The Big Quarantine – May, 13 2020
5/13 is Cincinnati Day in honor of our 513 area code. Happy Cincinnati Day!
The Day in Assessment: Throughout the Confinement, I have definitely taken some time for self assessment. I’ve looked back at personal triumphs and failures, friends gained and friends lost, and why I never found Mr. Right or did I find him but I wasn’t paying attention. I’ve thought about how I manage time, food, money, and so many other life choices. A world crisis seems like a good time for honest self assessment that doesn’t wallow in the negative or over-emphasize the positive. Having time to take peek at my own psyche is part of the journey has been an unexpected luxury in the Covid Era. In real life who has time for belly-button gazing? All things considered, I’ve decided I’m actually leading a pretty charmed life. I’m sure the people who disagree now will come around at some point. LOL!
Today, in more external, and way less existential assessment I took some skills tests. The tests, on Word and Excel use, were assigned by a company interested in interviewing me. I always think of skills tests as very boring trivia nights where you’re sure you’ve heard the answer before, but all of the sudden your brain questions your own knowledge. Also work skills tests, unlike trivia nights, don’t include beer or friends. Sigh!
Skills tests can be nerve-wracking because in the test environment, you don’t get to fiddle around. In real life, you can click around a bit to figure something out. On a test, which is timed, you get one try and if you click in the wrong place it moves you right along. Of the 60 questions I answered this morning, about four of them ended in me yelling at my computer, “You have got to be kidding me!!”
The Day in Losing my Social Touch: I know I’ve been out of the bar scene for too long when I couldn’t answer a simple, three-letter crossword clue this morning about drinking. As you can see, 16 across is 1/3 complete and I still couldn’t come up with the answer for a “bar offering with ‘double’ and ‘triple’ varieties.” Back in the day, bar questions were so easy! Not so much now, apparently. I backed into filling in the squares to finally see the answer “IPA.” Again, I yelled at the computer, “You have got to be kidding me!!”
The Day in Hand Sanitizer: Pre-Covid, I hated to use hand sanitizer. Germs were more acceptable to me back then. Without getting too into it, for me personally having read about the prevalence of products that kill 99.9% of germs and potential negative impacts on immune systems and the emergence of super germs, I’ve opted out. Plus, my hands never feel clean after using hand sanitizer.
In the Covid era, I will tolerate hand sanitizer use, but only if it is thrust upon me. Yesterday, it was thrust upon me.
In my bag from NCH Coffee where I bought masks, I found a bottle of hand sanitizer that I did not expect to see. First, I checked the receipt to make sure I didn’t steal it…I didn’t. It was just accidentally added to the order. Whew. This is not the time to start my life of crime.
In a pique of serendipity and yet another sign of the charmed life I lead, the surprise hand sanitizer brand is “Maybe You Touched Your Genitals Hand Sanitizer.” I mean, if I’m going to live in a world where I’m willingly using hand sanitizer, this is my brand.
Nothing Ever Happens on My Street 