Corona Confinement – The Big Q: #28

The Big Quarantine – Monday, April 13, 2020

The day is flying by and my brain is working overtime…see what you think.

The Day in Future Days: I’m thinking about how the pandemic will look to people in 50 or 75 years. What got me thinking about this is how people today look at older people who lived through the Depression and wonder why that generation won’t throw anything away. A lot of them keep “potentially” useful things – rubber bands, empty food containers, paper bags. If you ask them why they have so many of “X”, they shake their heads like we’re the morons and say, “you never know.”

By the way, the definition of hoarding has changed over the past 100 years or so. It started out meaning to hoard money and coins, especially gold. By WWII there was a new type of hoarding, domestic hoarding. These hoarders held onto stuff and many did so based on their experience of living through the Depression and WWII. Since then, we have become a throw away society where we tend to use things once and pitch them. Will the pandemic create a new generation of domestic hoarders?

In 50 years or so when our kids and estate liquidators go through our stuff, what will they find? Not money, probably.  Maybe postage stamps (will they know what those are?) A lot of our electronic lives will be erased because technology will have moved along. (We create and erase so much electronic history every day.  Think of what could be on the floppy disk you found in the office. You’ll never know.) Will we have more toilet paper than our future people think we need? Will we have a file of printed out “pantry cooking recipes?” Will they be pleased by our jigsaw puzzles and board games? What will they say about the masks we leave in boxes on our shelves?

I should note, I think of the future historians a lot since I read the NY Times article Which Rock Star Historians of the Future Remember. It’s a fascinating and long-ish article about how history puts our lives into perspective. For those who want to cut to the chase, the writer, noted cultural chronicler Chuck Klosterman says it’ll be Chuck Berry. Let that sink in.

The Day in Let’s Go to the Office: First off, I did not go to an office, I created a virtual one in my mind. This means I decided to treat today like a work day so I could efficiently get some personal business done. I did pretty good, despite showing up an hour late. I blamed traffic, because that’s what you do!

I started the day in the “break room” making coffee and cleaning out the fridge. I was the fridge police at my last job. I sure do miss yelling at people about expired salad dressing and yogurt. Anyway, my morning break room re-enactment was pretty solid.

I only worked a half day and got a lot done. No bra, and, of course, no Bro’s, miscellaneous coworkers, managers, or corporate nonsense. I did try to start some drama with one of my figurines. “Yo, why you hanging out on the shelf all day, we got work to do?”

The Day in Stamps: I’ve been out of postage stamps for a few days. In this week when the (mostly) beloved United States Postal System is under attack by our own government, I’m pleased to say snail mail is one of my favorite old-fashioned pleasures. I send a lot of postcards, and it will never cease to amaze me how a slip of paper gets from one mailbox to another without getting lost. I’m pretty easy to impress, I know.

Here’s a postage stamp joke:

 A lady bought a stamp at the post office and asked the clerk, 
"Shall I stick it on myself?"
  The clerk replied, "It'll get there faster if you stick it on 
the envelope."

…Rim shot!!

The Day in Miniatures: Feeling sheepish today.

 

 

 

 

Covid 19 Info

If you want to help local bars and restaurant and their workers, please check out the links below:

Pleasantry OTR and Allez Bakery: Buy a meal for a healthcare worker

Restaurant Workers Relief Program: https://leeinitiative.org/

This organization needs funds and donations to keep feeding furloughed restaurant workers for the Restaurant Workers Relief Program. All donations go right back to the restaurants in your city that are feeding people in need.⁣
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We need supplies: diapers, baby food, tampons, toilet paper, canned food, and shelf stable food.⁣

We can only buy in limited amounts so we need you to help us⁣
Please order online at @amazon @target @walmart @instacart @meijerstores or any delivery service, buy supplies through your account and ship it to the local restaurant that is giving in your city.⁣
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CDC – Cases in the United States