Yes, they announced he tested negative. Aren't you so relieved?

I have been deemed essential

I've always thought so. How is Mac doing? Did your parents move?

mac still does not communicate much, but seems to be ok. I 'm pretty sure he is not going to class at all, but that is his choice he has to figure out.

My parents are in their new place for a few weeks now and they are now on lockdown on the site. they can leave on their own, but no group outings, no eating in the common areas, and no unessential visitors, all visitors have their temo taken and be asked questions.

Msbelle I hope they continue to be ok.

I was filling my cart for Walmart pick up and then worried I was being a food hoarder. But a lot was out of stock and the earliest pick up is Monday. So I stopped that I may go out I don't know.

I am going to try and my hair cut. Talked to Mom and she asked me not to come see her tomorrow. I may Skype with her instead. This is hard.

Work was pretty steady. Not Saturday busy but steady. I did like a weekday worth of sles. Or 2 of the part time guys did the sales and gave them to me while I worked on one of my stock rooms. I didn't get a smucb done as I wanted but I got all the boxes emptied and on the shelves. I probably moved around a couple hundred shoe boxes if you count the ones I had toove twice. My arms and shoulders are going to be sore.

Home was peaceful ish when I got here. There was some self medicating going on and that has helped. I talked to Matthew's mom about asking her Dr for anti anxieteds. Her biggest issue right now is boredom and no way to taker her mind off things. She doesn't read well and has a short attention span so even watching movies is hard.

She did buy a coloring book and is going to try that . I may get some connect the dots coloring books as well. She doesn't like puzzles of any kind but she seemed open to that.

I know solving her issues isn't my responsibility but it will make my life happier.

Oh and in the morning meeting the store manager said yesterday we were down $30,000 in sales. It was the worst day for this week. I can't remember what the sales goal was but I think around $55,000

Hola, Buffistas. A quick meara: Nilly, good to hear from you and delightful to hear about your children, and may the quarantine be the worst thing to come from this for your lovely family! Cashmere, I'm thinking of you and your family, may this awful situation resolve as best as possible for your poor dad and your troubled brother. KB, so glad to hear your kitty is doing better! Debet, job~ma for you and your DH. Trudy, travel~ma for your mom. Jesse, congrats on quitting smoking! Strix, congrats on relaxing without Ambien! Steph, glad the wedding was a success, and may your friend come through surgery okay. Shir, congrats on successful sciencing! askye, may your conversation with your SO go well. msbelle, I hope mac and your parents will be well. May everyone and their beloveds and their businesses be safe from the pestilence and its effects.

My new job is going okay; the people are really nice and seem competent and cool under pressure. One co-worker sometimes brings in her dog, a sweet black labradoodle who comes in my office for pets, so that's a bonus. And wow, there's a lot of free food. The only downside is, the person who's supposed to be training me has been out sick since my first day, so I'm just sort of learning stuff on the fly and doing what I can to help out. Everyone is helping teach me stuff, but no one has time to sit down and formally train me. They've been operating on half-staff since October, supposed to be nine people and they're down to five (last week four, not counting me) and they're all overwhelmed. But they've made me feel welcomed and valued, which is a plus over my last job. So I'm pretty happy.

I am, however, exhausted. I'm sure this will get easier but damn. I'm used to sitting on the couch all day... I'm going to start wearing my Fitbit again; after I broke my ankle I stopped bothering with it. Damn, that was almost three years ago! No wonder I'm so out of shape. I found a physical therapist who's working miracles; she's getting my ankle to move and bear my weight again. It still hurts but not as bad, and it doesn't buckle under me anymore. It'll never be as flexible and strong as it used to be, but I'm getting back the ability to walk without the cane and that's something I thought I'd never be able to do.

I went to Walmart this afternoon, to make sure I have everything I need just in case. I've never seen Walmart, or Charlottesville, so un-peopled on a Saturday afternoon. Not empty, but not as crowded as usual. Lots of empty shelves, but I was able to get everything I wanted except cat litter. Hopefully I can Instacart that later. Good thing I didn't need toilet paper.

Virginia declared a state of emergency two days ago, and all schools have been closed for the next two weeks. We already voted, luckily. People around here are finally starting to take this thing seriously, I think. Although 120 people showed up for our meeting last week, people were elbow-bumping and avoiding handshakes and using the hand sanitizer we put everywhere, and no one was complaining or eyerolling. My new workplace has cancelled/postponed all meetings for the next month, and the CEO told us we may start working from home. Ironic, I know. Almost as ironic as me having self-isolated for years and then started working in a office the week after a pandemic started. Oh, the jocularity.

I have to give a shout-out to anyone who lives with anxiety all the time, because I've never been anxious like this before, and I hate it! How do you all function???

Barely? Essential systems only, social systems require manual operation, life support at 50%, maintenance routines on autopilot.

Zen kitty, I feel badly because we have a new program assistant and she is sort of in a trial by fire, because I have been pulled to the COVID-19 educational task force and am unavailable for training. She is doing great, though, and I am trying to coach through email while I am in the :command center".

With regard to anxiety, I'm terrible at every day life, but great at emergencies, Since we are in an emergency, my anxiety is actually lower, I have two classes I am assigned to help on Monday, and all my crazy prep for the students to go online is actually appreciated!

Zen! Much love.

Cat is doing better but is still on feeding tube (not such great news since we really, really, really want to give him a bath. He stinks, and we're doing laundry and disinfecting everything regardless of the coronavirus. Other!cat is hissing on sick!cat because of the smell, both want to sleep with me in my bed (my roommate, for what's left of her sanity, doesn't allow him to sleep on her bed), so between the hissing and keeping him from scratching the feeding tube I do no get much sleep).

And... more of democracy got cancelled yesterday in Israel (mass surveillance on people to know who was where and when). And you can't protest anything right now with the order not to assemble more than 10 people with a distance of 2 meters from one another.

And I see how hard this whole thing is on friends with mental illness and friends who are health workers, and I can't really help. And that is what's hitting me.

I also got off the social media for a long time yesterday -- HBO is having a 'free' weekend, so I was able to stream all of The Outsider yesterday, which I do highly recommend, and then finally got around to watching Shazam which was a little camp-tastic -- on the other hand, the actor playing adult Shazam had real fun chemistry with the foster brother.

Anyway, didn't think about viruses or quarantines or anything for a couple hours. That was nice.

Zen, so good to read about your new co-workers and physical therapy improvement. You should be appreciated and pain free!

Msbelle, that sounds like reasonable plans at your parents new place.

I know solving her issues isn't my responsibility but it will make my life happier.

Does she use technology at all? You can get lost in computer card games/Sudoku/Mahjong/etc for many hours a day.

I was laughed off for being irrational over expressing worries/slight disgust about double dipping of food and sharing of utensils with people I don't share fluids with.

Coronavirus and preferences aside, my immune system is not what it used to be pre illness few years back, so yeah, I don't think it's that irrational.

I was laughed off for being irrational over expressing worries/slight disgust about double dipping of food and sharing of utensils with people I don't share fluids with.

Are you kidding me? That's ridiculous. The laughing off part, not you!!

I guess I have no excuse for not going to church now, since it's going to be livestreaming on Facebook....