Skip to main content

Antisocial Distancing

Beginning this morning, Spouse is working from home. Till further notice. In our tiny, teeny, ~600 square-foot dollhouse of an apartment.

We have a bedroom just big enough for a bed, a wardrobe and a dresser (so long as the bed is pushed into a corner and Spouse is willing to clamber over me to get in and out of it).

We have a kitchen just big enough for a small (5 feet high) refrigerator, a sink, an oven range, two small counters, and two shelving units (necessary because there are no upper cupboards).

We have a bathroom just big enough for a sink, a toilet crammed under an eave, and a shower smaller than a phone booth (link for those who don't remember phone booths). 

The only room of any size is our living room, which is full to bursting and has:
  • a sofa
  • two ottomans
  • a television
  • shelving
  • my desk and chair and computer(s)
  • Spouse's desk and chair and computer(s)
  • three cats, one of whom is hiding behind the media server
So yes, clearly, all the living is done in this room, and I do not see how it will be possible for there to be two people in it at the same time if one of them needs to be working on client calls. I'm not even sure we can both be in the apartment without my actions disturbing Spouse while on the calls. 

We are lucky! We are not sick; one of us has a (probably) stable job; we have savings to see us through a few months. Lucky, lucky, lucky us!

But I am a hardcore introvert who needs people-free time, including spouse-free time. I'm also anxious anxious anxious and I've been using media to distract myself. Oh, and I crank my playlist to eleven (okay, three-and-a-half) when doing housework. And now I'm waving bye-bye-bye to all that, and hello to all of this. I'll be a reasonable grown-up again in about 20 minutes. But right now, I'm pouting. 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Final Gift

Several people I "know" from internet postings have lost loved ones recently. In some cases, the loss was quite sudden and shocking. Each time I read the sad news, I was reminded again of my mother's death, and her careful, caring preparations for it.  She had a binder with all of her paperwork, kept next to her favorite chair. In it was a copy of her will. Copies of her various powers of attorney. Recent copies of household bills, so we'd have account numbers.  And a copy of the paperwork for her pre-paid funeral arrangements.  We were broken and dazed, in no shape to contemplate decision-making or financial constraints. And we didn't have to. Not only was nearly everything pre-paid, but we had the comfort of knowing the arrangements were what she genuinely wanted. It's not a pleasant topic, but since that experience I've shared with everyone of a certain age what a relief it was, in a terrible time, to have all those details already handled, in the way s

Betrayed by Costco

Well, no. I just thought a little drama might keep me awake. I have been disappointed by Costco, however. Last winter we discovered their Kirkland Master Carve Ham . Hooray! Good ham. Good price. Sandwiches for days and days. Hurrah! Then, it disappeared. So after not finding it for a few months, I contacted Costco and discovered it's being discontinued in my region. Why, Costco, why? Good ham is hard to find in this area. It was one of the consolations of the lands of my misspent youth, but they seem unclear on the concept here. Maybe that was the problem: people here didn't realize what they had, couldn't appreciate it, didn't buy it, and now I'm paying the price for their foolishness. Costco didn't betray me: my neighbors did. Those jerks.  So, it's back to expensive import deli ham. No, Boar's Head is not substitute. Am I the only one married to a hardcore pouty foodie?

Biannual Update/Whinge

 I've sorely neglected this blog. 2020 has been a dreadful year for me, for both the pandemic-related reasons and a host of personal ones. I lost friends and family this year, to COVID, cancer, and aneurysm. I was in an accident that caused a "cataclysmic" injury, according to my surgeon, who seems eternally concerned that I'm not taking things seriously enough, and still in physical therapy. I've been sufficiently depressed to be prescribed another anti-depressant. And of course, even if I could work right now, there are no jobs in my field .  Not quite accurate, that. More specifically, there are no jobs in just my field. Employers seem to think their strongest strategy for getting through this downturn is to combine barely-related specialties into a single position: one super-data goddess, please! Yes, you must be expert in servers, database administration, data conversion, data warehousing, and data visualization. Oh, and website design/maintenance, including