of curls or if SmolAc distracted me from them. Probably the latter. I don’t think I’d be able to make it through a full set of 25. Or 15. Or 5. An hour later, my arm was protesting the temerity of picking up a 2 lb weight to put it back in its place. Who’s going to be sorry tomorrow morning? Everyone.

Year 6, Day 261: I’ve been testing two phone cases because the first pick turned out to be awful quality. I really like and prefer the colorful red one (for differentiation more than anything else) but the material was so smooth that it’s slippery. Ms Butterfingers over here doesn’t need any help dropping my phone. But the clear case, which feels a little “stickier” is so similar to others that I worry about the case of the mistaken phone recurring.

Once we were on a trip with friends and after bidding us goodnight, our friend departed for her hotel room. After another hour, PiC and I packed it in as well, only, his phone was missing. We retraced all our steps from the whole day and found nothing. I was a mess thinking of what we’d have to do to get it replaced and set up again while traveling out of the country. The next morning, our friend handed over his phone – they had identical cases and she’d taken his by accident! It’s been ten years and I still remember the heartburn. Maybe I can add some creatively distinguishing paint to the case.

Every so often, when I look at a site and close it after a cursory browse, they get hold of my email address and email me some discount code. I appreciate a discount as much as the next bargain shopper but this is going way too far. I hate that they’re managing to get my email address and contact me. UGH. This is another nudge to move fully to DuckDuckGo.

Year 6, Day 262: It’s about to be Girl Scout cookie season again and a) I’m still recovering from paying the December credit card bills (thanks past me for upping our cash cushion) and b) realizing that not even the thought of stress eating GSCs takes the edge off work stress anymore so my body’s clicked over into an anti-eating mode. That’s not unusual. It tends to be either/or. Now I mostly feel like I have an empty stomach and not hungry at the same time. It’s weird. But what a savings!(?)

I’m getting really irritated by the constant religion dropping that keeps coming into JB’s after school activity. It feels especially insulting in this Christo-fascist period of America and I’ve started researching alternate places and activities to replace this once our prepaid membership runs out instead of renewing. No, I won’t bother telling them why, I don’t think they’re reasonable people about this because reasonable people wouldn’t be dripping their Christianity all over everyone at their workplace that is not a church. In my experience, when the gratuitous God and Devil talk starts, it’s all downhill from there for those of us who aren’t Christians. And even for some of us who are. At least a few Christian friends were appalled when I shared it with them and said they’d be mad enough to leave as well. A secular activity is not the time or place.

Year 6, Day 263: It feels like a minute ago (probably 6 years) we had a new toaster oven and thirty seconds later it was all gucky and the glass door was impossible to see through. I’m told this is normal but am sure that other people’s toaster ovens are shiny and clean. I spotted our brand new can of Barkeeper’s Friend and surely this is the precise kind of thing you use that on? Crossed my fingers and set to work because this glass is embarrassing. Not that anyone sees it but us, but still.

After an hour and three rounds of paste application, that’s several hundred layers of grime removed! One corner of the glass is actually clean! The rest of the grime is still very stubbornly clinging but that has to be another weekend’s project. My hyperfixation wants to work at it until it’s all clean in one go because that would be so satisfying but that’s not worth wrecking my hands, shoulders and/or back for weeks.