Hi blog that I’ve neglected for a year because ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I thought a couple times about writing a little post here and there about what I was up to over the course of 2020. Nobody really reads blogs anymore, but why not keep a record of that shitshow, eh? Then I never wrote them. Now here I am with a not-so-quick summary.
January, February, and the first week of March were just fine. You probably remember, even though it feels like 100 years ago. I gained a niece! I saw friends. We went out. There were birthday parties and shopping excursions and I saw a couple musicals, I had a ticket to a concert I was excited for, and some buds and I were planning a trip to the Smoky Mountains. Then March 13 rolled around and all the talk about what COVID was going to do to us was officially more than just talk. I started the day with a text to Eric for his 37th birthday, but things were getting COVID-weird and I think my tone was a little less “Happy Birthday!!!” and a little more “…happy birthday? lol.” I’m a habitual message-deleter which I have since come to regret (that’s foreshadowing).
Anyway, I started the day with that text and went about my business, and by mid-afternoon our shows for the next few months all started canceling or postponing. Those of us who weren’t already set up to work from home were sent laptops and quickly transitioned, but it was for naught because most of us were furloughed as of April 1. That mountain trip had been scheduled for the end of March and obviously didn’t happen.
Later in April, my 90-year-old grandpa – my mom’s dad – died from complications of a stroke (or two strokes and a heart attack) that had occurred a few months prior. My family hasn’t been able to have a funeral. The man was a legend in the tiny village where he lived, and once we can gather again I think all 300 people will turn out for him.
Thanks to unemployment and the CARES Act, I enjoyed a leisurely quarantine summer. My best girls and I started a romance novel book club (virtual, of course), I bought a paddleboard for solo outdoor activities, and I played a lot of Animal Crossing. Eventually a quaranteam formed, and a few of us started occasional in-person hangs, which over the next few months included such highlights as a cabin weekend, a birthday celebration, and a very small Friendsgiving. Darren and I invested in central AC for our house and it was money well spent. Maddie and I went to the dog park a lot.
But, by the time July rolled around, it became clear that I wasn’t going to be able to go back to work any time soon. I ended up getting a job as a mail carrier.
More on that later, because at the end of July, Eric died. He’d been living with his family in Georgia for a little over a year, and we had spent our pandemic thus far goofing off via Animal Crossing. If I were A Blogger™, Eric would get his own long, beautiful tribute post, but honestly I can’t bring myself to write it except to say that 17-ish years was not enough time with my friend, but I’ll forever cherish the time we got. His death was sudden, unexpected, and I still have a hard time wrapping my head around it. No, not my head. My heart. Tell your friends you love them, and tell them often.
Sigh.
Okay.
So.
So… then I became a mail carrier. Briefly. My furlough from the theatres officially became a lay-off as of September 1, but my training with the post office had started in late July so I was all set. Or so I thought. The job itself was okay, but the schedule was a GD nightmare. I knew it would be a lot, but I didn’t realize it would take such a toll on my mental health. It did, though. Toward the end of my run, I spent too much time crying in the back of my truck. So I quit that shit. The end. I lost like 12 pounds in six weeks, so that was cool, then I promptly gained them back. Oops. Anyway, my last day was on a Saturday in late September, and by the following Thursday I had a new job lined up via a staffing agency, and I’ve been temping since early October. my third assignment starts in a few days. I’m hoping I can just keep temping until live events are able to return and I can get re-hired at what I’ve been referring to as my real job.
Whew. Is that it? It might be. I have not, to my knowledge, had COVID, though I know people who have. I haven’t lost anyone to it, though again, I know people who have. I also know a lot of people who don’t seems to give a shit about trying to prevent the spread of this cursed virus and I’ve lost respect for those people. I’m looking forward to a new president, eventually getting this vaccine, and doing things with people again.
Happy goddamn new year.
fearlessly, myself. 