social_distancing raze not to make light of what's going on around the world with COVID-19 right now, but this particular suggested precautionary measure is hilariously easy to perform when trying to make plans to meet with another human being in a public place leads to being blown off nine times out of ten anyway. if i were any more socially distant by default, you would need a pair of binoculars to see me. 200316 ... nr it's really weird thinking about what it would've been like if this had all happened in the '90s 200317 ... epitome of incomprehensibility I'm not a social butterfly, but it feels weird that so many things are canceled. Disconcerted that my 1st choir concert's not happening. Maybe not dismayed, since the 2nd one at the end of May might. Disoriented that the trip I was planning to Toronto...wait, Toronto's west of here, not east. The pun chain is broken. (Good, because I don't know what I'd come up with for the Finnegans Wake group at Westmount Library being canceled. It was supposed to be today.) I'm not angry; these precautions make sense. I guess "pneumonia that spreads like a cold" wasn't on most people's list of Exciting Disaster Scenarios, but it's wreaking enough havoc in various places. There are only so many hospital beds and ventilator machines in Canada. In the past week I've only been in touching distance of 5 other people: immediate family members, my boyfriend, and one other friend (the 3 of us met for an informal creative writing at his place on Sunday). But that's pretty normal for me. And I was keeping my gloves on when buying things and taking the bus - probably overkill, security-blanket-like, but anyway. Most of the classes I'm tutoring are online now and so far none of them are canceled. 200318 ... raze the longer this goes on, the more i'm made to feel that in some strange, surreal way i was built for pandemic times. sort of like a wonky vehicle that seems barely functional, only to reveal itself to be well equipped to make it through a strange, semi-apocalyptic landscape while all the fancy cars and SUVs disintegrate. 201204 ... gja physical_distancing would be a better description would it not? 201208 ... raze i think you're right. in reality, most people have been socially distant for years now. over the last decade or so, i've probably more conversations with people on the phone in my dreams than in my waking life. not that i'm complaining. you have some good exchanges in dreams sometimes. 201208 ... raze (i missed a "had" in there. arg.) 201208 ... e_o_i I think if I didn't have anyone to be around (parents, brother, partner) I'd be in a very miserable shape. As it is, I'm lucky, but I still miss people. And sitting inside cafes and libraries. As for people: my cousin L. was in our "bubble" in the summer. But now the rules are strict again so I haven't seen her in person since September. (As for the best friend J. and her partner, I've been on walks with her in the park when it was warmer, but she's rather cold-averse. And I am meeting someone tomorrow to go to a bookstore, but I don't want to get to close.) So yes, physical distancing. Not necessary social distancing as in distancing from the social. (I was, kinda, because I had way too much to do this fall. Next term I'll try to be a bit nicer with myself and others.) 201218 what's it to you? who go blather from