How embassing, Laura. But now I will remember.

Happy anniversary, Laura and Brendon!

Hi, chrismg! Good to see your font.

I've been feeling angry. It's odd. I usually respond to hardship with depression and anxiety. Last couple days, I'm just mad. Not rage, not yelling, just a low-level burn. Easily annoyed, no patience, maybe a good thing I'm not amongst humans right now. I don't know what to think about this.

It's gonna be Biden and I don't know how I feel about that either. Probably I should leave it at Better Than Tr*mp and not think about it right now.

My sister went to get a pneumonia vaccine today. She hates shots or she'd have gotten it sooner. She's very healthy, but she has a heart condition (an arrhythmia, for which she takes a beta blocker) and she's 70, and I cannot face the idea of something bad happening to her. I know it's statistically likely that someday I will have to face that. But that day better not be soon.

Why are there two Rs in arrhythmia?

Happy anniversary, Laura and Brendon!

Hi all. I've been reading through; offering my concerns for those under pressure from the isolation measures. Congratulations to Maria! And to Laura and Brendon.

Australia, of course, is also struggling with the pandemic. (Current numbers: about 450 confirmed cases, five deaths, exponential growth rates. Cases doubling every four days or so. Even on conservative estimates, we could expect around 50,000 deaths, even with policy responses.) Latest news:

The government has enacted a Level 4 travel ban on the entire world. Bans on gatherings over 100 people, with exemptions for things like hospitals. And gaols. And for public transport, which I understand but seems a worry. (Alternatively, if you decide instead to take an Uber, the Prime Minister of Australia advises that you sit in the back instead of the front. Un-Australian!) There's a stimulus package of course, targetted somewhat more at small businesses than workers. (Yay to the small business support, but I don't think that's enough.) The PM has advised that restrictions may have to remain in place for up to six months. (We, of course, are coming into flu season, not coming out of it.) Parliament for the time being will sit with under 90 MPs, with a deal between govt and opposition to 'bench' an equal number of members each. Three MPs have tested positive so far. One of them is our loathsome Home Affairs Minister.

However, there's no blanket school closure, partly because it could force health care workers to stay home to look after them, and partly because it might be safer to keep all the little petri dishes in one place than having them run amok among decent folk.

Of those diagnosed with COVID-19, the most common identifiable cause is recent overseas travel. (Though in half of the cases, no cause has been identified.) Of those who had travelled overseas, the most common destination was the US. More than Italy or China. (The seventh-most common international source of infection is "Diamond Princess".)

Local supermarkets are trying to enact a dedicated shopping hour first thing in the morning for the elderly and disabled, due to panic hoarders emptying shelves of toilet paper and pasta and such like. It's a good idea but currently, a bit poorly executed. There are still empty shelves when they open the doors, there's been aggro in the queues, and of course it doesn't help disabled shoppers with insufficient mobility to get there in the first place. (They've cancelled home delivery, in theory save for isolated and vulnerable customers, but I think they'er working that one out too.) Hopefully it'll get sorted.

Starting tomorrow, I'll be working from home for the foreseeable future. (I have terrible trouble with the WFH acronym, I keep reading it as either WTH - my initials - or WTF. Startled at the number of people now long-term WTF in the US.) Biyi's parents live with us. They're both pushing 80, and her dad has Type 2 diabetes. It seems prudent for all of us to stay home as much as possible.

Meanwhile, in more positive news, Ryan will be in high school next year. I just got a call from them yesterday - he's been awarded a scholarship! 25% of the school fees. (It's a private school, run by Lutherans.) He's pretty thrilled. We're pretty happy about it too.

Happy anniversary, Laura and Brendon!

[Edit: happy day-after-anniversary! Foiled by Daylight Savings Time by half an hour!]

Thanks for the upduate about amyth upthread. I've been wondering, too.

Has anybody heard an update from javachik, as well?

askye and Maria's family and everybody else whose income is infected so badly (on top of everything else) - I hope things are going to be not-as-bad-as-it-seems-right-now. I wish I had a better wish, but I wanted to stay realistic.

Kate, good luck with the fixing of the sink! How frustrating (and yet, on some way, it was comforting to read, from my no-sinks-falling side of the world, about such a 'regular times' problem).

billytea, congratulations for Ryan! They're lucky to have him.

Hec, fingers crossed for Matilda (and her friends) for the best possible outcome.

Lots of ~ma to all of you. All possible sorts of ~ma.

And with that, I'm off to film (is that the correct verb?) myself teaching, to send to my students.

(It's funny - the students now see me for hours without the mask on my face, when I teach in front of the camera in the quarantined room, while my family haven't, for a week-and-a-half now. Other than when we talk on Whatsapp and when I installed zoom and they helped me make sure I can be seen and heard. Pi++Girl actually sat and listened to a couple of minutes from a lesson I've uploaded to youtube, not understanding a word, of course, just for that very reason.)

I've had insomnia from pain before (mostly low-level chronic) but this is the first time I woke up because of a piercing ITCH on my back. Resting, it feels like it should be one tiny point somewhere near the point of my shoulder bone, but scratching merely puts it to sleep for a few moments.

Screw this. So I'm up for what looks like good.

Oh, Theo. I hope things get better soon, either asleep or awake.

Tries to virtually scratch Theodosia's back...

I slept in this morning until nearly 8. Yikes! I never do that. DH had fed the cats, otherwise they would have been nibbling on my toes.

Had a relaxing evening at home. The kids and DH devoured the corned beef, cabbage, and baby potatoes. Then I decided I should have dessert, when I never have that kind of stuff around. Settled on cool whip and black raspberries, which was super tasty.

And with that, I'm off to film (is that the correct verb?)

Yes, it is. It is such a help to have the technology to still connect with our families while in quarantine. And do our jobs!

I'm hoping that the use of tech to keep so many at home helps to get this spread under control. If it helps to keep it from exploding, as we all expect it will, I will happily roll my eyes at all those who claimed we overreacted.

Local supermarkets are trying to enact a dedicated shopping hour first thing in the morning for the elderly and disabled

My local Stop and Shop is doing this as well.

I just placed a Whole Foods delivery order. Friday night was the earliest delivery.