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The government announced a state of emergency yesterday afternoon, and I, by virtue of being off, was blissfully unaware. My first inkling that something had happened was when I walked into the grocery to buy popcorn for movie night. “Get back,” spat the woman in front of me at the checkout counter, “I’m not letting any of you nasty people near me.” She was wearing a Japan-standard face mask and a deli counter plastic glove on her right hand.
She then proceeded to use her ungloved left hand to accept soiled paper currency from the cashier, after which she rubbed her eye—soiled currency still in hand.
So that is the level of intelligent rationality we’re dealing with down here.
Other signs of of our impending "fear itself" social breakdown:
My building has shut down its gym and gratis coffee for a month. To be sure, both will decrease vectors for virus transmission, but I can’t help but note that both services also cost the building money to operate, particularly as the coffee and soft drink vending machines that earn the building money (nitro cold brew! pay by the ounce!) remain open for business.
To say nothing of the Amazon mail lockers, which see exponentially more use than any of the preceding services, and are still very much in use.
Yesterday, CVS was cleaned out of household and hygiene supplies...or at least the ones packaged in English. Similar items marketed to those who speak Spanish in their daily lives were still fully stocked the next aisle over.
The local coffee house/live house/diner establishments on my street—major neighborhood fixtures that are packed from opening to closing seven days a week—were ghost towns yesterday evening. Meanwhile, the ramen bars had lines out the doors.
And so on.
I primarily subsist on a diet of Japanese and Indian food, so my kitchen is stocked with noodles, dried legumes, pickles, and frozen fish year round. Honestly, what worries me the most is that the local libraries, museums, and music venues are closing for a month. Which are all intelligent, curve-flattening things to do! (And probably should have been considered much earlier.) But from a quality-of-life perspective, I am saddened.
Otherwise, it has been an eventful month. More on this later as my regularly scheduled occupational and social activities continue to be canceled.
これで以上です。
She then proceeded to use her ungloved left hand to accept soiled paper currency from the cashier, after which she rubbed her eye—soiled currency still in hand.
So that is the level of intelligent rationality we’re dealing with down here.
Other signs of of our impending "fear itself" social breakdown:
My building has shut down its gym and gratis coffee for a month. To be sure, both will decrease vectors for virus transmission, but I can’t help but note that both services also cost the building money to operate, particularly as the coffee and soft drink vending machines that earn the building money (nitro cold brew! pay by the ounce!) remain open for business.
To say nothing of the Amazon mail lockers, which see exponentially more use than any of the preceding services, and are still very much in use.
Yesterday, CVS was cleaned out of household and hygiene supplies...or at least the ones packaged in English. Similar items marketed to those who speak Spanish in their daily lives were still fully stocked the next aisle over.
The local coffee house/live house/diner establishments on my street—major neighborhood fixtures that are packed from opening to closing seven days a week—were ghost towns yesterday evening. Meanwhile, the ramen bars had lines out the doors.
And so on.
I primarily subsist on a diet of Japanese and Indian food, so my kitchen is stocked with noodles, dried legumes, pickles, and frozen fish year round. Honestly, what worries me the most is that the local libraries, museums, and music venues are closing for a month. Which are all intelligent, curve-flattening things to do! (And probably should have been considered much earlier.) But from a quality-of-life perspective, I am saddened.
Otherwise, it has been an eventful month. More on this later as my regularly scheduled occupational and social activities continue to be canceled.
これで以上です。
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But from a quality-of-life perspective, I am saddened.
Same. It's no doubt the right thing to do, but it breaks my heart that it has to happen.
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It's no doubt the right thing to do, but it breaks my heart that it has to happen.
I feel particularly bad for everyone who works in the service industry. To be de facto put out of work just as the weather turned to spring, with all the associated events and tourism.
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What are the creative projects?