Personal post, do not read or you might get depressed.
With rising coronavirus numbers in Texas, I just wanted to know if you are alright.
Rita
Thank you for checking.
See that big red circle? That’s us. We made national news by going from 4 cases a day to 210 cases a day. For a county with not that many people, it’s not pretty.
Yup. Greg Abbot, our governor, removed the shelter at home restrictions. San Marcos is a college town. Once restrictions were lifted, the kids went to tube on the river and they went to the Square, which is like a tiny 6th street (Austin reference) in our town filled with bars. Nobody wore a mask. Because you can’t drink with masks on, and when you have surgery, your medical team only wears them because they make such lovely fashion accessories. So dumb. So very stupid. Everyone Kid 2 currently knows in her age bracket has COVID. Everyone.
We haven’t left the house in weeks. Groceries are delivered. I have sewn masks. I found this awesome pattern that fits really well, but is a bit fiddly to make. Right now we have Saharan dust and everyone’s nose is either clogged or running, so Kid 1 checks our pulse and oxygen every day. Kid 2 has moved to Austin and so she is isolating there. Our daughters have agreed that they might survive COVID but Gordon and I are hosed. They decided that we shouldn’t take chances, so we are under very strict supervision.
I don’t know what to tell you. Alright is a relative term. Everyone knows how much this whole thing sucks. It’s devastating if you have COVID and it’s awful even if you don’t, because you live in constant worry that people you love or you might get it. People are losing relatives. They are losing jobs and businesses.
Right now my coping mechanisms are failing a bit. I haven’t been able to read a single book. I can’t finish anything I knit. I’m trying to find a lawyer to remotely update our will. When that happens, most people get anxiety. I get fun physical symptoms for the reasons I won’t go into here. My chest hurts constantly – probably costocondritis rearing up after taking a 2 year break. Normal digestion is out the window. Sleeping patterns are completely off.
So yeah, it’s not fun. But we are all humans. We are designed to survive, so let’s do our best. We will keep writing Ryder as long as we can, you, hopefully, will keep reading it, and we will try to get through this mess together. 🙂
Oh, so I don’t end on a sour note. If you have Viki, check out Romance of Tiger and Phoenix. A screenwriter of a fantasy romantic drama gets stuck in her own script as an awful princess fated to die two episodes in on her wedding night.
I’ve laughed so hard! OMG. I don’t know how it will end – it’s ongoing – but what’s there is so funny. I want to watch it all in one sitting, because making people wait for the new episode is some sort of torture. Like I don’t know who came up with that or what kind of horrible monster even uses serial format for entertainment. Honestly. 😉
A little late to comment but for me coping started during the evenings with Briarpatch on Hulu (where can I get Jay R. Ferguson’s dance at the end of episode 2 on a loop to watch????!) Cavit Pinot Grigio, Josh Cellars Sauvignon Blanc and La Vielle Ferme Rose’ and coping overnight with melatonin! I also found this lady’s blog helpful.  Link below.
My rant: It’s so weird when it seems 70% of people won’t wear masks and act like there is no COVID. They get in your space and even touch you.
Part one: https://cindyknoke.com/2020/03/14/anxiety-management-during-pandemic-days/
Part two: Hope on The Horizon: Pandemic Anxiety management II
Well the above link does not work. It’s in her March archives. https://cindyknoke.com/2020/03/27/pandemic-anxiety-busters/
I understand what your area is going through. I live in one of the former NY hotspots. It was…surreal. I hope we don’t go through that again.
I found it helpful to not watch TV news. I went straight to two particular sources on the internet and that’s it.
For political news, I read Heather Cox Richardson’s daily news summary-she’s a political historian, not a journalist. She’s on FB, Twitter, and an email subscription on Substack.
For coronavirus news, I watched Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s daily updates. He doesn’t need to do the daily updates anymore, but I still find good information for my area.
I only had two people in my family get coronavirus. I thought they would end up in the hospital due to their age and state of health, but they thankfully made it through at home.
I do everything I can to not let anxiety get the best of me. It’s not easy. I too get physically ill and depressed from it.
I decided to get on the Bake Bread bandwagon during my work furlough. It was a messy experience, but when the dough doubled in size I was in awe:) When I took two huge loaves out of the oven and saw my large, imperfect-looking, but delicious-smelling, fresh baked bread, I was over the moon!!
It took me over 4 decades to learn that I am allowed to find joy during times of darkness. It is the only thing that makes life worthwhile.
Feeling grateful is also another good thing. I make sure to acknowledge with my whole heart all those things that keep me feeling happy to be alive. Reading your books is one of them. Thank you and God bless you and your loved ones.
I would also be interested to hear about a mask pattern that fits nicely. The best I’ve found so far is the Super Hero Mask from IThinkSew.com (https://ithinksew.com/Products/Details/2918). They have some newer designs I’m looking forward to trying though.
I also wanted to mention that I found a filter fabric available to consumers that looks promising. I saw it mentioned in a Business Insider article (https://www.businessinsider.com/filti-mask-material-filters-particles-9-times-better-than-cotton-2020-4).
You can buy it here: https://filti.com/product/filti-face-mask-material/
I appreciate that it is 3rd party tested and actually meant to be used as a mask filter. I have enough health issues that I am much happier having a mask that has a shot at protecting me as well as protecting other people from me.
The other filter fabric I looked at was a washable nanofiber one IThinkSew had tracked down from South Korea. I liked it, but couldn’t justify the shipping and it is out of stock most of the time.
Reading, re-reading and listening to Ilona Andrews books is a large part of my coping strategy, so I’m happy to have found a little bit of at least potentially useful information to give back.
So sorry for your stress. I live in upstate NY so it hasn’t been as bad here, but I work for a newspaper and saw the AP news articles beginning in January and February and it’s terrifying when you can’t do anything to help. My husband is an LPN in a nursing home and works on the isolation unit for patients who are positive for COVID but only mildly ill. It is so frustrating to go to a store and see people walk around without masks and break every social distancing rule. It has helped to be able to go outside and listen to the birds and watch them at the feeders and watch the squirrels and chipmunks steal the seeds. Our cats and elderly dog are always a good for a laugh. I also limited my news input to what I have to read for work and the local weather. Not watching the national and world news helped a lot. I have to keep telling myself that it’s okay to take a brain break and just stare at my flowers for a while and it’s okay not to get everything done that I planned to. I think everyone is stressed and anxious. Please take care of yourselves and thank you for the lovely distraction of Ryder. I look forward to new installments popping up. Dobre den
Thank you so much for the update. Please, please stay safe. When I say that you’ll be in my thoughts, I really mean it. I’m sending happy thoughts and sanity to your family. And we all devour the Ryder chapters. No worries there.
Blessed be to you and yours! I hope that you are well!
Are they (the college students) nuts? I know that extroverts need to be around people, but what happened to consideration for your fellow man?
Here in Omaha, Nebraska they did not have the Summer Arts Festival, but went virtual.
A lot of businesses have closed their doors forever! All to protect their friends and families! The barber shop in our suburb just opened its doors a week ago and will only let three people in at a time! The restaurants are open but they only let half as many people in as before and you can’t sit in the waiting area but in your car. The staff phone\text you when your table is ready.
A friend of my college aged daughter was caring for her grandmother and living with her MOVED out the very next day to protect her because she worked in a half way house\care facility part time.
I am loving The Romance of Tiger and Rose. Thank you.
Bless your souls! My family and I have not stopped isolating because my husband is vulnerable and people are inexplicably rebellious about wearing masks that help protect others. So we stay home. I am Gen X and grew up on a farm so social isolation isn’t that big of a deal for me, but the stress of wondering if my husband will die is huge. We have decided to homeschool next year, and I am not returning to my inner city classroom. It breaks my heart, but there is no way we could protect him if we go back to school where we absolutely would be exposed and bring it home to him. I try to remember to extend grace to the people who are getting out and not wearing masks, but I am so angry. They are inconsiderate and selfish, or just plain ignorant, and they could kill my husband. So I stay home and off Facebook.
I have had a hard time reading, too. It comes and goes in waves. For a while the only thing I could read was science fiction because for whatever reason fantasy felt too impossible. At least with science fiction I could imagine a future beyond this one.
Thank you for writing and sharing this blog post. I am having a difficult time with the isolation and uncertainty of quarantine, too. It helps to know I am not the only person whose coping mechanisms are failing.
Oh, man. I assume you’ve already watched Nirvana in Fire and The Untamed, but if you haven’t you might really enjoy them! The Viki subtitles are FAR better than those on Netflix for The Untamed, btw. Hope you can enjoy!
In the spirit of respecting the apolitical tone of your blog, I won’t star pointing fingers. However, I would just like to say I honestly commiserate for you and for your fellow 328-million citizens for living in a place where, somehow, people in power put their own self-interests before the protecting the health of the general public, which is paramount to their mandate/the reason they have been given power by the civil society in the first place. That Gramsci quote you used a few chapters ago is indeed accurate. However, as long as we keep our eyes open, there is hope for an end to all of this.
Hang in there, you are not alone.
????Loved the trailer!
Prayers & well wishes for you in this pandemic. I live alone in Detroit but I play piano for church on the weekends which has been the bulk of my human interaction for months. I also try to shout out at my neighbors (across the street, sidewalks, & driveways) while working in the garden.
I’m sorry things are awful over there, I can’t even imagine the stress… You guys have lovely daughters, but you already know that. Thanks for sharing a new drama! Sending you good vibes and good health ????
If love and approval from a stranger help make things more bearable – know you have them.
1 – on Coronavirus – this podcast epidsode was particularly interesting (once you deal with Michael Barbaro’s weird pausing habit) in that the expert talks about how this disease is actually vascular instead of simply respiratory, which is why you get people having other symptoms like kids getting covid toes, etcetera.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/podcasts/the-daily/coronavirus-science-indoor-infection.html
So much for comparing it to the flu!
They also had another episode where they talk about how pedantry in the medical science field over the term ‘asymptomatic’ caused delays in warnings about how the virus can spread before symptoms show getting out to the broader public.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/podcasts/the-daily/asymptomatic-coronavirus-spread.html?action=click&module=audio-series-bar®ion=header&pgtype=Article
2 – on ‘The Romance of Tiger and Rose’ – WETV, aka Tencent, which is the originating channel, has already finished showing it. Their english website is:
https://wetv.vip/en
You can watch it free, don’t need the VIP subscription service.
Just reading through other’s comments re: asian dramas. I already made suggestions a few weeks back on this post…
https://ilona-andrews.com/2020/emerald-blaze-netgalley/
…so I’m not gonna repeat those, but for some reason I didn’t recommend ‘Story of Ming Lan’, which is weird, because it’s brilliant. I’m guessing Ilona might’ve already mentioned watching it.
But, while I’m here, another series I’ve watched since is ‘Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung’ which was quite entertaining.