Day 20: April 1st, 2020

Day 20

Slept better. 

Woke up, ate breakfast.

I walked in the rain with my new yellow pancho.

Lots of traffic for quarantine traffic.

I just found out there were a bunch of earthquakes in Idaho, specifically the town and lake I used to visit every summer as a kid. My grandparents and many family members were from Idaho. I am imagining that lake just splashing around all day long. I hope everyone is safe.

Took recycling out with my bandana around my face because the rain stopped and had to spend time by the dumpster.

Mom was very nice and brought us much needed cleaning supplies. Now I can try to use the laundry room if I need to with out as much worry.

I got materials out to make a few three layer masks. I will work on them tonight and tomorrow I hope.

Ended up cleaning the bathroom, parts of the kitchen and windows. 

Also, watched Kim's Convenience on Netflix until I fell asleep. I worked on a drawing too.

Day 19: March 31st, 2020

Day 19

Accidentally deleted this day in my notepad. Wow. Where is ctrl+z when you need it? Well, here is what I recalled happened.

I ate breakfast, the storm light outside was really pretty outside. I took a photo to put online. 

Listened to an at home John Legend concert.

I talked to my mom on a new app. It was really nice to see her and my dad, and to talk to her. I paced on my balcony with my gaming headset on, video chatting with my mom for a while.

Then I rearranged the airpurifier because the apartment is getting stuffy. Bad airflow plus not leaving the apartment plus rain is not a good combo. I hate allergies.

I watched more of The Office.

Talked about camping and Idaho in general and looked at randomness online. (See Day 20 when it goes live.)

Day 14: March 26th, 2020

Day 14

Waiting for final prescription to be filled. It has been 5 days since I requested them. Presciption rules are particularly dumb right now when I want to make few as possible trips to the pharmacy.

Found the obituary for my boyfriend's great aunt. She died a little over a week ago. 

Today was a sad day. 

Day 13: March 25th, 2020

Day 13

Helping boyfriend troubleshoot work from home situation.

Microphone not working on either computer for skype. Trying to figure out why. Have two mics. One is a headset. 

Parkinglot is very full today. Good sign that people are not listening to our dumb president.

Boyfriend did a food shopping trip. Missed a couple items. Still no cleaning supplies. We only have a little bottle of bleach and about 5 clorox wipes. And half a container of rubbing alcohol. I hate to even use it when we need it. Some regular bar soap is on the way from amazon and we have the soap I am allergic to. 

I am glad for the lessons I learned from my wwII/depression era grand parents. We are not doing too bad, except for the cleaning supplies. And we know how to make things last a bit.

People outside at 5 standing in the parking lot at 6ft apart talking and laughing. It is an odd sight. I want to walk, but need to wait for the standers to be gone.

Watching Blast From the Past. Rented it on Youtube. I love the soundtrack and thought the theme of living in the bunker was suitable but still funny enough to make us laugh at our current isolation situation.

The news is rough today. I hope people can stay at home as much as possible and eventually get the support they need from the billionaires.

Day 8:March 20, 2020

Day 8

Slept in. 

Just feel tired and headachey.

I have been doing much more than normal. It is good, but I need to remember to watch my health more carefully. 

Went on social media

Looked through my gg'mas old post cards. Found ones from during spanish flu.

Posted 3 of my family's post cards on twitter. I have some family post cards from during the 1918 influenza (aka the spanish flu), which lasted in the US from 1918 through 1920. 

I thought I would post a few of the post cards, because, like tweets, they say a little about life during a pandemic, like a short story.

I have fewer postcards from this time period compared to before and after. I do not know if my great grandmother was just busier or life was more hectic for them in general.

I did notice they tried to talk even if they had nothing to say. ❤️ That's love.

Boyfriend and I are rating car alarms. First today was a little weak, not great sound. We have a favorite, it gets a lot of air time and it has a nice beat. 

Went out for a walk around the neighborhood. It was rush hour on friday. It looked more like 8pm on a Monday. There was a jogger and a couple people doing yard work. We tried our best to navigate from parked cars and mail boxes.

Watched some youtube, faves being Jimmy kimmel with his fam with formal friday was cute and binging with babish and his pantry basics chickpea edition, very inventive.

Ended the night with popcorn and Australian soccer.

Day 10:March 22, 2020

Day 10

Very stressed.

Day 7: March 19th, 2020

Day 7

I read some of the comic book Locke and Key on amazon. Then I did chores and ate breakfast. I am going slow today because I am tired.

Social media was very busy. Saw Andrew Lloyd Webber playing a piece from phantom in his own home over Twitter. It was All I Ask Of You, from Phantom.

Many more musicians on Twitter today, especially after several at the metropolitan opera were laid off.

Turned on espn, and the talking heads mostly spoke about which players were infected. 

Outside music is blaring, small group of people enjoying the sun next door and a dog barks. I worked on catching up on blog posts.

After reading more news, I see states working out the details of how to manage the epidemic and quarentine. Meanwhile, I see some in the federal government being exposed for using the situation to their personal benefit.

A large small business in the area is having trouble. They are a famous bookstore in Portland named Powell's. Time to order books from them and not from Amazon. 

Tonight, my boyfriend and I are watching the Mandalorian while we eat tofu and bean tacos.

The ugh is this really happening news is there are several spring breakers still spending spring break as norm and Covid-19 is being framed as the "chinese" virus by Trump.

Possible formal friday. Cute idea.

Day 4: March 16th, 2020

The Decemberists

Today started off fairly normal. I did chores and took care of my elderly cat by which I mean I cleaned her bed by hand because that is how being a cat nurse goes. I decided it was time to take the recycling out to the big blue bin and took the trash out too. Then I walked around the parking lot at my complex. There were many cars parked. By the time I walked a forth loop I noticed no cars or people interrupted me. This was a good sign, but it still seemed eerie.

My boyfriend went to work today but said he would likely work from home from here on out. It is nice that he has that ability. We can do our part by staying home and away from others as much as possible.

I started to see the positive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic today. There is something in humans that makes us fear radical change and so we tend to bind together in times of hardship. Humanity is often at its greatest when the situation is at its worst.

The musicians and other creative artists began to entertain over the internet. They are lifting spirits and, hopefully, keeping their careers afloat. I watched a concert the Colin Meloy from the Decemberists streamed from his home in Portland on Instagram.

I watched the "Decemberists" concert from my couch while sipping a beer and vegetarian curry. Colin Meloy said it is their 20th anniversary. He played ten songs, the first if which were Make You Better, Raincoat Song, On The Bus Mall, and Your Red Right Ankle. The comment section was filled with happy and heart filled emojis, people yelling lyrics, thank yous, and song requests. His kid brought a chicken in near the end and the bird photo-bombed the last song. It was a nice concert and retreat from the madness.

Retailers are closing up or going on a restricted schedule. Some restaurants are switching to carryout only. Wallstreet, the courts, and the private sector are struggling to adapt to the pandemic's needs and constraints.

Day 1: March 13th, 2020

Don't Panic

It snowed, hailed, and rained today. In the midst of everything going on, the weather seems to be an additional freakout. But, in reality, this is just an average March day. 

Most people are going nuts over covid-19. I think some of it is warranted, some of it is nonsense or worse. Please, do not get me wrong. Awareness is important and so is safety. Panic is not so helpful, on the other hand.

The president gave a speech with incorrect information about leadership direction, the pandemic, and the public's reaction. While some of the information may technically be correct, most of it was discounted by those closer to the pandemic later in the day. 

I think this will be par for the course going forward, it only worries me a little. There will probably be some mixed messages and some people not listening to the correct messages from the CDC. If most of us stay on track, all should be safe.

In general, my day went fine...

My boyfriend bought some fairly normal groceries, but a little more than usual so we could stay away from the crowds or have a couple back up meals. There was no tofu left in the store, but we managed. We were out of toilet paper and luckily only our toilet paper was left on the shelf, the recycled kind. 

The late night talk shows had no audience last night. Most of the guests did not show up either. It was very odd. I know we will get through this, but how? Netflix, and Steam, that's how.

Thanks to the late Douglas Adams for our new ubiquitous motto. So many are using the tag line; Don't panic. It makes me laugh.

What I Didn't Learn In High School PE & Health - Marching Is Great

For several years I've had a bone to pick with the rigidity of the physical fitness classes and health philosophies taught to me while I was in High-School. The reason for this is, I believe, many of our ideas for how to keep in shape are formed during this time, and to build a solid foundation of health and fitness it is imperative that a good solid understanding of how to exercise is learned. The key here is there are many roads to get to that one healthy goal.

At my high school it was required that we take basic health and PE as Freshmen and then continue with supplemental credits to fulfill the rest of the requirements. For PE, that requirement was often satisfied with credit with sports participation or individual study. My issue stems from the exclusion of specific activities as "active" and "beneficial" to a healthy lifestyle. Also, that we were not taught how to evaluate an activity for its healthy benefits such as working muscle groups, intensity, and cardio versus anaerobic. These are things I learned in college and only in relation to weight lifting.

"...it came to our attention students were bowling and golfing for PE credit, and the cheerleaders and dance team were credited for their activities as well. So why weren't the marching band and color guard?"

Something interesting happened my senior year of HS. Many of my classmates were scrambling for PE credit. We were very involved with music and had little time to fit in all the credits we needed because of scheduling conflicts. A few of us began a philosophical discussion in health class, because the teacher in charge of PE was our health teacher. The philosophical discussion became a tangible investigation when it came to our attention students were bowling and golfing for PE credit, and the cheerleaders and dance team were credited for their activities as well. So why weren't the marching band and color guard?

As a small group we started talking with our teacher. We told him about the abdominal breathing. We told him about the playing while marching. In length we went into how much each instrument weighs and how we lift and lower the instruments with force and hold them up high for long periods at a time. Then we went into the marching; the endless controlled marching. He wasn't buying any of it. The teacher claimed we just stood and played and walked. We offered for him to visit practice, maybe sit in on a rehearsal with a tuba around his neck. For some unknown reason he kept denying our hard work and athleticism and wouldn't let us apply for independent study. It was ridiculous.

Fast forward to today. I've marched in 4 marching bands for a total of 8 years. I took weight training in college to help fill the gap of physical education I lost in high school due to my bad luck with teachers, or whatever happened. Even with the knowledge of how to use gym equipment and how to do burpees, I still got stuck in a desk job and relegated myself to walking loops around a parking lot for my exercise. My hips slowly lost their strong marching muscles. Also, I went through a few years with a few life traumas... and that certainly didn't help me.

"It wasn't until recently that I found some exercises that are helping me to strengthen the muscles that were hurt or depleted. Guess what most of that exercise is? Marching in place."

Now, here I am recovering from some stress injuries and, low and behold, it is my hips/knees causing the bulk of the problems. I've been going to a chiropractor for a while now and tried many different exercises to strengthen my core over the last 4 years. It wasn't until recently that I found some exercises that are helping me to strengthen the muscles that were hurt or depleted. Guess what most of that exercise is? Marching in place. Yup! There is a reason soldiers march so much. Not only is it a quick way to walk, but it strengthens your core, yours hips, bones, and all those walking and sit-muscles we should be using but don't because...you know, plopping down is so much easier! Oh, the irony.

 I'm repairing my hips and shoulders (and jaw) from all the trauma I put them through during my bout of stress. And it is helping so much! So, I know it is 15 years too late, but Mr. Health Teacher, marching is GREAT exercise. I've gone down a size in pants and gained muscle back. So, don't judge it until you've tried it or at least researched it a little. Try it! :-)

"A Day In The Life" Photo-A-Day Challenge: Week 4

For the month of April I worked on a specific photography technique: Subject Isolation. And what better way to do this than a "day in the life" photo-a-day challenge. And yay, I got outside more!!

Its the last week, and boy am I itching to use f5.6+. I may need a week of only shooting f8 to stop feeling so near sighted... but this was a really great exercise. I also stuck to only one lens a week at a time. I recommend exercises like this to anyone breaking in new (or new to them) lenses, so you know their strengths, weaknesses, and to get comfortable. These are also good exercises to do periodically for yourself, just like practicing scales for a musician.

If you missed the previous weeks, they can be viewed here: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3

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 © 2015, Lisa Miller - All Rights Reserved - Thank you!

"A Day In The Life" Photo-A-Day Challenge: Week 3

For the month of April I'm continuing my work on a specific photography technique: Subject Isolation. And what better way to do this than a "day in the life" photo-a-day challenge.

If you missed the previous weeks, they can be viewed here: Week 1, Week 2, Week 4

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 © 2015, Lisa Miller - All Rights Reserved - Thank you!

"A Day In The Life" Photo-A-Day Challenge: Week 2

For the month of April I'm continuing my work on a specific photography technique: Subject Isolation. And what better way to do this than a "day in the life" photo-a-day challenge. Apologies ahead of time for any off photos...a photo a day means taking photos even when you are sick. Its a great distraction.

Update 5/1/2015: If you missed the previous/later weeks, they can be viewed here: Week 1, Week 3, Week 4

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 © 2015, Lisa Miller - All Rights Reserved - Thank you!

"A Day In The Life" Photo-A-Day Challenge: Week 1

For the month of April I'm working on a specific photography technique: Subject Isolation. And what better way to do this than a "day in the life" photo-a-day challenge. Each photo should express a daily activity or event in my life, and as this is a learning experience, I hope to improve from this week to the next! See you on the other side! :D

Update 5/1/2015: If you missed the previous/later weeks, they can be viewed here: Week 2, Week 3, Week 4

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 © 2015, Lisa Miller - All Rights Reserved - Thank you!