Eostre morning: observations from a social distance

So, we'll never know if the Venerable Bede was right about worship of the pagan goddess Eostre being the forerunner of the Christian paschal celebration, but for now, let's pretend that she is visiting homes, accompanied by scared hares, bringing joy and hope in the Time of Corona.

In any case, herewith are a few notes from isolation.

Selkie the Supercat has taken to waking us up around 4:30 am regularly, with scratching and meowing. I normally get up at about 5:15 anyway, but if I get out of bed, chase him down, and either throw him out of the bedroom or throw some food in his bowl, I don't really get any productive sleep in the remaining time under the covers. So I am trying a new tack: I am just getting up at 4:40. It's worked the past few days, and boy did I get a lot of work done today before 8:30! We'll see how long I last.

Speaking of work, I think I logged about 30 hours of Zoom meetings last week, plus another six or seven on personal chats. Zoom is a really good platform for staying connected, but man is it tiring. I have been trying to suss out why it takes so much more energy than a regular meetings; I think it might be something about lack of body language clues and having to view discrete windows instead reading a room, as well as just general eyestrain caused by screens. I have one colleague in many of my regular leadership meetings who demonstrates excellent attending behavior, so I tend to focus on her more than others. It's a whole new world, innit?

My Twitter feed has been full of folks posting clever and not-so-clever bits about How I Am Spending My Time In Isolation - dressing up animals, making Rube Goldberg machines, practicing dance routines, and so on. Coco and I wondered where all this time is coming from - do people really do that much stuff outside the home on a regular basis that staying in creates all this opportunity? Then we realized that we are both lucky enough to be still working - she's teaching, just with online classes, and I'm doing my usual administrator thing, just remotely. It's those folks who can't go to work or work remotely who have all this time on their hands. I am sure I would not want to trade places with them.

My own usual spare time is being filled with the usual things, just with more cooking and less eating out of course. Getting a socially distant walk in every day and doing a lot of reading. Some projects are looming on the horizon, and here's just a tease: (a) online store, (b) podcast, and (c) something even more bigger, as my mother would say. More as it develops.

Last note: there a reason behind the (real) toilet paper shortage phenomenon, but it's not what you think it is.

It's a beautiful day, and hope is the thing with feathers, so maybe, just maybe, we'll pull out of the sickness that grips this country and have a healthy fall.

And I am not talking about the Coronavirus.