Reminding Myself about Life Under Covid-19 - Day 306

 

It's a new year, and the weight of COVID-19 still presses me down. For the first time in a long time, COVID-19 hasn't been the most impactful thing in my life for a week. That's both good and bad, more bad, though, since COVID-19 continues to impact all aspects of my life.

Last week I started to watch the counting of the electoral votes. A non-event during most Presidential elections. In fact, I'm not sure I would have known the date or process before this year. In any case, I watched the votes for Alabama and Alaska, and then the protest against Arizona. The reps filed out of the chamber and I went to the gym.

While working out, I saw the protests getting heated, and eventually people break into the Capital building. I went a had a slice of pizza, watching criminals ransacking the building. I was somewhat shocked, and maybe more so that the owner of the pizza place was loudly defending them as not doing anything wrong, not causing any trouble. This was before we knew the scope of the damage, but I doubt his view has changed.

Since then, the talk of impeachment, of arrests and prosecution of the insurrectionists, the pressure in various reps to resign or condemn the actions. Some have, but continue to push the narrative of a bad election. I watched the speeches, or some of them, after Congress reconvened that night. While I appreciated hearing from many reps, I was also disappointed into others that continued to press forward with their complaint. I disagree that the session was the place to do this.

In any case, it appears there may be a second set of articles of impeachment coming, and it continues to dominate the news, even as various people are arrested.

Maybe even more crazy is the banning of our President from Twitter, Facebook, et al. It certainly has made for quieter news cycles in many ways. I was surprised to see that Parler, an alternative social network, was dropped from AWS over the weekend. As of now, I think they are struggling to find a large vendor to host them over the controversy.

I have lots of thoughts and opinions, but this is more about life during this time. We had a quiet Christmas. Kyle came home, and we mostly were here with family for a few days, without much of any sort of activities. We took a break from volleyball and things were quiet.

Tia and I did go to Keystone over New Years, which was weird. We didn't ski, hiked a bit, and relaxed. Takeout from a few places, and then with some of them being able to open under the Colorado 5-star program, we waited an hour to get a table in breakfast place and eat with a waitress. That was a highlight of our trip.

Since then, we've returned to more places opening and restrictions relaxing. Jan 4 allowed lots of changes. The gym now takes 25 for many yoga classes, spread into 2 rooms, or 17 in one, so it's easier to get in and get some exercise. I've appreciate that, though it's still hard to wear a mask. I'm not used to it, though I've given up on complaining.

I hurt my back last week, which was weird, and painful. While struggling to walk, and unsure of what to do, I had a miserable night. Tia found me a chiro Fri am, but it took work. I don't know that it would have been easier without COVID, but I know so many places have reduced hours, spread out appointments, etc., that I did worry about getting in as she called around. To me, one of the major crisis of the whole pandemic is that other non-COVID issues are more problematic. In any case, I was amazed that he fixed me in a day, and I was back to normal by Sunday.

Volleyball started back up, with the whole team after Christmas. We actually practiced with everyone on Jan 3, even though we were supposed to wait until Jan 4. This past weekend (Jan 9) we went back to competition. A higher level, we got beat pretty good, but we were back in a gym, parents got to watch (still 1/athlete) and life felt slightly normal. Coaches went to have a drink afterwards up in Johnstown, and Tia and I even stopped at Casa Mariachi on the way home and got a table.

I'm going skiing tomorrow with a friend. He asked me last week and I agreed. Then we realized we needed reservations, so he started the process at Copper and then we were on the phone, him getting me a buddy pass there. The whole "plan in advance" isn't something I like, but I guess that's where we are. I've gotten used to it for yoga, so I can do this. I hope it ends sometime this year.

I do have some hope. Most people I interact with think the vaccine rollout, while slow, will help smooth things out over time. We'll find a way to start having a more normal life, more in person work, school, etc. by the fall. I hope so, and I do think it's a possibility. I can even see live events potentially in the Sept/Oct/Nov time frame.

Work continues on about the same, though there is a little more aim for thriving rather than coping (or surviving as the CEO noted). I think that's good, though my job certainly looks like it won't change for quite some time. Life will continue to be remote and in my first floor office.

The interesting thing is that my world seems to have shrunk even more, and with more stability. Work every day here, go to the gym 3-4x/week, which is fine. We likely will coach through the summer with 1 or 2 practices a week. We'll get to a few restaurants, and probably do more camping this summer with horses. It's a slower pace, but that's not bad. In fact, it's comforting in some ways as I aim to handle more projects around here.